diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 18:35:46 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 18:35:46 -0700 |
| commit | c7efbc2e43587fe105c4af7ae9122a59944a836f (patch) | |
| tree | c176b1ff155812e63362d63558048438565a7b97 /44035-h/44035-h.html | |
Diffstat (limited to '44035-h/44035-h.html')
| -rw-r--r-- | 44035-h/44035-h.html | 62928 |
1 files changed, 62928 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/44035-h/44035-h.html b/44035-h/44035-h.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..11d3fed --- /dev/null +++ b/44035-h/44035-h.html @@ -0,0 +1,62928 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en" xml:lang="en"> +<head> + <meta name="generator" content= + "HTML Tidy for Linux/x86 (vers 25 March 2009), see www.w3.org" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <link rel="schema.DC" href="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" /> + <meta name="DC.Creator" content="Augustus Hopkins Strong" /> + <meta name="DC.Title" content="Systematic Theology (Volume 1 of 3)" /> + <meta name="DC.Date" content="October 25, 2013" /> + <meta name="DC.Language" content="English" /> + <meta name="DC.Publisher" content="Project Gutenberg" /> + <meta name="DC.Identifier" content= + "http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/44035" /> + <meta name="DC.Rights" content="This text is in the public domain." /> + + <title>The Project Gutenberg EBook of Systematic Theology (Volume 1 of 3) + by Augustus Hopkins Strong</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[*/ + /* + The Gnutenberg Press - default CSS2 stylesheet + + Any generated element will have a class "tei" and a class "tei-elem" + where elem is the element name in TEI. + The order of statements is important !!! + */ + + .tei { margin: 0; padding: 0; + font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal } + + .block { display: block; } + .inline { display: inline; } + .floatleft { float: left; margin: 1em 2em 1em 0; } + .floatright { float: right; margin: 1em 0 1em 2em; } + .shaded { margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + padding: 1em; background-color: #eee; } + .boxed { margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + padding: 1em; border: 1px solid black; } + + body.tei { margin: 4ex 10%; text-align: justify } + div.tei { margin: 2em 0em } + p.tei { margin: 0em 0em 1em 0em; text-indent: 0em; } + blockquote.tei { margin: 2em 4em } + + div.tei-lg { margin: 1em 0em; } + div.tei-l { margin: 0em; text-align: left; } + div.tei-tb { text-align: center; } + div.tei-epigraph { margin: 0em 0em 1em 10em; } + div.tei-dateline { margin: 1ex 0em; text-align: right } + div.tei-salute { margin: 1ex 0em; } + div.tei-signed { margin: 1ex 0em; text-align: right } + div.tei-byline { margin: 1ex 0em; } + + /* calculate from size of body = 80% */ + div.tei-marginnote { margin: 0em 0em 0em -12%; width: 11%; float: left; } + + div.tei-sp { margin: 1em 0em 1em 2em } + div.tei-speaker { margin: 0em 0em 1em -2em; + font-weight: bold; text-indent: 0em } + div.tei-stage { margin: 1em 0em; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic } + span.tei-stage { font-weight: normal; font-style: italic } + + div.tei-eg { padding: 1em; + color: black; background-color: #eee } + + hr.doublepage { margin: 4em 0em; height: 5px; } + hr.page { margin: 4em 0em; height: 2px; } + + ul.tei-index { list-style-type: none } + + dl.tei { margin: 1em 0em } + + dt.tei-notelabel { font-weight: normal; text-align: right; + float: left; width: 3em } + dd.tei-notetext { margin: 0em 0em 1ex 4em } + + span.tei-pb { position: absolute; left: 1%; width: 8%; + font-style: normal; } + + span.code { font-family: monospace; font-size: 110%; } + + ul.tei-castlist { margin: 0em; list-style-type: none } + li.tei-castitem { margin: 0em; } + table.tei-castgroup { margin: 0em; } + ul.tei-castgroup { margin: 0em; list-style-type: none; + padding-right: 2em; border-right: solid black 2px; } + caption.tei-castgroup-head { caption-side: right; width: 50%; text-align: left; + vertical-align: middle; padding-left: 2em; } + *.tei-roledesc { font-style: italic } + *.tei-set { font-style: italic } + + table.rules { border-collapse: collapse; } + table.rules caption, + table.rules th, + table.rules td { border: 1px solid black; } + + table.tei { border-collapse: collapse; } + table.tei-list { width: 100% } + + th.tei-head-table { padding: 0.5ex 1em } + + th.tei-cell { padding: 0em 1em } + td.tei-cell { padding: 0em 1em } + + td.tei-item { padding: 0; font-weight: normal; + vertical-align: top; text-align: left; } + th.tei-label, + td.tei-label { width: 3em; padding: 0; font-weight: normal; + vertical-align: top; text-align: right; } + + th.tei-label-gloss, + td.tei-label-gloss { text-align: left } + + td.tei-item-gloss, + th.tei-headItem-gloss { padding-left: 4em; } + + img.tei-formula { vertical-align: middle; } + + /*]]>*/ + </style> +</head> + +<body class="tei"> + <div lang="en" class="tei tei-text" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em" xml:lang="en"> + <div class="tei tei-front" style= + "margin-bottom: 6.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> + <div id="pgheader" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em"> + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 2.00em">The Project + Gutenberg EBook of Systematic Theology (Volume 1 of 3) by + Augustus Hopkins Strong</p> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This eBook is + for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no + restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use + it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License <a href= + "#pglicense" class="tei tei-ref">included with this eBook</a> or + online at <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/license" class= + "tei tei-xref">http://www.gutenberg.org/license</a></p> + </div> + <pre class="pre tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> +Title: Systematic Theology (Volume 1 of 3) + +Author: Augustus Hopkins Strong + +Release Date: October 25, 2013 [Ebook #44035] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY (VOLUME 1 OF 3)*** +</pre> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"></div> + <hr class="page" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.73em"><span style= + "font-size: 173%">Systematic Theology</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.20em"><span style= + "font-size: 120%">A Compendium and Commonplace-Book</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.20em"><span style= + "font-size: 120%">Designed For The Use Of Theological + Students</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.20em"><span style= + "font-size: 120%">By</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.44em"><span style= + "font-size: 144%">Augustus Hopkins Strong, D.D., LL.D.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.00em">President and Professor + of Biblical Theology in the Rochester Theological Seminary</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.20em"><span style= + "font-size: 120%">Revised and Enlarged</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.20em"><span style= + "font-size: 120%">In Three Volumes</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.20em"><span style= + "font-size: 120%">Volume 1</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.20em"><span style= + "font-size: 120%">The Doctrine of God</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.00em">The Judson Press</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.00em">Philadelphia, Boston, + Chicago, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Seattle, Toronto</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.00em">1907</p> + </div> + <hr class="page" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> + <h1 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"> + <span style="font-size: 173%">Contents</span></h1> + + <ul class="tei tei-index tei-index-toc"> + <li><a href="#toc1">Preface</a></li> + + <li><a href="#toc3">Part I. Prolegomena.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 2em"><a href="#toc5">Chapter I. Idea Of + Theology.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc7">I. Definition of + Theology.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc9">II. Aim of + Theology.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc11">III. Possibility of + Theology.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc13">1. The existence of a + God.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc15">2. Man's capacity for + the knowledge of God</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc17">3. God's revelation + of himself to man.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc19">IV. Necessity of + Theology.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc21">V. Relation of + Theology to Religion.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc23">1. + Derivation.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc25">2. False + Conceptions.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc27">3. Essential + Idea.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc29">4. + Inferences.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 2em"><a href="#toc31">Chapter II. Material + of Theology.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc33">I. Sources of + Theology.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc35">1. Scripture and + Nature.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc37">2. Scripture and + Rationalism.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc39">3. Scripture and + Mysticism.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc41">4. Scripture and + Romanism.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc43">II. Limitations of + Theology.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc45">III. Relations of + Material to Progress in Theology.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 2em"><a href="#toc47">Chapter III. Method + Of Theology.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc49">I. Requisites to the + study of Theology.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc51">II. Divisions of + Theology.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc53">III. History of + Systematic Theology.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc55">IV. Order of + Treatment in Systematic Theology.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc57">V. Text-Books in + Theology.</a></li> + + <li><a href="#toc59">Part II. The Existence Of God.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 2em"><a href="#toc61">Chapter I. Origin Of + Our Idea Of God's Existence.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc63">I. First Truths in + General.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc65">II. The Existence of + God a first truth.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc67">1. Its + universality.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc69">2. Its + necessity.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc71">3. Its logical + independence and priority.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc73">III. Other Supposed + Sources of our Idea of God's Existence.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc75">IV. Contents of this + Intuition.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 2em"><a href="#toc77">Chapter II. + Corroborative Evidences Of God's Existence.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc79">I. The Cosmological + Argument, or Argument from Change in Nature.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc81">II. The Teleological + Argument, or Argument from Order and Useful Collocation in + Nature.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc83">III. The + Anthropological Argument, or Argument from Man's Mental and Moral + Nature.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc85">IV. The Ontological + Argument, or Argument from our Abstract and Necessary + Ideas.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 2em"><a href="#toc87">Chapter III. + Erroneous Explanations, And Conclusion.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc89">I. + Materialism.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc91">II. Materialistic + Idealism.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc93">III. Idealistic + Pantheism.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc95">IV. Ethical + Monism.</a></li> + + <li><a href="#toc97">Part III. The Scriptures A Revelation From + God.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 2em"><a href="#toc99">Chapter I. + Preliminary Considerations.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc101">I. Reasons + <span style="font-style: italic">a priori</span> for expecting a + Revelation from God.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc103">II. Marks of the + Revelation man may expect.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc105">III. Miracles, as + attesting a Divine Revelation.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc107">1. Definition of + Miracle.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc109">2. Possibility of + Miracle.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc111">3. Probability of + Miracles.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc113">4. Amount of + Testimony necessary to prove a Miracle.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc115">5. Evidential force + of Miracles.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc117">6. Counterfeit + Miracles.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc119">IV. Prophecy as + Attesting a Divine Revelation.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc121">V. Principles of + Historical Evidence applicable to the Proof of a Divine + Revelation.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc123">1. As to documentary + evidence.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc125">2. As to testimony + in general.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 2em"><a href="#toc127">Chapter II. Positive + Proofs That The Scriptures Are A Divine Revelation.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc129">I. Genuineness of + the Christian Documents.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc131">1. Genuineness of + the Books of the New Testament.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc133">1st. The Myth-theory + of Strauss (1808-1874).</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc135">2nd. The + Tendency-theory of Baur (1792-1860).</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc137">3d. The + Romance-theory of Renan (1823-1892).</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc139">4th. The + Development-theory of Harnack (born 1851).</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc141">2. Genuineness of + the Books of the Old Testament.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc143">II. Credibility of + the Writers of the Scriptures.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc145">III. The + Supernatural Character of the Scripture Teaching.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc147">1. Scripture + teaching in general.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc149">2. Moral System of + the New Testament.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc151">3. The person and + character of Christ.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc153">4. The testimony of + Christ to himself—as being a messenger from God and as being one + with God.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc155">IV. The Historical + Results of the Propagation of Scripture Doctrine.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 2em"><a href="#toc157">Chapter III. + Inspiration Of The Scriptures.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc159">I. Definition of + Inspiration.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc161">II. Proof of + Inspiration.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc163">III. Theories of + Inspiration.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc165">1. The + Intuition-theory.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc167">2. The Illumination + Theory.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc169">3. The + Dictation-theory.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc171">4. The Dynamical + Theory.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc173">IV. The Union of the + Divine and Human Elements in Inspiration.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc175">V. Objections to the + Doctrine of Inspiration.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc177">1. Errors in matters + of Science.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc179">2. Errors in matters + of History.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc181">3. Errors in + Morality.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc183">4. Errors of + Reasoning.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc185">5. Errors in quoting + or interpreting the Old Testament.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc187">6. Errors in + Prophecy.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc189">7. Certain books + unworthy of a place in inspired Scripture.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc191">8. Portions of the + Scripture books written by others than the persons to whom they are + ascribed.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc193">9. Sceptical or + fictitious Narratives.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc195">10. Acknowledgment + of the non-inspiration of Scripture teachers and their + writings.</a></li> + + <li><a href="#toc197">Part IV. The Nature, Decrees, And Works Of + God.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 2em"><a href="#toc199">Chapter I. The + Attributes Of God.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc201">I. Definition of the + term Attributes.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc203">II. Relation of the + divine Attributes to the divine Essence.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc205">III. Methods of + determining the divine Attributes.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc207">IV. Classification + of the Attributes.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc209">V. Absolute or + Immanent Attributes.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc211">First + division.—Spirituality, and attributes therein involved.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc213">1. Life.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc215">2. + Personality.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc217">Second + Division.—Infinity, and attributes therein involved.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc219">1. + Self-existence.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc221">2. + Immutability.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc223">3. Unity.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc225">Third + Division.—Perfection, and attributes therein involved.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc227">1. Truth.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc229">2. Love.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc231">3. + Holiness.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc233">VI. Relative or + Transitive Attributes.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc235">First + Division.—Attributes having relation to Time and Space.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc237">1. + Eternity.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc239">2. + Immensity.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc241">Second + Division.—Attributes having relation to Creation.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc243">1. + Omnipresence.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc245">2. + Omniscience.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc247">3. + Omnipotence.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc249">Third + Division.—Attributes having relation to Moral Beings.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc251">1. Veracity and + Faithfulness, or Transitive Truth.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc253">2. Mercy and + Goodness, or Transitive Love.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc255">3. Justice and + Righteousness, or Transitive Holiness.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc257">VII. Rank and + Relations of the several Attributes.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc259">1. Holiness the + fundamental attribute in God.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc261">2. The holiness of + God the ground of moral obligation.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 2em"><a href="#toc263">Chapter II. Doctrine + Of The Trinity.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc265">I. In Scriptures + there are Three who are recognized as God.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc267">1. Proofs from the + New Testament.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc269">A. The Father is + recognized as God.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc271">B. Jesus Christ is + recognized as God.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc273">C. The Holy Spirit + is recognized as God.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc275">2. Intimations of + the Old Testament.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc277">A. Passages which + seem to teach plurality of some sort in the Godhead.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc279">B. Passages relating + to the Angel of Jehovah.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc281">C. Descriptions of + the divine Wisdom and Word.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc283">D. Descriptions of + the Messiah.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc285">II. These Three are + so described in Scripture that we are compelled to conceive of them + as distinct Persons.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc287">1. The Father and + the Son are persons distinct from each other.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc289">2. The Father and + the Son are persons distinct from the Spirit.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc291">3. The Holy Spirit + is a person.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc293">III. This + Tripersonality of the Divine Nature is not merely economic and + temporal, but is immanent and eternal.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc295">1. Scripture proof + that these distinctions of personality are eternal.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc297">2. Errors refuted by + the foregoing passages.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc299">A. The + Sabellian.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc301">B. The + Arian.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc303">IV. This + Tripersonality is not Tritheism; for, while there are three + Persons, there is but one Essence.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc305">V. The Three + Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are equal.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc307">1. These titles + belong to the Persons.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc309">2. Qualified sense + of these titles.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc311">3. Generation and + procession consistent with equality.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc313">VI. Inscrutable, yet + not self-contradictory, this Doctrine furnishes the Key to all + other Doctrines.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc315">1. The mode of this + triune existence is inscrutable.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc317">2. The Doctrine of + the Trinity is not self-contradictory.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc319">3. The doctrine of + the Trinity has important relations to other doctrines.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 2em"><a href="#toc321">Chapter III. The + Decrees Of God.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc323">I. Definition of + Decrees.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc325">II. Proof of the + Doctrine of Decrees.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc327">1. From + Scripture.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc329">2. From + Reason.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc331">A. From the Divine + Foreknowledge.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc333">B. From the Divine + Wisdom.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc335">C. From the Divine + Immutability.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 8em"><a href="#toc337">D. From the Divine + Benevolence.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc339">III. Objections to + the Doctrine of Decrees.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc341">1. That they are + inconsistent with the free agency of man.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc343">2. That they take + away all motive for human exertion.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc345">3. That they make + God the author of sin.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 4em"><a href="#toc347">IV. Concluding + Remarks.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc349">1. Practical uses of + the doctrine of decrees.</a></li> + + <li style="margin-left: 6em"><a href="#toc351">2. True method of + preaching the doctrine.</a></li> + </ul> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-body" style= + "margin-bottom: 6.00em; margin-top: 6.00em"> + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.00em"></p> + + <div class="tei tei-figure" style="width: 40%; text-align: center"> + <img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Cover Art" /></div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">[Transcriber's + Note: The above cover image was produced by the submitter at + Distributed Proofreaders, and is being placed into the public + domain.]</p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="pagev">[pg v]</span><a name="Pgv" + id="Pgv" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + <hr class="page" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Christo Deo + Salvatori.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">The eye sees only that which it brings + with it the power of seeing.</span></span>”</span>—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Cicero.</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold + wondrous things out of thy law.</span></span>”</span>—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Psalm + 119:18.</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">For with thee is the fountain of life: In + thy light shall we see light.</span></span>”</span>—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Psalm + 36:9.</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-q">“<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-variant: small-caps">For we know in part, and we prophesy in + part; but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part + shall be done away.</span></span>”</span>—<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">1 Cor. 13:9, + 10.</span></span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="pagevii">[pg vii]</span><a name= + "Pgvii" id="Pgvii" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + <hr class="page" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> + <a name="toc1" id="toc1"></a> <a name="pdf2" id="pdf2"></a> + + <h1 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"> + <span style="font-size: 173%">Preface</span></h1> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The present work + is a revision and enlargement of my <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Systematic Theology,”</span> first published in 1886. Of + the original work there have been printed seven editions, each + edition embodying successive corrections and supposed improvements. + During the twenty years which have intervened since its first + publication I have accumulated much new material, which I now offer + to the reader. My philosophical and critical point of view meantime + has also somewhat changed. While I still hold to the old doctrines, I + interpret them differently and expound them more clearly, because I + seem to myself to have reached a fundamental truth which throws new + light upon them all. This truth I have tried to set forth in my book + entitled <span class="tei tei-q">“Christ in Creation,”</span> and to + that book I refer the reader for further information.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">That Christ is the + one and only Revealer of God, in nature, in humanity, in history, in + science, in Scripture, is in my judgment the key to theology. This + view implies a monistic and idealistic conception of the world, + together with an evolutionary idea as to its origin and progress. But + it is the very antidote to pantheism, in that it recognizes evolution + as only the method of the transcendent and personal Christ, who fills + all in all, and who makes the universe teleological and moral from + its centre to its circumference and from its beginning until now.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Neither evolution + nor the higher criticism has any terrors to one who regards them as + parts of Christ's creating and educating process. The Christ in whom + are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge himself furnishes + all the needed safeguards and limitations. It is only because Christ + has been forgotten that nature and <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "pageviii">[pg viii]</span><a name="Pgviii" id="Pgviii" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> law have been personified, that history has + been regarded as unpurposed development, that Judaism has been + referred to a merely human origin, that Paul has been thought to have + switched the church off from its proper track even before it had + gotten fairly started on its course, that superstition and illusion + have come to seem the only foundation for the sacrifices of the + martyrs and the triumphs of modern missions. I believe in no such + irrational and atheistic evolution as this. I believe rather in him + in whom all things consist, who is with his people even to the end of + the world, and who has promised to lead them into all the truth.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Philosophy and + science are good servants of Christ, but they are poor guides when + they rule out the Son of God. As I reach my seventieth year and write + these words on my birthday, I am thankful for that personal + experience of union with Christ which has enabled me to see in + science and philosophy the teaching of my Lord. But this same + personal experience has made me even more alive to Christ's teaching + in Scripture, has made me recognize in Paul and John a truth + profounder than that disclosed by any secular writers, truth with + regard to sin and atonement for sin, that satisfies the deepest wants + of my nature and that is self-evidencing and divine.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">I am distressed by + some common theological tendencies of our time, because I believe + them to be false to both science and religion. How men who have ever + felt themselves to be lost sinners and who have once received pardon + from their crucified Lord and Savior can thereafter seek to pare down + his attributes, deny his deity and atonement, tear from his brow the + crown of miracle and sovereignty, relegate him to the place of a + merely moral teacher who influences us only as does Socrates by words + spoken across a stretch of ages, passes my comprehension. Here is my + test of orthodoxy: Do we pray to Jesus? Do we call upon the name of + Christ, as did Stephen and all the early church? Is he our living + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="pageix">[pg ix]</span><a name="Pgix" id= + "Pgix" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> Lord, omnipresent, omniscient, + omnipotent? Is he divine only in the sense in which we are divine, or + is he the only-begotten Son, God manifest in the flesh, in whom is + all the fulness of the Godhead bodily? What think ye of the Christ? + is still the critical question, and none are entitled to the name of + Christian who, in the face of the evidence he has furnished us, + cannot answer the question aright.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Under the + influence of Ritschl and his Kantian relativism, many of our teachers + and preachers have swung off into a practical denial of Christ's + deity and of his atonement. We seem upon the verge of a second + Unitarian defection, that will break up churches and compel + secessions, in a worse manner than did that of Channing and Ware a + century ago. American Christianity recovered from that disaster only + by vigorously asserting the authority of Christ and the inspiration + of the Scriptures. We need a new vision of the Savior like that which + Paul saw on the way to Damascus and John saw on the isle of Patmos, + to convince us that Jesus is lifted above space and time, that his + existence antedated creation, that he conducted the march of Hebrew + history, that he was born of a virgin, suffered on the cross, rose + from the dead, and now lives forevermore, the Lord of the universe, + the only God with whom we have to do, our Savior here and our Judge + hereafter. Without a revival of this faith our churches will become + secularized, mission enterprise will die out, and the candlestick + will be removed out of its place as it was with the seven churches of + Asia, and as it has been with the apostate churches of New + England.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">I print this + revised and enlarged edition of my <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Systematic Theology,”</span> in the hope that its + publication may do something to stem this fast advancing tide, and to + confirm the faith of God's elect. I make no doubt that the vast + majority of Christians still hold the faith that was once for all + delivered to the saints, and that they will sooner or later separate + themselves from those who deny <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "pagex">[pg x]</span><a name="Pgx" id="Pgx" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> the Lord who bought them. When the enemy comes + in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard + against him. I would do my part in raising up such a standard. I + would lead others to avow anew, as I do now, in spite of the + supercilious assumptions of modern infidelity, my firm belief, only + confirmed by the experience and reflection of a half-century, in the + old doctrines of holiness as the fundamental attribute of God, of an + original transgression and sin of the whole human race, in a divine + preparation in Hebrew history for man's redemption, in the deity, + preëxistence, virgin birth, vicarious atonement and bodily + resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord, and in his future coming to + judge the quick and the dead. I believe that these are truths of + science as well as truths of revelation; that the supernatural will + yet be seen to be most truly natural; and that not the open-minded + theologian but the narrow-minded scientist will be obliged to hide + his head at Christ's coming.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The present + volume, in its treatment of Ethical Monism, Inspiration, the + Attributes of God, and the Trinity, contains an antidote to most of + the false doctrine which now threatens the safety of the church. I + desire especially to call attention to the section on Perfection, and + the Attributes therein involved, because I believe that the recent + merging of Holiness in Love, and the practical denial that + Righteousness is fundamental in God's nature, are responsible for the + utilitarian views of law and the superficial views of sin which now + prevail in some systems of theology. There can be no proper doctrine + of the atonement and no proper doctrine of retribution, so long as + Holiness is refused its preëminence. Love must have a norm or + standard, and this norm or standard can be found only in Holiness. + The old conviction of sin and the sense of guilt that drove the + convicted sinner to the cross are inseparable from a firm belief in + the self-affirming attribute of God as logically prior to and as + conditioning the self-communicating attribute. The <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="pagexi">[pg xi]</span><a name="Pgxi" id="Pgxi" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> theology of our day needs a new view of + the Righteous One. Such a view will make it plain that God must be + reconciled before man can be saved, and that the human conscience can + be pacified only upon condition that propitiation is made to the + divine Righteousness. In this volume I propound what I regard as the + true Doctrine of God, because upon it will be based all that follows + in the volumes on the Doctrine of Man, and the Doctrine of + Salvation.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The universal + presence of Christ, the Light that lighteth every man, in heathen as + well as in Christian lands, to direct or overrule all movements of + the human mind, gives me confidence that the recent attacks upon the + Christian faith will fail of their purpose. It becomes evident at + last that not only the outworks are assaulted, but the very citadel + itself. We are asked to give up all belief in special revelation. + Jesus Christ, it is said, has come in the flesh precisely as each one + of us has come, and he was before Abraham only in the same sense that + we were. Christian experience knows how to characterize such doctrine + so soon as it is clearly stated. And the new theology will be of use + in enabling even ordinary believers to recognize soul-destroying + heresy even under the mask of professed orthodoxy.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">I make no apology + for the homiletical element in my book. To be either true or useful, + theology must be a passion. <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style="font-style: italic">Pectus est quod + theologum facit</span></span>, and no disdainful cries of + <span class="tei tei-q">“Pectoral Theology!”</span> shall prevent me + from maintaining that the eyes of the heart must be enlightened in + order to perceive the truth of God, and that to know the truth it is + needful to do the truth. Theology is a science which can be + successfully cultivated only in connection with its practical + application. I would therefore, in every discussion of its + principles, point out its relations to Christian experience, and its + power to awaken Christian emotions and lead to Christian decisions. + Abstract theology is not really scientific. Only that theology is + scientific which brings the student to the feet of + Christ.</p><span class="tei tei-pb" id="pagexii">[pg + xii]</span><a name="Pgxii" id="Pgxii" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">I would hasten the + day when in the name of Jesus every knee shall bow. I believe that, + if any man serve Christ, him the Father will honor, and that to serve + Christ means to honor him as I honor the Father. I would not pride + myself that I believe so little, but rather that I believe so much. + Faith is God's measure of a man. Why should I doubt that God spoke to + the fathers through the prophets? Why should I think it incredible + that God should raise the dead? The things that are impossible with + men are possible with God. When the Son of man comes, shall he find + faith on the earth? Let him at least find faith in us who profess to + be his followers. In the conviction that the present darkness is but + temporary and that it will be banished by a glorious sunrising, I + give this new edition of my <span class="tei tei-q">“Theology”</span> + to the public with the prayer that whatever of good seed is in it may + bring forth fruit, and that whatever plant the heavenly Father has + not planted may be rooted up.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">Rochester + Theological Seminary,</span><br /> + <span style="font-variant: small-caps">Rochester, N. Y., August 3, + 1906.</span></span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page001">[pg 001]</span><a name= + "Pg001" id="Pg001" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + <hr class="page" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> + <a name="toc3" id="toc3"></a> <a name="pdf4" id="pdf4"></a> + + <h1 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"> + <span style="font-size: 173%">Part I. Prolegomena.</span></h1> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em"> + <a name="toc5" id="toc5"></a> <a name="pdf6" id="pdf6"></a> + + <h2 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"> + <span style="font-size: 144%">Chapter I. Idea Of + Theology.</span></h2> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc7" id="toc7"></a> <a name="pdf8" id="pdf8"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">I. Definition of + Theology.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Theology is + the science of God and of the relations between God and the + universe.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Though the word</span> <span class="tei tei-q"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">theology</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is sometimes employed in dogmatic writings to + designate that single department of the science which treats of + the divine nature and attributes, prevailing usage, since + Abelard (A. D. 1079-1142) entitled his general treatise</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Theologia + Christiana,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">has included under that term the + whole range of Christian doctrine. Theology, therefore, gives + account, not only of God, but of those relations between God + and the universe in view of which we speak of Creation, + Providence and Redemption.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">John the Evangelist is called by the + Fathers</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + theologian,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">because he most fully treats of + the internal relations of the persons of the Trinity. Gregory + Nazianzen (328) received this designation because he defended + the deity of Christ against the Arians. For a modern instance + of this use of the term</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">theology</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">in the narrow sense, see the title of Dr. + Hodge's first volume:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Systematic Theology, Vol. I:</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Theology</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">But + theology is not simply</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the science of God,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">nor even</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the science of God and man.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">It also gives account of the relations between + God and the universe.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">If the universe were God, theology would be + the only science. Since the universe is but a manifestation of + God and is distinct from God, there are sciences of nature and + of mind. Theology is</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the science of the + sciences,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">not in the sense of including all + these sciences, but in the sense of using their results and of + showing their underlying ground; (see Wardlaw, Theology, 1:1, + 2). Physical science is not a part of theology. As a mere + physicist, Humboldt did not need to mention the name of God in + his</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Cosmos</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(but see Cosmos, 2:418, where Humboldt + says:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Psalm 104 + presents an image of the whole Cosmos</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">). + Bishop of Carlisle:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Science + is atheous, and therefore cannot be + atheistic.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Only when we consider the relations of finite + things to God, does the study of them furnish material for + theology. Anthropology is a part of theology, because man's + nature is the work of God and because God's dealings with man + throw light upon the character of God. God is known through his + works and his activities. Theology therefore gives account of + these works and activities so far as they come within our + knowledge. All other sciences require theology for their + complete explanation. Proudhon:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">If you go very deeply into politics, you are + sure to get into theology.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">On the</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page002">[pg 002]</span><a name="Pg002" id="Pg002" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">definition of + theology, see Luthardt, Compendium der Dogmatik, 1:2; Blunt, + Dict. Doct. and Hist. Theol., art.: Theology; H. B. Smith, + Introd. to Christ. Theol., 44; cf. Aristotle, Metaph., 10, 7, + 4; 11, 6, 4; and Lactantius, De Ira Dei, 11.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc9" id="toc9"></a> <a name="pdf10" id="pdf10"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">II. Aim of Theology.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The aim of + theology is the ascertainment of the facts respecting God and the + relations between God and the universe, and the exhibition of + these facts in their rational unity, as connected parts of a + formulated and organic system of truth.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">In defining theology as a science, we indicate + its aim. Science does not create; it discovers. Theology answers + to this description of a science. It discovers facts and + relations, but it does not create them. Fisher, Nature and Method + of Revelation, 141—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Schiller, + referring to the ardor of Columbus's faith, says that if the + great discoverer had not found a continent, he would have created + one. But faith is not creative. Had Columbus not found the + land—had there been no real object answering to his belief—his + faith would have been a mere fancy.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Because theology deals with objective facts, we + refuse to define it as</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the science of religion</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">versus</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Am. Theol. Rev., 1850:101-126, and + Thornwell, Theology, 1:139. Both the facts and the relations + with which theology has to deal have an existence independent + of the subjective mental processes of the + theologian.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Science is not only the observing, recording, + verifying, and formulating of objective facts; it is also the + recognition and explication of the relations between these + facts, and the synthesis of both the facts and the rational + principles which unite them in a comprehensive, rightly + proportioned, and organic system. Scattered bricks and timbers + are not a house; severed arms, legs, heads and trunks from a + dissecting room are not living men; and facts alone do not + constitute science. Science = facts + relations; Whewell, Hist. + Inductive Sciences, I, Introd., 43—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">There may be facts without science, as in the + knowledge of the common quarryman; there may be thought without + science, as in the early Greek philosophy.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">A. MacDonald:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The</span> <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a priori</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">method is related to the</span> + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a + posteriori</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">as the + sails to the ballast of the boat: the more philosophy the + better, provided there are a sufficient number of facts; + otherwise, there is danger of upsetting the + craft.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">President Woodrow Wilson:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“ </span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Give us the facts</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is the sharp injunction of our age to its + historians ... But facts of themselves do not constitute the + truth. The truth is abstract, not concrete. It is the just + idea, the right revelation, of what things mean. It is evoked + only by such arrangements and orderings of facts as suggest + meanings.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dove, Logic of the Christian Faith, + 14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + pursuit of science is the pursuit of + relations.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Everett, Science of Thought, + 3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Logy</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e. + g.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, in</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">theology</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">), + from λόγος, = word + reason, expression + thought, fact + + idea;</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In the + beginning was the Word.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">As theology deals with objective facts and + their relations, so its arrangement of these facts is not + optional, but is determined by the nature of the material with + which it deals. A true theology thinks over again God's + thoughts and brings them into God's order, as the builders of + Solomon's temple took the stones already hewn, and put them + into the places for which the architect had designed them; + Reginald Heber:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">No hammer + fell, no ponderous axes rung; Like some tall palm, the mystic + fabric sprung.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Scientific men have no fear that the data of + physics will narrow or cramp their intellects; no more should + they fear the objective facts which are the data of theology. + We cannot make theology, any more than we can make a law of + physical nature. As the natural philosopher is</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Naturæ + minister et interpres,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">so the theologian is the servant and + interpreter of the objective truth of God. On the Idea of + Theology as a System, see H. B. Smith, Faith and Philosophy, + 126-166.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc11" id="toc11"></a> <a name="pdf12" id="pdf12"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">III. Possibility of + Theology.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The + possibility of theology has a threefold ground: 1. In the + existence of a God who has relations to the universe; 2. In the + capacity of the human mind for knowing God and certain of these + relations; and 3. In the provision of means by which God is + brought into actual contact with the mind, or in other words, in + the provision of a revelation.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Any particular science is possible only when + three conditions combine, namely, the actual existence of the + object with which the science deals, the subjective capacity + of</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page003">[pg + 003]</span><a name="Pg003" id="Pg003" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">the human mind + to know that object, and the provision of definite means by which + the object is brought into contact with the mind. We may + illustrate the conditions of theology from selenology—the + science, not of</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">lunar + politics,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">which John Stuart Mill thought so + vain a pursuit, but of lunar physics. Selenology has three + conditions: 1. the objective existence of the moon; 2. the + subjective capacity of the human mind to know the moon; and 3. + the provision of some means (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e. + g.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, the eye and the + telescope) by which the gulf between man and the moon is bridged + over, and by which the mind can come into actual cognizance of + the facts with regard to the moon.</span></p> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc13" id="toc13"></a> <a name="pdf14" id="pdf14"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1. The existence of a God.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">In the existence + of a God who has relations to the universe.</span></span>—It + has been objected, indeed, that since God and these relations + are objects apprehended only by faith, they are not proper + objects of knowledge or subjects for science. We reply:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. Faith is + knowledge, and a higher sort of knowledge.—Physical science + also rests upon faith—faith in our own existence, in the + existence of a world objective and external to us, and in the + existence of other persons than ourselves; faith in our + primitive convictions, such as space, time, cause, substance, + design, right; faith in the trustworthiness of our faculties + and in the testimony of our fellow men. But physical science is + not thereby invalidated, because this faith, though unlike + sense-perception or logical demonstration, is yet a cognitive + act of the reason, and may be defined as certitude with respect + to matters in which verification is unattainable.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The objection to theology thus + mentioned and answered is expressed in the words of Sir + William Hamilton, Metaphysics, 44, 531—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Faith—belief—is the organ by which we + apprehend what is beyond our knowledge.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But science is knowledge, and what is beyond + our knowledge cannot be matter for science. Pres. E. G. + Robinson says well, that knowledge and faith cannot be + severed from one another, like bulkheads in a ship, the first + of which may be crushed in, while the second still keeps the + vessel afloat. The mind is one,—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">it cannot be cut in two with a + hatchet.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Faith is not antithetical to + knowledge,—it is rather a larger and more fundamental sort of + knowledge. It is never opposed to reason, but only to sight. + Tennyson was wrong when he wrote:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We have but faith: we cannot know; For + knowledge is of things we see</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(In Memoriam, Introduction). This would make + sensuous phenomena the only objects of knowledge. Faith in + supersensible realities, on the contrary, is the highest + exercise of reason.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Sir William Hamilton + consistently declares that the highest achievement of science + is the erection of an altar</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">To the Unknown God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This, however, is not the representation of + Scripture.</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 17:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">this is + life eternal, that they should know thee, the only true + God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jer. + 9:24—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">let him + that glorieth glory in that he hath understanding and knoweth + me.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">For criticism of Hamilton, see + H. B. Smith, Faith and Philosophy, 297-336. Fichte:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We are + born in faith.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Even Goethe called himself a believer in the + five senses. Balfour, Defence of Philosophic Doubt, 277-295, + shows that intuitive beliefs in space, time, cause, + substance, right, are presupposed in the acquisition of all + other knowledge. Dove, Logic of the Christian Faith, + 14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If + theology is to be overthrown because it starts from some + primary terms and propositions, then all other sciences are + overthrown with it.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Mozley, Miracles, defines faith as</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">unverified reason.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See A. H. Strong, Philosophy and Religion, + 19-30.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. Faith is + a knowledge conditioned by holy affection.—The faith which + apprehends God's being and working is not opinion or + imagination. It is certitude with regard to spiritual + realities, upon the testimony of our rational nature and upon + the testimony of God. Its only peculiarity as a cognitive act + of the reason is that it is conditioned by holy affection. As + the science of æsthetics is a product of reason as including a + power of recognizing beauty practically inseparable from a love + for beauty, and as the science of ethics is a product of reason + as including a power of recognizing the morally right + practically inseparable from a love for the morally right, so + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page004">[pg 004]</span><a name= + "Pg004" id="Pg004" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> the science of + theology is a product of reason, but of reason as including a + power of recognizing God which is practically inseparable from + a love for God.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We here use the term</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">reason</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">to signify the mind's whole power of + knowing. Reason in this sense includes states of the + sensibility, so far as they are indispensable to knowledge. + We cannot know an orange by the eye alone; to the + understanding of it, taste is as necessary as sight. The + mathematics of sound cannot give us an understanding of + music; we need also a musical ear. Logic alone cannot + demonstrate the beauty of a sunset, or of a noble character; + love for the beautiful and the right precedes knowledge of + the beautiful and the right. Ullman draws attention to the + derivation of</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sapientia</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + wisdom, from</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sapĕre</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + to taste. So we cannot know God by intellect alone; the heart + must go with the intellect to make knowledge of divine things + possible.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Human + things,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">said Pascal,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">need only to be known, in order to be loved; + but divine things must first be loved, in order to be + known.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">This + [religious] faith of the intellect,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">said Kant,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">is founded on the assumption of moral + tempers.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">If one were utterly indifferent + to moral laws, the philosopher continues, even then religious + truths</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">would + be supported by strong arguments from analogy, but not by + such as an obstinate, sceptical heart might not + overcome.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Faith, then, is the highest + knowledge, because it is the act of the integral soul, the + insight, not of one eye alone, but of the two eyes of the + mind, intellect and love to God. With one eye we can see an + object as flat, but, if we wish to see around it and get the + stereoptic effect, we must use both eyes. It is not the + theologian, but the undevout astronomer, whose science is + one-eyed and therefore incomplete. The errors of the + rationalist are errors of defective vision. Intellect has + been divorced from heart, that is, from a right disposition, + right affections, right purpose in life. Intellect + says:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + cannot know God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; and intellect is right. What intellect + says, the Scripture also says:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 2:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: + for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, + because they are spiritually judged</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">; + 1:21—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">in the + wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not + God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The Scripture on the other hand + declares that</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">by faith we know</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Heb. + 11:3)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. By</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">heart</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the Scripture means simply the governing + disposition, or the sensibility + the will; and it intimates + that the heart is an organ of knowledge:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ex. + 35:25—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + women that were wise-hearted</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 34:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">O taste + and see that Jehovah is good</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= a right taste precedes correct + sight;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jer. + 24:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I will + give them a heart to know me</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 5:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Blessed + are the pure in heart; for they shall see + God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 24:25—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">slow of + heart to believe</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 7:17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If any + man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching, + whether it is of God, or whether I speak from + myself</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 1:18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">having + the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may + know</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 John 4:7, + 8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Every + one that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God. He that + loveth not knoweth not God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Frank, Christian Certainty, 303-324; + Clarke, Christ. Theol., 362; Illingworth, Div. and Hum. + Personality, 114-137; R. T. Smith, Man's Knowledge of Man and + of God, 6; Fisher, Nat. and Method of Rev., 6; William James, + The Will to Believe, 1-31; Geo. T. Ladd, on Lotze's view that + love is essential to the knowledge of God, in New World, + Sept. 1895:401-406; Gunsaulus, Transfig. of Christ, 14, + 15.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">C. Faith, + therefore, can furnish, and only faith can furnish, fit and + sufficient material for a scientific theology.—As an operation + of man's higher rational nature, though distinct from ocular + vision or from reasoning, faith is not only a kind, but the + highest kind, of knowing. It gives us understanding of + realities which to sense alone are inaccessible, namely, God's + existence, and some at least of the relations between God and + his creation.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Philippi, Glaubenslehre, 1:50, + follows Gerhard in making faith the joint act of intellect + and will. Hopkins, Outline Study of Man, 77, 78, speaks not + only of</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + æsthetic reason</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">but of</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the moral reason.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Murphy, Scientific Bases of Faith, 91, 109, + 145, 191—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Faith + is the certitude concerning matter in which verification is + unattainable.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Emerson, Essays, 2:96—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Belief consists in accepting the + affirmations of the soul—unbelief in rejecting + them.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Morell, Philos. of Religion, 38, + 52, 53, quotes Coleridge:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Faith consists in the synthesis of the + reason and of the individual will, ... and by virtue of the + former (that is, reason), faith must be a light, a form of + knowing, a beholding</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page005">[pg 005]</span><a name="Pg005" id="Pg005" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">of + truth.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Faith, then, is not to be + pictured as a blind girl clinging to a cross—faith is not + blind—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Else + the cross may just as well be a crucifix or an image of + Gaudama.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Blind + unbelief,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">not blind faith,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">is sure + to err, And scan his works in vain.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">As in conscience we recognize an invisible + authority, and know the truth just in proportion to our + willingness to</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">do the + truth,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">so in religion only holiness can + understand holiness, and only love can understand love + (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 3:21—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he that + doeth the truth cometh to the light</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">).</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">If a right state of heart be + indispensable to faith and so to the knowledge of God, can + there be any</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">theologia irregenitorum,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">or theology of the unregenerate? Yes, we + answer; just as the blind man can have a science of optics. + The testimony of others gives it claims upon him; the dim + light penetrating the obscuring membrane corroborates this + testimony. The unregenerate man can know God as power and + justice, and can fear him. But this is not a knowledge of + God's inmost character; it furnishes some material for a + defective and ill-proportioned theology; but it does not + furnish fit or sufficient material for a correct theology. + As, in order to make his science of optics satisfactory and + complete, the blind man must have the cataract removed from + his eyes by some competent oculist, so, in order to any + complete or satisfactory theology, the veil must be taken + away from the heart by God himself (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Cor. 3:15, + 16</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a + veil lieth upon their heart. But whensoever it</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">[marg.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">a man</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">]</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">shall turn to the Lord, + the veil is taken away</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">).</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Our doctrine that faith is + knowledge and the highest knowledge is to be distinguished + from that of Ritschl, whose theology is an appeal to the + heart to the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">exclusion</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of the head—to</span> + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">fiducia</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">without</span> <span lang="la" + class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">notitia</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">. + But</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">fiducia</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">includes</span> <span lang="la" + class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">notitia</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + else it is blind, irrational, and unscientific. Robert + Browning, in like manner, fell into a deep speculative error, + when, in order to substantiate his optimistic faith, he + stigmatized human knowledge as merely apparent. The appeal of + both Ritschl and Browning from the head to the heart should + rather be an appeal from the narrower knowledge of the mere + intellect to the larger knowledge conditioned upon right + affection. See A. H. Strong, The Great Poets and their + Theology, 441. On Ritschl's postulates, see Stearns, Evidence + of Christian Experience, 274-280, and Pfleiderer, Die + Ritschl'sche Theologie. On the relation of love and will to + knowledge, see Kaftan, in Am. Jour. Theology, 1900:717; + Hovey, Manual Christ. Theol., 9; Foundations of our Faith, + 12, 13; Shedd, Hist. Doct., 1:154-164; Presb. Quar., Oct. + 1871, Oct. 1872, Oct. 1873; Calderwood, Philos. Infinite, 99, + 117; Van Oosterzee, Dogmatics, 2-8; New Englander, July, + 1873:481; Princeton Rev., 1864:122; Christlieb, Mod. Doubt, + 124, 125; Grau, Glaube als höchste Vernunft, in Beweis des + Glaubens, 1865:110; Dorner, Gesch. prot. Theol., 228; Newman, + Univ. Sermons, 206; Hinton, Art of Thinking, Introd. by + Hodgson, 5.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc15" id="toc15"></a> <a name="pdf16" id="pdf16"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 2. Man's capacity for the knowledge of God</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">In the capacity + of the human mind for knowing God and certain of these + relations.</span></span>—But it has urged that such knowledge + is impossible for the following reasons:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. Because + we can know only phenomena. We reply: (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + We know mental as well as physical phenomena. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + In knowing phenomena, whether mental or physical, we know + substance as underlying the phenomena, as manifested through + them, and as constituting their ground of unity. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + Our minds bring to the observation of phenomena not only this + knowledge of substance, but also knowledge of time, space, + cause, and right, realities which are in no sense phenomenal. + Since these objects of knowledge are not phenomenal, the fact + that God is not phenomenal cannot prevent us from knowing + him.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">What substance is, we need not + here determine. Whether we are realists or idealists, we are + compelled to grant that there cannot be phenomena without + noumena, cannot be appearances without something that + appears, cannot be qualities without something that is + qualified. This something which underlies or stands under + appearance or quality we call substance. We are Lotzeans + rather than Kantians, in our philosophy. To say that we know, + not the self, but only its manifestations in thought, is to + confound self with its thinking and to teach psychology + without a soul. To say that we know no external world, but + only its manifestations in sensations, is to ignore the + principle that binds these sensations together; for without a + somewhat in which qualities inhere they can have no ground of + unity. In like manner, to say that we know nothing of</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page006">[pg 006]</span><a name= + "Pg006" id="Pg006" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God but his manifestations, is to confound + God with the world and practically to deny that there is a + God.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Stählin, in his work on Kant, + Lotze and Ritschl, 186-191, 218, 219, says well that</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">limitation of knowledge to phenomena + involves the elimination from theology of all claim to know + the objects of the Christian faith as they are in + themselves.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This criticism justly classes Ritschl with + Kant, rather than with Lotze who maintains that knowing + phenomena we know also the noumena manifested in them. While + Ritschl professes to follow Lotze, the whole drift of his + theology is in the direction of the Kantian identification of + the world with our sensations, mind with our thoughts, and + God with such activities of his as we can perceive. A divine + nature apart from its activities, a preexistent Christ, an + immanent Trinity, are practically denied. Assertions that God + is self-conscious love and fatherhood become judgments of + merely subjective value. On Ritschl, see the works of Orr, of + Garvie, and of Swing; also Minton, in Pres. and Ref. Rev., + Jan. 1902:162-169, and C. W. Hodge,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">ibid.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + Apl. 1902:321-326; Flint, Agnosticism, 590-597; Everett, + Essays Theol. and Lit., 92-99.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We grant that we can know God + only so far as his activities reveal him, and so far as our + minds and hearts are receptive of his revelation. The + appropriate faculties must be exercised—not the mathematical, + the logical, or the prudential, but the ethical and the + religious. It is the merit of Ritschl that he recognizes the + practical in distinction from the speculative reason; his + error is in not recognizing that, when we do thus use the + proper powers of knowing, we gain not merely subjective but + also objective truth, and come in contact not simply with + God's activities but also with God himself. Normal religious + judgments, though dependent upon subjective conditions, are + not simply</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">judgments of worth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">or</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">value-judgments,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—they give us the knowledge of</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">things + in themselves.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Edward Caird says of his brother John Caird + (Fund. Ideas of Christianity, Introd. + cxxi)—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + conviction that God can be known and is known, and that, in + the deepest sense, all our knowledge is knowledge of him, was + the corner-stone of his theology.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Ritschl's phenomenalism is + allied to the positivism of Comte, who regarded all so-called + knowledge of other than phenomenal objects as purely + negative. The phrase</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Positive Philosophy</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">implies indeed that all knowledge of mind is + negative; see Comte, Pos. Philosophy, Martineau's + translation, 26, 28, 33—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">In order to observe, your intellect must + pause from activity—yet it is this very activity you want to + observe. If you cannot effect the pause, you cannot observe; + if you do effect it, there is nothing to + observe.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">This view is refuted by the two + facts; (1) consciousness, and (2) memory; for consciousness + is the knowing of the self side by side with the knowing of + its thoughts, and memory is the knowing of the self side by + side with the knowing of its past; see Martineau, Essays + Philos. and Theol., 1:24-40, 207-212. By phenomena we + mean</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">facts, + in distinction from their ground, principle, or + law</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">neither phenomena nor qualities, as such, + are perceived, but objects, percepts, or beings; and it is by + an after-thought or reflex process that these are connected + as qualities and are referred to as + substances</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; see Porter, Human Intellect, 51, 238, 520, + 619-637, 640-645.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Phenomena may be + internal,</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e. + g.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, thoughts; in + this case the noumenon is the mind, of which these thoughts + are the manifestations. Or, phenomena may be external,</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e. + g.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, color, + hardness, shape, size; in this case the noumenon is matter, + of which these qualities are the manifestations. But + qualities, whether mental or material, imply the existence of + a substance to which they belong: they can no more be + conceived of as existing apart from substance, than the upper + side of a plank can be conceived of as existing without an + under side; see Bowne, Review of Herbert Spencer, 47, + 207-217; Martineau, Types of Ethical Theory, 1; 455, + 456—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Comte's + assumption that mind cannot know itself or its states is + exactly balanced by Kant's assumption that mind cannot know + anything outside of itself.... It is precisely because all + knowledge is of relations that it is not and cannot be of + phenomena alone. The absolute cannot</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">per se</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">be known, because in being known + it would</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">ipso facto</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">enter into relations and be + absolute no more. But neither can the phenomenal</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">per se</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">be known,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, be known as + phenomenal, without simultaneous cognition of what is + non-phenomenal.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">McCosh, Intuitions, 138-154, states the + characteristics of substance as (1) being, (2) power, (3) + permanence. Diman, Theistic Argument, 337, + 363—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + theory that disproves God, disproves an external world and + the existence of the soul.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We know something beyond phenomena, viz.: + law, cause, force,—or we can have no science; see Tulloch, on + Comte, in Modern Theories, 53-73; see also Bib. Sac., + 1874:211; Alden, Philosophy, 44; Hopkins, Outline Study of + Man, 87; Fleming, Vocab. of Philosophy, art.: Phenomena; New + Englander, July, 1875:537-539.</span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page007">[pg + 007]</span><a name="Pg007" id="Pg007" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. Because + we can know only that which bears analogy to our own nature or + experience. We reply: (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) It is not essential to + knowledge that there be similarity of nature between the knower + and the known. We know by difference as well as by likeness. + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Our past experience, + though greatly facilitating new acquisitions, is not the + measure of our possible knowledge. Else the first act of + knowledge would be inexplicable, and all revelation of higher + characters to lower would be precluded, as well as all progress + to knowledge which surpasses our present attainments. + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) Even if knowledge + depended upon similarity of nature and experience, we might + still know God, since we are made in God's image, and there are + important analogies between the divine nature and our own.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + The dictum of Empedocles,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Similia similibus + percipiuntur,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">must be supplemented by a second + dictum,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Similia + dissimilibus percipiuntur.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">All things are alike, in being objects. But + knowing is distinguishing, and there must be contrast between + objects to awaken our attention. God knows sin, though it is + the antithesis to his holy being. The ego knows the non-ego. + We cannot know even self, without objectifying it, + distinguishing it from its thoughts, and regarding it as + another.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Versus</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Herbert Spencer, First + Principles, 79-82—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Knowledge is recognition and + classification.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But we reply that a thing must first be + perceived in order to be recognized or compared with + something else; and this is as true of the first sensation as + of the later and more definite forms of knowledge,—indeed + there is no sensation which does not involve, as its + complement, an at least incipient perception; see Sir William + Hamilton, Metaphysics, 351, 352; Porter, Human Intellect, + 206.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + Porter, Human Intellect, 486—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Induction is possible only upon the + assumption that the intellect of man is a reflex of the + divine intellect, or that man is made in the image of + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Note, however, that man is made + in God's image, not God in man's. The painting is the image + of the landscape, not,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">vice + versa</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, the + landscape the image of the painting; for there is much in the + landscape that has nothing corresponding to it in the + painting. Idolatry perversely makes God in the image of man, + and so deifies man's weakness and impurity. Trinity in God + may have no exact counterpart in man's present constitution, + though it may disclose to us the goal of man's future + development and the meaning of the increasing differentiation + of man's powers. Gore, Incarnation, 116—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">If anthropomorphism as applied to God is + false, yet theomorphism as applied to man is true; man is + made in God's image, and his qualities are, not the measure + of the divine, but their counterpart and real + expression.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Murphy, Scientific Bases, 122; McCosh, + in Internat. Rev., 1875:105; Bib. Sac., 1867:624; Martineau, + Types of Ethical Theory, 2:4-8, and Study of Religion, + 1:94.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">C. Because + we know only that of which we can conceive, in the sense of + forming an adequate mental image. We reply: (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + It is true that we know only that of which we can conceive, if + by the term <span class="tei tei-q">“conceive”</span> we mean + our distinguishing in thought the object known from all other + objects. But, (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) The objection confounds + conception with that which is merely its occasional + accompaniment and help, namely, the picturing of the object by + the imagination. In this sense, conceivability is not a final + test of truth. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) That the formation of a + mental image is not essential to conception or knowledge, is + plain when we remember that, as a matter of fact, we both + conceive and know many things of which we cannot form a mental + image of any sort that in the least corresponds to the reality; + for example, force, cause, law, space, our own minds. So we may + know God, though we cannot form an adequate mental image of + him.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The objection here refuted is + expressed most clearly in the words of Herbert Spencer, First + Principles, 25-36, 98—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The reality underlying appearances is + totally and forever inconceivable by us.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Mansel, Prolegomena Logica, 77, 78 + (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">26) suggests the source of this + error in a wrong view of the nature of the concept:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + first distinguishing</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page008">[pg 008]</span><a name="Pg008" id="Pg008" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">feature of + a concept, viz.: that it cannot in itself be depicted to + sense or imagination.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Porter, Human Intellect, 392 (see also 429, + 656)—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">concept</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is not a mental + image</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—only the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">percept</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is. Lotze:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Color in general is not representable by any + image; it looks neither green nor red, but has no look + whatever.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The generic horse has no + particular color, though the individual horse may be black, + white, or bay. So Sir William Hamilton speaks of</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + unpicturable notions of the intelligence.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Martineau, Religion and + Materialism, 39, 40—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">This doctrine of Nescience stands in exactly + the same relation to causal power, whether you construe it as + Material Force or as Divine Agency. Neither can be</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">observed</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; + one or the other must be</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">assumed</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + If you admit to the category of knowledge only what we learn + from observation, particular or generalized, then is Force + unknown; if you extend the word to what is imported by the + intellect itself into our cognitive acts, to make them such, + then is God known.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Matter, ether, energy, protoplasm, organism, + life,—no one of these can be portrayed to the imagination; + yet Mr. Spencer deals with them as objects of Science. If + these are not inscrutable, why should he regard the Power + that gives unity to all things as inscrutable?</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Herbert Spencer is not in fact + consistent with himself, for in divers parts of his writings + he calls the inscrutable Reality back of phenomena the one, + eternal, ubiquitous, infinite, ultimate, absolute Existence, + Power and Cause.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It + seems,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">says Father Dalgairns,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">that a + great deal is known about the Unknowable.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Chadwick, Unitarianism, + 75—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + beggar phrase</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Unknowable</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">becomes, after Spencer's repeated + designations of it, as rich as Croesus with all saving + knowledge.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Matheson:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">To know that we know nothing is already to + have reached a fact of knowledge.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">If Mr. Spencer intended to exclude God from + the realm of Knowledge, he should first have excluded him + from the realm of Existence; for to grant that he is, is + already to grant that we not only may know him, but that we + actually to some extent do know him; see D. J. Hill, Genetic + Philosophy, 22; McCosh, Intuitions, 186-189 (Eng. ed., 214); + Murphy, Scientific Bases, 133; Bowne, Review of Spencer, + 30-34; New Englander, July, 1875:543, 544; Oscar Craig, in + Presb. Rev., July, 1883:594-602.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">D. Because + we can know truly only that which we know in whole and not in + part. We reply: (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) The objection confounds + partial knowledge with the knowledge of a part. We know the + mind in part, but we do not know a part of the mind. + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) If the objection were + valid, no real knowledge of anything would be possible, since + we know no single thing in all its relations. We conclude that, + although God is a being not composed of parts, we may yet have + a partial knowledge of him, and this knowledge, though not + exhaustive, may yet be real, and adequate to the purposes of + science.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + The objection mentioned in the text is urged by Mansel, + Limits of Religious Thought, 97, 98, and is answered by + Martineau, Essays, 1:291. The mind does not exist in space, + and it has no parts: we cannot speak of its south-west + corner, nor can we divide it into halves. Yet we find the + material for mental science in partial knowledge of the mind. + So, while we are not</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">geographers of the divine + nature</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(Bowne, Review of Spencer, 72), + we may say with Paul, not</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">now know we a part of + God,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">but</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">now I + know [God], in part</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(1 Cor. + 13:12)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. We may know + truly what we do not know exhaustively; see</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 3:19—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">to know + the love of Christ which passeth + knowledge.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">I do not perfectly understand + myself, yet I know myself in part; so I may know God, though + I do not perfectly understand him.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + The same argument that proves God unknowable proves the + universe unknowable also. Since every particle of matter in + the universe attracts every other, no one particle can be + exhaustively explained without taking account of all the + rest. Thomas Carlyle:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is a mathematical fact that the casting + of this pebble from my hand alters the centre of gravity of + the universe.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Tennyson, Higher Pantheism:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Flower + in the crannied wall, I pluck you out of the crannies; Hold + you here, root and all, in my hand, Little flower; but if I + could understand What you are, root and all, and all in all, + I should know what God and man is.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Schurman, Agnosticism, + 119—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Partial + as it is, this vision of the divine transfigures the life of + man on earth.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Pfleiderer, Philos. Religion, + 1:167—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A + faint-hearted agnosticism is worse than the arrogant and + titanic gnosticism against which it + protests.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page009">[pg + 009]</span><a name="Pg009" id="Pg009" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">E. Because + all predicates of God are negative, and therefore furnish no + real knowledge. We answer: (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + Predicates derived from our consciousness, such as spirit, + love, and holiness, are positive. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + The terms <span class="tei tei-q">“infinite”</span> and + <span class="tei tei-q">“absolute,”</span> moreover, express + not merely a negative but a positive idea—the idea, in the + former case, of the absence of all limit, the idea that the + object thus described goes on and on forever; the idea, in the + latter case, of entire self-sufficiency. Since predicates of + God, therefore, are not merely negative, the argument mentioned + above furnishes no valid reason why we may not know him.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Versus</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Sir William Hamilton, + Metaphysics, 530—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + absolute and the infinite can each only be conceived as a + negation of the thinkable; in other words, of the absolute + and infinite we have no conception at all.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hamilton here confounds the infinite, or the + absence of</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">all</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">limits, with the indefinite, or + the absence of all</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">known</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">limits.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Per + contra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, see + Calderwood, Moral Philosophy, 248, and Philosophy of the + Infinite, 272—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Negation of one thing is possible only by + affirmation of another.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Porter, Human Intellect, + 652—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If the + Sandwich Islanders, for lack of name, had called the ox + a</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">not-hog</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + the use of a negative appellation would not necessarily + authorize the inference of a want of definite conceptions or + positive knowledge.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">So with the infinite or not-finite, the + unconditioned or not-conditioned, the independent or + not-dependent,—these names do not imply that we cannot + conceive and know it as something positive. Spencer, First + Principles, 92—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Our + consciousness of the Absolute, indefinite though it is, is + positive, and not negative.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Schurman, Agnosticism, 100, + speaks of</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + farce of nescience playing at omniscience in setting the + bounds of science.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The agnostic,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">he says,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">sets up the invisible picture of a</span> + <span class="tei tei-foreign"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Grand + Être</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, formless and + colorless in itself, absolutely separated from man and from + the world—blank within and void without—its very existence + indistinguishable from its non-existence, and, bowing down + before this idolatrous creation, he pours out his soul in + lamentations over the incognizableness of such a mysterious + and awful non-entity.... The truth is that the agnostic's + abstraction of a Deity is unknown, only because it is + unreal.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See McCosh, Intuitions, 194, + note; Mivart, Lessons from Nature, 363. God is not + necessarily infinite in every respect. He is infinite only in + every excellence. A plane which is unlimited in the one + respect of length may be limited in another respect, such as + breadth. Our doctrine here is not therefore inconsistent with + what immediately follows.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">F. Because + to know is to limit or define. Hence the Absolute as unlimited, + and the Infinite as undefined, cannot be known. We answer: + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) God is absolute, not as + existing in <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">no</span></em> relation, but as existing + in no <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">necessary</span></em> relation; and + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) God is infinite, not as + excluding all coexistence of the finite with himself, but as + being the ground of the finite, and so unfettered by it. + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) God is actually limited + by the unchangeableness of his own attributes and personal + distinctions, as well as by his self-chosen relations to the + universe he has created and to humanity in the person of + Christ. God is therefore limited and defined in such a sense as + to render knowledge of him possible.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Versus</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Mansel, Limitations of Religious + Thought, 75-84, 93-95;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Spinoza:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Omnis determinatio est + negatio;</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">hence to define God is to deny + him. But we reply that perfection is inseparable from + limitation. Man can be other than he is: not so God, at least + internally. But this limitation, inherent in his unchangeable + attributes and personal distinctions, is God's perfection. + Externally, all limitations upon God are self-limitations, + and so are consistent with his perfection. That God should + not be able thus to limit himself in creation and redemption + would render all self-sacrifice in him impossible, and so + would subject him to the greatest of limitations. We may say + therefore that God's 1.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Perfection</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">involves his limitation to + (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + personality, (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + trinity, (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + righteousness; 2.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + Revelation</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">involves his self-limitation in + (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + decree, (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + creation, (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + preservation, (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">d</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + government, (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + education of the world; 3.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Redemption</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">involves</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page010">[pg 010]</span><a name="Pg010" id= + "Pg010" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">his infinite self-limitation in the + (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + person and (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + work of Jesus Christ; see A. H. Strong, Christ in Creation, + 87-101, and in Bap. Quar. Rev., Jan. 1891:521-532.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Bowne, Philos. of Theism, + 135—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + infinite is not the quantitative all; the absolute is not the + unrelated.... Both absolute and infinite mean only the + independent ground of things.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Julius Müller, Doct. Sin, Introduc., + 10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Religion has to do, not with</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">an</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">Object + that must let itself be known because its very existence is + contingent upon its being known, but with</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">the</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Object in relation to whom we + are truly subject, dependent upon him, and waiting until he + manifest himself.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">James Martineau, Study of Religion, + 1:346—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We must + not confound the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">infinite</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">with the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">total</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.... + The self-abnegation of infinity is but a form of + self-assertion, and the only form in which it can reveal + itself.... However instantaneous the omniscient thought, + however sure the almighty power, the execution has to be + distributed in time, and must have an order of successive + steps; on no other terms can the eternal become temporal, and + the infinite articulately speak in the + finite.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Perfect personality excludes, + not</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">self</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">-determination, + but determination</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + from without</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + determination</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">by + another</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. God's + self-limitations are the self-limitations of love, and + therefore the evidences of his perfection. They are signs, + not of weakness but of power. God has limited himself to the + method of evolution, gradually unfolding himself in nature + and in history. The government of sinners by a holy God + involves constant self-repression. The education of the race + is a long process of divine forbearance; Herder:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + limitations of the pupil are limitations of the teacher + also.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In inspiration, God limits + himself by the human element through which he works. Above + all, in the person and work of Christ, we have infinite + self-limitation: Infinity narrows itself down to a point in + the incarnation, and holiness endures the agonies of the + Cross. God's promises are also self-limitations. Thus both + nature and grace are self-imposed restrictions upon God, and + these self-limitations are the means by which he reveals + himself. See Pfleiderer, Die Religion, 1:189, 195; Porter, + Human Intellect, 653; Murphy, Scientific Bases, 130; + Calderwood, Philos. Infinite, 168; McCosh, Intuitions, 186; + Hickok, Rational Cosmology, 85; Martineau, Study of Religion, + 2:85, 86, 362; Shedd, Dogmatic Theology, + 1:189-191.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">G. Because + all knowledge is relative to the knowing agent; that is, what + we know, we know, not as it is objectively, but only as it is + related to our own senses and faculties. In reply: + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) We grant that we can know + only that which has relation to our faculties. But this is + simply to say that we know only that which we come into mental + contact with, that is, we know only what we know. But, + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) We deny that what we come + into mental contact with is known by us as other than it is. So + far as it is known at all, it is known as it is. In other + words, the laws of our knowing are not merely arbitrary and + regulative, but correspond to the nature of things. We conclude + that, in theology, we are equally warranted in assuming that + the laws of our thought are laws of God's thought, and that the + results of normally conducted thinking with regard to God + correspond to the objective reality.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Versus</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Sir Wm. Hamilton, Metaph., + 96-116, and Herbert Spencer, First Principles, 68-97. This + doctrine of relativity is derived from Kant, Critique of Pure + Reason, who holds that</span> <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a priori</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">judgments are simply</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">regulative.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But we reply that when our primitive beliefs + are found to be simply regulative, they will cease to + regulate. The forms of thought are also facts of nature. The + mind does not, like the glass of a kaleidoscope, itself + furnish the forms; it recognizes these as having an existence + external to itself. The mind reads its ideas, not</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">into</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">nature, but</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">nature. Our intuitions are not + green goggles, which make all the world</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">seem</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">green: they are the lenses of a + microscope, which enable us to see what is objectively</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">real</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(Royce, Spirit of Mod. Philos., + 125). Kant called our understanding</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the legislator of nature.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But it is so, only as discoverer of nature's + laws, not as creator of them. Human reason does impose its + laws and forms upon the universe; but, in doing this, it + interprets the real meaning of the universe.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Ladd, Philos. of + Knowledge:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">All + judgment implies an objective truth according</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page011">[pg 011]</span><a name= + "Pg011" id="Pg011" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">to which we judge, which constitutes the + standard, and with which we have something in common,</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, our minds are + part of an infinite and eternal Mind.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">French aphorism:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">When you are right, you are more right than + you think you are.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">God will not put us to permanent + intellectual confusion. Kant vainly wrote</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">No thoroughfare</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">over the reason in its highest exercise. + Martineau, Study of Religion, 1:135, 136—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Over against Kant's assumption that the mind + cannot know anything outside of itself, we may set Comte's + equally unwarrantable assumption that the mind cannot know + itself or its states. We cannot have philosophy without + assumptions. You dogmatize if you say that the forms + correspond with reality; but you equally dogmatize if you say + that they do not.... 79—That our cognitive faculties + correspond to things</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">as they + are</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, is much less + surprising than that they should correspond to things</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">as they are + not</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">W. T. Harris, in Journ. Spec. Philos., 1:22, + exposes Herbert Spencer's self-contradiction:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">All + knowledge is, not absolute, but relative; our knowledge of + this fact however is, not relative, but + absolute.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Ritschl, Justification and + Reconciliation, 3:16-21, sets out with a correct statement of + the nature of knowledge, and gives in his adhesion to the + doctrine of Lotze, as distinguished from that of Kant. + Ritschl's statement may be summarized as follows:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We + deal, not with the abstract God of metaphysics, but with the + God self-limited, who is revealed in Christ. We do not know + either things or God</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">apart from</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">their phenomena or + manifestations, as Plato imagined; we do not know phenomena + or manifestations</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + alone</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, without + knowing either things or God, as Kant supposed; but we do + know both things and God</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">their phenomena or + manifestations, as Lotze taught. We hold to no mystical union + with God, back of all experience in religion, as Pietism + does; soul is always and only active, and religion is the + activity of the human spirit, in which feeling, knowing and + willing combine in an intelligible order.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">But Dr. C. M. Mead, Ritschl's + Place in the History of Doctrine, has well shown that Ritschl + has not followed Lotze. His</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">value-judgments</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">are simply an application to theology of + the</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">regulative</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">principle of Kant. He holds that we can know + things not as they are in themselves, but only as they are + for us. We reply that what things are worth for us depends on + what they are in themselves. Ritschl regards the doctrines of + Christ's preexistence, divinity and atonement as intrusions + of metaphysics into theology, matters about which we cannot + know, and with which we have nothing to do. There is no + propitiation or mystical union with Christ; and Christ is our + Example, but not our atoning Savior. Ritschl does well in + recognizing that love in us gives eyes to the mind, and + enables us to see the beauty of Christ and his truth. But our + judgment is not, as he holds, a merely subjective + value-judgment,—it is a coming in contact with objective + fact. On the theory of knowledge held by Kant, Hamilton and + Spencer, see Bishop Temple, Bampton Lectures for 1884:13; H. + B. Smith, Faith and Philosophy, 297-336; J. S. Mill, + Examination, 1:113-134; Herbert, Modern Realism Examined; M. + B. Anderson, art.:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hamilton,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">in Johnson's Encyclopædia; McCosh, + Intuitions, 139-146, 340, 341, and Christianity and + Positivism, 97-123; Maurice, What is Revelation? Alden, + Intellectual Philosophy, 48-79, esp. 71-79; Porter, Hum. + Intellect, 523; Murphy, Scientific Bases, 103; Bib. Sac. + April, 1868:341; Princeton Rev., 1864:122; Bowne, Review of + Herbert Spencer, 76; Bowen, in Princeton Rev., March, + 1878:445-448; Mind, April, 1878:257; Carpenter, Mental + Physiology, 117; Harris, Philos. Basis of Theism, 109-113; + Iverach, in Present Day Tracts, 5: No. 29; Martineau, Study + of Religion, 1:79, 120, 121, 135, 136.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc17" id="toc17"></a> <a name="pdf18" id="pdf18"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 3. God's revelation of himself to man.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">In God's actual + revelation of himself and certain of these + relations.</span></span>—As we do not in this place attempt a + positive proof of God's existence or of man's capacity for the + knowledge of God, so we do not now attempt to prove that God + has brought himself into contact with man's mind by revelation. + We shall consider the grounds of this belief hereafter. Our aim + at present is simply to show that, granting the fact of + revelation, a scientific theology is possible. This has been + denied upon the following grounds:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. That + revelation, as a making known, is necessarily internal and + subjective—either a mode of intelligence, or a quickening of + man's cognitive powers—and hence can furnish no objective facts + such as constitute the proper material for + science.</p><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page012">[pg + 012]</span><a name="Pg012" id="Pg012" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Morell, Philos. Religion, + 128-131, 143—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Bible cannot in strict accuracy of language be called a + revelation, since a revelation always implies an actual + process of intelligence in a living mind.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">F. W. Newman, Phases of Faith, + 152—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Of our + moral and spiritual God we know nothing without—everything + within.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Theodore Parker:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Verbal + revelation can never communicate a simple idea like that of + God, Justice, Love, Religion</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; see review of Parker in Bib. Sac., + 18:24-27. James Martineau, Seat of Authority in + Religion:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">As many + minds as there are that know God at first hand, so many + revealing acts there have been, and as many as know him at + second hand are strangers to revelation</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; so, assuming external revelation to be + impossible, Martineau subjects all the proofs of such + revelation to unfair destructive criticism. Pfleiderer, + Philos. Religion, 1:185—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">As all revelation is originally an</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">inner</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">living experience, the springing + up of religious truth in the heart, no external event can + belong in itself to revelation, no matter whether it be + naturally or supernaturally brought about.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Professor George M. Forbes:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Nothing + can be revealed to us which we do not grasp with our reason. + It follows that, so far as reason acts normally, it is a part + of revelation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ritchie, Darwin and Hegel, + 30—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + revelation of God is the growth of the idea of + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In reply to + this objection, urged mainly by idealists in philosophy, + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) We grant that revelation, + to be effective, must be the means of inducing a new mode of + intelligence, or in other words, must be understood. We grant + that this understanding of divine things is impossible without + a quickening of man's cognitive powers. We grant, moreover, + that revelation, when originally imparted, was often internal + and subjective.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Matheson, Moments on the Mount, + 51-53, on</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gal. + 1:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">to + reveal his Son in me</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The revelation on the way to Damascus would + not have enlightened Paul, had it been merely a vision to his + eye. Nothing can be revealed</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">to</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">us which has not been + revealed</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">us. The eye does not see the + beauty of the landscape, nor the ear hear the beauty of + music. So flesh and blood do not reveal Christ to us. Without + the teaching of the Spirit, the external facts will be only + like the letters of a book to a child that cannot + read.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We may say with Channing:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I am + more sure that my rational nature is from God, than that any + book is the expression of his will.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) But we deny that external + revelation is therefore useless or impossible. Even if + religious ideas sprang wholly from within, an external + revelation might stir up the dormant powers of the mind. + Religious ideas, however, do not spring wholly from within. + External revelation can impart them. Man can reveal himself to + man by external communications, and, if God has equal power + with man, God can reveal himself to man in like manner.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Rogers, in his Eclipse of Faith, + asks pointedly:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If + Messrs. Morell and Newman can teach by a book, cannot God do + the same?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Lotze, Microcosmos, 2:660 (book + 9, chap. 4), speaks of revelation as</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">either contained in some divine act of + historic occurrence, or continually repeated in men's + hearts.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">But in fact there is no + alternative here; the strength of the Christian creed is that + God's revelation is both external and internal; see Gore, in + Lux Mundi, 338. Rainy, in Critical Review, 1:1-21, well says + that Martineau unwarrantably</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">isolates</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">the witness of God to the + individual soul. The inward needs to be combined with the + outward, in order to make sure that it is not a vagary of the + imagination. We need to distinguish God's revelations from + our own fancies. Hence, before giving the internal, God + commonly gives us the external, as a standard by which to try + our impressions. We are finite and sinful, and we need + authority. The external revelation commends itself as + authoritative to the heart which recognizes its own spiritual + needs. External authority evokes the inward witness and gives + added clearness to it, but only historical revelation + furnishes indubitable proof that God is love, and gives us + assurance that our longings after God are not in + vain.</span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page013">[pg + 013]</span><a name="Pg013" id="Pg013" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) Hence God's revelation + may be, and, as we shall hereafter see, it is, in great part, + an external revelation in works and words. The universe is a + revelation of God; God's works in nature precede God's words in + history. We claim, moreover, that, in many cases where truth + was originally communicated internally, the same Spirit who + communicated it has brought about an external record of it, so + that the internal revelation might be handed down to others + than those who first received it.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We must not limit revelation to + the Scriptures. The eternal Word antedated the written word, + and through the eternal Word God is made known in nature and + in history. Internal revelation is preceded by, and + conditioned upon, external revelation. In point of time earth + comes before man, and sensation before perception. Action + best expresses character, and historic revelation is more by + deeds than by words. Dorner, Hist. Prot. Theol., + 1:231-264—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Word is not in the Scriptures alone. The whole creation + reveals the Word. In nature God shows his power; in + incarnation his grace and truth. Scripture testifies of + these, but Scripture is not the essential Word. The Scripture + is truly apprehended and appropriated when in it and through + it we see the living and present Christ. It does not bind men + to itself alone, but it points them to the Christ of whom it + testifies. Christ is the authority. In the Scriptures he + points us to himself and demands our faith in him. This + faith, once begotten, leads us to new appropriation of + Scripture, but also to new criticism of Scripture. We find + Christ more and more in Scripture, and yet we judge Scripture + more and more by the standard which we find in + Christ.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Newman Smyth, Christian Ethics, + 71-82:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There + is but one authority—Christ. His Spirit works in many ways, + but chiefly in two: first, the inspiration of the Scriptures, + and, secondly, the leading of the church into the truth. The + latter is not to be isolated or separated from the former. + Scripture is law to the Christian consciousness, and + Christian consciousness in time becomes law to the + Scripture—interpreting, criticizing, verifying it. The word + and the spirit answer to each other. Scripture and faith are + coördinate. Protestantism has exaggerated the first; Romanism + the second. Martineau fails to grasp the coördination of + Scripture and faith.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) With this external record + we shall also see that there is given under proper conditions a + special influence of God's Spirit, so to quicken our cognitive + powers that the external record reproduces in our minds the + ideas with which the minds of the writers were at first + divinely filled.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We may illustrate the need of + internal revelation from Egyptology, which is impossible so + long as the external revelation in the hieroglyphics is + uninterpreted; from the ticking of the clock in a dark room, + where only the lit candle enables us to tell the time; from + the landscape spread out around the Rigi in Switzerland, + invisible until the first rays of the sun touch the snowy + mountain peaks. External revelation (φανέρωσις,</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. 1:19, + 20</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">) must be + supplemented by internal revelation (ἀποκάλυψις,</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. 2:10, + 12</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). Christ is the + organ of external, the Holy Spirit the organ of internal, + revelation. In Christ (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Cor. + 1:20</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">) are</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + yea</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Amen</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—the objective certainty and the subjective + certitude, the reality and the realization.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Objective certainty must become + subjective certitude in order to be a scientific theology. + Before conversion we have the first, the external truth of + Christ; only at conversion and after conversion do we have + the second,</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christ formed in us</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Gal. + 4:19)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. We have + objective revelation at Sinai (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ex. + 20:22</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); subjective + revelation in Elisha's knowledge of Gehazi (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 K. + 5:26</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). James Russell + Lowell, Winter Evening Hymn to my Fire:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Therefore with thee I love to read Our brave + old poets: at thy touch how stirs Life in the withered words! + how swift recede Time's shadows! and how glows again Through + its dead mass the incandescent verse, As when upon the anvil + of the brain It glittering lay, cyclopically wrought By the + fast throbbing hammers of the poet's + thought!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">e</span></span>) Internal revelations thus + recorded, and external revelations thus interpreted, both + furnish objective facts which may serve as proper material for + science. Although revelation in its widest sense may include, + and as constituting the ground of the possibility of theology + does include, both <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page014">[pg + 014]</span><a name="Pg014" id="Pg014" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> insight and illumination, it may also be + used to denote simply a provision of the external means of + knowledge, and theology has to do with inward revelations only + as they are expressed in, or as they agree with, this objective + standard.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We have here suggested the vast + scope and yet the insuperable limitations of theology. So far + as God is revealed, whether in nature, history, conscience, + or Scripture, theology may find material for its structure. + Since Christ is not simply the incarnate Son of God but also + the eternal Word, the only Revealer of God, there is no + theology apart from Christ, and all theology is Christian + theology. Nature and history are but the dimmer and more + general disclosures of the divine Being, of which the Cross + is the culmination and the key. God does not intentionally + conceal himself. He wishes to be known. He reveals himself at + all times just as fully as the capacity of his creatures will + permit. The infantile intellect cannot understand God's + boundlessness, nor can the perverse disposition understand + God's disinterested affection. Yet all truth is in Christ and + is open to discovery by the prepared mind and + heart.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The Infinite One, so far as he + is unrevealed, is certainly unknowable to the finite. But the + Infinite One, so far as he manifests himself, is knowable. + This suggests the meaning of the declarations:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">No man + hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in + the bosom of the Father, he hath declared + him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">14:9—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">he that hath seen me hath seen the + Father</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Tim. + 6:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">whom no + man hath seen, nor can see.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We therefore approve of the definition of + Kaftan, Dogmatik, 1—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dogmatics is the science of the Christian + truth which is believed and acknowledged in the church upon + the ground of the divine revelation</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—in so far as it limits the scope of + theology to truth revealed by God and apprehended by faith. + But theology presupposes both God's external and God's + internal revelations, and these, as we shall see, include + nature, history, conscience and Scripture. On the whole + subject, see Kahnis, Dogmatik, 3:37-43; Nitzsch, System + Christ. Doct., 72; Luthardt, Fund. Truths, 193; Auberlen, + Div. Rev., Introd., 29; Martineau, Essays, 1:171, 280; Bib. + Sac., 1867:593, and 1872:428; Porter, Human Intellect, + 373-375; C. M. Mead, in Boston Lectures, 1871:58.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. That many + of the truths thus revealed are too indefinite to constitute + the material for science, because they belong to the region of + the feelings, because they are beyond our full understanding, + or because they are destitute of orderly arrangement.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We + reply:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Theology has to do with + subjective feelings only as they can be defined, and shown to + be effects of objective truth upon the mind. They are not more + obscure than are the facts of morals or of psychology, and the + same objection which would exclude such feelings from theology + would make these latter sciences impossible.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Jacobi and Schleiermacher, + who regard theology as a mere account of devout Christian + feelings, the grounding of which in objective historical + facts is a matter of comparative indifference (Hagenbach, + Hist. Doctrine, 2:401-403). Schleiermacher therefore called + his system of theology</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Der Christliche Glaube,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and many since his time have called their + systems by the name of</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Glaubenslehre.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ritschl's</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">value-judgments,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">in like manner, render theology a merely + subjective science, if any subjective science is possible. + Kaftan improves upon Ritschl, by granting that we know, not + only Christian feelings, but also Christian facts. Theology + is the science of God, and not simply the science of faith. + Allied to the view already mentioned is that of Feuerbach, to + whom religion is a matter of subjective fancy; and that of + Tyndall, who would remit theology to the region of vague + feeling and aspiration, but would exclude it from the realm + of science; see Feuerbach, Essence of Christianity, + translated by Marian Evans (George Eliot); also Tyndall, + Belfast Address.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Those facts of revelation + which are beyond our full understanding may, like the nebular + hypothesis in astronomy, the atomic theory in chemistry, or the + doctrine of evolution in biology, furnish a principle of union + between <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page015">[pg + 015]</span><a name="Pg015" id="Pg015" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> great classes of other facts otherwise + irreconcilable. We may define our concepts of God, and even of + the Trinity, at least sufficiently to distinguish them from all + other concepts; and whatever difficulty may encumber the + putting of them into language only shows the importance of + attempting it and the value of even an approximate success.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Horace Bushnell:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Theology can never be a science, on account + of the infirmities of language.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But this principle would render void both + ethical and political science. Fisher, Nat. and Meth. of + Revelation, 145—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Hume + and Gibbon refer to faith as something too sacred to rest on + proof. Thus religious beliefs are made to hang in mid-air, + without any support. But the foundation of these beliefs is + no less solid for the reason that empirical tests are not + applicable to them. The data on which they rest are real, and + the inferences from the data are fairly + drawn.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Hodgson indeed pours contempt on + the whole intuitional method by saying:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Whatever you are totally ignorant of, assert + to be the explanation of everything else!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Yet he would probably grant that he begins + his investigations by assuming his own existence. The + doctrine of the Trinity is not wholly comprehensible by us, + and we accept it at the first upon the testimony of + Scripture; the full proof of it is found in the fact that + each successive doctrine of theology is bound up with it, and + with it stands or falls. The Trinity is rational because it + explains Christian experience as well as Christian + doctrine.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) Even though there were no + orderly arrangement of these facts, either in nature or in + Scripture, an accurate systematizing of them by the human mind + would not therefore be proved impossible, unless a principle + were assumed which would show all physical science to be + equally impossible. Astronomy and geology are constructed by + putting together multitudinous facts which at first sight seem + to have no order. So with theology. And yet, although + revelation does not present to us a dogmatic system ready-made, + a dogmatic system is not only implicitly contained therein, but + parts of the system are wrought out in the epistles of the New + Testament, as for example in Rom. 5:12-19; 1 Cor. 15:3, 4; 8:6; + 1 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 6:1, 2.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We may illustrate the + construction of theology from the dissected map, two pieces + of which a father puts together, leaving his child to put + together the rest. Or we may illustrate from the physical + universe, which to the unthinking reveals little of its + order.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Nature + makes no fences.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">One thing seems to glide into another. It is + man's business to distinguish and classify and combine. + Origen:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + gives us truth in single threads, which we must weave into a + finished texture.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Andrew Fuller said of the doctrines of + theology that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">they + are united together like chain-shot, so that, whichever one + enters the heart, the others must certainly + follow.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">George Herbert:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Oh that + I knew how all thy lights combine, And the configuration of + their glory; Seeing not only how each verse doth shine, But + all the constellations of the story!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Scripture hints at the + possibilities of combination, in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 5:12-19</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, with its + grouping of the facts of sin and salvation about the two + persons, Adam and Christ; in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. 4:24, + 25</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, with its linking + of the resurrection of Christ and our justification; + in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 3:6</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, with its + indication of the relations between the Father and Christ; + in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Tim. + 3:16</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, with its + poetical summary of the facts of redemption (see Commentaries + of DeWette, Meyer, Fairbairn); in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. 6:1, + 2</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, with its + statement of the first principles of the Christian faith. + God's furnishing of concrete facts in theology, which we + ourselves are left to systematize, is in complete accordance + with his method of procedure with regard to the development + of other sciences. See Martineau, Essays, 1:29, 40; Am. + Theol. Rev., 1859:101-126—art. on the Idea, Sources and Uses + of Christian Theology.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc19" id="toc19"></a> <a name="pdf20" id="pdf20"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">IV. Necessity of + Theology.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The necessity + of theology has its grounds:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">In the + organizing instinct of the human mind.</span></span> This + organizing principle is a part of our constitution. The mind + cannot endure confusion or apparent contradiction in known facts. + The tendency to harmonize and unify its knowledge appears as soon + as the mind becomes reflective; <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page016">[pg 016]</span><a name="Pg016" id="Pg016" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> just in proportion to its endowments and + culture does the impulse to systematize and formulate increase. + This is true of all departments of human inquiry, but it is + peculiarly true of our knowledge of God. Since the truth with + regard to God is the most important of all, theology meets the + deepest want of man's rational nature. Theology is a rational + necessity. If all existing theological systems were destroyed + to-day, new systems would rise to-morrow. So inevitable is the + operation of this law, that those who most decry theology show + nevertheless that they have made a theology for themselves, and + often one sufficiently meagre and blundering. Hostility to + theology, where it does not originate in mistaken fears for the + corruption of God's truth or in a naturally illogical structure + of mind, often proceeds from a license of speculation which + cannot brook the restraints of a complete Scriptural system.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">President E. G. Robinson:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Every man has as much theology as he can + hold.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Consciously or unconsciously, we + philosophize, as naturally as we speak prose.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Se moquer + de la philosophie c'est vraiment + philosopher.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Gore, Incarnation, + 21—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christianity became metaphysical, only because + man is rational. This rationality means that he must + attempt</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">to give + account of things,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">as Plato said,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">because he was a man, not merely because he + was a Greek.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Men often denounce systematic theology, while + they extol the sciences of matter. Has God then left only the + facts with regard to himself in so unrelated a state that man + cannot put them together? All other sciences are valuable only + as they contain or promote the knowledge of God. If it is + praiseworthy to classify beetles, one science may be allowed to + reason concerning God and the soul. In speaking of Schelling, + Royce, Spirit of Modern Philosophy, 173, satirically exhorts + us:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Trust + your genius; follow your noble heart; change your doctrine + whenever your heart changes, and change your heart often,—such + is the practical creed of the romanticists.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ritchie, Darwin and Hegel, + 3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Just + those persons who disclaim metaphysics are sometimes most apt + to be infected with the disease they profess to abhor—and not + to know when they have it.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Shedd, Discourses and Essays, 27-52; + Murphy, Scientific Bases of Faith, 195-199.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">In the + relation of systematic truth to the development of + character.</span></span> Truth thoroughly digested is essential + to the growth of Christian character in the individual and in the + church. All knowledge of God has its influence upon character, + but most of all the knowledge of spiritual facts in their + relations. Theology cannot, as has sometimes been objected, + deaden the religious affections, since it only draws out from + their sources and puts into rational connection with each other + the truths which are best adapted to nourish the religions + affections. On the other hand, the strongest Christians are those + who have the firmest grasp upon the great doctrines of + Christianity; the heroic ages of the church are those which have + witnessed most consistently to them; the piety that can be + injured by the systematic exhibition of them must be weak, or + mystical, or mistaken.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Some knowledge is necessary to conversion—at + least, knowledge of sin and knowledge of a Savior; and the + putting together of these two great truths is a beginning of + theology. All subsequent growth of character is conditioned upon + the increase of this knowledge.</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col. + 1:10—αὐξανόμενοι τῇ ἐπιγνώσει τοῦ Θεοῦ [omit ἐν] =</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">increasing by the knowledge of + God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—the instrumental dative represents the + knowledge of God as the dew or rain which nurtures the growth + of the plant;</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">3 Pet. + 3:18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">grow in + the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus + Christ.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">For texts which represent truth as + nourishment, see</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jer. + 3:15—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">feed you + with knowledge and understanding</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 4:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Man shall + not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out + of the mouth of God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. 3:1, + 2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">babes in + Christ ... I fed you with milk, not with + meat</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 5:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">but solid + food is for full-grown men.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christian character rests upon Christian truth + as its foundation; see</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 3:10-15—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I laid a + foundation, and another buildeth thereon.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Dorus Clarke, Saying the Catechism; Simon, + on Christ Doct. and Life, in Bib. Sac., July, + 1884:433-439.</span></p><span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page017">[pg 017]</span><a name="Pg017" id="Pg017" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ignorance is the mother of superstition, not + of devotion. Talbot W. Chambers:—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Doctrine without duty is a tree without + fruits; duty without doctrine is a tree without + roots.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Christian morality is a fruit + which grows only from the tree of Christian doctrine. We cannot + long keep the fruits of faith after we have cut down the tree + upon which they have grown. Balfour, Foundations of Belief, + 82—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Naturalistic virtue is parasitic, and when the + host perishes, the parasite perishes also. Virtue without + religion will die.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Kidd, Social Evolution, + 214—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Because + the fruit survives for a time when removed from the tree, and + even mellows and ripens, shall we say that it is independent of + the tree?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The twelve manner of fruits on the + Christmas-tree are only tacked on,—they never grew there, and + they can never reproduce their kind. The withered apple swells + out under the exhausted receiver, but it will go back again to + its former shrunken form; so the self-righteousness of those + who get out of the atmosphere of Christ and have no divine + ideal with which to compare themselves. W. M. Lisle:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It is the + mistake and disaster of the Christian world that effects are + sought instead of causes.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">George A. Gordon, Christ of To-day, + 28—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Without + the historical Christ and personal love for that Christ, the + broad theology of our day will reduce itself to a dream, + powerless to rouse a sleeping church.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">In the + importance to the preacher of definite and just views of + Christian doctrine.</span></span> His chief intellectual + qualification must be the power clearly and comprehensively to + conceive, and accurately and powerfully to express, the truth. He + can be the agent of the Holy Spirit in converting and sanctifying + men, only as he can wield <span class="tei tei-q">“the sword of + the Spirit, which is the word of God”</span> (Eph. 6:17), or, in + other language, only as he can impress truth upon the minds and + consciences of his hearers. Nothing more certainly nullifies his + efforts than confusion and inconsistency in his statements of + doctrine. His object is to replace obscure and erroneous + conceptions among his hearers by those which are correct and + vivid. He cannot do this without knowing the facts with regard to + God in their relations—knowing them, in short, as parts of a + system. With this truth he is put in trust. To mutilate it or + misrepresent it, is not only sin against the Revealer of it,—it + may prove the ruin of men's souls. The best safeguard against + such mutilation or misrepresentation, is the diligent study of + the several doctrines of the faith in their relations to one + another, and especially to the central theme of theology, the + person and work of Jesus Christ.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The more refined and reflective the age, the + more it requires reasons for feeling. Imagination, as exercised + in poetry and eloquence and as exhibited in politics or war, is + not less strong than of old,—it is only more rational. Notice the + progress from</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Buncombe</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, in + legislative and forensic oratory, to sensible and logical + address. Bassanio in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, + 1:1:113—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Gratiano + speaks an infinite deal of nothing.... His reasons are as two + grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">So + in pulpit oratory, mere Scripture quotation and fervid appeal are + no longer sufficient. As well be a howling dervish, as to indulge + in windy declamation. Thought is the staple of preaching. Feeling + must be roused, but only by bringing men to</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + knowledge of the truth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(2 Tim. + 2:25)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. The preacher must + furnish the basis for feeling by producing intelligent + conviction. He must instruct before he can move. If the object of + the preacher is first to know God, and secondly to make God + known, then the study of theology is absolutely necessary to his + success.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Shall the physician practice medicine without + study of physiology, or the lawyer practice law without study + of jurisprudence? Professor Blackie:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">One may as well expect to make a great patriot + out of a fencing-master, as to make a great orator out of a + mere rhetorician.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The preacher needs doctrine, to prevent his + being a mere barrel-organ, playing over and over the same + tunes. John Henry Newman:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The false preacher is one who has to say + something; the true preacher is one who has something to + say.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Spurgeon, Autobiography, + 1:167—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Constant + change of creed is sure loss.</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page018">[pg 018]</span><a name="Pg018" id="Pg018" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">If a tree has + to be taken up two or three times a year, you will not need to + build a very large loft in which to store the apples. When + people are shifting their doctrinal principles, they do not + bring forth much fruit.... We shall never have great preachers + till we have great divines. You cannot build a man of war out + of a currant-bush, nor can great soul-moving preachers be + formed out of superficial students.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Illustrate the harmfulness of ignorant and + erroneous preaching, by the mistake in a physician's + prescription; by the wrong trail at Lake Placid which led + astray those ascending Whiteface; by the sowing of acorns whose + crop was gathered only after a hundred years. Slight + divergences from correct doctrine on our part may be ruinously + exaggerated in those who come after us. Though the moth-miller + has no teeth, its offspring has.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Tim. + 2:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">And the + things which thou hast heard from me among many witnesses, the + same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach + others also.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">d</span></span>) + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">In the + intimate connection between correct doctrine and the safety and + aggressive power of the church.</span></span> The safety and + progress of the church is dependent upon her <span class= + "tei tei-q">“holding the pattern of sound words”</span> (2 Tim. + 1:13), and serving as <span class="tei tei-q">“pillar and ground + of the truth”</span> (1 Tim. 3:15). Defective understanding of + the truth results sooner or later in defects of organization, of + operation, and of life. Thorough comprehension of Christian truth + as an organized system furnishes, on the other hand, not only an + invaluable defense against heresy and immorality, but also an + indispensable stimulus and instrument in aggressive labor for the + world's conversion.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The creeds of Christendom have not originated in + mere speculative curiosity and logical hair-splitting. They are + statements of doctrine in which the attacked and imperiled church + has sought to express the truth which constitutes her very life. + Those who deride the early creeds have small conception of the + intellectual acumen and the moral earnestness which went to the + making of them. The creeds of the third and fourth centuries + embody the results of controversies which exhausted the + possibilities of heresy with regard to the Trinity and the person + of Christ, and which set up bars against false doctrine to the + end of time. Mahaffy:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">What converted the world was not the example + of Christ's life,—it was the dogma of his + death.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Coleridge:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">He who does not withstand, has no standing + ground of his own.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Mrs. Browning:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Entire intellectual toleration is the mark of + those who believe nothing.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">E. G. Robinson, Christian Theology, + 360-362—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A + doctrine is but a precept in the style of a proposition; and a + precept is but a doctrine in the form of a command.... Theology + is God's garden; its trees are trees of his planting; + and</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">all the trees of the Lord are full of + sap</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Ps. + 104:16).</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bose, Ecumenical Councils:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">A creed is not catholic because a council of + many or of few bishops decreed it, but because it expresses the + common conviction of entire generations of men and women who + turned their understanding of the New Testament into those + forms of words.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dorner:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The creeds are the precipitate of the + religious consciousness of mighty men and + times.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Foster, Christ. Life and Theol., + 162—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It + ordinarily requires the shock of some great event to startle + men into clear apprehension and crystallization of their + substantial belief. Such a shock was given by the rough and + coarse doctrine of Arius, upon which the conclusion arrived at + in the Council of Nice followed as rapidly as in chilled water + the crystals of ice will sometimes form when the containing + vessel receives a blow.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Balfour, Foundations of Belief, + 287—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + creeds were not explanations, but rather denials that the Arian + and Gnostic explanations were sufficient, and declarations that + they irremediably impoverished the idea of the Godhead. They + insisted on preserving that idea in all its inexplicable + fulness.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Denny, Studies in Theology, + 192—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Pagan + philosophies tried to capture the church for their own ends, + and to turn it into a school. In self-defense the church was + compelled to become somewhat of a school on its own account. It + had to assert its facts; it had to define its ideas; it had to + interpret in its own way those facts which men were + misinterpreting.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Professor Howard Osgood:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">A creed is like a backbone. A man does not + need to wear his backbone in front of him; but he must have a + backbone, and a straight one, or he will be a flexible if not a + humpbacked Christian.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Yet we must remember that creeds are</span> + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">credita</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + and not</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">credenda</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + historical statements of what the church</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">has</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">believed, + not infallible prescriptions of what the church</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">must</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">believe. George Dana</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page019">[pg 019]</span><a name= + "Pg019" id="Pg019" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Boardman, The Church, 98—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Creeds are apt to become + cages.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Schurman, Agnosticism, + 151—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + creeds were meant to be defensive fortifications of religion; + alas, that they should have sometimes turned their artillery + against the citadel itself.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">T. + H. Green:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We are + told that we must be loyal to the beliefs of the Fathers. Yes, + but who knows what the Fathers believe now?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">George A. Gordon, Christ of To-day, + 60—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + assumption that the Holy Spirit is not concerned in the + development of theological thought, nor manifest in the + intellectual evolution of mankind, is the superlative heresy of + our generation.... The metaphysics of Jesus are absolutely + essential to his ethics.... If his thought is a dream, his + endeavor for man is a delusion.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, 1:8, 15, + 16; Storrs, Div. Origin of Christianity, 121; Ian Maclaren + (John Watson), Cure of Souls, 152; Frederick Harrison, in + Fortnightly Rev., Jan. 1889.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">e</span></span>) + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">In the + direct and indirect injunctions of Scripture.</span></span> The + Scripture urges upon us the thorough and comprehensive study of + the truth (John 5:39, marg.,—<span class="tei tei-q">“Search the + Scriptures”</span>), the comparing and harmonizing of its + different parts (1 Cor. 2:13—<span class="tei tei-q">“comparing + spiritual things with spiritual”</span>), the gathering of all + about the great central fact of revelation (Col. + 1:27—<span class="tei tei-q">“which is Christ in you, the hope of + glory”</span>), the preaching of it in its wholeness as well as + in its due proportions (2 Tim. 4:2—<span class= + "tei tei-q">“Preach the word”</span>). The minister of the Gospel + is called <span class="tei tei-q">“a scribe who hath been made a + disciple to the kingdom of heaven”</span> (Mat. 13:52); the + <span class="tei tei-q">“pastors”</span> of the churches are at + the same time to be <span class="tei tei-q">“teachers”</span> + (Eph. 4:11); the bishop must be <span class="tei tei-q">“apt to + teach”</span> (1 Tim. 3:2), <span class="tei tei-q">“handling + aright the word of truth”</span> (2 Tim. 2:15), <span class= + "tei tei-q">“holding to the faithful word which is according to + the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort in the sound + doctrine and to convict the gainsayers”</span> (Tit. 1:9).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">As a means of instructing the church and of + securing progress in his own understanding of Christian truth, it + is well for the pastor to preach regularly each month a doctrinal + sermon, and to expound in course the principal articles of the + faith. The treatment of doctrine in these sermons should be + simple enough to be comprehensible by intelligent youth; it + should be made vivid and interesting by the help of brief + illustrations; and at least one-third of each sermon should be + devoted to the practical applications of the doctrine propounded. + See Jonathan Edwards's sermon on the Importance of the Knowledge + of Divine Truth, in Works, 4:1-15. The actual sermons of Edwards, + however, are not models of doctrinal preaching for our + generation. They are too scholastic in form, too metaphysical for + substance; there is too little of Scripture and too little of + illustration. The doctrinal preaching of the English Puritans in + a similar manner addressed itself almost wholly to adults. The + preaching of our Lord on the other hand was adapted also to + children. No pastor should count himself faithful, who permits + his young people to grow up without regular instruction from the + pulpit in the whole circle of Christian doctrine. Shakespeare, K. + Henry VI, 2nd part, 4:7—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge the + wing wherewith we fly to heaven.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc21" id="toc21"></a> <a name="pdf22" id="pdf22"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">V. Relation of Theology to + Religion.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Theology and + religion are related to each other as effects, in different + spheres, of the same cause. As theology is an effect produced in + the sphere of systematic thought by the facts respecting God and + the universe, so religion is an effect which these same facts + produce in the sphere of individual and collective life. With + regard to the term <span class="tei tei-q">“religion”</span>, + notice:</p> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc23" id="toc23"></a> <a name="pdf24" id="pdf24"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1. Derivation.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) The derivation from + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-style: italic">religāre</span></span>, + <span class="tei tei-q">“to bind back”</span> (man to God), is + negatived by the authority of Cicero and of the best modern + etymologists; by the difficulty, on this hypothesis, of + explaining such forms as <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-style: italic">religio</span></span>, <span lang="la" + class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-style: italic">religens</span></span>; and by the + necessity, in that case, of presupposing a fuller <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page020">[pg 020]</span><a name="Pg020" id= + "Pg020" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> knowledge of sin and + redemption than was common to the ancient world.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) The more correct + derivation is from <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-style: italic">relegĕre</span></span>, <span class= + "tei tei-q">“to go over again,”</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q">“carefully to ponder.”</span> Its original meaning + is therefore <span class="tei tei-q">“reverent + observance”</span> (of duties due to the gods).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">For advocacy of the derivation + of</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">religio</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + as meaning</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">binding + duty,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">from</span> <span lang="la" + class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">religāre</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + see Lange, Dogmatik, 1:185-196. This derivation was first + proposed by Lactantius, Inst. Div., 4:28, a Christian writer. + To meet the objection that the form</span> <span lang="la" + class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">religio</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">seems derived from a verb of the + third conjugation, Lange cites</span> <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">rebellio</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + from</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">rebellāre</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + and</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">optio</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + from</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">optāre</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">. + But we reply that these verbs of the first conjugation, like + many others, are probably derived from obsolete verbs of the + third conjugation. For the derivation favored in the text, + see Curtius, Griechische Etymologie, 5te Aufl., 364; Fick, + Vergl. Wörterb. der indoger. Spr., 2:227; Vanicek, Gr.-Lat. + Etym. Wörterb., 2:829; Andrews, Latin Lexicon,</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + voce</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; Nitzsch, + System of Christ. Doctrine, 7; Van Oosterzee, Dogmatics, + 75-77; Philippi, Glaubenslehre, 1:6; Kahnis, Dogmatik, 3:18; + Menzies, History of Religion, 11; Max Müller, Natural + Religion, lect. 2.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc25" id="toc25"></a> <a name="pdf26" id="pdf26"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 2. False Conceptions.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Religion is not, as Hegel + declared, a kind of knowing; for it would then be only an + incomplete form of philosophy, and the measure of knowledge in + each case would be the measure of piety.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In a system of idealistic + pantheism, like that of Hegel, God is the subject of religion + as well as its object. Religion is God's knowing of himself + through the human consciousness. Hegel did not utterly ignore + other elements in religion.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Feeling, intuition, and faith belong to + it,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">he said,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">and mere cognition is + one-sided.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Yet he was always looking for + the movement of</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">thought</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">in all forms of life; God and + the universe were but developments of the primordial</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">idea</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">What + knowledge is worth knowing,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">he asked,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">if God is unknowable? To know God is eternal + life, and thinking is also true worship.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hegel's error was in regarding life as a + process of thought, rather than in regarding thought as a + process of life. Here was the reason for the bitterness + between Hegel and Schleiermacher. Hegel rightly considered + that feeling must become intelligent before it is truly + religious, but he did not recognize the supreme importance of + love in a theological system. He gave even less place to the + will than he gave to the emotions, and he failed to see that + the knowledge of God of which Scripture speaks is a knowing, + not of the intellect alone, but of the whole man, including + the affectional and voluntary nature.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Goethe:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">How can a man come to know himself? Never by + thinking, but by doing. Try to do your duty, and you will + know at once what you are worth. You cannot play the flute by + blowing alone,—you must use your fingers.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">So we can never come to know God by thinking + alone.</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 7:17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If any + man willeth to do his will, he will know of the teaching, + whether it is of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Gnostics, Stapfer, Henry VIII, all show + that there may be much theological knowledge without true + religion. Chillingworth's maxim,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Bible only, the religion of + Protestants,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is inadequate and inaccurate; for the Bible, + without faith, love, and obedience, may become a fetich and a + snare:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 5:39,40—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Ye + search the Scriptures, ... and ye will not come to me, that + ye may have life.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Sterrett, Studies in Hegel's Philosophy + of Religion; Porter, Human Intellect, 59, 60, 412, 525-536, + 589, 650; Morell, Hist. Philos., 476, 477; Hamerton, Intel. + Life, 214; Bib. Sac., 9:374.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Religion is not, as + Schleiermacher held, the mere feeling of dependence; for such + feeling of dependence is not religious, unless exercised toward + God and accompanied by moral effort.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In German theology, + Schleiermacher constitutes the transition from the old + rationalism to the evangelical faith.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Like Lazarus, with the grave clothes of a + pantheistic philosophy entangling his + steps,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">yet with a Moravian experience + of the life of God in the soul, he based religion upon the + inner certainties of Christian feeling. But, as Principal + Fairbairn remarks,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Emotion is impotent unless it speaks out of + conviction; and where conviction is, there will be emotion + which is potent to persuade.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">If Christianity is religious feeling alone, + then there is no essential difference between it and other + religions, for all alike are products of the religious + sentiment. But Christianity is distinguished from other + religions by its peculiar religious conceptions. Doctrine + precedes</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page021">[pg + 021]</span><a name="Pg021" id="Pg021" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">life, and + Christian doctrine, not mere religious feeling, is the cause + of Christianity as a distinctive religion. Though faith + begins in feeling, moreover, it does not end there. We see + the worthlessness of mere feeling in the transient emotions + of theatre-goers, and in the occasional phenomena of + revivals.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Sabatier, Philos. Relig., 27, + adds to Schleiermacher's passive element of</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">dependence</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + the active element of</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">prayer</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + Kaftan, Dogmatik, 10—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Schleiermacher regards God as the</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Source</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of our being, but forgets that + he is also our</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">End</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Fellowship and progress are as + important elements in religion as is dependence; and + fellowship must come before progress—such fellowship as + presupposes pardon and life. Schleiermacher apparently + believed in neither a personal God nor his own personal + immortality; see his Life and Letters, 2:77-90; Martineau, + Study of Religion, 2:357. Charles Hodge compares him to a + ladder in a pit—a good thing for those who wish to get out, + but not for those who wish to get in. Dorner:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Moravian brotherhood was his mother; Greece was his + nurse.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On Schleiermacher, see Herzog, + Realencyclopädie,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + in voce</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; Bib. + Sac., 1852:375; 1883:534; Liddon, Elements of Religion, lect. + I; Ebrard, Dogmatik, 1:14; Julius Müller, Doctrine of Sin, + 1:175; Fisher, Supernat. Origin of Christianity, 563-570; + Caird, Philos. Religion, 160-186.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) Religion is not, as Kant + maintained, morality or moral action; for morality is + conformity to an abstract law of right, while religion is + essentially a relation to a person, from whom the soul receives + blessing and to whom it surrenders itself in love and + obedience.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Kant, Kritik der praktischen + Vernunft, Beschluss:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I know of but two beautiful things, the + starry heavens above my head, and the sense of duty within my + heart.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">But the mere sense of duty often distresses. + We object to the word</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">obey</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">as the imperative of religion, because (1) + it makes religion a matter of the will only; (2) will + presupposes affection; (3) love is not subject to will; (4) + it makes God all law, and no grace; (5) it makes the + Christian a servant only, not a friend;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 15:15—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">No + longer do I call you servants ... but I have called you + friends</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—a relation not of service but of love + (Westcott, Bib. Com.,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + loco</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">). The voice + that speaks is the voice of love, rather than the voice of + law. We object also to Matthew Arnold's definition:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Religion is ethics heightened, enkindled, + lit up by feeling; morality touched with + emotion.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">This leaves out of view the + receptive element in religion, as well as its relation to a + personal God. A truer statement would be that religion is + morality toward God, as morality is religion toward man. + Bowne, Philos. of Theism, 251—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Morality that goes beyond mere + conscientiousness must have recourse to + religion</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; see Lotze, Philos. of Religion, 128-142. + Goethe:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Unqualified activity, of whatever kind, + leads at last to bankruptcy</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; see also Pfleiderer, Philos. Religion, + 1:65-69; Shedd, Sermons to the Natural Man, 244-246; Liddon, + Elements of Religion, 19.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc27" id="toc27"></a> <a name="pdf28" id="pdf28"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 3. Essential Idea.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Religion in + its essential idea is a life in God, a life lived in + recognition of God, in communion with God, and under control of + the indwelling Spirit of God. Since it is a life, it cannot be + described as consisting solely in the exercise of any one of + the powers of intellect, affection, or will. As physical life + involves the unity and coöperation of all the organs of the + body, so religion, or spiritual life, involves the united + working of all the powers of the soul. To feeling, however, we + must assign the logical priority, since holy affection toward + God, imparted in regeneration, is the condition of truly + knowing God and of truly serving him.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Godet, on the Ultimate + Design of Man—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God in + man, and man in God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—in Princeton Rev., Nov. 1880; Pfleiderer, + Die Religion, 5-79, and Religionsphilosophie, 255—Religion + is</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Sache + des ganzen Geisteslebens</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">: Crane, Religion of To-morrow, + 4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Religion is the personal influence of the + immanent God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; Sterrett, Reason and Authority in + Religion, 31, 32—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Religion is the reciprocal relation or + communion of God and man, involving (1) revelation, (2) + faith</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; Dr. J. W. A. Stewart:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Religion is fellowship with + God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; Pascal:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Piety is God sensible to the + heart</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; Ritschl, Justif. and Reconcil., + 13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christianity is an ellipse with two + foci—Christ as Redeemer and Christ as King, Christ for us and + Christ in us, redemption and morality, religion and + ethics</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; Kaftan, Dogmatik, 8—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Christian religion is (1) the</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">kingdom of + God</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">as a goal above + the</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page022">[pg + 022]</span><a name="Pg022" id="Pg022" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">world, to + be attained by moral development here, and (2)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">reconciliation with + God</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">permitting + attainment of this goal in spite of our sins. Christian + theology once grounded itself in man's natural knowledge of + God; we now start with religion,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, that Christian + knowledge of God which we call faith.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Herbert Spencer:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Religion is an</span> <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a priori</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">theory of the + universe</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; Romanes, Thoughts on Religion, 43, + adds:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">which + assumes intelligent personality as the originating cause of + the universe, science dealing with the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">How</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + the phenomenal process, religion dealing with the</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Who</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + the intelligent Personality who works through the + process.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Holland, in Lux Mundi, + 27—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Natural + life is the life in God which has not yet arrived at this + recognition</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—the recognition of the fact that God is in + all things—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">it is + not yet, as such, religious; ... Religion is the discovery, + by the son, of a Father who is in all his works, yet is + distinct from them all.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dewey, Psychology, 283—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Feeling finds its absolutely universal + expression in religious emotion, which is the finding or + realization of self in a completely realized personality + which unites in itself truth, or the complete unity of the + relations of all objects, beauty or the complete unity of all + ideal values, and rightness or the complete unity of all + persons. The emotion which accompanies the religious life is + that which accompanies the complete activity of ourselves; + the self is realized and finds its true life in + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Upton, Hibbert Lectures, + 262—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Ethics + is simply the growing insight into, and the effort to + actualize in society, the sense of fundamental kinship and + identity of substance in all men; while religion is the + emotion and the devotion which attend the realization in our + self-consciousness of an inmost spiritual relationship + arising out of that unity of substance which constitutes man + the true son of the eternal Father.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Van Oosterzee, Dogmatics, 81-85; Julius + Müller, Doct. Sin, 2:227; Nitzsch, Syst. of Christ. Doct., + 10-28; Luthardt, Fund. Truths, 147; Twesten, Dogmatik, + 1:12.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc29" id="toc29"></a> <a name="pdf30" id="pdf30"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 4. Inferences.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">From this + definition of religion it follows:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) That in strictness there + is but one religion. Man is a religious being, indeed, as + having the capacity for this divine life. He is actually + religious, however, only when he enters into this living + relation to God. False religions are the caricatures which men + given to sin, or the imaginations which men groping after + light, form of this life of the soul in God.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Peabody, Christianity the + Religion of Nature, 18—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">If Christianity be true, it is not</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">religion, + but</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">the</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">religion. If Judaism be also + true, it is so not as distinct from but as coincident with + Christianity, the one religion to which it can bear only the + relation of a part to the whole. If there be portions of + truth in other religious systems, they are not portions of + other religions, but portions of the one religion which + somehow or other became incorporated with fables and + falsities.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">John Caird, Fund. Ideas of + Christianity, 1:25—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">You can never get at the true idea or + essence of religion merely by trying to find out something + that is common to all religions; and it is not the lower + religions that explain the higher, but conversely the higher + religion explains all the lower religions.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">George P. Fisher:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The recognition of certain elements of truth + in the ethnic religions does not mean that Christianity has + defects which are to be repaired by borrowing from them; it + only means that the ethnic faiths have in fragments what + Christianity has as a whole. Comparative religion does not + bring to Christianity new truth; it provides illustrations of + how Christian truth meets human needs and aspirations, and + gives a full vision of that which the most spiritual and + gifted among the heathen only dimly + discerned.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Dr. C. H. Parkhurst, sermon + on</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Proverbs + 20:27—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + spirit of man is the lamp of Jehovah</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a lamp, + but not necessarily lighted; a lamp that can be lit only by + the touch of a divine flame</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—man has naturally and universally a + capacity for religion, but is by no means naturally and + universally religious. All false religions have some element + of truth; otherwise they could never have gained or kept + their hold upon mankind. We need to recognize these elements + of truth in dealing with them. There is some silver in a + counterfeit dollar, else it would deceive no one; but the + thin washing of silver over the lead does not prevent it from + being bad money. Clarke, Christian Theology, + 8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">See + Paul's methods of dealing with heathen religion, in Acts 14 + with gross paganism and in Acts 17 with its cultured form. He + treats it with sympathy and justice. Christian theology has + the advantage of walking in the light of God's + self-manifestation in Christ, while heathen</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page023">[pg 023]</span><a name= + "Pg023" id="Pg023" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">religions grope after God and worship him in + ignorance</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 14:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We ... + bring you good tidings, that ye should turn from these vain + things unto a living God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">;</span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">17:22—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + perceive that ye are more than usually reverent toward the + divinities.... What therefore ye worship in ignorance, this I + set forth unto you.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Matthew Arnold:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Children of men! the unseen Power whose eye + Forever doth accompany mankind, Hath looked on no religion + scornfully That man did ever find. Which has not taught weak + wills how much they can? Which has not fallen on the dry + heart like rain? Which has not cried to sunk, self-weary man, + Thou must be born again?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christianity is absolutely exclusive, + because it is absolutely inclusive. It is not an amalgamation + of other religions, but it has in it all that is best and + truest in other religions. It is the white light that + contains all the colored rays. God may have made disclosures + of truth outside of Judaism, and did so in Balaam and + Melchisedek, in Confucius and Socrates. But while other + religions have a relative excellence, Christianity is the + absolute religion that contains all excellencies. Matheson, + Messages of the Old Religions, 328-342—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christianity is reconciliation. Christianity + includes the aspiration of Egypt; it sees, in this + aspiration, God in the soul (Brahmanism); recognizes the evil + power of sin with Parseeism; goes back to a pure beginning + like China; surrenders itself to human brotherhood like + Buddha; gets all things from within like Judaism; makes the + present life beautiful like Greece; seeks a universal kingdom + like Rome; shows a growth of divine life, like the Teuton. + Christianity is the manifold wisdom of + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See also Van Oosterzee, + Dogmatics, 88-93. Shakespeare:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">There is some soul of goodness in things + evil, Would men observingly distill it out</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) That the content of + religion is greater than that of theology. The facts of + religion come within the range of theology only so far as they + can be definitely conceived, accurately expressed in language, + and brought into rational relation to each other.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">This principle enables us to + define the proper limits of religious fellowship. It should + be as wide as is religion itself. But it is important to + remember what religion is. Religion is not to be identified + with the capacity for religion. Nor can we regard the + perversions and caricatures of religion as meriting our + fellowship. Otherwise we might be required to have fellowship + with devil-worship, polygamy, thuggery, and the inquisition; + for all these have been dignified with the name of religion. + True religion involves some knowledge, however rudimentary, + of the true God, the God of righteousness; some sense of sin + as the contrast between human character and the divine + standard; some casting of the soul upon divine mercy and a + divine way of salvation, in place of self-righteous earning + of merit and reliance upon one's works and one's record; some + practical effort to realize ethical principle in a pure life + and in influence over others. Wherever these marks of true + religion appear, even in Unitarians, Romanists, Jews or + Buddhists, there we recognize the demand for fellowship. But + we also attribute these germs of true religion to the + inworking of the omnipresent Christ,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + light which lighteth every man</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John 1:9),</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and we see in them incipient + repentance and faith, even though the Christ who is their + object is yet unknown by name.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Christian</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">fellowship must have a larger + basis in accepted Christian truth, and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Church</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">fellowship a still larger basis + in common acknowledgment of N. T. teaching as to the + church.</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Religious</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">fellowship, + in the widest sense, rests upon the fact that</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God is + no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth + him and worketh righteousness is acceptable to + him</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Acts 10:34, + 35)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) That religion is to be + distinguished from formal worship, which is simply the outward + expression of religion. As such expression, worship is + <span class="tei tei-q">“formal communion between God and his + people.”</span> In it God speaks to man, and man to God. It + therefore properly includes the reading of Scripture and + preaching on the side of God, and prayer and song on the side + of the people.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Sterrett, Reason and Authority + in Religion, 166—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christian worship is the utterance + (outerance) of the spirit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But there is more in true love than can be + put into a love-letter, and there is more in true religion + than can be expressed either in theology or in worship. + Christian worship is communion between God and man. But + communion cannot be one-sided. Madame de Staël, whom Heine + called</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a + whirlwind in petticoats,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page024">[pg 024]</span><a name="Pg024" id="Pg024" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">ended one + of her brilliant soliloquies by saying:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">What a delightful conversation we have + had!</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We may find a better + illustration of the nature of worship in Thomas à Kempis's + dialogues between the saint and his Savior, in the Imitation + of Christ. Goethe:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Against the great superiority of another + there is no remedy but love.... To praise a man is to put + one's self on his level.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">If this be the effect of loving and praising + man, what must be the effect of loving and praising God! + Inscription in Grasmere Church:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Whoever thou art that enterest this church, + leave it not without one prayer to God for thyself, for those + who minister, and for those who worship + here.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">In</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">James + 1:27—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Pure + religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this, to + visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to + keep oneself unspotted from the world</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">religion</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">θρησκεία, is</span> <span lang= + "la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cultus + exterior</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; and the + meaning is that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + external service, the outward garb, the very ritual of + Christianity, is a life of purity, love and self-devotion. + What its true essence, its inmost spirit may be, the writer + does not say, but leaves this to be + inferred.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On the relation between religion + and worship, see Prof. Day, in New Englander, Jan. 1882; + Prof. T. Harwood Pattison, Public Prayer; Trench, Syn. N. T., + 1; sec. 48; Coleridge, Aids to Reflection, Introd., Aphorism + 23; Lightfoot, Gal., 351, note 2.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page025">[pg 025]</span><a name= + "Pg025" id="Pg025" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + <hr class="page" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em"> + <a name="toc31" id="toc31"></a> <a name="pdf32" id="pdf32"></a> + + <h2 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"> + <span style="font-size: 144%">Chapter II. Material of + Theology.</span></h2> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc33" id="toc33"></a> <a name="pdf34" id="pdf34"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">I. Sources of Theology.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">God himself, + in the last analysis, must be the only source of knowledge with + regard to his own being and relations. Theology is therefore a + summary and explanation of the content of God's self-revelations. + These are, first, the revelation of God in nature; secondly and + supremely, the revelation of God in the Scriptures.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ambrose:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">To whom shall I give greater credit concerning + God than to God himself?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">Von + Baader:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">To know God + without God is impossible; there is no knowledge without him who + is the prime source of knowledge.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">C. + A. Briggs, Whither, 8—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God reveals truth in several spheres: in + universal nature, in the constitution of mankind, in the + history of our race, in the Sacred Scriptures, but above all in + the person of Jesus Christ our Lord.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">F. H. Johnson, What is Reality? + 399—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + teacher intervenes when needed. Revelation</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">helps</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">reason and conscience, but is not + a</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">substitute</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">for them. But Catholicism affirms + this substitution for the church, and Protestantism for the + Bible. The Bible, like nature, gives many free gifts, but more + in the germ. Growing ethical ideals must interpret the + Bible.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">A. J. F. Behrends:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The Bible + is only a telescope, not the eye which sees, nor the stars + which the telescope brings to view. It is your business and + mine to see the stars with our own eyes.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Schurman, Agnosticism, 178—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Bible is a glass through which to see the + living God. But it is useless when you put your eyes + out.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We can know God only so far as he has revealed + himself. The immanent God is known, but the transcendent God we + do not know any more than we know the side of the moon that is + turned away from us. A. H. Strong, Christ in Creation, + 118—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + word</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">authority</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is derived from</span> <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">auctor</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">,</span> + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">augeo</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">to + add.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Authority adds something to the + truth communicated. The thing added is the personal element + of</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">witness</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + This is needed wherever there is ignorance which cannot be + removed by our own effort, or unwillingness which results from + our own sin. In religion I need to add to my own knowledge that + which God imparts. Reason, conscience, church, Scripture, are + all delegated and subordinate authorities; the only original + and supreme authority is God himself, or Christ, who is only + God revealed and made comprehensible by us.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Gore, Incarnation, 181—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">All legitimate authority represents the reason + of God, educating the reason of man and communicating itself to + it.... Man is made in God's image: he is, in his fundamental + capacity, a son of God, and he becomes so in fact, and fully, + through union with Christ. Therefore in the truth of God, as + Christ presents it to him, he can recognize his own better + reason,—to use Plato's beautiful expression, he can salute it + by force of instinct as something akin to himself, before he + can give intellectual account of it.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Balfour, Foundations of Belief, 332-337, holds + that there is no such thing as unassisted reason, and that, + even if there were, natural religion is not one of its + products. Behind all evolution of our own reason, he says, + stands the Supreme Reason.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Conscience, ethical ideals, capacity for + admiration, sympathy, repentance, righteous indignation, as + well as our delight in beauty and truth, are all derived from + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Kaftan, in Am. Jour. Theology, + 1900; 718, 719, maintains that there is no other principle for + dogmatics than Holy Scripture. Yet he holds that knowledge + never comes directly from Scripture, but from faith. The order + is not: Scripture, doctrine, faith; but rather, Scripture, + faith, doctrine. Scripture is no more a direct authority than + is the church. Revelation is addressed to the whole man, that + is, to the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">will</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of the man, and it claims</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">obedience</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">from him. Since all Christian + knowledge is mediated through faith, it rests on obedience to + the authority of revelation, and revelation is + self-manifestation</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page026">[pg 026]</span><a name="Pg026" id="Pg026" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">on the part + of God. Kaftan should have recognized more fully that not + simply Scripture, but all knowable truth, is a revelation from + God, and that Christ is</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the light + which lighteth every man</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John + 1:9)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. Revelation is an + organic whole, which begins in nature, but finds its climax and + key in the historical Christ whom Scripture presents to us. See + H. C. Minton's review of Martineau's Seat of Authority, in + Presb. and Ref. Rev., Apr. 1900:203</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span></p> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc35" id="toc35"></a> <a name="pdf36" id="pdf36"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1. Scripture and Nature.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">By nature we + here mean not only physical facts, or facts with regard to the + substances, properties, forces, and laws of the material world, + but also spiritual facts, or facts with regard to the + intellectual and moral constitution of man, and the orderly + arrangement of human society and history.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We here use the word</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">nature</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">in the ordinary sense, as including man. + There is another and more proper use of the word</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">nature,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">which makes it simply a complex of forces + and beings under the law of cause and effect. To nature in + this sense man belongs only as respects his body, while as + immaterial and personal he is a supernatural being. Free will + is not under the law of physical and mechanical causation. As + Bushnell has said:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Nature and the supernatural together + constitute the one system of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Drummond, Natural Law in the Spiritual + World, 232—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Things + are natural or supernatural according to where we stand. Man + is supernatural to the mineral; God is supernatural to the + man.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We shall in subsequent chapters + use the term</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">nature</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">in the narrow sense. The universal use of + the phrase</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Natural + Theology,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">however, compels us in this chapter to + employ the word</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">nature</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">in its broader sense as including man, + although we do this under protest, and with this explanation + of the more proper meaning of the term. See Hopkins, in + Princeton Review, Sept. 1882:183</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">E. G. Robinson:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bushnell separates nature from the + supernatural. Nature is a blind train of causes. God has + nothing to do with it, except as he steps into it from + without. Man is supernatural, because he is outside of + nature, having the power of originating an independent train + of causes.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">If this were the proper + conception of nature, then we might be compelled to conclude + with P. T. Forsyth, in Faith and Criticism, + 100—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There + is no revelation in nature. There can be none, because there + is no forgiveness. We cannot be sure about her. She is only + aesthetic. Her ideal is harmony, not reconciliation.... For + the conscience, stricken or strong, she has no word.... + Nature does not contain her own teleology, and for the moral + soul that refuses to be fancy-fed, Christ is the one luminous + smile on the dark face of the world.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">But this is virtually to confine Christ's + revelation to Scripture or to the incarnation. As there was + an astronomy without the telescope, so there was a theology + before the Bible. George Harris, Moral Evolution, + 411—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Nature + is both evolution and revelation. As soon as the + question</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">How</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is answered, the + questions</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Whence</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Why</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">arise. Nature is to God what + speech is to thought.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The title of Henry Drummond's book should + have been:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Spiritual Law in the Natural + World,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">for nature is but the free + though regular activity of God; what we call the supernatural + is simply his extraordinary working.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Natural theology.—The + universe is a source of theology. The Scriptures assert that + God has revealed himself in nature. There is not only an + outward witness to his existence and character in the + constitution and government of the universe (Ps. 19; Acts + 14:17; Rom. 1:20), but an inward witness to his existence and + character in the heart of every man (Rom. 1:17, 18, 19, 20, 32; + 2:15). The systematic exhibition of these facts, whether + derived from observation, history or science, constitutes + natural theology.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Outward witness:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps.19:1-6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + heavens declare the glory of God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 14:17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he left + not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave + you from heaven rains and fruitful seasons</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 1:20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">for the + invisible things of him since the creation of the world are + clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are + made, even his everlasting power and + divinity.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Inward witness:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. 1:19—τὸ γνωστὸν τοῦ + Θεοῦ =</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">that + which is known of God is manifest in them.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Compare the ἀποκαλύπτεται of the gospel in + verse 17, with the ἀποκαλύπτεται of wrath in verse 18—two + revelations, one of ὀργή, the other of χάρις; see Shedd, + Homiletics, 11.</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 1:32—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">knowing + the ordinance of God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2:15—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">they show the</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page027">[pg 027]</span><a name="Pg027" id= + "Pg027" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">work of the law written in their + hearts.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Therefore even the heathen are</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">without + excuse</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Rom. + 1:20)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. There are two + books: Nature and Scripture—one written, the other unwritten: + and there is need of studying both. On the passages in + Romans, see the Commentary of Hodge.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Spurgeon told of a godly person + who, when sailing down the Rhine, closed his eyes, lest the + beauty of the scene should divert his mind from spiritual + themes. The Puritan turned away from the moss-rose, saying + that he would count nothing on earth lovely. But this is to + despise God's works. J. H. Barrows:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Himalayas are the raised letters upon + which we blind children put our fingers to spell out the name + of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">To despise the works of God is to despise + God himself. God is present in nature, and is now + speaking.</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 19:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth + his handiwork</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—present tenses. Nature is not so much + a</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">book</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + as a</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">voice</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + Hutton, Essays, 2:236—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The direct knowledge of spiritual communion + must be supplemented by knowledge of God's ways gained from + the study of nature. To neglect the study of the natural + mysteries of the universe leads to an arrogant and illicit + intrusion of moral and spiritual assumptions into a different + world. This is the lesson of the book of + Job.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Hatch, Hibbert Lectures, + 85—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Man, + the servant and interpreter of nature, is also, and is + thereby, the servant and interpreter of the living + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Books of science are the record + of man's past interpretations of God's works.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Natural theology + supplemented.—The Christian revelation is the chief source of + theology. The Scriptures plainly declare that the revelation of + God in nature does not supply all the knowledge which a sinner + needs (Acts 17:23; Eph. 3:9). This revelation is therefore + supplemented by another, in which divine attributes and + merciful provisions only dimly shadowed forth in nature are + made known to men. This latter revelation consists of a series + of supernatural events and communications, the record of which + is presented in the Scriptures.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 17:23</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—Paul shows that, + though the Athenians, in the erection of an altar to an unknown + God,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">acknowledged a divine existence beyond any + which the ordinary rites of their worship recognized, that + Being was still unknown to them; they had no just conception of + his nature and perfections</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%"> + (Hackett,</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + loco</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">).</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 3:9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + mystery which hath been hid in God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—this mystery is in the gospel made known + for man's salvation. Hegel, in his Philosophy of Religion, + says that Christianity is the only revealed religion, because + the Christian God is the only one from whom a revelation can + come. We may add that as science is the record of man's + progressive interpretation of God's revelation in the realm + of nature, so Scripture is the record of man's progressive + interpretation of God's revelation in the realm of spirit. + The phrase</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">word of God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">does not primarily denote a</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">record</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">,—it + is the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">spoken</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">word, the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">doctrine</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + the vitalizing</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">truth</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + disclosed by Christ; see</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 13:19—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">heareth + the word of the kingdom</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 5:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">heard + the word of God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 8:25—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">spoken + the word of the Lord</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">13:48, + 49—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">glorified the word of God: ... the word of + the Lord was spread abroad</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">19:10, + 20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">heard + the word of the Lord, ... mightily grew the word of the + Lord</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 1:18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + word of the cross</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—all designating not a document, but an + unwritten word;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jer. + 1:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + word of Jehovah came unto me</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ez. + 1:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + word of Jehovah came expressly unto Ezekiel, the + priest.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) The Scriptures the final + standard of appeal.—Science and Scripture throw light upon each + other. The same divine Spirit who gave both revelations is + still present, enabling the believer to interpret the one by + the other and thus progressively to come to the knowledge of + the truth. Because of our finiteness and sin, the total record + in Scripture of God's past communications is a more trustworthy + source of theology than are our conclusions from nature or our + private impressions of the teaching of the Spirit. Theology + therefore looks to the Scripture itself as its chief source of + material and its final standard of appeal.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">There is an internal work of the + divine Spirit by which the outer word is made an inner word, + and its truth and power are manifested to the heart. + Scripture represents</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page028">[pg 028]</span><a name="Pg028" id="Pg028" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">this work + of the Spirit, not as a giving of new truth, but as an + illumination of the mind to perceive the fulness of meaning + which lay wrapped up in the truth already revealed. Christ + is</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the truth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John + 14:6)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">in whom + are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge + hidden</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Col. + 2:3)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; the Holy + Spirit, Jesus says,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">shall + take of mine, and shall declare it unto + you</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John + 16:14)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. The + incarnation and the Cross express the heart of God and the + secret of the universe; all discoveries in theology are but + the unfolding of truth involved in these facts. The Spirit of + Christ enables us to compare nature with Scripture, and + Scripture with nature, and to correct mistakes in + interpreting the one by light gained from the other. Because + the church as a whole, by which we mean the company of true + believers in all lands and ages, has the promise that it + shall be guided</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">into all the truth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John + 16:13)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, we may + confidently expect the progress of Christian + doctrine.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Christian experience is + sometimes regarded as an original source of religious truth. + Experience, however, is but a testing and proving of the + truth objectively contained in God's revelation. The + word</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">experience</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is derived from</span> <span lang="la" + class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">experior</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + to test, to try. Christian consciousness is not</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">norma + normans,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">but</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">norma normata.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Light, like life, comes to us through the + mediation of others. Yet the first comes from God as really + as the last, of which without hesitation we say:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + made me,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">though we have human parents. As + I get through the service-pipe in my house the same water + which is stored in the reservoir upon the hillside, so in the + Scriptures I get the same truth which the Holy Spirit + originally communicated to prophets and apostles. Calvin, + Institutes, book I, chap. 7—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">As nature has an immediate manifestation of + God in conscience, a mediate in his works, so revelation has + an immediate manifestation of God in the Spirit, a mediate in + the Scriptures.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Man's nature,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">said Spurgeon,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">is not an organized lie, yet his inner + consciousness has been warped by sin, and though once it was + an infallible guide to truth and duty, sin has made it very + deceptive. The standard of infallibility is not in man's + consciousness, but in the Scriptures. When consciousness in + any matter is contrary to the word of God, we must know that + it is not God's voice within us, but the + devil's.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Dr. George A. Gordon says + that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christian history is a revelation of Christ + additional to that contained in the New + Testament.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Should we not say</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">illustrative,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">instead of</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">additional</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">? On the relation between Christian + experience and Scripture, see Stearns, Evidence of Christian + Experience, 286-309: Twesten, Dogmatik, 1:344-348; Hodge, + Syst. Theol., 1:15.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">H. H. Bawden:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God is + the ultimate authority, but there are delegated authorities, + such as family, state, church; instincts, feelings, + conscience; the general experience of the race, traditions, + utilities; revelation in nature and in Scripture. But the + highest authority available for men in morals and religion is + the truth concerning Christ contained in the Christian + Scriptures. What the truth concerning Christ</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">is</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + is determined by: (1) the human reason, conditioned by a + right attitude of the feelings and the will; (2) in the light + of all the truth derived from nature, including man; (3) in + the light of the history of Christianity; (4) in the light of + the origin and development of the Scriptures themselves. The + authority of the generic reason and the authority of the + Bible are co-relative, since they both have been developed in + the providence of God, and since the latter is in large + measure but the reflection of the former. This view enables + us to hold a rational conception of the function of the + Scripture in religion. This view, further, enables us to + rationalize what is called the inspiration of the Bible, the + nature and extent of inspiration, the Bible as history—a + record of the historic unfolding of revelation; the Bible as + literature—a compend of life-principles, rather than a book + of rules; the Bible Christocentric—an incarnation of the + divine thought and will in human thought and + language.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) The theology of Scripture + not unnatural.—Though we speak of the systematized truths of + nature as constituting natural theology, we are not to infer + that Scriptural theology is unnatural. Since the Scriptures + have the same author as nature, the same principles are + illustrated in the one as in the other. All the doctrines of + the Bible have their reason in that same nature of God which + constitutes the basis of all material things. Christianity is a + supplementary dispensation, not as contradicting, or correcting + errors in, natural theology, but as more perfectly revealing + the truth. Christianity is indeed the ground-plan upon which + the whole creation is built—the original and eternal truth of + which natural theology <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page029">[pg 029]</span><a name="Pg029" id="Pg029" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> is but a partial expression. Hence the + theology of nature and the theology of Scripture are mutually + dependent. Natural theology not only prepares the way for, but + it receives stimulus and aid from, Scriptural theology. Natural + theology may now be a source of truth, which, before the + Scriptures came, it could not furnish.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">John Caird, Fund. Ideas of + Christianity. 23—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There + is no such thing as a natural religion or religion of reason + distinct from revealed religion. Christianity is more + profoundly, more comprehensively, rational, more accordant + with the deepest principles of human nature and human thought + than is natural religion; or, as we may put it, Christianity + is natural religion elevated and transmuted into + revealed.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Peabody, Christianity the + Religion of Nature, lecture 2—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Revelation is the unveiling, uncovering of + what previously existed, and it excludes the idea of newness, + invention, creation.... The revealed religion of earth is the + natural religion of heaven.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Compare</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rev. + 13:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Lamb that hath been slain from the foundation of the + world</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">= the coming of Christ was no + make-shift; in a true sense the Cross existed in eternity; + the atonement is a revelation of an eternal fact in the being + of God.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Note Plato's illustration of the + cave which can be easily threaded by one who has previously + entered it with a torch. Nature is the dim light from the + cave's mouth; the torch is Scripture. Kant to Jacobi, in + Jacobi's Werke, 3:523—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">If the gospel had not previously taught the + universal moral laws, reason would not yet have obtained so + perfect an insight into them.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Alexander McLaren:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Non-Christian thinkers now talk eloquently + about God's love, and even reject the gospel in the name of + that love, thus kicking down the ladder by which they have + climbed. But it was the Cross that taught the world the love + of God, and apart from the death of Christ men may hope that + there is a heart at the centre of the universe, but they can + never be sure of it.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The parrot fancies that he taught men to + talk. So Mr. Spencer fancies that he invented ethics. He is + only using the twilight, after his sun has gone down. Dorner, + Hist. Prot. Theol., 252, 253—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Faith, at the Reformation, first gave + scientific certainty; it had God sure: hence it proceeded to + banish scepticism in philosophy and + science.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">See also Dove, Logic of Christian Faith, + 333; Bowen, Metaph. and Ethics, 442-463; Bib. Sac., 1874:436; + A. H. Strong, Christ in Creation, 226, 227.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc37" id="toc37"></a> <a name="pdf38" id="pdf38"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 2. Scripture and Rationalism.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Although the + Scriptures make known much that is beyond the power of man's + unaided reason to discover or fully to comprehend, their + teachings, when taken together, in no way contradict a reason + conditioned in its activity by a holy affection and enlightened + by the Spirit of God. To reason in the large sense, as + including the mind's power of cognizing God and moral + relations—not in the narrow sense of mere reasoning, or the + exercise of the purely logical faculty—the Scriptures + continually appeal.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. The + proper office of reason, in this large sense, is: (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + To furnish us with those primary ideas of space, time, cause, + substance, design, right, and God, which are the conditions of + all subsequent knowledge. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + To judge with regard to man's need of a special and + supernatural revelation. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) To examine the + credentials of communications professing to be, or of documents + professing to record, such a revelation. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">d</span></span>) + To estimate and reduce to system the facts of revelation, when + these have been found properly attested. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">e</span></span>) + To deduce from these facts their natural and logical + conclusions. Thus reason itself prepares the way for a + revelation above reason, and warrants an implicit trust in such + revelation when once given.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Dove, Logic of the Christian + Faith, 318—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Reason + terminates in the proposition: Look for + revelation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Leibnitz:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Revelation is the viceroy who first presents + his credentials to the provincial assembly (reason), and then + himself presides.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Reason can recognize truth after it is made + known, as for example in the demonstrations of geometry, + although it could never discover that truth for itself. See + Calderwood's illustration</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page030">[pg 030]</span><a name="Pg030" id="Pg030" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">of the + party lost in the woods, who wisely take the course indicated + by one at the tree-top with a larger view than their own + (Philosophy of the Infinite, 126). The novice does well to + trust his guide in the forest, at least till he learns to + recognise for himself the marks blazed upon the trees. + Luthardt, Fund. Truths, lect. viii—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Reason could never have invented a + self-humiliating God, cradled in a manger and dying on a + cross.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Lessing, Zur Geschichte und + Litteratur, 6:134—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">What is + the meaning of a revelation that reveals + nothing?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Ritschl denies the + presuppositions of any theology based on the Bible as the + infallible word of God on the one hand, and on the validity + of the knowledge of God as obtained by scientific and + philosophic processes on the other. Because philosophers, + scientists, and even exegetes, are not agreed among + themselves, he concludes that no trustworthy results are + attainable by human reason. We grant that reason without love + will fall into many errors with regard to God, and that faith + is therefore the organ by which religious truth is to be + apprehended. But we claim that this faith includes reason, + and is itself reason in its highest form. Faith criticizes + and judges the processes of natural science as well as the + contents of Scripture. But it also recognizes in science and + Scripture prior workings of that same Spirit of Christ which + is the source and authority of the Christian life. Ritschl + ignores Christ's world-relations and therefore secularizes + and disparages science and philosophy. The faith to which he + trusts as the source of theology is unwarrantably sundered + from reason. It becomes a subjective and arbitrary standard, + to which even the teaching of Scripture must yield + precedence. We hold on the contrary, that there are + ascertained results in science and in philosophy, as well as + in the interpretation of Scripture as a whole, and that these + results constitute an authoritative revelation. See Orr, The + Theology of Ritschl; Dorner, Hist. Prot. Theol., + 1:233—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + unreasonable in the empirical reason is taken captive by + faith, which is the nascent true reason that despairs of + itself and trustfully lays hold of objective + Christianity.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. + Rationalism, on the other hand, holds reason to be the ultimate + source of all religious truth, while Scripture is authoritative + only so far as its revelations agree with previous conclusions + of reason, or can be rationally demonstrated. Every form of + rationalism, therefore, commits at least one of the following + errors: (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) That of confounding + reason with mere reasoning, or the exercise of the logical + intelligence. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) That of ignoring the + necessity of a holy affection as the condition of all right + reason in religious things. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + That of denying our dependence in our present state of sin upon + God's past revelations of himself. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">d</span></span>) + That of regarding the unaided reason, even its normal and + unbiased state, as capable of discovering, comprehending, and + demonstrating all religious truth.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Reason must not be confounded + with ratiocination, or mere reasoning. Shall we follow + reason? Yes, but not individual reasoning, against the + testimony of those who are better informed than we; nor by + insisting on demonstration, where probable evidence alone is + possible; nor by trusting solely to the evidence of the + senses, when spiritual things are in question. Coleridge, in + replying to those who argued that all knowledge comes to us + from the senses, says:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">At any rate we must bring to all facts the + light in which we see them.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This the Christian does. The light of love + reveals much that would otherwise be invisible. Wordsworth, + Excursion, book 5 (598)—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The mind's repose On evidence is not to be + ensured By act of naked reason. Moral truth Is no mechanic + structure, built by rule.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Rationalism is the mathematical + theory of knowledge. Spinoza's Ethics is an illustration of + it. It would deduce the universe from an axiom. Dr. Hodge + very wrongly described rationalism as</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">an overuse of reason.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is rather the use of an abnormal, + perverted, improperly conditioned reason; see Hodge, Syst. + Theol., 1:34, 39, 55, and criticism by Miller, in his Fetich + in Theology. The phrase</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">sanctified intellect</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">means simply intellect accompanied by right + affections toward God, and trained to work under their + influence. Bishop Butler:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Let reason be kept to, but let not such poor + creatures as we are go on objecting to an infinite scheme + that we do not see the necessity or usefulness of all its + parts, and call that reasoning.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Newman Smyth, Death's Place in Evolution, + 86—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Unbelief is a shaft sunk down into the + darkness of the earth.</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page031">[pg 031]</span><a name="Pg031" id="Pg031" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">Drive the + shaft deep enough, and it would come out into the sunlight on + the earth's other side.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The most unreasonable people in the world + are those who depend solely upon reason, in the narrow + sense.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + better to exalt reason, they make the world + irrational.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The hen that has hatched ducklings walks + with them to the water's edge, but there she stops, and she + is amazed when they go on. So reason stops and faith goes on, + finding its proper element in the invisible. Reason is the + feet that stand on solid earth; faith is the wings that + enable us to fly; and normal man is a creature with + wings.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Compare γνῶσις + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Tim. + 6:20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + knowledge which is falsely so called</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">) with ἐπίγνωσις (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Pet. + 1:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= full knowledge, or true knowledge). See + Twesten, Dogmatik, 1:467-500; Julius Müller, Proof-texts, 4, + 5; Mansel, Limits of Religious Thought, 96; Dawson, Modern + Ideas of Evolution.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc39" id="toc39"></a> <a name="pdf40" id="pdf40"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 3. Scripture and Mysticism.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">As + rationalism recognizes too little as coming from God, so + mysticism recognizes too much.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. True + mysticism.—We have seen that there is an illumination of the + minds of all believers by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit, however, + makes no new revelation of truth, but uses for his instrument + the truth already revealed by Christ in nature and in the + Scriptures. The illuminating work of the Spirit is therefore an + opening of men's minds to understand Christ's previous + revelations. As one initiated into the mysteries of + Christianity, every true believer may be called a mystic. True + mysticism is that higher knowledge and fellowship which the + Holy Spirit gives through the use of nature and Scripture as + subordinate and principal means.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Mystic</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= one initiated, from μύω,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">to + close the eyes</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—probably in order that the soul may have + inward vision of truth. But divine truth is a</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">mystery,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">not only as something into which one must be + initiated, but as ὑπερβάλλουσα τῆς γνώσεως (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 3:19</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">)—surpassing + full knowledge, even to the believer; see Meyer on</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 11:25—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I would + not, brethren, have you ignorant of this + mystery.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Germans have</span> <span lang="de" + class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="de"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mystik</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">with a favorable sense,</span> + <span lang="de" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "de"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mysticismus</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">with an unfavorable + sense,—corresponding respectively to our true and false + mysticism. True mysticism is intimated in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 16:13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + spirit of truth ... shall guide you into all the + truth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 3:9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">dispensation of the + mystery</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 2:10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">unto us + God revealed them through the Spirit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Nitzsch, Syst. of Christ. Doct., + 35—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Whenever true religion revives, there is an + outcry against mysticism,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, higher + knowledge, fellowship, activity through the Spirit of God in + the heart.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Compare the charge against Paul + that he was mad, in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts 26:24, + 25</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, with his + self-vindication in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Cor. + 5:13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">whether + we are beside ourselves, it is unto God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Inge, Christian Mysticism, + 21—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Harnack + speaks of mysticism as rationalism applied to a sphere above + reason. He should have said reason applied to a sphere above + rationalism. Its fundamental doctrine is the unity of all + existence. Man can realize his individuality only by + transcending it and finding himself in the larger unity of + God's being. Man is a microcosm. He recapitulates the race, + the universe, Christ himself.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ibid.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + 5—Mysticism is</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + attempt to realize in thought and feeling the immanence of + the temporal in the eternal, and of the eternal in the + temporal. It implies (1) that the soul can see and perceive + spiritual truth; (2) that man, in order to know God, must be + a partaker of the divine nature; (3) that without holiness no + man can see the Lord; (4) that the true hierophant of the + mysteries of God is love. The</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">scala perfectionis</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">is (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + the purgative life; (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + the illuminative life; (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + the unitive life.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Stevens, Johannine Theology, 239, + 240—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + mysticism of John ... is not a subjective mysticism which + absorbs the soul in self-contemplation and revery, but an + objective and rational mysticism, which lives in a world of + realities, apprehends divinely revealed truth, and bases its + experience upon it. It is a mysticism which feeds, not upon + its own feelings and fancies, but upon Christ. It involves an + acceptance of him, and a life of obedience to him. Its motto + is: Abiding in Christ.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">As the power press cannot dispense with the + type, so the Spirit of God does not dispense with Christ's + external revelations in nature and in Scripture. E. G. + Robinson, Christian Theology, 364—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The word of God is a form or mould, into + which the Holy Spirit delivers us when he creates us + anew</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 6:17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">ye + became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching + whereunto ye were delivered.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page032">[pg + 032]</span><a name="Pg032" id="Pg032" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. False + mysticism.—Mysticism, however, as the term is commonly used, + errs in holding to the attainment of religious knowledge by + direct communication from God, and by passive absorption of the + human activities into the divine. It either partially or wholly + loses sight of (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) the outward organs of + revelation, nature and the Scriptures; (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + the activity of the human powers in the reception of all + religious knowledge; (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) the personality of man, + and, by consequence, the personality of God.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In opposition to false + mysticism, we are to remember that the Holy Spirit works + through the truth externally revealed in nature and in + Scripture (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 14:17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he left + not himself without witness</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 1:20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + invisible things of him since the creation of the world are + clearly seen</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 7:51—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">ye do + always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do + ye</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 6:17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + sword of the Spirit, which is the word of + God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">). By this truth already given we are to + test all new communications which would contradict or + supersede it (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 John + 4:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">believe + not every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they are of + God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 5:10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">proving + what is well pleasing unto the Lord</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">). By these tests we may try Spiritualism, + Mormonism, Swedenborgianism. Note the mystical tendency in + Francis de Sales, Thomas à Kempis, Madame Guyon, Thomas C. + Upham. These writers seem at times to advocate an + unwarrantable abnegation of our reason and will, and a</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">swallowing up of man in + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">But Christ does not deprive us + of reason and will; he only takes from us the perverseness of + our reason and the selfishness of our will; so reason and + will are restored to their normal clearness and strength. + Compare</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 16:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Jehovah, who hath given me counsel; yea, my + heart instructeth me in the night seasons</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—God teaches his people through the exercise + of their own faculties.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">False mysticism is sometimes + present though unrecognized. All expectation of results + without the use of means partakes of it. Martineau, Seat of + Authority, 288—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + lazy will would like to have the vision while the eye that + apprehends it sleeps.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Preaching without preparation is like + throwing ourselves down from a pinnacle of the temple and + depending on God to send an angel to hold us up. Christian + Science would trust to supernatural agencies, while casting + aside the natural agencies God has already provided; as if a + drowning man should trust to prayer while refusing to seize + the rope. Using Scripture</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">ad aperturam libri</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is like guiding one's actions by a throw of + the dice. Allen, Jonathan Edwards, 171, + note—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Both + Charles and John Wesley were agreed in accepting the Moravian + method of solving doubts as to some course of action by + opening the Bible at hazard and regarding the passage on + which the eye first alighted as a revelation of God's will in + the matter</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Wedgwood, Life of Wesley, 193; + Southey, Life of Wesley, 1:216. J. G. Paton, Life, + 2:74—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">After + many prayers and wrestlings and tears, I went alone before + the Lord, and on my knees cast lots, with a solemn appeal to + God, and the answer came:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Go home!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">He did this only once in his life, in + overwhelming perplexity, and finding no light from human + counsel.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">To + whomsoever this faith is given,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">he says,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">let him obey it.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">F. B. Meyer, Christian Living, + 18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It is a + mistake to seek a sign from heaven; to run from counsellor to + counsellor; to cast a lot; or to trust in some chance + coincidence. Not that God may not reveal his will thus; but + because it is hardly the behavior of a child with its Father. + There is a more excellent way,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—namely, appropriate Christ who is wisdom, + and then go forward, sure that we shall be guided, as each + new step must be taken, or word spoken, or decision made. Our + service is to be</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">rational service</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Rom. + 12:1)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; blind and + arbitrary action is inconsistent with the spirit of + Christianity. Such action makes us victims of temporary + feeling and a prey to Satanic deception. In cases of + perplexity, waiting for light and waiting upon God will + commonly enable us to make an intelligent decision, + while</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">whatsoever is not of faith is + sin</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Rom. + 14:23)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">False + mysticism reached its logical result in the Buddhistic + theosophy. In that system man becomes most divine in the + extinction of his own personality. Nirvana is reached by the + eightfold path of right view, aspiration, speech, conduct, + livelihood, effort, mindfulness, rapture; and Nirvana is the + loss of ability to say:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">This is I,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">This is mine.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Such was Hypatia's attempt, by subjection of + self, to be wafted away into the arms of Jove. George Eliot + was wrong when she said:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The happiest woman has no + history.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Self-denial is not + self-effacement. The cracked bell has no individuality. In + Christ we become our complete selves.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col 2:9, + 10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For in + him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and in + him ye are made full.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Royce, World and Individual, + 2:248, 249—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Assert + the spiritual man; abnegate the natural man. The fleshly self + is the root of all evil; the spiritual self belongs to + a</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page033">[pg + 033]</span><a name="Pg033" id="Pg033" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">higher + realm. But this spiritual self lies at first outside the + soul; it becomes ours only by grace. Plato rightly made the + eternal Ideas the source of all human truth and goodness. + Wisdom comes into a man, like Aristotle's + νοῦς.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">A. H. Bradford, The Inner Light, + in making the direct teaching of the Holy Spirit the + sufficient if not the sole source of religious knowledge, + seems to us to ignore the principle of evolution in religion. + God builds upon the past. His revelation to prophets and + apostles constitutes the norm and corrective of our + individual experience, even while our experience throws new + light upon that revelation. On Mysticism, true and false, see + Inge, Christian Mysticism, 4, 5, 11; Stearns, Evidence of + Christian Experience, 289-294; Dorner, Geschichte d. prot. + Theol., 48-59, 243; Herzog, Encycl., art.: Mystik, by Lange; + Vaughan, Hours with the Mystics, 1:199; Morell, Hist. + Philos., 58, 191-215, 556-625, 726; Hodge, Syst. Theol., + 1:61-69, 97, 104; Fleming, Vocab. Philos.,</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + voce</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; Tholuck, + Introd. to Blüthensammlung aus der morgenländischen Mystik; + William James, Varieties of Religious Experience, + 379-429.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc41" id="toc41"></a> <a name="pdf42" id="pdf42"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 4. Scripture and Romanism.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">While the + history of doctrine, as showing the progressive apprehension + and unfolding by the church of the truth contained in nature + and Scripture, is a subordinate source of theology, + Protestantism recognizes the Bible as under Christ the primary + and final authority.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Romanism, on + the other hand, commits the two-fold error (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + Of making the church, and not the Scriptures, the immediate and + sufficient source of religious knowledge; and (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + Of making the relation of the individual to Christ depend upon + his relation to the church, instead of making his relation to + the church depend upon, follow, and express his relation to + Christ.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In Roman Catholicism there is a + mystical element. The Scriptures are not the complete or + final standard of belief and practice. God gives to the world + from time to time, through popes and councils, new + communications of truth. Cyprian:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">He who has not the church for his mother, + has not God for his Father.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Augustine:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I would not believe the Scripture, unless + the authority of the church also influenced + me.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Francis of Assisi and Ignatius Loyola both + represented the truly obedient person as one dead, moving + only as moved by his superior; the true Christian has no life + of his own, but is the blind instrument of the church. John + Henry Newman, Tracts, Theol. and Eccl., + 287—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Christian dogmas were in the church from the time of the + apostles,—they were ever in their substance what they are + now.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">But this is demonstrably untrue + of the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary; of the + treasury of merits to be distributed in indulgences; of the + infallibility of the pope (see Gore, Incarnation, 186). In + place of the true doctrine,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ubi Spiritus, ibi + ecclesia,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Romanism substitutes her + maxim,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Ubi + ecclesia, ibi Spiritus.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Luther saw in this the principle of + mysticism, when he said:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Papatus est merus + enthusiasmus.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Hodge, Syst. Theol., 1:61-69.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In reply to the Romanist + argument that the church was before the Bible, and that the + same body that gave the truth at the first can make additions + to that truth, we say that the unwritten word was before the + church and made the church possible. The word of God existed + before it was written down, and by that word the first + disciples as well as the latest were begotten + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Pet. + 1:23—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">begotten again ... through the word of + God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">). The grain of truth in Roman Catholic + doctrine is expressed in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Tim. + 3:15—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the + truth</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">= the church is God's appointed + proclaimer of truth;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Phil. + 2:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">holding + forth the word of life.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But the church can proclaim the truth, only + as it is built upon the truth. So we may say that the + American Republic is the pillar and ground of liberty in the + world; but this is true only so far as the Republic is built + upon the principle of liberty as its foundation. When the + Romanist asks:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Where + was your church before Luther?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">the Protestant may reply:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Where + yours is not now—in the word of God. Where was your face + before it was washed? Where was the fine flour before the + wheat went to the mill?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Lady Jane Grey, three days before her + execution, February 12, 1554, said:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I ground my faith on God's word, and not + upon the church; for, if the church be a good church, the + faith of the church must be tried by God's word, and not + God's word by the church, nor yet my + faith.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The Roman church would keep men + in perpetual childhood—coming to her for truth</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page034">[pg 034]</span><a name= + "Pg034" id="Pg034" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">instead of going directly to the + Bible;</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">like + the foolish mother who keeps her boy pining in the house lest + he stub his toe, and would love best to have him remain a + babe forever, that she might mother him + still.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Martensen, Christian Dogmatics, + 30—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Romanism is so busy in building up a system + of guarantees, that she forgets the truth of Christ which she + would guarantee.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">George Herbert:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">What wretchedness can give him any room, + Whose house is foul while he adores his + broom!</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It is a semi-parasitic doctrine + of safety without intelligence or spirituality. Romanism + says:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Man for + the machine!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Protestantism:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The machine for man!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Catholicism strangles, Protestantism + restores, individuality. Yet the Romanist principle sometimes + appears in so-called Protestant churches. The Catechism + published by the League of the Holy Cross, in the Anglican + Church, contains the following:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is to the priest only that the child must + acknowledge his sins, if he desires that God should forgive + him. Do you know why? It is because God, when on earth, gave + to his priests and to them alone the power of forgiving sins. + Go to the priest, who is the doctor of your soul, and who + cures you in the name of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But this contradicts</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 10:7</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—where Christ + says</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I am the door</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 3:11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">other + foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is + Jesus Christ</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= Salvation is attained by immediate access + to Christ, and there is no door between the soul and him. See + Dorner, Gesch. prot. Theol., 227; Schleiermacher, + Glaubenslehre, 1:24; Robinson, in Mad. Av. Lectures, 387; + Fisher, Nat. and Method of Revelation, 10; Watkins, Bampton + Lect. for 1890:149; Drummond, Nat. Law in Spir. World, + 327.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc43" id="toc43"></a> <a name="pdf44" id="pdf44"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">II. Limitations of + Theology.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Although + theology derives its material from God's two-fold revelation, it + does not profess to give an exhaustive knowledge of God and of + the relations between God and the universe. After showing what + material we have, we must show what material we have not. We have + indicated the sources of theology; we now examine its + limitations. Theology has its limitations:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">In the + finiteness of the human understanding.</span></span> This gives + rise to a class of necessary mysteries, or mysteries connected + with the infinity and incomprehensibleness of the divine nature + (Job 11:7; Rom. 11:33).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + Job 11:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Canst + thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the + Almighty to perfection?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 11:33—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">how + unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding + out!</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Every doctrine, therefore, has its + inexplicable side. Here is the proper meaning of Tertullian's + sayings:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Certum + est, quia impossible est: quo absurdius, eo + verius</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + that of Anselm:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Credo, ut + intelligam</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + and that of Abelard:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Qui credit cito, levis corde + est.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Drummond, Nat. Law in Spir. + World:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A science + without mystery is unknown; a religion without mystery is + absurd.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">E. G. Robinson:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A finite + being cannot grasp even its own relations to the + Infinite.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Hovey, Manual of Christ. Theol., + 7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">To infer + from the perfection of God that all his works [nature, man, + inspiration] will be absolutely and unchangeably perfect: to + infer from the perfect love of God that there can be no sin or + suffering in the world; to infer from the sovereignty of God + that man is not a free moral agent;—all these inferences are + rash; they are inferences from the cause to the effect, while + the cause is imperfectly known.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Calderwood, Philos. of Infinite, 491; Sir + Wm. Hamilton, Discussions, 22.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">In the + imperfect state of science, both natural and + metaphysical.</span></span> This gives rise to a class of + accidental mysteries, or mysteries which consist in the + apparently irreconcilable nature of truths, which, taken + separately, are perfectly comprehensible.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We are the victims of a mental or moral + astigmatism, which sees a</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + single</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">point of truth + as</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">two</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + We see God and man, divine sovereignty and human freedom, + Christ's divine nature and Christ's human nature, the natural + and the supernatural, respectively, as two disconnected facts, + when perhaps deeper insight would see but one. Astronomy has + its centripetal and centrifugal forces, yet they are doubtless + one force. The child cannot hold two oranges at once in its + little hand. Negro preacher:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">You can't carry two watermelons under one + arm.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, + 1:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + nature's infinite book of secresy, A little I can + read.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Cooke, Credentials of Science, + 34—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Man's + progress in knowledge has been so constantly and rapidly + accelerated that more has been gained during the lifetime of + men still living than during all</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page035">[pg 035]</span><a name="Pg035" id= + "Pg035" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">human history before.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">And yet we may say with D'Arcy, Idealism and + Theology, 248—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Man's + position in the universe is eccentric. God alone is at the + centre. To him alone is the orbit of truth completely + displayed.... There are circumstances in which to us the onward + movement of truth may seem a retrogression.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">William Watson, Collected Poems, + 271—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Think not + thy wisdom can illume away The ancient tanglement of night and + day. Enough to acknowledge both, and both revere: They see not + clearliest who see all things clear.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">In the + inadequacy of language.</span></span> Since language is the + medium through which truth is expressed and formulated, the + invention of a proper terminology in theology, as in every other + science, is a condition and criterion of its progress. The + Scriptures recognize a peculiar difficulty in putting spiritual + truths into earthly language (1 Cor. 2:13; 2 Cor. 3:6; 12:4).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + 1 Cor. 2:13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">not in + words which man's wisdom teacheth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Cor. + 3:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + letter killeth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">12:4—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">unspeakable words.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">God submits to conditions of + revelation;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 16:12—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I have + yet many things to say into you, but ye cannot bear them + now.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Language has to be created. Words + have to be taken from a common, and to be put to a larger and + more sacred, use, so that they</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">stagger under their weight of + meaning</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e. + g.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, the word</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">day,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + Genesis 1</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, and the + word ἀγάπη in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 13</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. See Gould, in + Amer. Com., on</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 13:12—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">now we + see in a mirror, darkly</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—in a metallic mirror whose surface is dim and + whose images are obscure = Now we behold Christ, the truth, + only as he is reflected in imperfect speech—</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">but then + face to face</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= immediately, without the intervention of an + imperfect medium.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">As fast + as we tunnel into the sandbank of thought, the stones of + language must be built into walls and arches, to allow further + progress into the boundless mine.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">d</span></span>) + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">In the + incompleteness of our knowledge of the Scriptures.</span></span> + Since it is not the mere letter of the Scriptures that + constitutes the truth, the progress of theology is dependent upon + hermeneutics, or the interpretation of the word of God.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Notice the progress in commenting, from + homiletical to grammatical, historical, dogmatic, illustrated in + Scott, Ellicott, Stanley, Lightfoot. John Robinson:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I am verily + persuaded that the Lord hath more truth yet to break forth from + his holy word.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Recent criticism has shown the necessity of + studying each portion of Scripture in the light of its origin and + connections. There has been an evolution of Scripture, as truly + as there has been an evolution of natural science, and the Spirit + of Christ who was in the prophets has brought about a progress + from germinal and typical expression to expression that is + complete and clear. Yet we still need to offer the prayer + of</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 119:18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Open thou + mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy + law.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On New Testament Interpretation, see + A. H. Strong, Philosophy and Religion, 334-336.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">e</span></span>) + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">In the + silence of written revelation.</span></span> For our discipline + and probation, much is probably hidden from us, which we might + even with our present powers comprehend.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Instance the silence of Scripture with regard to + the life and death of Mary the Virgin, the personal appearance of + Jesus and his occupations in early life, the origin of evil, the + method of the atonement, the state after death. So also as to + social and political questions, such as slavery, the liquor + traffic, domestic virtues, governmental corruption.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jesus was + in heaven at the revolt of the angels, yet he tells us little + about angels or about heaven. He does not discourse about Eden, + or Adam, or the fall of man, or death as the result of Adam's + sin; and he says little of departed spirits, whether they are + lost or saved.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It was better to inculcate + principles, and trust his followers to apply them. His gospel is + not intended to gratify a vain curiosity. He would not divert + men's minds from pursuing the one thing needful;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke 13:23, + 24—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Lord, are + they few that are saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter + in by the narrow door; for many, I say unto you, shall seek to + enter in, and shall not be able.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Paul's silence upon speculative questions + which he must have pondered with absorbing interest is a proof + of his divine inspiration. John Foster spent his life,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">gathering + questions for eternity</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 13:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">What I do + thou knowest not now; but thou shalt understand + hereafter.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The most beautiful thing in a + countenance</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page036">[pg + 036]</span><a name="Pg036" id="Pg036" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">is that which + a picture can never express. He who would speak well must omit + well. Story:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Of every + noble work the silent part is best; Of all expressions that + which cannot be expressed.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Cf.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 2:9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Things + which eye saw not, and ear heard not, And which entered not + into the heart of man, Whatsoever things God prepared for them + that love him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Deut + 29:29—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + secret things belong unto Jehovah our God: but the things that + are revealed belong unto us and to our + children.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">For Luther's view, see Hagenbach, Hist. + Doctrine, 2:388. See also B. D. Thomas, The Secret of the + Divine Silence.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">f</span></span>) + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">In the + lack of spiritual discernment caused by sin.</span></span> Since + holy affection is a condition of religious knowledge, all moral + imperfection in the individual Christian and in the church serves + as a hindrance to the working out of a complete theology.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + John 3:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Except + one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The spiritual ages make most + progress in theology,—witness the half-century succeeding the + Reformation, and the half-century succeeding the great revival + in New England in the time of Jonathan Edwards. Ueberweg, Logic + (Lindsay's transl.), 514—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Science is much under the influence of the + will; and the truth of knowledge depends upon the purity of the + conscience. The will has no power to resist scientific + evidence; but scientific evidence is not obtained without the + continuous loyalty of the will.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Lord Bacon declared that man cannot enter the + kingdom of science, any more than he can enter the kingdom of + heaven, without becoming a little child. Darwin describes his + own mind as having become a kind of machine for grinding + general laws out of large collections of facts, with the result + of producing</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">atrophy + of that part of the brain on which the higher tastes + depend.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">But a similar abnormal atrophy is + possible in the case of the moral and religious faculty (see + Gore, Incarnation, 37). Dr. Allen said in his Introductory + Lecture at Lane Theological Seminary:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We are very glad to see you if you wish to be + students; but the professors' chairs are all + filled.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc45" id="toc45"></a> <a name="pdf46" id="pdf46"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">III. Relations of Material to + Progress in Theology.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">A + perfect system of theology is impossible.</span></span> We do not + expect to construct such a system. All science but reflects the + present attainment of the human mind. No science is complete or + finished. However it may be with the sciences of nature and of + man, the science of God will never amount to an exhaustive + knowledge. We must not expect to demonstrate all Scripture + doctrines upon rational grounds, or even in every case to see the + principle of connection between them. Where we cannot do this, we + must, as in every other science, set the revealed facts in their + places and wait for further light, instead of ignoring or + rejecting any of them because we cannot understand them or their + relation to other parts of our system.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Three problems left unsolved by the Egyptians + have been handed down to our generation: (1) the duplication of + the cube; (2) the trisection of the angle; (3) the quadrature of + the circle. Dr. Johnson:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dictionaries are like watches; the worst is + better than none; and the best cannot be expected to go quite + true.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Hood spoke of Dr. Johnson's</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Contradictionary,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">which had both</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">interiour</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">exterior.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Sir William Thompson (Lord Kelvin) at the + fiftieth anniversary of his professorship said:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">One word + characterizes the most strenuous of the efforts for the + advancement of science which I have made perseveringly through + fifty-five years: that word is</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">failure</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; + I know no more of electric and magnetic force, or of the + relations between ether, electricity and ponderable matter, or + of chemical affinity, than I knew and tried to teach my + students of natural philosophy fifty years ago in my first + session as professor.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Allen, Religious Progress, mentions three + tendencies.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The first + says: Destroy the new! The second says: Destroy the old! The + third says: Destroy nothing! Let the old gradually and quietly + grow into the new, as Erasmus wished. We should accept + contradictions, whether they can be intellectually reconciled + or not. The truth has never prospered by enforcing some 'via + media.' Truth lies rather in the union of opposite + propositions, as in Christ's divinity and humanity, and in + grace</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page037">[pg + 037]</span><a name="Pg037" id="Pg037" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">and freedom. + Blanco White went from Rome to infidelity; Orestes Brownson + from infidelity to Rome; so the brothers John Henry Newman and + Francis W. Newman, and the brothers George Herbert of Bemerton + and Lord Herbert of Cherbury. One would secularize the divine, + the other would divinize the secular. But if one is true, so is + the other. Let us adopt both. All progress is a deeper + penetration into the meaning of old truth, and a larger + appropriation of it.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Theology is nevertheless + progressive.</span></span> It is progressive in the sense that + our subjective understanding of the facts with regard to God, and + our consequent expositions of these facts, may and do become more + perfect. But theology is not progressive in the sense that its + objective facts change, either in their number or their nature. + With Martineau we may say: <span class="tei tei-q">“Religion has + been reproached with not being progressive; it makes amends by + being imperishable.”</span> Though our knowledge may be + imperfect, it will have great value still. Our success in + constructing a theology will depend upon the proportion which + clearly expressed facts of Scripture bear to mere inferences, and + upon the degree in which they all cohere about Christ, the + central person and theme.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The progress of theology is progress in + apprehension by man, not progress in communication by God. + Originality in astronomy is not man's creation of new planets, + but man's discovery of planets that were never seen before, or + the bringing to light of relations between them that were never + before suspected. Robert Kerr Eccles:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Originality is a habit of recurring to + origins—the habit of securing personal experience by personal + application to original facts. It is not an eduction of novelties + either from nature, Scripture, or inner consciousness; it is + rather the habit of resorting to primitive facts, and of securing + the personal experiences which arise from contact with these + facts.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Fisher, Nat. and Meth. of + Revelation, 48—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The starry + heavens are now what they were of old; there is no enlargement of + the stellar universe, except that which comes through the + increased power and use of the telescope.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">We + must not imitate the green sailor who, when set to steer, said he + had</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%"> + “</span><span style="font-size: 90%">sailed</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">by</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">that star.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Martineau, Types, 1:492, + 493—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Metaphysics, so far as they are true to their + work, are stationary, precisely because they have in charge, + not what begins and ceases to be, but what always</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">is</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.... It is absurd to praise motion for always + making way, while disparaging space for still being what it + ever was: as if the motion you prefer could be, without the + space which you reproach.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Newman Smyth, Christian Ethics, 45, 67-70, + 79—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">True + conservatism is progress which takes direction from the past + and fulfils its good; false conservatism is a narrowing and + hopeless reversion to the past, which is a betrayal of the + promise of the future. So Jesus came not</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">to + destroy the law or the prophets</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; he</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">came not + to destroy, but to fulfil</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Mat. + 5:17)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.... The last + book on Christian Ethics will not be written before the + Judgment Day.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">John Milton, Areopagitica:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Truth is compared in the Scripture to a + streaming fountain; if her waters flow not in a perpetual + progression, they sicken into a muddy pool of conformity and + tradition. A man may be a heretic in the + truth.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Paul in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 2:16</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, and in</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Tim. + 2:8</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—speaks of</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">my + gospel.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It is the duty of every Christian + to have his own conception of the truth, while he respects the + conceptions of others. Tennyson, Locksley Hall:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I that + rather held it better men should perish one by one, Than that + earth should stand at gaze like Joshua's moon at + Ajalon.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We do not expect any new worlds, + and we need not expect any new Scriptures; but we may expect + progress in the interpretation of both. Facts are final, but + interpretation is not.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page038">[pg 038]</span><a name= + "Pg038" id="Pg038" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + <hr class="page" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em"> + <a name="toc47" id="toc47"></a> <a name="pdf48" id="pdf48"></a> + + <h2 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"> + <span style="font-size: 144%">Chapter III. Method Of + Theology.</span></h2> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc49" id="toc49"></a> <a name="pdf50" id="pdf50"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">I. Requisites to the study of + Theology.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The requisites + to the successful study of theology have already in part been + indicated in speaking of its limitations. In spite of some + repetition, however, we mention the following:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">A + disciplined mind.</span></span> Only such a mind can patiently + collect the facts, hold in its grasp many facts at once, educe by + continuous reflection their connecting principles, suspend final + judgment until its conclusions are verified by Scripture and + experience.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Robert Browning, Ring and Book, 175 (Pope, + 228)—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Truth + nowhere lies, yet everywhere, in these; Not absolutely in a + portion, yet Evolveable from the whole: evolved at last + Painfully, held tenaciously by me.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Teachers and students may be divided into two + classes: (1) those who know enough already; (2) those wish to + learn more than they now know. Motto of Winchester School in + England:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Disce, aut + discede.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Butcher, Greek Genius, 213, + 230—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Sophists fancied that they were imparting education, when they + were only imparting results. Aristotle illustrates their method + by the example of a shoemaker who, professing to teach the art of + making painless shoes, puts into the apprentice's hand a large + assortment of shoes ready-made. A witty Frenchman classes + together those who would make science popular, metaphysics + intelligible, and vice respectable. The word σχόλη, which first + meant</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">leisure,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">then</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">philosophical discussion,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and finally</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">school,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">shows the pure love of learning among the + Greeks.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Robert G. Ingersoll said that the + average provincial clergyman is like the land of the upper + Potomac spoken of by Tom Randolph, as almost worthless in its + original state, and rendered wholly so by cultivation. Lotze, + Metaphysics, 1:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + constant whetting of the knife is tedious, if it is not + proposed to cut anything with it.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">To do their duty is their only + holiday,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is the description of Athenian + character given by Thucydides. Chitty asked a father inquiring + as to his son's qualifications for the law:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Can your son eat sawdust without any + butter?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On opportunities for culture in + the Christian ministry, see New Englander, Oct. 1875:644; A. H. + Strong, Philosophy and Religion, 273-275; Christ in Creation, + 318-320.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">An + intuitional as distinguished from a merely logical habit of + mind</span></span>,—or, trust in the mind's primitive + convictions, as well as in its processes of reasoning. The + theologian must have insight as well as understanding. He must + accustom himself to ponder spiritual facts as well as those which + are sensible and material; to see things in their inner relations + as well as in their outward forms; to cherish confidence in the + reality and the unity of truth.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Vinet, Outlines of Philosophy, 39, + 40—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If I do not + feel that good is good, who will ever prove it to + me?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Pascal:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Logic, which is an abstraction, may shake + everything. A being purely intellectual will be incurably + sceptical.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Calvin:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Satan is an acute + theologian.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Some men can see a fly on a barn + door a mile away, and yet can never see the door. Zeller, + Outlines of Greek Philosophy, 93—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Gorgias the Sophist was able to show + metaphysically that nothing can exist; that what does exist + cannot be known by us; and that what is known by us cannot be + imparted to others</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(quoted by Wenley, Socrates and Christ, 28). + Aristotle differed from those moderate men who</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page039">[pg 039]</span><a name= + "Pg039" id="Pg039" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">thought it impossible to go over the same + river twice,—he held that it could not be done even once + (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Wordsworth, Prelude, 536). Dove, + Logic of the Christian Faith, 1-29, and especially 25, gives a + demonstration of the impossibility of motion: A thing cannot + move in the place where it is; it cannot move in the places + where it is not; but the place where it is and the places where + it is not are all the places that there are; therefore a thing + cannot move at all. Hazard, Man a Creative First Cause, 109, + shows that the bottom of a wheel does not move, since it goes + backward as fast as the top goes forward. An instantaneous + photograph makes the upper part a confused blur, while the + spokes of the lower part are distinctly visible. Abp. + Whately:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Weak + arguments are often thrust before my path; but, although they + are most unsubstantial, it is not easy to destroy them. There + is not a more difficult feat known than to cut through a + cushion with a sword.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Cf.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Tim. + 6:20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">oppositions of the knowledge which is falsely + so called</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">3:2—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the bishop therefore must be ... + sober-minded</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—σώφρων =</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">well balanced.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Scripture speaks of</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">sound + [ὑγιής = healthful] doctrine</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(1 Tim. + 1:10)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. Contrast</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Tim. 6:4—[νοσῶν = + ailing]</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">diseased + about questionings and disputes of words.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">An + acquaintance with physical, mental, and moral + science.</span></span> The method of conceiving and expressing + Scripture truth is so affected by our elementary notions of these + sciences, and the weapons with which theology is attacked and + defended are so commonly drawn from them as arsenals, that the + student cannot afford to be ignorant of them.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Goethe explains his own greatness by his + avoidance of metaphysics:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Mein Kind, Ich habe es klug gemacht: Ich habe + nie über's Denken gedacht</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I have been + wise in never thinking about thinking</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; he + would have been wiser, had he pondered more deeply the + fundamental principles of his philosophy; see A. H. Strong, The + Great Poets and their Theology, 296-299, and Philosophy and + Religion, 1-18; also in Baptist Quarterly, 2:393</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Many a theological system has + fallen, like the Campanile at Venice, because its foundations + were insecure. Sir William Hamilton:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">No difficulty arises in theology which has not + first emerged in philosophy.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">N. + W. Taylor:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Give me a + young man in metaphysics, and I care not who has him in + theology.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">President Samson Talbot:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I love metaphysics, because they have to do with + realities.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + maxim</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Ubi tres + medici, ibi duo athei,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">witnesses to the truth of Galen's words: ἄριστος + ἰατρὸς καὶ φιλόσοφος—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the best physician is also a + philosopher.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Theology cannot dispense with + science, any more than science can dispense with philosophy. E. + G. Robinson:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Science + has not invalidated any fundamental truth of revelation, though + it has modified the statement of many.... Physical Science will + undoubtedly knock some of our crockery gods on the head, and + the sooner the better.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">There is great advantage to the preacher in + taking up, as did Frederick W. Robertson, one science after + another. Chemistry entered into his mental structure, as he + said,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">like iron + into the blood.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">d</span></span>) + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">A + knowledge of the original languages of the Bible.</span></span> + This is necessary to enable us not only to determine the meaning + of the fundamental terms of Scripture, such as holiness, sin, + propitiation, justification, but also to interpret statements of + doctrine by their connections with the context.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Emerson said that the man who reads a book in a + strange tongue, when he can have a good translation, is a fool. + Dr. Behrends replied that he is a fool who is satisfied with the + substitute. E. G. Robinson:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Language is a great organism, and no study so + disciplines the mind as the dissection of an + organism.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Chrysostom:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">This is the cause of all our evils—our not + knowing the Scriptures.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">Yet + a modern scholar has said:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Bible is the most dangerous of all God's + gifts to men.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It is possible to adore the letter, + while we fail to perceive its spirit. A narrow interpretation may + contradict its meaning. Much depends upon connecting phrases, as + for example, the διὰ τοῦτο and ἐφ᾽ ᾧ, in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + Rom. 5:12</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. Professor + Philip Lindsley of Princeton, 1813-1853, said to his + pupils:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">One of + the best preparations for death is a thorough knowledge of the + Greek grammar.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The youthful Erasmus:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">When I get some money, I will get me some + Greek books, and, after that, some clothes.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The dead languages are the only really living + ones—free from danger of misunderstanding from changing usage. + Divine Providence</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page040">[pg 040]</span><a name="Pg040" id="Pg040" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">has put + revelation into fixed forms in the Hebrew and the Greek. Sir + William Hamilton, Discussions, 330—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">To be a competent divine is in fact to be a + scholar.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">On + the true idea of a Theological Seminary Course, see A. H. + Strong, Philos. and Religion, 302-313.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">e</span></span>) + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">A holy + affection toward God.</span></span> Only the renewed heart can + properly feel its need of divine revelation, or understand that + revelation when given.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + Ps. 25:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + secret of Jehovah is with them that fear him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 12:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">prove + what is the ... will of God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 36:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + transgression of the wicked speaks in his heart like an + oracle.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It is the + heart and not the brain That to the highest doth + attain.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">To</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">learn by heart</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is something more than to learn by mind, or by + head. All heterodoxy is preceded by heteropraxy. In Bunyan's + Pilgrim's Progress, Faithful does not go through the Slough of + Despond, as Christian did; and it is by getting over the fence + to find an easier road, that Christian and Hopeful get into + Doubting Castle and the hands of Giant Despair.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Great + thoughts come from the heart,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">said Vauvenargues. The preacher cannot, like + Dr. Kane, kindle fire with a lens of ice. Aristotle:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The power + of attaining moral truth is dependent upon our acting + rightly.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Pascal:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We know truth, not only by the reason, but by + the heart.... The heart has its reasons, which the reason knows + nothing of.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Hobbes:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Even the axioms of geometry would be disputed, + if men's passions were concerned in them.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Macaulay:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The law of gravitation would still be + controverted, if it interfered with vested + interests.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Nordau, Degeneracy:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Philosophic systems simply furnish the excuses + reason demands for the unconscious impulses of the race during + a given period of time.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Lord Bacon:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">A tortoise on the right path will beat a racer + on the wrong path.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Goethe:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">As are the inclinations, so also are the + opinions.... A work of art can be comprehended by the head only + with the assistance of the heart.... Only law can give us + liberty.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Fichte:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Our system of thought is very often only the + history of our heart.... Truth is descended from conscience.... + Men do not will according to their reason, but they reason + according to their will.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Neander's motto was:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Pectus est quod theologum + facit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It is the + heart that makes the theologian.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">John Stirling:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">That is a dreadful eye which can be divided + from a living human heavenly heart, and still retain its + all-penetrating vision,—such was the eye of the + Gorgons.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">But such an eye, we add, is not + all-penetrating. E. G. Robinson:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Never study theology in cold + blood.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">W. C. Wilkinson:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The head + is a magnetic needle with truth for its pole. But the heart is + a hidden mass of magnetic iron. The head is drawn somewhat + toward its natural pole, the truth; but more it is drawn by + that nearer magnetism.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">See an affecting instance of Thomas Carlyle's + enlightenment, after the death of his wife, as to the meaning + of the Lord's Prayer, in Fisher, Nat. and Meth. of Revelation, + 165. On the importance of feeling, in association of ideas, see + Dewey, Psychology, 106, 107.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">f</span></span>) + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The + enlightening influence of the Holy Spirit.</span></span> As only + the Spirit fathoms the things of God, so only he can illuminate + our minds to apprehend them.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + 1 Cor. 2:11, 12—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of God. But we + received ... the Spirit which is from God; that we might + know.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Cicero, Nat. Deorum, + 66—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Nemo + igitur vir magnus sine aliquo adfiatu divino unquam + fuit.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Professor Beck of Tübingen:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For the + student, there is no privileged path leading to the truth; the + only one which leads to it is also that of the unlearned; it is + that of regeneration and of gradual illumination by the Holy + Spirit; and without the Holy Spirit, theology is not only a + cold stone, it is a deadly poison.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">As all the truths of the differential and + integral calculus are wrapped up in the simplest mathematical + axiom, so all theology is wrapped up in the declaration that + God is holiness and love, or in the protevangelium uttered at + the gates of Eden. But dull minds cannot of themselves evolve + the calculus from the axiom, nor can sinful hearts evolve + theology from the first prophecy. Teachers are needed to + demonstrate geometrical theorems, and the Holy Spirit is needed + to show us that the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">new + commandment</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">illustrated by the death of Christ is only + an</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">old commandment which ye had from the + beginning</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(1 John + 2:7)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. The Principia of + Newton is a revelation of Christ, and so are the Scriptures. + The Holy Spirit enables us to enter into the meaning of + Christ's revelations</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page041">[pg 041]</span><a name="Pg041" id="Pg041" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">in both + Scripture and nature; to interpret the one by the other; and so + to work out original demonstrations and applications of the + truth;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 13:52—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Therefore + every scribe who hath been made a disciple of the kingdom of + heaven is like unto a man that is a householder, who bringeth + forth out of his treasure things new and + old.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Adolph Monod's sermons on + Christ's Temptation, addressed to the theological students of + Montauban, in Select Sermons from the French and German, + 117-179.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc51" id="toc51"></a> <a name="pdf52" id="pdf52"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">II. Divisions of + Theology.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Theology is + commonly divided into Biblical, Historical, Systematic, and + Practical.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">1. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Biblical Theology</span></span> aims to + arrange and classify the facts of revelation, confining itself to + the Scriptures for its material, and treating of doctrine only so + far as it was developed at the close of the apostolic age.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Instance DeWette, Biblische Theologie; Hofmann, + Schriftbeweis; Nitzsch, System of Christian Doctrine. The last, + however, has more of the philosophical element than properly + belongs to Biblical Theology. The third volume of Ritschl's + Justification and Reconciliation is intended as a system of + Biblical Theology, the first and second volumes being little more + than an historical introduction. But metaphysics, of a Kantian + relativity and phenomenalism, enter so largely into Ritschl's + estimates and interpretations, as to render his conclusions both + partial and rationalistic. Notice a questionable use of the term + Biblical Theology to designate the theology of a part of + Scripture severed from the rest, as Steudel's Biblical Theology + of the Old Testament; Schmidt's Biblical Theology of the New + Testament; and in the common phrases: Biblical Theology of + Christ, or of Paul. These phrases are objectionable as intimating + that the books of Scripture have only a human origin. Upon the + assumption that there is no common divine authorship of + Scripture, Biblical Theology is conceived of as a series of + fragments, corresponding to the differing teachings of the + various prophets and apostles, and the theology of Paul is held + to be an unwarranted and incongruous addition to the theology of + Jesus. See Reuss, History of Christian Theology in the Apostolic + Age.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">2. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Historical Theology</span></span> traces the + development of the Biblical doctrines from the time of the + apostles to the present day, and gives account of the results of + this development in the life of the church.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">By doctrinal development we mean the progressive + unfolding and apprehension, by the church, of the truth + explicitly or implicitly contained in Scripture. As giving + account of the shaping of the Christian faith into doctrinal + statements, Historical Theology is called the History of + Doctrine. As describing the resulting and accompanying changes in + the life of the church, outward and inward, Historical Theology + is called Church History. Instance Cunningham's Historical + Theology; Hagenbach's and Shedd's Histories of Doctrine; + Neander's Church History. There is always a danger that the + historian will see his own views too clearly reflected in the + history of the church. Shedd's History of Christian Doctrine has + been called</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The History + of Dr. Shedd's Christian Doctrine.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">But + if Dr. Shedd's Augustinianism colors his History, Dr. Sheldon's + Arminianism also colors his. G. P. Fisher's History of Christian + Doctrine is unusually lucid and impartial. See Neander's + Introduction and Shedd's Philosophy of History.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">3. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Systematic Theology</span></span> takes the + material furnished by Biblical and by Historical Theology, and + with this material seeks to build up into an organic and + consistent whole all our knowledge of God and of the relations + between God and the universe, whether this knowledge be + originally derived from nature or from the Scriptures.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Systematic Theology is therefore theology + proper, of which Biblical and Historical Theology are the + incomplete and preparatory stages. Systematic Theology is to be + clearly distinguished from Dogmatic Theology. Dogmatic Theology + is, in strict usage, the systematizing of the doctrines as + expressed in the symbols of the church, together with the + grounding of these in the Scriptures, and the exhibition, so far + as may be, of their rational necessity. Systematic Theology + begins, on the other hand, not with the</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page042">[pg 042]</span><a name="Pg042" id= + "Pg042" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">symbols, but with the Scriptures. It asks first, + not what the church has believed, but what is the truth of God's + revealed word. It examines that word with all the aids which + nature and the Spirit have given it, using Biblical and + Historical Theology as its servants and helpers, but not as its + masters. Notice here the technical use of the word</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">symbol,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">from συμβάλλω, = a brief throwing together, or + condensed statement of the essentials of Christian doctrine. + Synonyms are: Confession, creed, consensus, declaration, + formulary, canons, articles of faith.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dogmatism argues to foregone conclusions. The + word is not, however, derived from</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">dog,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">as Douglas Jerrold facetiously suggested, when + he said that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">dogmatism + is puppyism full grown,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">but from δοκέω to think, to opine. Dogmatic + Theology has two principles: (1) The absolute authority of + creeds, as decisions of the church: (2) The application to + these creeds of formal logic, for the purpose of demonstrating + their truth to the understanding. In the Roman Catholic Church, + not the Scripture but the church, and the dogma given by it, is + the decisive authority. The Protestant principle, on the + contrary, is that Scripture decides, and that dogma is to be + judged by it. Following Schleiermacher, Al. Schweizer thinks + that the term</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dogmatik</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">should be discarded as essentially + unprotestant, and that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Glaubenslehre</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">should take its place; and Harnack, Hist. + Dogma, 6, remarks that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">dogma has ever, in the progress of history, + devoured its own progenitors.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">While it is true that every new and advanced + thinker in theology has been counted a heretic, there has + always been a common faith—</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the faith + which was once for all delivered unto the + saints</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Jude + 3)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—and the study of + Systematic Theology has been one of the chief means of + preserving this faith in the world.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. 15:13, + 14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Every + plant which my heavenly Father planted not, shall be rooted up. + Let them alone: they are blind guides</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= there is truth planted by God, and it has + permanent divine life. Human errors have no permanent vitality + and they perish of themselves. See Kaftan, Dogmatik, 2, + 3.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">4. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Practical Theology</span></span> is the + system of truth considered as a means of renewing and sanctifying + men, or, in other words, theology in its publication and + enforcement.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">To this department of theology belong Homiletics + and Pastoral Theology, since these are but scientific + presentations of the right methods of unfolding Christian truth, + and of bringing it to bear upon men individually and in the + church. See Van Oosterzee, Practical Theology; T. Harwood + Pattison, The Making of the Sermon, and Public Prayer; Yale + Lectures on Preaching by H. W. Beecher, R. W. Dale, Phillips + Brooks, E. G. Robinson, A. J. F. Behrends, John Watson, and + others; and the work on Pastoral Theology, by Harvey.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is sometimes asserted that there are other + departments of theology not included in those above mentioned. + But most of these, if not all, belong to other spheres of + research, and cannot properly be classed under theology at all. + Moral Theology, so called, or the science of Christian morals, + ethics, or theological ethics, is indeed the proper result of + theology, but is not to be confounded with it. Speculative + theology, so called, respecting, as it does, such truth as is + mere matter of opinion, is either extra-scriptural, and so + belongs to the province of the philosophy of religion, or is an + attempt to explain truth already revealed, and so falls within + the province of Systematic Theology.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Speculative theology starts from + certain</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a priori</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">principles, and from them + undertakes to determine what is and must be. It deduces its + scheme of doctrine from the laws of mind or from axioms + supposed to be inwrought into its + constitution.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bib. Sac., 1852:376—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Speculative theology tries to show that the + dogmas agree with the laws of thought, while the philosophy of + religion tries to show that the laws of thought agree with the + dogmas.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Theological Encyclopædia (the word + signifies</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">instruction in a circle</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + is a general introduction to all the divisions of Theology, + together with an account of the relations between them. Hegel's + Encyclopædia was an attempted exhibition of the principles and + connections of all the sciences. See Crooks and Hurst, + Theological Encyclopædia and Methodology; Zöckler, Handb. der + theol. Wissenschaften, 2:606-769.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The relations of theology to science and + philosophy have been variously stated, but by none better than + by H. B. Smith, Faith and Philosophy, 18—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Philosophy is a mode of human knowledge—not + the whole of that knowledge, but a mode of it—the knowing of + things rationally.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Science asks:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">What</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">do</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">I know?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Philosophy asks:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">What</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">can</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">I know?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">William James, Psychology, + 1:145—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Metaphysics means nothing</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page043">[pg 043]</span><a name="Pg043" id= + "Pg043" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">but an unusually obstinate effort to think + clearly.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Aristotle:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The particular sciences are toiling workmen, + while philosophy is the architect. The workmen are slaves, + existing for the free master. So philosophy rules the + sciences.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">With regard to philosophy and + science Lord Bacon remarks:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Those who have handled knowledge have been too + much either men of mere observation or abstract reasoners. The + former are like the ant: they only collect material and put it + to immediate use. The abstract reasoners are like spiders, who + make cobwebs out of their own substance. But the bee takes a + middle course: it gathers its material from the flowers of the + garden and the field, while it transforms and digests what it + gathers by a power of its own. Not unlike this is the work of + the philosopher.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Novalis:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Philosophy can bake no bread; but it can give + us God, freedom and immortality.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Prof. DeWitt of Princeton:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Science, philosophy, and theology are the + three great modes of organizing the universe into an + intellectual system. Science never goes below second causes; if + it does, it is no longer science,—it becomes philosophy. + Philosophy views the universe as a unity, and the goal it is + always seeking to reach is the source and centre of this + unity—the Absolute, the First Cause. This goal of philosophy is + the point of departure for theology. What philosophy is + striving to find, theology asserts has been found. Theology + therefore starts with the Absolute, the First + Cause.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">W. N. Clarke, Christian Theology, + 48—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Science + examines and classifies facts; philosophy inquires concerning + spiritual meanings. Science seeks to know the universe; + philosophy to understand it.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Balfour, Foundations of Belief, + 7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Natural + science has for its subject matter things and events. + Philosophy is the systematic exhibition of the grounds of our + knowledge. Metaphysics is our knowledge respecting realities + which are not phenomenal,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e. + g.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, God and the + soul.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Knight, Essays in Philosophy, + 81—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The aim + of the sciences is increase of knowledge, by the discovery of + laws within which all phenomena may be embraced and by means of + which they may be explained. The aim of philosophy, on the + other hand, is to explain the sciences, by at once including + and transcending them. Its sphere is substance and + essence.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Bowne, Theory of Thought and + Knowledge, 3-5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Philosophy =</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">doctrine of + knowledge</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">(is mind + passive or active in knowing?—Epistemology) +</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">doctrine of + being</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">(is fundamental + being mechanical and unintelligent, or purposive and + intelligent?—Metaphysics). The systems of Locke, Hume, and Kant + are preëminently theories of knowing; the systems of Spinoza + and Leibnitz are preëminently theories of being. Historically + theories of being come first, because the object is the only + determinant for reflective thought. But the instrument of + philosophy is thought itself. First then, we must study Logic, + or the theory of thought; secondly, Epistemology, or the theory + of knowledge; thirdly, Metaphysics, or the theory of + being.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Professor George M. Forbes on the New + Psychology:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Locke and + Kant represent the two tendencies in philosophy—the empirical, + physical, scientific, on the one hand, and the rational, + metaphysical, logical, on the other. Locke furnishes the basis + for the associational schemes of Hartley, the Mills, and Bain; + Kant for the idealistic scheme of Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. + The two are not contradictory, but complementary, and the + Scotch Reid and Hamilton combine them both, reacting against + the extreme empiricism and scepticism of Hume. Hickok, Porter, + and McCosh represented the Scotch school in America. It was + exclusively</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">analytical</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; + its psychology was the faculty-psychology; it represented the + mind as a bundle of faculties. The unitary philosophy of T. H. + Green, Edward Caird, in Great Britain, and in America, of W. T. + Harris, George S. Morris, and John Dewey, was a reaction + against this faculty-psychology, under the influence of Hegel. + A second reaction under the influence of the Herbartian + doctrine of apperception substituted function for faculty, + making all processes phases of apperception. G. F. Stout and J. + Mark Baldwin represent this psychology. A third reaction comes + from the influence of physical science. All attempts to unify + are relegated to a metaphysical Hades. There is nothing but + states and processes. The only unity is the laws of their + coëxistence and succession. There is nothing</span> <span lang= + "la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a + priori</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">. Wundt + identifies apperception with will, and regards it as the + unitary principle. Külpe and Titchener find no self, or will, + or soul, but treat these as inferences little warranted. Their + psychology is psychology without a soul. The old psychology was + exclusively</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">static</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + while the new emphasizes the genetic point of view. Growth and + development are the leading ideas of Herbert Spencer, Preyer, + Tracy and Stanley Hall. William James is explanatory, while + George T. Ladd is descriptive. Cattell, Scripture, and + Münsterberg apply the methods of Fechner, and the + Psychological</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page044">[pg + 044]</span><a name="Pg044" id="Pg044" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">Review is + their organ. Their error is in their negative attitude. The old + psychology is needed to supplement the new. It has greater + scope and more practical significance.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">On the relation of theology to philosophy and + to science, see Luthardt, Compend. der Dogmatik, 4; Hagenbach, + Encyclopädie, 109.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc53" id="toc53"></a> <a name="pdf54" id="pdf54"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">III. History of Systematic + Theology.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">1. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">In the + Eastern Church</span></span>, Systematic Theology may be said to + have had its beginning and end in John of Damascus (700-760).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ignatius († 115—Ad Trall., c. 9) gives us</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the first + distinct statement of the faith drawn up in a series of + propositions. This systematizing formed the basis of all later + efforts</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(Prof. A. H. Newman). Origen of + Alexandria (186-254) wrote his Περὶ Ἀρχῶν; Athanasius of + Alexandria (300-373) his Treatises on the Trinity and the Deity + of Christ; and Gregory of Nyssa in Cappadocia (332-398) his Λόγος + κατηχητικὸς ὁ μέγας. Hatch, Hibbert Lectures, 323, regards + the</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%"> + “</span><span style="font-size: 90%">De + Principiis</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of Origen as the</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">first + complete system of dogma,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and speaks of Origen as</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the disciple of Clement of Alexandria, the + first great teacher of philosophical + Christianity.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But while the Fathers just mentioned seem to + have conceived the plan of expounding the doctrines in order + and of showing their relation to one another, it was John of + Damascus (700-760) who first actually carried out such a plan. + His Ἔκδοσις ἀκριβὴς τῆς ὀρθοδόξου Πίστεως, or Summary of the + Orthodox Faith, may be considered the earliest work of + Systematic Theology. Neander calls it</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the most important doctrinal text-book of the + Greek Church.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">John, like the Greek Church in general, was + speculative, theological, semi-pelagian, sacramentarian. The + Apostles' Creed, so called, is, in its present form, not + earlier than the fifth century; see Schaff, Creeds of + Christendom, 1:19. Mr. Gladstone suggested that the Apostles' + Creed was a development of the baptismal formula. McGiffert, + Apostles' Creed, assigns to the meagre original form a date of + the third quarter of the second century, and regards the Roman + origin of the symbol as proved. It was framed as a baptismal + formula, but specifically in opposition to the teachings of + Marcion, which were at that time causing much trouble at Rome. + Harnack however dates the original Apostles' Creed at 150, and + Zahn places it at 120. See also J. C. Long, in Bap. Quar. Rev., + Jan. 1892: 89-101.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">2. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">In the + Western Church</span></span>, we may (with Hagenbach) distinguish + three periods:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + The period of Scholasticism,—introduced by Peter Lombard + (1100-1160), and reaching its culmination in Thomas Aquinas + (1221-1274) and Duns Scotus (1265-1308).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Though Systematic Theology had its beginning in + the Eastern Church, its development has been confined almost + wholly to the Western. Augustine (353-430) wrote his</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Encheiridion ad Laurentium</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">and + his</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%"> + “</span><span style="font-size: 90%">De Civitate + Dei,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and John Scotus Erigena († 850), + Roscelin (1092-1122), and Abelard (1079-1142), in their + attempts at the rational explanation of the Christian doctrine + foreshadowed the works of the great scholastic teachers. Anselm + of Canterbury (1034-1109), with his</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Proslogion de Dei + Existentia</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and his</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Cur Deus Homo,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">has sometimes, but wrongly, been called the + founder of Scholasticism. Allen, in his Continuity of Christian + Thought, represents the transcendence of God as the controlling + principle of the Augustinian and of the Western theology. The + Eastern Church, he maintains, had founded its theology on God's + immanence. Paine, in his Evolution of Trinitarianism, shows + that this is erroneous. Augustine was a theistic monist. He + declares that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Dei + voluntas rerum natura est,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and regards God's upholding as a continuous + creation. Western theology recognized the immanence of God as + well as his transcendence.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Peter Lombard, however, (1100-1160), + the</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">magister + sententiarum,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">was the first great systematizer of the + Western Church, and his</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Libri Sententiarum Quatuor</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">was the theological text-book of the Middle + Ages. Teachers lectured on the</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Sentences</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Sententia</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">= sentence,</span> <span lang="la" + class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Satz</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">,</span> + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">locus</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + point, article of faith), as they did on the books of + Aristotle, who furnished to Scholasticism its impulse and + guide. Every doctrine was treated in the order of Aristotle's + four causes: the material, the formal, the efficient, the + final. (</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Cause</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">here = requisite: (1) matter of which a thing + consists,</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e. + g.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, bricks and + mortar; (2) form it assumes,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e. + g.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, plan or design; + (3) producing agent,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e. + g.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, builder; (4) end + for which made,</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e. + g.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, house.) The + organization of physical as well as</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page045">[pg 045]</span><a name="Pg045" id= + "Pg045" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">of theological science was due to Aristotle. + Dante called him</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + master of those who know.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">James Ten Broeke, Bap. Quar. Rev., Jan. + 1892:1-26—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Revival of Learning showed the world that the real Aristotle + was much broader than the Scholastic Aristotle—information very + unwelcome to the Roman Church.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">For the influence of Scholasticism, compare + the literary methods of Augustine and of Calvin,—the former + giving us his materials in disorder, like soldiers bivouacked + for the night; the latter arranging them like those same + soldiers drawn up in battle array; see A. H. Strong, Philosophy + and Religion, 4, and Christ in Creation, 188, 189.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Candlish, art.: Dogmatic, in Encycl. Brit., + 7:340—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">By and by + a mighty intellectual force took hold of the whole collected + dogmatic material, and reared out of it the great scholastic + systems, which have been compared to the grand Gothic + cathedrals that were the work of the same + ages.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Thomas Aquinas (1221-1274), the + Dominican,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">doctor + angelicus,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Augustinian and Realist,—and Duns + Scotus (1265-1308), the Franciscan,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">doctor subtilis,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—wrought out the scholastic theology more + fully, and left behind them, in their</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Summæ</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + gigantic monuments of intellectual industry and acumen. + Scholasticism aimed at the proof and systematizing of the + doctrines of the Church by means of Aristotle's philosophy. It + became at last an illimitable morass of useless subtilities and + abstractions, and it finally ended in the nominalistic + scepticism of William of Occam (1270-1347). See Townsend, The + Great Schoolmen of the Middle Ages.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + The period of Symbolism,—represented by the Lutheran theology of + Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560), and the Reformed theology of John + Calvin (1509-1564); the former connecting itself with the + Analytic theology of Calixtus (1585-1656), and the latter with + the Federal theology of Cocceius (1603-1669).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">The + Lutheran Theology.</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—Preachers precede theologians, and Luther + (1485-1546) was preacher rather than theologian. But Melanchthon + (1497-1560),</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + preceptor of Germany,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">as + he was called, embodied the theology of the Lutheran church in + his</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%"> + “</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Loci + Communes</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">= points of doctrine common to + believers (first edition Augustinian, afterwards substantially + Arminian; grew out of lectures on the Epistle to the Romans). + He was followed by Chemnitz (1522-1586),</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">clear and accurate,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">the most learned of the disciples of + Melanchthon. Leonhard Hutter (1563-1616), called</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Lutherus + redivivus,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">and John Gerhard (1582-1637) followed Luther + rather than Melanchthon.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Fifty years after the death of Melanchthon, + Leonhard Hutter, his successor in the chair of theology at + Wittenberg, on an occasion when the authority of Melanchthon + was appealed to, tore down from the wall the portrait of the + great Reformer, and trampled it under foot in the presence of + the assemblage</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(E. D. Morris, paper at the 60th Anniversary + of Lane Seminary). George Calixtus (1586-1656) followed + Melanchthon rather than Luther. He taught a theology which + recognized the good element in both the Reformed and the + Romanist doctrine and which was called</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Syncretism.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">He separated Ethics from Systematic Theology, + and applied the analytical method of investigation to the + latter, beginning with the end, or final cause, of all things, + viz.: blessedness. He was followed in his analytic method by + Dannhauer (1603-1666), who treated theology allegorically, + Calovius (1612-1686),</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the most uncompromising defender of Lutheran + orthodoxy and the most drastic polemicist against + Calixtus,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Quenstedt (1617-1688), whom Hovey + calls</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">learned, + comprehensive and logical,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and Hollaz († 1730). The Lutheran theology + aimed to purify the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + existing</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">church, + maintaining that what is not against the gospel is for it. It + emphasized the material principle of the Reformation, + justification by faith; but it retained many Romanist customs + not expressly forbidden in Scripture. Kaftan, Am. Jour. Theol., + 1900:716—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Because + the mediæval school-philosophy mainly held sway, the Protestant + theology representing the new faith was meanwhile necessarily + accommodated to forms of knowledge thereby conditioned, that + is, to forms essentially Catholic.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">The Reformed + Theology.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">—The + word</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Reformed</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is here used in its technical sense, as + designating that phase of the new theology which originated in + Switzerland. Zwingle, the Swiss reformer (1484-1531), differing + from Luther as to the Lord's Supper and as to Scripture, was + more than Luther entitled to the name of systematic theologian. + Certain writings of his may be considered the beginning of + Reformed theology. But it was left to John Calvin (1509-1564), + after the death of Zwingle, to arrange the principles of that + theology in systematic form. Calvin dug channels for Zwingle's + flood to flow in, as Melanchthon did for Luther's. His + Institutes (</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Institutio Religionis + Christianæ</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">),</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page046">[pg 046]</span><a name="Pg046" id="Pg046" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">is one of the + great works in theology (superior as a systematic work to + Melanchthon's</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Loci</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">). + Calvin was followed by Peter Martyr (1500-1562), Chamier + (1565-1621), and Theodore Beza (1519-1605). Beza carried + Calvin's doctrine of predestination to an extreme + supralapsarianism, which is hyper-Calvinistic rather than + Calvinistic. Cocceius (1603-1669), and after him Witsius + (1626-1708), made theology centre about the idea of the + covenants, and founded the Federal theology. Leydecker + (1642-1721) treated theology in the order of the persons of the + Trinity. Amyraldus (1596-1664) and Placeus of Saumur + (1596-1632) modified the Calvinistic doctrine, the latter by + his theory of mediate imputation, and the former by advocating + the hypothetic universalism of divine grace. Turretin + (1671-1737), a clear and strong theologian whose work is still + a text-book at Princeton, and Pictet (1655-1725), both of them + Federalists, showed the influence of the Cartesian philosophy. + The Reformed theology aimed to build a</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">new</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">church, affirming that what is not + derived from the Bible is against it. It emphasized the formal + principle of the Reformation, the sole authority of + Scripture.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">In general, while the line between Catholic + and Protestant in Europe runs from west to east, the line + between Lutheran and Reformed runs from south to north, the + Reformed theology flowing with the current of the Rhine + northward from Switzerland to Holland and to England, in which + latter country the Thirty-nine Articles represent the Reformed + faith, while the Prayer-book of the English Church is + substantially Arminian; see Dorner, Gesch. prot. Theologie, + Einleit., 9. On the difference between Lutheran and Reformed + doctrine, see Schaff, Germany, its Universities, Theology and + Religion, 167-177. On the Reformed Churches of Europe and + America, see H. B. Smith, Faith and Philosophy, + 87-124.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + The period of Criticism and Speculation,—in its three divisions: + the Rationalistic, represented by Semler (1725-1791); the + Transitional, by Schleiermacher (1768-1834); the Evangelical, by + Nitzsch, Müller, Tholuck and Dorner.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">First + Division.</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Rationalistic theologies: Though the Reformation + had freed theology in great part from the bonds of scholasticism, + other philosophies after a time took its place. The Leibnitz- + (1646-1754) Wolffian (1679-1754) exaggeration of the powers of + natural religion prepared the way for rationalistic systems of + theology. Buddeus (1667-1729) combated the new principles, but + Semler's (1725-1791) theology was built upon them, and + represented the Scriptures as having a merely local and temporary + character. Michaelis (1716-1784) and Doederlein (1714-1789) + followed Semler, and the tendency toward rationalism was greatly + assisted by the critical philosophy of Kant (1724-1804), to + whom</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%"> + “</span><span style="font-size: 90%">revelation was + problematical, and positive religion merely the medium through + which the practical truths of reason are + communicated</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(Hagenbach, Hist. Doct., 2:397). + Ammon (1766-1850) and Wegscheider (1771-1848) were + representatives of this philosophy. Daub, Marheinecke and + Strauss (1808-1874) were the Hegelian dogmatists. The system of + Strauss resembled</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Christian + theology as a cemetery resembles a town.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Storr (1746-1805), Reinhard (1753-1812), and + Knapp (1753-1825), in the main evangelical, endeavored to + reconcile revelation with reason, but were more or less + influenced by this rationalizing spirit. Bretschneider + (1776-1828) and De Wette (1780-1849) may be said to have held + middle ground.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Second + Division.</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">Transition + to a more Scriptural theology. Herder (1744-1803) and Jacobi + (1743-1819), by their more spiritual philosophy, prepared the + way for Schleiermacher's (1768-1834) grounding of doctrine in + the facts of Christian experience. The writings of + Schleiermacher constituted an epoch, and had great influence in + delivering Germany from the rationalistic toils into which it + had fallen. We may now speak of a</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Third + Division</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">—and in this + division we may put the names of Neander and Tholuck, Twesten + and Nitzsch, Müller and Luthardt, Dorner and Philippi, Ebrard + and Thomasius, Lange and Kahnis, all of them exponents of a far + more pure and evangelical theology than was common in Germany a + century ago. Two new forms of rationalism, however, have + appeared in Germany, the one based upon the philosophy of + Hegel, and numbering among its adherents Strauss and Baur, + Biedermann, Lipsius and Pfleiderer; the other based upon the + philosophy of Kant, and advocated by Ritschl and his followers, + Harnack, Hermann and Kaftan; the former emphasizing the ideal + Christ, the latter emphasizing the historical Christ; but + neither of the two fully recognizing the living Christ present + in every believer (see Johnson's Cyclopædia, art.: Theology, by + A. H. Strong).</span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page047">[pg + 047]</span><a name="Pg047" id="Pg047" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">3. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Among + theologians of views diverse from the prevailing Protestant + faith</span></span>, may be mentioned:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + Bellarmine (1542-1621), the Roman Catholic.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Besides Bellarmine,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the best controversial writer of his + age</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(Bayle), the Roman Catholic Church + numbers among its noted modern theologians:—Petavius (1583-1652), + whose dogmatic theology Gibbon calls</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">a work of incredible labor and + compass</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + Melchior Canus (1523-1560), an opponent of the Jesuits and their + scholastic method; Bossuet (1627-1704), who idealized Catholicism + in his Exposition of Doctrine, and attacked Protestantism in his + History of Variations of Protestant Churches; Jansen (1585-1638), + who attempted, in opposition to the Jesuits, to reproduce the + theology of Augustine, and who had in this the powerful + assistance of Pascal (1623-1662). Jansenism, so far as the + doctrines of grace are concerned, but not as respects the + sacraments, is virtual Protestantism within the Roman Catholic + Church. Moehler's Symbolism, Perrone's</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Prelectiones Theologicæ,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">and + Hurter's</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Compendium + Theologiæ Dogmaticæ</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">are + the latest and most approved expositions of Roman Catholic + doctrine.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + Arminius (1560-1609), the opponent of predestination.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Among the followers of Arminius (1560-1609) must + be reckoned Episcopius (1583-1643), who carried Arminianism to + almost Pelagian extremes; Hugo Grotius (1553-1645), the jurist + and statesman, author of the governmental theory of the + atonement; and Limborch (1633-1712), the most thorough expositor + of the Arminian doctrine.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + Laelius Socinus (1525-1562), and Faustus Socinus (1539-1604), the + leaders of the modern Unitarian movement.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The works of Laelius Socinus (1525-1562) and his + nephew, Faustus Socinus (1539-1604) constituted the beginnings of + modern Unitarianism. Laelius Socinus was the preacher and + reformer, as Faustus Socinus was the theologian; or, as + Baumgarten Crusius expresses it:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the former was the spiritual founder of + Socinianism, and the latter the founder of the + sect.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Their writings are collected in + the Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum. The Racovian Catechism, + taking its name from the Polish town Racow, contains the most + succinct exposition of their views. In 1660, the Unitarian + church of the Socini in Poland was destroyed by persecution, + but its Hungarian offshoot has still more than a hundred + congregations.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">4. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">British + Theology</span></span>, represented by:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + The Baptists, John Bunyan (1628-1688), John Gill (1697-1771), and + Andrew Fuller (1754-1815).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Some of the best British theology is Baptist. + Among John Bunyan's works we may mention his</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Gospel + Truths Opened,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">though his</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Pilgrim's Progress</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Holy War</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">are theological treatises in allegorical form. + Macaulay calls Milton and Bunyan the two great creative minds + of England during the latter part of the 17th century. John + Gill's</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Body of + Practical Divinity</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">shows much ability, although the Rabbinical + learning of the author occasionally displays itself in a + curious exegesis, as when on the word</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Abba</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">he remarks:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">You see that this word which means 'Father' + reads the same whether we read forward or backward; which + suggests that God is the same whichever way we look at + him.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Andrew Fuller's</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Letters + on Systematic Divinity</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is a brief compend of theology. His treatises + upon special doctrines are marked by sound judgment and clear + insight. They were the most influential factor in rescuing the + evangelical churches of England from antinomianism. They + justify the epithets which Robert Hall, one of the greatest of + Baptist preachers, gives him:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">sagacious,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">luminous,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">powerful.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + The Puritans, John Owen (1616-1683), Richard Baxter (1615-1691), + John Howe (1630-1705), and Thomas Ridgeley (1666-1734).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Owen was the most rigid, as Baxter was the most + liberal, of the Puritans. The Encyclopædia Britannica + remarks:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">As a + theological thinker and writer, John Owen holds his own + distinctly defined place among those titanic intellects with + which the</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page048">[pg + 048]</span><a name="Pg048" id="Pg048" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">age abounded. + Surpassed by Baxter in point and pathos, by Howe in imagination + and the higher philosophy, he is unrivaled in his power of + unfolding the rich meanings of Scripture. In his writings he was + preëminently the great theologian.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Baxter wrote a</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Methodus Theologiæ,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">and + a</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Catholic + Theology</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + John Howe is chiefly known by his</span> <span class="tei tei-q"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Living Temple</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + Thomas Ridgeley by his</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Body of Divinity.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Charles H. Spurgeon never ceased to urge his + students to become familiar with the Puritan Adams, Ambrose, + Bowden, Manton and Sibbes.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + The Scotch Presbyterians, Thomas Boston (1676-1732), John Dick + (1764-1833), and Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Of the Scotch Presbyterians, Boston is the most + voluminous, Dick the most calm and fair, Chalmers the most fervid + and popular.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">d</span></span>) + The Methodists, John Wesley (1703-1791), and Richard Watson + (1781-1833).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Of the Methodists, John Wesley's doctrine is + presented in</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Christian + Theology,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">collected from his writings by the Rev. Thornley + Smith. The great Methodist text-book, however, is the</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Institutes</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">of + Watson, who systematized and expounded the Wesleyan theology. + Pope, a recent English theologian, follows Watson's modified and + improved Arminianism, while Whedon and Raymond, recent American + writers, hold rather to a radical and extreme + Arminianism.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">e</span></span>) + The Quakers, George Fox (1624-1691), and Robert Barclay + (1648-1690).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">As Jesus, the preacher and reformer, preceded + Paul the theologian; as Luther preceded Melanchthon; as Zwingle + preceded Calvin; as Laelius Socinus preceded Faustus Socinus; as + Wesley preceded Watson; so Fox preceded Barclay. Barclay wrote + an</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Apology for + the true Christian Divinity,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">which Dr. E. G. Robinson described as</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">not a + formal treatise of Systematic Theology, but the ablest exposition + of the views of the Quakers.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">George Fox was the reformer, William Penn the + social founder, Robert Barclay the theologian, of + Quakerism.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">f</span></span>) + The English Churchmen, Richard Hooker (1553-1600), Gilbert Burnet + (1643-1715), and John Pearson (1613-1686).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The English church has produced no great + systematic theologian (see reasons assigned in Dorner, Gesch. + prot. Theologie, 470). The</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">judicious</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hooker is still its greatest theological writer, + although his work is only on</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ecclesiastical Polity.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bishop Burnet is the author of the</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Exposition + of the XXXIX Articles,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">and + Bishop Pearson of the</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Exposition of the Creed.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Both these are common English text-books. A + recent</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Compendium of Dogmatic + Theology,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">by Litton, shows a tendency to + return from the usual Arminianism of the Anglican church to the + old Augustinianism; so also Bishop Moule's</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Outlines of Christian + Doctrine,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and Mason's</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Faith of the Gospel.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">5. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">American theology</span></span>, running in + two lines:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + The Reformed system of Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), modified + successively by Joseph Bellamy (1719-1790), Samuel Hopkins + (1721-1803), Timothy Dwight (1752-1817), Nathanael Emmons + (1745-1840), Leonard Woods (1774-1854), Charles G. Finney + (1792-1875), Nathaniel W. Taylor (1786-1858), and Horace Bushnell + (1802-1876). Calvinism, as thus modified, is often called the New + England, or New School, theology.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Jonathan Edwards, one of the greatest of + metaphysicians and theologians, was an idealist who held that God + is the only real cause, either in the realm of matter or in the + realm of mind. He regarded the chief good as happiness—a form of + sensibility. Virtue was voluntary choice of this good. Hence + union with Adam in acts and exercises was sufficient. Thus God's + will made identity of being with Adam. This led to the + exercise-system of Hopkins and Emmons, on the one hand, and to + Bellamy's and</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page049">[pg + 049]</span><a name="Pg049" id="Pg049" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">Dwight's denial + of any imputation of Adam's sin or of inborn depravity, on the + other—in which last denial agree many other New England + theologians who reject the exercise-scheme, as for example, + Strong, Tyler, Smalley, Burton, Woods, and Park. Dr. N. W. Taylor + added a more distinctly Arminian element, the power of contrary + choice—and with this tenet of the New Haven theology, Charles G. + Finney, of Oberlin, substantially agreed. Horace Bushnell held to + a practically Sabellian view of the Trinity, and to a + moral-influence theory of the atonement. Thus from certain + principles admitted by Edwards, who held in the main to an Old + School theology, the New School theology has been gradually + developed.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Robert Hall called Edwards</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the greatest of the sons of + men.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Dr. Chalmers regarded him as + the</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">greatest + of theologians.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dr. Fairbairn says:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">He is not only the greatest of all the + thinkers that America has produced, but also the highest + speculative genius of the eighteenth century. In a far higher + degree than Spinoza, he was a 'God-intoxicated + man.'</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">His fundamental notion that there + is no causality except the divine was made the basis of a + theory of necessity which played into the hands of the deists + whom he opposed and was alien not only to Christianity but even + to theism. Edwards could not have gotten his idealism from + Berkeley; it may have been suggested to him by the writings of + Locke or Newton, Cudworth or Descartes, John Norris or Arthur + Collier. See Prof. H. N. Gardiner, in Philos. Rev., Nov. + 1900:573-596; Prof. E. C. Smyth, in Am. Jour. Theol., Oct. + 1897:956; Allen, Jonathan Edwards, 16, 308-310, and in Atlantic + Monthly, Dec. 1891:767; Sanborn, in Jour. Spec. Philos., Oct. + 1883:401-420; G. P. Fisher, Edwards on the Trinity, 18, + 19.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + The older Calvinism, represented by Charles Hodge the father + (1797-1878) and A. A. Hodge the son (1823-1886), together with + Henry B. Smith (1815-1877), Robert J. Breckinridge (1800-1871), + Samuel J. Baird, and William G. T. Shedd (1820-1894). All these, + although with minor differences, hold to views of human depravity + and divine grace more nearly conformed to the doctrine of + Augustine and Calvin, and are for this reason distinguished from + the New England theologians and their followers by the popular + title of Old School.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Old School theology, in its view of + predestination, exalts God; New School theology, by emphasizing + the freedom of the will, exalts man. It is yet more important to + notice that Old School theology has for its characteristic tenet + the guilt of inborn depravity. But among those who hold this + view, some are federalists and creationists, and justify God's + condemnation of all men upon the ground that Adam represented his + posterity. Such are the Princeton theologians generally, + including Charles Hodge, A. A. Hodge, and the brothers Alexander. + Among those who hold to the Old School doctrine of the guilt of + inborn depravity, however, there are others who are traducians, + and who explain the imputation of Adam's sin to his posterity + upon the ground of the natural union between him and them. + Baird's</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Elohim + Revealed</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and Shedd's essay on</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Original + Sin</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(Sin a Nature and that Nature Guilt) + represent this realistic conception of the relation of the race + to its first father. R. J. Breckinridge, R. L. Dabney, and J. H. + Thornwell assert the fact of inherent corruption and guilt, but + refuse to assign any</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + rationale</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">for it, + though they tend to realism. H. B. Smith holds guardedly to the + theory of mediate imputation.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">On the history of Systematic Theology in + general, see Hagenbach, History of Doctrine (from which many of + the facts above given are taken), and Shedd, History of + Doctrine; also, Ebrard, Dogmatik, 1:44-100; Kahnis, Dogmatik, + 1:15-128; Hase, Hutterus Redivivus, 24-52. Gretillat, Théologie + Systématique, 3:24-120, has given an excellent history of + theology, brought down to the present time. On the history of + New England theology, see Fisher, Discussions and Essays, + 285-354.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc55" id="toc55"></a> <a name="pdf56" id="pdf56"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">IV. Order of Treatment in + Systematic Theology.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">1. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Various + methods of arranging the topics of a theological + system.</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + The Analytical method of Calixtus begins with the assumed end of + all things, blessedness, and thence passes to the means by which + it is secured. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) The Trinitarian method of + Leydecker and Martensen regards <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page050">[pg 050]</span><a name="Pg050" id="Pg050" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> Christian doctrine as a manifestation + successively of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + The Federal method of Cocceius, Witsius, and Boston treats + theology under the two covenants. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">d</span></span>) + The Anthropological method of Chalmers and Rothe; the former + beginning with the Disease of Man and passing to the Remedy; the + latter dividing his Dogmatik into the Consciousness of Sin and + the Consciousness of Redemption. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">e</span></span>) + The Christological method of Hase, Thomasius and Andrew Fuller + treats of God, man, and sin, as presuppositions of the person and + work of Christ. Mention may also be made of (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">f</span></span>) + The Historical method, followed by Ursinus, and adopted in + Jonathan Edwards's History of Redemption; and (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">g</span></span>) + The Allegorical method of Dannhauer, in which man is described as + a wanderer, life as a road, the Holy Spirit as a light, the + church as a candlestick, God as the end, and heaven as the home; + so Bunyan's Holy War, and Howe's Living Temple.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Calixtus, Epitome Theologiæ; Leydecker, De + Œconomia trium Personarum in Negotio Salutis humanæ; Martensen + (1808-1884), Christian Dogmatics; Cocceius, Summa Theologiæ, and + Summa Doctrinæ de Fœdere et Testamento Dei, in Works, vol. vi; + Witsius, The Economy of the Covenants; Boston, A Complete Body of + Divinity (in Works, vol. 1 and 2), Questions in Divinity (vol. + 6), Human Nature in its Fourfold State (vol. 8); Chalmers, + Institutes of Theology; Rothe (1799-1867), Dogmatik, and + Theologische Ethik; Hase (1800-1890), Evangelische Dogmatik; + Thomasius (1802-1875), Christi Person und Werk; Fuller, Gospel + Worthy of all Acceptation (in Works, 2:328-416), and Letters on + Systematic Divinity (1:684-711); Ursinus (1534-1583), Loci + Theologici (in Works, 1:426-909); Dannhauer (1603-1666) + Hodosophia Christiana, seu Theologia Positiva in Methodum + redacta. Jonathan Edwards's so-called History of Redemption was + in reality a system of theology in historical form. It</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">was to + begin and end with eternity, all great events and epochs in time + being viewed</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">sub specie + eternitatis.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The three worlds—heaven, earth and + hell—were to be the scenes of this grand drama. It was to include + the topics of theology as living factors, each in its own + place,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and all forming a complete and + harmonious whole; see Allen, Jonathan Edwards, 379, + 380.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">2. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The + Synthetic Method</span></span>, which we adopt in this + compendium, is both the most common and the most logical method + of arranging the topics of theology. This method proceeds from + causes to effects, or, in the language of Hagenbach (Hist. + Doctrine, 2:152), <span class="tei tei-q">“starts from the + highest principle, God, and proceeds to man, Christ, redemption, + and finally to the end of all things.”</span> In such a treatment + of theology we may best arrange our topics in the following + order:</p> + + <div class="tei tei-lg" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> + <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"> + 1st. The existence of God. + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"> + 2d. The Scriptures a revelation from God. + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"> + 3d. The nature, decrees and works of God. + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"> + 4th. Man, in his original likeness to God and subsequent + apostasy. + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"> + 5th. Redemption, through the work of Christ and of the Holy + Spirit. + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"> + 6th. The nature and laws of the Christian church. + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"> + 7th. The end of the present system of things. + </div> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc57" id="toc57"></a> <a name="pdf58" id="pdf58"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">V. Text-Books in + Theology.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">1. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Confessions</span></span>: Schaff, Creeds of + Christendom.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">2. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Compendiums</span></span>: H. B. Smith, + System of Christian Theology; A. A. Hodge, Outlines of Theology; + E. H. Johnson, Outline of Systematic Theology; Hovey, Manual of + Theology and Ethics; W. N. Clarke, Outline <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page051">[pg 051]</span><a name="Pg051" id= + "Pg051" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> of Christian Theology; Hase, + Hutterus Redivivus; Luthardt, Compendium der Dogmatik; Kurtz, + Religionslehre.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">3. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Extended Treatises</span></span>: Dorner, + System of Christian Doctrine; Shedd, Dogmatic Theology; Calvin, + Institutes; Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology; Van Oosterzee, + Christian Dogmatics; Baird, Elohim Revealed; Luthardt, + Fundamental, Saving, and Moral Truths; Phillippi, Glaubenslehre; + Thomasius, Christi Person und Werk.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">4. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Collected Works</span></span>: Jonathan + Edwards; Andrew Fuller.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">5. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Histories of Doctrine</span></span>: + Harnack; Hagenbach; Shedd; Fisher; Sheldon; Orr, Progress of + Dogma.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">6. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Monographs</span></span>: Julius Müller, + Doctrine of Sin; Shedd, Discourses and Essays; Liddon, Our Lord's + Divinity; Dorner, History of the Doctrine of the Person of + Christ; Dale, Atonement; Strong, Christ in Creation; Upton, + Hibbert Lectures.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">7. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Theism</span></span>: Martineau, Study of + Religion; Harris, Philosophical Basis of Theism; Strong, + Philosophy and Religion; Bruce, Apologetics; Drummond, Ascent of + Man; Griffith-Jones, Ascent through Christ.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">8. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Christian Evidences</span></span>: Butler, + Analogy of Natural and Revealed Religion; Fisher, Grounds of + Theistic and Christian Belief; Row, Bampton Lectures for 1877; + Peabody, Evidences of Christianity; Mair, Christian Evidences; + Fairbairn, Philosophy of the Christian Religion; Matheson, + Spiritual Development of St. Paul.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">9. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Intellectual Philosophy</span></span>: + Stout, Handbook of Psychology; Bowne, Metaphysics; Porter, Human + Intellect; Hill, Elements of Psychology; Dewey, Psychology.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">10. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Moral + Philosophy</span></span>: Robinson, Principles and Practice of + Morality; Smyth, Christian Ethics; Porter, Elements of Moral + Science; Calderwood, Moral Philosophy; Alexander, Moral Science; + Robins, Ethics of the Christian Life.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">11. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">General + Science</span></span>: Todd, Astronomy; Wentworth and Hill, + Physics; Remsen, Chemistry; Brigham, Geology; Parker, Biology; + Martin, Physiology; Ward, Fairbanks, or West, Sociology; Walker, + Political Economy.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">12. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Theological Encyclopædias</span></span>: + Schaff-Herzog (English); McClintock and Strong; Herzog (Second + German Edition).</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">13. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Bible + Dictionaries</span></span>: Hastings; Davis; Cheyne; Smith + (edited by Hackett).</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">14. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Commentaries</span></span>: Meyer, on the + New Testament; Philippi, Lange, Shedd, Sanday, on the Epistle to + the Romans; Godet, on John's Gospel; Lightfoot, on Philippians + and Colossians; Expositor's Bible, on the Old Testament + books.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">15. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Bibles</span></span>: American Revision + (standard edition); Revised Greek-English New Testament + (published by Harper & Brothers); Annotated Paragraph Bible + (published by the London Religious Tract Society) Stier and + Theile, Polyglotten-Bibel.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">An attempt has been made, in the list of + text-books given above, to put first in each class the book best + worth purchasing by the average theological student, and to + arrange the books that follow this first one in the order of + their value. German books, however, when they are not yet + accessible in an English translation, are put last, simply + because they are less likely to be used as books of reference by + the average student.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page052">[pg 052]</span><a name= + "Pg052" id="Pg052" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + <hr class="page" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> + <a name="toc59" id="toc59"></a> <a name="pdf60" id="pdf60"></a> + + <h1 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"> + <span style="font-size: 173%">Part II. The Existence Of + God.</span></h1> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em"> + <a name="toc61" id="toc61"></a> <a name="pdf62" id="pdf62"></a> + + <h2 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"> + <span style="font-size: 144%">Chapter I. Origin Of Our Idea Of + God's Existence.</span></h2> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">God is the + infinite and perfect Spirit in whom all things have their source, + support, and end.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">On the definition of the term God, see Hodge, + Syst. Theol., 1:366. Other definitions are those of + Calovius:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Essentia + spiritualis infinite</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + Ebrard:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The eternal + source of all that is temporal</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + Kahnis:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The infinite + Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; John + Howe:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%"> + “</span><span style="font-size: 90%">An eternal, uncaused, + independent, necessary Being, that hath active power, life, + wisdom, goodness, and whatsoever other supposable excellency, in + the highest perfection, in and of itself</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + Westminster Catechism:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">A Spirit infinite, eternal and unchangeable in + his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and + truth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + Andrew Fuller:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The first + cause and last end of all things.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The existence of + God is a first truth; in other words, the knowledge of God's + existence is a rational intuition. Logically, it precedes and + conditions all observation and reasoning. Chronologically, only + reflection upon the phenomena of nature and of mind occasions its + rise in consciousness.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The term intuition means simply direct knowledge. + Lowndes (Philos. of Primary Beliefs, 78) and Mansel (Metaphysics, + 52) would use the term only of our direct knowledge of substances, + as self and body; Porter applies it by preference to our cognition + of first truths, such as have been already mentioned. Harris + (Philos. Basis of Theism, 44-151, but esp. 45, 46) makes it include + both. He divides intuitions into two classes: 1.</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Presentative</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">intuitions, as self-consciousness + (in virtue of which I perceive the existence of spirit and + already come in contact with the supernatural), and + sense-perception (in virtue of which I perceive the existence of + matter, at least in my own organism, and come in contact with + nature); 2.</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rational</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">intuitions, as space, time, + substance, cause, final cause, right, absolute being. We may + accept this nomenclature, using the terms</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">first truths</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">rational + intuitions</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">as equivalent to each other, and + classifying rational intuitions under the heads of (1) intuitions + of relations, as space and time; (2) intuitions of principles, as + substance, cause, final cause, right; and (3) intuition of + absolute Being, Power, Reason, Perfection, Personality, as God. + We hold that, as upon occasion of the senses cognizing + (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">) extended matter, (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">) succession, (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">) qualities, (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">d</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">) change, (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">) order, (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">f</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">) action, respectively, the mind cognizes + (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">) space, (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">) time, (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">) substance, (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">d</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">) cause, (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">) design, (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">f</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">) obligation, so upon occasion of our cognizing + our finiteness, dependence and responsibility, the mind directly + cognizes the existence of an Infinite and Absolute Authority, + Perfection, Personality, upon whom we are dependent and to whom + we are responsible.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bowne, Theory of Thought and Knowledge, + 60—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">As we walk + in entire ignorance of our muscles, so we often think in entire + ignorance of the principles which underlie</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page053">[pg 053]</span><a name="Pg053" id= + "Pg053" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">and determine thinking. But as anatomy reveals + that the apparently simple act of walking involves a highly + complex muscular activity, so analysis reveals that the + apparently simple act of thinking involves a system of mental + principles.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Dewey, Psychology, 238, + 244—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Perception, + memory, imagination, conception—each of these is an act of + intuition.... Every concrete act of knowledge involves an + intuition of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Martineau, Types, 1:459—The attempt to divest + experience of either percepts or intuitions is</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">like the + attempt to peel a bubble in search for its colors and contents: + in tenuem ex oculis evanuit auram</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + Study, 1:199—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Try with + all your might to do something difficult,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e. + g.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, to shut a door + against a furious wind, and you recognize Self and Nature—causal + will, over against external causality</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + 201—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Hence our + fellow-feeling with Nature</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + 65—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">As + Perception gives us Will in the shape of Causality over against + us in the non-ego, so Conscience gives us Will in the shape of + Authority over against us in the non-ego</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + Types, 2:5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + perception it is self and nature, in morals it is self and God, + that stand face to face in the subjective and objective + antithesis</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + Study, 2:2, 3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + volitional experience we meet with objective</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">causality</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; + in moral experience we meet with objective</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">authority</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">,—both + being objects of immediate knowledge, on the same footing of + certainty with the apprehension of the external material world. I + know of no logical advantage which the belief in finite objects + around us can boast over the belief in the infinite and righteous + Cause of all</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + 51—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + recognition of God as Cause, we raise the University; in + recognition of God as Authority, we raise the + Church.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Kant declares that the idea of freedom is the + source of our idea of personality,—personality consists in the + freedom of the whole soul from the mechanism of nature. Lotze, + Metaphysics, § 244—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">So far as, + and so long as, the soul knows itself as the identical subject of + inward experience, it is, and is named simply for that reason, + substance.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Illingworth, Personality, Human and Divine, + 32—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Our + conception of substance is derived, not from the physical, but + from the mental world. Substance is first of all that which + underlies our</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">mental</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">affections and + manifestations.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">James, Will to Believe, 80—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Substance, as Kant says, means</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">das + Beharrliche,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">the abiding, that which will be as + it has been, because its being is essential and + eternal.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In this sense we have an intuitive + belief in an abiding substance which underlies our own thoughts + and volitions, and this we call the soul. But we also have an + intuitive belief in an abiding substance which underlies all + natural phenomena and all the events of history, and this we call + God. Among those who hold to this general view of an intuitive + knowledge of God may be mentioned the following:—Calvin, + Institutes, book I, chap. 3; Nitzsch, System of Christian + Doctrine, 15-26, 133-140; Julius Müller, Doctrine of Sin, + 1:78-84; Ulrici, Leib und Seele, 688-725; Porter, Human + Intellect, 497; Hickok, Rational Cosmology, 58-89; Farrar, + Science in Theology, 27-29; Bib. Sac., July, 1872:533, and + January, 1873:204; Miller, Fetich in Theology, 110-122; Fisher, + Essays, 565-572; Tulloch, Theism, 314-336; Hodge, Systematic + Theology, 1:191-203; Christlieb, Mod. Doubt and Christian Belief, + 75, 76; Raymond, Syst. Theology, 1:247-262; Bascom, Science of + Mind, 246, 247; Knight, Studies in Philos. and Lit., 155-224; A. + H. Strong, Philosophy and Religion, 76-89.</span></p> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc63" id="toc63"></a> <a name="pdf64" id="pdf64"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">I. First Truths in + General.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">1. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Their + nature.</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. + Negatively.—A first truth is not (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + Truth written prior to consciousness upon the substance of the + soul—for such passive knowledge implies a materialistic view of + the soul; (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Actual knowledge of which + the soul finds itself in possession at birth—for it cannot be + proved that the soul has such knowledge; (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) An + idea, undeveloped at birth, but which has the power of + self-development apart from observation and experience—for this + is contrary to all we know of the laws of mental growth.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Cicero, De Natura Deorum, + 1:17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Intelligi + necesse est esse deos, quoniam insitas eorum vel potius innatas + cogitationes habemus.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Origen, Adv. Celsum, 1:4—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Men would not be guilty, if they did not carry + in their minds common notions of morality, innate and written in + divine letters.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Calvin, Institutes, 1:3:3—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Those who rightly judge will always agree that + there is an indelible sense of divinity engraven upon men's + minds.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Fleming, Vocab. of Philosophy, + art.:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Innate + Ideas</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Descartes</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page054">[pg 054]</span><a name="Pg054" id="Pg054" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">is supposed to + have taught (and Locke devoted the first book of his Essays to + refuting the doctrine) that these ideas are innate or connate + with the soul;</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, the intellect + finds itself at birth, or as soon as it wakes to conscious + activity, to be possessed of ideas to which it has only to attach + the appropriate names, or of judgments which it only needs to + express in fit propositions—</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, prior to any + experience of individual objects.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Royce, Spirit of Modern Philosophy, + 77—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + certain families, Descartes teaches, good breeding and the gout + are innate. Yet, of course, the children of such families have + to be instructed in deportment, and the infants just learning + to walk seem happily quite free from gout. Even so geometry is + innate in us, but it does not come to our consciousness without + much trouble</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + 79—Locke found no innate ideas. He maintained, in reply, + that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">infants, + with their rattles, showed no sign of being aware that things + which are equal to the same thing are equal to each + other.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Schopenhauer said that</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jacobi + had the trifling weakness of taking all he had learned and + approved before his fifteenth year for inborn ideas of the + human mind.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Bowne, Principles of Ethics, + 5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">That the + rational ideas are conditioned by the sense experience and are + sequent to it, is unquestioned by any one; and that experience + shows a successive order of manifestation is equally undoubted. + But the sensationalist has always shown a curious blindness to + the ambiguity of such a fact. He will have it that what comes + after must be a modification of what went before; whereas it + might be</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">that</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">,</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">and</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">it might be a new, though + conditioned, manifestation of an immanent nature or law. + Chemical affinity is not gravity, although affinity cannot + manifest itself until gravity has brought the elements into + certain relations.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Pfleiderer, Philosophy of Religion, + 1:103—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">This + principle was not from the beginning in the consciousness of + men; for, in order to think ideas, reason must be clearly + developed, which in the first of mankind it could just as + little be as in children. This however does not exclude the + fact that there was from the beginning the unconscious rational + impulse which lay at the basis of the formation of the belief + in God, however manifold may have been the direct motives which + co-operated with it.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Self is implied in the simplest act of + knowledge. Sensation gives us two things,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e. + g.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, black and white; + but I cannot compare them without asserting difference</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">for + me</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. Different + sensations make no</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">knowledge</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + without a</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">self</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">to bring them together. Upton, + Hibbert Lectures, lecture 2—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">You could as easily prove the existence of an + external world to a man who had no senses to perceive it, as + you could prove the existence of God to one who had no + consciousness of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. + Positively.—A first truth is a knowledge which, though developed + upon occasion of observation and reflection, is not derived from + observation and reflection,—a knowledge on the contrary which has + such logical priority that it must be assumed or supposed, in + order to make any observation or reflection possible. Such truths + are not, therefore, recognized first in order of time; some of + them are assented to somewhat late in the mind's growth; by the + great majority of men they are never consciously formulated at + all. Yet they constitute the necessary assumptions upon which all + other knowledge rests, and the mind has not only the inborn + capacity to evolve them so soon as the proper occasions are + presented, but the recognition of them is inevitable so soon as + the mind begins to give account to itself of its own + knowledge.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Mansel, Metaphysics, 52, + 279—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">To + describe experience as the cause of the idea of space would be + as inaccurate as to speak of the soil in which it was planted + as the cause of the oak—though the planting in the soil is the + condition which brings into manifestation the latent power of + the acorn.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Coleridge:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We see before we know that we have eyes; but + when once this is known, we perceive that eyes must have + preëxisted in order to enable us to see.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Coleridge speaks of first truths as</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">those + necessities of mind or forms of thinking, which, though + revealed to us by experience, must yet have preëxisted in order + to make experience possible.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">McCosh, Intuitions, 48, 49—Intuitions + are</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">like + flower and fruit, which are in the plant from its embryo, but + may not be actually formed till there have been a stalk and + branches and leaves.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Porter, Human Intellect, 501, + 519—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Such + truths cannot be acquired or assented to first of + all.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Some are reached last of all. The + moral intuition is often developed late, and</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page055">[pg 055]</span><a name= + "Pg055" id="Pg055" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">sometimes, even then, only upon occasion of + corporal punishment.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Every man is as lazy as circumstances will + admit.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Our physical laziness is + occasional; our mental laziness frequent; our moral laziness + incessant. We are too lazy to think, and especially to think of + religion. On account of this depravity of human nature we + should expect the intuition of God to be developed last of all. + Men shrink from contact with God and from the thought of God. + In fact, their dislike for the intuition of God leads them not + seldom to deny all their other intuitions, even those of + freedom and of right. Hence the modern</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">psychology without a soul.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Schurman, Agnosticism and Religion, + 105-115—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The idea + of God ... is latest to develop into clear consciousness ... + and must be latest, for it is the unity of the difference of + the self and the not-self, which are therefore + presupposed.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">But</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">it has not less validity in itself, it gives + no less trustworthy assurance of actuality, than the + consciousness of the self, or the consciousness of the + not-self.... The consciousness of God is the logical</span> + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">prius</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of the consciousness of self and + of the world. But not, as already observed, the chronological; + for, according to the profound observation of Aristotle, what + in the nature of things is first, is in the order of + development last. Just because God is the first principle of + being and knowing, he is the last to be manifested and + known.... The finite and the infinite are both known together, + and it is as impossible to know one without the other as it is + to apprehend an angle without the sides which contain + it.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">For account of the relation of the + intuitions to experience, see especially Cousin, True, + Beautiful and Good, 39-64, and History of Philosophy, + 2:199-245. Compare Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, Introd., 1. + See also Bascom, in Bib. Sac., 23:1-47; 27:68-90.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">2. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Their + criteria.</span></span> The criteria by which first truths are to + be tested are three:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. Their + universality. By this we mean, not that all men assent to them or + understand them when propounded in scientific form, but that all + men manifest a practical belief in them by their language, + actions, and expectations.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. Their + necessity. By this we mean, not that it is impossible to deny + these truths, but that the mind is compelled by its very + constitution to recognize them upon the occurrence of the proper + conditions, and to employ them in its arguments to prove their + non-existence.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">C. Their + logical independence and priority. By this we mean that these + truths can be resolved into no others, and proved by no others; + that they are presupposed in the acquisition of all other + knowledge, and can therefore be derived from no other source than + an original cognitive power of the mind.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Instances of the professed and formal denial of + first truths:—the positivist denies causality; the idealist + denies substance; the pantheist denies personality; the + necessitarian denies freedom; the nihilist denies his own + existence. A man may in like manner argue that there is no + necessity for an atmosphere; but even while he argues, he + breathes it. Instance the knock-down argument to demonstrate the + freedom of the will. I grant my own existence in the very + doubting of it; for</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">cogito, + ergo sum,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">as Descartes himself insisted, + really means</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">cogito, + scilicet sum</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; H. + B. Smith:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + statement is analysis, not proof.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ladd, Philosophy of Knowledge, + 59—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The</span> + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cogito</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + in barbarous Latin =</span> <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cogitans + sum</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">: thinking is + self-conscious</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">being</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Bentham:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The word</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">ought</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is an authoritative imposture, and + ought to be banished from the realm of + morals.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Spinoza and Hegel really deny + self-consciousness when they make man a phenomenon of the + infinite. Royce likens the denier of personality to the man who + goes outside of his own house and declares that no one lives + there because, when he looks in at the window, he sees no one + inside.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Professor James, in his Psychology, assumes + the reality of a brain, but refuses to assume the reality of a + soul. This is essentially the position of materialism. But this + assumption of a brain is metaphysics, although the author + claims to be writing a</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page056">[pg 056]</span><a name="Pg056" id="Pg056" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">psychology + without metaphysics. Ladd, Philosophy of Mind, + 3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + materialist believes in causation proper so long as he is + explaining the origin of mind from matter, but when he is asked + to see in mind the cause of physical change he at once becomes + a mere phenomenalist.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Royce, Spirit of Modern Philosophy, + 400—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I know + that all beings, if only they can count, must find that three + and two make five. Perhaps the angels cannot count; but, if + they can, this axiom is true for them. If I met an angel who + declared that his experience had occasionally shown him a three + and two that did</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">not</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">make five, I should know at once + what sort of an angel he was.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">On the criteria of first truths, see Porter, + Human Intellect, 510, 511. On denial of them, see Shedd, + Dogmatic Theology, 1:213.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc65" id="toc65"></a> <a name="pdf66" id="pdf66"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">II. The Existence of God a first + truth.</span></h3> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc67" id="toc67"></a> <a name="pdf68" id="pdf68"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1. Its universality.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">That + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">the + knowledge of God's existence answers the first criterion of + universality</span></span>, is evident from the following + considerations:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. It is an + acknowledged fact that the vast majority of men have actually + recognized the existence of a spiritual being or beings, upon + whom they conceived themselves to be dependent.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The Vedas declare:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There + is but one Being—no second.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Max Müller, Origin and Growth of Religion, + 34—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Not the + visible sun, moon and stars are invoked, but something else + that cannot be seen.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The lowest tribes have conscience, fear + death, believe in witches, propitiate or frighten away evil + fates. Even the fetich-worshiper, who calls the stone or the + tree a god, shows that he has already the idea of a God. We + must not measure the ideas of the heathen by their capacity + for expression, any more than we should judge the child's + belief in the existence of his father by his success in + drawing the father's picture. On heathenism, its origin and + nature, see Tholuck, in Bib. Repos., 1832:86; Scholz, + Götzendienst und Zauberwesen.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. Those + races and nations which have at first seemed destitute of such + knowledge have uniformly, upon further investigation, been + found to possess it, so that no tribe of men with which we have + thorough acquaintance can be said to be without an object of + worship. We may presume that further knowledge will show this + to be true of all.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Moffat, who reported that + certain African tribes were destitute of religion, was + corrected by the testimony of his son-in-law, + Livingstone:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + existence of God and of a future life is everywhere + recognized in Africa.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Where men are most nearly destitute of any + formulated knowledge of God, the conditions for the awakening + of the idea are most nearly absent. An apple-tree may be so + conditioned that it never bears apples.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We do not judge of the oak by the stunted, + flowerless specimens on the edge of the Arctic + Circle.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The presence of an occasional + blind, deaf or dumb man does not disprove the definition that + man is a seeing, hearing and speaking creature. Bowne, + Principles of Ethics, 154—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We need not tremble for mathematics, even if + some tribes should be found without the + multiplication-table.... Sub-moral and sub-rational existence + is always with us in the case of young children; and, if we + should find it elsewhere, it would have no greater + significance.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Victor Hugo:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Some men deny the Infinite; some, too, deny + the sun; they are the blind.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Gladden, What is Left? + 148—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A man + may escape from his shadow by going into the dark; if he + comes under the light of the sun, the shadow is there. A man + may be so mentally undisciplined that he does not recognize + these ideas; but let him learn the use of his reason, let him + reflect on his own mental processes, and he will know that + they are necessary ideas.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">On an original monotheism, see Diestel, in + Jahrbuch für deutsche Theologie, 1860, and vol. 5:669; Max + Müller, Chips, 1:337; Rawlinson, in Present Day Tracts, No. + 11; Legge, Religions of China, 8-11; Shedd, Dogmatic + Theology, 1:201-208.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Per + contra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, see Asmus, + Indogerm. Relig., 2:1-8; and synopsis in Bib. Sac., Jan. + 1877:167-172.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">C. This + conclusion is corroborated by the fact that those individuals, + in heathen or in Christian lands, who profess themselves to be + without any <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page057">[pg + 057]</span><a name="Pg057" id="Pg057" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> knowledge of a spiritual power or powers + above them, do yet indirectly manifest the existence of such an + idea in their minds and its positive influence over them.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Comte said that science would + conduct God to the frontier and then bow him out, with thanks + for his provisional services. But Herbert Spencer affirms the + existence of a</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Power + to which no limit in time or space is conceivable, of which + all phenomena as presented in consciousness are + manifestations.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The intuition of God, though formally + excluded, is implicitly contained in Spencer's system, in the + shape of the</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">irresistible belief</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">in Absolute Being, which distinguishes his + position from that of Comte; see H. Spencer, who says:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">One + truth must ever grow clearer—the truth that there is an + inscrutable existence everywhere manifested, to which we can + neither find nor conceive beginning or end—the one absolute + certainty that we are ever in the presence of an infinite and + eternal energy from which all things + proceed.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Mr. Spencer assumes unity in the + underlying Reality. Frederick Harrison sneeringly asks + him:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Why not + say</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">forces,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">instead of</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">force</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">While Harrison gives us a supreme moral + ideal without a metaphysical ground, Spencer gives us an + ultimate metaphysical principle without a final moral + purpose. The idea of God is the synthesis of the + two,—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">They + are but broken lights of Thee, And thou, O Lord, art more + than they</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(Tennyson, In + Memoriam).</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Solon spoke of ὁ θεός and of τὸ + θεῖον, and Sophocles of ὁ μέγας θεός. The term for</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is identical in all the Indo-European + languages, and therefore belonged to the time before those + languages separated; see Shedd, Dogm. Theol., 1:201-208. In + Virgil's Æneid, Mezentius is an atheist, a despiser of the + gods, trusting only in his spear and in his right arm; but, + when the corpse of his son is brought to him, his first act + is to raise his hands to heaven. Hume was a sceptic, but he + said to Ferguson, as they walked on a starry night:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Adam, + there is a God!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Voltaire prayed in an Alpine thunderstorm. + Shelley wrote his name in the visitors' book of the inn at + Montanvert, and added:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Democrat, philanthropist, + atheist</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; yet he loved to think of a</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">fine + intellectual spirit pervading the universe</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; and he also wrote:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The One remains, the many change and pass; + Heaven's light forever shines, Earth's shadows + fly.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Strauss worships the Cosmos, + because</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">order + and law, reason and goodness</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">are the soul of it. Renan trusts in + goodness, design, ends. Charles Darwin, Life, + 1:274—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In my + most extreme fluctuations, I have never been an atheist, in + the sense of denying the existence of a + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">D. This + agreement among individuals and nations so widely separated in + time and place can be most satisfactorily explained by + supposing that it has its ground, not in accidental + circumstances, but in the nature of man as man. The diverse and + imperfectly developed ideas of the supreme Being which prevail + among men are best accounted for as misinterpretations and + perversions of an intuitive conviction common to all.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Huxley, Lay Sermons, + 163—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There + are savages without God, in any proper sense of the word; but + there are none without ghosts.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Martineau, Study, 2:353, well + replies:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Instead + of turning other people into ghosts, and then appropriating + one to ourselves [and attributing another to God, we may add] + by way of imitation, we start from the sense of personal + continuity, and then predicate the same of others, under the + figures which keep most clear of the physical and + perishable.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Grant Allen describes the higher religions + as</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a + grotesque fungoid growth,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">that has gathered about a primitive thread + of ancestor-worship. But this is to derive the greater from + the less. Sayce, Hibbert Lectures, 358—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I can find no trace of ancestor-worship in + the earliest literature of Babylonia which has survived to + us</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—this seems fatal to Huxley's and Allen's + view that the idea of God is derived from man's prior belief + in spirits of the dead. C. M. Tyler, in Am. Jour. Theo., Jan. + 1899:144—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It + seems impossible to deify a dead man, unless there is + embryonic in primitive consciousness a prior concept of + Deity.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Renouf, Religion of Ancient + Egypt, 93—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + whole mythology of Egypt ... turns on the histories of Ra and + Osiris.... Texts are discovered which identify Osiris and + Ra.... Other texts are known wherein Ra, Osiris, Amon, and + all other gods disappear, except as simple</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">names</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + and the unity of God is asserted in the noblest language of + monotheistic religion.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">These facts are earlier than any known + ancestor-worship.</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page058">[pg 058]</span><a name="Pg058" id="Pg058" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">They + point to an original idea of divinity above + humanity</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(see Hill, Genetic Philosophy, + 317). We must add the idea of the superhuman, before we can + turn any animism or ancestor-worship into a religion. This + superhuman element was suggested to early man by all he saw + of nature about him, especially by the sight of the heavens + above, and by what he knew of causality within. For the + evidence of a universal recognition of a superior power, see + Flint, Anti-theistic Theories, 250-289, 522-533; Renouf, + Hibbert Lectures for 1879:100; Bib. Sac., Jan. 1884:132-157; + Peschel, Races of Men, 261; Ulrici, Leib und Seele, 688, and + Gott und die Natur, 658-670, 758; Tylor, Primitive Culture, + 1:377, 381, 418; Alexander, Evidences of Christianity, 22; + Calderwood, Philosophy of the Infinite, 512; Liddon, Elements + of Religion, 50; Methodist Quar. Rev., Jan. 1875:1; J. F. + Clark, Ten Great Religions, 2:17-21.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc69" id="toc69"></a> <a name="pdf70" id="pdf70"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 2. Its necessity.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">That + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">the + knowledge of God's existence answers the second criterion of + necessity</span></span>, will be seen by considering:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. That men, + under circumstances fitted to call forth this knowledge, cannot + avoid recognizing the existence of God. In contemplating finite + existence, there is inevitably suggested the idea of an + infinite Being as its correlative. Upon occasion of the mind's + perceiving its own finiteness, dependence, responsibility, it + immediately and necessarily perceives the existence of an + infinite and unconditioned Being upon whom it is dependent and + to whom it is responsible.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We could not recognize the + finite as finite, except by comparing it with an already + existing standard—the Infinite. Mansel, Limits of Religious + Thought, lect. 3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We are + compelled by the constitution of our minds to believe in the + existence of an Absolute and Infinite Being—a belief which + appears forced upon us as the complement of our consciousness + of the relative and finite.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Fisher, Journ. Chr. Philos., Jan. + 1883:113—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Ego and + non-ego, each being conditioned by the other, presuppose + unconditioned being on which both are dependent. + Unconditioned being is the silent presupposition of all our + knowing.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Perceived dependent being + implies an independent; independent being is perfectly + self-determining; self-determination is personality; perfect + self-determination is infinite Personality. John Watson, in + Philos. Rev., Sept. 1893:526—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">There is no consciousness of self apart from + the consciousness of other selves and things; and no + consciousness of the world apart from the consciousness of + the single Reality presupposed in both.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">E. Caird, Evolution of Religion, 64-68—In + every act of consciousness the primary elements are + implied:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + idea of the object, or not-self; the idea of the subject, or + self; and the idea of the unity which is presupposed in the + difference of the self and not-self, and within which they + act and react on each other.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Calderwood, Philos. of Infinite, 46, and + Moral Philos., 77; Hopkins, Outline Study of Man, 283-285; + Shedd, Dogm. Theol., 1:211.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. That men, + in virtue of their humanity, have a capacity for religion. This + recognized capacity for religion is proof that the idea of God + is a necessary one. If the mind upon proper occasion did not + evolve this idea, there would be nothing in man to which + religion could appeal.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It is + the suggestion of the Infinite that makes the line of the far + horizon, seen over land or sea, so much more impressive than + the beauties of any limited landscape.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">In times of sudden shock and danger, this + rational intuition becomes a presentative intuition,—men + become more conscious of God's existence than of the + existence of their fellow-men and they instinctively cry to + God for help. In the commands and reproaches of the moral + nature the soul recognizes a Lawgiver and Judge whose voice + conscience merely echoes. Aristotle called man</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a + political animal</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; it is still more true, as Sabatier + declares, that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">man is + incurably religious.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">St. Bernard:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Noverim me, noverim te.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">O. P. Gifford:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">As milk, from which under proper conditions + cream does not rise, is not milk, so the man, who upon proper + occasion shows no knowledge of God, is not man, but + brute.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We must not however expect cream + from frozen milk. Proper environment and conditions are + needed.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It is the recognition of a + divine Personality in nature which constitutes the greatest + merit and charm of Wordsworth's poetry. In his Tintern Abbey, + he speaks of</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A + presence</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page059">[pg + 059]</span><a name="Pg059" id="Pg059" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">that + disturbs me with the joy Of elevated thoughts; a sense + sublime Of something far more deeply interfused, Whose + dwelling is the light of setting suns, And the round ocean + and the living air, And the blue sky and in the mind of man: + A motion and a spirit that impels All thinking things, all + objects of all thought, And rolls through all + things.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Robert Browning sees God in + humanity, as Wordsworth sees God in nature. In his + Hohenstiel-Schwangau he writes:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">This is the glory, that in all conceived Or + felt or known, I recognize a Mind—Not mine, but like mine—for + the double joy Making all things for me, and me for + Him.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">John Ruskin held that the + foundation of beauty in the world is the presence of God in + it. In his youth he tells us that he had</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">a continual perception of sanctity in the + whole of nature, from the slightest thing to the vastest—an + instinctive awe mixed with delight, an indefinable thrill + such as we sometimes imagine to indicate the presence of a + disembodied spirit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But it was not a disembodied, but an + embodied, Spirit that he saw. Nitzsch, Christian Doctrine, § + 7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Unless + education and culture were preceded by an innate + consciousness of God as an operative predisposition, there + would be nothing for education and culture to work + upon.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On Wordsworth's recognition of a + divine personality in nature, see Knight, Studies, 282-317, + 405-426; Hutton, Essays, 2:113.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">C. That he + who denies God's existence must tacitly assume that existence + in his very argument, by employing logical processes whose + validity rests upon the fact of God's existence. The full proof + of this belongs under the next head.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I am an + atheist, God knows</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—was the absurd beginning of an argument to + disprove the divine existence. Cutler, Beginnings of Ethics, + 22—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Even + the Nihilists, whose first principle is that God and duty are + great bugbears to be abolished, assume that God and duty + exist, and they are impelled by a sense of duty to abolish + them.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Mrs. Browning, The Cry of the Human:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“ </span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">There is no God,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">the foolish saith; But none,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There + is no sorrow</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; And nature oft the cry of faith In bitter + need will borrow: Eyes which the preacher could not school By + wayside graves are raised; And lips say,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God be pitiful,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Who ne'er said,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God be praised.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dr. W. W. Keen, when called to treat an + Irishman's aphasia, said:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Well, Dennis, how are + you?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Oh, + doctor, I cannot spake!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">But, Dennis, you</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">are</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">speaking.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Oh, doctor, it's many a word I cannot + spake!</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Well, + Dennis, now I will try you. See if you cannot say,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Horse.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Oh, doctor dear,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">horse</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is the very word I cannot + spake!</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On this whole section, see A. M. + Fairbairn, Origin and Development of the Idea of God, in + Studies in Philos. of Relig. and History; Martineau, Religion + and Materialism, 45; Bishop Temple, Bampton Lectures, + 1884:37-65.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc71" id="toc71"></a> <a name="pdf72" id="pdf72"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 3. Its logical independence and priority.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">That + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">the + knowledge of God's existence answers the third criterion of + logical independence and priority</span></span>, may be shown + as follows:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. It is + presupposed in all other knowledge as its logical condition and + foundation. The validity of the simplest mental acts, such as + sense-perception, self-consciousness, and memory, depends upon + the assumption that a God exists who has so constituted our + minds that they give us knowledge of things as they are.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Pfleiderer, Philos. of Religion, + 1:88—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + ground of science and of cognition generally is to be found + neither in the subject nor in the object</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">per + se</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, but only in + the divine thinking that combines the two, which, as the + common ground of the forms of thinking in all finite minds, + and of the forms of being in all things, makes possible the + correspondence or agreement between the former and the + latter, or in a word makes knowledge of truth + possible.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">91—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Religious belief is presupposed in all + scientific knowledge as the basis of its + possibility.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This is the thought of</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Psalm + 36:10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In thy + light shall we see light.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">A. J. Balfour, Foundations of Belief, + 303—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + uniformity of nature cannot be proved from experience, for it + is what makes proof from experience possible.... Assume it, + and we shall find that facts conform to it.... 309—The + uniformity of nature can be established only by the aid of + that principle itself, and is necessarily involved in all + attempts to prove it.... There must be a God, to justify our + confidence in innate ideas.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p><span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page060">[pg 060]</span><a name="Pg060" id="Pg060" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Bowne, Theory of Thought and + Knowledge, 276—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Reflection shows that the community of + individual intelligences is possible only through an + all-embracing Intelligence, the source and creator of finite + minds.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Science rests upon the postulate + of a world-order. Huxley:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The object of science is the discovery of + the rational order which pervades the + universe.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">This rational order presupposes + a rational Author. Dubois, in New Englander, Nov. + 1890:468—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We + assume uniformity and continuity, or we can have no science. + An intelligent Creative Will is a genuine scientific + hypothesis [postulate?], suggested by analogy and confirmed + by experience, not contradicting the fundamental law of + uniformity but accounting for it.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ritchie, Darwin and Hegel, + 18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">That + nature is a system, is the assumption underlying the earliest + mythologies: to fill up this conception is the aim of the + latest science.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Royce, Relig. Aspect of Philosophy, + 435—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There + is such a thing as error; but error is inconceivable unless + there be such a thing as truth; and truth is inconceivable + unless there be a seat of truth, an infinite all-including + Thought or Mind; therefore such a Mind + exists.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. The more + complex processes of the mind, such as induction and deduction, + can be relied on only by presupposing a thinking Deity who has + made the various parts of the universe and the various aspects + of truth to correspond to each other and to the investigating + faculties of man.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We argue from one apple to the + others on the tree. Newton argued from the fall of an apple + to gravitation in the moon and throughout the solar system. + Rowland argued from the chemistry of our world to that of + Sirius. In all such argument there is assumed a unifying + thought and a thinking Deity. This is Tyndall's</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">scientific use of the + imagination.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Nourished,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">he says,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">by knowledge partially won, and bounded by + coöperant reason, imagination is the mightiest instrument of + the physical discoverer.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">What Tyndall calls</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">imagination</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">, is really insight into the thoughts of + God, the great Thinker. It prepares the way for logical + reasoning,—it is not the product of mere reasoning. For this + reason Goethe called imagination</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">die Vorschule des + Denkens,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">or</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">thought's preparatory + school.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Peabody, Christianity the + Religion of Nature, 23—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Induction is syllogism, with the immutable + attributes of God for a constant term.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Porter, Hum. Intellect, + 492—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Induction rests upon the assumption, as it + demands for its ground, that a personal or thinking Deity + exists</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; 658—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It has no meaning or validity unless we + assume that the universe is constituted in such a way as to + presuppose an absolute and unconditioned originator of its + forces and laws</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; 662—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We analyze the several processes of + knowledge into their underlying assumptions, and we find that + the assumption which underlies them all is that of a + self-existent Intelligence who not only can be known by man, + but must be known by man in order that man may know anything + besides</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; see also pages 486, 508, 509, 518, 519, + 585, 616. Harris, Philos. Basis of Theism, + 81—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + processes of reflective thought imply that the universe is + grounded in, and is the manifestation of, + reason</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; 560—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The existence of a personal God is a + necessary datum of scientific knowledge.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">So also, Fisher, Essays on Supernat. Origin + of Christianity, 564, and in Journ. Christ. Philos., Jan. + 1883:129, 130.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">C. Our + primitive belief in final cause, or, in other words, our + conviction that all things have their ends, that design + pervades the universe, involves a belief in God's existence. In + assuming that there is a universe, that the universe is a + rational whole, a system of thought-relations, we assume the + existence of an absolute Thinker, of whose thought the universe + is an expression.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Pfleiderer, Philos. of Religion, + 1:81—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + real can only be thinkable if it is realized thought, a + thought previously thought, which our thinking has only to + think again. Therefore the real, in order to be thinkable for + us, must be the realized thought of the creative thinking of + an eternal divine Reason which is presented to our cognitive + thinking.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Royce, World and Individual, + 2:41—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Universal teleology constitutes the essence + of all facts.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">A. H. Bradford, The Age of Faith, + 142—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Suffering and sorrow are universal. Either + God could prevent them and would not, and therefore he is + neither beneficent nor loving; or else he cannot prevent them + and therefore something is greater than God, and therefore + there is no God? But here is the use of reason in</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page061">[pg 061]</span><a name= + "Pg061" id="Pg061" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the individual reasoning. Reasoning in the + individual necessitates the absolute or universal reason. If + there is the absolute reason, then the universe and history + are ordered and administered in harmony with reason; then + suffering and sorrow can be neither meaningless nor final, + since that would be the contradiction of reason. That cannot + be possible in the universal and absolute which contradicts + reason in man.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">D. Our + primitive belief in moral obligation, or, in other words, our + conviction that right has universal authority, involves the + belief in God's existence. In assuming that the universe is a + moral whole, we assume the existence of an absolute Will, of + whose righteousness the universe is an expression.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Pfleiderer, Philos. of Religion, + 1:88—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + ground of moral obligation is found neither in the subject + nor in society, but only in the universal or divine Will that + combines both.... 103—The idea of God is the unity of the + true and the good, or of the two highest ideas which our + reason thinks as theoretical reason, but demands as practical + reason.... In the idea of God we find the only synthesis of + the world that</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">is</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—the + world of science, and of the world that</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">ought to + be</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—the world of + religion.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Seth, Ethical Principles, + 425—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">This is + not a mathematical demonstration. Philosophy never is an + exact science. Rather is it offered as the only sufficient + foundation of the moral life.... The life of goodness ... is + a life based on the conviction that its source and its issues + are in the Eternal and the Infinite.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">As finite truth and goodness are + comprehensible only in the light of some absolute principle + which furnishes for them an ideal standard, so finite beauty + is inexplicable except as there exists a perfect standard + with which it may be compared. The beautiful is more than the + agreeable or the useful. Proportion, order, harmony, unity in + diversity—all these are characteristics of beauty. But they + all imply an intellectual and spiritual Being, from whom they + proceed and by whom they can be measured. Both physical and + moral beauty, in finite things and beings, are symbols and + manifestations of Him who is the author and lover of beauty, + and who is himself the infinite and absolute Beauty. The + beautiful in nature and in art shows that the idea of God's + existence is logically independent and prior. See Cousin, The + True, the Beautiful, and the Good, 140-153; Kant, Metaphysic + of Ethics, who holds that belief in God is the necessary + presupposition of the belief in duty.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">To repeat + these four points in another form—the intuition of an Absolute + Reason is (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) the necessary + presupposition of all other knowledge, so that we cannot know + anything else to exist except by assuming first of all that God + exists; (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) the necessary basis of + all logical thought, so that we cannot put confidence in any + one of our reasoning processes except by taking for granted + that a thinking Deity has constructed our minds with reference + to the universe and to truth; (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + the necessary implication of our primitive belief in design, so + that we can assume all things to exist for a purpose, only by + making the prior assumption that a purposing God exists—can + regard the universe as a thought, only by postulating the + existence of an absolute Thinker; and (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">d</span></span>) + the necessary foundation of our conviction of moral obligation, + so that we can believe in the universal authority of right, + only by assuming that there exists a God of righteousness who + reveals his will both in the individual conscience and in the + moral universe at large. We cannot <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">prove</span></em> that God is; but we can + show that, in order to show the existence of any knowledge, + thought, reason, conscience, in man, man must <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">assume</span></em> that God is.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">As Jacobi said of the + beautiful:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Es kann + gewiesen aber nicht bewiesen werden</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—it can be shown, but not proved. Bowne, + Metaphysics, 472—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Our + objective knowledge of the finite must rest upon ethical + trust in the infinite</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; 480—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Theism is the absolute postulate of all + knowledge, science and philosophy</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God is the most certain fact of objective + knowledge.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Ladd, Bib. Sac., Oct. + 1877:611-616—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Cogito, + ergo Deus est. We are obliged to postulate a not-ourselves + which makes for rationality,</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page062">[pg 062]</span><a name="Pg062" id="Pg062" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">as well as + for righteousness.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">W. T. Harris:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Even natural science is impossible, where + philosophy has not yet taught that reason made the world, and + that nature is a revelation of the + rational.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Whately, Logic, 270; New + Englander, Oct. 1871, art. on Grounds of Confidence in + Inductive Reasoning; Bib. Sac., 7:415-425; Dorner, + Glaubenslehre, 1:197; Trendelenburg, Logische Untersuchungen, + ch.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Zweck</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; Ulrici, Gott und die Natur, 540-626; + Lachelier, Du Fondement de l'Induction, 78.</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Per + contra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, see Janet, + Final Causes, 174, note, and 457-464, who holds final cause + to be, not an intuition, but the result of applying the + principle of causality to cases which mechanical laws alone + will not explain.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Pascal:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Nature confounds the Pyrrhonist, and Reason + confounds the Dogmatist. We have an incapacity of + demonstration, which the former cannot overcome; we have a + conception of truth which the latter cannot + disturb.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There + is no Unbelief! Whoever says.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">To-morrow,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Unknown,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Future,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">trusts that Power alone. Nor dares + disown.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Jones, Robert Browning, + 314—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We + cannot indeed prove God as the conclusion of a syllogism, for + he is the primary hypothesis of all proof.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Robert Browning, + Hohenstiel-Schwangau:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I know that he is there, as I am here, By + the same proof, which seems no proof at all, It so exceeds + familiar forms of proof</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; Paracelsus, 27—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">To know Rather consists in opening out a way + Whence the imprisoned splendor may escape Than in effecting + entrance for a light Supposed to be + without.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Tennyson, Holy Grail:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Let + visions of the night or day Come as they will, and many a + time they come.... In moments when he feels he cannot die, + And knows himself no vision to himself, Nor the high God a + vision, nor that One Who rose again</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; The Ancient Sage, 548—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Thou canst not prove the Nameless, O my son! + Nor canst thou prove the world thou movest in. Thou canst not + prove that thou art body alone, Nor canst Thou prove that + thou art spirit alone, Nor canst thou prove that thou art + both in one. Thou canst not prove that thou art immortal, no, + Nor yet that thou art mortal. Nay, my son, thou canst not + prove that I, who speak with thee, Am not thyself in converse + with thyself. For nothing worthy proving can be proven, Nor + yet disproven: Wherefore be thou wise, Cleave ever to the + sunnier side of doubt, And cling to Faith beyond the forms of + Faith.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc73" id="toc73"></a> <a name="pdf74" id="pdf74"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">III. Other Supposed Sources of our + Idea of God's Existence.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Our proof that + the idea of God's existence is a rational intuition will not be + complete, until we show that attempts to account in other ways + for the origin of the idea are insufficient, and require as their + presupposition the very intuition which they would supplant or + reduce to a secondary place. We claim that it cannot be derived + from any other source than an original cognitive power of the + mind.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">1. Not from + external revelation,—whether communicated (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + through the Scriptures, or (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>)through tradition; for, + unless man had from another source a previous knowledge of the + existence of a God from whom such a revelation might come, the + revelation itself could have no authority for him.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + See Gillespie, Necessary Existence of God, 10; Ebrard, + Dogmatik, 1:117; H. B. Smith, Faith and Philosophy, + 18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A + revelation takes for granted that he to whom it is made has + some knowledge of God, though it may enlarge and purify that + knowledge.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We cannot prove God from the + authority of the Scriptures, and then also prove the Scriptures + from the authority of God. The very idea of Scripture as a + revelation presupposes belief in a God who can make it. Newman + Smyth, in New Englander, 1878:355—We cannot derive from a + sun-dial our knowledge of the existence of a sun. The sun-dial + presupposes the sun, and cannot be understood without previous + knowledge of the sun. Wuttke, Christian Ethics, + 2:103—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The voice + of the divine ego does not first come to the consciousness of + the individual ego from without; rather does every external + revelation presuppose already this inner one; there must echo + out from within man something kindred to the outer revelation, + in order to its being recognized and accepted as + divine.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Fairbairn, Studies in Philos. of Relig. and + Hist., 21, 22—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If man is + dependent on an outer revelation for his idea of God, then he + must have what Schelling happily termed</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page063">[pg 063]</span><a name="Pg063" id= + "Pg063" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">an original atheism of + consciousness.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Religion cannot, in that case, be rooted in + the nature of man,—it must be implanted from + without.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Schurman, Belief in God, + 78—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A + primitive revelation of God could only mean that God had + endowed man with the capacity of apprehending his divine + original. This capacity, like every other, is innate, and like + every other, it realizes itself only in the presence of + appropriate conditions.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Clarke, Christian Theology, + 112—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Revelation cannot demonstrate God's existence, + for it must assume it; but it will manifest his existence and + character to men, and will serve them as the chief source of + certainty concerning him, for it will teach them what they + could not know by other means.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(b) Nor does our idea of God come primarily + from tradition, for</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">tradition + can perpetuate only what has already been + originated</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(Patton). If the knowledge thus + handed down is the knowledge of a primitive revelation, then + the argument just stated applies—that very revelation + presupposed in those who first received it, and presupposes in + those to whom it is handed down, some knowledge of a Being from + whom such a revelation might come. If the knowledge thus handed + down is simply knowledge of the results of the reasonings of + the race, then the knowledge of God comes originally from + reasoning—an explanation which we consider further on. On the + traditive theory of religion, see Flint, Theism, 23, 338; + Cocker, Christianity and Greek Philosophy, 86-96; Fairbairn, + Studies in Philos. of Relig. and Hist., 14, 15; Bowen, Metaph. + and Ethics, 453, and in Bib. Sac., Oct. 1876; Pfleiderer, + Religionsphilos., 312-322.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Similar answers must be returned to many + common explanations of man's belief in God:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Primus in orbe deos fecit + timor</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + Imagination made religion; Priests invented religion; Religion + is a matter of imitation and fashion. But we ask again: What + caused the fear? Who made the imagination? What made priests + possible? What made imitation and fashion natural? To say that + man worships, merely because he sees other men worshiping, is + as absurd as to say that a horse eats hay because he sees other + horses eating it. There must be a hunger in the soul to be + satisfied, or external things would never attract man to + worship. Priests could never impose upon men so continuously, + unless there was in human nature a universal belief in a God + who might commission priests as his representatives. + Imagination itself requires some basis of reality, and a larger + basis as civilization advances. The fact that belief in God's + existence gets a wider hold upon the race with each added + century, shows that, instead of fear having caused belief in + God, the truth is that belief in God has caused fear; + indeed,</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the fear of Jehovah is the beginning of + wisdom</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Ps. + 111:10)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">2. Not from + experience,—whether this mean (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + the sense-perception and reflection of the individual (Locke), + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) the accumulated results of + the sensations and associations of past generations of the race + (Herbert Spencer), or (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) the actual contact of our + sensitive nature with God, the supersensible reality, through the + religious feeling (Newman Smyth).</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The first form + of this theory is inconsistent with the fact that the idea of God + is not the idea of a sensible or material object, nor a + combination of such ideas. Since the spiritual and infinite are + direct opposites of the material and finite, no experience of the + latter can account for our idea of the former.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">With Locke (Essay on Hum. Understanding, 2:1:4), + experience is the passive reception of ideas by sensation or by + reflection. Locke's</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">tabula + rasa</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">theory mistakes the occasion of our + primitive ideas for their cause. To his statement:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Nihil est + in intellectu nisi quod ante fuerit in + sensu,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Leibnitz replied:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Nisi + intellectus ipse.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Consciousness is sometimes called the source + of our knowledge of God. But consciousness, as simply an + accompanying knowledge of ourselves and our states, is not + properly the source of any other knowledge. The German</span> + <span lang="de" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "de"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gottesbewusstsein</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">= not</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">consciousness of God,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">but</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">knowledge of God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span lang="de" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="de"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Bewusstsein</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">here = not a</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">conknowing,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">but a</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">beknowing</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + see Porter, Human Intellect, 86; Cousin, True, Beautiful and + Good, 48, 49.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Fraser, Locke, 143-147—Sensations are the + bricks, and association the mortar, of the mental house. Bowne, + Theory of Thought and Knowledge, 47—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Develope language by allowing sounds to + associate and evolve meaning for themselves? Yet this is the + exact parallel of the philosophy which aims to build + intelligence out of sensation....52—One</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page064">[pg 064]</span><a name="Pg064" id= + "Pg064" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">who does not know how to read would look in + vain for meaning in a printed page, and in vain would he seek + to help his failure by using strong + spectacles.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Yet even if the idea of God were a product of + experience, we should not be warranted in rejecting it as + irrational. See Brooks, Foundations of Zoölogy, + 132—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There is + no antagonism between those who attribute knowledge to + experience and those who attribute it to our innate reason; + between those who attribute the development of the germ to + mechanical conditions and those who attribute it to the + inherent potency of the germ itself; between those who hold + that all nature was latent in the cosmic vapor and those who + believe that everything in nature is immediately intended + rather than predetermined.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">All these may be methods of the immanent + God.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The second + form of the theory is open to the objection that the very first + experience of the first man, equally with man's latest + experience, presupposes this intuition, as well as the other + intuitions, and therefore cannot be the cause of it. Moreover, + even though this theory of its origin were correct, it would + still be impossible to think of the object of the intuition as + not existing, and the intuition would still represent to us the + highest measure of certitude at present attainable by man. If the + evolution of ideas is toward truth instead of falsehood, it is + the part of wisdom to act upon the hypothesis that our primitive + belief is veracious.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Martineau, Study, 2:26—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Nature is as worthy of trust in her processes, + as in her gifts.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bowne, Examination of Spencer, 163, + 164—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Are we to + seek truth in the minds of pre-human apes, or in the blind + stirrings of some primitive pulp? In that case we can indeed put + away all our science, but we must put away the great doctrine of + evolution along with it. The experience-philosophy cannot escape + this alternative: either the positive deliverances of our mature + consciousness must be accepted as they stand, or all truth must + be declared impossible.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">See + also Harris, Philos. Basis Theism, 137-142.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Charles Darwin, in a letter written a year + before his death, referring to his doubts as to the existence + of God, asks:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Can we + trust to the convictions of a monkey's mind?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We may reply:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Can we trust the conclusions of one who was + once a baby?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Bowne, Ethics, + 3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + genesis and emergence of an idea are one thing; its validity is + quite another. The logical value of chemistry cannot be decided + by reciting its beginnings in alchemy; and the logical value of + astronomy is independent of the fact that it began in + astrology.... 11—Even if man came from the ape, we need not + tremble for the validity of the multiplication-table or of the + Golden Rule. If we have moral insight, it is no matter how we + got it; and if we have no such insight, there is no help in any + psychological theory.... 159—We must not appeal to savages and + babies to find what is natural to the human mind.... In the + case of anything that is under the law of development we can + find its true nature, not by going back to its crude + beginnings, but by studying the finished + outcome.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Dawson, Mod. Ideas of Evolution, + 13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If the + idea of God be the phantom of an apelike brain, can we trust to + reason or conscience in any other matter? May not science and + philosophy themselves be similar phantasies, evolved by mere + chance and unreason?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Even though man came from the ape, there is no + explaining his ideas by the ideas of the ape:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A man 's + a man for a' that.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We must judge beginnings by endings, not + endings by beginnings. It matters not how the development of + the eye took place nor how imperfect was the first sense of + sight, if the eye now gives us correct information of external + objects. So it matters not how the intuitions of right and of + God originated, if they now give us knowledge of objective + truth. We must take for granted that evolution of ideas is not + from sense to nonsense. G. H. Lewes, Study of Psychology, + 122—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We can + understand the amœba and the polyp only by a light reflected + from the study of man.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Seth, Ethical Principles, + 429—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The oak + explains the acorn even more truly than the acorn explains the + oak.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Sidgwick:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">No one appeals from the artist's sense of + beauty to the child's. Higher mathematics are no less true, + because they can be apprehended only by trained intellect. No + strange importance attaches to what was</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">first</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">felt or + thought.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Robert Browning, + Paracelsus:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Man, once + descried, imprints forever His presence on all lifeless + things.... A supplementary reflux of light Illustrates all the + inferior grades, explains Each back step in the + circle.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Man, with his higher ideas, shows + the meaning and content of all that led up to him. He is the + last round of the ascending ladder, and from this highest + product and from his ideas we may infer what his Maker + is.</span></p><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page065">[pg + 065]</span><a name="Pg065" id="Pg065" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bixby, Crisis in Morals, 162, + 245—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Evolution + simply gave man such</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">height</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">that he could at last discern the + stars of moral truth which had previously been below the + horizon. This is very different from saying that moral truths + are merely transmitted products of the experiences of + utility.... The germ of the idea of God, as of the idea of + right, must have been in man just so soon as he became man,—the + brute's gaining it turned him into man. Reason is not simply a + register of physical phenomena and of experiences of pleasure + and pain: it is creative also. It discerns the oneness of + things and the supremacy of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Sir Charles Lyell:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The presumption is enormous that all our + faculties, though liable to err, are true in the main and point + to real objects. The religious faculty in man is one of the + strongest of all. It existed in the earliest ages, and instead + of wearing out before advancing civilization, it grows stronger + and stronger, and is to-day more developed among the highest + races than it ever was before. I think we may safely trust that + it points to a great truth.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Fisher, Nat. and Meth. of Rev., 137, quotes + Augustine:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Securus + judicat orbis terrarum,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">and tells us that the intellect is assumed to + be an organ of knowledge, however the intellect may have been + evolved. But if the intellect is worthy of trust, so is the + moral nature. George A. Gordon, The Christ of To-day, + 103—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">To + Herbert Spencer, human history is but an incident of natural + history, and force is supreme. To Christianity nature is only + the beginning, and man the consummation. Which gives the higher + revelation of the life of the tree—the seed, or the + fruit?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The third form + of the theory seems to make God a sensuous object, to reverse the + proper order of knowing and feeling, to ignore the fact that in + all feeling there is at least some knowledge of an object, and to + forget that the validity of this very feeling can be maintained + only by previously assuming the existence of a rational + Deity.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Newman Smyth tells us that feeling comes first; + the idea is secondary. Intuitive ideas are not denied, but they + are declared to be direct reflections, in thought, of the + feelings. They are the mind's immediate perception of what it + feels to exist. Direct knowledge of God by intuition is + considered to be idealistic, reaching God by inference is + regarded as rationalistic, in its tendency. See Smyth, The + Religious Feeling; reviewed by Harris, in New Englander, Jan., + 1878: reply by Smyth, in New Englander, May, 1878.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We grant that, even in the case of + unregenerate men, great peril, great joy, great sin often turn + the rational intuition of God into a presentative intuition. + The presentative intuition, however, cannot be affirmed to be + common to all men. It does not furnish the foundation or + explanation of a universal capacity for religion. Without the + rational intuition, the presentative would not be possible, + since it is only the rational that enables man to receive and + to interpret the presentative. The very trust that we put in + feeling presupposes an intuitive belief in a true and good God. + Tennyson said in 1869:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Yes, it is true that there are moments when + the flesh is nothing to me; when I know and feel the flesh to + be the vision; God and the spiritual is the real; it belongs to + me more than the hand and the foot. You may tell me that my + hand and my foot are only imaginary symbols of my existence,—I + could believe you; but you never, never can convince me that + the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">I</span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is not an eternal Reality, and that the + spiritual is not the real and true part of + me.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">3. Not from + reasoning,—because</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + The actual rise of this knowledge in the great majority of minds + is not the result of any conscious process of reasoning. On the + other hand, upon occurrence of the proper conditions, it flashes + upon the soul with the quickness and force of an immediate + revelation.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + The strength of men's faith in God's existence is not + proportioned to the strength of the reasoning faculty. On the + other hand, men of greatest logical power are often inveterate + sceptics, while men of unwavering faith are found among those who + cannot even understand the arguments for God's existence.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + There is more in this knowledge than reasoning could ever have + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page066">[pg 066]</span><a name= + "Pg066" id="Pg066" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> furnished. Men do + not limit their belief in God to the just conclusions of + argument. The arguments for the divine existence, valuable as + they are for purposes to be shown hereafter, are not sufficient + by themselves to warrant our conviction that there exists an + infinite and absolute Being. It will appear upon examination that + the <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-style: italic">a priori</span></span> + argument is capable of proving only an abstract and ideal + proposition, but can never conduct us to the existence of a real + Being. It will appear that the <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a posteriori</span></span> arguments, from + merely finite existence, can never demonstrate the existence of + the infinite. In the words of Sir Wm. Hamilton (Discussions, + 23)—<span class="tei tei-q">“A demonstration of the absolute from + the relative is logically absurd, as in such a syllogism we must + collect in the conclusion what is not distributed in the + premises”</span>—in short, from finite premises we cannot draw an + infinite conclusion.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Whately, Logic, 290-292; Jevons, Lessons in + Logic, 81; Thompson, Outline Laws of Thought, sections 82-92; + Calderwood, Philos. of Infinite, 60-69, and Moral Philosophy, + 238; Turnbull, in Bap. Quarterly, July, 1872:271; Van Oosterzee, + Dogmatics, 239; Dove, Logic of Christian Faith, 21. Sir Wm. + Hamilton:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Departing + from the particular, we admit that we cannot, in our highest + generalizations, rise above the finite.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">Dr. + E. G. Robinson:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The human + mind turns out larger grists than are ever put in at the + hopper.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">There is more in the idea of God than could have + come out so small a knot-hole as human reasoning. A single word, + a chance remark, or an attitude of prayer, suggests the idea to a + child. Helen Keller told Phillips Brooks that she had always + known that there was a God, but that she had not known his name. + Ladd, Philosophy of Mind, 119—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is a foolish assumption that nothing can be + certainly known unless it be reached as the result of a conscious + syllogistic process, or that the more complicated and subtle this + process is, the more sure is the conclusion. Inferential + knowledge is always dependent upon the superior certainty of + immediate knowledge.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">George M. Duncan, in Memorial of Noah Porter, + 246—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">All + deduction rests either on the previous process of induction, or + on the intuitions of time and space which involve the Infinite + and Absolute.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">d</span></span>) + Neither do men arrive at the knowledge of God's existence by + inference; for inference is condensed syllogism, and, as a form + of reasoning, is equally open to the objection just mentioned. We + have seen, moreover, that all logical processes are based upon + the assumption of God's existence. Evidently that which is + presupposed in all reasoning cannot itself be proved by + reasoning.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">By inference, we of course mean mediate + inference, for in immediate inference (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e. + g.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">All good + rulers are just; therefore no unjust rulers are + good</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + there is no reasoning, and no progress in thought. Mediate + inference is reasoning—is condensed syllogism; and what is so + condensed may be expanded into regular logical form. Deductive + inference:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A negro + is a fellow-creature; therefore he who strikes a negro strikes + a fellow-creature.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Inductive inference:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The first finger is before the second; + therefore it is before the third.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">On inference, see Martineau, Essays, + 1:105-108; Porter, Human Intellect, 444-448; Jevons, Principles + of Science, 1:14, 136-139, 168, 262.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Flint, in his Theism, 77, and Herbert, in his + Mod. Realism Examined, would reach the knowledge of God's + existence by inference. The latter says God is not + demonstrable, but his existence is inferred, like the existence + of our fellow men. But we reply that in this last case we infer + only the finite from the finite, while the difficulty in the + case of God is in inferring the infinite from the finite. This + very process of reasoning, moreover, presupposes the existence + of God as the absolute Reason, in the way already + indicated.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Substantially the same error is committed by + H. B. Smith, Introd. to Chr. Theol., 84-133, and by Diman, + Theistic Argument, 316, 364, both of whom grant an intuitive + element, but use it only to eke out the insufficiency of + reasoning. They consider that the intuition gives us only an + abstract idea, which contains in itself no voucher for the + existence</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page067">[pg + 067]</span><a name="Pg067" id="Pg067" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">of an actual + being corresponding to the idea, and that we reach real being + only by inference from the facts of our own spiritual natures + and of the outward world. But we reply, in the words of McCosh, + that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + intuitions are primarily directed to individual + objects.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We know, not the infinite in the + abstract, but infinite space and time, and the infinite God. + See McCosh, Intuitions, 26, 199, who, however, holds the view + here combated.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Schurman, Belief in God, + 43—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I am + unable to assign to our belief in God a higher certainty than + that possessed by the working hypotheses of science.... 57—The + nearest approach made by science to our hypothesis of the + existence of God lies in the assertion of the universality of + law ... based on the conviction of the unity and systematic + connection of all reality.... 64—This unity can be found only + in self-conscious spirit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The fault of this reasoning is that it gives + us nothing necessary or absolute. Instances of working + hypotheses are the nebular hypothesis in astronomy, the law of + gravitation, the atomic theory in chemistry, the principle of + evolution. No one of these is logically independent or prior. + Each of them is provisional, and each may be superseded by new + discovery. Not so with the idea of God. This idea is + presupposed by all the others, as the condition of every mental + process and the guarantee of its validity.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc75" id="toc75"></a> <a name="pdf76" id="pdf76"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">IV. Contents of this + Intuition.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">1. In this + fundamental knowledge <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">that</span></em> God is, it is necessarily + implied that to some extent men know intuitively <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-style: italic">what</span></em> + God is, namely, (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) a Reason in which their + mental processes are grounded; (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) a + Power above them upon which they are dependent; (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) a + Perfection which imposes law upon their moral natures; + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) a Personality which they + may recognize in prayer and worship.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In maintaining + that we have a rational intuition of God, we by no means imply + that a presentative intuition of God is impossible. Such a + presentative intuition was perhaps characteristic of unfallen + man; it does belong at times to the Christian; it will be the + blessing of heaven (Mat. 5:8—<span class="tei tei-q">“the pure in + heart ... shall see God”</span>; Rev. 22:4—<span class= + "tei tei-q">“they shall see his face”</span>). Men's experiences + of face-to-face apprehension of God, in danger and guilt, give + some reason to believe that a presentative knowledge of God is + the normal condition of humanity. But, as this presentative + intuition of God is not in our present state universal, we here + claim only that all men have a rational intuition of God.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is to be + remembered, however, that the loss of love to God has greatly + obscured even this rational intuition, so that the revelation of + nature and the Scriptures is needed to awaken, confirm and + enlarge it, and the special work of the Spirit of Christ to make + it the knowledge of friendship and communion. Thus from knowing + about God, we come to know God (John 17:3—<span class= + "tei tei-q">“This is life eternal, that they should know + thee”</span>; 2 Tim. 1:12—<span class="tei tei-q">“I know him + whom I have believed”</span>).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Plato said, for substance, that there can be no + ὅτι οἶδεν without something of the ἁ οἶδεν. Harris, Philosophical + Basis of Theism, 208—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">By rational intuition man knows that absolute + Being</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">exists</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; + his knowledge of</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">what</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">it is, is progressive with his + progressive knowledge of man and of nature.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hutton, Essays:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">A haunting presence besets man behind and + before. He cannot evade it. It gives new meanings to his + thoughts, new terror to his sins. It becomes intolerable. He is + moved to set up some idol, carved out of his own nature, that + will take its place—a non-moral God who will not disturb his + dream of rest. It is a righteous Life and Will, and not the + mere</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">idea</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of righteousness that stirs men + so.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Porter, Hum. Int., + 661—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Absolute is a thinking Agent.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The intuition does not grow in certainty; what + grows is the mind's quickness in applying it and power of + expressing it. The intuition is not complex; what is complex is + the Being intuitively cognized. See Calderwood, Moral + Philosophy, 232; Lowndes, Philos.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page068">[pg 068]</span><a name="Pg068" id= + "Pg068" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">of Primary Beliefs, 108-112; Luthardt, Fund. + Truths, 157—Latent faculty of speech is called forth by speech + of others; the choked-up well flows again when debris is + cleared away. Bowen, in Bib. Sac., 33:740-754; Bowne, Theism, + 79.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Knowledge of a person is turned into personal + knowledge by actual communication or revelation. First, comes + the intuitive knowledge of God possessed by all men—the + assumption that there exists a Reason, Power, Perfection, + Personality, that makes correct thinking and acting possible. + Secondly, comes the knowledge of God's being and attributes + which nature and Scripture furnish. Thirdly, comes the personal + and presentative knowledge derived from actual reconciliation + and intercourse with God, through Christ and the Holy Spirit. + Stearns, Evidence of Christian Experience, + 208—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Christian + experience verifies the claims of doctrine by experiment,—so + transforming probable knowledge into real + knowledge.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Biedermann, quoted by Pfleiderer, + Grundriss, 18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + reveals himself to the human spirit, 1. as its infinite</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ground</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + in the reason; 2. as its infinite</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Norm</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + in the conscience; 3. as its infinite</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Strength</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + in elevation to religious truth, blessedness, and + freedom.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Shall I object to this Christian experience, + because only comparatively few have it, and I am not among the + number? Because I have not seen the moons of Jupiter, shall I + doubt the testimony of the astronomer to their existence? + Christian experience, like the sight of the moons of Jupiter, + is attainable by all. Clarke, Christian Theology, + 113—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">One who + will have full proof of the good God's reality must put it to + the experimental test. He must take the good God for real, and + receive the confirmation that will follow. When faith reaches + out after God, it finds him.... They who have found him will be + the sanest and truest of their kind, and their convictions will + be among the safest convictions of man.... Those who live in + fellowship with the good God will grow in goodness, and will + give practical evidence of his existence aside from their oral + testimony.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">2. The + Scriptures, therefore, do not attempt to prove the existence of + God, but, on the other hand, both assume and declare that the + knowledge that God is, is universal (Rom. 1:19-21, 28, 32; 2:15). + God has inlaid the evidence of this fundamental truth in the very + nature of man, so that nowhere is he without a witness. The + preacher may confidently follow the example of Scripture by + assuming it. But he must also explicitly declare it, as the + Scripture does. <span class="tei tei-q">“For the invisible things + of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen”</span> + (καθορᾶται—spiritually viewed); the organ given for this purpose + is the νοῦς (νοούμενα); but then—and this forms the transition to + our next division of the subject—they are <span class= + "tei tei-q">“perceived through the things that are made”</span> + (τοῖς ποιήμασιν, Rom. 1:20).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">On</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + Rom. 1:19-21</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, see + Weiss, Bib. Theol. des N. T., 251, note; also commentaries of + Meyer, Alford, Tholuck, and Wordsworth; τὸ γνωστὸν τοῦ θεοῦ = + not</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">that which may be known</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(Rev. Vers.) but</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">that + which is known</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">of God; νοούμενα καθορᾶται = are clearly seen + in that they are perceived by the reason—νοούμενα expresses the + manner of the καθορᾶται (Meyer); compare</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:9</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 17:27</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 1:28</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2:15</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + On</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 15:34</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, see Calderwood, + Philos. of Inf., 466—ἀγνωσίαν Θεοῦ τινὲς ἔχουσι = do not + possess the specially exalted knowledge of God which belongs to + believers in Christ (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Jo. + 4:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">every one + that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth + God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">). On</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 2:12</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, see Pope, + Theology, 1:240—ἄθεοι ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ is opposed to being in + Christ, and signifies rather forsaken of God, than denying him + or entirely ignorant of him. On Scripture passages, see Schmid, + Bib. Theol. des N. T., 486; Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, + 1:62.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">E. G. Robinson:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The first statement of the Bible is, not that + there is a God, but that</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In the + beginning God created the heavens and the + earth</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Gen. + 1:1)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. The belief in + God never was and never can be the result of logical argument, + else the Bible would give us proofs.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Many texts relied upon as</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">proofs</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of God's existence are + simply</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">explications</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of the idea of God, as for + example:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. 94:9, + 10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He that + planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, + shall he not see? He that chastiseth the nations, shall not he + correct, even he that teacheth man + knowledge?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">Plato + says that God holds the soul by its roots,—he therefore does + not need to demonstrate to the soul the fact of his existence. + Martineau, Seat of Authority, 308, says well that Scripture and + preaching only interpret what is already in the heart which it + addresses:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Flinging + a warm breath on the inward oracles hid in invisible ink, it + renders</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page069">[pg + 069]</span><a name="Pg069" id="Pg069" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">them + articulate and dazzling as the handwriting on the wall. The + divine Seer does not convey to you</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">his</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">revelation, but qualifies you to + receive</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">your + own</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. This mutual + relation is possible only through the common presence of God in + the conscience of mankind.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Shedd, Dogmatic Theology, + 1:195-220—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The earth + and sky make the same sensible impressions on the organs of a + brute that they do upon those of a man; but the brute never + discerns the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">invisible things</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">of God, his</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">eternal + power and godhood</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Rom. + 1:20)</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Our subconscious activity, so far as it is + normal, is under the guidance of the immanent Reason. + Sensation, before it results in thought, has in it logical + elements which are furnished by mind—not ours, but that of the + Infinite One. Christ, the Revealer of God, reveals God in every + man's mental life, and the Holy Spirit may be the principle of + self-consciousness in man as in God. Harris, God the Creator, + tells us that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">man finds + the Reason that is eternal and universal revealing itself in + the exercise of his own reason.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Savage, Life after Death, + 268—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">How do + you know that your subliminal consciousness does not tap + Omniscience, and get at the facts of the + universe?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Savage negatives this suggestion, however, and + wrongly favors the spirit-theory. For his own experience, see + pages 295-329 of his book.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">C. M. Barrows, in Proceedings of Soc. for + Psychical Research, vol. 12, part 30, pages + 34-36—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There is + a subliminal agent. What if this is simply one intelligent + Actor, filling the universe with his presence, as the ether + fills space; the common Inspirer of all mankind, a skilled + Musician, presiding over many pipes and keys, and playing + through each what music he will? The subliminal self is a + universal fountain of energy, and each man is an outlet of the + stream. Each man's personal self is contained in it, and thus + each man is made one with every other man. In that deep Force, + the last fact behind which analysis cannot go, all psychical + and bodily effects find their common origin.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This statement needs to be qualified by the + assertion of man's ethical nature and distinct personality; see + section of this work on Ethical Monism, in chapter III. But + there is truth here like that which Coleridge sought to express + in his Æolian Harp:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">And what + if all of animated Nature Be but organic harps diversely + framed, That tremble into thought, as o'er them sweeps, Plastic + and vast, one intellectual breeze, At once the soul of each, + and God of all?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See F. W. H. Myers, Human + Personality.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dorner, System of Theology, + 1:75—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + consciousness of God is the true fastness of our + self-consciousness.... Since it is only in the God-conscious + man that the innermost personality comes to light, in like + manner, by means of the interweaving of that consciousness of + God and of the world, the world is viewed in God + (</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">sub + specie eternitatis</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">), + and the certainty of the world first obtains its absolute + security for the spirit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Royce, Spirit of Mod. Philosophy, synopsis in + N. Y. Nation:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The one + indubitable fact is the existence of an infinite self, a Logos + or World-mind (345). That it exists is clear, I. Because + idealism shows that real things are nothing more nor less than + ideas, or</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">possibilities of experience</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + but a mere</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">possibility</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + as such, is nothing, and a world of</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">possible</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">experiences, in so far as it is real, must be + a world of actual experience to some self (367). If then there + be a real world, it has all the while existed as ideal and + mental, even before it became known to the particular mind with + which we conceive it as coming into connection (368). II. But + there is such a real world; for, when I</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">think</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of an object, when I</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">mean</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">it, I do not merely have in mind + an idea resembling it, for I aim at the object, I pick it out, + I already in some measure possess it. The object is then + already present in essence to my hidden self (370). As truth + consists in knowledge of the conformity of a cognition to its + object, that alone can know a truth which includes within + itself both idea and object. This inclusive Knower is the + Infinite Self (374). With this I am in essence identical (371); + it is my larger self (372); and this larger self alone</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">is</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(379). It includes all reality, + and we know other finite minds, because we are one with them in + its unity</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(409).</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The experience of George John Romanes is + instructive. For years he could recognize no personal + Intelligence controlling the universe. He made four mistakes: + 1.</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">He forgot that only love + can see</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, that God is + not disclosed to the mere intellect, but only to the whole man, + to the integral mind, to what the Scripture calls</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the eyes + of your heart</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Eph. + 1:18)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. Experience of + life taught him at last the weakness of mere reasoning, and led + him to depend more upon the affections and intuitions. Then, as + one might say, he gave the X-rays of Christianity a chance to + photograph God upon his soul. 2.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">He began at the wrong + end</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, with matter + rather than with mind, with cause and effect rather than with + right and wrong, and so got involved in the mechanical order + and tried to interpret the moral realm by it. The result was + that instead of recognizing freedom, responsibility, sin, + guilt, he threw them out as pretenders. But study of conscience + and will</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page070">[pg + 070]</span><a name="Pg070" id="Pg070" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">set him + right. He learned to take what be found instead of trying to + turn it into something else, and so came to interpret nature by + spirit, instead of interpreting spirit by nature. 3.</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">He took the Cosmos by + bits</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, instead of + regarding it as a whole. His early thinking insisted on finding + design in each particular part, or nowhere. But his more mature + thought recognized wisdom and reason in the ordered whole. As + he realized that this is a universe, he could not get rid of + the idea of an organizing Mind. He came to see that the + Universe, as a thought, implies a Thinker. 4.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">He fancied that nature + excludes God</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, instead + of being only the method of God's working. When he learned how + a thing was done, he at first concluded that God had not done + it. His later thought recognized that God and nature are not + mutually exclusive. So he came to find no difficulty even in + miracles and inspiration; for the God who is in man and of + whose mind and will nature is only the expression, can reveal + himself, if need be, in special ways. So George John Romanes + came back to prayer, to Christ, to the church.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">On the general subject of intuition as + connected with our idea of God, see Ladd, in Bib. Sac., + 1877:1-36, 611-616; 1878:619; Fisher, on Final Cause and + Intuition, in Journ. Christ. Philos., Jan. 1883:113-134; + Patton, on Genesis of Idea of God, in Jour. Christ. Philos., + Apl. 1883:283-307; McCosh, Christianity and Positivism, + 124-140; Mansel, in Encyc. Brit., 8th ed., vol. 14:604 and 615; + Robert Hall, sermon on Atheism; Hutton, on Atheism, in Essays, + 1:3-37; Shairp, in Princeton Rev., March, 1881:264.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page071">[pg 071]</span><a name= + "Pg071" id="Pg071" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + <hr class="page" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em"> + <a name="toc77" id="toc77"></a> <a name="pdf78" id="pdf78"></a> + + <h2 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"> + <span style="font-size: 144%">Chapter II. Corroborative Evidences + Of God's Existence.</span></h2> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Although the + knowledge of God's existence is intuitive, it may be explicated and + confirmed by arguments drawn from the actual universe and from the + abstract ideas of the human mind.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Remark 1. These + arguments are probable, not demonstrative. For this reason they + supplement each other, and constitute a series of evidences which + is cumulative in its nature. Though, taken singly, none of them can + be considered absolutely decisive, they together furnish a + corroboration of our primitive conviction of God's existence, which + is of great practical value, and is in itself sufficient to bind + the moral action of men.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Butler, Analogy, Introd., Bohn's ed., 72—Probable + evidence admits of degrees, from the highest moral certainty to the + lowest presumption. Yet probability is the guide of life. In + matters of morals and religion, we are not to expect mathematical + or demonstrative, but only probable, evidence, and the slightest + preponderance of such evidence may be sufficient to bind our moral + action. The truth of our religion, like the truth of common + matters, is to be judged by the whole evidence taken together; for + probable proofs, by being added, not only increase the evidence, + but multiply it. Dove, Logic of Christ. Faith, 24—Value of the + arguments taken together is much greater than that of any single + one. Illustrated from water, air and food, together but not + separately, supporting life; value of £1000 note, not in paper, + stamp, writing, signature, taken separately. A whole bundle of rods + cannot be broken, though each rod in the bundle may be broken + separately. The strength of the bundle is the strength of the + whole. Lord Bacon, Essay on Atheism:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to + atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to + religion. For while the mind of man looketh upon second causes + scattered, it may sometimes rest in them and go no further, but, + when it beholdeth the chain of them confederate and linked + together, it must needs fly to Providence and + Deity.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Murphy, Scientific Bases of Faith, + 221-223—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The proof of + a God and of a spiritual world which is to satisfy us must consist + in a number of different but converging lines of + proof.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">In a case where only circumstantial evidence is + attainable, many lines of proof sometimes converge, and though no + one of the lines reaches the mark, the conclusion to which they + all point becomes the only rational one. To doubt that there is a + London, or that there was a Napoleon, would indicate insanity; + yet London and Napoleon are proved by only probable evidence. + There is no constraining efficacy in the arguments for God's + existence; but the same can be said of all reasoning that is not + demonstrative. Another interpretation of the facts is</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">possible</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + but no other conclusion is so</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">satisfactory</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + as that God is; see Fisher, Nature and Method of Revelation, 129. + Prof. Rogers:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If in + practical affairs we were to hesitate to act until we had + absolute and demonstrative certainty, we should never begin to + move at all.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">For this reason an old Indian + official advised a young Indian judge</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">always to give his verdict, but always to avoid + giving the grounds of it.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bowne, Philos. of Theism, + 11-14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Instead of + doubting everything that can be doubted, let us rather doubt + nothing until we are compelled to doubt.... In society we get on + better by assuming that men are truthful, and by doubting only + for special reasons, than we should if we assumed that all men + are liars, and believed them only when compelled. So in all our + investigations we make more progress if we assume the + truthfulness of the universe and of our own nature than we should + if we doubted both.... The first method seems the more rigorous, + but it can be applied only to</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page072">[pg 072]</span><a name="Pg072" id="Pg072" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">mathematics, + which is a purely subjective science. When we come to deal with + reality, the method brings thought to a standstill.... The law + the logician lays down is this: Nothing may be believed which is + not proved. The law the mind actually follows is this: Whatever + the mind demands for the satisfaction of its subjective interests + and tendencies may be assumed as real, in default of positive + disproof.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Remark 2. A + consideration of these arguments may also serve to explicate the + contents of an intuition which has remained obscure and only half + conscious for lack of reflection. The arguments, indeed, are the + efforts of the mind that already has a conviction of God's + existence to give to itself a formal account of its belief. An + exact estimate of their logical value and of their relation to the + intuition which they seek to express in syllogistic form, is + essential to any proper refutation of the prevalent atheistic and + pantheistic reasoning.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Diman, Theistic Argument, + 363—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Nor have I + claimed that the existence, even, of this Being can be + demonstrated as we demonstrate the abstract truths of science. I + have only claimed that the universe, as a great fact, demands a + rational explanation, and that the most rational explanation that + can possibly be given is that furnished in the conception of such + a Being. In this conclusion reason rests, and refuses to rest in + any other.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Rückert:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Wer Gott nicht fühlt in sich und allen + Lebenskreisen, Dem werdet ihr nicht ihn beweisen mit + Beweisen.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Harris, Philos. Basis of Theism, + 307—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Theology + depends on noetic and empirical science to give the occasion on + which the idea of the Absolute Being arises, and to give content + to the idea.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Andrew Fuller, Part of Syst. of + Divin., 4:283, questions</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">whether argumentation in favor of the existence + of God has not made more sceptics than + believers.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">So far as this is true, it is due to + an overstatement of the arguments and an exaggerated notion of + what is to be expected from them. See Nitzsch, Christian + Doctrine, translation, 140; Ebrard, Dogmatik, 1:119, 120; Fisher, + Essays on Supernatural Origin of Christianity, 572, 573; Van + Oosterzee, 238, 241.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Evidences of Christianity?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">said Coleridge,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I am weary of the word.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">The + more Christianity was</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">proved</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + the less it was</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">believed</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + The revival of religion under Whitefield and Wesley did what all + the apologists of the eighteenth century could not do,—it + quickened men's intuitions into life, and made them practically + recognize God. Martineau, Types, 2:231—Men can</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">bow the + knee to the passing</span> <span lang="de" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="de"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Zeitgeist</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + while turning the back to the consensus of all the + ages</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + Seat of Authority, 312—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Our reasonings lead to explicit Theism because + they start from implicit Theism.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Illingworth, Div. and Hum. Personality, + 81—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The proofs + are ... attempts to account for and explain and justify something + that already exists; to decompose a highly complex though + immediate judgment into its constituent elements, none of which + when isolated can have the completeness or the cogency of the + original conviction taken as a whole.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bowne, Philos. of Theism, 31, + 32—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Demonstration is only a makeshift for helping + ignorance to insight.... When we come to an argument in which the + whole nature is addressed, the argument must seem weak or strong, + according as the nature is feebly, or fully, developed. The moral + argument for theism cannot seem strong to one without a + conscience. The argument from cognitive interests will be empty + when there is no cognitive interest. Little souls find very + little that calls for explanation or that excites surprise, and + they are satisfied with a correspondingly small view of life and + existence. In such a case we cannot hope for universal agreement. + We can only proclaim the faith that is in us, in hope that this + proclamation may not be without some response in other minds and + hearts.... We have only probable evidence for the uniformity of + nature or for the affection of friends. We cannot logically prove + either. The deepest convictions are not the certainties of logic, + but the certainties of life.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Remark 3. The + arguments for the divine existence may be reduced to four, namely: + I. The Cosmological; II. The Teleological; III. The + Anthropological; and IV. The Ontological. We shall examine these in + order, seeking first to determine the precise conclusions to which + they respectively lead, and then to ascertain in what manner the + four may be combined.</p><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page073">[pg + 073]</span><a name="Pg073" id="Pg073" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc79" id="toc79"></a> <a name="pdf80" id="pdf80"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">I. The Cosmological Argument, or + Argument from Change in Nature.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This is not + properly an argument from effect to cause; for the proposition + that every effect must have a cause is simply identical, and + means only that every caused event must have a cause. It is + rather an argument from begun existence to a sufficient cause of + that beginning, and may be accurately stated as follows:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Everything + begun, whether substance or phenomenon, owes its existence to + some producing cause. The universe, at least so far as its + present form is concerned, is a thing begun, and owes its + existence to a cause which is equal to its production. This cause + must be indefinitely great.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is to be noticed that this argument moves + wholly in the realm of nature. The argument from man's + constitution and beginning upon the planet is treated under + another head (see Anthropological Argument). That the present + form of the universe is not eternal in the past, but has begun to + be, not only personal observation but the testimony of geology + assures us. For statements of the argument, see Kant, Critique of + Pure Reason (Bohn's transl.), 370; Gillespie, Necessary Existence + of God, 8:34-44; Bib. Sac., 1849:613; 1850:613; Porter, Hum. + Intellect, 570; Herbert Spencer, First Principles, 93. It has + often been claimed, as by Locke, Clarke, and Robert Hall, that + this argument is sufficient to conduct the mind to an Eternal and + Infinite First Cause. We proceed therefore to mention</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">1. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The + defects of the Cosmological Argument.</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. It is + impossible to show that the universe, so far as its substance is + concerned, has had a beginning. The law of causality declares, + not that everything has a cause—for then God himself must have a + cause—but rather that everything begun has a cause, or in other + words, that every event or change has a cause.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hume, Philos. Works, 2:411</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + urges with reason that we never saw a world made. Many + philosophers in Christian lands, as Martineau, Essays, 1:206, + and the prevailing opinions of ante-Christian times, have held + matter to be eternal. Bowne, Metaphysics, + 107—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For being + itself, the reflective reason never asks a cause, unless the + being show signs of dependence. It is change that first gives + rise to the demand for cause.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Martineau, Types, 1:291—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is not existence, as such, that demands a + cause, but the coming into existence of what did not exist + before. The intellectual law of causality is a law for + phenomena, and not for entity.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See also McCosh, Intuitions, 225-241; + Calderwood, Philos. of Infinite, 61.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Per + contra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, see Murphy, + Scient. Bases of Faith, 49, 195, and Habit and Intelligence, + 1:55-67; Knight, Lect. on Metaphysics, lect. ii, p. + 19.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. Granting + that the universe, so far as its phenomena are concerned, has had + a cause, it is impossible to show that any other cause is + required than a cause within itself, such as the pantheist + supposes.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Flint, Theism, 65—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The cosmological argument alone proves only + force, and no mere force is God. Intelligence must go with power + to make a Being that can be called God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Diman, Theistic Argument:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The cosmological argument alone cannot decide + whether the force that causes change is permanent self-existent + mind, or permanent self-existent matter.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Only intelligence gives the basis for an answer. + Only mind in the universe enables us to infer mind in the maker. + But the argument from intelligence is not the Cosmological, but + the Teleological, and to this last belong all proofs of Deity + from order and combination in nature.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Upton, Hibbert Lectures, 201-296—Science has + to do with those changes which one portion of the visible + universe causes in another portion. Philosophy and theology + deal with the Infinite Cause which brings into existence and + sustains the entire series of finite causes. Do we ask the + cause of the stars? Science says: Fire-mist, or an infinite + regress of causes. Theology says: Granted; but this infinite + regress demands</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page074">[pg 074]</span><a name="Pg074" id="Pg074" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">for its + explanation the belief in God. We must believe both in God, and + in an endless series of finite causes. God is the cause of all + causes, the soul of all souls:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Centre and soul of every sphere, Yet to each + loving heart how near!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We do not need, as mere matter of science, to + think of any beginning.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">C. Granting + that the universe most have had a cause outside of itself, it is + impossible to show that this cause has not itself been caused, + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span>, consists of an infinite series of dependent + causes. The principle of causality does not require that + everything begun should be traced back to an uncaused cause; it + demands that we should assign a cause, but not that we should + assign a first cause.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">So with the whole series of causes. The + materialist is bound to find a cause for this series, only when + the series is shown to have had a beginning. But the very + hypothesis of an infinite series of causes excludes the idea of + such a beginning. An infinite chain has no topmost link + (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">versus</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Robert Hall); an uncaused and + eternal succession does not need a cause (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">versus</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Clarke and Locke). See Whately, + Logic, 270; New Englander, Jan. 1874:75; Alexander, Moral + Science, 221; Pfleiderer, Die Religion, 1:160-164; Calderwood, + Moral Philos., 225; Herbert Spencer, First Principles, + 37—criticized by Bowne, Review of H. Spencer, 36. Julius Müller, + Doct. Sin, 2:128, says that the causal principle is not satisfied + till by regress we come to a cause which is not itself an + effect—to one who is</span> <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">causa + sui</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; Aids to Study of + German Theology, 15-17—Even if the universe be eternal, its + contingent and relative nature requires us to postulate an + eternal Creator; Diman, Theistic Argument, + 86—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">While the + law of causation does not lead logically up to the conclusion + of a first cause, it compels us to affirm + it.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We reply that it is not the law of + causation which compels us to affirm it, for this + certainly</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">does not + lead logically up to the conclusion.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">If we infer an uncaused cause, we do it, not + by logical process, but by virtue of the intuitive belief + within us. So substantially Secretan, and Whewell, in + Indications of a Creator, and in Hist. of Scientific Ideas, + 2:321, 322—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The mind + takes refuge, in the assumption of a First Cause, from an + employment inconsistent with its own nature</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">we + necessarily infer a First Cause, although the palætiological + sciences only point toward it, but do not lead us to + it.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">D. Granting + that the cause of the universe has not itself been caused, it is + impossible to show that this cause is not finite, like the + universe itself. The causal principle requires a cause no greater + than just sufficient to account for the effect.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We cannot therefore infer an infinite cause, + unless the universe is infinite—which cannot be proved, but can + only be assumed—and this is assuming an infinite in order to + prove an infinite. All we know of the universe is finite. An + infinite universe implies infinite number. But no number can be + infinite, for to any number, however great, a unit can be added, + which shows that it was not infinite before. Here again we see + that the most approved forms of the Cosmological Argument are + obliged to avail themselves of the intuition of the infinite, to + supplement the logical process.</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"> + <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Versus</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">Martineau, + Study, 1:416—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Though we + cannot directly infer the infinitude of God from a limited + creation, indirectly we may exclude every other position by + resort to its unlimited scene of existence + (space).</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">But this would equally warrant our + belief in the infinitude of our fellow men. Or, it is the + argument of Clarke and Gillespie (see Ontological Argument + below). Schiller, Die Grösse der Welt, seems to hold to a + boundless universe. He represents a tired spirit as seeking the + last limit of creation. A second pilgrim meets him from the + spaces beyond with the words:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Steh! du segelst umsonst,—vor dir + Unendlichkeit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Hold! + thou journeyest in vain,—before thee is only + Infinity.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">On + the law of parsimony, see Sir Wm. Hamilton, Discussions, + 628.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">2. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The + value of the Cosmological Argument</span></span>, then, is simply + this,—it proves the existence of some cause of the universe + indefinitely great. When we go beyond this and ask whether this + cause is a cause of being, or merely a cause of change, to the + universe; whether it is a cause apart from the universe, or one + with it; whether it is an eternal cause, or a cause <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page075">[pg 075]</span><a name="Pg075" id= + "Pg075" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> dependent upon some other + cause; whether it is intelligent or unintelligent, infinite or + finite, one or many,—this argument cannot assure us.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">On the whole argument, see Flint, Theism, + 93-130; Mozley, Essays, Hist. and Theol., 2:414-444; Hedge, Ways + of the Spirit, 148-154; Studien und Kritiken, + 1876:9-31.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc81" id="toc81"></a> <a name="pdf82" id="pdf82"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">II. The Teleological Argument, or + Argument from Order and Useful Collocation in Nature.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This is not + properly an argument from design to a designer; for that design + implies a designer is simply an identical proposition. It may be + more correctly stated as follows: Order and useful collocation + pervading a system respectively imply intelligence and purpose as + the cause of that order and collocation. Since order and useful + collocation pervade the universe, there must exist an + intelligence adequate to the production of this order, and a will + adequate to direct this collocation to useful ends.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Etymologically,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">teleological argument</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">= + argument to ends or final causes, that is,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">causes which, beginning as a thought, work + themselves out into a fact as an end or + result</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(Porter, Hum. Intellect, + 592-618);—health, for example, is the final cause of exercise, + while exercise is the efficient cause of health. This + definition of the argument would be broad enough to cover the + proof of a designing intelligence drawn from the constitution + of man. This last, however, is treated as a part of the + Anthropological Argument, which follows this, and the + Teleological Argument covers only the proof of a designing + intelligence drawn from nature. Hence Kant, Critique of Pure + Reason (Bohn's trans.), 381, calls it the physico-theological + argument. On methods of stating the argument, see Bib. Sac., + Oct. 1867:625. See also Hedge, Ways of the Spirit, 155-185; + Mozley, Essays Hist. and Theol., 2:365-413.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hicks, in his Critique of Design-Arguments, + 347-389, makes two arguments instead of one: (1) the argument + from</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">order</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">to</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">intelligence</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + to which he gives the name Eutaxiological; (2) the argument + from</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">adaptation</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">to</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">purpose</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + to which he would restrict the name Teleological. He holds that + teleology proper cannot prove</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">intelligence</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + because in speaking of</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">ends</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">at all, it must assume the very intelligence + which it seeks to prove; that it actually does prove simply + the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">intentional + exercise</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">of an + intelligence whose existence has been previously + established.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Circumstances, forces or agencies converging + to a definite rational result imply volition—imply that this + result is intended—is an end. This is the major premise of this + new teleology.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">He objects to the term</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">final cause.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The end is not a cause at all—it is a motive. + The characteristic element of cause is power to produce an + effect. Ends have no such power. The will may choose them or + set them aside. As already assuming intelligence, ends cannot + prove intelligence.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">With this in the main we agree, and count it a + valuable help to the statement and understanding of the + argument. In the very observation of</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">order</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + however, as well as in arguing from it, we are obliged to + assume the same all-arranging intelligence. We see no objection + therefore to making Eutaxiology the first part of the + Teleological Argument, as we do above. See review of Hicks, in + Meth. Quar. Rev., July, 1883:569-576. We proceed however to + certain</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">1. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Further + explanations.</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. The major + premise expresses a primitive conviction. It is not invalidated + by the objections: (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) that order and useful + collocation may exist without being purposed—for we are compelled + by our very mental constitution to deny this in all cases where + the order and collocation pervade a system: (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + that order and useful collocation may result from the mere + operation of physical forces and laws—for these very forces and + laws imply, instead of excluding, an originating and + superintending intelligence and will.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Janet, in his work on Final Causes, 8, denies + that finality is a primitive conviction, like causality, and + calls it the result of an induction. He therefore proceeds from + (1)</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page076">[pg + 076]</span><a name="Pg076" id="Pg076" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">marks of order + and useful collocation to (2) finality in nature, and then to (3) + an intelligent cause of this finality or</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">pre-conformity to future + event.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">So Diman, Theistic Argument, 105, + claims simply that, as change requires cause, so orderly change + requires intelligent cause. We have shown, however, that + induction and argument of every kind presupposes intuitive belief + in final cause. Nature does not give us final cause; but no more + does she give us efficient cause. Mind gives us both, and gives + them as clearly upon one experience as after a thousand. + Ladd:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Things have + mind in them: else they could not be minded by + us.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The Duke of Argyll told Darwin that + it seemed to him wholly impossible to ascribe the adjustments of + nature to any other agency than that of mind.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Well,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">said Darwin,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">that impression has often come upon me with + overpowering force. But then, at other times, it all + seems—;</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and then he passed his hands over + his eyes, as if to indicate the passing of a vision out of + sight. Darwinism is not a refutation of ends in nature, but + only of a particular theory with regard to the way in which + ends are realized in the organic world. Darwin would begin with + an infinitesimal germ, and make all the subsequent development + unteleological; see Schurman, Belief in God, 193.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + Illustration of unpurposed order in the single throwing + of</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">double + sixes,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—constant throwing of double sixes indicates + design. So arrangement of detritus at mouth of river, and + warming pans sent to the West Indies,—useful but not purposed. + Momerie, Christianity and Evolution, 72—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is only within narrow limits that seemingly + purposeful arrangements are produced by chance. And therefore, + as the signs of purpose increase, the presumption in favor of + their accidental origin diminishes.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Elder, Ideas from Nature, 81, + 82—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + uniformity of a boy's marbles shows them to be products of + design. A single one might be accidental, but a dozen cannot + be. So atomic uniformity indicates + manufacture.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Illustrations of purposed order, + in Beattie's garden, Tillotson's blind men, Kepler's salad. Dr. + Carpenter:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + atheist is like a man examining the machinery of a great mill, + who, finding that the whole is moved by a shaft proceeding from + a brick wall, infers that the shaft is a sufficient explanation + of what he sees, and that there is no moving power behind + it.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Lord Kelvin:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The atheistic idea is + nonsensical.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">J. G. Paton, Life, 2:191—The + sinking of a well on the island of Aniwa convinces the cannibal + chief Namakei that Jehovah God exists, the invisible One. See + Chauncey Wright, in N. Y. Nation, Jan. 15, 1874; Murphy, + Scientific Bases of Faith, 208.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + Bowne, Review of Herbert Spencer, 231-247—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Law is</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">method</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + not</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cause</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + A man cannot offer the very fact to be explained, as its + sufficient explanation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Martineau, Essays, 1:144—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Patterned damask, made not by the weaver, but + by the loom?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dr. Stevenson:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">House requires no architect, because it is + built by stone-masons and carpenters?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Joseph Cook:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Natural law without God behind it is no more + than a glove without a hand in it, and all that is done by the + gloved hand of God in nature is done by the hand and not by the + glove. Evolution is a process, not a power; a method of + operation, not an operator. A book is not written</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">by</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">the laws of spelling and grammar, + but</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">according</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">to those laws. So the book of the + universe is not written by the laws of heat, electricity, + gravitation, evolution, but according to those + laws.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">G. F. Wright, Ant. and Orig. of + Hum. Race, lecture IX—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is impossible for evolution to furnish + evidence which shall drive design out of nature. It can only + drive it back to an earlier point of entrance, thereby + increasing our admiration for the power of the Creator to + accomplish ulterior designs by unlikely + means.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Evolution is only the method of God. It has to + do with the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">how</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + not with the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">why</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + of phenomena, and therefore is not inconsistent with design, + but rather is a new and higher illustration of design. Henry + Ward Beecher:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Design by + wholesale is greater than design by retail.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Frances Power Cobbe:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is a singular fact that, whenever we find + out</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">how</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">a thing is done, our first + conclusion seems to be that</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">God</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">did not do it.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Why should we say:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The more law, the less God?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The theist refers the phenomena to a cause + that knows itself and what it is doing; the atheist refers them + to a power which knows nothing of itself and what it is doing + (Bowne). George John Romanes said that, if God be immanent, + then all natural causation must appear to be mechanical, and it + is no argument against the divine origin of a thing to prove it + due to natural causation:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Causes in nature do not obviate the necessity + of a cause in nature.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Shaler, Interpretation of Nature, 47—Evolution + shows that the direction of affairs is under control of + something like our own intelligence:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Evolution spells Purpose.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Clarke, Christ. Theology, + 105—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + modern doctrine of evolution has been awake to the existence of + innumerable ends</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">within</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">the universe, but not to the one + great end</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">for</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">the universe + itself.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Huxley, Critiques and Addresses, + 274, 275, 307—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page077">[pg 077]</span><a name="Pg077" id="Pg077" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">teleological + and mechanical views of the universe are not mutually + exclusive.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Sir William Hamilton, Metaphysics:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Intelligence stands first in the order of + existence. Efficient causes are preceded by final + causes.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See also Thornton, Old Fashioned + Ethics, 199-265; Archbp. Temple, Bampton Lect., 1884:99-123; + Owen, Anat. of Vertebrates, 3:796; Peirce, Ideality in the + Physical Sciences, 1-35; Newman Smyth, Through Science to + Faith, 96; Fisher, Nat. and Meth. of Rev., 135.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. The minor + premise expresses a working-principle of all science, namely, + that all things have their uses, that order pervades the + universe, and that the methods of nature are rational methods. + Evidences of this appear in the correlation of the chemical + elements to each other; in the fitness of the inanimate world to + be the basis and support of life; in the typical forms and unity + of plan apparent in the organic creation; in the existence and + coöperation of natural laws; in cosmical order and + compensations.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This minor + premise is not invalidated by the objections: (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + That we frequently misunderstand the end actually subserved by + natural events and objects; for the principle is, not that we + necessarily know the actual end, but that we necessarily believe + that there is some end, in every case of systematic order and + collocation. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) That the order of the + universe is manifestly imperfect; for this, if granted, would + argue, not absence of contrivance, but some special reason for + imperfection, either in the limitations of the contriving + intelligence itself, or in the nature of the end sought (as, for + example, correspondence with the moral state and probation of + sinners).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The evidences of order and useful collocation + are found both in the indefinitely small and the indefinitely + great. The molecules are manufactured articles; and the + compensations of the solar system which provide that a secular + flattening of the earth's orbit shall be made up for by a secular + rounding of that same orbit, alike show an intelligence far + transcending our own; see Cooke, Religion and Chemistry, and + Credentials of Science, 23—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Beauty is the harmony of relations which perfect + fitness produces; law is the prevailing principle which underlies + that harmony. Hence both beauty and law imply design. From + energy, fitness, beauty, order, sacrifice, we argue might, skill, + perfection, law, and love in a Supreme Intelligence. Christianity + implies design, and is the completion of the design + argument.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Pfleiderer, Philos. Religion, + 1:168—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A good + definition of beauty is immanent purposiveness, the teleological + ideal background of reality, the shining of the Idea through + phenomena.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bowne, Philos. Theism, 85—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Design is never causal. It is only ideal, and + it demands an efficient cause for its realization. If ice is + not to sink, and to freeze out life, there must be some + molecular structure which shall make its bulk greater than that + of an equal weight of water.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Jackson, Theodore Parker, + 355—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Rudimentary organs are like the silent letters + in many words,—both are witnesses to a past history; and there + is intelligence in their preservation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Diman, Theistic Argument:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Not only do we observe in the world the change + which is the basis of the Cosmological Argument, but we + perceive that this change proceeds according to a fixed and + invariable rule. In inorganic nature, general order, or</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">regularity</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; + in organic nature, special order or</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">adaptation</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">Bowne, + Review of H. Spencer, 113-115, 224-230:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Inductive science proceeds upon the postulate + that the reasonable and the natural are one.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This furnished the guiding clue to Harvey and + Cuvier; see Whewell, Hist. Induct. Sciences, 2:489-491. + Kant:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + anatomist must assume that nothing in man is in + vain.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Aristotle:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Nature makes nothing in + vain.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On molecules as manufactured + articles, see Maxfield, in Nature, Sept. 25, 1873. See also + Tulloch, Theism, 116, 120; LeConte, Religion and Science, lect. + 2 and 3; McCosh, Typical Forms, 81, 420; Agassiz, Essay on + Classification, 9, 10; Bib. Sac., 1849:626 and 1850:613; + Hopkins, in Princeton Review, 1882:181.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + Design, in fact that rivers always run by large towns? that + springs are always found at gambling places? Plants made for + man, and man for worms? Voltaire:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Noses are made for spectacles—let us wear + them!</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Pope:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">While man exclaims</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">See all things for my use,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">See man for mine,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">replies the pampered goose.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Cherries</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page078">[pg 078]</span><a name="Pg078" id="Pg078" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">do not ripen + in the cold of winter when they do not taste as well, and + grapes do not ripen in the heat of summer when the new wine + would turn to vinegar? Nature divides melons into sections for + convenience in family eating? Cork-tree made for + bottle-stoppers? The child who was asked the cause of salt in + the ocean, attributed it to codfish, thus dimly confounding + final cause with efficient cause. Teacher:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">What are marsupials?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Pupil:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Animals that have pouches in their + stomachs.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Teacher:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">And what do they have pouches + for?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Pupil:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">To crawl into and conceal themselves in, when + they are pursued.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Why are the days longer in summer than in + winter? Because it is the property of all natural objects to + elongate under the influence of heat. A Jena professor held + that doctors do not exist because of disease, but that diseases + exist precisely in order that there may be doctors. Kepler was + an astronomical Don Quixote. He discussed the claims of eleven + different damsels to become his second wife, and he likened the + planets to huge animals rushing through the sky. Many of the + objections to design arise from confounding a part of the + creation with the whole, or a structure in the process of + development with a structure completed. For illustrations of + mistaken ends, see Janet, Final Causes.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + Alphonso of Castile took offense at the Ptolemaic System, and + intimated that, if he had been consulted at the creation, he + could have suggested valuable improvements. Lange, in his + History of Materialism, illustrates some of the methods of + nature by millions of gun barrels shot in all directions to + kill a single hare; by ten thousand keys bought at haphazard to + get into a shut room; by building a city in order to obtain a + house. Is not the ice a little overdone about the poles? See + John Stuart Mill's indictment of nature, in his posthumous + Essays on Religion, 29—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Nature impales men, breaks men as if on a + wheel, casts them to be devoured by wild beasts, crushes them + with stones like the first Christian martyr, starves them with + hunger, freezes them with cold, poisons them with the quick or + slow venom of her exhalations, and has hundreds of other + hideous deaths in reserve, such as the ingenious cruelty of a + Nabis or a Domitian never surpassed.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">So argue Schopenhauer and Von + Hartmann.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The doctrine of evolution answers many of + these objections, by showing that order and useful collocation + in the system as a whole is necessarily and cheaply purchased + by imperfection and suffering in the initial stages of + development. The question is: Does the system as a whole imply + design? My opinion is of no value as to the usefulness of an + intricate machine the purpose of which I do not know. If I + stand at the beginning of a road and do not know whither it + leads, it is presumptuous in me to point out a more direct way + to its destination. Bowne, Philos. of Theism, + 20-22—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In order + to counterbalance the impressions which apparent disorder and + immorality in nature make upon us, we have to assume that the + universe at its root is not only rational, but good. This is + faith, but it is an act on which our whole moral life + depends.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Metaphysics, + 165—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The same + argument which would deny mind in nature denies mind in + man.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Fisher, Nat. and Meth. of Rev., + 264—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Fifty + years ago, when the crane stood on top of the tower of + unfinished Cologne Cathedral, was there no evidence of design + in the whole structure?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Yet we concede that, so long as we cannot with + John Stuart Mill explain the imperfections of the universe by + any limitations in the Intelligence which contrived it, we are + shut up to regarding them as intended to correspond with the + moral state and probation of sinners which God foresaw and + provided for at the creation. Evil things in the universe are + symbols of sin, and helps to its overthrow. See Bowne, Review + of H. Spencer, 264, 265; McCosh, Christ. and Positivism, + 82</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + Martineau, Essays, 1:50, and Study, 1:351-398; Porter, Hum. + Intellect, 599; Mivart, Lessons from Nature, 366-371; Princeton + Rev., 1878:272-303; Shaw, on Positivism.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">2. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Defects + of the Teleological Argument.</span></span> These attach not to + the premises but to the conclusion sought to be drawn + therefrom.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. The + argument cannot prove a personal God. The order and useful + collocations of the universe may be only the changing phenomena + of an impersonal intelligence and will, such as pantheism + supposes. The finality may be only immanent finality.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">There is such a thing as immanent and + unconscious finality. National spirit, without set purpose, + constructs language. The bee works unconsciously to ends. Strato + of Lampsacus regarded the world as a vast animal. Aristotle, + Phys., 2:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Plant the + ship-builder's skill within the timber itself, and you have the + mode in which nature</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page079">[pg 079]</span><a name="Pg079" id="Pg079" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">produces.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Here we see a dim anticipation of the modern + doctrine of development from within instead of creation from + without. Neander:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The divine + work goes on from within outward.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">John Fiske:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The argument from the watch has been superseded + by the argument from the flower.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Iverach, Theism, 91—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The effect of evolution has been simply to + transfer the cause from a mere external influence working from + without to an immanent rational principle.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Martineau, Study, 1:349, + 350—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Theism is + in no way committed to the doctrine of a God external to the + world ... nor does intelligence require, in order to gain an + object, to give it externality.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Newman Smyth, Place of Death, + 62-80—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + universe exists in some all-pervasive Intelligence. Suppose we + could see a small heap of brick, scraps of metal, and pieces of + mortar, gradually shaping themselves into the walls and + interior structure of a building, adding needed material as the + work advanced, and at last presenting in its completion a + factory furnished with varied and finely wrought machinery. Or, + a locomotive carrying a process of self-repair to compensate + for wear, growing and increasing in size, detaching from itself + at intervals pieces of brass or iron endowed with the power of + growing up step by step into other locomotives capable of + running themselves and of reproducing new locomotives in their + turn.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">So nature in its separate parts + may seem mechanical, but as a whole it is rational. Weismann + does not</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">disown a + directive power,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—only this power is</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">behind the mechanism as its final cause ... it + must be teleological.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Impressive as are these evidences of + intelligence in the universe as a whole, and increased in + number as they are by the new light of evolution, we must still + hold that nature alone cannot prove that this intelligence is + personal. Hopkins, Miscellanies, 18-36—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">So long as there is such a thing as impersonal + and adapting intelligence in the brute creation, we cannot + necessarily infer from unchanging laws a free and personal + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Fisher, Supernat. Origin of + Christianity, 576-578. Kant shows that the argument does not + prove intelligence apart from the world (Critique, 370). We + must bring mind to the world, if we would find mind in it. + Leave out man, and nature cannot be properly interpreted: the + intelligence and will in nature may still be unconscious. But, + taking in man, we are bound to get our idea of the intelligence + and will in nature from the highest type of intelligence and + will we know, and that is man's.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Nullus in microcosmo spiritus, nullus in + macrocosmo Deus.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We receive but what we give, And in our life + alone does Nature live.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Teleological Argument therefore needs to + be supplemented by the Anthropological Argument, or the + argument from the mental and moral constitution of man. By + itself, it does not prove a Creator. See Calderwood, Moral + Philosophy, 26; Ritter, Hist. Anc. Philos., bk. 9, chap. 6; + Foundations of our Faith, 38; Murphy, Scientific Bases, 215; + Habit and Intelligence, 2:6, and chap. 27. On immanent + finality, see Janet, Final Causes, 345-415; Diman, Theistic + Argument, 201-203. Since righteousness belongs only to + personality, this argument cannot prove righteousness in God. + Flint, Theism, 66—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Power and + Intelligence alone do not constitute God, though they be + infinite. A being may have these, and, if lacking + righteousness, may be a devil.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Here again we see the need of the + Anthropological Argument to supplement this.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. Even if + this argument could prove personality in the intelligence and + will that originated the order of the universe, it could not + prove either the unity, the eternity, or the infinity of God; not + the unity—for the useful collocations of the universe might be + the result of oneness of counsel, instead of oneness of essence, + in the contriving intelligence; not the eternity—for a created + demiurge might conceivably have designed the universe; not the + infinity—since all marks of order and collocation within our + observation are simply finite.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Diman asserts (Theistic Argument, 114) that all + the phenomena of the universe must be due to the same + source—since all alike are subject to the same method of + sequence,</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e. + g.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, gravitation—and + that the evidence points us irresistibly to some</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">one</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">explanatory cause. We can regard + this assertion only as the utterance of a primitive belief in a + first cause, not as the conclusion of logical demonstration, + for we know only an infinitesimal part of the universe. From + the point of view of the intuition of an Absolute Reason, + however, we can cordially assent to the words of F. L. + Patton:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">When we + consider Matthew Arnold's</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">stream of tendency,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Spencer's</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">unknowable,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Schopenhauer's</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page080">[pg 080]</span><a name="Pg080" id="Pg080" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">world as + will,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and Hartmann's elaborate defence + of finality as the product of unconscious intelligence, we may + well ask if the theists, with their belief in one personal God, + are not in possession of the only hypothesis that can save the + language of these writers from the charge of meaningless and + idiotic raving</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(Journ. Christ. Philos., April, + 1883:283-307).</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The ancient world, which had only the light of + nature, believed in many gods. William James, Will to Believe, + 44—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If there + be a divine Spirit of the universe, nature, such as we know + her, cannot possibly be its</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">ultimate word</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">to man. Either there is no spirit + revealed in nature, or else it is inadequately revealed there; + and (as all the higher religions have assumed) what we call + visible nature, or</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">this</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">world, must be but a veil and + surface-show whose full meaning resides in a supplementary + unseen, or</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">other</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">world.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bowne, Theory of Thought and Knowledge, + 234—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">But is + not intelligence itself the mystery of mysteries?... No doubt, + intellect is a great mystery.... But there is a choice in + mysteries. Some mysteries leave other things clear, and some + leave things as dark and impenetrable as ever. The former is + the case with the mystery of intelligence. It makes possible + the comprehension of everything but itself.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">3. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The + value of the Teleological Argument</span></span> is simply + this,—it proves from certain useful collocations and instances of + order which have clearly had a beginning, or in other words, from + the present harmony of the universe, that there exists an + intelligence and will adequate to its contrivance. But whether + this intelligence and will is personal or impersonal, creator or + only fashioner, one or many, finite or infinite, eternal or owing + its being to another, necessary or free, this argument cannot + assure us.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In it, + however, we take a step forward. The causative power which we + have proved by the Cosmological Argument has now become an + intelligent and voluntary power.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">John Stuart Mill, Three Essays on Theism, + 168-170—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In the + present state of our knowledge, the adaptations in nature afford + a large balance of probability in favor of causation by + intelligence.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Ladd holds that, whenever one being + acts upon its like, each being undergoes changes of state that + belong to its own nature under the circumstances. Action of one + body on another never consists in transferring the state of one + being to another. Therefore there is no more difficulty in beings + that are unlike acting on one another than in beings that are + like. We do not transfer ideas to other minds,—we only rouse them + to develop their own ideas. So force also is positively not + transferable. Bowne, Philos. of Theism, 49, begins with</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + conception of things interacting according to law and forming an + intelligible system. Such a system cannot be construed by thought + without the assumption of a unitary being which is the + fundamental reality of the system. 53—No passage of influences or + forces will avail to bridge the gulf, so long as the things are + regarded as independent. 56—The system itself cannot explain this + interaction, for the system is only the members of it. There must + be some being in them which is their reality, and of which they + are in some sense phases or manifestations. In other words, there + must be a basal monism.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">All + this is substantially the view of Lotze, of whose philosophy see + criticism in Stählin's Kant, Lotze, and Ritschl, 116-156, and + especially 123. Falckenberg, Gesch. der neueren Philosophie, 454, + shows as to Lotze's view that his assumption of monistic unity + and continuity does not explain how change of condition in one + thing should, as equalization or compensation, follow change of + condition in another thing. Lotze explains this</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">actuality</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">by the ethical conception of an + all-embracing Person. On the whole argument, see Bib. Sac., + 1849:634; Murphy, Sci. Bases, 216; Flint, Theism, 131-210; + Pfleiderer, Die Religion, 1:164-174; W. R. Benedict, on Theism + and Evolution, in Andover Rev., 1886:307-350, + 607-622.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc83" id="toc83"></a> <a name="pdf84" id="pdf84"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">III. The Anthropological Argument, + or Argument from Man's Mental and Moral Nature.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This is an + argument from the mental and moral condition of man to the + existence of an Author, Lawgiver, and End. It is sometimes called + the Moral Argument.</p><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page081">[pg + 081]</span><a name="Pg081" id="Pg081" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The common title</span> <span class="tei tei-q"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Moral Argument</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is much too narrow, for it seems to take + account only of conscience in man, whereas the argument which + this title so imperfectly designates really proceeds from man's + intellectual and emotional, as well as from his moral, nature. + In choosing the designation we have adopted, we desire, + moreover, to rescue from the mere physicist the term</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Anthropology</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">—a + term to which he has attached altogether too limited a + signification, and which, in his use of it, implies that man is + a mere animal,—to him Anthropology is simply the study + of</span> <span lang="fr" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "fr"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">la bête + humaine</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">. + Anthropology means, not simply the science of man's physical + nature, origin, and relations, but also the science which + treats of his higher spiritual being. Hence, in Theology, the + term Anthropology designates that division of the subject which + treats of man's spiritual nature and endowments, his original + state and his subsequent apostasy. As an argument, therefore, + from man's mental and moral nature, we can with perfect + propriety call the present argument the Anthropological + Argument.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The argument + is a complex one, and may be divided into three parts.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">1. Man's + intellectual and moral nature must have had for its author an + intellectual and moral Being. The elements of the proof are as + follows:—(<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Man, as an intellectual and + moral being, has had a beginning upon the planet. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + Material and unconscious forces do not afford a sufficient cause + for man's reason, conscience, and free will. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + Man, as an effect, can be referred only to a cause possessing + self-consciousness and a moral nature, in other words, + personality.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">This argument is is part an application to man + of the principles of both the Cosmological and the Teleological + Arguments. Flint, Theism, 74—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Although causality does not involve design, nor + design goodness, yet design involves causality, and goodness both + causality and design.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Jacobi:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Nature conceals God; man reveals + him.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Man is an effect. The history of the geologic + ages proves that man has not always existed, and even if the + lower creatures were his progenitors, his intellect and freedom + are not eternal</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a parte + ante</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">. We consider + man, not as a physical, but as a spiritual, being. Thompson, + Christian Theism, 75—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Every true cause must be sufficient to account + for the effect.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Locke, Essay, book 4, chap. + 10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Cogitable + existence cannot be produced out of + incogitable.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Martineau, Study of Religion, + 1:258</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Even if man had always existed, however, we + should not need to abandon the argument. We might start, not + from beginning of existence, but from beginning of phenomena. I + might see God in the world, just as I see thought, feeling, + will, in my fellow men. Fullerton, Plain Argument for God: I do + not infer you, as cause of the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">existence</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of your body: I recognize you as + present and</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">working</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">through your body. Its changes of + gesture and speech reveal a personality behind them. So I do + not need to argue back to a Being who once</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">caused</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">nature and history; I recognize + a</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">present</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Being, exercising wisdom and + power, by signs such as reveal personality in man. Nature is + itself the Watchmaker manifesting himself in the very process + of making the watch. This is the meaning of the noble Epilogue + to Robert Browning's Dramatis Personæ, 252—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">That one Face, far from vanish, rather grows, + Or decomposes but to recompose, Become my universe that feels + and knows.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">That + Face,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">said Mr. Browning to Mrs. + Orr,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">That Face + is the face of Christ; that is how I feel + him.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Nature is an expression of the mind and will + of Christ, as my face is an expression of my mind and will. But + in both cases, behind and above the face is a personality, of + which the face is but the partial and temporary + expression.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bowne, Philos. Theism, 104, + 107—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">My fellow + beings act</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">as if</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">they had thought, feeling, and + will. So nature looks</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">as if</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">thought, feeling, and will were + behind it. If we deny mind in nature, we must deny mind in man. + If there be no controlling mind in nature, moreover, there can + be none in man, for if the basal power is blind and necessary, + then all that depends upon it is necessitated + also.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">LeConte, in Royce's Conception of + God, 44—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There is + only one place in the world where we can get behind physical + phenomena, behind the veil of matter, namely, in our own brain, + and we find there a self, a person. Is it not reasonable that, + if we could get behind the veil of nature, we should find the + same, that is, a Person? But if so, we must conclude, an + infinite Person, and therefore the only complete Personality + that exists. Perfect</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page082">[pg 082]</span><a name="Pg082" id="Pg082" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">personality + is not only self-conscious, but self-existent.</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">They</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">are only imperfect images, and, as + it were, separated fragments, of the infinite Personality of + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Personality = self-consciousness + + self-determination in view of moral ends. The brute has + intelligence and will, but has neither self-consciousness, + conscience, nor free-will. See Julius Müller, Doctrine of Sin, + 1:76</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Diman, Theistic Argument, 91, + 251—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Suppose</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the intuitions of the moral faculty are the + slowly organized results of experience received from the + race</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + still, having found that the universe affords evidence of a + supremely intelligent cause, we may believe that man's moral + nature affords the highest illustration of its mode of + working</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + 358—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Shall we + explain the lower forms of will by the higher, or the higher by + the lower?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">2. Man's moral + nature proves the existence of a holy Lawgiver and Judge. The + elements of the proof are:—(<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Conscience recognizes the + existence of a moral law which has supreme authority. + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Known violations of this + moral law are followed by feelings of ill-desert and fears of + judgment. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) This moral law, since it is + not self-imposed, and these threats of judgment, since they are + not self-executing, respectively argue the existence of a holy + will that has imposed the law, and of a punitive power that will + execute the threats of the moral nature.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Bishop Butler's Sermons on Human Nature, in + Works, Bohn's ed., 385-414. Butler's great discovery was that of + the supremacy of conscience in the moral constitution of + man:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%"> + “</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Had it strength as it has + right, had it power as it has manifest authority, it would + absolutely govern the world.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Conscience = the moral judiciary of the + soul—not law, nor sheriff, but judge; see under Anthropology. + Diman, Theistic Argument, 251—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Conscience does not lay down a law; it warns + us of the existence of a law; and not only of a law, but of a + purpose—not our own, but the purpose of another, which it is + our mission to realize.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Murphy, Scientific Bases of Faith, + 218</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It proves personality in the + Lawgiver, because its utterances are not abstract, like those + of reason, but are in the nature of command; they are not in + the indicative, but in the imperative, mood; it says,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">thou + shalt</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">thou shalt not.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This argues</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">will</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hutton, Essays, 1:11—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Conscience is an ideal Moses, and thunders + from an invisible Sinai</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Atheist regards conscience not as a skylight, opened to let in + upon human nature an infinite dawn from above, but as a + polished arch or dome, completing and reflecting the whole + edifice beneath.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But conscience cannot be the mere reflection + and expression of nature, for it represses and condemns nature. + Tulloch, Theism:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Conscience, like the magnetic needle, + indicates the existence of an unknown Power which from afar + controls its vibrations and at whose presence it + trembles.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Nero spends nights of terror in + wandering through the halls of his Golden House. Kant holds + that faith in duty requires faith in a God who will defend and + reward duty—see Critique of Pure Reason, 359-387. See also + Porter, Human Intellect, 524.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Kant, in his Metaphysic of Ethics, represents + the action of conscience as like</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">conducting a case before a + court,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and he adds:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Now that he who is accused before his + conscience should be figured to be just the same person as his + judge, is an absurd representation of a tribunal; since, in + such an event, the accuser would always lose his suit. + Conscience must therefore represent to itself always some other + than itself as Judge, unless it is to arrive at a contradiction + with itself.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See also his Critique of the + Practical Reason, Werke, 8:214—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Duty, thou sublime and mighty name, that hast + in thee nothing to attract or win, but challengest submission; + and yet dost threaten nothing to sway the will by that which + may arouse natural terror or aversion, but merely holdest forth + a Law; a Law which of itself finds entrance into the mind, and + even while we disobey, against our will compels our reverence, + a Law in presence of which all inclinations grow dumb, even + while they secretly rebel; what origin is there worthy of thee? + Where can we find the root of thy noble descent, which proudly + rejects all kinship with the inclinations?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Archbishop Temple answers, in his Bampton + Lectures, 58, 59,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">This + eternal Law is the Eternal himself, the almighty + God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Robert Browning:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The sense within me that I owe a debt Assures + me—Somewhere must be Somebody, Ready to take his due. All comes + to this: Where due is, there acceptance follows: find Him who + accepts the due.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Salter, Ethical Religion, quoted in + Pfleiderer's article on Religionless Morality, Am. Jour. + Theol., 3:237—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The earth + and the stars do not create the law of gravitation</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page083">[pg 083]</span><a name= + "Pg083" id="Pg083" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">which they obey; no more does man, or the + united hosts of rational beings in the universe, create the law + of duty.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The will expressed in the moral + imperative is</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">superior</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">to + ours, for otherwise it would issue no commands. Yet it + is</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">one</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">with ours as the life of an + organism is one with the life of its members. Theonomy is not + heteronomy but the highest autonomy, the guarantee of our + personal freedom against all servitude of man. Seneca:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Deo + parere libertas est.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Knight, Essays in Philosophy, + 272—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + conscience we see an</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">alter ego</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + in us yet not of us, another Personality behind our + own.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Martineau, Types, + 2:105—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Over a + person only a person can have authority.... A solitary being, + with no other sentient nature in the universe, would feel no + duty</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + Study, 1:26—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">As + Perception gives us Will in the shape of</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Causality</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">over against us in the Non-Ego, so + Conscience gives us Will in the shape of</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Authority</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">over against us in the Non-Ego.... + 2:7—We cannot deduce the phenomena of character from an agent + who has none.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hutton, Essays, 1:41, 42—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">When we disobey conscience, the Power which + has therein ceased to</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">move</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">us has retired only to</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">observe</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—to + keep</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">watch</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">over us as we mould + ourselves.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Cardinal Newman, Apologia, + 377—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Were it + not for the voice speaking so clearly in my conscience and my + heart, I should be an atheist, or a pantheist, or a polytheist, + when I looked into the world.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">3. Man's + emotional and voluntary nature proves the existence of a Being + who can furnish in himself a satisfying object of human affection + and an end which will call forth man's highest activities and + ensure his highest progress.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Only a Being + of power, wisdom, holiness, and goodness, and all these + indefinitely greater than any that we know upon the earth, can + meet this demand of the human soul. Such a Being must exist. + Otherwise man's greatest need would be unsupplied, and belief in + a lie be more productive of virtue than belief in the truth.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Feuerbach calls God</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the Brocken-shadow of man + himself</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">consciousness of God = + self-consciousness</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">religion is + a dream of the human soul</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">all + theology is anthropology</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">man made + God in his own image.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">But + conscience shows that man does not recognize in God simply his + like, but also his opposite. Not as Galton:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Piety = conscience + + instability.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The finest minds are of the leaning + type; see Murphy, Scientific Bases, 370; Augustine, Confessions, + 1:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Thou hast + made us for thyself, and our heart is restless till it finds rest + in thee.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On John Stuart + Mill—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a mind that + could not find God, and a heart that could not do without + him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">—see + his Autobiography, and Browne, in Strivings for the Faith + (Christ. Ev. Socy.), 259-287. Comte, in his later days, + constructed an object of worship in Universal Humanity, and + invented a ritual which Huxley calls</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Catholicism</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">minus</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Christianity.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See also Tyndall, Belfast Address:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Did I not + believe, said a great man to me once, that an Intelligence + exists at the heart of things, my life on earth would be + intolerable.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Martineau, Types of Ethical + Theory, 1:505,506.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The last line of Schiller's Pilgrim + reads:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Und das + Dort ist niemals hier.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The finite never satisfies. Tennyson, Two + Voices:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">'Tis + life, whereof our nerves are scant, Oh life, not death, for + which we pant; More life, and fuller, that I + want.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Seth, Ethical Principles, + 419—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A moral + universe, an absolute moral Being, is the indispensable + environment of the ethical life, without which it cannot attain + to its perfect growth.... There is a moral</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">God</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + or this is no</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">universe</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">James, Will to Believe, + 116—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A God is + the most adequate possible object for minds framed like our own + to conceive as lying at the root of the universe. Anything + short of God is not a rational object, anything more than God + is not possible, if man needs an object of knowledge, feeling, + and will.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Romanes, Thoughts on Religion, + 41—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">To speak + of the Religion of the Unknowable, the Religion of Cosmism, the + Religion of Humanity, where the personality of the First Cause + is not recognized, is as unmeaning as it would be to speak of + the love of a triangle or the rationality of the + equator.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It was said of Comte's system + that,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the wine + of the real presence being poured out, we are asked to adore + the empty cup.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We want an object of devotion, and Comte + presents us with a looking-glass</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(Martineau). Huxley said he would as soon + adore a wilderness of apes as the Positivist's rationalized + conception of humanity. It is only the ideal in humanity, the + divine</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page084">[pg + 084]</span><a name="Pg084" id="Pg084" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">element in + humanity that can be worshiped. And when we once conceive of + this, we cannot be satisfied until we find it somewhere + realized, as in Jesus Christ.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Upton, Hibbert Lectures, 265-272—Huxley + believes that Evolution is</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">a materialized logical + process</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + that nothing endures save the flow of energy and</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + rational order which pervades it.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">In the earlier part of this process,</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">nature</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + there is no morality or benevolence. But the process ends by + producing</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">man</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + who can make progress only by waging moral war against the + natural forces which impel him. He must be benevolent and just. + Shall we not say, in spite of Mr. Huxley, that this shows what + the nature of the system is, and that there must be a + benevolent and just Being who ordained it? Martineau, Seat of + Authority, 63-68—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Though + the authority of the higher incentive is self-known, it cannot + be self-created; for while it is in me, it is above me.... This + authority to which conscience introduces me, though emerging in + consciousness, is yet</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">objective</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">to us all, and is necessarily + referred to the nature of things, irrespective of the accidents + of our mental constitution. It is not dependent on us, but + independent. All minds born into the universe are ushered into + the presence of a real righteousness, as surely as into a scene + of actual space. Perception reveals</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">another</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">than ourselves; conscience + reveals</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a higher</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">than ourselves.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We must freely grant, however, that this + argument from man's aspirations has weight only upon the + supposition that a wise, truthful, holy, and benevolent God + exists, who has so constituted our minds that their thinking + and their affections correspond to truth and to himself. An + evil being might have so constituted us that all logic would + lead us into error. The argument is therefore the development + and expression of our intuitive idea of God. Luthardt, + Fundamental Truths:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Nature is + like a written document containing only consonants. It is we + who must furnish the vowels that shall decipher it. Unless we + bring with us the idea of God, we shall find nature but + dumb.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See also Pfleiderer, Die Religion, + 1:174.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The + defects of the Anthropological Argument are</span></span>: + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) It cannot prove a creator + of the material universe. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) It cannot prove the + infinity of God, since man from whom we argue is finite. + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) It cannot prove the mercy + of God. But,</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The + value of the Argument</span></span> is, that it assures us of the + existence of a personal Being, who rules us in righteousness, and + who is the proper object of supreme affection and service. But + whether this Being is the original creator of all things, or + merely the author of our own existence, whether he is infinite or + finite, whether he is a Being of simple righteousness or also of + mercy, this argument cannot assure us.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Among the + arguments for the existence of God, however, we assign to this + the chief place, since it adds to the ideas of causative power + (which we derived from the Cosmological Argument) and of + contriving intelligence (which we derived from the Teleological + Argument), the far wider ideas of personality and righteous + lordship.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Sir Wm. Hamilton, Works of Reid, 2:974, note U; + Lect. on Metaph., 1:33—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The only valid arguments for the existence of + God and for the immortality of the soul rest upon the ground of + man's moral nature</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">theology + is wholly dependent upon psychology, for with the proof of the + moral nature of man stands or falls the proof of the existence + of a Deity.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">But Diman, Theistic Argument, 244, + very properly objects to making this argument from the nature + of man the sole proof of Deity:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It should be rather used to show the + attributes of the Being whose existence has been already proved + from other sources</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">hence the + Anthropological Argument is as dependent upon the Cosmological + and Teleological Arguments as they are upon + it.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Yet the Anthropological Argument is needed to + supplement the conclusions of the two others. Those who, like + Herbert Spencer, recognize an infinite and absolute Being, + Power and Cause, may yet fail to recognize this being as + spiritual and personal, simply because they do not recognize + themselves as spiritual and personal beings, that is, do not + recognize reason, conscience and free-will in man. Agnosticism + in philosophy involves agnosticism in religion. R. K. + Eccles:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">All the + most advanced</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page085">[pg + 085]</span><a name="Pg085" id="Pg085" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">languages + capitalize the word</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and the word</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Flint, Theism, 68; Mill, Criticism of + Hamilton, 2:266; Dove, Logic of Christian Faith, 211-236, + 261-299; Martineau, Types, Introd., 3; Cooke, Religion and + Chemistry:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God is + love; but nature could not prove it, and the Lamb was slain + from the foundation of the world in order to attest + it.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Everything in philosophy depends on where we + begin, whether with nature or with self, whether with the + necessary or with the free. In one sense, therefore, we should + in practice begin with the Anthropological Argument, and then + use the Cosmological and Teleological Arguments as warranting + the application to nature of the conclusions which we have + drawn from man. As God stands over against man in Conscience, + and says to him:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Thou</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + so man stands over against God in Nature, and may say to + him:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Thou.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Mulford, Republic of God, + 28—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">As the + personality of man has its foundation in the personality of + God, so the realization by man of his own personality always + brings man nearer to God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Robert Browning:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Quoth a young Sadducee:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Reader of many rolls, Is it so certain we + Have, as they tell us, souls?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Son, there is no reply!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Rabbi bit his beard:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Certain, a soul have</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">I</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">We</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">may have none,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">he sneered. Thus Karshook, the Hiram's Hammer, + The Right-hand Temple-column, Taught babes in grace their + grammar, And struck the simple, solemn.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is very common at this place to treat of + what are called the Historical and the Biblical Arguments for + the existence of God—the former arguing, from the unity of + history, the latter arguing, from the unity of the Bible, that + this unity must in each case have for its cause and explanation + the existence of God. It is a sufficient reason for not + discussing these arguments, that, without a previous belief in + the existence of God, no one will see unity either in history + or in the Bible. Turner, the painter, exhibited a picture which + seemed all mist and cloud until he put a dab of scarlet into + it. That gave the true point of view, and all the rest became + intelligible. So Christ's coming and Christ's blood make + intelligible both the Scriptures and human history. He carries + in his girdle the key to all mysteries. Schopenhauer, knowing + no Christ, admitted no philosophy of history. He regarded + history as the mere fortuitous play of individual caprice. + Pascal:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jesus + Christ is the centre of everything, and the object of + everything, and he that does not know him knows nothing of + nature, and nothing of himself.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc85" id="toc85"></a> <a name="pdf86" id="pdf86"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">IV. The Ontological Argument, or + Argument from our Abstract and Necessary Ideas.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This argument + infers the existence of God from the abstract and necessary ideas + of the human mind. It has three forms:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">1. That of + Samuel Clarke. Space and time are attributes of substance or + being. But space and time are respectively infinite and eternal. + There must therefore be an infinite and eternal substance or + Being to whom these attributes belong.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Gillespie + states the argument somewhat differently. Space and time are + modes of existence. But space and time are respectively infinite + and eternal. There must therefore be an infinite and eternal + Being who subsists in these modes. But we reply:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Space and time + are neither attributes of substance nor modes of existence. The + argument, if valid, would prove that God is not mind but matter, + for that could not be mind, but only matter, of which space and + time were either attributes or modes.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Ontological Argument is frequently called + the</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a + priori</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">argument, + that is, the argument from that which is logically prior, or + earlier than experience, viz., our intuitive ideas. All the + forms of the Ontological Argument are in this sense</span> + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a + priori</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">. Space and + time are</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a priori</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">ideas. See Samuel Clarke, Works, + 2:521; Gillespie, Necessary Existence of God.</span> + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Per + contra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, see Kant, + Critique of Pure Reason, 364: Calderwood, Moral Philosophy, + 226—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">To begin, + as Clarke did, with the proposition that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">something has existed from + eternity,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is virtually to propose an + argument after having assumed what is to be proved. Gillespie's + form of the</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a priori</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">argument, starting with the + proposition</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page086">[pg + 086]</span><a name="Pg086" id="Pg086" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">infinity + of extension is necessarily existing,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is liable to the same objection, with the + additional disadvantage of attributing a property of matter to + the Deity.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">H. B. Smith says that Brougham misrepresented + Clarke:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Clarke's + argument is in his sixth proposition, and supposes the + existence proved in what goes before. He aims here to establish + the infinitude and omnipresence of this First Being. He does + not prove</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">existence</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">from immensity.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But we reply, neither can he prove the</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">infinity</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of God from the immensity of + space. Space and time are neither substances nor attributes, + but are rather relations; see Calderwood, Philos. of Infinite, + 331-335; Cocker, Theistic Conception of the World, 66-96. The + doctrine that space and time are attributes or modes of God's + existence tends to materialistic pantheism like that of + Spinoza, who held that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the one and simple + substance</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(substantia una et unica) is known + to us through the two attributes of thought and extension; mind + = God in the mode of thought; matter = God in the mode of + extension. Dove, Logic of the Christian Faith, 127, says well + that an extended God is a material God;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">space and time are attributes neither of + matter nor mind</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">we must + carry the moral idea into the natural world, not the natural + idea into the moral world.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See also, Blunt, Dictionary Doct. and Hist. + Theol., 740; Porter, Human Intellect, 567. H. M. Stanley, on + Space and Science, in Philos. Rev., Nov. + 1898:615—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Space is + not full of things, but things are spaceful.... Space is a form + of dynamic appearance.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Prof. C. A. Strong:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The world composed of consciousness and other + existences is not in space, though it may be in something of + which space is the symbol.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">2. That of + Descartes. We have the idea of an infinite and perfect Being. + This idea cannot be derived from imperfect and finite things. + There must therefore be an infinite and perfect Being who is its + cause.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But we reply + that this argument confounds the idea of the infinite with an + infinite idea. Man's idea of the infinite is not infinite but + finite, and from a finite effect we cannot argue an infinite + cause.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">This form of the Ontological Argument, while it + is</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a + priori</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, as based + upon a necessary idea of the human mind, is, unlike the other + forms of the same argument,</span> <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a + posteriori</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, as + arguing from this idea, as an</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">effect</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + to the existence of a Being who is its</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cause</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span> + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">A + posteriori</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">argument + = from that which is later to that which is earlier, that is, + from effect to cause. The Cosmological, Teleological, and + Anthropological Arguments are arguments</span> <span lang="la" + class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a + posteriori</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">. Of this + sort is the argument of Descartes; see Descartes, Meditation + 3:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Hæc idea + quæ in nobis est requirit Deum pro causa; Deusque proinde + existit.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The idea in men's minds is the + impression of the workman's name stamped indelibly on his + work—the shadow cast upon the human soul by that unseen One of + whose being and presence it dimly informs us. Blunt, Dict. of + Theol., 739; Saisset, Pantheism, 1:54—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Descartes sets out from a fact of + consciousness, while Anselm sets out from an abstract + conception</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Descartes's argument might be considered a + branch of the Anthropological or Moral Argument, but for the + fact that this last proceeds from man's constitution rather + than from his abstract ideas.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Bib. Sac., 1849:637.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">3. That of + Anselm. We have the idea of an absolutely perfect Being. But + existence is an attribute of perfection. An absolutely perfect + Being must therefore exist.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But we reply + that this argument confounds ideal existence with real existence. + Our ideas are not the measure of external reality.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Anselm, Proslogion, 2—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Id, quo majus cogitari nequit, non potest esse + in intellectu solo.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">See + translation of the Proslogion, in Bib. Sac., 1851:529, 699; Kant, + Critique, 368. The arguments of Descartes and Anselm, with Kant's + reply, are given in their original form by Harris, in Journ. + Spec. Philos., 15:420-428. The major premise here is not that all + perfect ideas imply the existence of the object which they + represent, for then, as Kant objects, I might argue from my + perfect idea of a $100 bill that I actually possessed the same, + which would be far from the fact. So I have a perfect idea of a + perfectly evil being, of a centaur, of nothing,—but it does not + follow that the evil being, that the centaur, that nothing, + exists. The argument is rather from the idea of absolute and + perfect Being—of</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">that, no + greater than which can be conceived.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">There can be but one such being, and there can + be but one such idea.</span></p><span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page087">[pg 087]</span><a name="Pg087" id="Pg087" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Yet, even thus understood, we cannot argue + from the idea to the actual existence of such a being. Case, + Physical Realism, 173—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God is not an idea, and consequently cannot be + inferred from mere ideas.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bowne, Philos. Theism, 43—The Ontological + Argument</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">only + points out that the idea of the perfect must include the idea + of existence; but there is nothing to show that the + self-consistent idea represents an objective + reality.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + can imagine the Sea-serpent, the Jinn of the Thousand and One + Nights,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Anthropophagi, and men whose heads Do grow beneath their + shoulders.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The winged horse of Uhland + possessed every possible virtue, and only one fault,—it was + dead. If every perfect idea implied the reality of its object, + there might be horses with ten legs, and trees with roots in + the air.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Anselm's argument implies,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">says Fisher, in Journ. Christ. Philos., Jan. + 1883:114,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">that + existence</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in re</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is a constituent of the concept. + It would conclude the existence of a being from the definition + of a word. This inference is justified only on the basis of + philosophical realism.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dove, Logic of the Christ. Faith, + 141—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Ontological Argument is the algebraic formula of the universe, + which leads to a valid conclusion with regard to real + existence, only when we fill it in with objects with which we + become acquainted in the arguments</span> <span lang="la" + class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a + posteriori</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See also Shedd, Hist. Doct., 1:331, Dogm. + Theol., 1:221-241, and in Presb. Rev., April, 1884:212-227 + (favoring the argument); Fisher, Essays, 574; Thompson, + Christian Theism, 171; H. B. Smith, Introd. to Christ. Theol., + 122; Pfleiderer, Die Religion, 1:181-187; Studien und Kritiken, + 1875:611-655.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dorner, in his Glaubenslehre, 1:197, gives us + the best statement of the Ontological Argument:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Reason + thinks of God as existing. Reason would not be reason, if it + did not think of God as existing. Reason only is, upon the + assumption that God is.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But this is evidently not argument, but only + vivid statement of the necessary assumption of the existence of + an absolute Reason which conditions and gives validity to + ours.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Although this + last must be considered the most perfect form of the Ontological + Argument, it is evident that it conducts us only to an ideal + conclusion, not to real existence. In common with the two + preceding forms of the argument, moreover, it tacitly assumes, as + already existing in the human mind, that very knowledge of God's + existence which it would derive from logical demonstration. It + has value, therefore, simply as showing what God must be, if he + exists at all.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But the + existence of a Being indefinitely great, a personal Cause, + Contriver and Lawgiver, has been proved by the preceding + arguments; for the law of parsimony requires us to apply the + conclusions of the first three arguments to one Being, and not to + many. To this one Being we may now ascribe the infinity and + perfection, the idea of which lies at the basis of the + Ontological Argument—ascribe them, not because they are + demonstrably his, but because our mental constitution will not + allow us to think otherwise. Thus clothing him with all + perfections which the human mind can conceive, and these in + illimitable fullness, we have one whom we may justly call + God.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">McCosh, Div. Govt., 12, + note—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It is at + this place, if we do not mistake, that the idea of the Infinite + comes in. The capacity of the human mind to form such an idea, + or rather its intuitive belief in an Infinite of which it feels + that it cannot form an adequate conception, may be no proof (as + Kant maintains) of the existence of an infinite Being; but it + is, we are convinced, the means by which the mind is enabled to + invest the Deity, shown on other grounds to exist, with the + attributes of infinity,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, to look on his + being, power, goodness, and all his perfections, as + infinite.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Even Flint, Theism, 68, who holds + that we reach the existence of God by inference, speaks + of</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">necessary + conditions of thought and feeling, and ineradicable + aspirations, which force on us ideas of absolute existence, + infinity, and perfection, and will neither permit us to deny + these perfections to God, nor to ascribe them to any other + being.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Belief in God is not the + conclusion of a demonstration, but the solution of a problem. + Calderwood, Moral Philosophy, 226—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Either the whole question is assumed in + starting, or the Infinite is not reached in + concluding.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p><span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page088">[pg 088]</span><a name="Pg088" id="Pg088" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Clarke, Christian Theology, 97-114, divides + his proof into two parts: I. Evidence of the existence of God + from the intellectual starting-point: The discovery of</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mind</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">in the universe is made, 1. + through the intelligibleness of the universe to us; 2. through + the idea of cause; 3. through the presence of ends in the + universe. II. Evidence of the existence of God from the + religious starting-point: The discovery of the</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">good God</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is made, 1. through the religious + nature of man; 2. through the great dilemma—God the best, or + the worst; 3. through the spiritual experience of men, + especially in Christianity. So far as Dr. Clarke's proof is + intended to be a statement, not of a primitive belief, but of a + logical process, we must hold it to be equally defective with + the three forms of proof which we have seen to furnish some + corroborative evidence of God's existence. Dr. Clarke therefore + does well to add:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Religion + was not produced by proof of God's existence, and will not be + destroyed by its insufficiency to some minds. Religion existed + before argument; in fact, it is the preciousness of religion + that leads to the seeking for all possible confirmations of the + reality of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The three forms of proof already mentioned—the + Cosmological, the Teleological, and the Anthropological + Arguments—may be likened to the three arches of a bridge over a + wide and rushing river. The bridge has only two defects, but + these defects are very serious. The first is that one cannot + get on to the bridge; the end toward the hither bank is wholly + lacking; the bridge of logical argument cannot be entered upon + except by assuming the validity of logical processes; this + assumption takes for granted at the outset the existence of a + God who has made our faculties to act correctly; we get on to + the bridge, not by logical process, but only by a leap of + intuition, and by assuming at the beginning the very thing + which we set out to prove. The second defect of the so-called + bridge of argument is that when one has once gotten on, he can + never get off. The connection with the further bank is also + lacking. All the premises from which we argue being finite, we + are warranted in drawing only a finite conclusion. Argument + cannot reach the Infinite, and only an infinite Being is worthy + to be called God. We can get off from our logical bridge, not + by logical process, but only by another and final leap of + intuition, and by once more assuming the existence of the + infinite Being whom we had so vainly sought to reach by mere + argument. The process seems to be referred to in</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Job + 11:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Canst + thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the + Almighty unto perfection?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">As a logical + process this is indeed defective, since all logic as well as all + observation depends for its validity upon the presupposed + existence of God, and since this particular process, even + granting the validity of logic in general, does not warrant the + conclusion that God exists, except upon a second assumption that + our abstract ideas of infinity and perfection are to be applied + to the Being to whom argument has actually conducted us.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But although + both ends of the logical bridge are confessedly wanting, the + process may serve and does serve a more useful purpose than that + of mere demonstration, namely, that of awakening, explicating, + and confirming a conviction which, though the most fundamental of + all, may yet have been partially slumbering for lack of + thought.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Morell, Philos. Fragments, 177, + 179—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We can, in + fact, no more prove the existence of a God by a logical argument, + than we can prove the existence of an external world; but none + the less may we obtain as strong a</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + practical</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">conviction + of the one, as the other.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We arrive at a scientific belief in the + existence of God just as we do at any other possible human + truth. We</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">assume</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">it, as a hypothesis absolutely + necessary to account for the phenomena of the universe; and + then evidences from every quarter begin to converge upon it, + until, in process of time, the common sense of mankind, + cultivated and enlightened by ever accumulating knowledge, + pronounces upon the validity of the hypothesis with a voice + scarcely less decided and universal than it does in the case of + our highest scientific convictions.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Fisher, Supernat. Origin of Christianity, + 572—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">What then + is the purport and force of the several arguments for the + existence of God? We reply that these proofs are the different + modes in which faith expresses itself and seeks confirmation. + In them faith, or the object of faith, is more exactly + conceived and defined, and in them is found a corroboration, + not arbitrary but substantial and valuable, of that faith which + springs</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page089">[pg + 089]</span><a name="Pg089" id="Pg089" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">from the soul + itself. Such proofs, therefore, are neither on the one hand + sufficient to create and sustain faith, nor are they on the + other hand to be set aside as of no value.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">A. + J. Barrett:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + arguments are not so much a bridge in themselves, as they are + guys, to hold firm the great suspension-bridge of intuition, by + which we pass the gulf from man to God. Or, while they are not + a ladder by which we may reach heaven, they are the Ossa on + Pelion, from whose combined height we may descry + heaven.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Anselm:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Negligentia mihi videtur, si postquam + confirmati sumus in fide non studemus quod credimus + intelligere.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Bradley, Appearance and + Reality:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Metaphysics is the finding of bad reasons for + what we believe upon instinct; but to find these reasons is no + less an instinct.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Illingworth, Div. and Hum. Personality, lect. + III—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Belief in + a personal God is an instinctive judgment, progressively + justified by reason.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Knight, Essays in Philosophy, 241—The + arguments are</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">historical memorials of the efforts of the + human race to vindicate to itself the existence of a reality of + which it is conscious, but which it cannot perfectly + define.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">H. Fielding, The Hearts of Men, + 313—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Creeds + are the grammar of religion. They are to religion what grammar + is to speech. Words are the expression of our wants; grammar is + the theory formed afterwards. Speech never proceeded from + grammar, but the reverse. As speech progresses and changes from + unknown causes, grammar must follow.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Pascal:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The heart has reasons of its own which the + reason does not know.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Frances Power Cobbe:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Intuitions are God's + tuitions.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On the whole subject, see + Cudworth, Intel. System, 3:42; Calderwood, Philos. of Infinite, + 150</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + Curtis, Human Element in Inspiration, 242; Peabody, in Andover + Rev., July, 1884; Hahn, History of Arguments for Existence of + God; Lotze, Philos. of Religion, 8-34; Am. Jour. Theol., Jan. + 1906:53-71.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hegel, in his Logic, page 3, speaking of the + disposition to regard the proofs of God's existence as the only + means of producing faith in God, says:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Such a doctrine would find its parallel, if we + said that eating was impossible before we had acquired a + knowledge of the chemical, botanical and zoölogical qualities + of our food; and that we must delay digestion till we had + finished the study of anatomy and + physiology.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It is a mistake to suppose that + there can be no religious</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">life</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">without a correct</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">theory</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of life. Must I refuse to drink + water or to breathe air, until I can manufacture both for + myself? Some things are given to us. Among these things + are</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">grace and truth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John 1:17;</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">9)</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">. But there are ever those who are willing to + take nothing as a free gift, and who insist on working out all + knowledge, as well as all salvation, by processes of their own. + Pelagianism, with its denial of the doctrines of grace, is but + the further development of a rationalism which refuses to + accept primitive truths unless these can be logically + demonstrated. Since the existence of the soul, of the world, + and of God cannot be proved in this way, rationalism is led to + curtail, or to misinterpret, the deliverances of consciousness, + and hence result certain systems now to be + mentioned.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page090">[pg 090]</span><a name= + "Pg090" id="Pg090" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + <hr class="page" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em"> + <a name="toc87" id="toc87"></a> <a name="pdf88" id="pdf88"></a> + + <h2 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"> + <span style="font-size: 144%">Chapter III. Erroneous Explanations, + And Conclusion.</span></h2> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Any correct + explanation of the universe must postulate an intuitive knowledge + of the existence of the external world, of self, and of God. The + desire for scientific unity, however, has occasioned attempts to + reduce these three factors to one, and according as one or another + of the three has been regarded as the all-inclusive principle, the + result has been Materialism, Materialistic Idealism, or Idealistic + Pantheism. This scientific impulse is better satisfied by a system + which we may designate as Ethical Monism.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We may summarize the present chapter as follows: + 1.</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Materialism</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">: + Universe = Atoms. Reply: Atoms can do nothing without force, and + can be nothing (intelligible) without ideas. 2.</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Materialistic + Idealism</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">: Universe = + Force + Ideas. Reply: Ideas belong to Mind, and Force can be + exerted only by Will. 3.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Idealistic + Pantheism</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">: Universe = + Immanent and Impersonal Mind and Will. Reply: Spirit in man shows + that the Infinite Spirit must be Transcendent and Personal Mind + and Will. We are led from these three forms of error to a + conclusion which we may denominate 4.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ethical + Monism</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">: Universe = + Finite, partial, graded manifestation of the divine Life; Matter + being God's self-limitation under the law of necessity, Humanity + being God's self-limitation under the law of freedom, Incarnation + and Atonement being God's self-limitations under the law of + grace. Metaphysical Monism, or the doctrine of one Substance, + Principle, or Ground of Being, is consistent with Psychological + Dualism, or the doctrine that the soul is personally distinct + from matter on the one hand and from God on the other.</span></p> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc89" id="toc89"></a> <a name="pdf90" id="pdf90"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">I. Materialism.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Materialism is + that method of thought which gives priority to matter, rather + than to mind, in its explanations of the universe. Upon this + view, material atoms constitute the ultimate and fundamental + reality of which all things, rational and irrational, are but + combinations and phenomena. Force is regarded as a universal and + inseparable property of matter.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The element of + truth in materialism is the reality of the external world. Its + error is in regarding the external world as having original and + independent existence, and in regarding mind as its product.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Materialism regards atoms as the bricks of which + the material universe, the house we inhabit, is built. Sir + William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) estimates that, if a drop of water + were magnified to the size of our earth, the atoms of which it + consists would certainly appear larger than boy's marbles, and + yet would be smaller than billiard balls. Of these atoms, all + things, visible and invisible, are made. Mind, with all its + activities, is a combination or phenomenon of atoms.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Man ist was + er iszt: ohne Phosphor kein Gedanke</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">One</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">is</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">what he</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">eats</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">: + without phosphorus, no thought.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ethics is a bill of fare; and worship, like + heat, is a mode of motion. Agassiz, however, wittily + asked:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Are + fishermen, then, more intelligent than farmers, because they + eat so much fish, and therefore take in more + phosphorus?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is evident that much is here attributed to + atoms which really belongs to force. Deprive atoms of force, + and all that remains is extension, which = space = zero. + Moreover,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">if + atoms</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">are</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">extended, they cannot be ultimate, + for extension implies divisibility, and that which is + conceivably divisible cannot be a philosophical + ultimate.</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page091">[pg + 091]</span><a name="Pg091" id="Pg091" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">But, if + atoms</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">are not</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">extended, then even an infinite + multiplication and combination of them could not produce an + extended substance. Furthermore, an atom that is neither + extended substance nor thinking substance is inconceivable. The + real ultimate is force, and this force cannot be exerted by + nothing, but, as we shall hereafter see, can be exerted only by + a personal Spirit, for this alone possesses the characteristics + of reality, namely, definiteness, unity, and + activity.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Not only force but also intelligence must be + attributed to atoms, before they can explain any operation of + nature. Herschel says not only that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the force of gravitation seems like that of a + universal will,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">but that the atoms themselves, in recognizing + each other in order to combine, show a great deal of</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">presence + of mind.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Ladd, Introd. to Philosophy, + 269—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A + distinguished astronomer has said that every body in the solar + system is behaving as if it knew precisely how it ought to + behave in consistency with its own nature, and with the + behavior of every other body in the same system.... Each atom + has danced countless millions of miles, with countless millions + of different partners, many of which required an important + modification of its mode of motion, without ever departing from + the correct step or the right time.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">J. P. Cooke, Credentials of Science, 104, 177, + suggests that something more than atoms is needed to explain + the universe. A correlating Intelligence and Will must be + assumed. Atoms by themselves would be like a heap of loose + nails which need to be magnetized if they are to hold together. + All structures would be resolved, and all forms of matter would + disappear, if the Presence which sustains them were withdrawn. + The atom, like the monad of Leibnitz, is</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">parvus in suo genere deus</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a little + god in its nature</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—only because it is the expression of the mind + and will of an immanent God.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Plato speaks of men who are</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">dazzled + by too near a look at material things.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">They do not perceive that these very material + things, since they can be interpreted only in terms of spirit, + must themselves be essentially spiritual. Materialism is the + explanation of a world of which we know something—the world of + mind—by a world of which we know next to nothing—the world of + matter. Upton, Hibbert Lectures, 297, 298—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">How about your material atoms and + brain-molecules? They have no real existence save as objects of + thought, and therefore the very thought, which you say your + atoms produce, turns out to be the essential precondition of + their own existence.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">With this agree the words of Dr. Ladd:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Knowledge + of matter involves repeated activities of sensation and + reflection, of inductive and deductive inference, of + intuitional belief in substance. These are all activities of + mind. Only as the mind has a self-conscious life, is any + knowledge of what matter is, or can do, to be gained.... + Everything is real which is the permanent subject of changing + states. That which touches, feels, sees, is more real than that + which is touched, felt, seen.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">H. N. Gardner, Presb. Rev., 1885:301, 665, + 666—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Mind + gives to matter its chief meaning,—hence matter alone can never + explain the universe.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Gore, Incarnation, 31—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Mind is not the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">product</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of nature, but the + necessary</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">constituent</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of nature, considered as an + ordered knowable system.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Fraser, Philos. of Theism:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">An immoral act must originate in the immoral + agent; a physical effect is not</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">known</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">to originate in its physical + cause.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Matter, inorganic and organic, + presupposes mind; but it is not true that mind presupposes + matter. LeConte:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If I + could remove your brain cap, what would I see? Only physical + changes. But you—what do you perceive? Consciousness, thought, + emotion, will. Now take external nature, the Cosmos. The + observer from the outside sees only physical phenomena. But + must there not be in this case also—on the other side—psychical + phenomena, a Self, a Person, a Will?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The impossibility of finding in matter, + regarded as mere atoms, any of the attributes of a cause, has + led to a general abandonment of this old Materialism of + Democritus, Epicurus, Lucretius, Condillac, Holbach, Feuerbach, + Büchner; and Materialistic Idealism has taken its place, which + instead of regarding force as a property of matter, regards + matter as a manifestation of force. From this section we + therefore pass to Materialistic Idealism, and inquire whether + the universe can be interpreted simply as a system of force and + of ideas. A quarter of a century ago, John Tyndall, in his + opening address as President of the British Association at + Belfast, declared that in matter was to be found the promise + and potency of every form of life. But in 1898, Sir William + Crookes, in his address as President of that same British + Association, reversed the apothegm, and declared that in life + he saw the promise and potency of every form of matter. See + Lange, History of Materialism; Janet, Materialism; Fabri, + Materialismus; Herzog, Encyclopädie, art.: Materialismus; but + esp., Stallo, Modern Physics, 148-170.</span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page092">[pg + 092]</span><a name="Pg092" id="Pg092" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In addition to + the general error indicated above, we object to this system as + follows:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">1. In knowing + matter, the mind necessarily judges itself to be different in + kind, and higher in rank, than the matter which it knows.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We here state simply an intuitive conviction. + The mind, in using its physical organism and through it bringing + external nature into its service, recognizes itself as different + from and superior to matter. See Martineau, quoted in Brit. + Quar., April, 1882:173, and the article of President Thomas Hill + in the Bibliotheca Sacra, April, 1852:353—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">All that is really given by the act of + sense-perception is the existence of the conscious self, floating + in boundless space and boundless time, surrounded and sustained + by boundless power. The material moved, which we at first think + the great reality, is only the shadow of a real being, which is + immaterial.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Harris, Philos. Basis of Theism, + 317—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Imagine an + infinitesimal being in the brain, watching the action of the + molecules, but missing the thought. So science observes the + universe, but misses God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hebberd, in Journ. Spec. Philos., April, + 1886:135.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Robert Browning,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the subtlest assertor of the soul in + song,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">makes the Pope, in The Ring and + the Book, say:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Mind is + not matter, nor from matter, but above.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">So President Francis Wayland:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">What is + mind?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">No + matter.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">What is + matter?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Never + mind.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Sully, The Human Mind, + 2:369—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Consciousness is a reality wholly disparate + from material processes, and cannot therefore be resolved into + these. Materialism makes that which is immediately known (our + mental states) subordinate to that which is only indirectly or + inferentially known (external things). Moreover, a material + entity existing</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">per se</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">out of relation to a cogitant mind + is an absurdity.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">As materialists work out their theory, their + so-called matter grows more and more ethereal, until at last a + stage is reached when it cannot be distinguished from what + others call spirit. Martineau:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The matter they describe is so exceedingly + clever that it is up to anything, even to writing Hamlet and + discovering its own evolution. In short, but for the spelling + of its name, it does not seem to differ appreciably from our + old friends, Mind and God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">A. W. Momerie, in Christianity and Evolution, + 54—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A being + conscious of his unity cannot possibly be formed out of a + number of atoms unconscious of their diversity. Any one who + thinks this possible is capable of asserting that half a dozen + fools might be compounded into a single wise + man.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">2. Since the + mind's attributes of (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) continuous identity, + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) self-activity, + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) unrelatedness to space, are + different in kind and higher in rank than the attributes of + matter, it is rational to conclude that mind is itself different + in kind from matter and higher in rank than matter.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">This is an argument from specific qualities to + that which underlies and explains the qualities. + (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + Memory proves personal identity. This is not an identity of + material atoms, for atoms change. The molecules that come + cannot remember those that depart. Some immutable part in the + brain? organized or unorganized? Organized decays; unorganized + = soul. (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + Inertia shows that matter is not self-moving. It acts only as + it is acted upon. A single atom would never move. Two portions + are necessary, and these, in order to useful action, require + adjustment by a power which does not belong to matter. + Evolution of the universe inexplicable, unless matter were + first moved by some power outside itself. See Duke of Argyll, + Reign of Law, 92. (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + The highest activities of mind are independent of known + physical conditions. Mind controls and subdues the body. It + does not cease to grow when the growth of the body ceases. When + the body nears dissolution, the mind often asserts itself most + strikingly.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Kant:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Unity of apprehension is possible on account + of the transcendental unity of + self-consciousness.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">I + get my idea of unity from the indivisible self. Stout, Manual + of Psychology, 53—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">So far as + matter exists independently of its presentation to a cognitive + subject, it cannot have material properties, such as extension, + hardness, color, weight, etc.... The world of material + phenomena presupposes a system of immaterial agency. In this + immaterial system the individual consciousness originates. This + agency, some say, is</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">thought</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + others</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">will</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">A. J. Dubois, in Century Magazine, + Dec. 1894:228—Since each thought involves a molecular movement + in the brain, and this moves the whole universe, mind is the + secret of the universe, and we should interpret nature as the + expression of underlying purpose. Science is mind following the + traces</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page093">[pg + 093]</span><a name="Pg093" id="Pg093" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">of mind. + There can be no mind without antecedent mind. That all human + beings have the same mental modes shows that these modes are + not due simply to environment. Bowne:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Things act upon the mind and the mind reacts + with knowledge. Knowing is not a passive receiving, but an + active construing.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Wundt:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We are compelled to admit that the physical + development is not the cause, but much more the effect, of + psychical development.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Paul Carus, Soul of Man, 52-64, defines soul + as</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the form + of an organism,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and memory as</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the psychical aspect of the preservation of + form in living substance.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This seems to give priority to the organism + rather than to the soul, regardless of the fact that without + soul no organism is conceivable. Clay cannot be the ancestor of + the potter, nor stone the ancestor of the mason, nor wood the + ancestor of the carpenter. W. N. Clarke, Christian Theology, + 99—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + intelligibleness of the universe to us is strong and ever + present evidence that there is an all-pervading rational Mind, + from which the universe received its + character.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We must add to the maxim,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Cogito, + ergo sum,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">the other maxim,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Intelligo, ergo Deus est.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Pfleiderer, Philos. Relig., + 1:273—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The whole + idealistic philosophy of modern times is in fact only the + carrying out and grounding of the conviction that Nature is + ordered by Spirit and for Spirit, as a subservient means for + its eternal ends; that it is therefore not, as the heathen + naturalism thought, the one and all, the last and highest of + things, but has the Spirit, and the moral Ends over it, as its + Lord and Master.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The consciousness by which things are known + precedes the things themselves, in the order of logic, and + therefore cannot be explained by them or derived from them. See + Porter, Human Intellect, 22, 131, 132. McCosh, Christianity and + Positivism, chap. on Materialism; Divine Government, 71-94; + Intuitions, 140-145. Hopkins, Study of Man, 53-56; Morell, + Hist. of Philosophy, 318-334; Hickok, Rational Cosmology, 403; + Theol. Eclectic, 6:555; Appleton, Works, 1:151-154; Calderwood, + Moral Philos., 235; Ulrici, Leib und Seele, 688-725, and + synopsis, in Bap. Quar., July, 1873:380.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">3. Mind rather + than matter must therefore be regarded as the original and + independent entity, unless it can be scientifically demonstrated + that mind is material in its origin and nature. But all attempts + to explain the psychical from the physical, or the organic from + the inorganic, are acknowledged failures. The most that can be + claimed is, that psychical are always accompanied by physical + changes, and that the inorganic is the basis and support of the + organic. Although the precise connection between the mind and the + body is unknown, the fact that the continuity of physical changes + is unbroken in times of psychical activity renders it certain + that mind is not transformed physical force. If the facts of + sensation indicate the dependence of mind upon body, the facts of + volition equally indicate the dependence of body upon mind.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The chemist can produce</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + organic</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, but + not</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">organized</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + substances. The</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">life</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">cannot be produced from matter. + Even in living things progress is secured only by plan. + Multiplication of desired advantage, in the Darwinian scheme, + requires a selecting thought; in other words the natural + selection is artificial selection after all. John Fiske, + Destiny of the Creature, 109—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Cerebral physiology tells us that, during the + present life, although thought and feeling are always + manifested in connection with a peculiar form of matter, yet by + no possibility can thought and feeling be in any sense the + product of matter. Nothing could be more grossly unscientific + than the famous remark of Cabanis, that the brain secretes + thought as the liver secretes bile. It is not even correct to + say that thought goes on in the brain. What goes on in the + brain is an amazingly complex series of molecular movements, + with which thought and feeling are in some unknown way + correlated, not as effects or as causes, but as + concomitants.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Leibnitz's</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">preëstablished harmony</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">indicates the difficulty of defining the + relation between mind and matter. They are like two entirely + disconnected clocks, the one of which has a dial and indicates + the hour by its hands, while the other without a dial + simultaneously indicates the same hour by its striking + apparatus. To Leibnitz the world is an aggregate of atomic + souls leading absolutely separate lives. There is no real + action of one upon another. Everything in the monad is the + development of its individual unstimulated activity. Yet there + is a preëstablished harmony of them all,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page094">[pg 094]</span><a name="Pg094" id= + "Pg094" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">arranged from the beginning by the Creator. + The internal development of each monad is so adjusted to that + of all the other monads, as to produce the false impression + that they are mutually influenced by each other (see Johnson, + in Andover Rev., Apl. 1890:407, 408). Leibnitz's theory + involves the complete rejection of the freedom of the human + will in the libertarian sense. To escape from this arbitrary + connection of mind and matter in Leibnitz's preëstablished + harmony, Spinoza rejected the Cartesian doctrine of two + God-created substances, and maintained that there is but one + fundamental substance, namely, God himself (see Upton, Hibbert + Lectures, 172).</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">There is an increased flow of blood to the + head in times of mental activity. Sometimes, in intense heat of + literary composition, the blood fairly surges through the + brain. No diminution, but further increase, of physical + activity accompanies the greatest efforts of mind. Lay a man + upon a balance; fire a pistol shot or inject suddenly a great + thought into his mind; at once he will tip the balance, and + tumble upon his head. Romanes, Mind and Motion, + 21—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Consciousness causes physical changes, but + not</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">vice + versa</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">. To say that + mind is a function of motion is to say that mind is a function + of itself, since motion exists only for mind. Better suppose + the physical and the psychical to be only one, as in the violin + sound and vibration are one. Volition is a cause in nature + because it has cerebration for its obverse and inseparable + side. But if there is no motion without mind, then there can be + no universe without God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">... 34—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Because within the limits of human experience + mind is only known as associated with brain, it does not follow + that mind cannot exist without brain. Helmholtz's explanation + of the effect of one of Beethoven's sonatas on the brain may be + perfectly correct, but the explanation of the effect given by a + musician may be equally correct within its + category.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Herbert Spencer, Principles of Psychology, 1:§ + 56—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Two + things, mind and nervous action, exist together, but we cannot + imagine how they are related</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(see review of Spencer's Psychology, in N. + Englander, July, 1873). Tyndall, Fragments of Science, + 120—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + passage from the physics of the brain to the facts of + consciousness is unthinkable.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Schurman, Agnosticism and Religion, + 95—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + metamorphosis of vibrations into conscious ideas is a miracle, + in comparison with which the floating of iron or the turning of + water into wine is easily credible.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bain, Mind and Body, 131—There is no break in + the physical continuity. See Brit. Quar., Jan. 1874; art. by + Herbert, on Mind and the Science of Energy; McCosh, Intuitions, + 145; Talbot, in Bap. Quar., Jan. 1871. On Geulincx's</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">occasional causes</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and Descartes's dualism, see Martineau, Types, + 144, 145, 156-158, and Study, 2:77.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">4. The + materialistic theory, denying as it does the priority of spirit, + can furnish no sufficient cause for the highest features of the + existing universe, namely, its personal intelligences, its + intuitive ideas, its free-will, its moral progress, its beliefs + in God and immortality.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Herbert, Modern Realism Examined:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Materialism + has no physical evidence of the existence of consciousness in + others. As it declares our fellow men to be destitute of free + volition, so it should declare them destitute of consciousness; + should call them, as well as brutes, pure automata. If physics + are all, there is no God, but there is also no man, + existing.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Some of the early followers of + Descartes used to kick and beat their dogs, laughing meanwhile at + their cries and calling them the</span> <span class="tei tei-q"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">creaking of the machine.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Huxley, who calls the brutes</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">conscious + automata,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">believes in the gradual + banishment, from all regions of human thought, of what we call + spirit and spontaneity:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">A spontaneous act is an absurdity; it is + simply an effect that is uncaused.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">James, Psychology, 1:149—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The girl in Midshipman Easy could not excuse + the illegitimacy of her child by saying that</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">it was a + very small one.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">And consciousness, however small, is an + illegitimate birth in any philosophy that starts without it, + and yet professes to explain all facts by continued + evolution.... Materialism denies reality to almost all the + impulses which we most cherish. Hence it will fail of universal + adoption.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Clerk Maxwell, Life, + 391—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The atoms + are a very tough lot, and can stand a great deal of knocking + about, and it is strange to find a number of them combining to + form a man of feeling.... 426—I have looked into most + philosophical systems, and I have seen none that will work + without a God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">President E. B. Andrews:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Mind is the only substantive thing in this + universe, and all else is adjective. Matter is not primordial, + but is a function of spirit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Theodore Parker:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Man is the highest product of his own history. + The discoverer finds nothing so tall or grand</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page095">[pg 095]</span><a name= + "Pg095" id="Pg095" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">as himself, nothing so valuable to him. The + greatest star is at the small end of the telescope—the star + that is looking, not looked after, nor looked + at.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Materialism makes men to be</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a + serio-comic procession of wax figures or of cunning casts in + clay</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(Bowne). Man is</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + cunningest of clocks.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But if there were nothing but matter, there + could be no materialism, for a system of thought, like + materialism, implies consciousness. Martineau, Types, preface, + xii, xiii—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It was + the irresistible pleading of the moral consciousness which + first drove me to rebel against the limits of the merely + scientific conception. It became incredible to me that nothing + was possible except the actual.... Is there then no</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">ought to + be</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, other than</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">what + is</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dewey, Psychology, 84—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">A world without ideal elements would be one in + which the home would be four walls and a roof to keep out cold + and wet; the table a mess for animals; and the grave a hole in + the ground.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Omar Khayyám, Rubaiyat, stanza + 72—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">And that + inverted bowl they call the Sky, Whereunder crawling coop'd we + live and die, Lift not your hands to It for help—for it As + impotently moves as you or I.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Victor Hugo:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">You say the soul is nothing but the resultant + of bodily powers? Why then is my soul more luminous when my + bodily powers begin to fail? Winter is on my head, and eternal + spring is in my heart.... The nearer I approach the end, the + plainer I hear the immortal symphonies of the worlds which + invite me.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Diman, Theistic Argument, + 348—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Materialism can never explain the fact that + matter is always combined with force. Coördinate principles? + then dualism, instead of monism. Force cause of matter? then we + preserve unity, but destroy materialism; for we trace matter to + an immaterial source. Behind multiplicity of natural forces we + must postulate some single power—which can be nothing but + coördinating mind.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Mark Hopkins sums up Materialism in Princeton + Rev., Nov. 1879:490—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">1. Man, + who is a person, is made by a thing,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, matter. 2. + Matter is to be worshiped as man's maker, if anything is to be + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 1:25</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). 3. Man is to + worship himself—his God is his belly.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See also Martineau, Religion and Materialism, + 25-31, Types, 1: preface, xii, xiii, and Study, 1:248, 250, + 345; Christlieb, Modern Doubt and Christian Belief, 145-161; + Buchanan, Modern Atheism, 247, 248; McCosh, in International + Rev., Jan. 1895; Contemp. Rev., Jan. 1875, art.: Man + Transcorporeal; Calderwood, Relations of Mind and Brain; + Laycock, Mind and Brain; Diman, Theistic Argument, 358; + Wilkinson, in Present Day Tracts, 3:no. 17; Shedd, Dogm. + Theol., 1:487-499; A. H. Strong, Philos. and Relig., + 31-38.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc91" id="toc91"></a> <a name="pdf92" id="pdf92"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">II. Materialistic + Idealism.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Idealism + proper is that method of thought which regards all knowledge as + conversant only with affections of the percipient mind.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Its element of + truth is the fact that these affections of the percipient mind + are the conditions of our knowledge. Its error is in denying that + through these and in these we know that which exists + independently of our consciousness.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The idealism + of the present day is mainly a materialistic idealism. It defines + matter and mind alike in terms of sensation, and regards both as + opposite sides or successive manifestations of one underlying and + unknowable force.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Modern subjective idealism is the development of + a principle found as far back as Locke. Locke derived all our + knowledge from sensation; the mind only combines ideas which + sensation furnishes, but gives no material of its own. Berkeley + held that externally we can be sure only of sensations,—cannot be + sure that any external world exists apart from mind. Berkeley's + idealism, however, was objective; for he maintained that while + things do not exist independently of consciousness, they do exist + independently of</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">our</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">consciousness, namely, in the mind + of God, who in a correct philosophy takes the place of a + mindless external world as the cause of our ideas. Kant, in + like manner, held to existences outside of our own minds, + although he regarded these existences as unknown and + unknowable. Over against these forms of objective idealism we + must put the subjective idealism of Hume, who held that + internally also we cannot be sure of anything but mental + phenomena; we know thoughts, feelings and volitions, but we do + not know mental substance within, any more than we know + material substance without; our ideas are a string of beads, + without any string; we need no cause</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page096">[pg 096]</span><a name="Pg096" id= + "Pg096" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">for these ideas, in an external world, a soul, + or God. Mill, Spencer, Bain and Tyndall are Humists, and it is + their subjective idealism which we oppose.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">All these regard the material atom as a mere + centre of force, or a hypothetical cause of sensations. Matter + is therefore a manifestation of force, as to the old + materialism force was a property of matter. But if matter, mind + and God are nothing but sensations, then the body itself is + nothing but sensations. There is no</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">body</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">to have the sensations, and + no</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">spirit</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + either human or divine, to produce them. John Stuart Mill, in + his Examination of Sir William Hamilton, 1:234-253, makes + sensations the only original sources of knowledge. He defines + matter as</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a + permanent possibility of sensation,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">and mind as</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">a series of feelings aware of + itself.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">So Huxley calls matter</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">only a + name for the unknown cause of the states of + consciousness</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + although he also declares:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">If I am compelled to choose between the + materialism of a man like Büchner and the idealism of Berkeley, + I would have to agree with Berkeley.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">He would hold to the priority of matter, and + yet regard matter as wholly ideal. Since John Stuart Mill, of + all the materialistic idealists, gives the most precise + definitions of matter and of mind, we attempt to show the + inadequacy of his treatment.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The most complete refutation of subjective + idealism is that of Sir William Hamilton, in his Metaphysics, + 348-372, and Theories of Sense-perception—the reply to Brown. + See condensed statement of Hamilton's view, with estimate and + criticism, in Porter, Human Intellect, 236-240, and on + Idealism, 129, 132. Porter holds that original perception gives + us simply affections of our own sensorium; as cause of these, + we gain knowledge of extended externality. So Sir William + Hamilton:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Sensation + proper has no object but a subject-object.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But both Porter and Hamilton hold that through + these sensations we know that which exists independently of our + sensations. Hamilton's natural realism, however, was an + exaggeration of the truth. Bowne, Introd. to Psych. Theory, + 257, 258—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In Sir + William Hamilton's desire to have no go-betweens in perception, + he was forced to maintain that every sensation is felt where it + seems to be, and hence that the mind fills out the entire body. + Likewise he had to affirm that the object in vision is not the + thing, but the rays of light, and even the object itself had, + at last, to be brought into consciousness. Thus he reached the + absurdity that the true object in perception is something of + which we are totally unconscious.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Surely we cannot be immediately conscious of + what is outside of consciousness. James, Psychology, + 1:11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + terminal organs are telephones, and brain-cells are the + receivers at which the mind listens.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Berkeley's view is to be found in his + Principles of Human Knowledge, § 18</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See also Presb. Rev., Apl. + 1885:301-315; Journ. Spec. Philos., 1884:246-260, 383-399; + Tulloch, Mod. Theories, 360, 361; Encyc. Britannica, art.: + Berkeley.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">There is, however, an idealism which is not + open to Hamilton's objections, and to which most recent + philosophers give their adhesion. It is the objective idealism + of Lotze. It argues that we know nothing of the extended world + except through the forces which impress our nervous organism. + These forces take the form of vibrations of air or ether, and + we interpret them as sound, light, or motion, according as they + affect our nerves of hearing, sight, or touch. But the only + force which we immediately know is that of our own wills, and + we can either not understand matter at all or we must + understand it as the product of a will comparable to our own. + Things are simply</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">concreted + laws of action,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">or divine ideas to which permanent reality has + been given by divine will. What we perceive in the normal + exercise of our faculties has existence not only for us but for + all intelligent beings and for God himself: in other words, our + idealism is not subjective, but objective. We have seen in the + previous section that atoms cannot explain the universe,—they + presuppose both ideas and force. We now see that this force + presupposes will, and these ideas presuppose mind. But, as it + still may be claimed that this mind is not self-conscious mind + and that this will is not personal will, we pass in the next + section to consider Idealistic Pantheism, of which these claims + are characteristic. Materialistic Idealism, in truth, is but a + half-way house between Materialism and Pantheism, in which no + permanent lodging is to be found by the logical + intelligence.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Lotze, Outlines of Metaphysics, + 152—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + objectivity of our cognition consists therefore in this, that + it is not a meaningless play of mere seeming; but it brings + before us a world whose coherency is ordered in pursuance of + the injunction of the sole Reality in the world, to wit, the + Good. Our cognition thus possesses more of truth than if it + copied exactly a world that has no value in itself. Although it + does not comprehend in what manner all that is phenomenon is + presented to the view, still it understands what is the meaning + of it all; and is like to a spectator</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page097">[pg 097]</span><a name="Pg097" id= + "Pg097" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">who comprehends the æsthetic significance of + that which takes place on the stage of a theatre, and would + gain nothing essential if he were to see besides the machinery + by means of which the changes are effected on the + stage.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Professor C. A. Strong:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Perception is a shadow thrown upon the mind by + a thing-in-itself. The shadow is the symbol of the thing; and, + as shadows are soulless and dead, physical objects may seem + soulless and dead, while the reality symbolized is never so + soulful and alive. Consciousness is reality. The only existence + of which we can conceive is mental in its nature. All + existence</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">for</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">consciousness is existence</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">of</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">consciousness. The horse's shadow + accompanies him, but it does not help him to draw the cart. The + brain-event is simply the mental state itself regarded from the + point of view of the perception.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Aristotle:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Substance is in its nature prior to + relation</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">= there can be no relation without + things to be related. Fichte:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Knowledge, just because it is knowledge, is + not reality,—it comes not first, but second.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Veitch, Knowing and Being, 216, 217, 292, + 293—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Thought + can do nothing, except as it is a synonym for Thinker.... + Neither the finite nor the infinite consciousness, alone or + together, can constitute an object external, or explain its + existence. The existence of a thing logically precedes the + perception of it. Perception is not creation. It is not the + thinking that makes the ego, but the ego that makes the + thinking.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Seth, Hegelianism and + Personality:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Divine + thoughts presuppose a divine Being. God's thoughts do not + constitute the real world. The real force does not lie in + them,—it lies in the divine Being, as living, active + Will.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Here was the fundamental error of + Hegel, that he regarded the Universe as mere Idea, and gave + little thought to the Love and the Will that constitute it. See + John Fiske, Cosmic Philosophy, 1:75; 2:80; Contemp. Rev., Oct. + 1872: art. on Huxley; Lowndes, Philos. Primary Beliefs, + 115-143; Atwater (on Ferrier), in Princeton Rev., 1857:258, + 280; Cousin, Hist. Philosophy, 2:239-343; Veitch's Hamilton, + (Blackwood's Philos. Classics,) 176, 191; A. H. Strong, + Philosophy and Religion, 58-74.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">To this view + we make the following objections:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">1. Its + definition of matter as a <span class="tei tei-q">“permanent + possibility of sensation”</span> contradicts our intuitive + judgment that, in knowing the phenomena of matter, we have direct + knowledge of substance as underlying phenomena, as distinct from + our sensations, and as external to the mind which experiences + these sensations.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bowne, Metaphysics, 432—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">How the possibility of an odor and a flavor can + be the cause of the yellow color of an orange is probably + unknowable, except to a mind that can see that two and two may + make five.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Iverach's Philosophy of Spencer + Examined, in Present Day Tracts, 5: no. 29. Martineau, Study, + 1:102-112—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If external + impressions are telegraphed to the brain, intelligence must + receive the message at the beginning as well as deliver it at the + end.... It is the external object which gives the possibility, + not the possibility which gives the external object. The mind + cannot make both its</span> <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cognita</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and its</span> <span lang="la" + class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cognitio</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">. + It cannot dispense with standing-ground for its own feet, or + with atmosphere for its own wings.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Professor Charles A. Strong:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Kant held + to things-in-themselves back of physical phenomena, as well as + to things-in-themselves back of mental phenomena; he thought + things-in-themselves back of physical might be identical with + things-in-themselves back of mental phenomena. And since mental + phenomena, on this theory, are not specimens of reality, and + reality manifests itself indifferently through them and through + physical phenomena, he naturally concluded that we have no + ground for supposing reality to be like either—that we must + conceive of it as</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">weder + Materie noch ein denkend Wesen</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">neither + matter nor a thinking being</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">—a + theory of the Unknowable. Would that it had been also the + Unthinkable and the Unmentionable!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ralph Waldo Emerson was a subjective idealist; + but, when called to inspect a farmer's load of wood, he said to + his company:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Excuse me + a moment, my friends; we have to attend to these matters, just + as if they were real.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Mivart, On Truth, 71-141.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">2. Its + definition of mind as a <span class="tei tei-q">“series of + feelings aware of itself”</span> contradicts our intuitive + judgment that, in knowing the phenomena of mind, we have direct + knowledge of a spiritual substance of which these phenomena are + manifestations, which retains its identity independently of + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page098">[pg 098]</span><a name= + "Pg098" id="Pg098" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> our consciousness, + and which, in its knowing, instead of being the passive recipient + of impressions from without, always acts from within by a power + of its own.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">James, Psychology, 1:226—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It seems as if the elementary psychic fact were + not</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">thought</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + or</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">this + thought</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, or</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">that + thought</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, but</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">my + thought</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, every thought + being owned. The universal conscious fact is not</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">feelings + and thoughts exist,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">but</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I think,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I feel.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Professor James is compelled to say this, even + though he begins his Psychology without insisting upon the + existence of a soul. Hamilton's Reid, 443—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Shall I think that thought can stand by + itself? or that ideas can feel pleasure or + pain?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">R. T. Smith, Man's Knowledge, + 44—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We + say</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">my + notions and my passions,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and when we use these phrases we imply that + our central self is felt to be something different from the + notions or passions which belong to it or characterize it for a + time.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Lichtenberg:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We should say,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It thinks;</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">just as we say,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It lightens,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">or</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It + rains.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In saying</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Cogito,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">the philosopher goes too far if he translates + it,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + think.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Are the faculties, then, an army without a + general, or an engine without a driver? In that case we should + not</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">have</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">sensations,—we + should only</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">be</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">sensations.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Professor C. A. Strong:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I have knowledge of</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">other + minds</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. This + non-empirical knowledge—transcendent knowledge of + things-in-themselves, derived neither from experience nor + reasoning, and assuming that like consequents (intelligent + movements) must have like antecedents (thoughts and feelings), + and also assuming instinctively that something exists outside + of my own mind—this refutes the post-Kantian + phenomenalism.</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Perception</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">memory</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">also involve transcendence. In + both I transcend the bounds of experience, as truly as in my + knowledge of other minds. In memory I recognize a</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">past</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + as distinguished from the present. In perception I cognize a + possibility of</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">other</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">experiences like the present, and + this alone gives the sense of permanence and reality. + Perception and memory refute phenomenalism. + Things-in-themselves must be assumed in order to fill the gaps + between individual minds, and to give coherence and + intelligibility to the universe, and so to avoid pluralism. If + matter can influence and even extinguish our minds, it must + have some force of its own, some existence in itself. If + consciousness is an evolutionary product, it must have arisen + from simpler mental facts. But these simpler mental facts are + only another name for things-in-themselves. A deep prerational + instinct compels us to recognize them, for they cannot be + logically demonstrated. We must assume them in order to give + continuity and intelligibility to our conceptions of the + universe.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See, on Bain's Cerebral + Psychology, Martineau's Essays, 1:265. On the physiological + method of mental philosophy, see Talbot, in Bap. Quar., 1871:1; + Bowen, in Princeton Rev., March, 1878:423-450; Murray, + Psychology, 279-287.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">3. In so far + as this theory regards mind as the obverse side of matter, or as + a later and higher development from matter, the mere reference of + both mind and matter to an underlying force does not save the + theory from any of the difficulties of pure materialism already + mentioned; since in this case, equally with that, force is + regarded as purely physical, and the priority of spirit is + denied.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Herbert Spencer, Psychology, quoted by Fiske, + Cosmic Philosophy, 2:80—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Mind and nervous action are the subjective and + objective faces of the same thing. Yet we remain utterly + incapable of seeing, or even of imagining, how the two are + related. Mind still continues to us a something without kinship + to other things.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Owen, Anatomy of Vertebrates, quoted by Talbot, + Bap. Quar., Jan. 1871:5—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">All that I know of matter and mind in themselves + is that the former is an external centre of force, and the latter + an internal centre of force.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">New + Englander, Sept. 1883:636—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">If the atom be a mere centre of force and not a + real thing in itself, then the atom is a supersensual essence, an + immaterial being. To make immaterial matter the source of + conscious mind is to make matter as wonderful as an immortal soul + or a personal Creator.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">See + New Englander, July, 1875:532-535; Martineau, Study, 102-130, and + Relig. and Mod. Materialism, 25—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">If it takes mind to construe the universe, how + can the negation of mind constitute it?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">David J. Hill, in his Genetic Philosophy, 200, + 201, seems to deny that thought precedes force, or that force + precedes thought:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Objects, + or things in the external world,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page099">[pg 099]</span><a name="Pg099" id= + "Pg099" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">may be elements of a thought-process in a + cosmic subject, without themselves being conscious.... A true + analysis and a rational genesis require the equal recognition + of both the objective and the subjective elements of + experience, without priority in time, separation in space or + disruption of being. So far as our minds can penetrate reality, + as disclosed in the activities of thought, we are everywhere + confronted with a Dynamic Reason.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">In Dr. Hill's account of the genesis of the + universe, however, the unconscious comes first, and from it the + conscious seems to be derived. Consciousness of the object is + only the obverse side of the object of consciousness. This is, + as Martineau, Study, 1:341, remarks,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">to take the sea on board the + boat.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We greatly prefer the view of + Lotze, 2:641—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Things + are acts of the Infinite wrought within minds alone, or states + which the Infinite experiences nowhere but in minds.... Things + and events are the sum of those actions which the highest + Principle performs in all spirits so uniformly and coherently, + that to these spirits there must seem to be a world of + substantial and efficient things existing in space outside + themselves.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The data from which we draw our + inferences as to the nature of the external world being mental + and spiritual, it is more rational to attribute to that world a + spiritual reality than a kind of reality of which our + experience knows nothing. See also Schurman, Belief in God, + 208, 225.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">4. In so far + as this theory holds the underlying force of which matter and + mind are manifestations to be in any sense intelligent or + voluntary, it renders necessary the assumption that there is an + intelligent and voluntary Being who exerts this force. Sensations + and ideas, moreover, are explicable only as manifestations of + Mind.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Many recent Christian thinkers, as Murphy, + Scientific Bases of Faith, 13-15, 29-36, 42-52, would define mind + as a function of matter, matter as a function of force, force as + a function of will, and therefore as the power of an omnipresent + and personal God. All force, except that of man's free will, is + the will of God. So Herschel, Lectures, 460; Argyll, Reign of + Law, 121-127; Wallace on Nat. Selection, 363-371; Martineau, + Essays, 1:63, 121, 145, 265; Bowen, Metaph. and Ethics, 146-162. + These writers are led to their conclusion in large part by the + considerations that nothing dead can be a proper cause; that will + is the only cause of which we have immediate knowledge; that the + forces of nature are intelligible only when they are regarded as + exertions of will. Matter, therefore, is simply centres of + force—the regular and, as it were, automatic expression of God's + mind and will. Second causes in nature are only secondary + activities of the great First Cause.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">This view is held also by Bowne, in his + Metaphysics. He regards only personality as real. Matter is + phenomenal, although it is an activity of the divine will + outside of us. Bowne's phenomenalism is therefore an objective + idealism, greatly preferable to that of Berkeley who held to + God's energizing indeed, but only within the soul. This + idealism of Bowne is not pantheism, for it holds that, while + there are no second causes in nature, man is a second cause, + with a personality distinct from that of God, and lifted above + nature by his powers of free will. Royce, however, in his + Religious Aspect of Philosophy, and in his The World and the + Individual, makes man's consciousness a part or aspect of a + universal consciousness, and so, instead of making God come to + consciousness in man, makes man come to consciousness in God. + While this scheme seems, in one view, to save God's + personality, it may be doubted whether it equally guarantees + man's personality or leaves room for man's freedom, + responsibility, sin and guilt. Bowne, Philos. Theism, + 175—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“ </span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Universal + reason</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is a class-term which denotes no + possible existence, and which has reality only in the specific + existences from which it is abstracted.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bowne claims that the impersonal finite has + only such otherness as a thought or act has to its subject. + There is no substantial existence except in persons. Seth, + Hegelianism and Personality:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Neo-Kantianism erects into a God the mere form + of self-consciousness in general, that is, confounds + consciousness</span> <span lang="de" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="de"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">überhaupt</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">with + a</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">universal</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">consciousness.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bowne, Theory of Thought and Knowledge, + 318-343, esp. 328—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Is there + anything in existence but myself? Yes. To escape solipsism I + must admit at least other persons. Does the world of apparent + objects exist for me only? No; it exists for others also, so + that we live in a common world. Does this common world consist + in anything more than a similarity of impressions in finite + minds, so that the world apart from these is nothing? This view + cannot be disproved, but it accords so ill with the impression + of</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page100">[pg + 100]</span><a name="Pg100" id="Pg100" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">our total + experience that it is practically impossible. Is then the world + of things a continuous existence of some kind independent of + finite thought and consciousness? This claim cannot be + demonstrated, but it is the only view that does not involve + insuperable difficulties. What is the nature and where is the + place of this cosmic existence? That is the question between + Realism and Idealism. Realism views things as existing in a + real space, and as true ontological realities. Idealism views + both them and the space in which they are supposed to be + existing as existing only in and for a cosmic Intelligence, and + apart from which they are absurd and contradictory. Things are + independent of</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">our</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">thought, but not independent + of</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">all</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">thought, in a lumpish materiality + which is the antithesis and negation of + consciousness.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See also Martineau, Study, 1:214-230, 341. For + advocacy of the substantive existence of second causes, see + Porter, Hum. Intellect, 582-588; Hodge, Syst. Theol., 1:596; + Alden, Philosophy, 48-80; Hodgson, Time and Space, 149-218; A. + J. Balfour, in Mind, Oct. 1893: 430.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc93" id="toc93"></a> <a name="pdf94" id="pdf94"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">III. Idealistic + Pantheism.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Pantheism is + that method of thought which conceives of the universe as the + development of one intelligent and voluntary, yet impersonal, + substance, which reaches consciousness only in man. It therefore + identifies God, not with each individual object in the universe, + but with the totality of things. The current Pantheism of our day + is idealistic.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The elements + of truth in Pantheism are the intelligence and voluntariness of + God, and his immanence in the universe; its error lies in denying + God's personality and transcendence.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Pantheism denies the real existence of the + finite, at the same time that it deprives the Infinite of + self-consciousness and freedom. See Hunt, History of Pantheism; + Manning, Half-truths and the Truth; Bayne, Christian Life, Social + and Individual, 21-53; Hutton, on Popular Pantheism, in Essays, + 1:55-76—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + pantheist's</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I believe + in God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, is + a contradiction. He says:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I perceive the external as different from + myself; but on further reflection, I perceive that this external + was itself the percipient agency.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">So + the worshiped is really the worshiper after + all.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Harris, Philosophical Basis of + Theism, 173—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Man is a + bottle of the ocean's water, in the ocean, temporarily + distinguishable by its limitation within the bottle, but lost + again in the ocean, so soon as these fragile limits are + broken.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Martineau, Types, 1:23—Mere + immanency excludes Theism; transcendency leaves it still + possible; 211-225—Pantheism declares that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">there is nothing but God; he is not only sole + cause but entire effect; he is all in all.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Spinoza has been falsely called</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + God-intoxicated man.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Spinoza, on the contrary, translated God into + the universe; it was Malebranche who transfigured the universe + into God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The later Brahmanism is pantheistic. Rowland + Williams, Christianity and Hinduism, quoted in Mozley on + Miracles, 284—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In the + final state personality vanishes. You will not, says the + Brahman, accept the term</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">void</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">as an adequate description of the mysterious + nature of the soul, but you will clearly apprehend soul, in the + final state, to be unseen and ungrasped being, thought, + knowledge, joy—no other than very God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Flint, Theism, 69—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Where the will is without energy, and rest is + longed for as the end of existence, as among the Hindus, there + is marked inability to think of God as cause or will, and + constant inveterate tendency to pantheism.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hegel denies God's transcendence:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God is + not a spirit beyond the stars; he is spirit in all + spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + which means that God, the impersonal and unconscious Absolute, + comes to consciousness only in man. If the eternal system of + abstract thoughts were itself conscious, finite consciousness + would disappear; hence the alternative is either</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">no + God</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, or</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">no + man</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. Stirling:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The Idea, + so conceived, is a blind, dumb, invisible idol, and the theory + is the most hopeless theory that has ever been presented to + humanity.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It is practical autolatry, or + self-deification. The world is reduced to a mere process of + logic; thought thinks; there is thought without a thinker. To + this doctrine of Hegel we may well oppose the remarks of + Lotze:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We cannot + make mind the equivalent of the infinitive</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">to + think</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">,—we feel that it + must be that which thinks; the essence of things cannot be + either existence or activity,—it must be that which exists and + that which acts. Thinking means nothing, if it is not the + thinking of a thinker; acting and working mean nothing, if we + leave out the conception of a subject distinguishable from them + and from which they proceed.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">To Hegel, Being</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">is</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Thought; to Spinoza, Being</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page101">[pg 101]</span><a name= + "Pg101" id="Pg101" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">has</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Thought + Extension; the truth + seems to be that Being</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">has</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Thought + Will, and</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">may</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">reveal itself in Extension and + Evolution (Creation).</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">By other philosophers, however, Hegel is + otherwise interpreted. Prof. H. Jones, in Mind, July, 1893: + 289-306, claims that Hegel's fundamental Idea is not Thought, + but Thinking:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + universe to him was not a system of thoughts, but a thinking + reality, manifested most fully in man.... The fundamental + reality is the universal intelligence whose operation we should + seek to detect in all things. All reality is ultimately + explicable as Spirit, or Intelligence,—hence our ontology must + be a Logic, and the laws of things must be laws of + thinking.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Sterrett, in like manner, in his + Studies in Hegel's Philosophy of Religion, 17, quotes Hegel's + Logic, Wallace's translation, 89, 91, 236:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Spinoza's</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Substance</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is, as it were, a dark, shapeless + abyss, which devours all definite content as utterly null, and + produces from itself nothing that has positive subsistence in + itself.... God is Substance,—he is, however, no less the + Absolute Person.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This is essential to religion, but this, says + Hegel, Spinoza never perceived:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Everything depends upon the Absolute Truth + being perceived, not merely as Substance, but as + Subject.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God is self-conscious and self-determining + Spirit. Necessity is excluded. Man is free and immortal. Men + are not mechanical parts of God, nor do they lose their + identity, although they</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">find + themselves</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">truly only + in him. With this estimate of Hegel's system, Caird, Erdmann + and Mulford substantially agree. This is Tennyson's</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Higher + Pantheism.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Seth, Ethical Principles, + 440—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Hegel + conceived the superiority of his system to Spinozism to lie in + the substitution of Subject for Substance. The true Absolute + must contain, instead of abolishing, relations; the true Monism + must include, instead of excluding, Pluralism. A One which, + like Spinoza's Substance, or the Hegelian Absolute, does not + enable us to think the Many, cannot be the true One—the unity + of the Manifold.... Since evil exists, Schopenhauer substituted + for Hegel's Panlogism, which asserted the identity of the + rational and the real, a blind impulse of life,—for absolute + Reason he substituted a reasonless Will</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">—a + system of practical pessimism. Alexander, Theories of Will, + 5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Spinoza + recognized no distinction between will and intellectual + affirmation or denial.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">John Caird, Fund. Ideas of Christianity, + 1:107—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">As there + is no reason in the conception of pure space why any figures or + forms, lines, surfaces, solids, should arise in it, so there is + no reason in the pure colorless abstraction of Infinite + Substance why any world of finite things and beings should ever + come into existence. It is the grave of all things, the + productive source of nothing.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hegel called Schelling's Identity or + Absolute</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + infinite night in which all cows are black</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—an allusion to Goethe's Faust, part 2, act 1, + where the words are added:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">and cats are gray.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Although Hegel's preference of the term + Subject, instead of the term Substance, has led many to + maintain that he believed in a personality of God distinct from + that of man, his over-emphasis of the Idea, and his comparative + ignoring of the elements of Love and Will, leave it still + doubtful whether his Idea was anything more than unconscious + and impersonal intelligence—less materialistic than that of + Spinoza indeed, yet open to many of the same + objections.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We object to + this system as follows:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">1. Its idea of + God is self-contradictory, since it makes him infinite, yet + consisting only of the finite; absolute, yet existing in + necessary relation to the universe; supreme, yet shut up to a + process of self-evolution and dependent for self-consciousness on + man; without self-determination, yet the cause of all that + is.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Saisset, Pantheism, 148—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">An imperfect God, yet perfection arising from + imperfection.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Shedd, Hist. Doctrine, + 1:13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Pantheism + applies to God a principle of growth and imperfection, which + belongs only to the finite.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Calderwood, Moral Philos., + 245—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Its first + requisite is moment, or movement, which it assumes, but does + not account for.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Caro's sarcasm applies here:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Your God + is not yet made—he is in process of + manufacture.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See H. B. Smith, Faith and + Philosophy, 25. Pantheism is practical atheism, for impersonal + spirit is only blind and necessary force. Angelus + Silesius:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Wir + beten</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Es + gescheh, mein Herr und Gott, dein Wille</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + Und sieh', Er hat nicht Will',—Er ist ein ew'ge + Stille</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—which Max Müller translates as + follows:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We + pray,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">O Lord + our God, Do thou thy holy Will</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + and see! God has no will; He is at peace and + still.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Angelus Silesius consistently makes God + dependent for self-consciousness on man:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page102">[pg 102]</span><a name="Pg102" id= + "Pg102" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I know that God cannot live An instant without + me; He must give up the ghost, If I should cease to + be.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Seth, Hegelianism and + Personality:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hegelianism destroys both God and man. It + reduces man to an object of the universal Thinker, and leaves + this universal Thinker without any true + personality.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Pantheism is a game of solitaire, + in which God plays both sides.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">2. Its assumed + unity of substance is not only without proof, but it directly + contradicts our intuitive judgments. These testify that we are + not parts and particles of God, but distinct personal + subsistences.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Martineau, Essays, 1:158—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Even for immanency, there must be something + wherein to dwell, and for life, something whereon to + act.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Many systems of monism contradict + consciousness; they confound harmony between two with absorption + in one.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + Scripture we never find the universe called τὸ πᾶν, for this + suggests the idea of a self-contained unity: we have everywhere + τὰ πάντα instead.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">The + Bible recognizes the element of truth in pantheism—God is</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">through + all</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + also the element of truth in mysticism—God is</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in you + all</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + but it adds the element of transcendence which both these fail + to recognize—God is</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">above + all</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Eph. + 4:6)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. See Fisher, + Essays on Supernat. Orig. of Christianity, 539. G. D. B. + Pepper:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He who is + over all and in all is yet distinct from all. If one is over a + thing, he is not that very thing which he is over. If one is in + something, he must be distinct from that something. And so the + universe, over which and in which God is, must be thought of as + something distinct from God. The creation cannot be identical + with God, or a mere form of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We add, however, that it may be a + manifestation of God and dependent upon God, as our thoughts + and acts are manifestations of our mind and will and dependent + upon our mind and will, yet are not themselves our mind and + will.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Pope wrote:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">All are but parts of one stupendous whole, + Whose body nature is and God the soul.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But Case, Physical Realism, 193, + replies:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Not so. + Nature is to God as works are to a man; and as man's works are + not his body, so neither is nature the body of + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Matthew Arnold, On Heine's + Grave:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">What are + we all but a mood, A single mood of the life Of the Being in + whom we exist, Who alone is all things in + one?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Hovey, Studies, + 51—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Scripture + recognizes the element of truth in pantheism, but it also + teaches the existence of a world of things, animate and + inanimate, in distinction from God. It represents men as prone + to worship the creature more than the Creator. It describes + them as sinners worthy of death ... moral agents.... It no more + thinks of men as being literally parts of God, than it thinks + of children as being parts of their parents, or subjects as + being parts of their king.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">A. J. F. Behrends:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The true doctrine lies between the two + extremes of a crass dualism which makes God and the world two + self-contained entities, and a substantial monism in which the + universe has only a phenomenal existence. There is no identity + of substance nor division of the divine substance. The universe + is eternally dependent, the product of the divine</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Word</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + not simply</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">manufactured</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + Creation is primarily a spiritual act.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Prof. George M. Forbes:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Matter exists in subordinate dependence upon + God; spirit in coördinate dependence upon God. The body of + Christ was Christ externalized, made manifest to + sense-perception. In apprehending matter, I am apprehending the + mind and will of God. This is the highest sort of reality. + Neither matter nor finite spirits, then, are mere + phenomena.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">3. It assigns + no sufficient cause for that fact of the universe which is + highest in rank, and therefore most needs explanation, namely, + the existence of personal intelligences. A substance which is + itself unconscious, and under the law of necessity, cannot + produce beings who are self-conscious and free.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Gess, Foundations of our Faith, + 36—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Animal + instinct, and the spirit of a nation working out its language, + might furnish analogies, if they produced personalities as their + result, but not otherwise. Nor were these tendencies + self-originated, but received from an external + source.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">McCosh, Intuitions, 215, 393, and + Christianity and Positivism, 180. Seth, Freedom as an Ethical + Postulate, 47—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If man is + an</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">imperium in + imperio,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">not a person, but only an aspect or + expression of the universe or God, then he cannot be free. Man + may be depersonalized either into nature or into God. Through the + conception of our own personality we reach that of God. To + resolve our personality</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page103">[pg 103]</span><a name="Pg103" id="Pg103" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">into that of + God would be to negate the divine greatness itself by + invalidating the conception through which it was + reached.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Bradley, Appearance and Reality, + 551, is more ambiguous:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The positive relation of every appearance as an + adjective to Reality; and the presence of Reality among its + appearances in different degrees and with diverse values; this + double truth we have found to be the centre of + philosophy.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">He protests against both</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">an empty + transcendence</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <span class="tei tei-q"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">a shallow pantheism.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hegelian immanence and knowledge, he asserts, + identified God and man. But God is more than man or man's + thought. He is spirit and life—best understood from the + human</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">self</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + with its thoughts, feelings, volitions. Immanence needs to be + qualified by transcendence.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God is not God till he has become all-in-all, + and a God which is all-in-all is not the God of religion. God + is an aspect, and that must mean but an appearance of the + Absolute.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bradley's Absolute, therefore, is not so much + personal as super-personal; to which we reply with Jackson, + James Martineau, 416—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Higher than personality is lower; beyond it is + regression from its height. From the equator we may travel + northward, gaining ever higher and higher latitudes; but, if + ever the pole is reached, pressing on from thence will be + descending into lower latitudes, not gaining higher.... Do I + say, I am a pantheist? Then,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">ipso + facto</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, I deny + pantheism; for, in the very assertion of the Ego, I imply all + else as objective to me.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">4. It + therefore contradicts the affirmations of our moral and religious + natures by denying man's freedom and responsibility; by making + God to include in himself all evil as well as all good; and by + precluding all prayer, worship, and hope of immortality.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Conscience is the eternal witness against + pantheism. Conscience witnesses to our freedom and + responsibility, and declares that moral distinctions are not + illusory. Renouf, Hibbert Lect., 234—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is only out of condescension to popular + language that pantheistic systems can recognize the notions of + right and wrong, of iniquity and sin. If everything really + emanates from God, there can be no such thing as sin. And the + ablest philosophers who have been led to pantheistic views have + vainly endeavored to harmonize these views with what we + understand by the notion of sin or moral evil. The great + systematic work of Spinoza is entitled 'Ethica'; but for real + ethics we might as profitably consult the Elements of + Euclid.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Hodge, System. Theology, + 1:299-330—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Pantheism + is fatalistic. On this theory, duty = pleasure; right = might; + sin = good in the making. Satan, as well as Gabriel, is a + self-development of God. The practical effects of pantheism upon + popular morals and life, wherever it has prevailed, as in + Buddhist India and China, demonstrate its + falsehood.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See also Dove, Logic of the + Christian Faith, 118; Murphy, Scientific Bases of Faith, 202; + Bib. Sac., Oct. 1867:603-615; Dix, Pantheism, Introd., 12. On the + fact of sin as refuting the pantheistic theory, see Bushnell, + Nature and the Supernat., 140-164.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Wordsworth:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Look up to heaven! the industrious sun Already + half his course hath run; He cannot halt or go astray; But our + immortal spirits may.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">President John H. Harris;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">You never ask a cyclone's opinion of the ten + commandments.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bowne, Philos. of Theism, + 245—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Pantheism + makes man an automaton. But how can an automaton have + duties?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Principles of Ethics, + 18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Ethics is + defined as the science of conduct, and the conventions of + language are relied upon to cover up the fact that there is + no</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">conduct</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">in the case. If man be a proper automaton, we + might as well speak of the conduct of the winds as of human + conduct; and a treatise on planetary motions is as truly the + ethics of the solar system as a treatise on human movements is + the ethics of man.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">For lack of a clear recognition of + personality, either human or divine, Hegel's Ethics is devoid + of all spiritual nourishment,—his</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Rechtsphilosophie</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">has been called</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">a repast of bran.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Yet Professor Jones, in Mind, July, 1893:304, + tells us that Hegel's task was</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">to discover what conception of the single + principle or fundamental unity which alone</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">is</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">, is adequate to the differences which it + carries within it.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Being</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">he found, leaves no room for + differences,—it is overpowered by them.... He found that the + Reality can exist only as absolute Self-consciousness, as a + Spirit, who is universal, and who knows himself in all things. + In all this he is dealing, not simply with thoughts, but with + Reality.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Prof. Jones's vindication of + Hegel, however, still leaves it undecided whether that + philosopher regarded the divine self-consciousness as distinct + from that of finite beings, or as simply inclusive of theirs. + See John Caird, Fund. Ideas of Christianity, 1:109.</span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page104">[pg + 104]</span><a name="Pg104" id="Pg104" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">5. Our + intuitive conviction of the existence of a God of absolute + perfection compels us to conceive of God as possessed of every + highest quality and attribute of men, and therefore, especially, + of that which constitutes the chief dignity of the human spirit, + its personality.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Diman, Theistic Argument, + 328—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We have + no right to represent the supreme Cause as inferior to + ourselves, yet we do this when we describe it under phrases + derived from physical causation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Mivart, Lessons from Nature, + 351—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We cannot + conceive of anything as impersonal, yet of higher nature than + our own,—any being that has not knowledge and will must be + indefinitely inferior to one who has them.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Lotze holds truly, not that God is</span> + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">supra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">-personal, + but that man is</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">infra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">-personal, + seeing that in the infinite Being alone is self-subsistence, + and therefore perfect personality. Knight, Essays in + Philosophy, 224—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + radical feature of personality is the survival of a permanent + self, under all the fleeting or deciduous phases of experience; + in other words, the personal identity that is involved in the + assertion</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + am.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">... Is limitation a necessary adjunct of that + notion?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Seth, Hegelianism:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">As in us + there is more</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">for ourselves</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">than</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">for + others</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, so in God + there is more of thought</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">for himself</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">than he manifests</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">to + us</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. Hegel's doctrine + is that of immanence without transcendence.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Heinrich Heine was a pupil and intimate friend + of Hegel. He says:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I was + young and proud, and it pleased my vain-glory when I learned + from Hegel that the true God was not, as my grandmother + believed, the God who lived in heaven, but was rather</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">myself upon the + earth</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">John Fiske, Idea of God, + xvi—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Since our + notion of force is purely a generalization from our subjective + sensations of overcoming resistance, there is scarcely less + anthropomorphism in the phrase</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Infinite Power</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">than in the phrase</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Infinite Person.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We must symbolize Deity in some form that has + meaning to us; we cannot symbolize it as physical; we are bound + to symbolize it as psychical. Hence we may say, God is Spirit. + This implies God's personality.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">6. Its + objection to the divine personality, that over against the + Infinite there can be in eternity past no non-ego to call forth + self-consciousness, is refuted by considering that even man's + cognition of the non-ego logically presupposes knowledge of the + ego, from which the non-ego is distinguished; that, in an + absolute mind, self-consciousness cannot be conditioned, as in + the case of finite mind, upon contact with a not-self; and that, + if the distinguishing of self from a not-self were an essential + condition of divine self-consciousness, the eternal personal + distinctions in the divine nature or the eternal states of the + divine mind might furnish such a condition.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Pfleiderer, Die Religion, 1:163, 190</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Personal + self-consciousness is not primarily a distinguishing of the ego + from the non-ego, but rather a distinguishing of itself from + itself,</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, of the unity of + the self from the plurality of its contents.... Before the soul + distinguishes self from the not-self, it must know self—else it + could not see the distinction. Its development is connected + with the knowledge of the non-ego, but this is due, not to the + fact of</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">personality</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + but to the fact of</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">finite</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">personality. The mature man can + live for a long time upon his own resources. God needs no + other, to stir him up to mental activity. Finiteness is a + hindrance to the development of our personality. Infiniteness + is necessary to the highest personality.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Lotze, Microcosmos, vol. 3, chapter 4; transl. + in N. Eng., March, 1881:191-200—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Finite spirit, not having conditions of + existence in itself, can know the ego only upon occasion of + knowing the non-ego. The Infinite is not so limited. He alone + has an independent existence, neither introduced nor developed + through anything not himself, but, in an inward activity + without beginning or end, maintains himself in + himself.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See also Lotze, Philos. of + Religion, 55-69; H. N. Gardiner on Lotze, in Presb. Rev., + 1885:669-673; Webb, in Jour. Theol. Studies, + 2:49-61.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dorner, Glaubenslehre:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Absolute Personality = perfect consciousness + of self, and perfect power over self. We need something + external to waken our consciousness—yet self-consciousness + comes [logically] before consciousness of the world. It is the + soul's act. Only after it has distinguished self from self, can + it consciously distinguish self from + another.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">British Quarterly, Jan. 1874:32, + note; July, 1884:108—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The ego is</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">thinkable</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">only in relation to the non-ego; + but the ego is</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">liveable</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">long before any such</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page105">[pg 105]</span><a name= + "Pg105" id="Pg105" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">relation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Shedd, Dogm. Theol., 1:185, 186—In the + pantheistic scheme,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + distinguishes himself from the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">world</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + and thereby finds the object required by the subject; ... in + the Christian scheme, God distinguishes himself from</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">himself</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + not from something that is not himself.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Julius Müller, Doctrine of Sin, 2:122-126; + Christlieb, Mod. Doubt and Christ. Belief, 161-190; Hanne, Idee + der absoluten Persönlichkeit; Eichhorn, Die Persönlichkeit + Gottes; Seth, Hegelianism and Personality; Knight, on + Personality and the Infinite, in Studies in Philos. and Lit., + 70-118.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">On the whole subject of Pantheism, see + Martineau, Study of Religion, 2:141-194, esp. + 192—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">personality</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of God consists in his voluntary + agency as free cause in an unpledged sphere, that is, a sphere + transcending that of immanent law. But precisely this also it + is that constitutes his</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">infinity</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + extending his sway, after it has filled the actual, over all + the possible, and giving command over indefinite alternatives. + Though you might deny his infinity without prejudice to his + personality, you cannot deny his personality without + sacrificing his infinitude: for there is a mode of + action—the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">preferential</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + the very mode which distinguishes rational beings—from which + you exclude him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + 341—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + metaphysicians who, in their impatience of distinction, insist + on taking the sea on board the boat, swamp not only it but the + thought it holds, and leave an infinitude which, as it can look + into no eye and whisper into no ear, they contradict in the + very act of affirming.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Jean Paul Richter's</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dream</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + wandered to the farthest verge of Creation, and there I saw + a</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Socket</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + where an</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eye</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">should have been, and I heard the + shriek of a Fatherless World</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(quoted in David Brown's Memoir of John + Duncan, 49-70). Shelley, Beatrice Cenci:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Sweet Heaven, forgive weak thoughts! If there + should be No God, no Heaven, no Earth, in the void world—The + wide, grey, lampless, deep, unpeopled world!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">For the opposite view, see Biedermann, + Dogmatik, 638-647—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Only man, + as finite spirit, is personal; God, as absolute spirit, is not + personal. Yet in religion the mutual relations of intercourse + and communion are always personal.... Personality is the only + adequate term by which we can represent the theistic conception + of God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Bruce, Providential Order, + 76—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Schopenhauer does not level up cosmic force to + the human, but levels down human will-force to the cosmic. + Spinoza held intellect in God to be no more like man's than the + dog-star is like a dog. Hartmann added intellect to + Schopenhauer's will, but the intellect is unconscious and knows + no moral distinctions.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See also Bruce, Apologetics, 71-90; Bowne, + Philos. of Theism, 128-134, 171-186; J. M. Whiton, Am. Jour. + Theol., Apl. 1901:306—Pantheism = God consists in all things; + Theism = All things consist in God, their ground, not their + sum. Spirit in man shows that the infinite Spirit must be + personal and transcendent Mind and Will.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc95" id="toc95"></a> <a name="pdf96" id="pdf96"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">IV. Ethical Monism.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Ethical Monism + is that method of thought which holds to a single substance, + ground, or principle of being, namely, God, but which also holds + to the ethical facts of God's transcendence as well as his + immanence, and of God's personality as distinct from, and as + guaranteeing, the personality of man.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Although we do not here assume the authority of + the Bible, reserving our proof of this to the next following + division on The Scriptures a Revelation from God, we may yet cite + passages which show that our doctrine is not inconsistent with + the teachings of holy Writ. The immanence of God is implied in + all statements of his omnipresence, as for example:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. 139:7 + sq.—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Whither + shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy + presence?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jer. 23:23, + 24—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Am I a God + at hand, saith Jehovah, and not a God afar off?... Do not I fill + heaven and earth?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + Acts 17:27, 28—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he is not + far from each one of us: for in him we live, and move, and have + our being.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The transcendence of God is implied in such + passages as:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Kings + 8:27—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain + thee</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 113:5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">that hath + his seat on high</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 57:15—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the high + and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">This is the faith of Augustine:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">O God, + thou hast made us for thyself, and our heart is restless till + it find rest in thee.... I could not be, O my God, could not be + at all, wert thou not in me; rather, were not I in thee, of + whom are all things, by whom are all things, in whom are all + things.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">And Anselm, in his Proslogion, + says of the divine nature:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is the essence of the being, the principle + of the existence, of all things.... Without parts, without + differences, without accidents, without changes, it might be + said in a certain sense alone to exist, for in respect to it + the other things</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page106">[pg 106]</span><a name="Pg106" id="Pg106" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">which appear + to be have no existence. The unchangeable Spirit is all that + is, and it is this without limit, simply, interminably. It is + the perfect and absolute Existence. The rest has come from + non-entity, and thither returns if not supported by God. It + does not exist by itself. In this sense the Creator alone + exists; created things do not.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">1. While + Ethical Monism embraces the one element of truth contained in + Pantheism—the truth that God is in all things and that all things + are in God—it regards this scientific unity as entirely + consistent with the facts of ethics—man's freedom, + responsibility, sin, and guilt; in other words, Metaphysical + Monism, or the doctrine of one substance, ground, or principle of + being, is qualified by Psychological Dualism, or the doctrine + that the soul is personally distinct from matter on the one hand, + and from God on the other.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ethical Monism is a monism which holds to the + ethical facts of the freedom of man and the transcendence and + personality of God; it is the monism of free-will, in which + personality, both human and divine, sin and righteousness, God + and the world, remain—two in one, and one in two—in their moral + antithesis as well as their natural unity. Ladd, Introd. to + Philosophy:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Dualism is + yielding, in history and in the judgment-halls of reason, to a + monistic philosophy.... Some form of philosophical monism is + indicated by the researches of psycho-physics, and by that + philosophy of mind which builds upon the principles ascertained + by these researches. Realities correlated as are the body and the + mind must have, as it were, a common ground.... They have their + reality in the ultimate one Reality; they have their interrelated + lives as expressions of the one Life which is immanent in the + two.... Only some form of monism that shall satisfy the facts and + truths to which both realism and idealism appeal can occupy the + place of the true and final philosophy.... Monism must so + construct its tenets as to preserve, or at least as not to + contradict and destroy, the truths implicated in the distinction + between the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">me</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">not-me</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + ... between the morally good and the morally evil. No form of + monism can persistently maintain itself which erects its system + upon the ruins of fundamentally ethical principles and + ideals.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">... Philosophy of Mind, + 411—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Dualism + must be dissolved in some ultimate monistic solution. The Being + of the world, of which all particular beings are but parts, + must be so conceived of as that in it can be found the one + ground of all interrelated existences and activities.... This + one Principle is an Other and an Absolute + Mind.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dorner, Hist. Doct. Person of Christ, II, + 3:101, 231—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The unity + of essence in God and man is the great discovery of the present + age.... The characteristic feature of all recent Christologies + is the endeavor to point out the essential unity of the divine + and human. To the theology of the present day, the divine and + human are not mutually exclusive, but are connected + magnitudes.... Yet faith postulates a difference between the + world and God, between whom religion seeks an union. Faith does + not wish to be a relation merely to itself, or to its own + representations and thoughts; that would be a monologue,—faith + desires a dialogue. Therefore it does not consort with a monism + which recognizes only God, or only the world; it opposes such a + monism as this. Duality is, in fact, a condition of true and + vital unity. But duality is not dualism. It has no desire to + oppose the rational demand for unity.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Professor Small of Chicago:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">With rare + exceptions on each side, all philosophy to-day is monistic in + its ontological presumptions; it is dualistic in its + methodological procedures.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">A. H. Bradford, Age of Faith, + 71—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Men and + God are the same in substance, though not identical as + individuals.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The theology of fifty years ago + was merely individualistic, and ignored the complementary truth + of solidarity. Similarly we think of the continents and islands + of our globe as disjoined from one another. The dissociable sea + is regarded as an absolute barrier between them. But if the + ocean could be dried, we should see that all the while there + had been submarine connections, and the hidden unity of all + lands would appear. So the individuality of human beings, real + as it is, is not the only reality. There is the profounder fact + of a common life. Even the great mountain-peaks of personality + are superficial distinctions, compared with the organic oneness + in which they are rooted, into which they all dip down, and + from which they all, like volcanoes, receive at times quick and + overflowing impulses of insight, emotion and energy; see A. H. + Strong, Christ in Creation and Ethical Monism, 189, + 190.</span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page107">[pg + 107]</span><a name="Pg107" id="Pg107" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">2. In contrast + then with the two errors of Pantheism—the denial of God's + transcendence and the denial of God's personality—Ethical Monism + holds that the universe, instead of being one with God and + conterminous with God, is but a finite, partial and progressive + manifestation of the divine Life: Matter being God's + self-limitation under the law of Necessity; Humanity being God's + self-limitation under the law of Freedom; Incarnation and + Atonement being God's self-limitations under the law of + Grace.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The universe is related to God as my thoughts + are related to me, the thinker. I am greater than my thoughts, + and my thoughts vary in moral value. Ethical Monism traces the + universe back to a beginning, while Pantheism regards the + universe as coëternal with God. Ethical Monism asserts God's + transcendence, while Pantheism regards God as imprisoned in the + universe. Ethical Monism asserts that the heaven of heavens + cannot contain him, but that contrariwise the whole universe + taken together, with its elements and forces, its suns and + systems, is but a light breath from his mouth, or a drop of dew + upon the fringe of his garment. Upton, Hibbert Lectures:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The Eternal + is present in every finite thing, and is felt and known to be + present in every rational soul; but still is not broken up into + individualities, but ever remains one and the same eternal + substance, one and the same unifying principle, immanently and + indivisibly present in every one of that countless plurality of + finite individuals into which man's analyzing understanding + dissects the Cosmos.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">James Martineau, in 19th Century, Apl. + 1895:559—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">What is + Nature but the province of God's pledged and habitual causality? + And what is Spirit, but the province of his free causality, + responding to the needs and affections of his children?... God is + not a retired architect, who may now and then be called in for + repairs. Nature is not self-active, and God's agency is not + intrusive.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Calvin: Pie hoc potest dici, Deum + esse Naturam.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">With this doctrine many poets show their + sympathy.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Every + fresh and new creation, A divine improvisation, From the heart + of God proceeds.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Robert Browning asserts God's immanence; + Hohenstiel-Schwangau:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">This is the glory that, in all conceived Or + felt, or known, I recognize a Mind—Not mine, but like mine—for + the double joy, Making all things for me, and me for + him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + Ring and Book, Pope:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">O thou, as represented to me here In such + conception as my soul allows—Under thy measureless, my + atom-width! Man's mind, what is it but a convex glass, Wherein + are gathered all the scattered points Picked out of the + immensity of sky, To reunite there, be our heaven for earth, + Our Known Unknown, our God revealed to man?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But Browning also asserts God's transcendence: + in Death in the Desert, we read:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Man is not God, but hath God's end to serve, A + Master to obey, a Cause to take, Somewhat to cast off, somewhat + to become</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + in Christmas Eve, the poet derides</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The important stumble Of adding, he, the sage + and humble, Was also one with the Creator</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + he tells us that it was God's plan to make man in his + image:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">To create + man, and then leave him Able, his own word saith, to grieve + him; But able to glorify him too, As a mere machine could never + do That prayed or praised, all unaware Of its fitness for aught + but praise or prayer, Made perfect as a thing of course.... + God, whose pleasure brought Man into being, stands away, As it + were, a hand-breadth off, to give Room for the newly made to + live And look at him from a place apart And use his gifts of + brain and heart</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Life's + business being just the terrible choice.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">So Tennyson's Higher Pantheism:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The sun, + the moon, the stars, the seas, the hills, and the plains, Are + not these, O soul, the vision of Him who reigns? Dark is the + world to thee; thou thyself art the reason why; For is not He + all but thou, that hast power to feel</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I am I</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">? + Speak to him, thou, for he hears, and spirit with spirit can + meet; Closer is he than breathing, and nearer than hands and + feet. And the ear of man cannot hear, and the eye of man cannot + see; But if we could see and hear, this vision—were it not + He?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Also Tennyson's Ancient + Sage:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">But that + one ripple on the boundless deep Feels that the deep is + boundless, and itself Forever changing form, but evermore One + with the boundless motion of the deep</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + and In Memoriam:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">One God, + one law, one element, And one far-off divine event, Toward + which the whole creation moves.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Emerson:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The day of days, the greatest day in the feast + of life, is that in which the inward eye opens to the unity of + things</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In the + mud and scum of things Something always, always + sings.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Mrs. Browning:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Earth is crammed with heaven, And every common + bush afire with God; But only he who sees takes off his + shoes.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">So manhood is itself potentially a + divine thing. All life, in all its vast variety, can + have</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page108">[pg + 108]</span><a name="Pg108" id="Pg108" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">but one + Source. It is either one God, above all, through all, and in + all, or it is no God at all. E. M. Poteat, On Chesapeake + Bay:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Night's + radiant glory overhead, A softer glory there below, Deep + answered unto deep, and said: A kindred fire in us doth glow. + For life is one—of sea and stars, Of God and man, of earth and + heaven—And by no theologic bars Shall my scant life from God's + be riven.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Professor Henry Jones, Robert + Browning.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">3. The + immanence of God, as the one substance, ground and principle of + being, does not destroy, but rather guarantees, the individuality + and rights of each portion of the universe, so that there is + variety of rank and endowment. In the case of moral beings, worth + is determined by the degree of their voluntary recognition and + appropriation of the divine. While God is all, he is also in all; + so making the universe a graded and progressive manifestation of + himself, both in his love for righteousness and his opposition to + moral evil.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It has been charged that the doctrine of monism + necessarily involves moral indifference; that the divine presence + in all things breaks down all distinctions of rank and makes each + thing equal to every other; that the evil as well as the good is + legitimated and consecrated. Of pantheistic monism all this is + true,—it is not true of ethical monism; for ethical monism is the + monism that recognizes the ethical fact of personal intelligence + and will in both God and man, and with these God's purpose in + making the universe a varied manifestation of himself. The + worship of cats and bulls and crocodiles in ancient Egypt, and + the deification of lust in the Brahmanic temples of India, were + expressions of a non-ethical monism, which saw in God no moral + attributes, and which identified God with his manifestations. As + an illustration of the mistakes into which the critics of monism + may fall for lack of discrimination between monism that is + pantheistic and monism that is ethical, we quote from Emma Marie + Caillard:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Integral + parts of God are, on monistic premises, liars, sensualists, + murderers, evil livers and evil thinkers of every description. + Their crimes and their passions enter intrinsically into the + divine experience. The infinite Individual in his wholeness may + reject them indeed, but none the less are these evil finite + individuals constituent parts of him, even as the twigs of a + tree, though they are not the tree, and though the tree + transcends any or all of them, are yet constituent parts of it. + Can he whose universal consciousness includes and defines all + finite consciousnesses be other than responsible for all finite + actions and motives?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">To this indictment we may reply in the words + of Bowne, The Divine Immanence, 130-133—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Some weak heads have been so heated by the new + wine of immanence as to put all things on the same level, and + make men and mice of equal value. But there is nothing in the + dependence of all things on God to remove their distinctions of + value. One confused talker of this type was led to say that he + had no trouble with the notion of a divine man, as he believed + in a divine oyster. Others have used the doctrine to cancel + moral differences; for if God be in all things, and if all + things represent his will, then whatever is is right. But this + too is hasty. Of course even the evil will is not independent + of God, but lives and moves and has its being in and through + the divine. But through its mysterious power of selfhood and + self-determination the evil will is able to assume an attitude + of hostility to the divine law, which forthwith vindicates + itself by appropriate reactions.</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">These reactions are not divine in the highest + or ideal sense. They represent nothing which God desires or in + which he delights; but they are divine in the sense that they + are things to be done under the circumstances. The divine + reaction in the case of the good is distinct from the divine + reaction against evil. Both are divine as representing God's + action, but only the former is divine in the sense of + representing God's approval and sympathy. All things serve, + said Spinoza. The good serve, and are furthered by their + service. The bad also serve and are used up in the serving. + According to Jonathan Edwards, the wicked are useful</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">in being + acted upon and disposed of.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">As</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">vessels + of dishonor</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">they may reveal the majesty of + God. There is nothing therefore in the divine immanence, in its + only tenable form, to cancel moral distinctions or to minify + retribution. The divine reaction against iniquity is even more + solemn in this doctrine. The besetting God is the eternal and + unescapable environment; and only as we are in harmony with him + can there be any peace.... What God thinks of sin,</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page109">[pg 109]</span><a name= + "Pg109" id="Pg109" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">and what his will is concerning it can be + plainly seen in the natural consequences which attend it.... In + law itself we are face to face with God; and natural + consequences have a supernatural meaning.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">4. Since + Christ is the Logos of God, the immanent God, God revealed in + Nature, in Humanity, in Redemption, Ethical Monism recognizes the + universe as created, upheld, and governed by the same Being who + in the course of history was manifest in human form and who made + atonement for human sin by his death on Calvary. The secret of + the universe and the key to its mysteries are to be found in the + Cross.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + John 1:1-4 (marg.), 14, 18—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">In the beginning was the Word, and the Word + was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the + beginning with God. All things were made through him; and + without him was not any thing made. That which hath been made + was life in him; and the life was the light of men.... And the + Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.... No man hath seen God + at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the + Father, he hath declared him.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col. 1:16, + 17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">for in + him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, + things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or + dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been + created through him and unto him; and he is before all things, + and in him all things consist.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. 1:2, + 3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">his Son + ... through whom also he made the worlds ... upholding all + things by the word of his power</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. 1:22, + 23—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all + in all</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">= fills all things with all that + they contain of truth, beauty, and goodness;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col. 2:2, 3, + 9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + mystery of God, even Christ, in whom are all the treasures of + wisdom and knowledge hidden ... for in him dwelleth all the + fulness of the Godhead bodily.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">This view of the relation of the universe to + God lays the foundation for a Christian application of recent + philosophical doctrine. Matter is no longer blind and dead, but + is spiritual in its nature, not in the sense that it</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">is</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">spirit, but in the sense that it + is the continual</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">manifestation</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of spirit, just as my thoughts are + a living and continual manifestation of myself. Yet matter does + not consist simply in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">ideas</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + for ideas, deprived of an external object and of an internal + subject, are left suspended in the air. Ideas are the product + of Mind. But matter is known only as the operation of force, + and force is the product of Will. Since this force works in + rational ways, it can be the product only of Spirit. The system + of forces which we call the universe is the immediate product + of the mind and will of God; and, since Christ is the mind and + will of God in exercise, Christ is the Creator and Upholder of + the universe. Nature is the omnipresent Christ, manifesting God + to creatures.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christ is the principle of cohesion, + attraction, interaction, not only in the physical universe, but + in the intellectual and moral universe as well. In all our + knowing, the knower and known are</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">connected by some Being who is their + reality,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and this being is Christ,</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the Light + which lighteth every man</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John + 1:9)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. We</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">know</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">in Christ, just as</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">in him we + live, and move, and have our being</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Acts + 17:28)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. As the + attraction of gravitation and the principle of evolution are + only other names for Christ, so he is the basis of inductive + reasoning and the ground of moral unity in the creation. I am + bound to love my neighbor as myself because he has in him the + same life that is in me, the life of God in Christ. The Christ + in whom all humanity is created, and in whom all humanity + consists, holds together the moral universe, drawing all men to + himself and so drawing them to God. Through him God</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">reconciles all things unto himself ... whether + things upon the earth, or things in the + heavens</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Col. + 1:20)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">As Pantheism = exclusive immanence = God + imprisoned, so Deism = exclusive transcendence = God banished. + Ethical Monism holds to the truth contained in each of these + systems, while avoiding their respective errors. It furnishes + the basis for a new interpretation of many theological as well + as of many philosophical doctrines. It helps our understanding + of the Trinity. If within the bounds of God's being there can + exist multitudinous finite personalities, it becomes easier to + comprehend how within those same bounds there can be three + eternal and infinite personalities,—indeed, the integration of + plural consciousnesses in an all-embracing divine consciousness + may find a valid analogy in the integration of subordinate + consciousnesses in the unit-personality of man; see Baldwin, + Handbook of Psychology, Feeling and Will, 53, 54.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ethical Monism, since it is ethical, leaves + room for human wills and for their freedom. While man could + never break the natural bond which united him to God, he could + break the spiritual bond and introduce into creation a + principle of discord and evil. Tie a cord tightly about your + finger; you partially isolate the finger, diminish its + nutrition, bring about atrophy and disease. So there has been + given to each intelligent</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page110">[pg 110]</span><a name="Pg110" id="Pg110" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">and moral + agent the power, spiritually to isolate himself from God while + yet he is naturally joined to God. As humanity is created in + Christ and lives only in Christ, man's self-isolation is his + moral separation from Christ. Simon, Redemption of Man, + 339—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Rejecting + Christ is not so much refusal to</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">become</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">one with Christ as it is refusal + to</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">remain</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">one with him, refusal to let him + be our life.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">All men are naturally one with + Christ by physical birth, before they become morally one with + him by spiritual birth. They may set themselves against him and + may oppose him forever. This our Lord intimates, when he tells + us that there are natural branches of Christ, which do + not</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">abide in the vine</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">or</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">bear + fruit,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and so are</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">cast + forth,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">withered,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">burned</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John + 15:4-6)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ethical Monism, however, since it is Monism, + enables us to understand the principle of the Atonement. Though + God's holiness binds him to punish sin, the Christ who has + joined himself to the sinner must share the sinner's + punishment. He who is the life of humanity must take upon his + own heart the burden of shame and penalty that belongs to his + members. Tie the cord about your finger; not only the finger + suffers pain, but also the heart; the life of the whole system + rouses itself to put away the evil, to untie the cord, to free + the diseased and suffering member. Humanity is bound to Christ, + as the finger to the body. Since human nature is one of + the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">all things</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">that</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">consist</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">or hold together in Christ (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col + 1:17</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">), and man's sin + is a self-perversion of a part of Christ's own body, the whole + must be injured by the self-inflicted injury of the part, + and</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">it must needs be that Christ should + suffer</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Acts + 17:3)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. Simon, + Redemption of Man, 321—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">If the Logos is the Mediator of the divine + immanence in creation, especially in man; if men are + differentiations of the effluent divine energy; and if the + Logos is the immanent controlling principle of all + differentiation—</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, the principle of + all</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">form</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—must + not the self-perversion of these human differentiations react + on him who is their constitutive principle?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">A + more full explanation of the relations of Ethical Monism to + other doctrines must be reserved to our separate treatment of + the Trinity, Creation, Sin, Atonement, Regeneration. Portions + of the subject are treated by Upton, Hibbert Lectures; Le + Conte, in Royce's Conception of God, 43-50; Bowne, Theory of + Thought and Knowledge, 297-301, 311-317, and Immanence of God, + 5-32, 116-153; Ladd, Philos. of Knowledge, 574-590, and Theory + of Reality, 525-529; Edward Caird, Evolution of Religion, 2:48; + Ward, Naturalism and Agnosticism, 2:258-283; Göschel, quoted in + Dorner, Hist. Doct. Person of Christ, 5:170. An attempt has + been made to treat the whole subject by A. H. Strong, Christ in + Creation and Ethical Monism, 1-86, 141-162, 166-180, + 186-208.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page111">[pg 111]</span><a name= + "Pg111" id="Pg111" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + <hr class="page" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> + <a name="toc97" id="toc97"></a> <a name="pdf98" id="pdf98"></a> + + <h1 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"> + <span style="font-size: 173%">Part III. The Scriptures A Revelation + From God.</span></h1> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em"> + <a name="toc99" id="toc99"></a> <a name="pdf100" id="pdf100"></a> + + <h2 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"> + <span style="font-size: 144%">Chapter I. Preliminary + Considerations.</span></h2> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc101" id="toc101"></a> <a name="pdf102" id= + "pdf102"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">I. Reasons</span> <span lang="la" + class="tei tei-foreign" style="text-align: left" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-size: 120%; font-style: italic">a + priori</span></span> <span style="font-size: 120%">for expecting + a Revelation from God.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">1. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Needs + of man's nature.</span></span> Man's intellectual and moral + nature requires, in order to preserve it from constant + deterioration, and to ensure its moral growth and progress, an + authoritative and helpful revelation of religious truth, of a + higher and completer sort than any to which, in its present state + of sin, it can attain by the use of its unaided powers. The proof + of this proposition is partly psychological, and partly + historical.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. + Psychological proof.—(<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Neither reason nor + intuition throws light upon certain questions whose solution is + of the utmost importance to us; for example, Trinity, atonement, + pardon, method of worship, personal existence after death. + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Even the truth to which we + arrive by our natural powers needs divine confirmation and + authority when it addresses minds and wills perverted by sin. + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) To break this power of sin, + and to furnish encouragement to moral effort, we need a special + revelation of the merciful and helpful aspect of the divine + nature.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + Bremen Lectures, 72, 73; Plato, Second Alcibiades, 22, 23; + Phædo, 85—λόγου θείου τινός. Iamblicus, περὶ τοῦ Πυθαγορικοῦ + βίου, chap. 28. Æschylus, in his Agamemnon, shows how + completely reason and intuition failed to supply the knowledge + of God which man needs:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Renown is loud,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">he says,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">and not to lose one's senses is God's greatest + gift.... The being praised outrageously Is grave; for at the + eyes of such a one Is launched, from Zeus, the thunder-stone. + Therefore do I decide For so much and no more prosperity Than + of his envy passes unespied.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Though the gods might have favorites, they did + not love men as men, but rather, envied and hated them. William + James, Is Life Worth Living? in Internat. Jour. Ethics, Oct. + 1895:10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">All we + know of good and beauty proceeds from nature, but none the less + all we know of evil.... To such a harlot we owe no moral + allegiance.... If there be a divine Spirit of the universe, + nature, such as we know her, cannot possibly be its ultimate + word to man. Either there is no Spirit revealed in nature, or + else it is inadequately revealed there; and, as all the higher + religions have assumed, what we call visible nature, or</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">this</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">world, must be but a veil and + surface-show whose full meaning resides in a supplementary + unseen or</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">other</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">world.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Versus</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Socrates: Men will do right, if + they only know the right. Pfleiderer, Philos. Relig., + 1:219—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + opposition to the opinion of Socrates that badness rests upon + ignorance, Aristotle already called the fact to mind that the + doing of the good is not always combined with the knowing of + it, seeing that it depends also on the passions. If badness + consisted only in the want of knowledge, then those who are + theoretically</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page112">[pg + 112]</span><a name="Pg112" id="Pg112" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">most + cultivated must also be morally the best, which no one will + venture to assert.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">W. + S. Lilly, On Shibboleths:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ignorance is often held to be the root of all + evil. But mere knowledge cannot transform character. It cannot + minister to a mind diseased. It cannot convert the will from + bad to good. It may turn crime into different channels, and + render it less easy to detect. It does not change man's natural + propensities or his disposition to gratify them at the expense + of others. Knowledge makes the good man more powerful for good, + the bad man more powerful for evil. And that is all it can + do.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Gore, Incarnation, + 174—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We must + not depreciate the method of argument, for Jesus and Paul + occasionally used it in a Socratic fashion, but we must + recognize that it is not the basis of the Christian system nor + the primary method of Christianity.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Martineau, in Nineteenth Century, 1:331, 531, + and Types, 1:112—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Plato + dissolved the idea of the right into that of the good, and this + again was indistinguishably mingled with that of the true and + the beautiful.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See also Flint, Theism, 305.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Versus</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Thomas Paine:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Natural religion teaches us, without the + possibility of being mistaken, all that is necessary or proper + to be known.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Plato, Laws, 9:854,</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + for substance:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Be good; + but, if you cannot, then kill yourself.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Farrar, Darkness and Dawn, + 75—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Plato + says that man will never know God until God has revealed + himself in the guise of suffering man, and that, when all is on + the verge of destruction, God sees the distress of the + universe, and, placing himself at the rudder, restores it to + order.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Prometheus, the type of humanity, + can never be delivered</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">until some god descends for him into the black + depths of Tartarus.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Seneca in like manner teaches that man cannot + save himself. He says:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Do you wonder that men go to the gods? God + comes</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">to</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">men, yes,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">into</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">men.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We are sinful, and God's thoughts are not as + our thoughts, nor his ways as our ways. Therefore he must make + known his thoughts to us, teach us what we are, what true love + is, and what will please him. Shaler, Interpretation of Nature, + 227—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + inculcation of moral truths can be successfully effected only + in the personal way; ... it demands the influence of + personality; ... the weight of the impression depends upon the + voice and the eye of a teacher.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">In other words, we need not only the exercise + of authority, but also the manifestation of love.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. Historical + proof.—(<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) The knowledge of moral and + religious truth possessed by nations and ages in which special + revelation is unknown is grossly and increasingly imperfect. + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Man's actual condition in + ante-Christian times, and in modern heathen lands, is that of + extreme moral depravity. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) With this depravity is + found a general conviction of helplessness, and on the part of + some nobler natures, a longing after, and hope of, aid from + above.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Pythagoras:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is not easy to know [duties], except men were + taught them by God himself, or by some person who had received + them from God, or obtained the knowledge of them through some + divine means.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Socrates:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Wait with patience, till we know with certainty + how we ought to behave ourselves toward God and + man.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Plato:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We will wait for one, be he a God or an inspired + man, to instruct us in our duties and to take away the darkness + from our eyes.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Disciple of Plato:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Make + probability our raft, while we sail through life, unless we could + have a more sure and safe conveyance, such as some divine + communication would be.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Plato thanked God for three things: first, that + he was born a rational soul; secondly, that he was born a Greek; + and, thirdly, that he lived in the days of Socrates. Yet, with + all these advantages, he had only probability for a raft, on + which to navigate strange seas of thought far beyond his depth, + and he longed for</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">a more sure word of + prophecy</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(2 Pet. + 1:19)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. See references + and quotations in Peabody, Christianity the Religion of Nature, + 35, and in Luthardt, Fundamental Truths, 156-172, 335-338; + Farrar, Seekers after God; Garbett, Dogmatic Faith, + 187.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">2. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Presumption of supply.</span></span> What we + know of God, by nature, affords ground for hope that these wants + of our intellectual and moral being will be met by a + corresponding supply, in the shape of a special divine + revelation. We argue this:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + From our necessary conviction of God's wisdom. Having made man a + spiritual being, for spiritual ends, it may be hoped that he will + furnish the means needed to secure these ends. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + From the actual, though incomplete, <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page113">[pg 113]</span><a name="Pg113" id="Pg113" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> revelation already given in nature. Since + God has actually undertaken to make himself known to men, we may + hope that he will finish the work he has begun. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + From the general connection of want and supply. The higher our + needs, the more intricate and ingenious are, in general, the + contrivances for meeting them. We may therefore hope that the + highest want will be all the more surely met. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">d</span></span>) + From analogies of nature and history. Signs of reparative + goodness in nature and of forbearance in providential dealings + lead us to hope that, while justice is executed, God may still + make known some way of restoration for sinners.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + There were two stages in Dr. John Duncan's escape from + pantheism: 1. when he came first to believe in the existence of + God, and</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">danced + for joy upon the brig o' Dee</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + and 2. when, under Malan's influence, he came also to believe + that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God meant + that we should know him.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">In the story in the old Village Reader, the + mother broke completely down when she found that her son was + likely to grow up stupid, but her tears conquered him and made + him intelligent. Laura Bridgman was blind, deaf and dumb, and + had but small sense of taste or smell. When her mother, after + long separation, went to her in Boston, the mother's heart was + in distress lest the daughter should not recognize her. When at + last, by some peculiar mother's sign, she pierced the veil of + insensibility, it was a glad time for both. So God, our Father, + tries to reveal himself to our blind, deaf and dumb souls. The + agony of the Cross is the sign of God's distress over the + insensibility of humanity which sin has caused. If he is the + Maker of man's being, he will surely seek to fit it for that + communion with himself for which it was designed.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + Gore, Incarnation, 52, 53—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Nature is a first volume, in itself + incomplete, and demanding a second volume, which is + Christ.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + R. T. Smith, Man's Knowledge of Man and of God, + 228—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Mendicants do not ply their calling for years + in a desert where there are no givers. Enough of supply has + been received to keep the sense of want + alive.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">d</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + In the natural arrangements for the healing of bruises in + plants and for the mending of broken bones in the animal + creation, in the provision of remedial agents for the cure of + human diseases, and especially in the delay to inflict + punishment upon the transgressor and the space given him for + repentance, we have some indications, which, if uncontradicted + by other evidence, might lead us to regard the God of nature as + a God of forbearance and mercy. Plutarch's treatise</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">De Sera + Numinis Vindicta</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is proof that this thought had occurred to the + heathen. It may be doubted, indeed, whether a heathen religion + could even continue to exist, without embracing in it some + element of hope. Yet this very delay in the execution of the + divine judgments gave its own occasion for doubting the + existence of a God who was both good and just.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Truth + forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the + throne,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is a scandal to the divine + government which only the sacrifice of Christ can fully + remove.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The problem presents itself also in the Old + Testament. In Job 21, and in Psalms, 17, 37, 49, 73, there are + partial answers; see</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Job + 21:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Wherefore + do the wicked live, Become old, yea, wax mighty in + power?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">24:1—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Why are not judgment times determined by the + Almighty? And they that know him, why see they not his + days?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The New Testament intimates the + existence of a witness to God's goodness among the heathen, + while at the same time it declares that the full knowledge of + forgiveness and salvation is brought only by Christ. + Compare</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 14:17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">And yet + he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and + gave you from heaven rains and fruitful seasons, filling your + hearts with food and gladness</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">17:25-27—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he + himself giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; and he + made of one every nation of men ... that they should seek God, + if haply they might feel after him and find + him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 2:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">3:25—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the passing over of the sins done aforetime, + in the forbearance of God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 3:9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">to make + all men see what is the dispensation of the mystery which for + ages hath been hid in God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Tim. + 1:10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">our + Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and + incorruption to light through the gospel.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Hackett's edition of the treatise of + Plutarch, as also Bowen, Metaph. and Ethics, 462-487; Diman, + Theistic Argument, 371.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We conclude + this section upon the reasons <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a priori</span></span> for expecting a + revelation from God with the acknowledgment that the facts + warrant that degree of expectation which we call hope, rather + than that larger degree of expectation which we call assurance; + and this, for the reason that, while <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page114">[pg 114]</span><a name="Pg114" id="Pg114" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> conscience gives proof that God is a God of + holiness, we have not, from the light of nature, equal evidence + that God is a God of love. Reason teaches man that, as a sinner, + he merits condemnation; but he cannot, from reason alone, know + that God will have mercy upon him and provide salvation. His + doubts can be removed only by God's own voice, assuring him of + <span class="tei tei-q">“redemption ... the forgiveness of ... + trespasses”</span> (Eph. 1:7) and revealing to him the way in + which that forgiveness has been rendered possible.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Conscience knows no pardon, and no Savior. + Hovey, Manual of Christian Theology, 9, seems to us to go too far + when he says:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Even + natural affection and conscience afford some clue to the goodness + and holiness of God, though much more is needed by one who + undertakes the study of Christian theology.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">We + grant that natural affection gives some clue to God's goodness, + but we regard conscience as reflecting only God's holiness and + his hatred of sin. We agree with Alexander McLaren:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Does God's + love need to be proved? Yes, as all paganism shows. Gods vicious, + gods careless, gods cruel, gods beautiful, there are in + abundance; but where is there a god who + loves?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc103" id="toc103"></a> <a name="pdf104" id= + "pdf104"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">II. Marks of the Revelation man may + expect.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">1. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">As to + its substance.</span></span> We may expect this later revelation + not to contradict, but to confirm and enlarge, the knowledge of + God which we derive from nature, while it remedies the defects of + natural religion and throws light upon its problems.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Isaiah's appeal is to God's previous + communications of truth:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + Is. 8:20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">To the + law and to the testimony! if they speak not according to this + word, surely there is no morning for them.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">And Malachi follows the example of + Isaiah;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mal. + 4:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Remember + ye the law of Moses my servant.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Our Lord himself based his claims upon the + former utterances of God:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 24:27—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">beginning + from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them in + all the scriptures the things concerning + himself.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">2. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">As to + its method.</span></span> We may expect it to follow God's + methods of procedure in other communications of truth.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bishop Butler (Analogy, part ii, chap. iii) has + denied that there is any possibility of judging</span> + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a + priori</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">how a divine + revelation will be given.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We are in no sort judges + beforehand,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">he says,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">by what methods, or in what proportion, it + were to be expected that this supernatural light and + instruction would be afforded us.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But Bishop Butler somewhat later in his great + work (part ii, chap. iv) shows that God's progressive plan in + revelation has its analogy in the slow, successive steps by + which God accomplishes his ends in nature. We maintain that the + revelation in nature affords certain presumptions with regard + to the revelation of grace, such for example as those mentioned + below.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Leslie Stephen, in Nineteenth Century, Feb. + 1891:180—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Butler + answered the argument of the deists, that the God of + Christianity was unjust, by arguing that the God of nature was + equally unjust. James Mill, admitting the analogy, refused to + believe in either God. Dr. Martineau has said, for similar + reasons, that Butler</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">wrote one of the most terrible persuasives to + atheism ever produced.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">So J. H. Newman's</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">kill or cure</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">argument is essentially that God has either + revealed nothing, or has made revelations in some other places + than in the Bible. His argument, like Butler's, may be as good + a persuasive to scepticism as to belief.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">To this indictment by Leslie Stephen we reply + that it has cogency only so long as we ignore the fact of human + sin. Granting this fact, our world becomes a world of + discipline, probation and redemption, and both the God of + nature and the God of Christianity are cleared from all + suspicion of injustice. The analogy between God's methods in + the Christian system and his methods in nature becomes an + argument in favor of the former.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + That of continuous historical development,—that it will be given + in germ to early ages, and will be more fully unfolded as the + race is prepared to receive it.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Instances of continuous development in God's + impartations are found in geological history; in the growth of + the sciences; in the progressive education of the + individual</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page115">[pg + 115]</span><a name="Pg115" id="Pg115" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">and of the + race. No other religion but Christianity shows</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a steady + historical progress of the vision of one infinite Character + unfolding itself to man through a period of many + centuries.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See sermon by Dr. Temple, on the + Education of the World, in Essays and Reviews; Rogers, + Superhuman Origin of the Bible, 374-384; Walker, Philosophy of + the Plan of Salvation. On the gradualness of revelation, see + Fisher, Nature and Method of Revelation, 46-86; Arthur H. + Hallam, in John Brown's Rab and his Friends, + 282—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Revelation is a gradual approximation of the + infinite Being to the ways and thoughts of finite + humanity.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">A little fire can kindle a city or + a world; but ten times the heat of that little fire, if widely + diffused, would not kindle anything.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + That of original delivery to a single nation, and to single + persons in that nation, that it may through them be communicated + to mankind.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Each nation represents an idea. As the Greek had + a genius for liberty and beauty, and the Roman a genius for + organization and law, so the Hebrew nation had a</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">genius for + religion</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(Renan); this last, however, would + have been useless without special divine aid and superintendence, + as witness other productions of this same Semitic race, such as + Bel and the Dragon, in the Old Testament Apocrypha; the gospels + of the Apocryphal New Testament; and later still, the Talmud and + the Koran.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The O. T. Apocrypha relates that, when Daniel + was thrown a second time into the lions' den, an angel seized + Habakkuk in Judea by the hair of his head and carried him with + a bowl of pottage to give to Daniel for his dinner. There were + seven lions, and Daniel was among them seven days and nights. + Tobias starts from his father's house to secure his + inheritance, and his little dog goes with him. On the banks of + the great river a great fish threatens to devour him, but he + captures and despoils the fish. He finally returns successful + to his father's house, and his little dog goes in with him. In + the Apocryphal Gospels, Jesus carries water in his mantle when + his pitcher is broken; makes clay birds on the Sabbath, and, + when rebuked, causes them to fly; strikes a youthful companion + with death, and then curses his accusers with blindness; mocks + his teachers, and resents control. Later Moslem legends declare + that Mohammed caused darkness at noon; whereupon the moon flew + to him, went seven times around the Kaāba, bowed, entered his + right sleeve, split into two halves after slipping out at the + left, and the two halves, after retiring to the extreme east + and west, were reunited. These products of the Semitic race + show that neither the influence of environment nor a native + genius for religion furnishes an adequate explanation of our + Scriptures. As the flame on Elijah's altar was caused, not by + the dead sticks, but by the fire from heaven, so only the + inspiration of the Almighty can explain the unique revelation + of the Old and New Testaments.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Hebrews saw God in conscience. For the + most genuine expression of their life we</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">must look beneath the surface, in the soul, + where worship and aspiration and prophetic faith come face to + face with God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(Genung, Epic of the Inner Life, 28). But the + Hebrew religion needed to be supplemented by the sight of God + in reason, and in the beauty of the world. The Greeks had the + love of knowledge, and the æsthetic sense. Butcher, Aspects of + the Greek Genius, 34—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Phœnicians taught the Greeks how to write, + but it was the Greeks who wrote.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Aristotle was the beginner of science, and + outside the Aryan race none but the Saracens ever felt the + scientific impulse. But the Greek made his problem clear by + striking all the unknown quantities out of it. Greek thought + would never have gained universal currency and permanence if it + had not been for Roman jurisprudence and imperialism. England + has contributed her constitutional government, and America her + manhood suffrage and her religious freedom. So a definite + thought of God is incorporated in each nation, and each nation + has a message to every other.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 17:26</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—God</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">made of + one every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, + having determined their appointed seasons, and the bounds of + their habitation</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 3:12—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">What + advantage then hath the Jew?... first of all, that they were + entrusted with the oracles of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">God's choice of the Hebrew nation, as the + repository and communicator of religious truth, is analogous to + his choice of other nations, as the repositories and + communicators of æsthetic, scientific, governmental + truth.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hegel:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">No nation that has played a weighty and active + part in the world's history has ever issued from the simple + development of a single race along the unmodified lines of + blood-relationship. There must be differences, conflicts, a + composition of opposed forces.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The conscience of the Hebrew, the thought of + the Greek, the organization of the Latin, the personal loyalty + of the Teuton, must all be united to form a perfect + whole.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">While the + Greek church was orthodox, the Latin church was + Catholic;</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page116">[pg + 116]</span><a name="Pg116" id="Pg116" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">while the + Greek treated of the two wills in Christ, the Latin treated of + the harmony of our wills with God; while the Latin saved + through a corporation, the Teuton saved through personal + faith.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Brereton, in Educational Review, + Nov. 1901:339—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + problem of France is that of the religious orders; that of + Germany, the construction of society; that of America, capital + and labor.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Pfleiderer, Philos. Religion, + 1:183, 184—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Great + ideas never come from the masses, but from marked individuals. + These ideas, when propounded, however, awaken an echo in the + masses, which shows that the ideas had been slumbering + unconsciously in the souls of others.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The hour strikes, and a Newton appears, who + interprets God's will in nature. So the hour strikes, and a + Moses or a Paul appears, who interprets God's will in morals + and religion. The few grains of wheat found in the clasped hand + of the Egyptian mummy would have been utterly lost if one grain + had been sown in Europe, a second in Asia, a third in Africa, + and a fourth in America; all being planted together in a + flower-pot, and their product in a garden-bed, and the still + later fruit in a farmer's field, there came at last to be a + sufficient crop of new Mediterranean wheat to distribute to all + the world. So God followed his ordinary method in giving + religious truth first to a single nation and to chosen + individuals in that nation, that through them it might be given + to all mankind. See British Quarterly, Jan. 1874: art.: + Inductive Theology.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + That of preservation in written and accessible documents, handed + down from those to whom the revelation is first communicated.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Alphabets, writing, books, are our chief + dependence for the history of the past; all the great religions + of the world are book-religions; the Karens expected their + teachers in the new religion to bring to them a book. But notice + that false religions have scriptures, but not Scripture; their + sacred books lack the principle of unity which is furnished by + divine inspiration. H. P. Smith, Biblical Scholarship and + Inspiration, 68—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Mohammed + discovered that the Scriptures of the Jews were the source of + their religion. He called them a</span> <span class="tei tei-q"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">book-people,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and endeavored to construct a similar code for + his disciples. In it God is the only speaker; all its contents + are made known to the prophet by direct revelation; its Arabic + style is perfect; its text is incorruptible; it is absolute + authority in law, science and history.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Koran is a grotesque human parody of the + Bible; its exaggerated pretensions of divinity, indeed, are the + best proof that it is of purely human origin. Scripture, on the + other hand, makes no such claims for itself, but points to + Christ as the sole and final authority. In this sense we may + say with Clarke, Christian Theology, 20—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christianity is not a book-religion, but a + life-religion. The Bible does not give us Christ, but Christ + gives us the Bible.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Still it is true that for our knowledge of + Christ we are almost wholly dependent upon Scripture. In giving + his revelation to the world, God has followed his ordinary + method of communicating and preserving truth by means of + written documents. Recent investigations, however, now render + it probable that the Karen expectation of a book was the + survival of the teaching of the Nestorian missionaries, who as + early as the eighth century penetrated the remotest parts of + Asia, and left in the wall of the city of Singwadu in + Northwestern China a tablet as a monument of their labors. On + book-revelation, see Rogers, Eclipse of Faith, 73-96, + 281-304.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">3. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">As to + its attestation.</span></span> We may expect that this revelation + will be accompanied by evidence that its author is the same being + whom we have previously recognized as God of nature. This + evidence must constitute (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) a manifestation of God + himself; (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) in the outward as well as + the inward world; (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) such as only God's power or + knowledge can make; and (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) such as cannot be + counterfeited by the evil, or mistaken by the candid, soul. In + short, we may expect God to attest by miracles and by prophecy, + the divine mission and authority of those to whom he communicates + a revelation. Some such outward sign would seem to be necessary, + not only to assure the original recipient that the supposed + revelation is not a vagary of his own imagination, but also to + render the revelation received by a single individual + authoritative to all (compare Judges 6:17, 36-40—Gideon asks a + sign, for himself; 1 K. 18:36-38—Elijah asks a sign, for others). + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page117">[pg 117]</span><a name= + "Pg117" id="Pg117" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> But in order that + our positive proof of a divine revelation may not be embarrassed + by the suspicion that the miraculous and prophetic elements in + the Scripture history create a presumption against its + credibility, it will be desirable to take up at this point the + general subject of miracles and prophecy.</p> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc105" id="toc105"></a> <a name="pdf106" id= + "pdf106"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">III. Miracles, as attesting a + Divine Revelation.</span></h3> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc107" id="toc107"></a> <a name="pdf108" id= + "pdf108"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1. Definition of Miracle.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. + Preliminary Definition.—A miracle is an event palpable to the + senses, produced for a religious purpose by the immediate + agency of God; an event therefore which, though not + contravening any law of nature, the laws of nature, if fully + known, would not without this agency of God be competent to + explain.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This + definition corrects several erroneous conceptions of the + miracle:—(<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) A miracle is not a + suspension or violation of natural law; since natural law is in + operation at the time of the miracle just as much as before. + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) A miracle is not a sudden + product of natural agencies—a product merely foreseen, by him + who appears to work it; it is the effect of a will outside of + nature. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) A miracle is not an event + without a cause; since it has for its cause a direct volition + of God. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) A miracle is not an + irrational or capricious act of God; but an act of wisdom, + performed in accordance with the immutable laws of his being, + so that in the same circumstances the same course would be + again pursued. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">e</span></span>) A miracle is not contrary + to experience; since it is not contrary to experience for a new + cause to be followed by a new effect. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">f</span></span>) + A miracle is not a matter of internal experience, like + regeneration or illumination; but is an event palpable to the + senses, which may serve as an objective proof to all that the + worker of it is divinely commissioned as a religious + teacher.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">For various definitions of + miracles, see Alexander, Christ and Christianity, 302. On the + whole subject, see Mozley, Miracles; Christlieb, Mod. Doubt + and Christ. Belief, 285-339; Fisher, in Princeton Rev., Nov. + 1880, and Jan. 1881; A. H. Strong, Philosophy and Religion, + 129-147, and in Baptist Review, April, 1879. The definition + given above is intended simply as a definition of the + miracles of the Bible, or, in other words, of the events + which profess to attest a divine revelation in the + Scriptures. The New Testament designates these events in a + two-fold way, viewing them either subjectively, as producing + effects upon men, or objectively, as revealing the power and + wisdom of God. In the former aspect they are called + τέρατα,</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">wonders,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and σημεῖα,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">signs,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John 4:48; Acts + 2:22)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. In the latter + aspect they are called δυνάμεις,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">powers,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and ἔργα,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">works,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Mat 7:22; John + 14:11)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. See H. B. + Smith, Lect. on Apologetics, 90-116, esp. + 94—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">σημεῖον, sign, marking the purpose or + object, the moral end, placing the event in connection with + revelation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Bible Union Version uniformly and + properly renders τέρας by</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">wonder,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">δυνάμις by</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">miracle,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">ἔργον by</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">work,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and σημεῖον by</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">sign.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Goethe, Faust:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Alles Vergängliche ist nur ein Gleichniss: + Das Unzulängliche wird hier Ereigniss</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Everything transitory is but a parable; The + unattainable appears as solid fact.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">So the miracles of the New Testament are + acted parables,—Christ opens the eyes of the blind to show + that he is the Light of the world, multiplies the loaves to + show that he is the Bread of Life, and raises the dead to + show that he lifts men up from the death of trespasses and + sins. See Broadus on Matthew, 175.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">A modification of this + definition of the miracle, however, is demanded by a large + class of Christian physicists, in the supposed interest of + natural law. Such a modification is proposed by Babbage, in + the Ninth Bridgewater Treatise, chap. viii. Babbage + illustrates the miracle by the action of his calculating + machine, which would present to the observer in regular + succession the series of units from one to ten million, but + which would then make a leap and show, not ten million and + one, but a hundred million;</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page118">[pg 118]</span><a name="Pg118" id="Pg118" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">Ephraim + Peabody illustrates the miracle from the cathedral clock + which strikes only once in a hundred years; yet both these + results are due simply to the original construction of the + respective machines. Bonnet held this view; see Dorner, + Glaubenslehre, 1:591, 592; Eng. translation, 2:155, 156; so + Matthew Arnold, quoted in Bruce, Miraculous Element in + Gospels, 52; see also A. H. Strong, Philosophy and Religion, + 129-147. Babbage and Peabody would deny that the miracle is + due to the direct and immediate agency of God, and would + regard it as belonging to a higher order of nature. God is + the author of the miracle only in the sense that he + instituted the laws of nature at the beginning and provided + that at the appropriate time miracle should be their outcome. + In favor of this view it has been claimed that it does not + dispense with the divine working, but only puts it further + back at the origination of the system, while it still holds + God's work to be essential, not only to the upholding of the + system, but also to the inspiring of the religious teacher or + leader with the knowledge needed to predict the unusual + working of the system. The wonder is confined to the + prophecy, which may equally attest a divine revelation. See + Matheson, in Christianity and Evolution, 1-26.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">But it is plain that a miracle + of this sort lacks to a large degree the element of</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">signality</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">which is needed, if it is to accomplish its + purpose. It surrenders the great advantage which miracle, as + first defined, possessed over special providence, as an + attestation of revelation—the advantage, namely, that while + special providence affords</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">some</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">warrant + that this revelation comes from God, miracle gives</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">full</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">warrant that it comes from God. + Since man may by natural means possess himself of the + knowledge of physical laws, the true miracle which God works, + and the pretended miracle which only man works, are upon this + theory far less easy to distinguish from each other: Cortez, + for example, could deceive Montezuma by predicting an eclipse + of the sun. Certain typical miracles, like the resurrection + of Lazarus, refuse to be classed as events within the realm + of nature, in the sense in which the term nature is + ordinarily used. Our Lord, moreover, seems clearly to exclude + such a theory as this, when he says:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If I by + the finger of God cast out demons</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Luke + 11:20)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mark + 1:41—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I will; + be thou made clean.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The view of Babbage is inadequate, not only + because it fails to recognize any immediate exercise + of</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">will</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">in the miracle, but because it + regards nature as a mere</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">machine</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">which can operate apart from + God—a purely deistic method of conception. On this view, many + of the products of mere natural law might be called miracles. + The miracle would be only the occasional manifestation of a + higher order of nature, like the comet occasionally invading + the solar system. William Elder, Ideas from Nature:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + century-plant which we have seen growing from our childhood + may not unfold its blossoms until our old age comes upon us, + but the sudden wonder is natural + notwithstanding.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">If, however, we interpret nature + dynamically, rather than mechanically, and regard it as the + regular working of the divine will instead of the automatic + operation of a machine, there is much in this view which we + may adopt. Miracle may be both natural and supernatural. We + may hold, with Babbage, that it has natural antecedents, + while at the same time we hold that it is produced by the + immediate agency of God. We proceed therefore to an + alternative and preferable definition, which in our judgment + combines the merits of both that have been mentioned. On + miracles as already defined, see Mozley, Miracles, preface, + ix-xxvi, 7, 143-166; Bushnell, Nature and Supernatural, + 333-336; Smith's and Hastings' Dict. of Bible, art.: + Miracles; Abp. Temple, Bampton Lectures for 1884:193-221; + Shedd, Dogm. Theology, 1:541, 542.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. + Alternative and Preferable Definition.—A miracle is an event in + nature, so extraordinary in itself and so coinciding with the + prophecy or command of a religious teacher or leader, as fully + to warrant the conviction, on the part of those who witness it, + that God has wrought it with the design of certifying that this + teacher or leader has been commissioned by him.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This + definition has certain marked advantages as compared with the + preliminary definition given above:—(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + It recognizes the immanence of God and his immediate agency in + nature, instead of assuming an antithesis between the laws of + nature and the will of God. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + It regards the miracle as simply an extraordinary act of that + same God who is already present in all natural operations and + who in them is revealing his general plan. <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page119">[pg 119]</span><a name="Pg119" id= + "Pg119" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + It holds that natural law, as the method of God's regular + activity, in no way precludes unique exertions of his power + when these will best secure his purpose in creation. + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) It leaves it possible + that all miracles may have their natural explanations and may + hereafter be traced to natural causes, while both miracles and + their natural causes may be only names for the one and + self-same will of God. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">e</span></span>) It reconciles the claims + of both science and religion: of science, by permitting any + possible or probable physical antecedents of the miracle; of + religion, by maintaining that these very antecedents together + with the miracle itself are to be interpreted as signs of God's + special commission to him under whose teaching or leadership + the miracle is wrought.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Augustine, who declares + that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Dei + voluntas rerum natura est,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">defines the miracle in De Civitate Dei, + 21:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Portentum ergo fit non contra naturam, sed + contra quam est nota natura.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">He says also that a birth is more miraculous + than a resurrection, because it is more wonderful that + something that never was should begin to be, than that + something that was and ceased to be should begin again. E. G. + Robinson, Christ. Theology, 104—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The natural is God's work. He originated it. + There is no separation between the natural and the + supernatural. The natural is supernatural. God works in + everything. Every end, even though attained by mechanical + means, is God's end as truly as if he wrought by + miracle.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Shaler, Interpretation of + Nature, 141, regards miracle as something exceptional, yet + under the control of natural law; the latent in nature + suddenly manifesting itself; the revolution resulting from + the slow accumulation of natural forces. In the Windsor Hotel + fire, the heated and charred woodwork suddenly burst into + flame. Flame is very different from mere heat, but it may be + the result of a regularly rising temperature. Nature may be + God's regular action, miracle its unique result. God's + regular action may be entirely free, and yet its + extraordinary result may be entirely natural. With these + qualifications and explanations, we may adopt the statement + of Biedermann, Dogmatik, 581-591—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Everything is miracle,—therefore faith sees + God everywhere; Nothing is miracle,—therefore science sees + God nowhere.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Miracles are never considered by + the Scripture writers as infractions of law. Bp. Southampton, + Place of Miracles, 18—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Hebrew historian or prophet regarded + miracles as only the emergence into sensible experience of + that divine force which was all along, though invisibly, + controlling the course of nature.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hastings, Bible Dictionary, + 4:117—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + force of a miracle to us, arising from our notion of law, + would not be felt by a Hebrew, because he had no notion of + natural law.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. 77:19, + 20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Thy way + was in the sea, And thy paths in the great waters, And thy + footsteps were not known</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—They knew not, and we know not, by what + precise means the deliverance was wrought, or by what precise + track the passage through the Red Sea was effected; all we + know is that</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Thou leddest thy people like a flock, By the + hand of Moses and Aaron.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">J. M. Whiton, Miracles and Supernatural + Religion:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + supernatural is in nature itself, at its very heart, at its + very life; ... not an outside power interfering with the + course of nature, but an inside power vitalizing nature and + operating through it.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Griffith-Jones, Ascent through Christ, + 35—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Miracle, instead of spelling</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">monster</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">, as Emerson said, simply bears witness to + some otherwise unknown or unrecognized aspect of the divine + character.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Shedd, Dogm. Theol., + 1:533—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">To + cause the sun to rise and to cause Lazarus to rise, both + demand omnipotence; but the manner in which omnipotence works + in one instance is unlike the manner in the + other.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Miracle is an immediate + operation of God; but, since all natural processes are also + immediate operations of God, we do not need to deny the use + of these natural processes, so far as they will go, in + miracle. Such wonders of the Old Testament as the overthrow + of Sodom and Gomorrah, the partings of the Red Sea and of the + Jordan, the calling down of fire from heaven by Elijah and + the destruction of the army of Sennacherib, are none the less + works of God when regarded as wrought by the use of natural + means. In the New Testament Christ took water to make wine, + and took the five loaves to make bread, just as in ten + thousand vineyards to-day he is turning the moisture of the + earth into the juice of the grape, and in ten thousand fields + is turning carbon into corn. The virgin-birth of Christ may + be an extreme instance of parthenogenesis, which Professor + Loeb of Chicago has just demonstrated to take place in other + than the</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page120">[pg + 120]</span><a name="Pg120" id="Pg120" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">lowest + forms of life and which he believes to be possible in all. + Christ's resurrection may be an illustration of the power of + the normal and perfect human spirit to take to itself a + proper body, and so may be the type and prophecy of that + great change when we too shall lay down our life and take it + again. The scientist may yet find that his disbelief is not + only disbelief in Christ, but also disbelief in science. All + miracle may have its natural side, though we now are not able + to discern it; and, if this were true, the Christian argument + would not one whit be weakened, for still miracle would + evidence the extraordinary working of the immanent God, and + the impartation of his knowledge to the prophet or apostle + who was his instrument.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">This view of the miracle renders + entirely unnecessary and irrational the treatment accorded to + the Scripture narratives by some modern theologians. There is + a credulity of scepticism, which minimizes the miraculous + element in the Bible and treats it as mythical or legendary, + in spite of clear evidence that it belongs to the realm of + actual history. Pfleiderer, Philos. Relig., + 1:295—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Miraculous legends arise in two ways, partly + out of the idealizing of the real, and partly out of the + realizing of the ideal.... Every occurrence may obtain for + the religious judgment the significance of a sign or proof of + the world-governing power, wisdom, justice or goodness of + God.... Miraculous histories are a poetic realizing of + religious ideas.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Pfleiderer quotes Goethe's apothegm:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Miracle + is faith's dearest child.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Foster, Finality of the Christian Religion, + 128-138—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We most + honor biblical miraculous narratives when we seek to + understand them as poesies.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ritschl defines miracles as</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">those + striking</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">natural</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">occurrences with which the + experience of God's special help is + connected.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">He leaves doubtful the bodily + resurrection of Christ, and many of his school deny it; see + Mead, Ritschl's Place in the History of Doctrine, 11. We do + not need to interpret Christ's resurrection as a mere + appearance of his spirit to the disciples. Gladden, Seven + Puzzling Books, 202—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">In the hands of perfect and spiritual man, + the forces of nature are pliant and tractable as they are not + in ours. The resurrection of Christ is only a sign of the + superiority of the life of the perfect spirit over external + conditions. It may be perfectly in accordance with + nature.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Myers, Human Personality, + 2:288—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + predict that, in consequence of the new evidence, all + reasonable men, a century hence, will believe the + resurrection of Christ.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We may add that Jesus himself intimates that + the working of miracles is hereafter to be a common and + natural manifestation of the new life which he + imparts:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 14:12—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He that + believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and + greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto the + Father.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We append a number of opinions, + ancient and modern, with regard to miracles, all tending to + show the need of so defining them as not to conflict with the + just claims of science. Aristotle:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Nature is not full of episodes, like a bad + tragedy.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Shakespeare, All's Well that + Ends Well, 2:3:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">They + say miracles are past; and we have our philosophical persons + to make modern and familiar things supernatural and + causeless. Hence it is that we make trifles of terrors, + ensconsing ourselves into seeming knowledge, when we should + submit ourselves to an unknown fear.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Keats, Lamia:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">There was an awful rainbow once in heaven; + We know her woof, her texture: she is given In the dull + catalogue of common things.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hill, Genetic Philosophy, + 334—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Biological and psychological science unite + in affirming that every event, organic or psychic, is to be + explained in the terms of its immediate antecedents, and that + it can be so explained. There is therefore no necessity, + there is even no room, for interference. If the existence of + a Deity depends upon the evidence of intervention and + supernatural agency, faith in the divine seems to be + destroyed in the scientific mind.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Theodore Parker:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">No whim in God,—therefore no miracle in + nature.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Armour, Atonement and Law, + 15-33—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + miracle of redemption, like all miracles, is by intervention + of adequate power, not by suspension of law. Redemption is + not</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + great exception.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is the fullest revelation and vindication + of law.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Gore, in Lux Mundi, + 320—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Redemption is not natural but + supernatural—supernatural, that is, in view of the false + nature which man made for himself by excluding God. + Otherwise, the work of redemption is only the reconstitution + of the nature which God had designed.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Abp. Trench:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The world of nature is throughout a witness + for the world of spirit, proceeding from the same hand, + growing out of the same root, and being constituted for this + very end. The characters of nature which everywhere meet the + eye are not a common but a sacred writing,—they are the + hieroglyphics of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Pascal:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Nature is the image of + grace.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">President Mark Hopkins:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christianity and perfect Reason are + identical.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Mead, Supernatural + Revelation, 97-123; art.: Miracle, by Bernard, in Hastings' + Dictionary of the Bible. The modern and improved view of the + miracle is perhaps best presented by T. H. Wright, The Finger + of God; and by W. N. Rice, Christian Faith in an Age of + Science, 336.</span></p> + </div> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page121">[pg + 121]</span><a name="Pg121" id="Pg121" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc109" id="toc109"></a> <a name="pdf110" id= + "pdf110"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 2. Possibility of Miracle.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">An event in + nature may be caused by an agent in nature yet above nature. + This is evident from the following considerations:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Lower forces and laws in + nature are frequently counteracted and transcended by the + higher (as mechanical forces and laws by chemical, and chemical + by vital), while yet the lower forces and laws are not + suspended or annihilated, but are merged in the higher, and + made to assist in accomplishing purposes to which they are + altogether unequal when left to themselves.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">By nature we mean nature in the + proper sense—not</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">everything that is not + God,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">but</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">everything that is not God or made in the + image of God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; see Hopkins, Outline Study of Man, 258, + 259. Man's will does not belong to nature, but is above + nature. On the transcending of lower forces by higher, see + Murphy, Habit and Intelligence, 1:88. James Robertson, Early + Religion of Israel, 23—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Is it impossible that there should be unique + things in the world? Is it scientific to assert that there + are not?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Ladd, Philosophy of Knowledge, + 406—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Why + does not the projecting part of the coping-stone fall, in + obedience to the law of gravitation, from the top of yonder + building? Because, as physics declares, the forces of + cohesion, acting under quite different laws, thwart and + oppose for the time being the law of gravitation.... But now, + after a frosty night, the coping-stone actually breaks off + and tumbles to the ground; for that unique law which makes + water forcibly expand at 32° Fahrenheit has contradicted the + laws of cohesion and has restored to the law of gravitation + its temporarily suspended rights over this mass of + matter.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Gore, Incarnation, + 48—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Evolution views nature as a progressive + order in which there are new departures, fresh levels won, + phenomena unknown before. When organic life appeared, the + future did not resemble the past. So when man came. Christ is + a new nature—the creative Word made flesh. It is to be + expected that, as new nature, he will exhibit new phenomena. + New vital energy will radiate from him, controlling the + material forces. Miracles are the proper accompaniments of + his person.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We may add that, as Christ is the immanent + God, he is present in nature while at the same time he is + above nature, and he whose steady will is the essence of all + natural law can transcend all past exertions of that will. + The infinite One is not a being of endless monotony. William + Elder, Ideas from Nature, 156—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God is not bound hopelessly to his process, + like Ixion to his wheel.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) The human will acts upon + its physical organism, and so upon nature, and produces results + which nature left to herself never could accomplish, while yet + no law of nature is suspended or violated. Gravitation still + operates upon the axe, even while man holds it at the surface + of the water—for the axe still has weight (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + 2 K. 6:5-7).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Versus</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Hume, Philos. Works, + 4:130—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A + miracle is a violation of the laws of + nature.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christian apologists have too often + needlessly embarrassed their argument by accepting Hume's + definition. The stigma is entirely undeserved. If man can + support the axe at the surface of the water while gravitation + still acts upon it, God can certainly, at the prophet's word, + make the iron to swim, while gravitation still acts upon it. + But this last is miracle. See Mansel, Essay on Miracles, in + Aids to Faith, 26, 27: After the greatest wave of the season + has landed its pebble high up on the beach, I can move the + pebble a foot further without altering the force of wind or + wave or climate in a distant continent. Fisher, Supernat. + Origin of Christianity, 471; Hamilton, Autology, 685-690; + Bowen, Metaph. and Ethics, 445; Row, Bampton Lectures on + Christian Evidences, 54-74; A. A. Hodge: Pulling out a new + stop of the organ does not suspend the working or destroy the + harmony of the other stops. The pump does not suspend the law + of gravitation, nor does our throwing a ball into the air. If + gravitation did not act, the upward velocity of the ball + would not diminish and the ball would never return.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Gravitation draws iron down. But the magnet + overcomes that attraction and draws the iron up. Yet here is + no suspension or violation of law, but rather a harmonious + working of two laws, each in its sphere. Death and not life + is the order of nature. But</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page122">[pg 122]</span><a name="Pg122" id="Pg122" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">men live + notwithstanding. Life is supernatural. Only as a force + additional to mere nature works against nature does life + exist. So spiritual life uses and transcends the laws of + nature</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(Sunday School Times). Gladden, + What Is Left? 60—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Wherever you find thought, choice, love, you + find something that is not under the dominion of fixed law. + These are the attributes of a free + personality.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">William James:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We need to substitute the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">personal</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">view of life for the</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">impersonal</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">mechanical</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">view. Mechanical rationalism is + narrowness and partial induction of facts,—it is not</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">science</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) In all free causation, + there is an acting without means. Man acts upon external nature + through his physical organism, but, in moving his physical + organism, he acts directly upon matter. In other words, the + human will can <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">use</span></em> means, only because it has + the power of acting initially <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">without</span></em> means.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Hopkins, on Prayer-gauge, + 10, and in Princeton Review, Sept. 1882:188. A. J. Balfour, + Foundations of Belief, 311—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Not Divinity alone intervenes in the world + of things. Each living soul, in its measure and degree, does + the same.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Each soul that acts in any way + on its surroundings does so on the principle of the miracle. + Phillips Brooks, Life, 2:350—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The making of all events miraculous is no + more an abolition of miracle than the flooding of the world + with sunshine is an extinction of the sun.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">George Adam Smith, on</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 33:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">devouring fire ... everlasting + burnings</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">If we look at a conflagration through smoked + glass, we see buildings collapsing, but we see no fire. So + science sees results, but not the power which produces them; + sees cause and effect, but does not see + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">P. S. Henson:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + current in an electric wire is invisible so long as it + circulates uniformly. But cut the wire and insert a piece of + carbon between the two broken ends, and at once you have an + arc-light that drives away the darkness. So miracle is only + the momentary interruption in the operation of uniform laws, + which thus gives light to the ages,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—or, let us say rather, the momentary change + in the method of their operation whereby the will of God + takes a new form of manifestation. Pfleiderer, Grundriss, + 100—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Spinoza + leugnete ihre metaphysische Möglichkeit, Hume ihre + geschichtliche Erkennbarkeit, Kant ihre practische + Brauchbarkeit, Schleiermacher ihre religiöse Bedeutsamkeit, + Hegel ihre geistige Beweiskraft, Fichte ihre wahre + Christlichkeit, und die kritische Theologie ihre wahre + Geschichtlichkeit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) What the human will, + considered as a supernatural force, and what the chemical and + vital forces of nature itself, are demonstrably able to + accomplish, cannot be regarded as beyond the power of God, so + long as God dwells in and controls the universe. If man's will + can act directly upon matter in his own physical organism, + God's will can work immediately upon the system which he has + created and which he sustains. In other words, if there be a + God, and if he be a personal being, miracles are possible. The + impossibility of miracles can be maintained only upon + principles of atheism or pantheism.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Westcott, Gospel of the + Resurrection, 19; Cox, Miracles, an Argument and a + Challenge:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Anthropomorphism is preferable to + hylomorphism.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Newman Smyth, Old Faiths in a New Light, ch. + 1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A + miracle is not a sudden blow struck in the face of nature, + but a use of nature, according to its inherent capacities, by + higher powers.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">See also Gloatz, Wunder und Naturgesetz, in + Studien und Kritiken, 1886:403-546; Gunsaulus, + Transfiguration of Christ, 18, 19, 26; Andover Review, + on</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Robert + Elsmere,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">1888:303; W. E. Gladstone, in Nineteenth + Century, 1888:766-788; Dubois, on Science and Miracle, in New + Englander, July, 1889:1-32—Three postulates: (1) Every + particle attracts every other in the universe; (2) Man's will + is free; (3) Every volition is accompanied by corresponding + brain-action. Hence every volition of ours causes changes + throughout the whole universe; also, in Century Magazine, + Dec. 1894:229—Conditions are never twice the same in nature; + all things are the results of will, since we know that the + least thought of ours shakes the universe; miracle is simply + the action of will in unique conditions; the beginning of + life, the origin of consciousness, these are miracles, yet + they are strictly natural; prayer and the mind that frames it + are conditions which</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">the Mind</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">in nature cannot ignore.</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + Cf.</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 115:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">our God + is in the heavens: He hath done</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page123">[pg 123]</span><a name="Pg123" id= + "Pg123" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">whatsoever he pleased</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= his almighty power and freedom do away + with all</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a priori</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">objections to miracles. If God + is not a mere</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">force</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + but a</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">person</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + then miracles are possible.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">e</span></span>) This possibility of + miracles becomes doubly sure to those who see in Christ none + other than the immanent God manifested to creatures. The Logos + or divine Reason who is the principle of all growth and + evolution can make God known only by means of successive new + impartations of his energy. Since all progress implies + increment, and Christ is the only source of life, the whole + history of creation is a witness to the possibility of + miracle.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See A. H. Strong, Christ in + Creation, 163-166—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">This + conception of evolution is that of Lotze. That great + philosopher, whose influence is more potent than any other in + present thought, does not regard the universe as a</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">plenum</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">to which nothing can be added in + the way of force. He looks upon the universe rather as a + plastic organism to which new impulses can be imparted from + him of whose thought and will it is an expression. These + impulses, once imparted, abide in the organism and are + thereafter subject to its law. Though these impulses come + from within, they come not from the finite mechanism but from + the immanent God. Robert Browning's phrase,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">All's + love, but all's law,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">must be interpreted as meaning that the very + movements of the planets and all the operations of nature are + revelations of a personal and present God, but it must not be + interpreted as meaning that God runs in a rut, that he is + confined to mechanism, that he is incapable of unique and + startling manifestations of power.</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + idea that gives to evolution its hold upon thinking minds is + the idea of continuity. But absolute continuity is + inconsistent with progress. If the future is not simply a + reproduction of the past, there must be some new cause of + change. In order to progress there must be either a new + force, or a new combination of forces, and the new + combination of forces can be explained only by some new force + that causes the combination. This new force, moreover, must + be intelligent force, if the evolution is to be toward the + better instead of toward the worse. The continuity must be + continuity not of forces but of plan. The forces may + increase, nay, they must increase, unless the new is to be a + mere repetition of the old. There must be additional energy + imparted, the new combination brought about, and all this + implies purpose and will. But through all there runs one + continuous plan, and upon this plan the rationality of + evolution depends.</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A man + builds a house. In laying the foundation he uses stone and + mortar, but he makes the walls of wood and the roof of tin. + In the superstructure he brings into play different laws from + those which apply to the foundation. There is continuity, not + of material, but of plan. Progress from cellar to garret + requires breaks here and there, and the bringing in of new + forces; in fact, without the bringing in of these new forces + the evolution of the house would be impossible. Now + substitute for the foundation and superstructure living + things like the chrysalis and the butterfly; imagine the + power to work from within and not from without; and you see + that true continuity does not exclude but involves new + beginnings.</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Evolution, then, depends on increments of + force</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">plus</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">continuity of plan. New + creations are possible because the immanent God has not + exhausted himself. Miracle is possible because God is not far + away, but is at hand to do whatever the needs of his moral + universe may require. Regeneration and answers to prayer are + possible for the very reason that these are the objects for + which the universe was built. If we were deists, believing in + a distant God and a mechanical universe, evolution and + Christianity would be irreconcilable. But since we believe in + a dynamical universe, of which the personal and living God is + the inner source of energy, evolution is but the basis, + foundation and background of Christianity, the silent and + regular working of him who, in the fulness of time, utters + his voice in Christ and the Cross.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Lotze's own statement of his + position may be found in his Microcosmos, 2:479</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">Professor + James Ten Broeke has interpreted him as follows:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He + makes the possibility of the miracle depend upon the close + and intimate action and reaction between the world and the + personal Absolute, in consequence of which the movements of + the natural world are carried on only</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">through</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">the Absolute, with the + possibility of a variation in the general course of things, + according to existing facts and the purpose of the divine + Governor.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page124">[pg + 124]</span><a name="Pg124" id="Pg124" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc111" id="toc111"></a> <a name="pdf112" id= + "pdf112"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 3. Probability of Miracles.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. We + acknowledge that, so long as we confine our attention to + nature, there is a presumption against miracles. Experience + testifies to the uniformity of natural law. A general + uniformity is needful, in order to make possible a rational + calculation of the future, and a proper ordering of life.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Butler, Analogy, part ii, + chap. ii; F. W. Farrar, Witness of History to Christ, 3-45; + Modern Scepticism, 1:179-227; Chalmers, Christian Revelation, + 1:47. G. D. B. Pepper:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Where there is no law, no settled order, + there can be no miracle. The miracle presupposes the law, and + the importance assigned to miracles is the recognition of the + reign of law. But the making and launching of a ship may be + governed by law, no less than the sailing of the ship after + it is launched. So the introduction of a higher spiritual + order into a merely natural order constitutes a new and + unique event.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Some Christian apologists have erred in + affirming that the miracle was antecedently as probable as + any other event, whereas only its antecedent improbability + gives it value as a proof of revelation. Horace:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Nec + deus intersit, nisi dignus vindice nodus + Inciderit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. But we + deny that this uniformity of nature is absolute and universal. + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) It is not a truth of + reason that can have no exceptions, like the axiom that a whole + is greater than its parts. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + Experience could not warrant a belief in absolute and universal + uniformity, unless experience were identical with absolute and + universal knowledge. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) We know, on the contrary, + from geology, that there have been breaks in this uniformity, + such as the introduction of vegetable, animal and human life, + which cannot be accounted for, except by the manifestation in + nature of a supernatural power.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + Compare the probability that the sun will rise to-morrow + morning with the certainty that two and two make four. + Huxley, Lay Sermons, 158, indignantly denies that there is + any</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">must</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">about the uniformity of nature:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">No one + is entitled to say</span> <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a + priori</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">that any + given so-called miraculous event is + impossible.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ward, Naturalism and Agnosticism, + 1:84—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There + is no evidence for the statement that the mass of the + universe is a definite and unchangeable + quantity</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; 108, 109—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Why so confidently assume that a rigid and + monotonous uniformity is the only, or the highest, indication + of order, the order of an ever living Spirit, above all? How + is it that we depreciate machine-made articles, and prefer + those in which the artistic impulse, or the fitness of the + individual case, is free to shape and to make what is + literally manufactured, hand-made?... Dangerous as + teleological arguments in general may be, we may at least + safely say the world was not designed to make science + easy.... To call the verses of a poet, the politics of a + statesman, or the award of a judge mechanical, implies, as + Lotze has pointed out, marked disparagement, although it + implies, too, precisely those characteristics—exactness and + invariability—in which Maxwell would have us see a token of + the divine.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Surely then we must not insist that divine + wisdom must always run in a rut, must ever repeat itself, + must never exhibit itself in unique acts like incarnation and + resurrection. See Edward Hitchcock, in Bib. Sac., 20:489-561, + on</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The Law + of Nature's Constancy Subordinate to the Higher Law of + Change</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; Jevons, Principles of Science, 2:430-438; + Mozley, Miracles, 26.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + S. T. Coleridge, Table Talk, 18 December, + 1831—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + light which experience gives us is a lantern on the stern of + the ship, which shines only on the waves behind + us.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Hobbes:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Experience concludeth nothing + universally.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Brooks, Foundations of Zoölogy, + 131—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Evidence can tell us only what has happened, + and it can never assure us that the future</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">must</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">be like the past; 132—Proof that + all nature is mechanical would not be inconsistent with the + belief that everything in nature is immediately sustained by + Providence, and that my volition counts for something in + determining the course of events.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Royce, World and Individual, + 2:204—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Uniformity is not absolute. Nature is a + vaster realm of life and meaning, of which we men form a + part, and of which the final unity is in God's life. The + rhythm of the heart-beat has its normal regularity, yet its + limited persistence. Nature may be merely the</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">habits of free + will</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. Every region + of this universally conscious world may be a centre whence + issues new</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page125">[pg + 125]</span><a name="Pg125" id="Pg125" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">conscious + life for communication to all the worlds.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Principal Fairbairn:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Nature is Spirit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We prefer to say:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Nature is the manifestation of spirit, the + regularities of freedom.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + Other breaks in the uniformity of nature are the coming of + Christ and the regeneration of a human soul. Harnack, What is + Christianity, 18, holds that though there are no + interruptions to the working of natural law, natural law is + not yet fully known. While there are no miracles, there is + plenty of the miraculous. The power of mind over matter is + beyond our present conceptions. Bowne, Philosophy of Theism, + 210—The effects are no more consequences of the laws than the + laws are consequences of the effects = both laws and effects + are exercises of divine will. King, Reconstruction in + Theology, 56—We must hold, not to the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">uniformity</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of law, but to the</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">universality</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of law; for evolution has + successive stages with new laws coming in and becoming + dominant that had not before appeared. The new and higher + stage is practically a miracle from the point of view of the + lower. See British Quarterly Review, Oct. 1881:154; + Martineau, Study, 2:200, 203, 209.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">C. Since the + inworking of the moral law into the constitution and course of + nature shows that nature exists, not for itself, but for the + contemplation and use of moral beings, it is probable that the + God of nature will produce effects aside from those of natural + law, whenever there are sufficiently important moral ends to be + served thereby.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Beneath the expectation of + uniformity is the intuition of final cause; the former may + therefore give way to the latter. See Porter, Human + Intellect, 592-615—Efficient causes and final causes may + conflict, and then the efficient give place to the final. + This is miracle. See Hutton, in Nineteenth Century, Aug. + 1885, and Channing, Evidences of Revealed Religion, quoted in + Shedd, Dogm. Theol., 1:534, 535—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The order of the universe is a means, not an + end, and like all other means must give way when the end can + be best promoted without it. It is the mark of a weak mind to + make an idol of order and method; to cling to established + forms of business when they clog instead of advancing + it.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Balfour, Foundations of Belief, + 357—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + stability of the heavens is in the sight of God of less + importance than the moral growth of the human + spirit.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">This is proved by the + Incarnation. The Christian sees in this little earth the + scene of God's greatest revelation. The superiority of the + spiritual to the physical helps us to see our true dignity in + the creation, to rule our bodies, to overcome our sins. + Christ's suffering shows us that God is no indifferent + spectator of human pain. He subjects himself to our + conditions, or rather in this subjection reveals to us God's + own eternal suffering for sin. The atonement enables us to + solve the problem of sin.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">D. The + existence of moral disorder consequent upon the free acts of + man's will, therefore, changes the presumption against miracles + into a presumption in their favor. The non-appearance of + miracles, in this case, would be the greatest of wonders.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Stearns, Evidence of Christian + Experience, 331-335—So a man's personal consciousness of sin, + and above all his personal experience of regenerating grace, + will constitute the best preparation for the study of + miracles.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christianity cannot be proved except to a + bad conscience.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The dying Vinet said well:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + greatest miracle that I know of is that of my conversion. I + was dead, and I live; I was blind, and I see; I was a slave, + and I am free; I was an enemy of God, and I love him; prayer, + the Bible, the society of Christians, these were to me a + source of profound</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">ennui</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; + whilst now it is the pleasures of the world that are + wearisome to me, and piety is the source of all my joy. + Behold the miracle! And if God has been able to work that + one, there are none of which he is not + capable.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Yet the physical and the moral + are not</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">sundered as with an axe.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Nature is but the lower stage or imperfect + form of the revelation of God's truth and holiness and love. + It prepares the way for the miracle by suggesting, though + more dimly, the same essential characteristics of the divine + nature. Ignorance and sin necessitate a larger disclosure. G. + S. Lee, The Shadow Christ, 84—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The pillar of cloud was the dim night-lamp + that Jehovah kept burning over his infant children, to show + them that he was there. They did not know that the night + itself was God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Why do we have Christmas presents in + Christian homes? Because the parents do not love their + children at other times?</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page126">[pg 126]</span><a name="Pg126" id="Pg126" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">No; but + because the mind becomes sluggish in the presence of merely + regular kindness, and special gifts are needed to wake it to + gratitude. So our sluggish and unloving minds need special + testimonies of the divine mercy. Shall God alone be shut up + to dull uniformities of action? Shall the heavenly Father + alone be unable to make special communications of love? Why + then are not miracles and revivals of religion constant and + uniform? Because uniform blessings would be regarded simply + as workings of a machine. See Mozley, Miracles, preface, + xxiv; Turner, Wish and Will, 291-315; N. W. Taylor, Moral + Government, 2:388-423.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">E. As belief + in the possibility of miracles rests upon our belief in the + existence of a personal God, so belief in the probability of + miracles rests upon our belief that God is a moral and + benevolent being. He who has no God but a God of physical order + will regard miracles as an impertinent intrusion upon that + order. But he who yields to the testimony of conscience and + regards God as a God of holiness, will see that man's + unholiness renders God's miraculous interposition most + necessary to man and most becoming to God. Our view of miracles + will therefore be determined by our belief in a moral, or in a + non-moral, God.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Philo, in his Life of Moses, + 1:88, speaking of the miracles of the quails and of the water + from the rock, says that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">all these unexpected and extraordinary + things are amusements or playthings of + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">He believes that there is room + for arbitrariness in the divine procedure. Scripture however + represents miracle as an extraordinary, rather than as an + arbitrary, act. It is</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">his + work, his strange work ... his act, his strange + act</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Is. + 28:21)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. God's + ordinary method is that of regular growth and development. + Chadwick, Unitarianism, 72—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Nature is economical. If she wants an apple, + she develops a leaf; if she wants a brain, she develops a + vertebra. We always thought well of backbone; and, if + Goethe's was a sound suggestion, we think better of it + now.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It is commonly, but very + erroneously, taken for granted that miracle requires a + greater exercise of power than does God's upholding of the + ordinary processes of nature. But to an omnipotent Being our + measures of power have no application. The question is not a + question of power, but of rationality and love. Miracle + implies self-restraint, as well as self-unfolding, on the + part of him who works it. It is therefore not God's common + method of action; it is adopted only when regular methods + will not suffice; it often seems accompanied by a sacrifice + of feeling on the part of Christ</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 17:17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">O + faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with + you? how long shall I bear with you? bring him hither to + me</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mark + 7:34—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">looking + up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that + is, Be opened</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 12:39—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">An evil + and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there + shall no sign be given to it but the sign of Jonah the + prophet.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">F. From the + point of view of ethical monism the probability of miracle + becomes even greater. Since God is not merely the intellectual + but the moral Reason of the world, the disturbances of the + world-order which are due to sin are the matters which most + deeply affect him. Christ, the life of the whole system and of + humanity as well, must suffer; and, since we have evidence that + he is merciful as well as just, it is probable that he will + rectify the evil by extraordinary means, when merely ordinary + means do not avail.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Like creation and providence, + like inspiration and regeneration, miracle is a work in which + God limits himself, by a new and peculiar exercise of his + power,—limits himself as part of a process of condescending + love and as a means of teaching sense-environed and + sin-burdened humanity what it would not learn in any other + way. Self-limitation, however, is the very perfection and + glory of God, for without it no self-sacrificing love would + be possible (see page 9, F.). The probability of miracles is + therefore argued not only from God's holiness but also from + his love. His desire to save men from their sins must be as + infinite as his nature. The incarnation, the atonement, the + resurrection, when once made known to us, commend themselves, + not only as satisfying our human needs, but as worthy of a + God of moral perfection.</span></p><span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page127">[pg 127]</span><a name="Pg127" id="Pg127" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">An argument for the probability + of the miracle might be drawn from the concessions of one of + its chief modern opponents, Thomas H. Huxley. He tells us in + different places that the object of science is</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + discovery of the rational order that pervades the + universe,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">which in spite of his professed + agnosticism is an unconscious testimony to Reason and Will at + the basis of all things. He tells us again that there is no + necessity in the uniformities of nature:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">When we change</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">will</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">into</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">must,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">we introduce an idea of necessity which has + no warrant in the observed facts, and has no warranty that I + can discover elsewhere.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">He speaks of</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the infinite wickedness that has attended + the course of human history.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Yet he has no hope in man's power to save + himself:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I would + as soon adore a wilderness of apes,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">as the Pantheist's rationalized conception + of humanity. He grants that Jesus Christ is</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + noblest ideal of humanity which mankind has yet + worshiped.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Why should he not go further and + concede that Jesus Christ most truly represents the infinite + Reason at the heart of things, and that his purity and love, + demonstrated by suffering and death, make it probable that + God will use extraordinary means for man's deliverance? It is + doubtful whether Huxley recognized his own personal + sinfulness as fully as he recognized the sinfulness of + humanity in general. If he had done so, he would have been + willing to accept miracle upon even a slight preponderance of + historical proof. As a matter of fact, he rejected miracle + upon the grounds assigned by Hume, which we now proceed to + mention.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc113" id="toc113"></a> <a name="pdf114" id= + "pdf114"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 4. Amount of Testimony necessary to prove a Miracle.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The amount of + testimony necessary to prove a miracle</span></span> is no + greater than that which is requisite to prove the occurrence of + any other unusual but confessedly possible event.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Hume, + indeed, argued that a miracle is so contradictory of all human + experience that it is more reasonable to believe any amount of + testimony false than to believe a miracle to be true.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The original form of the + argument can be found in Hume's Philosophical Works, + 4:124-150. See also Bib. Sac., Oct. 1867:615. For the most + recent and plausible statement of it, see Supernatural + Religion, 1:55-94. The argument maintains for substance that + things are impossible because improbable. It ridicules the + credulity of those who</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">thrust their fists against the posts, And + still insist they see the ghosts,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and holds with the German philosopher who + declared that he would not believe in a miracle, even if he + saw one with his own eyes. Christianity is so miraculous that + it takes a miracle to make one believe it.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The argument + is fallacious, because</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) It is chargeable with a + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-style: italic">petitio + principii</span></span>, in making our own personal experience + the measure of all human experience. The same principle would + make the proof of any absolutely new fact impossible. Even + though God should work a miracle, he could never prove it.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) It involves a + self-contradiction, since it seeks to overthrow our faith in + human testimony by adducing to the contrary the general + experience of men, of which we know only from testimony. This + general experience, moreover, is merely negative, and cannot + neutralize that which is positive, except upon principles which + would invalidate all testimony whatever.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) It requires belief in a + greater wonder than those which it would escape. That + multitudes of intelligent and honest men should against all + their interests unite in deliberate and persistent falsehood, + under the circumstances narrated in the New Testament record, + involves a change in the sequences of nature far more + incredible than the miracles of Christ and his apostles.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + John Stuart Mill, Essays on Theism, 216-241, grants that, + even if a miracle were wrought, it would be impossible to + prove it. In this he only echoes Hume, Miracles, + 112—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + ultimate standard by which we determine all disputes that may + arise is always derived from experience and + observation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But here our own personal experience</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page128">[pg 128]</span><a name= + "Pg128" id="Pg128" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">is made the standard by which to judge all + human experience. Whately, Historic Doubts relative to + Napoleon Buonaparte, shows that the same rule would require + us to deny the existence of the great Frenchman, since + Napoleon's conquests were contrary to all experience, and + civilized nations had never before been so subdued. The + London Times for June 18, 1888, for the first time in at + least a hundred years or in 31,200 issues, was misdated, and + certain pages read June 17, although June 17 was Sunday. Yet + the paper would have been admitted in a court of justice as + evidence of a marriage. The real wonder is, not the break in + experience, but the continuity without the break.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + Lyman Abbott:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If the + Old Testament told the story of a naval engagement between + the Jewish people and a pagan people, in which all the ships + of the pagan people were absolutely destroyed and not a + single man was killed among the Jews, all the sceptics would + have scorned the narrative. Every one now believes it, except + those who live in Spain.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">There are people who in a similar way refuse + to investigate the phenomena of hypnotism, second sight, + clairvoyance, and telepathy, declaring</span> <span lang="la" + class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a + priori</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">that all + these things are impossible. Prophecy, in the sense of + prediction, is discredited. Upon the same principle wireless + telegraphy might be denounced as an imposture. The son of + Erin charged with murder defended himself by saying:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Your + honor, I can bring fifty people who did not see me do + it.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Our faith in testimony cannot be + due to experience.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + On this point, see Chalmers, Christian Revelation, 3:70; + Starkie on Evidence, 739; De Quincey, Theological Essays, + 1:162-188; Thornton, Old-fashioned Ethics, 143-153; Campbell + on Miracles. South's sermon on The Certainty of our Savior's + Resurrection had stated and answered this objection long + before Hume propounded it.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc115" id="toc115"></a> <a name="pdf116" id= + "pdf116"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 5. Evidential force of Miracles.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Miracles are the natural + accompaniments and attestations of new communications from God. + The great epochs of miracles—represented by Moses, the + prophets, the first and second comings of Christ—are coincident + with the great epochs of revelation. Miracles serve to draw + attention to new truth, and cease when this truth has gained + currency and foothold.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Miracles are not scattered + evenly over the whole course of history. Few miracles are + recorded during the 2500 years from Adam to Moses. When the + N. T. Canon is completed and the internal evidence of + Scripture has attained its greatest strength, the external + attestations by miracle are either wholly withdrawn or begin + to disappear. The spiritual wonders of regeneration remain, + and for these the way has been prepared by the long progress + from the miracles of power wrought by Moses to the miracles + of grace wrought by Christ. Miracles disappeared because + newer and higher proofs rendered them unnecessary. Better + things than these are now in evidence. Thomas Fuller:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Miracles are the swaddling-clothes of the + infant church.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">John Foster:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Miracles are the great bell of the universe, + which draws men to God's sermon.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Henry Ward Beecher:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Miracles are the midwives of great moral + truths; candles lit before the dawn but put out after the sun + has risen.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Illingworth, in Lux Mundi, + 210—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">When we + are told that miracles contradict experience, we point to the + daily occurrence of the spiritual miracle of regeneration and + ask:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Which is easier to say, Thy sins are + forgiven; or to say, Arise and walk?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Mat. + 9:5)</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Miracles and inspiration go + together; if the former remain in the church, the latter + should remain also; see Marsh, in Bap. Quar. Rev., + 1887:225-242. On the cessation of miracles in the early + church, see Henderson, Inspiration, 443-490; Bückmann, in + Zeitsch. f. luth. Theol. u. Kirche, 1878:216. On miracles in + the second century, see Barnard, Literature of the Second + Century, 139-180. A. J. Gordon, Ministry of the Spirit, + 167—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + apostles were commissioned to speak for Christ till the N. T. + Scriptures, his authoritative voice, were completed. In the + apostolate we have a provisional inspiration; in the N. T. a + stereotyped inspiration; the first being endowed with + authority</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">ad interim</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">to forgive sins, and the second + having this authority</span> <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + perpetuo</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dr. Gordon draws an analogy between coal, + which is fossil sunlight, and the New Testament, which is + fossil inspiration. Sabatier, Philos. Religion, + 74—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Bible is very free from the senseless prodigies of oriental + mythology. The great prophets, Isaiah, Amos, Micah, Jeremiah, + John the Baptist, work no miracles. Jesus' temptation in the + wilderness is a victory of the moral consciousness over the + religion of mere physical prodigy.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Trench says that miracles cluster about + the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">foundation</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of the theocratic kingdom</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page129">[pg 129]</span><a name= + "Pg129" id="Pg129" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">under Moses and Joshua, and about the</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">restoration</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of that kingdom under Elijah and + Elisha. In the O. T., miracles confute the gods of Egypt + under Moses, the Phœnician Baal under Elijah and Elisha, and + the gods of Babylon under Daniel. See Diman, Theistic + Argument, 376, and art.: Miracle, by Bernard, in Hastings' + Bible Dictionary.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Miracles generally + certify to the truth of doctrine, not directly, but indirectly; + otherwise a new miracle must needs accompany each new doctrine + taught. Miracles primarily and directly certify to the divine + commission and authority of a religious teacher, and therefore + warrant acceptance of his doctrines and obedience to his + commands as the doctrines and commands of God, whether these be + communicated at intervals or all together, orally or in written + documents.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The exceptions to the above + statement are very few, and are found only in cases where the + whole commission and authority of Christ, and not some + fragmentary doctrine, are involved. Jesus appeals to his + miracles as proof of the truth of his teaching in</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. 9:5, + 6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Which + is easier to say, Thy sins are forgiven; or to say, Arise and + walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath authority + on earth to forgive sins (then saith he to the sick of the + palsy), Arise, and take up thy bed, and go unto thy + house</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">12:28—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">if + I by the spirit of God cast out demons, then is the kingdom + of God come upon you.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">So Paul in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 1:4</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, says that + Jesus</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">was declared to be the Son of God with + power, ... by the resurrection from the + dead.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Mair, Christian Evidences, 223, + quotes from Natural Religion, 181—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is said that the theo-philanthropist + Larévellière-Lépeaux once confided to Talleyrand his + disappointment at the ill success of his attempt to bring + into vogue a sort of improved Christianity, a sort of + benevolent rationalism which he had invented to meet the + wants of a benevolent age.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">His propaganda made no + way,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">he said.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">What was he to do?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">he asked. The ex-bishop Talleyrand politely + condoled with him, feared it was a difficult task to found a + new religion, more difficult than he had imagined, so + difficult that he hardly knew what to advise.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Still,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—so he went on after a moment's + reflection,—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">there + is one plan which you might at least try: I should recommend + you to be crucified, and to rise again the third + day.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See also Murphy, Scientific Bases of Faith, + 147-167; Farrar, Life of Christ, 1:168-172.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) Miracles, therefore, do + not stand alone as evidences. Power alone cannot prove a divine + commission. Purity of life and doctrine must go with the + miracles to assure us that a religious teacher has come from + God. The miracles and the doctrine in this manner mutually + support each other, and form parts of one whole. The internal + evidence for the Christian system may have greater power over + certain minds and over certain ages than the external + evidence.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Pascal's aphorism that</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">doctrines must be judged by miracles, + miracles by doctrine,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">needs to be supplemented by Mozley's + statement that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a + supernatural fact is the proper proof of a supernatural + doctrine, while a supernatural doctrine is not the proper + proof of a supernatural fact.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">E. G. Robinson, Christian Theology, 107, + would</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">defend + miracles, but would not buttress up Christianity by them.... + No amount of miracles could convince a good man of the divine + commission of a known bad man; nor, on the other hand, could + any degree of miraculous power suffice to silence the doubts + of an evil-minded man.... The miracle is a certification only + to him who can perceive its significance.... The Christian + church has the resurrection written all over it. Its very + existence is proof of the resurrection. Twelve men could + never have founded the church, if Christ had remained in the + tomb. The living church is the burning bush that is not + consumed.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Gore, Incarnation, + 57—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jesus + did not appear after his resurrection to unbelievers, but to + believers only,—which means that this crowning miracle was + meant to confirm an existing faith, not to create one where + it did not exist.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Christian Union, July 11, + 1891—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If the + anticipated resurrection of Joseph Smith were to take place, + it would add nothing whatever to the authority of the Mormon + religion.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Schurman, Agnosticism and + Religion, 57—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Miracles are merely the bells to call + primitive peoples to church. Sweet as the music they once + made, modern ears find them jangling and out of tune, and + their dissonant notes scare away pious souls who would fain + enter the temple of worship.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">A new definition of miracle which + recognizes</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page130">[pg + 130]</span><a name="Pg130" id="Pg130" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">their + possible classification as extraordinary occurrences in + nature, yet sees in all nature the working of the living God, + may do much to remove this prejudice. Bishop of Southampton, + Place of Miracle, 53—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Miracles alone could not produce conviction. + The Pharisees ascribed them to Beelzebub. Though Jesus had + done so many signs, yet they believed not.... Though miracles + were frequently wrought, they were rarely appealed to as + evidence of the truth of the gospel. They are simply signs of + God's presence in his world. By itself a miracle had no + evidential force. The only test for distinguishing divine + from Satanic miracles is that of the moral character and + purpose of the worker; and therefore miracles depend for all + their force upon a previous appreciation of the character and + personality of Christ (79). The earliest apologists make no + use of miracles. They are of no value except in connection + with prophecy. Miracles</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">are</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">the revelation of God, not + the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">proof</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of + revelation.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Versus</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Supernatural Religion, 1:23, and + Stearns, in New Englander, Jan. 1882:80. See Mozley, + Miracles, 15; Nicoll, Life of Jesus Christ, 133; Mill, Logic, + 374-382; H. B. Smith, Int. to Christ. Theology, 167-169; + Fisher, in Journ. Christ. Philos., April, + 1883:270-283.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) Yet the Christian + miracles do not lose their value as evidence in the process of + ages. The loftier the structure of Christian life and doctrine + the greater need that its foundation be secure. The authority + of Christ as a teacher of supernatural truth rests upon his + miracles, and especially upon the miracle of his resurrection. + That one miracle to which the church looks back as the source + of her life carries with it irresistibly all the other miracles + of the Scripture record; upon it alone we may safely rest the + proof that the Scriptures are an authoritative revelation from + God.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The miracles of Christ are + simple correlates of the Incarnation—proper insignia of his + royalty and divinity. By mere external evidence however we + can more easily prove the resurrection than the incarnation. + In our arguments with sceptics, we should not begin with the + ass that spoke to Balaam, or the fish that swallowed Jonah, + but with the resurrection of Christ; that conceded, all other + Biblical miracles will seem only natural preparations, + accompaniments, or consequences. G. F. Wright, in Bib. Sac., + 1889:707—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + difficulties created by the miraculous character of + Christianity may be compared to those assumed by a builder + when great permanence is desired in the structure erected. It + is easier to lay the foundation of a temporary structure than + of one which is to endure for the ages.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Pressensé:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The empty tomb of Christ has been the cradle + of the church, and if in this foundation of her faith the + church has been mistaken, she must needs lay herself down by + the side of the mortal remains, I say, not of a man, but of a + religion.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">President Schurman believes the + resurrection of Christ to be</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">an obsolete picture of an eternal truth—the + fact of a continued life with God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Harnack, Wesen des Christenthums, 102, + thinks no consistent union of the gospel accounts of Christ's + resurrection can be attained; apparently doubts a literal and + bodily rising; yet traces Christianity back to an invincible + faith in Christ's conquering of death and his continued life. + But why believe the gospels when they speak of the sympathy + of Christ, yet disbelieve them when they speak of his + miraculous power? We have no right to trust the narrative + when it gives us Christ's words</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Weep + not</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">to the widow of Nain, + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 7:13</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">), and then to + distrust it when it tells us of his raising the widow's son. + The words</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Jesus wept</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">belong inseparably to a story of + which</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Lazarus, come forth!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">forms a part (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John 11:35, + 43</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). It is + improbable that the disciples should have believed so + stupendous a miracle as Christ's resurrection, if they had + not previously seen other manifestations of miraculous power + on the part of Christ. Christ himself is the great miracle. + The conception of him as the risen and glorified Savior can + be explained only by the fact that he did so rise. E. G. + Robinson, Christ. Theology, 109—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Church attests the fact of the + resurrection quite as much as the resurrection attests the + divine origin of the church. Resurrection, as an evidence, + depends on the existence of the church which proclaims + it.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">e</span></span>) The resurrection of our + Lord Jesus Christ—by which we mean his coming forth from the + sepulchre in body as well as in spirit—is demonstrated by + evidence as varied and as conclusive as that which proves to us + any single fact of ancient history. Without it Christianity + itself is inexplicable, <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page131">[pg 131]</span><a name="Pg131" id="Pg131" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> as is shown by the failure of all modern + rationalistic theories to account for its rise and + progress.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In discussing the evidence of + Jesus' resurrection, we are confronted with three main + rationalistic theories:</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">I. The</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Swoon-theory</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of Strauss. This holds that + Jesus did not really die. The cold and the spices of the + sepulchre revived him. We reply that the blood and water, and + the testimony of the centurion (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mark + 15:45</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">), proved + actual death (see Bib. Sac., April, 1889:228; Forrest, Christ + of History and Experience, 137-170). The rolling away of the + stone, and Jesus' power immediately after, are inconsistent + with immediately preceding swoon and suspended animation. How + was his life preserved? where did he go? when did he die? His + not dying implies deceit on his own part or on that of his + disciples.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">II. The</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Spirit-theory</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of Keim. Jesus really died, but + only his spirit appeared. The spirit of Jesus gave the + disciples a sign of his continued life, a telegram from + heaven. But we reply that the telegram was untrue, for it + asserted that his body had risen from the tomb. The tomb was + empty and the linen cloths showed an orderly departure. Jesus + himself denied that he was a bodiless spirit:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a + spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me + having</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Luke + 24:39)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. Did</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">his + flesh see corruption</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Acts + 2:31)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">? Was the + penitent thief raised from the dead as much as he? Godet, + Lectures in Defence of the Christian Faith, lect. i: A + dilemma for those who deny the fact of Christ's resurrection: + Either his body remained in the hands of his disciples, or it + was given up to the Jews. If the disciples retained it, they + were impostors: but this is not maintained by modern + rationalists. If the Jews retained it, why did they not + produce it as conclusive evidence against the + disciples?</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">III. The</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Vision-theory</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of Renan. Jesus died, and there + was no objective appearance even of his spirit. Mary + Magdalene was the victim of subjective hallucination, and her + hallucination became contagious. This was natural because the + Jews expected that the Messiah would work miracles and would + rise from the dead. We reply that the disciples did not + expect Jesus' resurrection. The women went to the sepulchre, + not to see a risen Redeemer, but to embalm a dead body. + Thomas and those at Emmaus had given up all hope. Four + hundred years had passed since the days of miracles; John the + Baptist</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">did no miracle</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John + 10:41)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; the + Sadducees said</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">there is no resurrection</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Mat. + 22:23)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. There were + thirteen different appearances, to: 1. the Magdalen; 2. other + women; 3. Peter; 4. Emmaus; 5. the Twelve; 6. the Twelve + after eight days; 7. Galilee seashore; 8. Galilee mountain; + 9. Galilee five hundred; 10. James; 11. ascension at Bethany; + 12. Stephen; 13. Paul on way to Damascus. Paul describes + Christ's appearance to him as something objective, and he + implies that Christ's previous appearances to others were + objective also:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">last of all</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">[these bodily appearances], ...</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">he appeared to me also</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(1 Cor. + 15:8)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. Bruce, + Apologetics, 396—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Paul's + interest and intention in classing the two together was to + level his own vision [of Christ] up to the objectivity of the + early Christophanies. He believed that the eleven, that Peter + in particular, had seen the risen Christ with the eye of the + body, and he meant to claim for himself a vision of the same + kind.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Paul's was a sane, strong nature. Subjective + visions do not transform human lives; the resurrection + moulded the apostles; they did not create the resurrection + (see Gore, Incarnation, 76). These appearances soon ceased, + unlike the law of hallucinations, which increase in frequency + and intensity. It is impossible to explain the ordinances, + the Lord's day, or Christianity itself, if Jesus did not rise + from the dead.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The resurrection of our Lord + teaches three important lessons: (1) It showed that his work + of atonement was completed and was stamped with the divine + approval; (2) It showed him to be Lord of all and gave the + one sufficient external proof of Christianity; (3) It + furnished the ground and pledge of our own resurrection, and + thus</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">brought life and immortality to + light</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(2 Tim. + 1:10)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. It must be + remembered that the resurrection was the one sign upon which + Jesus himself staked his claims—</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + sign of Jonah</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Luke + 11:29)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; and that the + resurrection is proof, not simply of God's power, but of + Christ's own power:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 10:18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I have + power to lay it down, and I have power to take it + again</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2:19—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Destroy this temple, and in three days I + will raise it up</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">....</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">21—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">he spake of the temple of his + body.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Alexander, Christ and + Christianity, 9, 158-224, 302; Mill, Theism, 216; Auberlen, + Div. Revelation, 56; Boston Lectures, 203-239; Christlieb, + Modern Doubt and Christian Belief, 448-503; Row, Bampton + Lectures, 1887:358-423; Hutton, Essays, 1:119; Schaff, in + Princeton Rev., May, 1880; 411-419; Fisher, Christian + Evidences, 41-46, 82-85; West, in Defence and Conf. of Faith, + 80-129; also special works on the Resurrection of our Lord, + by Milligan, Morrison, Kennedy, J. Baldwin Brown.</span></p> + </div> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page132">[pg + 132]</span><a name="Pg132" id="Pg132" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc117" id="toc117"></a> <a name="pdf118" id= + "pdf118"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 6. Counterfeit Miracles.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Since only + an act directly wrought by God can properly be called a + miracle, it follows that surprising events brought about by + evil spirits or by men, through the use of natural agencies + beyond our knowledge, are not entitled to this appellation. The + Scriptures recognize the existence of such, but denominate them + <span class="tei tei-q">“lying wonders”</span> (2 Thess. + 2:9).</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">These + counterfeit miracles in various ages argue that the belief in + miracles is natural to the race, and that somewhere there must + exist the true. They serve to show that not all supernatural + occurrences are divine, and to impress upon us the necessity of + careful examination before we accept them as divine.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">False + miracles may commonly be distinguished from the true by + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) their accompaniments of + immoral conduct or of doctrine contradictory to truth already + revealed—as in modern spiritualism; (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + their internal characteristics of inanity and extravagance—as + in the liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius, or the + miracles of the Apocryphal New Testament; (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + the insufficiency of the object which they are designed to + further—as in the case of Apollonius of Tyana, or of the + miracles said to accompany the publication of the doctrines of + the immaculate conception and of the papal infallibility; + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) their lack of + substantiating evidence—as in mediæval miracles, so seldom + attested by contemporary and disinterested witnesses; + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">e</span></span>) their denial or + undervaluing of God's previous revelation of himself in + nature—as shown by the neglect of ordinary means, in the cases + of Faith-cure and of so-called Christian Science.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Only what is valuable is + counterfeited. False miracles presuppose the true. Fisher, + Nature and Method of Revelation, 283—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The miracles of Jesus originated faith in + him, while mediæval miracles follow established faith. The + testimony of the apostles was given in the face of + incredulous Sadducees. They were ridiculed and maltreated on + account of it. It was no time for devout dreams and the + invention of romances.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The blood of St. Januarius at Naples is said + to be contained in a vial, one side of which is of thick + glass, while the other side is of thin. A similar miracle was + wrought at Hales in Gloucestershire. St. Alban, the first + martyr of Britain, after his head is cut off, carries it + about in his hand. In Ireland the place is shown where St. + Patrick in the fifth century drove all the toads and snakes + over a precipice into the nether regions. The legend however + did not become current until some hundreds of years after the + saint's bones had crumbled to dust at Saul, near Downpatrick + (see Hemphill, Literature of the Second Century, 180-182). + Compare the story of the book of Tobit (6-8), which relates + the expulsion of a demon by smoke from the burning heart and + liver of a fish caught in the Tigris, and the story of the + Apocryphal New Testament (I, Infancy), which tells of the + expulsion of Satan in the form of a mad dog from Judas by the + child Jesus. On counterfeit miracles in general, see Mozley, + Miracles, 15, 161; F. W. Farrar, Witness of History to + Christ, 72; A. S. Farrar, Science and Theology, 208; Tholuck, + Vermischte Schriften, 1:27; Hodge, Syst. Theol., 1:630; + Presb. Rev., 1881:687-719.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Some modern writers have + maintained that the gift of miracles still remains in the + church. Bengel:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + reason why</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">many</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">miracles are not now wrought is + not so much because</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">faith</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is established, as + because</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">unbelief</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">reigns.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christlieb:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is the want of faith in our age which is + the greatest hindrance to the stronger and more marked + appearance of that miraculous power which is working here and + there in quiet concealment. Unbelief is the final and most + important reason for the retrogression of + miracles.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Edward Irving, Works, + 5:464—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Sickness is sin apparent in the body, the + presentiment of death, the forerunner of corruption. Now, as + Christ came to destroy death, and will yet redeem the body + from the bondage of corruption, if the church is to have a + first fruits or earnest of this power, it must be by + receiving power over diseases</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page133">[pg 133]</span><a name="Pg133" id="Pg133" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">that are + the first fruits and earnest of death.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dr. A. J. Gordon, in his Ministry of + Healing, held to this view. See also Boys, Proofs of the + Miraculous in the Experience of the Church; Bushnell, Nature + and the Supernatural, 446-492; Review of Gordon, by Vincent, + in Presb. Rev., 1883:473-502; Review of Vincent, in Presb. + Rev., 1884:49-79.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In reply to the advocates of + faith-cure in general, we would grant that nature is plastic + in God's hand; that he can work miracle when and where it + pleases him; and that he has given promises which, with + certain Scriptural and rational limitations, encourage + believing prayer for healing in cases of sickness. But we + incline to the belief that in these later ages God answers + such prayer, not by miracle, but by special providence, and + by gifts of courage, faith and will, thus acting by his + Spirit directly upon the soul and only indirectly upon the + body. The laws of nature are generic volitions of God, and to + ignore them and disuse means is presumption and disrespect to + God himself. The Scripture promise to faith is always + expressly or impliedly conditioned upon our use of means: we + are to work out our own salvation, for the very reason that + it is God who works in us; it is vain for the drowning man to + pray, so long as he refuses to lay hold of the rope that is + thrown to him. Medicines and physicians are the rope thrown + to us by God; we cannot expect miraculous help, while we + neglect the help God has already given us; to refuse this + help is practically to deny Christ's revelation in nature. + Why not live without eating, as well as recover from sickness + without medicine? Faith-feeding is quite as rational as + faith-healing. To except cases of disease from this general + rule as to the use of means has no warrant either in reason + or in Scripture. The atonement has purchased complete + salvation, and some day salvation shall be ours. But death + and depravity still remain, not as penalty, but as + chastisement. So disease remains also. Hospitals for + Incurables, and the deaths even of advocates of faith-cure, + show that they too are compelled to recognize some limit to + the application of the New Testament promise.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In view of the preceding + discussion we must regard the so-called Christian Science as + neither Christian nor scientific. Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy + denies the authority of all that part of revelation which God + has made to man in nature, and holds that the laws of nature + may be disregarded with impunity by those who have proper + faith; see G. F. Wright, in Bib. Sac., April, 1899:375. + Bishop Lawrence of Massachusetts:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">One of the errors of Christian Science is + its neglect of accumulated knowledge, of the fund of + information stored up for these Christian centuries. That + knowledge is just as much God's gift as is the knowledge + obtained from direct revelation. In rejecting accumulated + knowledge and professional skill, Christian Science rejects + the gift of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Most of the professed cures of Christian + Science are explicable by the influence of the mind upon the + body, through hypnosis or suggestion; (see A. A. Bennett, in + Watchman, Feb. 13, 1903). Mental disturbance may make the + mother's milk a poison to the child; mental excitement is a + common cause of indigestion; mental depression induces bowel + disorders; depressed mental and moral conditions render a + person more susceptible to grippe, pneumonia, typhoid fever. + Reading the account of an accident in which the body is torn + or maimed, we ourselves feel pain in the same spot; when the + child's hand is crushed, the mother's hand, though at a + distance, becomes swollen; the mediæval</span> <span class= + "tei tei-foreign"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">stigmata</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">probably resulted from + continuous brooding upon the sufferings of Christ (see + Carpenter, Mental Physiology, 676-690).</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">But mental states may help as + well as harm the body. Mental expectancy facilitates cure in + cases of sickness. The physician helps the patient by + inspiring hope and courage. Imagination works wonders, + especially in the case of nervous disorders. The diseases + said to be cured by Christian Science are commonly of this + sort. In every age fakirs, mesmerists, and quacks have + availed themselves of these underlying mental forces. By + inducing expectancy, imparting courage, rousing the paralyzed + will, they have indirectly caused bodily changes which have + been mistaken for miracle. Tacitus tells us of the healing of + a blind man by the Emperor Vespasian. Undoubted cures have + been wrought by the royal touch in England. Since such + wonders have been performed by Indian medicine-men, we cannot + regard them as having any specific Christian character, and + when, as in the present case, we find them used to aid in the + spread of false doctrine with regard to sin, Christ, + atonement, and the church, we must class them with the</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">lying + wonders</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">of which we are warned in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Thess. + 2:9</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. See Harris, + Philosophical Basis of Theism, 381-386; Buckley, + Faith-Healing, and in Century Magazine, June, 1886:221-236; + Bruce, Miraculous Element in Gospels, lecture 8; Andover + Review, 1887:249-264.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page134">[pg 134]</span><a name= + "Pg134" id="Pg134" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc119" id="toc119"></a> <a name="pdf120" id= + "pdf120"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">IV. Prophecy as Attesting a Divine + Revelation.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We here + consider prophecy in its narrow sense of mere prediction, + reserving to a subsequent chapter the consideration of prophecy + as interpretation of the divine will in general.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">1. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Definition.</span></span> Prophecy is the + foretelling of future events by virtue of direct communication + from God—a foretelling, therefore, which, though not contravening + any laws of the human mind, those laws, if fully known, would + not, without this agency of God, be sufficient to explain.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">In discussing the subject of prophecy, we are + met at the outset by the contention that there is not, and never + has been, any real foretelling of future events beyond that which + is possible to natural prescience. This is the view of Kuenen, + Prophets and Prophecy in Israel. Pfleiderer, Philos. Relig., + 2:42, denies any direct prediction. Prophecy in Israel, he + intimates, was simply the consciousness of God's righteousness, + proclaiming its ideals of the future, and declaring that the will + of God is the moral ideal of the good and the law of the world's + history, so that the fates of nations are conditioned by their + bearing toward this moral purpose of God:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The fundamental error of the vulgar apologetics + is that it confounds prophecy with heathen soothsaying—national + salvation without character.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">W. + Robertson Smith, in Encyc. Britannica, 19:821, tells us + that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%"> + “</span><span style="font-size: 90%">detailed prediction + occupies a very secondary place in the writings of the + prophets; or rather indeed what seem to be predictions in + detail are usually only free poetical illustrations of + historical principles, which neither received nor demanded + exact fulfilment.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">As in the case of miracles, our faith in an + immanent God, who is none other than the Logos or larger + Christ, gives us a point of view from which we may reconcile + the contentions of the naturalists and supernaturalists. + Prophecy is an immediate act of God; but, since all natural + genius is also due to God's energizing, we do not need to deny + the employment of man's natural gifts in prophecy. The + instances of telepathy, presentiment, and second sight which + the Society for Psychical Research has demonstrated to be facts + show that prediction, in the history of divine revelation, may + be only an intensification, under the extraordinary impulse of + the divine Spirit, of a power that is in some degree latent in + all men. The author of every great work of creative imagination + knows that a higher power than his own has possessed him. In + all human reason there is a natural activity of the divine + Reason or Logos, and he is</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the light + which lighteth every man</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John + 1:9)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. So there is a + natural activity of the Holy Spirit, and he who completes the + circle of the divine consciousness completes also the circle of + human consciousness, gives self-hood to every soul, makes + available to man the natural as well as the spiritual gifts of + Christ;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 16:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he shall + take of mine, and shall declare it unto you.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The same Spirit who in the beginning</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">brooded + over the face of the waters</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Gen. 1:2)</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">also broods over humanity, and it + is he who, according to Christ's promise, was to</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">declare + unto you the things that are to come</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John + 16:13)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. The gift of + prophecy may have its natural side, like the gift of miracles, + yet may be finally explicable only as the result of an + extraordinary working of that Spirit of Christ who to some + degree manifests himself in the reason and conscience of every + man;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Pet + 1:11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">searching + what time or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was + in them did point unto, when it testified beforehand the + sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow + them.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Myers, Human Personality, + 2:262-292.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">A. B. Davidson, in his article on Prophecy and + Prophets, in Hastings' Bible Dictionary, 4:120, 121, gives + little weight to this view that prophecy is based on a natural + power of the human mind:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The arguments by which Giesebrecht, + Berufsgabung, 13 ff., supports the theory of a</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">faculty + of presentiment</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">have little cogency. This faculty is supposed + to reveal itself particularly on the approach of death + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. 28</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">49</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">). The contemporaries of most great religious + personages have attributed to them a prophetic gift. The answer + of John Knox to those who credited him with such a gift is + worth reading:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">My + assurances are not marvels of Merlin, nor yet the dark + sentences of profane prophecy. But</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">first</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + the plain truth of God's word;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">second</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + the invincible justice of the everlasting God; and</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">third</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + the ordinary course of his punishments and plagues from the + beginning, are my assurances and grounds.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">While Davidson grants the fulfilment of + certain specific predictions of Scripture, to be hereafter + mentioned, he holds that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">such presentiments as we can observe to be + authentic are chiefly products of the</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page135">[pg 135]</span><a name="Pg135" id= + "Pg135" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">conscience or moral reason. True prophecy is + based on moral grounds. Everywhere the menacing future is + connected with the evil past by</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">therefore</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Micah 3:12; Is. 5:13; + Amos 1:2)</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We hold with Davidson to the moral element in + prophecy, but we also recognize a power in normal humanity + which he would minimize or deny. We claim that the human mind + even in its ordinary and secular working gives occasional signs + of transcending the limitations of the present. Believing in + the continual activity of the divine Reason in the reason of + man, we have no need to doubt the possibility of an + extraordinary insight into the future, and such insight is + needed at the great epochs of religious history. Expositor's + Gk. Test., 2:34—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Savonarola foretold as early as 1496 the + capture of Rome, which happened in 1527, and he did this not + only in general terms but in detail; his words were realized to + the letter when the sacred churches of St. Peter and St. Paul + became, as the prophet foretold, stables for the conquerors' + horses.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On the general subject, see + Payne-Smith, Prophecy a Preparation for Christ; Alexander, + Christ and Christianity; Farrar, Science and Theology, 106; + Newton on Prophecy; Fairbairn on Prophecy.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">2. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Relation of Prophecy to + Miracles.</span></span> Miracles are attestations of revelation + proceeding from divine power; prophecy is an attestation of + revelation proceeding from divine knowledge. Only God can know + the contingencies of the future. The possibility and probability + of prophecy may be argued upon the same grounds upon which we + argue the possibility and probability of miracles. As an evidence + of divine revelation, however, prophecy possesses two advantages + over miracles, namely: (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) The proof, in the case of + prophecy, is not derived from ancient testimony, but is under our + eyes. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) The evidence of miracles + cannot become stronger, whereas every new fulfilment adds to the + argument from prophecy.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">3. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Requirements in Prophecy, considered as an + Evidence of Revelation.</span></span> (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + The utterance must be distant from the event. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + Nothing must exist to suggest the event to merely natural + prescience. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) The utterance must be free + from ambiguity. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) Yet it must not be so + precise as to secure its own fulfilment. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">e</span></span>) It + must be followed in due time by the event predicted.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hume:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">All prophecies are real miracles, and only as + such can be admitted as proof of any + revelation.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Wardlaw, Syst. Theol., 1:347. + (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + Hundreds of years intervened between certain of the O. T. + predictions and their fulfilment. (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + Stanley instances the natural sagacity of Burke, which enabled + him to predict the French Revolution. But Burke also predicted + in 1793 that France would be partitioned like Poland among a + confederacy of hostile powers. Canning predicted that South + American colonies would grow up as the United States had grown. + D'Israeli predicted that our Southern Confederacy would become + an independent nation. Ingersoll predicted that within ten + years there would be two theatres for one church. + (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + Illustrate ambiguous prophecies by the Delphic oracle to + Crœsus:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Crossing + the river, thou destroyest a great nation</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—whether his own or his enemy's the oracle + left undetermined.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Ibis et + redibis nunquam peribis in bello.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">d</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + Strauss held that O. T. prophecy itself determined either the + events or the narratives of the gospels. See Greg, Creed of + Christendom, chap. 4. (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + Cardan, the Italian mathematician, predicted the day and hour + of his own death, and committed suicide at the proper time to + prove the prediction true. Jehovah makes the fulfilment of his + predictions the proof of his deity in the controversy with + false gods:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 41:23—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Declare + the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye + are gods</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">42:9—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Behold, the former things are come to pass and + new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of + them.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">4. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">General + Features of Prophecy in the Scriptures.</span></span> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Its large amount—occupying + a great portion of the Bible, and extending over many hundred + years. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Its ethical and religious + nature—the events of the future being regarded as outgrowths and + results of men's present attitude <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page136">[pg 136]</span><a name="Pg136" id="Pg136" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> toward God. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + Its unity in diversity—finding its central point in Christ the + true servant of God and deliverer of his people. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">d</span></span>) + Its actual fulfilment as regards many of its predictions—while + seeming non-fulfilments are explicable from its figurative and + conditional nature.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">A. B. Davidson, in Hastings' Bible Dictionary, + 4:125, has suggested reasons for the apparent non-fulfilment of + certain predictions. Prophecy is poetical and figurative; its + details are not to be pressed; they are only drapery, needed for + the expression of the idea. In</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + Isa. 13:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Their + infants shall be dashed in pieces ... and their wives + ravished</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—the prophet gives an ideal picture of the + sack of a city; these things did not actually happen, but Cyrus + entered Babylon</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">in peace.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Yet the essential truth remained that the city + fell into the enemy's hands. The prediction of Ezekiel with + regard to Tyre,</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ez. + 26:7-14</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, is recognized + in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ez. 29:17-20</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">as having been fulfilled not in + its details but in its essence—the actual event having been the + breaking of the power of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar.</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 17:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Behold, + Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a + ruinous heap</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—must be interpreted as predicting the + blotting out of its dominion, since Damascus has probably never + ceased to be a city. The conditional nature of prophecy + explains other seeming non-fulfilments. Predictions were often + threats, which might be revoked upon repentance.</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jer. + 26:13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">amend + your ways ... and the Lord will repent him of the evil which he + hath pronounced against you.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jonah + 3:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Yet forty + days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown ...</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">10—God saw their works, + that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the + evil, which he said he would do unto them; and he did it + not</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jer. + 18:8</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">26:19</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Instances of actual fulfilment of prophecy are + found, according to Davidson, in Samuel's prediction of some + things that would happen to Saul, which the history declares + did happen (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Sam. 1</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">10</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">). Jeremiah predicted the death of Hananiah + within the year, which took place (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jer. + 28</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). Micaiah predicted + the defeat and death of Ahab at Ramoth-Gilead + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Kings + 22</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). Isaiah predicted + the failure of the northern coalition to subdue Jerusalem + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 7</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); the overthrow in + two or three years of Damascus and Northern Israel before the + Assyrians (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. 8 and + 17</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); the failure of + Sennacherib to capture Jerusalem, and the melting away of his + army (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 37:34-37</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">).</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">And in + general, apart from details, the main predictions of the + prophets regarding Israel and the nations were verified in + history, for example,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Amos 1</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">. The chief predictions of the prophets relate + to the imminent downfall of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah; + to what lies beyond this, namely, the restoration of the + kingdom of God; and to the state of the people in their + condition of final felicity.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">For predictions of the exile and the return of + Israel, see especially</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Amos + 9:9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For, lo, + I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all + the nations, like as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not + the least kernel fall upon the earth....</span></span></em> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">14—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">And I will bring again + the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the + waste cities and inhabit them.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Even if we accept the theory of composite + authorship of the book of Isaiah, we still have a foretelling + of the sending back of the Jews from Babylon, and a designation + of Cyrus as God's agent, in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 44:28—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">that + saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my + pleasure: even saying of Jerusalem, She shall be built; and of + the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; see George Adam Smith, in Hastings' Bible + Dictionary, 2:493. Frederick the Great said to his + chaplain:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Give me + in one word a proof of the divine origin of the + Bible</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + and the chaplain well replied:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Jews, your Majesty.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">In the case of the Jews we have even now the + unique phenomena of a people without a land, and a land without + a people,—yet both these were predicted centuries before the + event.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">5. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Messianic Prophecy in general.</span></span> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Direct predictions of + events—as in Old Testament prophecies of Christ's birth, + suffering and subsequent glory. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + General prophecy of the Kingdom in the Old Testament, and of its + gradual triumph. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) Historical types in a + nation and in individuals—as Jonah and David. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">d</span></span>) + Prefigurations of the future in rites and ordinances—as in + sacrifice, circumcision, and the passover.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">6. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Special + Prophecies uttered by Christ.</span></span> (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) As + to his own death and resurrection. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) As + to events occurring between his death and the destruction of + Jerusalem (multitudes of impostors; wars and rumors of wars; + famine and pestilence). (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) As to the destruction of + Jerusalem <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page137">[pg + 137]</span><a name="Pg137" id="Pg137" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + and the Jewish polity (Jerusalem compassed with armies; + abomination of desolation in the holy place; flight of + Christians; misery; massacre; dispersion). (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">d</span></span>) As + to the world-wide diffusion of his gospel (the Bible already the + most widely circulated book in the world).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The most important feature in prophecy is its + Messianic element; see</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + Luke 24:27—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">beginning + from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them in + all the scriptures the things concerning + himself</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 10:43—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">to him + bear all the prophets witness</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rev. + 19:10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + testimony of Jesus is the spirit of + prophecy.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Types are intended resemblances, + designed prefigurations; for example, Israel is a type of the + Christian church; outside nations are types of the hostile + world; Jonah and David are types of Christ. The typical nature + of Israel rests upon the deeper fact of the community of life. + As the life of God the Logos lies at the basis of universal + humanity and interpenetrates it in every part, so out of this + universal humanity grows Israel in general; out of Israel as a + nation springs the spiritual Israel, and out of spiritual + Israel Christ according to the flesh,—the upward rising pyramid + finds its apex and culmination in him. Hence the predictions + with regard to</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the servant of Jehovah</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Is. + 42:1-7)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, and</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Messiah</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Is. 61:1; + John 1:41)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, have + partial fulfilment in Israel, but perfect fulfilment only in + Christ; so Delitzsch, Oehler, and Cheyne on Isaiah, 2:253. + Sabatier, Philos. Religion, 59—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">If humanity were not potentially and in some + degree Immanuel, God with us, there would never have issued + from its bosom he who bore and revealed this blessed + name.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Gardiner, O. T. and N. T. in their + Mutual Relations, 170-194.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">In the O. T., Jehovah is the Redeemer of his + people. He works through judges, prophets, kings, but he + himself remains the Savior;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">it is only the Divine in them that + saves</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Salvation is of Jehovah</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Jonah + 2:9)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. Jehovah is + manifested in the Davidic King under the monarchy; in Israel, + the Servant of the Lord, during the exile; and in the Messiah, + or Anointed One, in the post-exilian period. Because of its + conscious identification with Jehovah, Israel is always a + forward-looking people. Each new judge, king, prophet is + regarded as heralding the coming reign of righteousness and + peace. These earthly deliverers are saluted with rapturous + expectation; the prophets express this expectation in terms + that transcend the possibilities of the present; and, when this + expectation fails to be fully realized, the Messianic hope is + simply transferred to a larger future. Each separate prophecy + has its drapery furnished by the prophet's immediate + surroundings, and finds its occasion in some event of + contemporaneous history. But by degrees it becomes evident that + only an ideal and perfect King and Savior can fill out the + requirements of prophecy. Only when Christ appears, does the + real meaning of the various Old Testament predictions become + manifest. Only then are men able to combine the seemingly + inconsistent prophecies of a priest who is also a king + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Psalm + 110</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">), and of a royal + but at the same time a suffering Messiah (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Isaiah + 53</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). It is not enough + for us to ask what the prophet himself meant, or what his + earliest hearers understood, by his prophecy. This is to regard + prophecy as having only a single, and that a human, author. + With the spirit of man coöperated the Spirit of Christ, the + Holy Spirit (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Pet. + 1:11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Spirit of Christ which was in them</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Pet. + 1:21—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">no + prophecy ever came by the will of man; but men spake from God, + being moved by the Holy Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">). All prophecy has a twofold authorship, + human and divine; the same Christ who spoke through the + prophets brought about the fulfilment of their + words.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is no wonder that he who through the + prophets uttered predictions with regard to himself should, + when he became incarnate, be the prophet</span> <span class= + "tei tei-foreign"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">par + excellence</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Deut. + 18:15</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 3:22—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Moses + indeed said, A prophet shall the Lord God raise up from among + your brethren, like unto me; to him shall ye + hearken</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">). In the predictions of Jesus we find the + proper key to the interpretation of prophecy in general, and + the evidence that while no one of the three theories—the + preterist, the continuist, the futurist—furnishes an exhaustive + explanation, each one of these has its element of truth. Our + Lord made the fulfilment of the prediction of his own + resurrection a test of his divine commission: it was</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the sign + of Jonah the prophet</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Mat. + 12:39)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. He promised + that his disciples should have prophetic gifts:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 15:15—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">No longer + do I call you servants; for the servant knoweth not what his + lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that + I heard from my Father I have made known unto + you</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">16:13—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the Spirit of truth ... he shall declare unto + you the things that are to come.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Agabus predicted the famine and Paul's + imprisonment (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 11:28</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">21:10</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); + Paul predicted heresies (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts 20:29, + 30</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">), shipwreck + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts 27:10, + 21-26</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">),</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the man + of sin</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(2 Thess. + 2:3)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, Christ's second + coming, and the resurrection of the saints (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Thess. + 4:15-17</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">).</span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page138">[pg + 138]</span><a name="Pg138" id="Pg138" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">7. On the + double sense of Prophecy.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + Certain prophecies apparently contain a fulness of meaning which + is not exhausted by the event to which they most obviously and + literally refer. A prophecy which had a partial fulfilment at a + time not remote from its utterance, may find its chief fulfilment + in an event far distant. Since the principles of God's + administration find ever recurring and ever enlarging + illustration in history, prophecies which have already had a + partial fulfilment may have whole cycles of fulfilment yet before + them.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">In prophecy there is an absence of perspective; + as in Japanese pictures the near and the far appear equally + distant; as in dissolving views, the immediate future melts into + a future immeasurably far away. The candle that shines through a + narrow aperture sends out its light through an ever-increasing + area; sections of the triangle correspond to each other, but the + more distant are far greater than the near. The châlet on the + mountain-side may turn out to be only a black cat on the + woodpile, or a speck upon the window pane.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">A hill which appears to rise close behind + another is found on nearer approach to have receded a great way + from it.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The painter, by foreshortening, + brings together things or parts that are relatively distant from + each other. The prophet is a painter whose foreshortenings are + supernatural; he seems freed from the law of space and time, and, + rapt into the timelessness of God, he views the events of + history</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">sub specie + eternitatis.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Prophecy was the sketching of an + outline-map. Even the prophet could not fill up the outline. The + absence of perspective in prophecy may account for Paul's being + misunderstood by the Thessalonians, and for the necessity of his + explanations in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Thess. 2:1, + 2</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. In</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Isaiah 10</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">11</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">, the fall of Lebanon (the Assyrian) is + immediately connected with the rise of the Branch (Christ); + in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jeremiah + 51:41</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, the first + capture and the complete destruction of Babylon are connected + with each other, without notice of the interval of a thousand + years between them.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Instances of the double sense of prophecy may + be found in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 7:14-16</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">9:6, 7—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, ... + unto us a son is given</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—compared with</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. 1:22, + 23</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, where the prophecy + is applied to Christ (see Meyer,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + loco</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">);</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Hos. + 11:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I ... + called my son out of Egypt</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—referring originally to the calling of the + nation out of Egypt—is in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 2:15</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">referred to + Christ, who embodied and consummated the mission of + Israel;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Psalm 118:22, + 23—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The stone + which the builders rejected is become the head of the + corner</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—which primarily referred to the Jewish + nation, conquered, carried away, and flung aside as of no use, + but divinely destined to a future of importance and grandeur, + is in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. 21:42</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">referred by Jesus to himself, as + the true embodiment of Israel. William Arnold Stevens, on The + Man of Sin, in Bap. Quar. Rev., July, 1889:328-360—As in</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Daniel + 11:36</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, the great enemy + of the faith, who</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above + every god,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is the Syrian King, Antiochus Epiphanes, + so</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the man of lawlessness</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">described by Paul in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Thess. 2:3</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is the corrupt and impious Judaism + of the apostolic age. This had its seat in the temple of God, + but was doomed to destruction when the Lord should come at the + fall of Jerusalem. But even this second fulfilment of the + prophecy does not preclude a future and final fulfilment. + Broadus on Mat., page 480—In</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Isaiah 41:8</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">to</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">chapter + 53</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, the predictions + with regard to</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the servant of Jehovah</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">make a gradual transition from Israel to the + Messiah, the former alone being seen in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">41:8</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + the Messiah also appearing in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">42:1</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + and Israel quite sinking out of sight in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">chapter + 53</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The most marked illustration of the double + sense of prophecy however is to be found in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Matthew 24</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">25</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">, especially</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">24:34</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">25:31</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + where Christ's prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem passes + into a prophecy of the end of the world. Adamson, The Mind in + Christ, 183—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">To him + history was the robe of God, and therefore a constant + repetition of positions really similar, kaleidoscopic combining + of a few truths, as the facts varied in which they were to be + embodied.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">A. J. Gordon:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Prophecy has no sooner become history, than + history in turn becomes prophecy.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Lord Bacon:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Divine prophecies have springing and germinant + accomplishment through many ages, though the height or fulness + of them may refer to some one age.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">In a similar manner there is a manifoldness of + meaning in Dante's Divine Comedy. C. E. Norton, Inferno, + xvi—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + narrative of the poet's spiritual journey is so vivid and + consistent that it has all the reality of an account of an + actual experience; but within and beneath runs a stream of + allegory not less consistent and hardly less continuous than + the narrative itself.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">A. + H. Strong, The Great Poets and their Theology, + 116—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Dante + himself has told us that</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page139">[pg 139]</span><a name="Pg139" id="Pg139" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">there are + four separate senses which he intends his story to convey. + There are the literal, the allegorical, the moral, and the + analogical. In</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Psalm 114:1</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">we have the words,</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">When + Israel went forth out of Egypt.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This, says the poet, may be taken literally, + of the actual deliverance of God's ancient people; or + allegorically, of the redemption of the world through Christ; + or morally, of the rescue of the sinner from the bondage of his + sin; or anagogically, of the passage of both soul and body from + the lower life of earth to the higher life of heaven. So from + Scripture Dante illustrates the method of his + poem.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">See further, our treatment of Eschatology. See + also Dr. Arnold of Rugby, Sermons on the Interpretation of + Scripture, Appendix A, pages 441-454; Aids to Faith, 449-462; + Smith's Bible Dict., 4:2727.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Per + contra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, see Elliott, + Horæ Apocalypticæ, 4:662. Gardiner, O. T. and N. T., 262-274, + denies double sense, but affirms manifold applications of a + single sense. Broadus, on</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 24:1</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, denies double + sense, but affirms the use of types.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + The prophet was not always aware of the meaning of his own + prophecies (1 Pet. 1:11). It is enough to constitute his + prophecies a proof of divine revelation, if it can be shown that + the correspondences between them and the actual events are such + as to indicate divine wisdom and purpose in the giving of them—in + other words, it is enough if the inspiring Spirit knew their + meaning, even though the inspired prophet did not.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is not inconsistent with this view, but + rather confirms it, that the near event, and not the distant + fulfilment, was often chiefly, if not exclusively, in the mind of + the prophet when he wrote. Scripture declares that the prophets + did not always understand their own predictions:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Pet. + 1:11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">searching + what time or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was + in them did point unto, when it testified beforehand the + sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow + them.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Emerson:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Himself from God he could not free; He builded + better than he knew.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Keble:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">As little children lisp and tell of heaven, So + thoughts beyond their thoughts to those high bards were + given.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Westcott: Preface to Com. on + Hebrews, vi—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">No one + would limit the teaching of a poet's words to that which was + definitely present to his mind. Still less can we suppose that + he who is inspired to give a message of God to all ages sees + himself the completeness of the truth which all life serves to + illuminate.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Alexander McLaren:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Peter + teaches that Jewish prophets foretold the events of Christ's + life and especially his sufferings; that they did so as organs + of God's Spirit; that they were so completely organs of a + higher voice that they did not understand the significance of + their own words, but were wiser than they knew and had to + search what were the date and the characteristics of the + strange things which they foretold; and that by further + revelation they learned that</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + vision is yet for many days</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Is. 24:22; Dan. + 10:14)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. If Peter was + right in his conception of the nature of Messianic prophecy, a + good many learned men of to-day are wrong.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Matthew Arnold, Literature and Dogma:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Might not + the prophetic ideals be poetic dreams, and the correspondence + between them and the life of Jesus, so far as real, only a + curious historical phenomenon?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bruce, Apologetics, 359, replies:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Such + scepticism is possible only to those who have no faith in a + living God who works out purposes in + history.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It is comparable only to the + unbelief of the materialist who regards the physical + constitution of the universe as explicable by the fortuitous + concourse of atoms.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">8. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Purpose + of Prophecy—so far as it is yet unfulfilled.</span></span> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Not to enable us to map out + the details of the future; but rather (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) To + give general assurance of God's power and foreseeing wisdom, and + of the certainty of his triumph; and (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) To + furnish, after fulfilment, the proof that God saw the end from + the beginning.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + Dan. 12:8, 9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">And I + heard, but I understood not; then said I, O my Lord, what shall + be the issue of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel; + for the words are shut up and sealed till the time of the + end</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Pet. + 1:19</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—prophecy + is</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day + dawn</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—not until day dawns can distant objects be + seen;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">20—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">no prophecy of scripture is of private + interpretation</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—only God, by the event, can interpret it. Sir + Isaac Newton:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God gave + the prophecies, not to gratify men's curiosity by enabling them + to foreknow things, but that after they were fulfilled they + might be interpreted by the event, and his own providence, not + the interpreter's, be thereby manifested to the + world.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Alexander McLaren:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Great + tracts of Scripture are dark to us till life explains them, and + then they come on us with the force of a new</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page140">[pg 140]</span><a name= + "Pg140" id="Pg140" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">revelation, like the messages which of old + were sent by a strip of parchment coiled upon a bâton and then + written upon, and which were unintelligible unless the receiver + had a corresponding bâton to wrap them + round.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">A. H. Strong, The Great Poets and + their Theology, 23—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Archilochus, a poet of about 700 B. C., speaks + of</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a + grievous</span> <span lang="el" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="el"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">scytale</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">—the</span> + <span lang="el" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "el"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">scytale</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">being the staff on which a strip + of leather for writing purposes was rolled slantwise, so that + the message inscribed upon the strip could not be read until + the leather was rolled again upon another staff of the same + size; since only the writer and the receiver possessed staves + of the proper size, the</span> <span lang="el" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="el"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">scytale</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">answered all the ends of a message + in cypher.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Prophecy is like the German sentence,—it can + be understood only when we have read its last word. A. J. + Gordon, Ministry of the Spirit, 48—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God's providence is like the Hebrew Bible; we + must begin at the end and read backward, in order to understand + it.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Yet Dr. Gordon seems to assert + that such understanding is possible even before + fulfilment:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Christ + did not know the day of the end when here in his state of + humiliation; but he does know now. He has shown his knowledge + in the Apocalypse, and we have received</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show unto his + servants, even the things which must shortly come to + pass</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Rev. + 1:1)</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">A + study however of the multitudinous and conflicting views of the + so-called interpreters of prophecy leads us to prefer to Dr. + Gordon's view that of Briggs, Messianic Prophecies, + 49—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The first + advent is the resolver of all Old Testament prophecy; ... the + second advent will give the key to New Testament prophecy. It + is</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the Lamb that hath been + slain</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Rev. + 5:12)</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">... who alone + opens the sealed book, solves the riddles of time, and resolves + the symbols of prophecy.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Nitzsch:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is the essential condition of prophecy that + it should not disturb man's relation to + history.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In so far as this is forgotten, + and it is falsely assumed that the purpose of prophecy is to + enable us to map out the precise events of the future before + they occur, the study of prophecy ministers to a diseased + imagination and diverts attention from practical Christian + duty. Calvin:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Aut + insanum inveniet aut faciet</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + or, as Lord Brougham translated it:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The study of prophecy either finds a man + crazy, or it leaves him so.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Second Adventists do not often seek + conversions. Dr. Cumming warned the women of his flock that + they must not study prophecy so much as to neglect their + household duties. Paul has such in mind in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Thess. 2:1, + 2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">touching + the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ ... that ye be not quickly + shaken from your mind ... as that the day of the Lord is just + at hand</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">3:11—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">For we hear of some that walk among you + disorderly.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">9. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Evidential force of Prophecy—so far as it is + fulfilled.</span></span> Prophecy, like miracles, does not stand + alone as evidence of the divine commission of the Scripture + writers and teachers. It is simply a corroborative attestation, + which unites with miracles to prove that a religious teacher has + come from God and speaks with divine authority. We cannot, + however, dispense with this portion of the evidences,—for unless + the death and resurrection of Christ are events foreknown and + foretold by himself, as well as by the ancient prophets, we lose + one main proof of his authority as a teacher sent from God.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Stearns, Evidence of Christian Experience, + 338—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Christian's own life is the progressive fulfilment of the + prophecy that whoever accepts Christ's grace shall be born again, + sanctified, and saved. Hence the Christian can believe in God's + power to predict, and in God's actual + predictions.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Stanley Leathes, O. T. Prophecy, + xvii—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Unless we + have access to the supernatural, we have no access to + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In our discussions of prophecy, we + are to remember that before making the truth of Christianity + stand or fall with any particular passage that has been regarded + as prediction, we must be certain that the passage is meant as + prediction, and not as merely figurative description. Gladden, + Seven Puzzling Bible Books, 195—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The book of Daniel is not a prophecy,—it is an + apocalypse.... The author [of such books] puts his words into the + mouth of some historical or traditional writer of eminence. Such + are the Book of Enoch, the Assumption of Moses, Baruch, 1 and 2 + Esdras, and the Sibylline Oracles. Enigmatic form indicates + persons without naming them, and historic events as animal forms + or as operations of nature.... The book of Daniel is not intended + to teach us history. It does not look forward from the sixth + century before Christ, but backward from the second century + before Christ. It is a kind of story which the Jews called + Haggada. It is aimed at Antiochus Epiphanes, who, from his + occasional fits of melancholy, was called Epimanes, or Antiochus + the Mad.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p><span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page141">[pg 141]</span><a name="Pg141" id="Pg141" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Whatever may be our conclusion as to the + authorship of the book of Daniel, we must recognize in it an + element of prediction which has been actually fulfilled. The + most radical interpreters do not place its date later than 163 + B. C. Our Lord sees in the book clear reference to himself + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 26:64—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the Son + of man, sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the + clouds of heaven</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Dan. + 7:13</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); and he repeats + with emphasis certain predictions of the prophet which were yet + unfulfilled (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 24:15—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">When ye + see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through + Daniel the prophet</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Dan. + 9:27</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">11:31</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">12:11</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). + The book of Daniel must therefore be counted profitable not + only for its moral and spiritual lessons, but also for its + actual predictions of Christ and of the universal triumph of + his kingdom (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Dan. + 2:45—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a stone + cut out of the mountain without hands</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">). See on Daniel, Hastings' Bible Dictionary; + Farrar, in Expositor's Bible. On the general subject see + Annotated Paragraph Bible, Introd. to Prophetical Books; + Cairns, on Present State of Christian Argument from Prophecy, + in Present Day Tracts, 5: no. 27; Edersheim, Prophecy and + History; Briggs, Messianic Prophecy; Redford, Prophecy, its + Nature and Evidence; Willis J. Beecher, the Prophet and the + Promise; Orr, Problem of the O. T., 455-465.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Having thus + removed the presumption originally existing against miracles and + prophecy, we may now consider the ordinary laws of evidence and + determine the rules to be followed in estimating the weight of + the Scripture testimony.</p> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc121" id="toc121"></a> <a name="pdf122" id= + "pdf122"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">V. Principles of Historical + Evidence applicable to the Proof of a Divine + Revelation.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">Principles of + Historical Evidence applicable to the Proof of a Divine + Revelation</span></span> (mainly derived from Greenleaf, + Testimony of the Evangelists, and from Starkie on Evidence).</p> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc123" id="toc123"></a> <a name="pdf124" id= + "pdf124"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1. As to documentary evidence.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Documents apparently + ancient, not bearing upon their face the marks of forgery, and + found in proper custody, are presumed to be genuine until + sufficient evidence is brought to the contrary. The New + Testament documents, since they are found in the custody of the + church, their natural and legitimate depository, must by this + rule be presumed to be genuine.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The Christian documents were not + found, like the Book of Mormon, in a cave, or in the custody + of angels. Martineau, Seat of Authority, + 322—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Mormon prophet, who cannot tell God from devil close at hand, + is well up with the history of both worlds, and commissioned + to get ready the second promised land.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Washington Gladden, Who wrote the + Bible?—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">An + angel appeared to Smith and told him where he would find this + book; he went to the spot designated and found in a stone box + a volume six inches thick, composed of thin gold plates, + eight inches by seven, held together by three gold rings; + these plates were covered with writing, in the</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Reformed Egyptian tongue</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; with this book were the</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Urim + and Thummim</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">, a pair of supernatural spectacles, by + means of which he was able to read and translate this</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Reformed Egyptian</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">language.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Sagebeer, The Bible in Court, + 113—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If the + ledger of a business firm has always been received and + regarded as a ledger, its value is not at all impeached if it + is impossible to tell which particular clerk kept this + ledger.... The epistle to the Hebrews would be no less + valuable as evidence, if shown not to have been written by + Paul.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Starkie on Evidence, + 480</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + Chalmers, Christian Revelation, in Works, + 3:147-171.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Copies of ancient + documents, made by those most interested in their faithfulness, + are presumed to correspond with the originals, even although + those originals no longer exist. Since it was the church's + interest to have faithful copies, the burden of proof rests + upon the objector to the Christian documents.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Upon the evidence of a copy of + its own records, the originals having been lost, the House of + Lords decided a claim to the peerage; see Starkie on + Evidence, 51. There is no manuscript of Sophocles earlier + than the tenth century, while at least two manuscripts of the + N. T. go back to the fourth century. Frederick George Kenyon, + Handbook to Textual Criticism of N. T.:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We owe our knowledge of most of the + great</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page142">[pg + 142]</span><a name="Pg142" id="Pg142" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">works of + Greek and Latin literature—Æschylus, Sophocles, Thucydides, + Horace, Lucretius, Tacitus, and many more—to manuscripts + written from 900 to 1500 years after their authors' deaths; + while of the N. T. we have two excellent and approximately + complete copies at an interval of only 250 years. Again, of + the classical writers we have as a rule only a few score of + copies (often less), of which one or two stand out as + decisively superior to all the rest; but of the N. T. we have + more than 3000 copies (besides a very large number of + versions), and many of these have distinct and independent + value.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The mother of Tischendorf named + him Lobgott, because her fear that her babe would be born + blind had not come true. No man ever had keener sight than + he. He spent his life in deciphering old manuscripts which + other eyes could not read. The Sinaitic manuscript which he + discovered takes us back within three centuries of the time + of the apostles.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) In determining matters of + fact, after the lapse of considerable time, documentary + evidence is to be allowed greater weight than oral testimony. + Neither memory nor tradition can long be trusted to give + absolutely correct accounts of particular facts. The New + Testament documents, therefore, are of greater weight in + evidence than tradition would be, even if only thirty years had + elapsed since the death of the actors in the scenes they + relate.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Starkie on Evidence, 51, + 730. The Roman Catholic Church, in its legends of the saints, + shows how quickly mere tradition can become corrupt. Abraham + Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, yet sermons preached to-day + on the anniversary of his birth make him out to be Unitarian, + Universalist, or Orthodox, according as the preacher himself + believes.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc125" id="toc125"></a> <a name="pdf126" id= + "pdf126"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 2. As to testimony in general.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) In questions as to + matters of fact, the proper inquiry is not whether it is + possible that the testimony may be false, but whether there is + sufficient probability that it is true. It is unfair, + therefore, to allow our examination of the Scripture witnesses + to be prejudiced by suspicion, merely because their story is a + sacred one.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">There must be no prejudice + against, there must be open-mindedness to, truth; there must + be a normal aspiration after the signs of communication from + God. Telepathy, forty days fasting, parthenogenesis, all + these might once have seemed antecedently incredible. Now we + see that it would have been more rational to admit their + existence on presentation of appropriate evidence.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) A proposition of fact is + proved when its truth is established by competent and + satisfactory evidence. By competent evidence is meant such + evidence as the nature of the thing to be proved admits. By + satisfactory evidence is meant that amount of proof which + ordinarily satisfies an unprejudiced mind beyond a reasonable + doubt. Scripture facts are therefore proved when they are + established by that kind and degree of evidence which would in + the affairs of ordinary life satisfy the mind and conscience of + a common man. When we have this kind and degree of evidence it + is unreasonable to require more.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In matters of morals and + religion competent evidence need not be mathematical or even + logical. The majority of cases in criminal courts are decided + upon evidence that is circumstantial. We do not determine our + choice of friends or of partners in life by strict processes + of reasoning. The heart as well as the head must be permitted + a voice, and competent evidence includes considerations + arising from the moral needs of the soul. The evidence, + moreover, does not require to be demonstrative. Even a slight + balance of probability, when nothing more certain is + attainable, may suffice to constitute rational proof and to + bind our moral action.</span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page143">[pg + 143]</span><a name="Pg143" id="Pg143" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) In the absence of + circumstances which generate suspicion, every witness is to be + presumed credible, until the contrary is shown; the burden of + impeaching his testimony lying upon the objector. The principle + which leads men to give true witness to facts is stronger than + that which leads them to give false witness. It is therefore + unjust to compel the Christian to establish the credibility of + his witnesses before proceeding to adduce their testimony, and + it is equally unjust to allow the uncorroborated testimony of a + profane writer to outweigh that of a Christian writer. + Christian witnesses should not be considered interested, and + therefore untrustworthy; for they became Christians against + their worldly interests, and because they could not resist the + force of testimony. Varying accounts among them should be + estimated as we estimate the varying accounts of profane + writers.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">John's account of Jesus differs + from that of the synoptic gospels; but in a very similar + manner, and probably for a very similar reason, Plato's + account of Socrates differs from that of Xenophon. Each saw + and described that side of his subject which he was by nature + best fitted to comprehend,—compare the Venice of Canaletto + with the Venice of Turner, the former the picture of an + expert draughtsman, the latter the vision of a poet who sees + the palaces of the Doges glorified by air and mist and + distance. In Christ there was a</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">hiding + of his power</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Hab. + 3:4)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">how + small a whisper do we hear of him!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Job + 26:14)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; he, rather + than Shakespeare, is</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the myriad-minded</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; no one evangelist can be expected to know + or describe him except</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">in + part</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(1 Cor. + 13:12)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. Frances + Power Cobbe, Life, 2:402—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">All of us human beings resemble diamonds, in + having several distinct facets to our characters; and, as we + always turn one of these to one person and another to + another, there is generally some fresh side to be seen in a + particularly brilliant gem.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">E. P. Tenney, Coronation, + 45—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + secret and powerful life he [the hero of the story] was + leading was like certain solitary streams, deep, wide, and + swift, which run unseen through vast and unfrequented + forests. So wide and varied was this man's nature, that whole + courses of life might thrive in its secret places,—and his + neighbors might touch him and know him only on that side on + which he was like them.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) A slight amount of + positive testimony, so long as it is uncontradicted, outweighs + a very great amount of testimony that is merely negative. The + silence of a second witness, or his testimony that he did not + see a certain alleged occurrence, cannot counterbalance the + positive testimony of a first witness that he did see it. We + should therefore estimate the silence of profane writers with + regard to facts narrated in Scripture precisely as we should + estimate it if the facts about which they are silent were + narrated by other profane writers, instead of being narrated by + the writers of Scripture.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Egyptian monuments make no + mention of the destruction of Pharaoh and his army; but then, + Napoleon's dispatches also make no mention of his defeat at + Trafalgar. At the tomb of Napoleon in the Invalides of Paris, + the walls are inscribed with names of a multitude of places + where his battles were fought, but Waterloo, the scene of his + great defeat, is not recorded there. So Sennacherib, in all + his monuments, does not refer to the destruction of his army + in the time of Hezekiah. Napoleon gathered 450,000 men at + Dresden to invade Russia. At Moscow the soft-falling snow + conquered him. In one night 20,000 horses perished with cold. + Not without reason at Moscow, on the anniversary of the + retreat of the French, the exultation of the prophet over the + fall of Sennacherib is read in the churches. James Robertson, + Early History of Israel, 395, note—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Whately, in his Historic Doubts, draws + attention to the fact that the principal Parisian journal in + 1814, on the very day on which the allied armies entered + Paris as conquerors, makes no mention of any such event. The + battle of Poictiers in 732, which effectually checked the + spread of Mohammedanism across Europe, is not once referred + to in the monastic annals of the period. Sir Thomas Browne + lived through the Civil Wars and the Commonwealth, yet there + is no syllable in his writings with regard to them. Sale says + that circumcision is regarded by Mohammedans as an ancient + divine institution, the rite having been in use many years + before Mohammed, yet it is not so much as once mentioned in + the Koran.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p><span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page144">[pg 144]</span><a name="Pg144" id="Pg144" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Even though we should grant that + Josephus does not mention Jesus, we should have a parallel in + Thucydides, who never once mentions Socrates, the most + important character of the twenty years embraced in his + history. Wieseler, however, in Jahrbuch f. d. Theologie, + 23:98, maintains the essential genuineness of the commonly + rejected passage with regard to Jesus in Josephus, Antiq., + 18:3:3, omitting, however, as interpolations, the + phrases:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">if it + be right to call him man</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">this was the Christ</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">he appeared alive the third day according to + prophecy</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; for these, if genuine, would prove + Josephus a Christian, which he, by all ancient accounts, was + not. Josephus lived from A. D. 34 to possibly 114. He does + elsewhere speak of Christ; for he records (20:9:1) that + Albinus</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">assembled the Sanhedrim of judges, and + brought before them the brother of Jesus who was called + Christ, whose name was James, and some others ... and + delivered them to be stoned.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Niese's new edition of Josephus; also a + monograph on the subject by Gustav Adolph Müller, published + at Innsbruck, 1890. Rush Rhees, Life of Jesus of Nazareth, + 22—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">To + mention Jesus more fully would have required some approval of + his life and teaching. This would have been a condemnation of + his own people whom he desired to commend to Gentile regard, + and he seems to have taken the cowardly course of silence + concerning a matter more noteworthy, for that generation, + than much else of which he writes very + fully.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">e</span></span>) <span class= + "tei tei-q">“The credit due to the testimony of witnesses + depends upon: first, their ability; secondly, their honesty; + thirdly, their number and the consistency of their testimony; + fourthly, the conformity of their testimony with experience; + and fifthly, the coincidence of their testimony with collateral + circumstances.”</span> We confidently submit the New Testament + witnesses to each and all of these tests.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Starkie on Evidence, + 726.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page145">[pg 145]</span><a name= + "Pg145" id="Pg145" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + <hr class="page" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em"> + <a name="toc127" id="toc127"></a> <a name="pdf128" id="pdf128"></a> + + <h2 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"> + <span style="font-size: 144%">Chapter II. Positive Proofs That The + Scriptures Are A Divine Revelation.</span></h2> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc129" id="toc129"></a> <a name="pdf130" id= + "pdf130"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">I. Genuineness of the Christian + Documents.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">The + Genuineness of the Christian Documents</span></span>, or proof + that the books of the Old and New Testaments were written at the + age to which they are assigned and by the men or class of men to + whom they are ascribed.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Our present discussion comprises the first part, + and only the first part, of the doctrine of the Canon (κανών, a + measuring-reed; hence, a rule, a standard). It is important to + observe that the determination of the Canon, or list of the books + of sacred Scripture, is not the work of the church as an + organized body. We do not receive these books upon the authority + of Fathers or Councils. We receive them, only as the Fathers and + Councils received them, because we have evidence that they are + the writings of the men, or class of men, whose names they bear, + and that they are also credible and inspired. If the previous + epistle alluded to in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + 1 Cor. 5:9</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">should be + discovered and be universally judged authentic, it could be + placed with Paul's other letters and could form part of the + Canon, even though it has been lost for 1800 years. Bruce, + Apologetics, 321—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Abstractly the Canon is an open question. It + can never be anything else on the principles of Protestantism + which forbid us to accept the decisions of church councils, + whether ancient or modern, as final. But practically the + question of the Canon is closed.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Westminster Confession says that the + authority of the word of God</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">does not rest upon historic evidence; it does + not rest upon the authority of Councils; it does not rest upon + the consent of the past or the excellence of the matter; but it + rests upon the Spirit of God bearing witness to our hearts + concerning its divine authority.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Clarke, Christian Theology, + 24—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The value + of the Scriptures to us does not depend upon our knowing who + wrote them. In the O. T. half its pages are of uncertain + authorship. New dates mean new authorship. Criticism is a duty, + for dates of authorship give means of interpretation. The + Scriptures have power because God is in them, and because they + describe the entrance of God into the life of + man.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Saintine, Picciola, 782—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Has not a feeble reed provided man with his + first arrow, his first pen, his first instrument of + music?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Hugh Macmillan:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The idea + of stringed instruments was first derived from the twang of the + well strung bow, as the archer shot his arrows; the lyre and + the harp which discourse the sweetest music of peace were + invented by those who first heard this inspiring sound in the + excitement of battle. And so there is no music so delightful + amid the jarring discord of the world, turning everything to + music and harmonizing earth and heaven, as when the heart rises + out of the gloom of anger and revenge, and converts its bow + into a harp, and sings to it the Lord's song of infinite + forgiveness.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">George Adam Smith, Mod. Criticism + and Preaching of O. T., 5—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The church has never renounced her liberty to + revise the Canon. The liberty at the beginning cannot be more + than the liberty thereafter. The Holy Spirit has not forsaken + the leaders of the church. Apostolic writers nowhere define the + limits of the Canon, any more than Jesus did. Indeed, they + employed extra-canonical writings. Christ and the apostles + nowhere bound the church to believe all the teachings of the O. + T. Christ discriminates, and forbids the literal interpretation + of its contents. Many of the apostolic interpretations + challenge our sense of truth. Much of their exegesis was + temporary and false. Their judgment was that much in the O. T. + was rudimentary. This opens the question of development in + revelation, and justifies the attempt to fix the historic + order. The N. T. criticism of the O. T. gives the liberty of + criticism, and the need, and the obligation of it. O. T. + criticism is not, like Baur's of the N. T., the result + of</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a + priori</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">Hegelian + reasoning. From the time of Samuel we have real history. The + prophets do not appeal to miracles. There is more gospel in the + book of Jonah, when</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page146">[pg 146]</span><a name="Pg146" id="Pg146" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">it is treated + as a parable. The O. T. is a gradual ethical revelation of God. + Few realize that the church of Christ has a higher warrant for + her Canon of the O. T. than she has for her Canon of the N. T. + The O. T. was the result of criticism in the widest sense of + that word. But what the church thus once achieved, the church + may at any time revise.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We reserve to a point somewhat later the proof + of the credibility and the inspiration of the Scriptures. We + now show their genuineness, as we would show the genuineness of + other religious books, like the Koran, or of secular documents, + like Cicero's Orations against Catiline. Genuineness, in the + sense in which we use the term, does not necessarily imply + authenticity (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, truthfulness and + authority); see Blunt, Dict. Doct. and Hist. Theol., art.: + Authenticity. Documents may be genuine which are written in + whole or in part by persons other than they whose names they + bear, provided these persons belong to the same class. The + Epistle to the Hebrews, though not written by Paul, is genuine, + because it proceeds from one of the apostolic class. The + addition of Deut. 34, after Moses' death, does not invalidate + the genuineness of the Pentateuch; nor would the theory of a + later Isaiah, even if it were established, disprove the + genuineness of that prophecy; provided, in both cases, that the + additions were made by men of the prophetic class. On the + general subject of the genuineness of the Scripture documents, + see Alexander, McIlvaine, Chalmers, Dodge, and Peabody, on the + Evidences of Christianity; also Archibald, The Bible + Verified.</span></p> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc131" id="toc131"></a> <a name="pdf132" id= + "pdf132"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1. Genuineness of the Books of the New Testament.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We do not + need to adduce proof of the existence of the books of the New + Testament as far back as the third century, for we possess + manuscripts of them which are at least fourteen hundred years + old, and, since the third century, references to them have been + inwoven into all history and literature. We begin our proof, + therefore, by showing that these documents not only existed, + but were generally accepted as genuine, before the close of the + second century.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Origen was born as early as 186 + A. D.; yet Tregelles tells us that Origen's works contain + citations embracing two-thirds of the New Testament. Hatch, + Hibbert Lectures, 12—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The early years of Christianity were in some + respects like the early years of our lives.... Those early + years are the most important in our education. We learn then, + we hardly know how, through effort and struggle and innocent + mistakes, to use our eyes and ears, to measure distance and + direction, by a process which ascends by unconscious steps to + the certainty which we feel in our maturity.... It was in + some such unconscious way that the Christian thought of the + early centuries gradually acquired the form which we find + when it emerges as it were into the developed manhood of the + fourth century.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. All the + books of the New Testament, with the single exception of 2 + Peter, were not only received as genuine, but were used in more + or less collected form, in the latter half of the second + century. These collections of writings, so slowly transcribed + and distributed, imply the long continued previous existence of + the separate books, and forbid us to fix their origin later + than the first half of the second century.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Tertullian (160-230) + appeals to the <span class="tei tei-q">“New Testament”</span> + as made up of the <span class="tei tei-q">“Gospels”</span> and + <span class="tei tei-q">“Apostles.”</span> He vouches for the + genuineness of the four gospels, the Acts, 1 Peter, 1 John, + thirteen epistles of Paul, and the Apocalypse; in short, to + twenty-one of the twenty-seven books of our Canon.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Sanday, Bampton Lectures for + 1893, is confident that the first three gospels took their + present shape before the destruction of Jerusalem. Yet he + thinks the first and third gospels of composite origin, and + probably the second. Not later than 125 A. D. the four + gospels of our Canon had gained a recognized and exceptional + authority. Andover Professors, Divinity of Jesus Christ, + 40—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + oldest of our gospels was written about the year 70. The + earlier one, now lost, a great part of which is preserved in + Luke and Matthew, was probably written a few years + earlier.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page147">[pg + 147]</span><a name="Pg147" id="Pg147" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) The Muratorian Canon in + the West and the Peshito Version in the East (having a common + date of about 160) in their catalogues of the New Testament + writings mutually complement each other's slight deficiencies, + and together witness to the fact that at that time every book + of our present New Testament, with the exception of 2 Peter, + was received as genuine.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Hovey, Manual of Christian + Theology, 50—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + fragment on the Canon, discovered by Muratori in 1738, was + probably written about 170 A. D., in Greek. It begins with + the last words of a sentence which must have referred to the + Gospel of Mark, and proceeds to speak of the Third Gospel as + written by Luke the physician, who did not see the Lord, and + then of the Fourth Gospel as written by John, a disciple of + the Lord, at the request of his fellow disciples and his + elders.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Bacon, N. T. Introduction, 50, + gives the Muratorian Canon in full; 30—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Theophilus of Antioch (181-190) is the first + to cite a gospel by name, quoting</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John 1:1</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">as from</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">John, one of those who were vessels of the + Spirit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">On the Muratorian Canon, see Tregelles, + Muratorian Canon. On the Peshito Version, see Schaff, Introd. + to Rev. Gk.-Eng. N. T., xxxvii; Smith's Bible Dict., pp. + 3388, 3389.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) The Canon of Marcion + (140), though rejecting all the gospels but that of Luke, and + all the epistles but ten of Paul's, shows, nevertheless, that + at that early day <span class="tei tei-q">“apostolic writings + were regarded as a complete original rule of doctrine.”</span> + Even Marcion, moreover, does not deny the genuineness of those + writings which for doctrinal reasons he rejects.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Marcion, the Gnostic, was the + enemy of all Judaism, and regarded the God of the O. T. as a + restricted divinity, entirely different from the God of the + N. T. Marcion was</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">ipso + Paulo paulinior</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">plus + loyal que le roi.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">He held that Christianity was something + entirely new, and that it stood in opposition to all that + went before it. His Canon consisted of two parts: the</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Gospel</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(Luke, with its text curtailed by omission + of the Hebraistic elements) and the Apostolicon (the epistles + of Paul). The epistle to Diognetus by an unknown author, and + the epistle of Barnabas, shared the view of Marcion. The name + of the Deity was changed from Jehovah to Father, Son, and + Holy Ghost. If Marcion's view had prevailed, the Old + Testament would have been lost to the Christian Church. God's + revelation would have been deprived of its proof from + prophecy. Development from the past, and divine conduct of + Jewish history, would have been denied. But without the Old + Testament, as H. W. Beecher maintained, the New Testament + would lack background; our chief source of knowledge with + regard to God's natural attributes of power, wisdom, and + truth would be removed: the love and mercy revealed in the + New Testament would seem characteristics of a weak being, who + could not enforce law or inspire respect. A tree has as much + breadth below ground as there is above; so the O. T. roots of + God's revelation are as extensive and necessary as are its N. + T. trunk and branches and leaves. See Allen, Religious + Progress, 81; Westcott, Hist. N. T. Canon, and art.: Canon, + in Smith's Bible Dictionary. Also Reuss, History of Canon; + Mitchell, Critical Handbook, part I.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. The + Christian and Apostolic Fathers who lived in the first half of + the second century not only quote from these books and allude + to them, but testify that they were written by the apostles + themselves. We are therefore compelled to refer their origin + still further back, namely, to the first century, when the + apostles lived.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Irenæus (120-200) + mentions and quotes the four gospels by name, and among them + the gospel according to John: <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Afterwards John, the disciple of the Lord, who + also leaned upon his breast, he likewise published a gospel, + while he dwelt in Ephesus in Asia.”</span> And Irenæus was the + disciple and friend of Polycarp (80-166), who was himself a + personal acquaintance of the Apostle John. The testimony of + Irenæus is virtually the evidence of Polycarp, the contemporary + and friend of the Apostle, that each of the gospels was written + by the person whose name it bears.</p><span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page148">[pg 148]</span><a name="Pg148" id="Pg148" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">To this testimony it is objected + that Irenæus says there are four gospels because there are + four quarters of the world and four living creatures in the + cherubim. But we reply that Irenæus is here stating, not his + own reason for accepting four and only four gospels, but what + he conceives to be God's reason for ordaining that there + should be four. We are not warranted in supposing that he + accepted the four gospels on any other ground than that of + testimony that they were the productions of apostolic + men.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Chrysostom, in a similar manner, + compares the four gospels to a chariot and four: When the + King of Glory rides forth in it, he shall receive the + triumphal acclamations of all peoples. So Jerome: God rides + upon the cherubim, and since there are four cherubim, there + must be four gospels. All this however is an early attempt at + the philosophy of religion, and not an attempt to demonstrate + historical fact. L. L. Paine, Evolution of Trinitarianism, + 319-367, presents the radical view of the authorship of the + fourth gospel. He holds that John the apostle died A. D. 70, + or soon after, and that Irenæus confounded the two Johns whom + Papias so clearly distinguished—John the Apostle and John the + Elder. With Harnack, Paine supposes the gospel to have been + written by John the Elder, a contemporary of Papias. But we + reply that the testimony of Irenæus implies a long continued + previous tradition. R. W. Dale, Living Christ and Four + Gospels, 145—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Religious veneration such as that with which + Irenæus regarded these books is of slow growth. They must + have held a great place in the Church as far back as the + memory of living men extended.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Hastings' Bible Dictionary, + 2:695.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Justin Martyr (died 148) + speaks of <span class="tei tei-q">“memoirs (ἀπομνημονεύματα) of + Jesus Christ,”</span> and his quotations, though sometimes made + from memory, are evidently cited from our gospels.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">To this testimony it is + objected: (1) That Justin Martyr uses the term</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">memoirs</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">instead of</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">gospels.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We reply that he elsewhere uses the + term</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">gospels</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and identifies the</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">memoirs</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">with them: Apol., 1:66—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The apostles, in the memoirs composed by + them, which are called gospels,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, not memoirs, + but gospels, was the proper title of his written records. In + writing his Apology to the heathen Emperors, Marcus Aurelius + and Marcus Antoninus, he chooses the term</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">memoirs</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">, or</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">memorabilia</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">, which Xenophon had used as the title of + his account of Socrates, simply in order that he may avoid + ecclesiastical expressions unfamiliar to his readers and may + commend his writing to lovers of classical literature. Notice + that Matthew must be added to John, to justify Justin's + repeated statement that there were</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">memoirs</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">of our Lord</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">written by apostles,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">and that Mark and Luke must be added to + justify his further statement that these memoirs were + compiled by</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">his + apostles and those who followed them.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Analogous to Justin's use of the word</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">memoirs</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is his use of the term</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Sunday</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">, instead of Sabbath: Apol. + 1:67—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">On the + day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country + gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles + or the writings of the prophets are read.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Here is the use of our gospels in public + worship, as of equal authority with the O. T. Scriptures; in + fact, Justin constantly quotes the words and acts of Jesus' + life from a written source, using the word γέγραπται. See + Morison, Com. on Mat., ix; Hemphill, Literature of Second + Century, 234.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">To Justin's testimony it is + objected: (2) That in quoting the words spoken from heaven at + the Savior's baptism, he makes them to be:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">My son, + this day have I begotten thee,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">so quoting</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Psalm + 2:7</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, and showing + that he was ignorant of our present gospel,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 3:17</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. We reply that + this was probably a slip of the memory, quite natural in a + day when the gospels existed only in the cumbrous form of + manuscript rolls. Justin also refers to the Pentateuch for + two facts which it does not contain; but we should not argue + from this that he did not possess our present Pentateuch. The + plays of Terence are quoted by Cicero and Horace, and we + require neither more nor earlier witnesses to their + genuineness,—yet Cicero and Horace wrote a hundred years + after Terence. It is unfair to refuse similar evidence to the + gospels. Justin had a way of combining into one the sayings + of the different evangelists—a hint which Tatian, his pupil, + probably followed out in composing his Diatessaron. On Justin + Martyr's testimony, see Ezra Abbot, Genuineness of the Fourth + Gospel, 49, note. B. W. Bacon, Introd. to N. T., speaks of + Justin as</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">writing</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">circa</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">155 A. D.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) Papias (80-164), whom + Irenæus calls a <span class="tei tei-q">“hearer of + John,”</span> testifies that Matthew <span class= + "tei tei-q">“wrote in the Hebrew dialect the sacred oracles (τὰ + λόγια),”</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page149">[pg + 149]</span><a name="Pg149" id="Pg149" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> and that <span class="tei tei-q">“Mark, + the interpreter of Peter, wrote after Peter, (ὕστερον Πέτρῳ) + [or under Peter's direction], an unsystematic account (οὐ + τάξει)”</span> of the same events and discourses.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">To this testimony it is + objected: (1) That Papias could not have had our gospel of + Matthew, for the reason that this is Greek. We reply, either + with Bleek, that Papias erroneously supposed a Hebrew + translation of Matthew, which he possessed, to be the + original; or with Weiss, that the original Matthew was in + Hebrew, while our present Matthew is an enlarged version of + the same. Palestine, like modern Wales, was bilingual; + Matthew, like James, might write both Hebrew and Greek. While + B. W. Bacon gives to the writing of Papias a date so late as + 145-160 A. D., Lightfoot gives that of 130 A. D. At this + latter date Papias could easily remember stories told him so + far back as 80 A. D., by men who were youths at the time when + our Lord lived, died, rose and ascended. The work of Papias + had for its title Λογίων κυριακῶν + ἐξήγησις—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Exposition of Oracles relating to the + Lord</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">= Commentaries on the Gospels. + Two of these gospels were Matthew and Mark. The view of Weiss + mentioned above has been criticized upon the ground that the + quotations from the O. T. in Jesus' discourses in Matthew are + all taken from the Septuagint and not from the Hebrew. + Westcott answers this criticism by suggesting that, in + translating his Hebrew gospel into Greek, Matthew substituted + for his own oral version of Christ's discourses the version + of these already existing in the oral common gospel. There + was a common oral basis of true teaching, the</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">deposit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—τὴν παραθήκην—committed to Timothy + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Tim. + 6:20</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Tim. 1:12, + 14</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">), the same story + told many times and getting to be told in the same way. The + narratives of Matthew, Mark and Luke are independent versions + of this apostolic testimony. First came belief; secondly, + oral teaching; thirdly, written gospels. That the original + gospel was in Aramaic seems probable from the fact that the + Oriental name for</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">tares,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span class= + "tei tei-foreign"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">zawān</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 13:25</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">) has been + transliterated into Greek, ζιζάνια. Morison, Com. on Mat., + thinks that Matthew originally wrote in Hebrew a collection + of Sayings of Jesus Christ, which the Nazarenes and Ebionites + added to, partly from tradition, and partly from translating + his full gospel, till the result was the so-called Gospel of + the Hebrews; but that Matthew wrote his own gospel in Greek + after he had written the Sayings in Hebrew. Professor W. A. + Stevens thinks that Papias probably alluded to the original + autograph which Matthew wrote in Aramaic, but which he + afterwards enlarged and translated into Greek. See Hemphill, + Literature of the Second Century, 267.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">To the testimony of Papias it is + also objected: (2) That Mark is the most systematic of all + evangelists, presenting events as a true annalist, in + chronological order. We reply that while, so far as + chronological order is concerned, Mark is systematic, so far + as logical order is concerned he is the most unsystematic of + the evangelists, showing little of the power of historical + grouping which is so discernible in Matthew. Matthew aimed to + portray a life, rather than to record a chronology. He groups + Jesus' teachings in chapters 5, 6, and 7; his miracles in + chapters 8 and 9; his directions to the apostles in chapter + 10; chapters 11 and 12 describe the growing opposition; + chapter 13 meets this opposition with his parables; the + remainder of the gospel describes our Lord's preparation for + his death, his progress to Jerusalem, the consummation of his + work in the Cross and in the resurrection. Here is true + system, a philosophical arrangement of material, compared + with which the method of Mark is eminently unsystematic. Mark + is a Froissart, while Matthew has the spirit of J. R. Green. + See Bleek, Introd. to N. T., 1:108, 126; Weiss, Life of + Jesus, 1:27-39.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) The Apostolic + Fathers,—Clement of Rome (died 101), Ignatius of Antioch + (martyred 115), and Polycarp (80-166),—companions and friends + of the apostles, have left us in their writings over one + hundred quotations from or allusions to the New Testament + writings, and among these every book, except four minor + epistles (2 Peter, Jude, 2 and 3 John) is represented.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Although these are single + testimonies, we must remember that they are the testimonies + of the chief men of the churches of their day, and that they + express the opinion of the churches themselves.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Like + banners of a hidden army, or peaks of a distant mountain + range, they represent and are sustained by compact, + continuous bodies below.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">In an article by P. W. Calkins, McClintock + and Strong's Encyclopædia, 1:315-317, quotations from the + Apostolic Fathers in great numbers are put side by</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page150">[pg 150]</span><a name= + "Pg150" id="Pg150" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">side with the New Testament passages from + which they quote or to which they allude. An examination of + these quotations and allusions convinces us that these + Fathers were in possession of all the principal books of our + New Testament. See Ante-Nicene Library of T. and T. Clark; + Thayer, in Boston Lectures for 1871:324; Nash, Ethics and + Revelation, 11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ignatius says to Polycarp:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + times call for thee, as the winds call for the + pilot.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">So do the times call for + reverent, fearless scholarship in the + church.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Such scholarship, we are persuaded, has + already demonstrated the genuineness of the N. T. + documents.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">e</span></span>) In the synoptic gospels, + the omission of all mention of the fulfilment of Christ's + prophecies with regard to the destruction of Jerusalem is + evidence that these gospels were written before the occurrence + of that event. In the Acts of the Apostles, universally + attributed to Luke, we have an allusion to <span class= + "tei tei-q">“the former treatise”</span>, or the gospel by the + same author, which must, therefore, have been written before + the end of Paul's first imprisonment at Rome, and probably with + the help and sanction of that apostle.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 1:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + former treatise I made, O Theophilus, concerning all that Jesus + began both to do and to teach.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">If the Acts was written A. D. 63, two years + after Paul's arrival at Rome, then</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + former treatise,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">the gospel according to Luke, can hardly be + dated later than 60; and since the destruction of Jerusalem + took place in 70, Matthew and Mark must have published their + gospels at least as early as the year 68, when multitudes of + men were still living who had been eye-witnesses of the events + of Jesus' life. Fisher, Nature and Method of Revelation, + 180—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">At any + considerably later date [than the capture of Jerusalem] the + apparent conjunction of the fall of the city and the temple + with the Parousia would have been avoided or explained.... + Matthew, in its present form, appeared after the beginning of + the mortal struggle of the Romans with the Jews, or between 65 + and 70. Mark's gospel was still earlier. The language of the + passages relative to the Parousia, in Luke, is consistent with + the supposition that he wrote after the fall of Jerusalem, but + not with the supposition that it was long + after.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Norton, Genuineness of the + Gospels; Alford, Greek Testament, Prolegomena, 30, 31, 36, + 45-47.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">C. It is to + be presumed that this acceptance of the New Testament documents + as genuine, on the part of the Fathers of the churches, was for + good and sufficient reasons, both internal and external, and + this presumption is corroborated by the following + considerations:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) There is evidence that + the early churches took every care to assure themselves of the + genuineness of these writings before they accepted them.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Evidences of care are the + following:—Paul, in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Thess. + 2:2</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, urged the + churches to use care,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">to the + end that ye be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be + troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by epistle as from + us</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 5:9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I wrote + unto you in my epistle to have no company with + fornicators</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col. + 4:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">when + this epistle hath been read among you, cause that it be read + also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye also read + the epistle from Laodicea.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Melito (169), Bishop of Sardis, who wrote a + treatise on the Revelation of John, went as far as Palestine + to ascertain on the spot the facts relating to the Canon of + the O. T., and as a result of his investigations excluded the + Apocrypha. Ryle, Canon of O. T., 203—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Melito, the Bishop of Sardis, sent to a + friend a list of the O. T. Scriptures which he professed to + have obtained from accurate inquiry, while traveling in the + East, in Syria. Its contents agree with those of the Hebrew + Canon, save in the omission of Esther.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Serapion, Bishop of Antioch (191-213, + Abbot), says:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We + receive Peter and other apostles as Christ, but as skilful + men we reject those writings which are falsely ascribed to + them.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Geo. H. Ferris, Baptist + Congress, 1899:94—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Serapion, after permitting the reading of + the Gospel of Peter in public services, finally decided + against it, not because he thought there could be no fifth + gospel, but because he thought it was not written by + Peter.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Tertullian (160-230) gives an + example of the deposition of a presbyter in Asia Minor for + publishing a pretended work of Paul; see Tertullian, De + Baptismo, referred to by Godet on John, Introduction; + Lardner, Works, 2:304, 305; McIlvaine, Evidences, + 92.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) The style of the New + Testament writings, and their complete correspondence with all + we know of the lands and times in which they profess + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page151">[pg 151]</span><a name= + "Pg151" id="Pg151" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> to have been + written, affords convincing proof that they belong to the + apostolic age.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Notice the mingling of Latin and + Greek, as in σπεκουλάτωρ (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mark + 6:27</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">) and κεντυρίων + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mark + 15:39</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); of Greek and + Aramæan, as in πρασιαὶ πρασιαί (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mark + 6:40</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">) and βδέλυγμα + τῆς ἐρημώσεως (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 24:15</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); this could + hardly have occurred after the first century. Compare the + anachronisms of style and description in Thackeray's</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Henry + Esmond,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">which, in spite of the author's special + studies and his determination to exclude all words and + phrases that had originated in his own century, was marred by + historical errors that Macaulay in his most remiss moments + would hardly have made. James Russell Lowell told Thackeray + that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">different to</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">was not a century old.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hang it, no!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">replied Thackeray. In view of this failure, + on the part of an author of great literary skill, to + construct a story purporting to be written a century before + his time and that could stand the test of historical + criticism, we may well regard the success of our gospels in + standing such tests as a practical demonstration that they + were written in, and not after, the apostolic age. See + Alexander, Christ and Christianity, 27-37; Blunt, Scriptural + Coincidences, 244-354.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) The genuineness of the + fourth gospel is confirmed by the fact that Tatian (155-170), + the Assyrian, a disciple of Justin, repeatedly quoted it + without naming the author, and composed a Harmony of our four + gospels which he named the Diatessaron; while Basilides (130) + and Valentinus (150), the Gnostics, both quote from it.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The sceptical work + entitled</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Supernatural Religion</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">said in 1874;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">No one seems to have seen Tatian's Harmony, + probably for the very simple reason that there was no such + work</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; and</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">There is no evidence whatever connecting + Tatian's Gospel with those of our Canon.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">In 1876, however, there was published in a + Latin form in Venice the Commentary of Ephraem Syrus on + Tatian, and the commencement of it was:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In the + beginning was the Word</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John + 1:1)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. In 1888, the + Diatessaron itself was published in Rome in the form of an + Arabic translation made in the eleventh century from the + Syriac. J. Rendel Harris, in Contemp. Rev., 1893:800</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + says that the recovery of Tatian's Diatessaron has + indefinitely postponed the literary funeral of St. John. + Advanced critics, he intimates, are so called, because they + run ahead of the facts they discuss. The gospels must have + been well established in the Christian church when Tatian + undertook to combine them. Mrs. A. S. Lewis, in S. S. Times, + Jan. 23, 1904—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + gospels were translated into Syriac before A. D. 160. It + follows that the Greek document from which they were + translated was older still, and since the one includes the + gospel of St. John, so did the other.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hemphill, Literature of the Second Century, + 183-231, gives the birth of Tatian about 120, and the date of + his Diatessaron as 172 A. D.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The difference in style between + the Revelation and the gospel of John is due to the fact that + the Revelation was written during John's exile in Patmos, + under Nero, in 67 or 68, soon after John had left Palestine + and had taken up his residence at Ephesus. He had hitherto + spoken Aramæan, and Greek was comparatively unfamiliar to + him. The gospel was written thirty years after, probably + about 97, when Greek had become to him like a mother tongue. + See Lightfoot on Galatians, 343, 347;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">per + contra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, see + Milligan, Revelation of St. John. Phrases and ideas which + indicate a common authorship of the Revelation and the gospel + are the following:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Lamb of God,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Word of God,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + True</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">as an epithet applied to Christ,</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Jews</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">as enemies of God,</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">manna,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">him + whom they pierced</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; see Elliott, Horæ Apocalypticæ, 1:4, 5. In + the fourth gospel we have ἀμνός, in Apoc. ἀρνίον, perhaps + better to distinguish</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Lamb</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">from the diminutive τὸ + θηρίον,</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the beast.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Common to both Gospel and Rev. are + ποιεῖν,</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">to do</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">[the truth]; περιπατεῖν, of moral conduct; + ἀληθινός,</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">genuine</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; διψᾷν, πεινᾷν, of the higher wants of the + soul; σκηνοῦν ἐν, ποιμαίνειν, ὁδηγεῖν; also</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">overcome,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">testimony,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bridegroom,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Shepherd,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Water + of life.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">In the Revelation there are grammatical + solecisms: nominative for genitive, 1:4—ἀπὸ ὁ ὤν; nominative + for accusative, 7:9—εἶδον ... ὄχλος πολύς; accusative for + nominative, 20:2—τὸν δράκοντα ὁ ὄφις. Similarly we have + in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 12:5</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—τὸ δὲ καθ᾽ εἶς + instead of τὸ δὲ καθ᾽ ἕνα, where κατὰ has lost its regimen—a + frequent solecism in later Greek writers; see Godet on John, + 1:269, 270. Emerson reminded Jones Very that the Holy Ghost + surely writes good grammar. The Apocalypse seems to show that + Emerson was wrong.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The author of the fourth gospel + speaks of John in the third person,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">and scorned to blot it with a + name.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">But so does Cæsar speak of + himself in his Commentaries. Harnack</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page152">[pg 152]</span><a name="Pg152" id= + "Pg152" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">regards both the fourth gospel and the + Revelation as the work of John the Presbyter or Elder, the + former written not later than about 110 A. D.; the latter + from 93 to 96, but being a revision of one or more underlying + Jewish apocalypses. Vischer has expounded this view of the + Revelation; and Porter holds substantially the same, in his + article on the Book of Revelation in Hastings' Bible + Dictionary, 4:239-266.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is the obvious advantage of the + Vischer-Harnack hypothesis that it places the original work + under Nero and its revised and Christianized edition under + Domitian.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(Sanday, Inspiration, 371, 372, + nevertheless dismisses this hypothesis as raising worse + difficulties than it removes. He dates the Apocalypse between + the death of Nero and the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus.) + Martineau, Seat of Authority, 227, presents the moral + objections to the apostolic authorship, and regards the + Revelation, from chapter 4:1 to 22:5, as a purely Jewish + document of the date 66-70, supplemented and revised by a + Christian, and issued not earlier than 136:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">How + strange that we should ever have thought it possible for a + personal attendant upon the ministry of Jesus to write or + edit a book mixing up fierce Messianic conflicts, in which, + with the sword, the gory garment, the blasting flame, the rod + of iron, as his emblems, he leads the war-march, and treads + the winepress of the wrath of God until the deluge of blood + rises to the horses' bits, with the speculative Christology + of the second century, without a memory of his life, a + feature of his look, a word from his voice, or a glance back + at the hillsides of Galilee, the courts of Jerusalem, the + road to Bethany, on which his image must be forever + seen!</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The force of this statement, + however, is greatly broken if we consider that the apostle + John, in his earlier days, was one of the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Boanerges, which is, Sons of + thunder</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Mark + 3:17)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, but became in + his later years the apostle of love:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 John + 4:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Beloved, let us love one another, for love + is of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The likeness of the fourth gospel to the + epistle, which latter was undoubtedly the work of John the + apostle, indicates the same authorship for the gospel. Thayer + remarks that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + discovery of the gospel according to Peter sweeps away half a + century of discussion. Brief as is the recovered fragment, it + attests indubitably all four of our canonical + books.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Riddle, in Popular Com., + 1:25—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If a + forger wrote the fourth gospel, then Beelzebub has been + casting out devils for these eighteen hundred + years.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On the genuineness of the fourth + gospel, see Bleek, Introd. to N. T., 1:250; Fisher, Essays on + Supernat. Origin of Christianity, 33, also Beginnings of + Christianity, 320-362, and Grounds of Theistic and Christian + Belief, 245-309; Sanday, Authorship of the Fourth Gospel, + Gospels in the Second Century, and Criticism of the Fourth + Gospel; Ezra Abbott, Genuineness of the Fourth Gospel, 52, + 80-87; Row, Bampton Lectures on Christian Evidences, 249-287; + British Quarterly, Oct. 1872:216; Godet, in Present Day + Tracts, 5: no. 25; Westcott, in Bib. Com. on John's Gospel, + Introd., xxviii-xxxii; Watkins, Bampton Lectures for 1890; W. + L. Ferguson, in Bib. Sac., 1896:1-27.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) The epistle to the + Hebrews appears to have been accepted during the first century + after it was written (so Clement of Borne, Justin Martyr, and + the Peshito Version witness). Then for two centuries, + especially in the Roman and North African churches, and + probably because its internal characteristics were inconsistent + with the tradition of a Pauline authorship, its genuineness was + doubted (so Tertullian, Cyprian, Irenæus, Muratorian Canon). At + the end of the fourth century, Jerome examined the evidence and + decided in its favor; Augustine did the same; the third Council + of Carthage formally recognized it (397); from that time the + Latin churches united with the East in receiving it, and thus + the doubt was finally and forever removed.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The Epistle to the Hebrews, the + style of which is so unlike that of the Apostle Paul, was + possibly written by Apollos, who was an Alexandrian + Jew,</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">a learned man</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">mighty + in the Scriptures</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Acts + 18:24)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; but it may + notwithstanding have been written at the suggestion and under + the direction of Paul, and so be essentially Pauline. A. C. + Kendrick, in American Commentary on Hebrews, points out that + while the style of Paul is prevailingly dialectic, and only + in rapt moments becomes rhetorical or poetic, the style of + the Epistle to the Hebrews is prevailingly rhetorical, is + free from anacolutha, and is always dominated by emotion. He + holds that these characteristics point to Apollos as its + author. Contrast also Paul's method of quoting the O. + T.:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">it is written</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Rom. 11:8; 1 Cor. 1:31; + Gal. 3:10)</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">with that + of the Hebrews:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">he saith</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(8:5, + 13)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">,</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">he</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page153">[pg 153]</span><a name="Pg153" id="Pg153" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">hath + said</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(4:4)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + Paul quotes the O. T. fifty or sixty times, but never in this + latter way.</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 2:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">which + having at the first been spoken by the Lord, was confirmed + unto us by them that heard</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—shows that the writer did not receive the + gospel at first hand. Luther and Calvin rightly saw in this a + decisive proof that Paul was not the author, for he always + insisted on the primary and independent character of his + gospel. Harnack formerly thought the epistle written by + Barnabas to Christians at Rome, A. D. 81-96. More recently + however he attributes it to Priscilla, the wife of Aquila, or + to their joint authorship. The majesty of its diction, + however, seems unfavorable to this view. William T. C. + Hanna:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + words of the author ... are marshalled grandly, and move with + the tread of an army, or with the swell of a tidal + wave</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; see Franklin Johnson, Quotations in N. T. + from O. T., xii. Plumptre, Introd. to N. T., 37, and in + Expositor, Vol. I, regards the author of this epistle as the + same with that of the Apocryphal Wisdom of Solomon, the + latter being composed before, the former after, the writer's + conversion to Christianity. Perhaps our safest conclusion is + that of Origen:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + only knows who wrote it.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Harnack however remarks:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The time in which our ancient Christian + literature, the N. T. included, was considered as a web of + delusions and falsifications, is past. The oldest literature + of the church is, in its main points, and in most of its + details, true and trustworthy.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See articles on Hebrews, in Smith's and in + Hastings' Bible Dictionaries.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">e</span></span>) As to 2 Peter, Jude, and + 2 and 3 John, the epistles most frequently held to be spurious, + we may say that, although we have no conclusive external + evidence earlier than A. D. 160, and in the case of 2 Peter + none earlier than A. D. 230-250, we may fairly urge in favor of + their genuineness not only their internal characteristics of + literary style and moral value, but also the general acceptance + of them all since the third century as the actual productions + of the men or class of men whose names they bear.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Firmilianus (250), Bishop of + Cæsarea in Cappadocia, is the first clear witness to 2 Peter. + Origen (230) names it, but, in naming it, admits that its + genuineness is questioned. The Council of Laodicea (372) + first received it into the Canon. With this very gradual + recognition and acceptance of 2 Peter, compare the loss of + the later works of Aristotle for a hundred and fifty years + after his death, and their recognition as genuine so soon as + they were recovered from the cellar of the family of Neleus + in Asia; De Wette's first publication of certain letters of + Luther after the lapse of three hundred years, yet without + occasioning doubt as to their genuineness; or the concealment + of Milton's Treatise on Christian Doctrine, among the lumber + of the State Paper Office in London, from 1677 to 1823; see + Mair, Christian Evidences, 95. Sir William Hamilton + complained that there were treatises of Cudworth, Berkeley + and Collier, still lying unpublished and even unknown to + their editors, biographers and fellow metaphysicians, but yet + of the highest interest and importance; see Mansel, Letters, + Lectures and Reviews, 381; Archibald, The Bible Verified, 27. + 2 Peter was probably sent from the East shortly before + Peter's martyrdom; distance and persecution may have + prevented its rapid circulation in other countries. Sagebeer, + The Bible in Court, 114—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">A ledger may have been lost, or its + authenticity for a long time doubted, but when once it is + discovered and proved, it is as trustworthy as any other part + of the</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">res + gestæ</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Plumptre, Epistles of Peter, Introd., + 73-81; Alford on 2 Peter, 4: Prolegomena, 157; Westcott, on + Canon, in Smith's Bib. Dict., 1:370, 373; Blunt, Dict. Doct. + and Hist. Theol., art.: Canon.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It is urged by those who doubt + the genuineness of 2 Peter that the epistle speaks of</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">your + apostles</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(3:2)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + just as</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jude 17</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">speaks of</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + apostles,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">as if the writer did not number himself + among them. But 2 Peter begins with</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Simon + Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus + Christ,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and Jude,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">brother + of James</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(verse + 1)</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">was a brother of + our Lord, but not an apostle. Hovey, Introd. to N. T., + xxxi—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + earliest passage manifestly based upon 2 Peter appears to be + in the so-called Second Epistle of the Roman Clement, 16:3, + which however is now understood to be a Christian homily from + the middle of the second century.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Origen (born 186) testifies that Peter left + one epistle,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">and + perhaps a second, for that is disputed.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">He also says:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">John wrote the Apocalypse, and an epistle of + very few lines; and, it may be, a second and a third; since + all do not admit them to be genuine.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">He quotes also from James and from Jude, + adding that their canonicity was + doubted.</span></p><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page154">[pg + 154]</span><a name="Pg154" id="Pg154" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Harnack regards 1 Peter, 2 + Peter, James, and Jude, as written respectively about 160, + 170, 130, and 130, but not by the men to whom they are + ascribed—the ascriptions to these authors being later + additions. Hort remarks:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">If I were asked, I should say that the + balance of the argument was against 2 Peter, but the moment I + had done so I should begin to think I might be in the + wrong.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Sanday, Oracles of God, 73 note, + considers the arguments in favor of 2 Peter unconvincing, but + also the arguments against. He cannot get beyond a</span> + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">non + liquet</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">. He refers + to Salmon, Introd. to N. T., 529-559, ed. 4, as expressing + his own view. But the later conclusions of Sanday are more + radical. In his Bampton Lectures on Inspiration, 348, 399, he + says: 2 Peter</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">is + probably at least to this extent a counterfeit, that it + appears under a name which is not that of its true + author.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Chase, in Hastings' Bib. Dict., + 3:806-817, says that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the first piece of</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">certain</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">evidence as to 2 Peter is the + passage from Origen quoted by Eusebius, though it hardly + admits of doubt that the Epistle was known to Clement of + Alexandria.... We find no trace of the epistle in the period + when the tradition of apostolic days was still living.... It + was not the work of the apostle but of the second century ... + put forward without any sinister motive ... the personation + of the apostle an obvious literary device rather than a + religious or controversial fraud. The adoption of such a + verdict can cause perplexity only when the Lord's promise of + guidance to his Church is regarded as a charter of + infallibility.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Against this verdict we would urge the + dignity and spiritual value of 2 Peter—internal evidence + which in our judgment causes the balance to incline in favor + of its apostolic authorship.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">f</span></span>) Upon no other hypothesis + than that of their genuineness can the general acceptance of + these four minor epistles since the third century, and of all + the other books of the New Testament since the middle of the + second century, be satisfactorily accounted for. If they had + been mere collections of floating legends, they could not have + secured wide circulation as sacred books for which Christians + must answer with their blood. If they had been forgeries, the + churches at large could neither have been deceived as to their + previous non-existence, nor have been induced unanimously to + pretend that they were ancient and genuine. Inasmuch, however, + as other accounts of their origin, inconsistent with their + genuineness, are now current, we proceed to examine more at + length the most important of these opposing views.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The genuineness of the New + Testament as a whole would still be demonstrable, even if + doubt should still attach to one or two of its books. It does + not matter that 2nd Alcibiades was not written by Plato, or + Pericles by Shakespeare. The Council of Carthage in 397 gave + a place in the Canon to the O. T. Apocrypha, but the + Reformers tore it out. Zwingli said of the Revelation:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It is + not a Biblical book,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and Luther spoke slightingly of the Epistle + of James. The judgment of Christendom at large is more + trustworthy than the private impressions of any single + Christian scholar. To hold the books of the N. T. to be + written in the second century by other than those whose names + they bear is to hold, not simply to forgery, but to a + conspiracy of forgery. There must have been several forgers + at work, and, since their writings wonderfully agree, there + must have been collusion among them. Yet these able men have + been forgotten, while the names of far feebler writers of the + second century have been preserved.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">G. F. Wright, Scientific Aspects + of Christian Evidences, 343—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">In civil law there are</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">statutes of limitations</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">which provide that the general + acknowledgment of a purported fact for a certain period shall + be considered as conclusive evidence of it. If, for example, + a man has remained in undisturbed possession of land for a + certain number of years, it is presumed that he has a valid + claim to it, and no one is allowed to dispute his + claim.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Mair, Evidences, + 99—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We + probably have not a tenth part of the evidence upon which the + early churches accepted the N. T. books as the genuine + productions of their authors. We have only their + verdict.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Wynne, in Literature of the + Second Century, 58—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Those who gave up the Scriptures were looked + on by their fellow Christians as</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">traditores,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">traitors, who had basely yielded up what + they ought to have treasured as dearer than life. But all + their books were not equally sacred. Some</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page155">[pg 155]</span><a name="Pg155" id= + "Pg155" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">were essential, and some were non-essential + to the faith. Hence arose the distinction between</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">canonical</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">non-canonical</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + The general consciousness of Christians grew into a distinct + registration.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Such registration is entitled to the highest + respect, and lays the burden of proof upon the objector. See + Alexander, Christ and Christianity, Introduction; Hovey, + General Introduction to American Commentary on N. + T.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">D. + Rationalistic Theories as to the origin of the gospels. These + are attempts to eliminate the miraculous element from the New + Testament records, and to reconstruct the sacred history upon + principles of naturalism.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Against them + we urge the general objection that they are unscientific in + their principle and method. To set out in an examination of the + New Testament documents with the assumption that all history is + a mere natural development, and that miracles are therefore + impossible, is to make history a matter, not of testimony, but + of <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-style: italic">a priori</span></span> + speculation. It indeed renders any history of Christ and his + apostles impossible, since the witnesses whose testimony with + regard to miracles is discredited can no longer be considered + worthy of credence in their account of Christ's life or + doctrine.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In Germany, half a century + ago,</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">a man was famous according as he had lifted + up axes upon the thick trees</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Ps. 74:5, A. + V.)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, just as among + the American Indians he was not counted a man who could not + show his scalps. The critics fortunately scalped each other; + see Tyler, Theology of Greek Poets, 79—on Homer. Nicoll, The + Church's One Foundation, 15—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Like the mummers of old, sceptical critics + send one before them with a broom to sweep the stage clear of + everything for their drama. If we assume at the threshold of + the gospel study that everything of the nature of miracle is + impossible, then the specific questions are decided before + the criticism begins to operate in + earnest.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Matthew Arnold:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Our + popular religion at present conceives the birth, ministry and + death of Christ as altogether steeped in prodigy, brimful of + miracle,—and</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">miracles do not + happen</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This presupposition influences the + investigations of Kuenen, and of A. E. Abbott, in his article + on the Gospels in the Encyc. Britannica. We give special + attention to four of the theories based upon this + assumption.</span></p> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc133" id="toc133"></a> <a name="pdf134" id= + "pdf134"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1st. The Myth-theory of Strauss (1808-1874).</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">According + to this view, the gospels are crystallizations into story of + Messianic ideas which had for several generations filled the + minds of imaginative men in Palestine. The myth is a + narrative in which such ideas are unconsciously clothed, and + from which the element of intentional and deliberate + deception is absent.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">This early view of Strauss, + which has become identified with his name, was exchanged in + late years for a more advanced view which extended the + meaning of the word</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">myths</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">so as to include all + narratives that spring out of a theological idea, and it + admitted the existence of</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">pious + frauds</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">in the gospels. Baur, he says, + first convinced him that the author of the fourth gospel + had</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">not + unfrequently composed mere fables, knowing them to be mere + fictions.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The animating spirit of both the old view + and the new is the same. Strauss says:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We + know with certainty what Jesus was</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">not</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + and what he has</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + not</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">done, namely, + nothing superhuman and supernatural.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">No + gospel can claim that degree of historic credibility that + would be required in order to make us debase our reason to + the point of believing miracles.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">He calls the resurrection of Christ</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">ein + weltgeschichtlicher Humbug.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If + the gospels are really historical documents, we cannot + exclude miracle from the life-story of + Jesus;</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">see Strauss, Life of Jesus, + 17; New Life of Jesus, 1: preface, xii. Vatke, Einleitung + in A. T., 210, 211, distinguishes the myth from the</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">saga</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">or legend: The criterion of + the pure myth is that the experience is impossible, while + the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">saga</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is a tradition of remote + antiquity; the myth has in it the element only of belief, + the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">saga</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">has in it an element of + history. Sabatier, Philos. Religion, 37—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A + myth is false in appearance only. The divine Spirit can + avail himself of the fictions of poetry as well as of + logical reasonings. When the heart was pure, the veils of + fable always allowed the face of truth to shine through. + And does not childhood run on into maturity and old + age?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p><span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page156">[pg 156]</span><a name="Pg156" + id="Pg156" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It is very certain that + childlike love of truth was not the animating spirit of + Strauss. On the contrary, his spirit was that of + remorseless criticism and of uncompromising hostility to + the supernatural. It has been well said that he gathered up + all the previous objections of sceptics to the gospel + narrative and hurled them in one mass, just as if some + Sadducee at the time of Jesus' trial had put all the taunts + and gibes, all the buffetings and insults, all the shame + and spitting, into one blow delivered straight into the + face of the Redeemer. An octogenarian and saintly German + lady said unsuspectingly that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">somehow she never could get + interested</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">in Strauss's Leben Jesu, which her + sceptical son had given her for religious reading. The work + was almost altogether destructive, only the last chapter + suggesting Strauss's own view of what Jesus was.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">If Luther's dictum is true + that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + heart is the best theologian,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Strauss must be regarded as destitute of + the main qualification for his task. Encyc. Britannica, + 22:592—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Strauss's mind was almost exclusively + analytical and critical, without depth of religious + feeling, or philosophical penetration, or historical + sympathy. His work was rarely constructive, and, save when + he was dealing with a kindred spirit, he failed as a + historian, biographer, and critic, strikingly illustrating + Goethe's profoundly true principle that loving sympathy is + essential for productive criticism.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Pfleiderer, Strauss's Life of Jesus, + xix—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Strauss showed that the church formed the + mythical traditions about Jesus out of its faith in him as + the Messiah; but he did not show how the church came by the + faith that Jesus of Nazareth was the + Messiah.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Carpenter, Mental + Physiology, 362; Grote, Plato, 1:249.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We object + to the Myth-theory of Strauss, that</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) The time between the + death of Christ and the publication of the gospels was far + too short for the growth and consolidation of such mythical + histories. Myths, on the contrary, as the Indian, Greek, + Roman and Scandinavian instances bear witness, are the slow + growth of centuries.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) The first century was + not a century when such formation of myths was possible. + Instead of being a credulous and imaginative age, it was an + age of historical inquiry and of Sadduceeism in matters of + religion.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Horace, in Odes 1:34 and 3:6, + denounces the neglect and squalor of the heathen temples, and + Juvenal, Satire 2:150, says that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Esse + aliquid manes et subterranea regna Nec pueri + credunt.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Arnold of Rugby:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + idea of men writing mythic histories between the times of + Livy and of Tacitus, and of St. Paul mistaking them for + realities!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Pilate's sceptical inquiry,</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">What + is truth?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John + 18:38)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, better + represented the age.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + mythical age is past when an idea is presented + abstractly—apart from narrative.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Jewish sect of the Sadducees shows + that the rationalistic spirit was not confined to Greeks or + Romans. The question of John the Baptist,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 11:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Art + thou he that cometh, or look we for + another?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and our Lord's answer,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. 11:4, + 5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Go + and tell John the thing which ye hear and see: the blind + receive their sight ... the dead are raised + up,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">show that the Jews expected + miracles to be wrought by the Messiah; yet</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 10:41—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">John + indeed did no sign</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">shows also no irresistible inclination to + invest popular teachers with miraculous powers; see E. G. + Robinson, Christian Evidences, 22; Westcott, Com. on John + 10:41; Rogers, Superhuman Origin of the Bible, 61; Cox, + Miracles, 50.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) The gospels cannot be a + mythical outgrowth of Jewish ideas and expectations, because, + in their main features, they run directly counter to these + ideas and expectations. The sullen and exclusive nationalism + of the Jews could not have given rise to a gospel for all + nations, nor could their expectations of a temporal monarch + have led to the story of a suffering Messiah.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The O. T. Apocrypha shows how + narrow was the outlook of the Jews. 2 Esdras 6:55, 56 says + the Almighty has made the world</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">for</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">our</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">sakes</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; other peoples, though they</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">also + come from Adam,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">to the Eternal</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">are + nothing, but be like unto spittle.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The whole multitude of them are only, + before him,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">like + a single foul drop that oozes out of a + cask</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(C. Geikie, in S. S. Times). + Christ's kingdom differed from that which the Jews + expected, both in its</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">spirituality</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and its</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">universality</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(Bruce, Apologetics, 3). There + was no missionary impulse in the heathen world; on the + other hand,</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page157">[pg 157]</span><a name="Pg157" id="Pg157" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">it was + blasphemy for an ancient tribesman to make known his god to + an outsider (Nash, Ethics and Revelation, 106). The + Apocryphal gospels show what sort of myths the N. T. age + would have elaborated: Out of a demoniac young woman Satan + is said to depart in the form of a young man (Bernard, in + Literature of the Second Century, 99-136).</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) The belief and + propagation of such myths are inconsistent with what we know + of the sober characters and self-sacrificing lives of the + apostles.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">e</span></span>) The mythical theory + cannot account for the acceptance of the gospels among the + Gentiles, who had none of the Jewish ideas and + expectations.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">f</span></span>) It cannot explain + Christianity itself, with its belief in Christ's crucifixion + and resurrection, and the ordinances which commemorate these + facts.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">d</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + Witness Thomas's doubting, and Paul's shipwrecks and + scourgings.</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Pet. + 1:16</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—οὐ γὰρ + σεσοφισμένοις μύθοις ἐξακολουθήσαντες =</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">we + have not been on the false track of myths artificially + elaborated.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See F. W. Farrar, Witness of History to + Christ, 49-88. (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + See the two books entitled: If the Gospel Narratives are + Mythical,—What Then? and, But How,—if the Gospels are + Historic? (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">f</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + As the existence of the American Republic is proof that + there was once a Revolutionary War, so the existence of + Christianity is proof of the death of Christ. The change + from the seventh day to the first, in Sabbath observance, + could never have come about in a nation so Sabbatarian, had + not the first day been the celebration of an actual + resurrection. Like the Jewish Passover and our own + Independence Day, Baptism and the Lord's Supper cannot be + accounted for, except as monuments and remembrances of + historical facts at the beginning of the Christian church. + See Muir, on the Lord's Supper an abiding Witness to the + Death of Christ, In Present Day Tracts, 6: no. 36. On + Strauss and his theory, see Hackett, in Christian Rev., 48; + Weiss, Life of Jesus, 155-163; Christlieb, Mod. Doubt and + Christ. Belief, 379-425; Maclear, in Strivings for the + Faith, 1-136; H. B. Smith, in Faith and Philosophy, + 442-468; Bayne, Review of Strauss's New Life, in Theol. + Eclectic, 4:74; Row, in Lectures on Modern Scepticism, + 305-360; Bibliotheca Sacra, Oct. 1871: art. by Prof. W. A. + Stevens; Burgess, Antiquity and Unity of Man, 263, 264; + Curtis on Inspiration, 62-67; Alexander, Christ and + Christianity, 92-126; A. P. Peabody, in Smith's Bible + Dict., 2:954-958.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc135" id="toc135"></a> <a name="pdf136" id= + "pdf136"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 2nd. The Tendency-theory of Baur (1792-1860).</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This + maintains that the gospels originated in the middle of the + second century, and were written under assumed names as a + means of reconciling opposing Jewish and Gentile tendencies + in the church. <span class="tei tei-q">“These great national + tendencies find their satisfaction, not in events + corresponding to them, but in the elaboration of conscious + fictions.”</span></p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Baur dates the fourth gospel at + 160-170 A. D.; Matthew at 130; Luke at 150; Mark at 150-160. + Baur never inquires who Christ was. He turns his attention + from the facts to the documents. If the documents be proved + unhistorical, there is no need of examining the facts, for + there are no facts to examine. He indicates the + presupposition of his investigations, when he says:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + principal argument for the later origin of the gospels must + forever remain this, that separately, and still more when + taken together, they give an account of the life of Jesus + which involves impossibilities</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, miracles. He + would therefore remove their authorship far enough from + Jesus' time to permit regarding the miracles as inventions. + Baur holds that in Christ were united the universalistic + spirit of the new religion,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">and</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">the particularistic form of + the Jewish Messianic idea; some of his disciples laid + emphasis on the one, some on the other; hence first + conflict, but finally reconciliation; see statement of the + Tübingen theory and of the way in which Baur was led to it, + in Bruce, Apologetics, 360. E. G. Robinson interprets Baur + as follows:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Paul + = Protestant; Peter = sacramentarian; James = ethical; Paul + + Peter + James = Christianity. Protestant preaching should + dwell more on the ethical—cases of conscience—and less on + mere doctrine, such as regeneration and + justification.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p><span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page158">[pg 158]</span><a name="Pg158" + id="Pg158" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Baur was a stranger to the + needs of his own soul, and so to the real character of the + gospel. One of his friends and advisers wrote, after his + death, in terms that were meant to be laudatory:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">His + was a completely objective nature. No trace of personal + needs or struggles is discernible in connection with his + investigations of Christianity.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The estimate of posterity is probably + expressed in the judgment with regard to the Tübingen + school by Harnack:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">possible</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">picture it sketched was not + the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">real</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + and the key with which it attempted to solve all problems + did not suffice for the most simple.... The Tübingen views + have indeed been compelled to undergo very large + modifications. As regards the development of the church in + the second century, it may safely be said that the + hypotheses of the Tübingen school have proved themselves + everywhere inadequate, very erroneous, and are to-day held + by only a very few scholars.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Baur, Die kanonischen Evangelien; + Canonical Gospels (Eng. transl.), 530; Supernatural + Religion, 1:212-444 and vol. 2: Pfleiderer, Hibbert + Lectures for 1885. For accounts of Baur's position, see + Herzog, Encyclopädie, art.: Baur; Clarke's transl. of + Hase's Life of Jesus, 34-36; Farrar, Critical History of + Free Thought, 227, 228.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We object + to the Tendency-theory of Baur, that</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) The destructive + criticism to which it subjects the gospels, if applied to + secular documents, would deprive us of any certain knowledge + of the past, and render all history impossible.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The assumption of artifice is + itself unfavorable to a candid examination of the documents. + A perverse acuteness can descry evidences of a hidden</span> + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">animus</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">in the most simple and ingenuous + literary productions. Instance the philosophical + interpretation of</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jack + and Jill.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) The antagonistic + doctrinal tendencies which it professes to find in the + several gospels are more satisfactorily explained as varied + but consistent aspects of the one system of truth held by all + the apostles.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Baur exaggerates the doctrinal + and official differences between the leading apostles. Peter + was not simply a Judaizing Christian, but was the first + preacher to the Gentiles, and his doctrine appears to have + been subsequently influenced to a considerable extent by + Paul's (see Plumptre on 1 Pet., 68-69). Paul was not an + exclusively Hellenizing Christian, but invariably addressed + the gospel to the Jews before he turned to the Gentiles. The + evangelists give pictures of Jesus from different points of + view. As the Parisian sculptor constructs his bust with the + aid of a dozen photographs of his subject, all taken from + different points of view, so from the four portraits + furnished us by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John we are to + construct the solid and symmetrical life of Christ. The + deeper reality which makes reconciliation of the different + views possible is the actual historical Christ. Marcus Dods, + Expositor's Greek Testament, 1:675—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">They + are not two Christs, but one, which the four Gospels + depict: diverse as the profile and front face, but one + another's complement rather than + contradiction.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Godet, Introd. to Gospel + Collection, 272—Matthew shows the greatness of Jesus—his + full-length portrait; Mark his indefatigable activity; Luke + his beneficent compassion; John his essential divinity. + Matthew first wrote Aramæan Logia. This was translated into + Greek and completed by a narrative of the ministry of Jesus + for the Greek churches founded by Paul. This translation + was not made by Matthew and did not make use of Mark + (217-224). E. D. Burton: Matthew = fulfilment of past + prophecy; Mark = manifestation of present power. Matthew is + argument from prophecy; Mark is argument from miracle. + Matthew, as prophecy, made most impression on Jewish + readers; Mark, as power, was best adapted to Gentiles. + Prof. Burton holds Mark to be based upon oral tradition + alone; Matthew upon his Logia (his real earlier Gospel) and + other fragmentary notes; while Luke has a fuller origin in + manuscripts and in Mark. See Aids to the Study of German + Theology, 148-155; F. W. Farrar, Witness of History to + Christ, 61.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) It is incredible that + productions of such literary power and lofty religious + teaching as the gospels should have sprung up in the middle + of the second century, or that, so springing up, they should + have been published under assumed names and for covert + ends.</p><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page159">[pg + 159]</span><a name="Pg159" id="Pg159" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The general character of the + literature of the second century is illustrated by Ignatius's + fanatical desire for martyrdom, the value ascribed by Hermas + to ascetic rigor, the insipid allegories of Barnabas, Clement + of Rome's belief in the phœnix, and the absurdities of the + Apocryphal Gospels. The author of the fourth gospel among the + writers of the second century would have been a mountain + among mole-hills. Wynne, Literature of the Second Century, + 60—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + apostolic and the sub-apostolic writers differ from each + other as a nugget of pure gold differs from a block of quartz + with veins of the precious metal gleaming through + it.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Dorner, Hist. Doct. Person + Christ, 1:1:92—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Instead + of the writers of the second century marking an advance on + the apostolic age, or developing the germ given them by the + apostles, the second century shows great retrogression,—its + writers were not able to retain or comprehend all that had + been given them.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Martineau, Seat of Authority, + 291—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Writers + not only barbarous in speech and rude in art, but too often + puerile in conception, passionate in temper, and credulous in + belief. The legends of Papias, the visions of Hermas, the + imbecility of Irenæus, the fury of Tertullian, the rancor and + indelicacy of Jerome, the stormy intolerance of Augustine, + cannot fail to startle and repel the student; and, if he + turns to the milder Hippolytus, he is introduced to a brood + of thirty heresies which sadly dissipate his dream of the + unity of the church.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We can apply to the writers of the second + century the question of R. G. Ingersoll in the + Shakespeare-Bacon controversy:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Is it + possible that Bacon left the best children of his brain on + Shakespeare's doorstep, and kept only the deformed ones at + home?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On the Apocryphal Gospels, see + Cowper, in Strivings for the Faith, 73-108.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) The theory requires us + to believe in a moral anomaly, namely, that a faithful + disciple of Christ in the second century could be guilty of + fabricating a life of his master, and of claiming authority + for it on the ground that the author had been a companion of + Christ or his apostles.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A + genial set of Jesuitical religionists</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—with mind and heart enough to write the + gospel according to John, and who at the same time have + cold-blooded sagacity enough to keep out of their writings + every trace of the developments of church authority belonging + to the second century. The newly discovered</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Teaching of the Twelve + Apostles,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">if dating from the early part of + that century, shows that such a combination is impossible. + The critical theories assume that one who knew Christ as a + man could not possibly also regard him as God. Lowrie, + Doctrine of St. John, 12—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If + St. John wrote, it is not possible to say that the genius + of St. Paul foisted upon the church a conception which was + strange to the original apostles.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Fairbairn has well shown that if + Christianity had been simply the ethical teaching of the + human Jesus, it would have vanished from the earth like the + sects of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees; if on the + other hand it had been simply the Logos-doctrine, the + doctrine of a divine Christ, it would have passed away like + the speculations of Plato or Aristotle; because + Christianity unites the idea of the eternal Son of God with + that of the incarnate Son of man, it is fitted to be and it + has become an universal religion; see Fairbairn, Philosophy + of the Christian Religion, 4, 15—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Without the personal charm of the + historical Jesus, the œcumenical creeds would never have + been either formulated or tolerated, and without the + metaphysical conception of Christ the Christian religion + would long ago have ceased to live.... It is not Jesus of + Nazareth who has so powerfully entered into history: it is + the deified Christ who has been believed, loved and obeyed + as the Savior of the world.... The two parts of Christian + doctrine are combined in the one name</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jesus + Christ.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">e</span></span>) This theory cannot + account for the universal acceptance of the gospels at the + end of the second century, among widely separated communities + where reverence for writings of the apostles was a mark of + orthodoxy, and where the Gnostic heresies would have made new + documents instantly liable to suspicion and searching + examination.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Abbot, Genuineness of the Fourth + Gospel, 52, 80, 88, 89. The Johannine doctrine of the Logos, + if first propounded in the middle of the second century, + would have ensured the instant rejection of that gospel by + the Gnostics, who ascribed creation, not to the Logos, but to + successive</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Æons.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">How did the Gnostics, without</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">peep or + mutter,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">come to accept as genuine what had only in + their own time been first sprung upon the</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page160">[pg + 160]</span><a name="Pg160" id="Pg160" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">churches? + While Basilides (130) and Valentinus (150), the Gnostics, + both quote from the fourth gospel, they do not dispute its + genuineness or suggest that it was of recent origin. Bruce, + in his Apologetics, says of Baur</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He + believed in the all-sufficiency of the Hegelian theory of + development through antagonism. He saw tendency everywhere. + Anything additional, putting more contents into the person + and teaching of Jesus than suits the initial stage of + development, must be reckoned spurious. If we find Jesus in + any of the gospels claiming to be a supernatural being, + such texts can with the utmost confidence be set aside as + spurious, for such a thought could not belong to the + initial stage of Christianity.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But such a conception certainly existed in + the second century, and it directly antagonized the + speculations of the Gnostics. F. W. Farrar, on</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Hebrews + 1:2</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + word</span> <span lang="el" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="el"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">æon</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">was used by the later Gnostics + to describe the various emanations by which they tried at + once to widen and to bridge over the gulf between the human + and the divine. Over that imaginary chasm John threw the + arch of the Incarnation, when he wrote:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Word became flesh</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John + 1:14)</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">A document which so contradicted the + Gnostic teachings could not in the second century have been + quoted by the Gnostics themselves without dispute as to its + genuineness, if it had not been long recognized in the + churches as a work of the apostle John.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">f</span></span>) The acknowledgment by + Baur that the epistles to the Romans, Galatians and + Corinthians were written by Paul in the first century is + fatal to his theory, since these epistles testify not only to + miracles at the period at which they were written, but to the + main events of Jesus' life and to the miracle of his + resurrection, as facts already long acknowledged in the + Christian church.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Baur, Paulus der Apostel, + 276—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There + never has been the slightest suspicion of unauthenticity cast + on these epistles (Gal., 1 and 2 Cor., Rom.), and they bear + so incontestably the character of Pauline originality, that + there is no conceivable ground for the assertion of critical + doubts in their case.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Baur, in discussing the appearance of Christ + to Paul on the way to Damascus, explains the outward from the + inward: Paul translated intense and sudden conviction of the + truth of the Christian religion into an outward scene. But + this cannot explain the hearing of the outward sound by + Paul's companions. On the evidential value of the epistles + here mentioned, see Lorimer, in Strivings for the Faith, + 109-144; Howson, in Present Day Tracts, 4: no. 24; Row, + Bampton Lectures for 1877:289-356. On Baur and his theory in + general, see Weiss, Life of Jesus, 1:157</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + Christlieb, Mod. Doubt and Christ. Belief, 504-549; Hutton, + Essays, 1:176-215; Theol. Eclectic, 5:1-42; Auberlen, Div. + Revelation; Bib. Sac., 19:75; Answers to Supernatural + Religion, in Westcott, Hist. N. T. Canon, 4th ed., Introd.; + Lightfoot, in Contemporary Rev., Dec. 1874, and Jan. 1875; + Salmon, Introd. to N. T., 6-31; A. B. Bruce, in Present Day + Tracts, 7: no. 38.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc137" id="toc137"></a> <a name="pdf138" id= + "pdf138"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 3d. The Romance-theory of Renan (1823-1892).</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This + theory admits a basis of truth in the gospels and holds that + they all belong to the century following Jesus' death. + <span class="tei tei-q">“According to”</span> Matthew, Mark, + etc., however, means only that Matthew, Mark, etc., wrote + these gospels in substance. Renan claims that the facts of + Jesus' life were so sublimated by enthusiasm, and so overlaid + with pious fraud, that the gospels in their present form + cannot be accepted as genuine,—in short, the gospels are to + be regarded as historical romances which have only a + foundation in fact.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The</span> <span lang="la" + class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">animus</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of this theory is plainly + shown in Renan's Life of Jesus, preface to 13th + ed.—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If + miracles and the inspiration of certain books are + realities, my method is detestable. If miracles and the + inspiration of books are beliefs without reality, my method + is a good one. But the question of the supernatural is + decided for us with perfect certainty by the single + consideration that there is no room for believing in a + thing of which the world offers no experimental + trace.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">On + the whole,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">says Renan,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + admit as authentic the four canonical gospels. All, in my + opinion, date from the first century, and the authors are, + generally speaking, those to whom they are + attributed.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">He regards Gal., 1 and 2 Cor., and Rom., + as</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">indisputable and + undisputed.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">He speaks</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page161">[pg 161]</span><a name="Pg161" id="Pg161" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">of + them as</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">being + texts of an absolute authenticity, of complete sincerity, + and without legends</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(Les Apôtres, xxix; Les Évangiles, xi). + Yet he denies to Jesus</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">sincerity with himself</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; attributes to him</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">innocent artifice</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and the toleration of pious fraud, as for + example in the case of the stories of Lazarus and of his + own resurrection.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">To + conceive the good is not sufficient: it must be made to + succeed; to accomplish this, less pure paths must be + followed.... Not by any fault of his own, his conscience + lost somewhat of its original purity,—his mission + overwhelmed him.... Did he regret his too lofty nature, + and, victim of his own greatness, mourn that he had not + remained a simple artizan?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">So Renan</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">pictures Christ's later life as a misery + and a lie, yet he requests us to bow before this sinner and + before his superior, Sakya-Mouni, as + demigods</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(see Nicoll, The Church's One Foundation, + 62, 63). Of the highly wrought imagination of Mary + Magdalene, he says:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">O + divine power of love! sacred moments, in which the passion + of one whose senses were deceived gives us a resuscitated + God!</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Renan, Life of Jesus, + 21.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">To this + Romance-theory of Renan, we object that</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) It involves an + arbitrary and partial treatment of the Christian documents. + The claim that one writer not only borrowed from others, but + interpolated <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style="font-style: italic">ad + libitum</span></span>, is contradicted by the essential + agreement of the manuscripts as quoted by the Fathers, and as + now extant.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Renan, according to Mair, + Christian Evidences, 153, dates Matthew at 84 A. D.; Mark at + 76; Luke at 94; John at 125. These dates mark a considerable + retreat from the advanced positions taken by Baur. Mair, in + his chapter on Recent Reverses in Negative Criticism, + attributes this result to the late discoveries with regard to + the Epistle of Barnabas, Hippolytus's Refutation of all + Heresies, the Clementine Homilies, and Tatian's + Diatessaron:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">According to Baur and his immediate + followers, we have less than one quarter of the N. T. + belonging to the first century. According to Hilgenfeld, the + present head of the Baur school, we have somewhat less than + three quarters belonging to the first century, while + substantially the same thing may be said with regard to + Holzmann. According to Renan, we have distinctly more than + three quarters of the N. T. falling within the first century, + and therefore within the apostolic age. This surely indicates + a very decided and extraordinary retreat since the time of + Baur's grand assault, that is, within the last fifty + years.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We may add that the concession + of authorship within the apostolic age renders nugatory + Renan's hypothesis that the N. T. documents have been so + enlarged by pious fraud that they cannot be accepted as + trustworthy accounts of such events as miracles. The oral + tradition itself had attained so fixed a form that the many + manuscripts used by the Fathers were in substantial agreement + in respect to these very events, and oral tradition in the + East hands down without serious alteration much longer + narratives than those of our gospels. The Pundita Ramabai can + repeat after the lapse of twenty years portions of the Hindu + sacred books exceeding in amount the whole contents of our + Old Testament. Many cultivated men in Athens knew by heart + all the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer. Memory and reverence + alike kept the gospel narratives free from the corruption + which Renan supposes.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) It attributes to Christ + and to the apostles an alternate fervor of romantic + enthusiasm and a false pretense of miraculous power which are + utterly irreconcilable with the manifest sobriety and + holiness of their lives and teachings. If Jesus did not work + miracles, he was an impostor.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On Ernest Renan, His Life and + the Life of Jesus, see A. H. Strong, Christ in Creation, + 332-363, especially 356—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Renan + attributes the origin of Christianity to the predominance + in Palestine of a constitutional susceptibility to mystic + excitements. Christ is to him the incarnation of sympathy + and tears, a being of tender impulses and passionate + ardors, whose native genius it was to play upon the hearts + of men. Truth or falsehood made little difference to him; + anything that would comfort the poor, or touch the finer + feelings of humanity, he availed himself of; ecstasies, + visions, melting moods, these were the secrets of his + power. Religion was a beneficent superstition, a sweet + delusion—excellent as a balm and solace for the ignorant + crowd, who never could be philosophers if they tried. And + so the gospel river, as one has said, is traced back to a + fountain of weeping men and women whose brains had oozed + out at their eyes, and the perfection of spirituality is + made to be a sort of maudlin monasticism.... How + different</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page162">[pg + 162]</span><a name="Pg162" id="Pg162" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">from the + strong and holy love of Christ, which would save men only + by bringing them to the truth, and which claims men's + imitation only because, without love for God and for the + soul, a man is without truth. How inexplicable from this + view the fact that a pure Christianity has everywhere + quickened the intellect of the nations, and that every + revival of it, as at the Reformation, has been followed by + mighty forward leaps of civilization. Was Paul a man + carried away by mystic dreams and irrational enthusiasms? + Let the keen dialectic skill of his epistles and his + profound grasp of the great matters of revelation answer. + Has the Christian church been a company of puling + sentimentalists? Let the heroic deaths for the truth + suffered by the martyrs witness. Nay, he must have a low + idea of his kind, and a yet lower idea of the God who made + them, who can believe that the noblest spirits of the race + have risen to greatness by abnegating will and reason, and + have gained influence over all ages by resigning themselves + to semi-idiocy.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) It fails to account for + the power and progress of the gospel, as a system directly + opposed to men's natural tastes and prepossessions—a system + which substitutes truth for romance and law for impulse.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">A. H. Strong, Christ in + Creation, 358—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">And if + the later triumphs of Christianity are inexplicable upon the + theory of Renan, how can we explain its founding? The sweet + swain of Galilee, beloved by women for his beauty, + fascinating the unlettered crowd by his gentle speech and his + poetic ideals, giving comfort to the sorrowing and hope to + the poor, credited with supernatural power which at first he + thinks it not worth while to deny and finally gratifies the + multitude by pretending to exercise, roused by opposition to + polemics and invective until the delightful young rabbi + becomes a gloomy giant, an intractable fanatic, a fierce + revolutionist, whose denunciation of the powers that be + brings him to the Cross,—what is there in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">him</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">to account for the moral wonder + which we call Christianity and the beginnings of its empire + in the world? Neither delicious pastorals like those of + Jesus' first period, nor apocalyptic fevers like those of his + second period, according to Renan's gospel, furnish any + rational explanation of that mighty movement which has swept + through the earth and has revolutionized the faith of + mankind.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Berdoe, Browning, + 47—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If + Christ were not God, his life at that stage of the world's + history could by no possibility have had the vitalizing + force and love-compelling power that Renan's pages + everywhere disclose. Renan has strengthened faith in + Christ's deity while laboring to destroy + it.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Renan, in discussing Christ's + appearance to Paul on the way to Damascus, explains the + inward from the outward, thus precisely reversing the + conclusion of Baur. A sudden storm, a flash of lightning, a + sudden attack of ophthalmic fever, Paul took as an + appearance from heaven. But we reply that so keen an + observer and reasoner could not have been thus deceived. + Nothing could have made him the apostle to the Gentiles but + a sight of the glorified Christ and the accompanying + revelation of the holiness of God, his own sin, the + sacrifice of the Son of God, its universal efficacy, the + obligation laid upon him to proclaim it to the ends of the + earth. For reviews of Renan, see Hutton, Essays, 261-281, + and Contemp. Thought and Thinkers, 1:227-234; H. B. Smith, + Faith and Philosophy, 401-441; Christlieb, Mod. Doubt, + 425-447; Pressensé, in Theol. Eclectic, 1:199; Uhlhorn, + Mod. Representations of Life of Jesus, 1-33; Bib. Sac, + 22:207; 23:353, 529; Present Day Tracts, 3: no. 16, and 4: + no. 21; E. G. Robinson, Christian Evidences, 43-48; A. H. + Strong, Sermon before Baptist World Congress, + 1905.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc139" id="toc139"></a> <a name="pdf140" id= + "pdf140"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 4th. The Development-theory of Harnack (born 1851).</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This holds + Christianity to be a historical development from germs which + were devoid of both dogma and miracle. Jesus was a teacher of + ethics, and the original gospel is most clearly represented + by the Sermon on the Mount. Greek influence, and especially + that of the Alexandrian philosophy, added to this gospel a + theological and supernatural element, and so changed + Christianity from a life into a doctrine.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Harnack dates Matthew at 70-75; + Mark at 65-70; Luke at 78-93; the fourth gospel at 80-110. He + regards both the fourth gospel and the book of Revelation as + the works, not of John the Apostle, but of John the + Presbyter. He separates the prologue of the</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page163">[pg + 163]</span><a name="Pg163" id="Pg163" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">fourth + gospel from the gospel itself, and considers the prologue + as a preface added after its original composition in order + to enable the Hellenistic reader to understand it.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + gospel itself,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">says Harnack,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">contains no Logos-idea; it did not develop + out of a Logos-idea, such as flourished at Alexandria; it + only connects itself with such an idea. The gospel itself + is based upon the historic Christ; he is the subject of all + its statements. This historical trait can in no way be + dissolved by any kind of speculation. The memory of what + was actually historical was still too powerful to admit at + this point any Gnostic influences. The Logos-idea of the + prologue is the Logos of Alexandrine Judaism, the Logos of + Philo, and it is derived ultimately from the 'Son of man' + in the book of Daniel.... The fourth gospel, which does not + proceed from the Apostle John and does not so claim, cannot + be used as a historical source in the ordinary sense of + that word.... The author has managed with sovereign + freedom; has transposed occurrences and has put them in a + light that is foreign to them; has of his own accord + composed the discourses, and has illustrated lofty thoughts + by inventing situations for them. Difficult as it is to + recognize, an actual tradition in his work is not wholly + lacking. For the history of Jesus, however, it can hardly + anywhere be taken into account; only little can be taken + from it, and that with caution.... On the other hand it is + a source of the first rank for the answer of the question + what living views of the person of Jesus, what light and + what warmth, the gospel has brought into + being.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Harnack's article in + Zeitschrift für Theol. u. Kirche, 2:189-231, and his Wesen + des Christenthums, 13. Kaftan also, who belongs to the same + Ritschlian school with Harnack, tells us in his Truth of + the Christian Religion, 1:97, that as the result of the + Logos-speculation,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + centre of gravity, instead of being placed in the + historical Christ who founded the kingdom of God, is placed + in the Christ who as eternal Logos of God was the mediator + in the creation of the world.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This view is elaborated by Hatch in his + Hibbert Lectures for 1888, on the Influence of Greek Ideas + and Usages upon the Christian Church.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We object + to the Development-theory of Harnack, that</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) The Sermon on the Mount + is not the sum of the gospel, nor its original form. Mark is + the most original of the gospels, yet Mark omits the Sermon + on the Mount, and Mark is preëminently the gospel of the + miracle-worker.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) All four gospels lay + the emphasis, not on Jesus' life and ethical teaching, but on + his death and resurrection. Matthew implies Christ's deity + when it asserts his absolute knowledge of the Father (11:27), + his universal judgeship (25:32), his supreme authority + (28:18), and his omnipresence (28:20), while the phrase + <span class="tei tei-q">“Son of man”</span> implies that he + is also <span class="tei tei-q">“Son of God.”</span></p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 11:27—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">All + things have been delivered unto me of my Father: and no one + knoweth the Son, save the Father; neither doth any know the + Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth + to reveal him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">25:32—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">and + before him shall be gathered all the nations: and he shall + separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth + the sheep from the goats</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">28:18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">All + authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on + earth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">28:20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">lo, + I am with you always, even unto the end of the + world.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">These sayings of Jesus in Matthew's gospel + show that the conception of Christ's greatness was not + peculiar to John:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + am</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">transcends time;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">with + you</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">transcends space. Jesus + speaks</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">sub + specie eternitatis</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; his utterance is equivalent to that + of</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 8:58—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Before Abraham was born, I + am,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and to that of</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Hebrews + 13:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jesus + Christ is the same yesterday and to-day, yea and for + ever.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">He is, as Paul declares in</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 1:23</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, one</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">that + filleth all in all,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">that is, who is omnipresent.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">A. H. Strong, Philos. and + Religion, 206—The phrase</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Son + of man</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">intimates that Christ was more + than man:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Suppose I were to go about proclaiming + myself</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Son + of man.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Who does not see that it would + be mere impertinence, unless I claimed to be something + more.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Son + of Man? But what of that? Cannot every human being call + himself the same?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">When one takes the title</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Son + of man</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">for his characteristic + designation, as Jesus did, he implies that there is + something strange in his being Son of man; that this is not + his original condition and dignity; that it is + condescension on his part to be Son of man. In short, when + Christ calls himself Son of man, it implies that he has + come from a higher level of being to inhabit this low earth + of ours. And so, when we are asked</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">What + think ye of the Christ? whose son is he?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">we must answer, not</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page164">[pg 164]</span><a name="Pg164" + id="Pg164" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">simply, He is Son of man, but also, He is + Son of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">On Son of man, see Driver; on Son of God, + see Sanday; both in Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. + Sanday:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Son is so called primarily as incarnate. But that which is + the essence of the Incarnation must needs be also larger + than the Incarnation. It must needs have its roots in the + eternity of Godhead.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Gore, Incarnation, 65, + 73—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christ, the final Judge, of the synoptics, + is not dissociable from the divine, eternal Being, of the + fourth gospel.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) The preëxistence and + atonement of Christ cannot be regarded as accretions upon the + original gospel, since these find expression in Paul who + wrote before any of our evangelists, and in his epistles + anticipated the Logos-doctrine of John.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) We may grant that Greek + influence, through the Alexandrian philosophy, helped the New + Testament writers to discern what was already present in the + life and work and teaching of Jesus; but, like the microscope + which discovers but does not create, it added nothing to the + substance of the faith.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Gore, Incarnation, + 62—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + divinity, incarnation, resurrection of Christ were not an + accretion upon the original belief of the apostles and their + first disciples, for these are all recognized as + uncontroverted matters of faith in the four great epistles of + Paul, written at a date when the greater part of those who + had seen the risen Christ were still + alive.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The Alexandrian philosophy was + not the source of apostolic doctrine, but only the form in + which that doctrine was cast, the light thrown upon it + which brought out its meaning. A. H. Strong, Christ in + Creation, 146—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">When + we come to John's gospel, therefore, we find in it the mere + unfolding of truth that for substance had been in the world + for at least sixty years.... If the Platonizing philosophy + of Alexandria assisted in this genuine development of + Christian doctrine, then the Alexandrian philosophy was a + providential help to inspiration. The microscope does not + invent; it only discovers. Paul and John did not add to the + truth of Christ; their philosophical equipment was only a + microscope which brought into clear view the truth that was + there already.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Pfleiderer, Philos. Religion, + 1:126—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + metaphysical conception of the Logos, as immanent in the + world and ordering it according to law, was filled with + religious and moral contents. In Jesus the cosmical + principle of nature became a religious principle of + salvation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Kilpatrick's article on Philosophy, in + Hastings' Bible Dictionary. Kilpatrick holds that Harnack + ignores the self-consciousness of Jesus; does not fairly + interpret the Acts in its mention of the early worship of + Jesus by the church before Greek philosophy had influenced + it; refers to the intellectual peculiarities of the N. T. + writers conceptions which Paul insists are simply the faith + of all Christian people as such; forgets that the Christian + idea of union with God secured through the atoning and + reconciling work of a personal Redeemer utterly transcended + Greek thought, and furnished the solution of the problem + after which Greek philosophy was vainly groping.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">e</span></span>) Though Mark says + nothing of the virgin-birth because his story is limited to + what the apostles had witnessed of Jesus' deeds, Matthew + apparently gives us Joseph's story and Luke gives Mary's + story—both stories naturally published only after Jesus' + resurrection.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">f</span></span>) The larger + understanding of doctrine after Jesus' death was itself + predicted by our Lord (John 16:12). The Holy Spirit was to + bring his teachings to remembrance, and to guide into all the + truth (16:13), and the apostles were to continue the work of + teaching which he had begun (Acts 1:1).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John 16:12, + 13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear + them now. Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, + he shall guide you into all the truth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 1:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + former treatise I made, O Theophilus, concerning all that + Jesus began to do and to teach.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">A. H. Strong, Christ in Creation, + 146—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">That + the beloved disciple, after a half century of meditation + upon what he had seen and heard of God manifest in the + flesh, should have penetrated more deeply into the meaning + of that wonderful revelation is not only not surprising,—it + is precisely what Jesus</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page165">[pg 165]</span><a name="Pg165" id="Pg165" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">himself + foretold. Our Lord had many things to say to his disciples, + but then they could not bear them. He promised that the + Holy Spirit should bring to their remembrance both himself + and his words, and should lead them into all the truth. And + this is the whole secret of what are called accretions to + original Christianity. So far as they are contained in + Scripture, they are inspired discoveries and unfoldings, + not mere speculations and inventions. They are not + additions, but elucidations, not vain imaginings, but + correct interpretations.... When the later theology, then, + throws out the supernatural and dogmatic, as coming not + from Jesus but from Paul's epistles and from the fourth + gospel, our claim is that Paul and John are only inspired + and authoritative interpreters of Jesus, seeing themselves + and making us see the fulness of the Godhead that dwelt in + him.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">While Harnack, in our + judgment, errs in his view that Paul contributed to the + gospel elements which it did not originally possess, he + shows us very clearly many of the elements in that gospel + which he was the first to recognize. In his Wesen des + Christenthums, 111, he tells us that a few years ago a + celebrated Protestant theologian declared that Paul, with + his Rabbinical theology, was the destroyer of the Christian + religion. Others have regarded him as the founder of that + religion. But the majority have seen in him the apostle who + best understood his Lord and did most to continue his work. + Paul, as Harnack maintains, first comprehended the gospel + definitely: (1) as an accomplished redemption and a present + salvation—the crucified and risen Christ as giving access + to God and righteousness and peace therewith; (2) as + something new, which does away with the religion of the + law; (3) as meant for all, and therefore for Gentiles also, + indeed, as superseding Judaism; (4) as expressed in terms + which are not simply Greek but also human,—Paul made the + gospel comprehensible to the world. Islam, rising in + Arabia, is an Arabian religion still. Buddhism remains an + Indian religion. Christianity is at home in all lands. Paul + put new life into the Roman empire, and inaugurated the + Christian culture of the West. He turned a local into a + universal religion. His influence however, according to + Harnack, tended to the undue exaltation of organization and + dogma and O. T. inspiration—points in which, in our + judgment, Paul took sober middle ground and saved Christian + truth for the world.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc141" id="toc141"></a> <a name="pdf142" id= + "pdf142"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 2. Genuineness of the Books of the Old Testament.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Since nearly + one half of the Old Testament is of anonymous authorship and + certain of its books may be attributed to definite historic + characters only by way of convenient classification or of + literary personification, we here mean by genuineness honesty + of purpose and freedom from anything counterfeit or + intentionally deceptive so far as respects the age or the + authorship of the documents.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We show the + genuineness of the Old Testament books:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) From the witness of the + New Testament, in which all but six books of the Old Testament + are either quoted or alluded to as genuine.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The N. T. shows coincidences of + language with the O. T. Apocryphal books, but it contains + only one direct quotation from them; while, with the + exception of Judges, Ecclesiastes, Canticles, Esther, Ezra, + and Nehemiah, every book in the Hebrew canon is used either + for illustration or proof. The single Apocryphal quotation is + found in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jude + 14</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">and is in all + probability taken from the book of Enoch. Although Volkmar + puts the date of this book at 132 A. D., and although some + critics hold that Jude quoted only the same primitive + tradition of which the author of the book of Enoch afterwards + made use, the weight of modern scholarship inclines to the + opinion that the book itself was written as early as 170-70 + B. C., and that Jude quoted from it; see Hastings' Bible + Dictionary: Book of Enoch; Sanday, Bampton Lect. on + Inspiration, 95.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If Paul + could quote from Gentile poets (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 17:28</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Titus + 1:12</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">), it is hard to + understand why Jude could not cite a work which was certainly + in high standing among the faithful</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; see Schodde, Book of Enoch, 41, with the + Introd. by Ezra Abbot. While</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jude 14</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">gives us the only direct and + express quotation from an Apocryphal book,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jude 6</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">9</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">contain allusions to the Book of + Enoch and to the Assumption of Moses; see Charles, Assumption + of Moses, 62. In</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Hebrews + 1:3</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, we have words + taken from Wisdom 7:26; and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Hebrews + 11:34-38</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">is a + reminiscence of 1 Maccabees.</span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page166">[pg + 166]</span><a name="Pg166" id="Pg166" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) From the testimony of + Jewish authorities, ancient and modern, who declare the same + books to be sacred, and only the same books, that are now + comprised in our Old Testament Scriptures.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Josephus enumerates twenty-two + of these books</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">which + are justly accredited</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(omit θεῖα—Niese, and Hastings' Dict., + 3:607). Our present Hebrew Bible makes twenty-four, by + separating Ruth from Judges, and Lamentations from Jeremiah. + See Josephus, Against Apion, 1:8; Smith's Bible Dictionary, + article on the Canon, 1:359, 360. Philo (born 20 B. C.) never + quotes an Apocryphal book, although he does quote from nearly + all the books of the O. T.; see Ryle, Philo and Holy + Scripture. George Adam Smith, Modern Criticism and Preaching, + 7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + theory which ascribed the Canon of the O. T. to a single + decision of the Jewish church in the days of its inspiration + is not a theory supported by facts. The growth of the O. T. + Canon was very gradual. Virtually it began in 621 B. C., with + the acceptance by all Judah of Deuteronomy, and the adoption + of the whole Law, or first five books of the O. T., under + Nehemiah in 445 B. C. Then came the prophets before 200 B. + C., and the Hagiographa from a century to two centuries + later. The strict definition of the last division was not + complete by the time of Christ. Christ seems to testify to + the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms; yet neither Christ nor + his apostles make any quotation from Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, + Canticles, or Ecclesiastes, the last of which books were not + yet recognized by all the Jewish schools. But while Christ is + the chief authority for the O. T., he was also its first + critic. He rejected some parts of the Law and was indifferent + to many others. He enlarged the sixth and seventh + commandments, and reversed the eye for an eye, and the + permission of divorce; touched the leper, and reckoned all + foods lawful; broke away from literal observance of the + Sabbath-day; left no commands about sacrifice, + temple-worship, circumcision, but, by institution of the New + Covenant, abrogated these sacraments of the Old. The apostles + appealed to extra-canonical writings.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Gladden, Seven Puzzling Bible Books, + 68-96—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Doubts + were entertained in our Lord's day as to the canonicity of + several parts of the O. T., especially Proverbs, + Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Esther.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) From the testimony of the + Septuagint translation, dating from the first half of the third + century, or from 280 to 180 B. C.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">MSS. of the Septuagint contain, + indeed, the O. T. Apocrypha, but the writers of the latter do + not recognize their own work as on a level with the canonical + Scriptures, which they regard as distinct from all other + books (Ecclesiasticus, prologue, and 48:24; also 24:23-27; 1 + Mac. 12:9; 2 Mac. 6:23; 1 Esd. 1:28; 6:1; Baruch 2:21). So + both ancient and modern Jews. See Bissell, in Lange's + Commentary on the Apocrypha, Introduction, 44. In the + prologue to the apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus, we read + of</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the Law + and the Prophets and the rest of the + books,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">which shows that as early as 130 + B. C., the probable date of Ecclesiasticus, a threefold + division of the Jewish sacred books was recognized. That the + author, however, did not conceive of these books as + constituting a completed canon seems evident from his + assertion in this connection that his grandfather Jesus also + wrote. 1 Mac. 12:9 (80-90 B. C.) speaks of</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + sacred books which are now in our hands.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hastings, Bible Dictionary, + 3:611—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The O. + T. was the result of a gradual process which began with the + sanction of the Hexateuch by Ezra and Nehemiah, and + practically closed with the decisions of the Council of + Jamnia</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—Jamnia is the ancient Jabneh, 7 miles south + by west of Tiberias, where met a council of rabbins at some + time between 90 to 118 A. D. This Council decided in favor of + Canticles and Ecclesiastes, and closed the O. T. + Canon.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The Greek version of the + Pentateuch which forms a part of the Septuagint is said by + Josephus to have been made in the reign and by the order of + Ptolemy Philadelphus, King of Egypt, about 270 or 280 B. + C.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + legend is that it was made by seventy-two persons in + seventy-two days. It is supposed, however, by modern critics + that this version of the several books is the work not only + of different hands but of separate times. It is probable that + at first only the Pentateuch was translated, and the + remaining books gradually; but the translation is believed to + have been completed by the second century B. + C.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(Century Dictionary,</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + voce</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">). It + therefore furnishes an important witness to the genuineness + of our O. T. documents. Driver, Introd. to O. T. Lit., + xxxi—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For the + opinion, often met with in modern books, that the Canon of + the O. T. was closed by Ezra, or in Ezra's time, there is no + foundation in antiquity whatever.... All that can reasonably + be treated as historical in the accounts of Ezra's literary + labors is limited to the Law.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page167">[pg + 167]</span><a name="Pg167" id="Pg167" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) From indications that + soon after the exile, and so early as the times of Ezra and + Nehemiah (500-450 B. C.), the Pentateuch together with the book + of Joshua was not only in existence but was regarded as + authoritative.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">2 Mac, 2:13-15 intimates that + Nehemiah founded a library, and there is a tradition that + a</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Great + Synagogue</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">was gathered in his time to + determine the Canon. But Hastings' Dictionary, 4:644, asserts + that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Great Synagogue was originally a meeting, and not an + institution. It met once for all, and all that is told about + it, except what we read in Nehemiah, is pure fable of the + later Jews.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">In like manner no dependence is to be placed + upon the tradition that Ezra miraculously restored the + ancient Scriptures that had been lost during the exile. + Clement of Alexandria says:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Since the Scriptures perished in the + Captivity of Nebuchadnezzar, Esdras (the Greek form of Ezra) + the Levite, the priest, in the time of Artaxerxes, King of + the Persians, having become inspired in the exercise of + prophecy, restored again the whole of the ancient + Scriptures.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But the work now divided into 1 and 2 + Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, mentions Darius Codomannus + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Neh. + 12:22</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">), whose date + is 336 B. C. The utmost the tradition proves is that about + 300 B. C. the Pentateuch was in some sense attributed to + Moses; see Bacon, Genesis of Genesis, 35; Bib. Sac., + 1863:381, 660, 799; Smith, Bible Dict., art.: Pentateuch; + Theological Eclectic, 6:215; Bissell, Hist. Origin of the + Bible, 398-403. On the Men of the Great Synagogue, see + Wright, Ecclesiastes, 5-12, 475-477.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">e</span></span>) From the testimony of the + Samaritan Pentateuch, dating from the time of Ezra and Nehemiah + (500-450 B. C.).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The Samaritans had been brought + by the king of Assyria from</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Babylon, and from Cuthah and from Avva, and + from Hamath and Sepharvaim</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(2 K. 17:6, 24, + 26)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, to take the + place of the people of Israel whom the king had carried away + captive to his own land. The colonists had brought their + heathen gods with them, and the incursions of wild beasts + which the intermission of tillage occasioned gave rise to the + belief that the God of Israel was against them. One of the + captive Jewish priests was therefore sent to teach + them</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the law of the god of the + land</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and he</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">taught + them how they should fear Jehovah</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(2 K. 17:27, + 28)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. The result was + that they adopted the Jewish ritual, but combined the worship + of Jehovah with that of their graven images + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">verse + 33</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). When the Jews + returned from Babylon and began to rebuild the walls of + Jerusalem, the Samaritans offered their aid, but this aid was + indignantly refused (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ezra 4</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Nehemiah + 4</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). Hostility arose + between Jews and Samaritans—a hostility which continued not + only to the time of Christ (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 4:9</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">), but even to + the present day. Since the Samaritan Pentateuch substantially + coincides with the Hebrew Pentateuch, it furnishes us with a + definite past date at which it certainly existed in nearly + its present form. It witnesses to the existence of our + Pentateuch in essentially its present form as far back as the + time of Ezra and Nehemiah.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Green, Higher Criticism of the + Pentateuch, 44, 45—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">After being repulsed by the Jews, the + Samaritans, to substantiate their claim of being sprung from + ancient Israel, eagerly accepted the Pentateuch which was + brought them by a renegade priest.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">W. Robertson Smith, in Encyc. Brit., + 21:244—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + priestly law, which is throughout based on the practice of + the priests of Jerusalem before the captivity, was reduced to + form after the exile, and was first published by Ezra as the + law of the rebuilt temple of Zion. The Samaritans must + therefore have derived their Pentateuch from the Jews after + Ezra's reforms,</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, after 444 B. + C. Before that time Samaritanism cannot have existed in a + form at all similar to that which we know; but there must + have been a community ready to accept the + Pentateuch.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Smith's Bible Dictionary, art.: + Samaritan Pentateuch; Hastings, Bible Dictionary, art.: + Samaria; Stanley Leathes, Structure of the O. T., + 1-41.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">f</span></span>) From the finding of + <span class="tei tei-q">“the book of the law”</span> in the + temple, in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, or in 621 B. + C.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 K. + 22:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">And + Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have + found the book of the law in the house of + Jehovah.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class="tei tei-emph"> + <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">23:2—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The book of the covenant</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">was read before the people by the king and + proclaimed to be the law of the land. Curtis, in Hastings' + Bible Dict., 3:596—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The earliest written law or book of divine + instruction of whose introduction or enactment an authentic + account is given, was Deuteronomy or its main portion, + represented as found in the temple in the 18th year of king + Josiah (B. C. 621) and</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page168">[pg 168]</span><a name="Pg168" id="Pg168" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">proclaimed + by the king as the law of the land. From that time forward + Israel had a written law which the pious believer was + commanded to ponder day and night (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Joshua + 1:8</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 1:2</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); and thus the + Torah, as sacred literature, formally commenced in Israel. + This law aimed at a right application of Mosaic + principles.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ryle, in Hastings' Bible Dict., + 1:602—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The law + of Deuteronomy represents an expansion and development of the + ancient code contained in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Exodus + 20-23</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, and precedes + the final formulation of the priestly ritual, which only + received its ultimate form in the last period of revising the + structure of the Pentateuch.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Andrew Harper, on Deuteronomy, + in Expositor's Bible:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Deuteronomy does not claim to have been + written by Moses. He is spoken of in the third person in the + introduction and historical framework, while the speeches of + Moses are in the first person. In portions where the author + speaks for himself, the phrase 'beyond Jordan' means east of + Jordan; in the speeches of Moses the phrase</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">beyond + Jordan</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">means west of Jordan; and the + only exception is</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + Deut. 3:8</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, which + cannot originally have been part of the speech of Moses. But + the style of both parts is the same, and if the 3rd person + parts are by a later author, the 1st person parts are by a + later author also. Both differ from other speeches of Moses + in the Pentateuch. Can the author be a contemporary writer + who gives Moses' words, as John gave the words of Jesus? No, + for Deuteronomy covers only the book of the Covenant, Exodus + 20-23. It uses JE but not P, with which JE is interwoven. But + JE appears in Joshua and contributes to it an account of + Joshua's death. JE speaks of kings in Israel + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 36:31-39</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). + Deuteronomy plainly belongs to the early centuries of the + Kingdom, or to the middle of it.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Bacon, Genesis of Genesis, + 43-49—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Deuteronomic law was so short that Shaphan could read it + aloud before the king (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 K. + 22:10</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">) and the king + could read</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the whole of it</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">before the people (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">23:2</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); + compare the reading of the Pentateuch for a whole week + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Neh. + 8:2-18</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). It was in + the form of a covenant; it was distinguished by curses; it + was an expansion and modification, fully within the + legitimate province of the prophet, of a Torah of Moses + codified from the traditional form of at least a century + before. Such a Torah existed, was attributed to Moses, and is + now incorporated as</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + book of the covenant</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Exodus 20</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">to</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">24</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + The year 620 is therefore the</span> <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">terminus a + quo</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">of + Deuteronomy. The date of the priestly code is 444 B. + C.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Sanday, Bampton Lectures for + 1893, grants</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">(1) the + presence in the Pentateuch of a considerable element which in + its present shape is held by many to be not earlier than the + captivity; (2) the composition of the book of Deuteronomy, + not long, or at least not very long, before its promulgation + by king Josiah in the year 621, which thus becomes a + pivot-date in the history of Hebrew + literature.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">g</span></span>) From references in the + prophets Hosea (B. C. 743-737) and Amos (759-745) to a course + of divine teaching and revelation extending far back of their + day.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Hosea + 8:12—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I wrote + for him the ten thousand things of my law</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; here is asserted the existence prior to the + time of the prophet, not only of a law, but of a written law. + All critics admit the book of Hosea to be a genuine production + of the prophet, dating from the eighth century B. C.; see + Green, in Presb. Rev., 1886:585-608.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Amos + 2:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">they have + rejected the law of Jehovah, and have not kept his + statutes</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; here is proof that, more than a century + before the finding of Deuteronomy in the temple, Israel was + acquainted with God's law. Fisher, Nature and Method of + Revelation, 26, 27—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The lofty plane reached by the prophets was + not reached at a single bound.... There must have been a + tap-root extending far down into the + earth.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Kurtz remarks that</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + later books of the O. T. would be a tree without roots, if + the composition of the Pentateuch were transferred to a later + period of Hebrew history.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">If we substitute for the word</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Pentateuch</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">the words</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Book of + the covenant,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">we may assent to this dictum of Kurtz. There + is sufficient evidence that, before the times of Hosea and + Amos, Israel possessed a written law—the law embraced + in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Exodus + 20-24</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—but the + Pentateuch as we now have it, including Leviticus, seems to + date no further back than the time of Jeremiah, 445 B. C. The + Levitical law however was only the codification of statutes + and customs whose origin lay far back in the past and which + were believed to be only the natural expansion of the + principles of Mosaic legislation.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Leathes, Structure of O. T., + 54—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Zeal + for the restoration of the temple after the exile implied + that it had long before been the centre of the national + polity, that there had been a ritual and a law before the + exile.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Present Day Tracts, + 3:52—Levitical</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page169">[pg 169]</span><a name="Pg169" id="Pg169" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">institutions could not have been first + established by David. It is inconceivable that he</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">could + have taken a whole tribe, and no trace remain of so + revolutionary a measure as the dispossessing them of their + property to make them ministers of + religion.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">James Robertson, Early History + of Israel:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + varied literature of 850-750 B. C. implies the existence of + reading and writing for some time before. Amos and Hosea + hold, for the period succeeding Moses, the same scheme of + history which modern critics pronounce late and unhistorical. + The eighth century B. C. was a time of broad historic day, + when Israel had a definite account to give of itself and of + its history. The critics appeal to the prophets, but they + reject the prophets when these tell us that other teachers + taught the same truth before them, and when they declare that + their nation had been taught a better religion and had + declined from it, in other words, that there had been law + long before their day. The kings did not</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">give + law</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. The + priests</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">presupposed</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">it. There must have been a + formal system of law much earlier than the critics admit, and + also an earlier reference in their worship to the great + events which made them a separate people.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">And Dillman goes yet further back and + declares that the entire work of Moses presupposes</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a + preparatory stage of higher religion in + Abraham.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">h</span></span>) From the repeated + assertions of Scripture that Moses himself wrote a law for his + people, confirmed as these are by evidence of literary and + legislative activity in other nations far antedating his + time.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ex. + 24:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">And Moses + wrote all the words of Jehovah</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + 34:27—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">And + Jehovah said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after + the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and + with Israel</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Num. + 33:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">And + Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by + the commandment of Jehovah</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Deut. + 31:9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">And + Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the + sons of Levi, that bare the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, + and unto all the elders of Israel</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">22—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">So Moses wrote this song the same day, and + taught it the children of Israel</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">24-26—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">And + it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the + words of this law in a book, until they were finished, that + Moses commanded the Levites, that bare the ark of the + covenant of Jehovah, saying, Take this book of the law, and + put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of Jehovah your + God, that it may be there for a witness against + thee.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The law here mentioned may + possibly be only</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the book of the covenant</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Ex. + 20-24)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, and the + speeches of Moses in Deuteronomy may have been orally handed + down. But the fact that Moses was</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">instructed in all the wisdom of the + Egyptians</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Acts + 7:22)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, together with + the fact that the art of writing was known in Egypt for many + hundred years before his time, make it more probable that a + larger portion of the Pentateuch was of his own + composition.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Kenyon, in Hastings' Dict., + art.: Writing, dates the Proverbs of Ptah-hotep, the first + recorded literary composition in Egypt, at 3580-3536 B. C., + and asserts the free use of writing among the Sumerian + inhabitants of Babylonia as early as 4000 B. C. The statutes + of Hammurabi king of Babylon compare for extent with those of + Leviticus, yet they date back to the time of Abraham, 2200 B. + C.,—indeed Hammurabi is now regarded by many as the Amraphel + of</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 14:1</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. Yet these + statutes antedate Moses by 700 years. It is interesting to + observe that Hammurabi professes to have received his + statutes directly from the Sun-god of Sippar, his capital + city. See translation by Winckler, in Der alte Orient, 97; + Johns, The Oldest Code of Laws; Kelso, in Princeton Theol. + Rev., July, 1905:399-412—Facts</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">authenticate the traditional date of the + Book of the Covenant, overthrow the formula Prophets and Law, + restore the old order Law and Prophets, and put into + historical perspective the tradition that Moses was the + author of the Sinaitic legislation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">As the + controversy with regard to the genuineness of the Old Testament + books has turned of late upon the claims of the Higher + Criticism in general, and upon the claims of the Pentateuch in + particular, we subjoin separate notes upon these subjects.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">The Higher Criticism in + general.</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">Higher + Criticism does not mean criticism in any invidious sense, any + more than Kant's Critique of Pure Reason was an unfavorable + or destructive examination. It is merely a dispassionate + investigation of the authorship, date and purpose of + Scripture books, in the light of their composition, style and + internal characteristics. As the Lower Criticism is a + text-critique, the Higher Criticism is a structure-critique. + A bright Frenchman described a literary critic as one who + rips open the doll to get at the sawdust there is in it. This + can be done with a sceptical and hostile spirit, and there + can be little doubt that some of the higher critics of the + Old Testament have begun their studies with prepossessions + against the supernatural,</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page170">[pg 170]</span><a name="Pg170" id="Pg170" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">which have + vitiated all their conclusions. These presuppositions are + often unconscious, but none the less influential. When Bishop + Colenso examined the Pentateuch and Joshua, he disclaimed any + intention of assailing the miraculous narratives as such; as + if he had said:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">My dear + little fish, you need not fear me; I do not wish to catch + you; I only intend to drain the pond in which you + live.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">To many scholars the waters at + present seem very low in the Hexateuch and indeed throughout + the whole Old Testament.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Shakespeare made over and + incorporated many old Chronicles of Plutarch and Holinshed, + and many Italian tales and early tragedies of other writers; + but Pericles and Titus Andronicus still pass current under + the name of Shakespeare. We speak even now of</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">although of its twenty-seven editions the + last fourteen have been published since his death, and more + of it has been written by other editors than Gesenius ever + wrote himself. We speak of</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Webster's Dictionary,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">though there are in the</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Unabridged</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">thousands of words and definitions that + Webster never saw. Francis Brown:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">A modern writer masters older records and + writes a wholly new book. Not so with eastern historians. The + latest comer, as Renan says,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">absorbs his predecessors without + assimilating them, so that the most recent has in its belly + the fragments of the previous works in a raw + state.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The Diatessaron of Tatian is a + parallel to the composite structure of the O. T. books. One + passage yields the following:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 21:12a</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 2:14a</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 21:12b</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John 2:14b, + 15</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. 21:12c, + 13</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 2:16</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mark + 11:16</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 2:17-22</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; all + succeeding each other without a break.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Gore, Lux Mundi, 353—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">There is nothing materially untruthful, + though there is something uncritical, in attributing the + whole legislation to Moses acting under the divine command. + It would be only of a piece with the attribution of the + collection of Psalms to David, and of Proverbs to + Solomon.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The opponents of the Higher + Criticism have much to say in reply. Sayce, Early History of + the Hebrews, holds that the early chapters of Genesis were + copied from Babylonian sources, but he insists upon a Mosaic + or pre-Mosaic date for the copying. Hilprecht however + declares that the monotheistic faith of Israel could never + have proceeded</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">from + the Babylonian mountain of gods—that charnel-house full of + corruption and dead men's bones.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bissell, Genesis Printed in Colors, Introd., + iv—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It is + improbable that so many documentary histories existed so + early, or if existing that the compiler should have attempted + to combine them. Strange that the earlier should be J and + should use the word</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Jehovah,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">while the later P should use the word</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Elohim,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">when</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Jehovah</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">would have far better suited the Priests' + Code.... xiii—The Babylonian tablets contain in a continuous + narrative the more prominent facts of both the alleged + Elohistic and Jehovistic sections of Genesis, and present + them mainly in the Biblical order. Several hundred years + before Moses what the critics call</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">two</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">were already</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">one</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + It is absurd to say that the unity was due to a redactor at + the period of the exile, 444 B. C. He who believes that God + revealed himself to primitive man as one God, will see in the + Akkadian story a polytheistic corruption of the original + monotheistic account.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We must not estimate the antiquity of a pair + of boots by the last patch which the cobbler has added; nor + must we estimate the antiquity of a Scripture book by the + glosses and explanations added by later editors. As the + London Spectator remarks on the Homeric problem:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It is + as impossible that a first-rate poem or work of art should be + produced without a great master-mind which first conceives + the whole, as that a fine living bull should be developed out + of beef-sausages.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">As we shall proceed to show, however, these + utterances overestimate the unity of the Pentateuch and + ignore some striking evidences of its gradual growth and + composite structure.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">The Authorship of the + Pentateuch in particular.</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Recent critics, especially Kuenen and + Robertson Smith, have maintained that the Pentateuch is + Mosaic only in the sense of being a gradually growing body of + traditional law, which was codified as late as the time of + Ezekiel, and, as the development of the spirit and teachings + of the great law-giver, was called by a legal fiction after + the name of Moses and was attributed to him. The actual order + of composition is therefore: (1) Book of the Covenant + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Exodus + 20-23</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); (2) + Deuteronomy; (3) Leviticus. Among the reasons assigned for + this view are the facts (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + that Deuteronomy ends with an account of Moses' death, and + therefore could not have been written by Moses; + (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + that in Leviticus Levites are mere servants to the priests, + while in Deuteronomy the priests are officiating Levites, or, + in other words, all the Levites are priests; + (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + that the books of Judges and of 1 Samuel, with their record + of sacrifices offered in many places, give no evidence that + either Samuel or the nation of Israel had any knowledge of a + law confining worship to a local sanctuary. See</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page171">[pg 171]</span><a name= + "Pg171" id="Pg171" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Kuenen, Prophets and Prophecy in Israel; + Wellhausen, Geschichte Israels, Band 1; and art.: Israel, in + Encyc. Brit., 13:398, 399, 415; W. Robertson Smith, O. T. in + Jewish Church, 306, 386, and Prophets of Israel; Hastings, + Bible Dict., arts.: Deuteronomy, Hexateuch, and Canon of the + O. T.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It has been urged in reply, (1) + that Moses may have written, not autographically, but through + a scribe (perhaps Joshua), and that this scribe may have + completed the history in Deuteronomy with the account of + Moses' death; (2) that Ezra or subsequent prophets may have + subjected the whole Pentateuch to recension, and may have + added explanatory notes; (3) that documents of previous ages + may have been incorporated, in course of its composition by + Moses, or subsequently by his successors; (4) that the + apparent lack of distinction between the different classes of + Levites in Deuteronomy may be explained by the fact that, + while Leviticus was written with exact detail for the + priests, Deuteronomy is the record of a brief general and + oral summary of the law, addressed to the people at large and + therefore naturally mentioning the clergy as a whole; (5) + that the silence of the book of Judges as to the Mosaic + ritual may be explained by the design of the book to describe + only general history, and by the probability that at the + tabernacle a ritual was observed of which the people in + general were ignorant. Sacrifices in other places only + accompanied special divine manifestations which made the + recipient temporarily a priest. Even if it were proved that + the law with regard to a central sanctuary was not observed, + it would not show that the law did not exist, any more than + violation of the second commandment by Solomon proves his + ignorance of the decalogue, or the mediæval neglect of the N. + T. by the Roman church proves that the N. T. did not then + exist. We cannot argue that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">where there was transgression, there was no + law</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(Watts, New Apologetic, 83, and + The Newer Criticism).</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In the light of recent research, + however, we cannot regard these replies as satisfactory. + Woods, in his article on the Hexateuch, Hastings' Dictionary, + 2:365, presents a moderate statement of the results of the + higher criticism which commends itself to us as more + trustworthy. He calls it a theory of stratification, and + holds that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">certain + more or less independent documents, dealing largely with the + same series of events, were composed at different periods, + or, at any rate, under different auspices, and were + afterwards combined, so that our present Hexateuch, which + means our Pentateuch with the addition of Joshua, contains + these several different literary strata.... The main grounds + for accepting this hypothesis of stratification are (1) that + the various literary pieces, with very few exceptions, will + be found on examination to arrange themselves by common + characteristics into comparatively few groups; (2) that an + original consecution of narrative may be frequently traced + between what in their present form are isolated + fragments.</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">This + will be better understood by the following illustration. Let + us suppose a problem of this kind: Given a patchwork quilt, + explain the character of the original pieces out of which the + bits of stuff composing the quilt were cut. First, we notice + that, however well the colors may blend, however nice and + complete the whole may look, many of the adjoining pieces do + not agree in material, texture, pattern, color, or the like. + Ergo, they have been made up out of very different pieces of + stuff.... But suppose we further discover that many of the + bits, though now separated, are like one another in material, + texture, etc., we may conjecture that these have been cut out + of one piece. But we shall prove this beyond reasonable doubt + if we find that several bits when unpicked fit together, so + that the pattern of one is continued in the other; and, + moreover, that if all of like character are sorted out, they + form, say, four groups, each of which was evidently once a + single piece of stuff, though parts of each are found + missing, because, no doubt, they have not been required to + make the whole. But we make the analogy of the Hexateuch even + closer, if we further suppose that in certain parts of the + quilt the bits belonging to, say, two of these groups are so + combined as to form a subsidiary pattern within the larger + pattern of the whole quilt, and had evidently been sewed + together before being connected with other parts of the + quilt; and we may make it even closer still, if we suppose + that, besides the more important bits of stuff, smaller + embellishments, borderings, and the like, had been added so + as to improve the general effect of the + whole.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The author of this article goes + on to point out three main portions of the Hexateuch which + essentially differ from each other. There are three distinct + codes: the Covenant code (C—</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ex. 20:22</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">to</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">23:33</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + and</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">24:3-8</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">), + the Deuteronomic code (D), and the Priestly code (P). These + codes have peculiar relations to the narrative portions of + the</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page172">[pg + 172]</span><a name="Pg172" id="Pg172" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">Hexateuch. + In Genesis, for example,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the greater part of the book is divided into + groups of longer or shorter pieces, generally paragraphs or + chapters, distinguished respectively by the almost exclusive + use of Elohim or Jehovah as the name of + God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Let us call these portions J and E. But we + find such close affinities between C and JE, that we may + regard them as substantially one.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We shall find that the larger part of the + narratives, as distinct from the laws, of Exodus and Numbers + belong to JE; whereas, with special exceptions, the legal + portions belong to P. In the last chapters of Deuteronomy and + in the whole of Joshua we find elements of JE. In the latter + book we also find elements which connect it with + D.</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It + should be observed that not only do we find here and + there</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">separate + pieces</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">in the + Hexateuch, shown by their characters to belong to these three + sources, JE, D, and P, but the pieces will often be found + connected together by an obvious continuity of subject when + pieced together, like the bits of patchwork in the + illustration with which we started. For example, if we read + continuously</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 11:27-33</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">12:4b, + 5</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">13:6a, 11b, + 12a</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">16:1a, 3, 15, + 16</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">17</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">19:29</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">21:1a, + 2b-5</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">23</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">25:7-11a</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—passages + mainly, on other grounds, attributed to P, we get an almost + continuous and complete, though very concise, account of + Abraham's life.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We may concede the substantial correctness + of the view thus propounded. It simply shows God's actual + method in making up the record of his revelation. We may add + that any scholar who grants that Moses did not himself write + the account of his own death and burial in the last chapter + of Deuteronomy, or who recognizes two differing accounts of + creation in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Genesis 1</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + has already begun an analysis of the Pentateuch and has + accepted the essential principles of the higher + criticism.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In addition to the literature + already referred to mention may also be made of Driver's + Introd. to O. T., 118-150, and Deuteronomy, Introd.; W. R. + Harper, in Hebraica, Oct.-Dec. 1888, and W. H. Green's reply + in Hebraica. Jan.-Apr. 1889; also Green, The Unity of the + Book of Genesis, Moses and the Prophets, Hebrew Feasts, and + Higher Criticism of the Pentateuch; with articles by Green in + Presb. Rev., Jan. 1882 and Oct. 1886; Howard Osgood, in + Essays on Pentateuchal Criticism, and in Bib. Sac., Oct. + 1888, and July, 1893; Watts, The Newer Criticism, and New + Apologetic, 83; Presb. Rev., arts. by H. P. Smith, April, + 1882, and by F. L. Patton, 1883:341-410; Bib. Sac., April, + 1882:291-344, and by G. F. Wright, July, 1898:515-525; Brit. + Quar., July, 1881:123; Jan. 1884:138-143; Mead, Supernatural + Revelation, 373-385; Stebbins, A Study in the Pentateuch; + Bissell, Historic Origin of the Bible, 277-342, and The + Pentateuch, its Authorship and Structure; Bartlett, Sources + of History in the Pentateuch, 180-216, and The Veracity of + the Hexateuch; Murray, Origin and Growth of the Psalms, 58; + Payne-Smith, in Present Day Tracts, 3: no. 15; Edersheim, + Prophecy and History; Kurtz, Hist. Old Covenant, 1:46; + Perowne, in Contemp. Rev., Jan. and Feb. 1888; Chambers, + Moses and his Recent Critics; Terry, Moses and the Prophets; + Davis, Dictionary of the Bible, art.: Pentateuch; Willis J. + Beecher, The Prophets and the Promise; Orr, Problem of the O. + T., 326-329.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc143" id="toc143"></a> <a name="pdf144" id= + "pdf144"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">II. Credibility of the Writers of + the Scriptures.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We shall + attempt to prove this only of the writers of the gospels; for if + they are credible witnesses, the credibility of the Old + Testament, to which they bore testimony, follows as a matter of + course.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">1. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">They + are capable or competent witnesses</span></span>,—that is, they + possessed actual knowledge with regard to the facts they + professed to relate. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) They had opportunities of + observation and inquiry. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) They were men of sobriety + and discernment, and could not have been themselves deceived. + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) Their circumstances were + such as to impress deeply upon their minds the events of which + they were witnesses.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">2. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">They + are honest witnesses.</span></span> This is evident when we + consider that: (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Their testimony imperiled + all their worldly interests. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + The moral elevation of their writings, and their manifest + reverence for truth and constant inculcation of it, show that + they were not wilful deceivers, but good <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page173">[pg 173]</span><a name="Pg173" id="Pg173" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> men. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) There are minor indications + of the honesty of these writers in the circumstantiality of their + story, in the absence of any expectation that their narratives + would be questioned, in their freedom from all disposition to + screen themselves or the apostles from censure.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Lessing says that Homer never calls Helen + beautiful, but he gives the reader an impression of her + surpassing loveliness by portraying the effect produced by her + presence. So the evangelists do not describe Jesus' appearance or + character, but lead us to conceive the cause that could produce + such effects. Gore, Incarnation, 77—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Pilate, Caiaphas, Herod, Judas, are not + abused,—they are photographed. The sin of a Judas and a Peter is + told with equal simplicity. Such fairness, wherever you find it, + belongs to a trustworthy witness.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">3. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The + writings of the evangelists mutually support each + other.</span></span> We argue their credibility upon the ground + of their number and of the consistency of their testimony. While + there is enough of discrepancy to show that there has been no + collusion between them, there is concurrence enough to make the + falsehood of them all infinitely improbable. Four points under + this head deserve mention: (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) The evangelists are + independent witnesses. This is sufficiently shown by the futility + of the attempts to prove that any one of them has abridged or + transcribed another. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) The discrepancies between + them are none of them irreconcilable with the truth of the + recorded facts, but only present those facts in new lights or + with additional detail. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) That these witnesses were + friends of Christ does not lessen the value of their united + testimony, since they followed Christ only because they were + convinced that these facts were true. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">d</span></span>) + While one witness to the facts of Christianity might establish + its truth, the combined evidence of four witnesses gives us a + warrant for faith in the facts of the gospel such as we possess + for no other facts in ancient history whatsoever. The same rule + which would refuse belief in the events recorded in the gospels + <span class="tei tei-q">“would throw doubt on any event in + history.”</span></p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">No man does or can write his own signature twice + precisely alike. When two signatures, therefore, purporting to be + written by the same person, are precisely alike, it is safe to + conclude that one of them is a forgery. Compare the combined + testimony of the evangelists with the combined testimony of our + five senses.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Let us + assume,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">says + Dr. C. E. Rider,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">that the + chances of deception are as one to ten when we use our eyes + alone, one to twenty when we use our ears alone, and one to forty + when we use our sense of touch alone; what are the chances of + mistake when we use all these senses simultaneously? The true + result is obtained by multiplying these proportions together. + This gives one to eight thousand.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">4. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The + conformity of the gospel testimony with experience.</span></span> + We have already shown that, granting the fact of sin and the need + of an attested revelation from God, miracles can furnish no + presumption against the testimony of those who record such a + revelation, but, as essentially belonging to such a revelation, + miracles may be proved by the same kind and degree of evidence as + is required in proof of any other extraordinary facts. We may + assert, then, that in the New Testament histories there is no + record of facts contrary to experience, but only a record of + facts not witnessed in ordinary experience—of facts, therefore, + in which we may believe, if the evidence in other respects is + sufficient.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">5. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Coincidence of this testimony with + collateral facts and circumstances.</span></span> Under this head + we may refer to (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) the numberless + correspondences <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page174">[pg + 174]</span><a name="Pg174" id="Pg174" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + between the narratives of the evangelists and contemporary + history; (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) the failure of every + attempt thus far to show that the sacred history is contradicted + by any single fact derived from other trustworthy sources; + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) the infinite improbability + that this minute and complete harmony should ever have been + secured in fictitious narratives.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">6. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Conclusion from the argument for the + credibility of the writers of the gospels.</span></span> These + writers having been proved to be credible witnesses, their + narratives, including the accounts of the miracles and prophecies + of Christ and his apostles, must be accepted as true. But God + would not work miracles or reveal the future to attest the claims + of false teachers. Christ and his apostles must, therefore, have + been what they claimed to be, teachers sent from God, and their + doctrine must be what they claimed it to be, a revelation from + God to men.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">On the whole subject, see Ebrard, Wissensch. + Kritik der evang. Geschichte; Greenleaf, Testimony of the + Evangelists, 30, 31; Starkie on Evidence, 734; Whately, Historic + Doubts as to Napoleon Buonaparte; Haley, Examination of Alleged + Discrepancies; Smith's Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul; Paley, + Horse Paulinæ; Birks, in Strivings for the Faith, + 37-72—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Discrepancies are like the slight diversities of + the different pictures of the stereoscope.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Renan calls the land of Palestine a fifth + gospel. Weiss contrasts the Apocryphal Gospels, where there is no + historical setting and all is in the air, with the evangelists, + where time and place are always stated.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">No modern apologist has stated the argument + for the credibility of the New Testament with greater clearness + and force than Paley,—Evidences, chapters 8 and + 10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">No + historical fact is more certain than that the original + propagators of the gospel voluntarily subjected themselves to + lives of fatigue, danger, and suffering, in the prosecution of + their undertaking. The nature of the undertaking, the character + of the persons employed in it, the opposition of their tenets + to the fixed expectations of the country in which they at first + advanced them, their undissembled condemnation of the religion + of all other countries, their total want of power, authority, + or force, render it in the highest degree</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">probable</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">that this must have been the + case.</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The probability is increased by what we know + of the fate of the Founder of the institution, who was put to + death for his attempt, and by what we also know of the cruel + treatment of the converts to the institution within thirty + years after its commencement—both which points are attested by + heathen writers, and, being once admitted, leave it very + incredible that the primitive emissaries of the religion who + exercised their ministry first amongst the people who had + destroyed their Master, and afterwards amongst those who + persecuted their converts, should themselves escape with + impunity or pursue their purpose in ease and + safety.</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">This probability, thus sustained by foreign + testimony, is advanced, I think, to historical certainty by the + evidence of our own books, by the accounts of a writer who was + the companion of the persons whose sufferings he relates, by + the letters of the persons themselves, by predictions of + persecutions, ascribed to the Founder of the religion, which + predictions would not have been inserted in this history, much + less, studiously dwelt upon, if they had not accorded with the + event, and which, even if falsely ascribed to him, could only + have been so ascribed because the event suggested them; lastly, + by incessant exhortations to fortitude and patience, and by an + earnestness, repetition and urgency upon the subject which were + unlikely to have appeared, if there had not been, at the time, + some extraordinary call for the exercise of such virtues. It is + also made out, I think, with sufficient evidence, that both the + teachers and converts of the religion, in consequence of their + new profession, took up a new course of life and + conduct.</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The next great question is, what they did + this</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">for</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + It was for a miraculous story of some kind, since for the proof + that Jesus of Nazareth ought to be received as the Messiah, or + as a messenger for God, they neither had nor could have + anything but miracles to stand upon.... If this be so, the + religion must be true. These men could not be deceivers. By + only not bearing testimony, they might have avoided all these + sufferings and lived quietly. Would men in such circumstances + pretend to have seen what they never saw, assert facts which + they had no knowledge of, go about lying to</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page175">[pg 175]</span><a name="Pg175" id= + "Pg175" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">teach virtue, and though not only convinced of + Christ's being an impostor, but having seen the success of his + imposture in his crucifixion, yet persist in carrying it on, + and so persist as to bring upon themselves, for nothing, and + with a full knowledge of the consequences, enmity and hatred, + danger and death?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Those who maintain this, moreover, require us + to believe that the Scripture writers were</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">villains for no end but to teach honesty, and + martyrs without the least prospect of honor or + advantage.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Imposture must have a motive. The + self-devotion of the apostles is the strongest evidence of + their truth, for even Hume declares that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">we cannot make use of a more convincing + argument in proof of honesty than to prove that the actions + ascribed to any persons are contrary to the course of nature, + and that no human motives, in such circumstances, could ever + induce them to such conduct.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc145" id="toc145"></a> <a name="pdf146" id= + "pdf146"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">III. The Supernatural Character of + the Scripture Teaching.</span></h3> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc147" id="toc147"></a> <a name="pdf148" id= + "pdf148"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1. Scripture teaching in general.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. The Bible + is the work of one mind.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) In spite of its variety + of authorship and the vast separation of its writers from one + another in point of time, there is a unity of subject, spirit, + and aim throughout the whole.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We here begin a new department + of Christian evidences. We have thus far only adduced + external evidence. We now turn our attention to internal + evidence. The relation of external to internal evidence seems + to be suggested in Christ's two questions in</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mark 8:27, + 29—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Who + do</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">men</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">say that I am?... who say</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">ye</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">that I am?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The unity in variety displayed in Scripture + is one of the chief internal evidences. This unity is + indicated in our word</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bible,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">in the singular number. Yet the original + word was</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Biblia,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">a plural number. The world has come to see a + unity in what were once scattered fragments: the many</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Biblia</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">have become one</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bible.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">In one sense R. W. Emerson's contention is + true:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Bible is not a book,—it is a literature.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But we may also say, and with equal + truth:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Bible is not simply a collection of books,—it is a + book.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Bible is made up of sixty-six books, by + forty writers, of all ranks,—shepherds, fishermen, priests, + warriors, statesmen, kings,—composing their works at + intervals through a period of seventeen centuries. Evidently + no collusion between them is possible. Scepticism tends ever + to ascribe to the Scriptures greater variety of authorship + and date, but all this only increases the wonder of the + Bible's unity. If unity in a half dozen writers is + remarkable, in forty it is astounding.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The many diverse instruments of this + orchestra play one perfect tune: hence we feel that they are + led by one master and composer.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Yet it takes the same Spirit who inspired + the Bible to teach its unity. The union is not an external or + superficial one, but one that is internal and + spiritual.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Not one moral or + religious utterance of all these writers has been contradicted + or superseded by the utterances of those who have come later, + but all together constitute a consistent system.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Here we must distinguish between + the external form and the moral and religious substance. + Jesus declares in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + Mat. 5:21, 22, 27, 28, 33, 34, 38, 39, 43, 44,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Ye have + heard that it was said to them of old time ... but I say unto + you,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and then he seems at first sight + to abrogate certain original commands. But he also declares + in this connection,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. 5:17, + 18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Think + not I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not + to destroy but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till + heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no + wise pass away from the law, till all things be + accomplished.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christ's new commandments only bring out the + inner meaning of the old. He fulfils them not in their + literal form but in their essential spirit. So the New + Testament completes the revelation of the Old Testament and + makes the Bible a perfect unity. In this unity the Bible + stands alone. Hindu, Persian, and Chinese religious books + contain no consistent system of faith. There is progress in + revelation from the earlier to the later books of the Bible, + but this is not progress through successive steps of + falsehood; it is rather progress from a less to a more clear + and full unfolding of the truth. The whole truth lay + germinally in the</span> <span lang="el" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="el"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">protevangelium</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">uttered to our first parents + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 3:15</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—the seed of the + woman should bruise the serpent's head).</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) Each of these writings, + whether early or late, has represented moral and religious + ideas greatly in advance of the age in which it has appeared, + and these ideas still lead the world.</p><span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page176">[pg 176]</span><a name="Pg176" id= + "Pg176" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">All our ideas of progress, with + all the forward-looking spirit of modern Christendom, are due + to Scripture. The classic nations had no such ideas and no + such spirit, except as they caught them from the Hebrews. + Virgil's prophecy, in his fourth Eclogue, of a coming virgin + and of the reign of Saturn and of the return of the golden + age, was only the echo of the Sibylline books and of the hope + of a Redeemer with which the Jews had leavened the whole + Roman world; see A. H. Strong, The Great Poets and their + Theology, 94-96.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) It is impossible to + account for this unity without supposing such a supernatural + suggestion and control that the Bible, while in its various + parts written by human agents, is yet equally the work of a + superhuman intelligence.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We may contrast with the harmony + between the different Scripture writers the contradictions + and refutations which follow merely human + philosophies—</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e. + g.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, the Hegelian + idealism and the Spencerian materialism. Hegel is</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a name + to swear at, as well as to swear by.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dr. Stirling, in his Secret of Hegel,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">kept + all the secret to himself, if he ever knew + it.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">A certain Frenchman once asked + Hegel if he could not gather up and express his philosophy in + one sentence for him.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">No,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hegel replied,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">at least not in French.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">If Talleyrand's maxim be true that whatever + is not intelligible is not French, Hegel's answer was a + correct one. Hegel said of his disciples:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">There is only one man living who understands + me, and he does not.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Goeschel, Gabler, Daub, + Marheinecke, Erdmann, are Hegel's right wing, or orthodox + representatives and followers in theology; see Sterrett, + Hegel's Philosophy of Religion. Hegel is followed by + Alexander and Bradley in England, but is opposed by Seth and + Schiller. Upton, Hibbert Lectures, 279-300, gives a valuable + estimate of his position and influence: Hegel is all thought + and no will. Prayer has no effect on God,—it is a purely + psychological phenomenon. There is no free-will, and man's + sin as much as man's holiness is a manifestation of the + Eternal. Evolution is a fact, but it is only fatalistic + evolution. Hegel notwithstanding did great service by + substituting knowledge of reality for the oppressive Kantian + relativity, and by banishing the old notion of matter as a + mysterious substance wholly unlike and incompatible with the + properties of mind. He did great service also by showing that + the interactions of matter and mind are explicable only by + the presence of the Absolute Whole in every part, though he + erred greatly by carrying that idea of the unity of God and + man beyond its proper limits, and by denying that God has + given to the will of man any power to put itself into + antagonism to His Will. Hegel did great service by showing + that we cannot know even the part without knowing the whole, + but he erred in teaching, as T. H. Green did, that the</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">relations</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">constitute the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">reality</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of the thing. He deprives both + physical and psychical existences of that degree of selfhood + or independent reality which is essential to both science and + religion. We want real force, and not the mere idea of force; + real will, and not mere thought.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. This one + mind that made the Bible is the same mind that made the soul, + for the Bible is divinely adapted to the soul,</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) It shows complete + acquaintance with the soul.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The Bible addresses all parts of + man's nature. There are Law and Epistles for man's reason; + Psalms and Gospels for his affections; Prophets and + Revelations for his imagination. Hence the popularity of the + Scriptures. Their variety holds men. The Bible has become + interwoven into modern life. Law, literature, art, all show + its moulding influence.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) It judges the + soul—contradicting its passions, revealing its guilt, and + humbling its pride.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">No product of mere human nature + could thus look down upon human nature and condemn it. The + Bible speaks to us from a higher level. The Samaritan woman's + words apply to the whole compass of divine revelation; it + tells us all things that ever we did (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 4:29</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). The Brahmin + declared that</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Romans + 1</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, with its + description of heathen vices, must have been forged after the + missionaries came to India.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) It meets the deepest + needs of the soul—by solutions of its problems, disclosures of + God's character, presentations of the way of pardon, + consolations and promises for life and death.</p><span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page177">[pg 177]</span><a name="Pg177" id= + "Pg177" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Neither Socrates nor Seneca sets + forth the nature, origin and consequences of sin as committed + against the holiness of God, nor do they point out the way of + pardon and renewal. The Bible teaches us what nature cannot, + viz.: God's creatorship, the origin of evil, the method of + restoration, the certainty of a future state, and the + principle of rewards and punishments there.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) Yet it is silent upon + many questions for which writings of merely human origin seek + first to provide solutions.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Compare the account of Christ's + infancy in the gospels with the fables of the Apocryphal New + Testament; compare the scant utterances of Scripture with + regard to the future state with Mohammed's and Swedenborg's + revelations of Paradise. See Alexander McLaren's sermon on + The Silence of Scripture, in his book entitled: Christ in the + Heart, 131-141.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">e</span></span>) There are infinite depths + and inexhaustible reaches of meaning in Scripture, which + difference it from all other books, and which compel us to + believe that its author must be divine.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Sir Walter Scott, on his death + bed:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Bring + me the Book!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">What book?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">said Lockhart, his son-in-law.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There + is but one book!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">said the dying man. Réville concludes an + Essay in the Revue des deux Mondes (1864):</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">One day + the question was started, in an assembly, what book a man + condemned to lifelong imprisonment, and to whom but one book + would be permitted, had better take into his cell with him. + The company consisted of Catholics, Protestants, philosophers + and even materialists, but all agreed that their choice would + fall only on the Bible.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On the whole subject, see + Garbett, God's Word Written, 3-56; Luthardt, Saving Truths, + 210; Rogers, Superhuman Origin of Bible, 155-181; W. L. + Alexander, Connection and Harmony of O. T. and N. T.; Stanley + Leathes, Structure of the O. T.; Bernard, Progress of + Doctrine in the N. T.; Rainy, Delivery and Development of + Doctrine; Titcomb, in Strivings for the Faith; Immer, + Hermeneutics, 91; Present Day Tracts, 4: no. 23; 5: no. 28; + 6: no. 31; Lee on Inspiration, 26-32.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc149" id="toc149"></a> <a name="pdf150" id= + "pdf150"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 2. Moral System of the New Testament.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The + perfection of this system is generally conceded. All will admit + that it greatly surpasses any other system known among men. + Among its distinguishing characteristics may be mentioned:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Its + comprehensiveness,—including all human duties in its code, even + the most generally misunderstood and neglected, while it + permits no vice whatsoever.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Buddhism regards family life as + sinful. Suicide was commended by many ancient philosophers. + Among the Spartans to steal was praiseworthy,—only to be + caught stealing was criminal. Classic times despised + humility. Thomas Paine said that Christianity + cultivated</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + spirit of a spaniel,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and John Stuart Mill asserted that Christ + ignored duty to the state. Yet Peter urges Christians to add + to their faith manliness, courage, heroism (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Pet. + 1:5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">in your + faith supply virtue</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">), and Paul declares the state to be God's + ordinance (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 13:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Let + every soul be in subjection to the higher powers: for there + is no power but of God; and the powers that be are ordained + of God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">). Patriotic defence of a nation's unity and + freedom has always found its chief incitement and ground in + these injunctions of Scripture. E. G. Robinson:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christian ethics do not contain a particle + of chaff,—all is pure wheat.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Its + spirituality,—accepting no merely external conformity to right + precepts, but judging all action by the thoughts and motives + from which it springs.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The superficiality of heathen + morals is well illustrated by the treatment of the corpse of + a priest in Siam: the body is covered with gold leaf, and + then is left to rot and shine. Heathenism divorces religion + from ethics. External and ceremonial observances take the + place of purity of heart. The Sermon on the Mount on the + other hand</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page178">[pg + 178]</span><a name="Pg178" id="Pg178" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">pronounces + blessing only upon inward states of the soul.</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 51:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Behold, + thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden + part thou wilt make me to know wisdom</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Micah + 6:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">what + doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love + kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) Its + simplicity,—inculcating principles rather than imposing rules; + reducing these principles to an organic system; and connecting + this system with religion by summing up all human duty in the + one command of love to God and man.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Christianity presents no + extensive code of rules, like that of the Pharisees or of the + Jesuits. Such codes break down of their own weight. The laws + of the State of New York alone constitute a library of + themselves, which only the trained lawyer can master. It is + said that Mohammedanism has recorded sixty-five thousand + special instances in which the reader is directed to do + right. It is the merit of Jesus' system that all its + requisitions are reduced to unity.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mark + 12:29-31—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Hear, O + Israel; The Lord our God, the Lord is one: and thou shalt + love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy + soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. The + second is this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. + There is none other commandment greater than + these.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Wendt, Teaching of Jesus, 2:384-814, calls + attention to the inner unity of Jesus' teaching. The doctrine + that God is a loving Father is applied with unswerving + consistency. Jesus confirmed whatever was true in the O. T., + and he set aside the unworthy. He taught not so much about + God, as about the kingdom of God, and about the ideal + fellowship between God and men. Morality was the necessary + and natural expression of religion. In Christ teaching and + life were perfectly blended. He was the representative of the + religion which he taught.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) Its + practicality,—exemplifying its precepts in the life of Jesus + Christ; and, while it declares man's depravity and inability in + his own strength to keep the law, furnishing motives to + obedience, and the divine aid of the Holy Spirit to make this + obedience possible.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Revelation has two sides: Moral + law, and provision for fulfilling the moral law that has been + broken. Heathen systems can incite to temporary reformations, + and they can terrify with fears of retribution. But only + God's regenerating grace can make the tree good, in such a + way that its fruit will be good also (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 12:33</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). There is a + difference between touching the pendulum of the clock and + winding it up,—the former may set it temporarily swinging, + but only the latter secures its regular and permanent motion. + The moral system of the N. T. is not simply law,—it is also + grace:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the law + was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus + Christ.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dr. William Ashmore's tract represents a + Chinaman in a pit. Confucius looks into the pit and + says:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If you + had done as I told you, you would never have gotten + in.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Buddha looks into the pit and + says:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If you + were up here I would show you what to do.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">So both Confucius and Buddha pass on. But + Jesus leaps down into the pit and helps the poor Chinaman + out.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">At the Parliament of Religions + in Chicago there were many ideals of life propounded, but no + religion except Christianity attempted to show that there was + any power given to realize these ideals. When Joseph Cook + challenged the priests of the ancient religions to answer + Lady Macbeth's question:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">How cleanse this red right + hand?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the priests were dumb. But Christianity + declares that</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from + all sin</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(1 John + 1:7)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. E. G. + Robinson: Christianity differs from all other religions in + being (1) a historical religion; (2) in turning abstract law + into a person to be loved; (3) in furnishing a demonstration + of God's love in Christ; (4) in providing atonement for sin + and forgiveness for the sinner; (5) in giving a power to + fulfil the law and sanctify the life. Bowne, Philos. of + Theism, 249—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christianity, by making the moral law the + expression of a holy Will, brought that law out of its + impersonal abstraction, and assured its ultimate triumph. + Moral principles may be what they were before, but moral + practice is forever different. Even the earth itself has + another look, now that it has heaven above + it.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Frances Power Cobbe, Life, + 92—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + achievement of Christianity was not the inculcation of + a</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">new</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + still less of a</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">systematic</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + morality; but the introduction of a new</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">spirit</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">into morality; as Christ himself + said, a leaven into the lump.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We may + justly argue that a moral system so pure and perfect, since it + surpasses all human powers of invention and runs counter to + men's natural <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page179">[pg + 179]</span><a name="Pg179" id="Pg179" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> tastes and passions, must have had a + supernatural, and if a supernatural, then a divine, origin.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Heathen systems of morality are + in general defective, in that they furnish for man's moral + action no sufficient example, rule, motive, or end. They + cannot do this, for the reason that they practically identify + God with nature, and know of no clear revelation of his holy + will. Man is left to the law of his own being, and since he + is not conceived of as wholly responsible and free, the lower + impulses are allowed sway as well as the higher, and + selfishness is not regarded as sin. As heathendom does not + recognize man's depravity, so it does not recognize his + dependence upon divine grace, and its virtue is + self-righteousness. Heathenism is man's vain effort to lift + himself to God; Christianity is God's coming down to man to + save him; see Gunsaulus, Transfig. of Christ, 11, 12. + Martineau, 1:15, 16, calls attention to the difference + between the physiological ethics of heathendom and the + psychological ethics of Christianity. Physiological ethics + begins with nature; and, finding in nature the uniform rule + of necessity and the operation of cause and effect, it comes + at last to man and applies the same rule to him, thus + extinguishing all faith in personality, freedom, + responsibility, sin and guilt. Psychological ethics, on the + contrary, wisely begins with what we know best, with man; and + finding in him free-will and a moral purpose, it proceeds + outward to nature and interprets nature as the manifestation + of the mind and will of God.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Psychological ethics are altogether peculiar + to Christendom.... Other systems begin outside and regard the + soul as a homogeneous part of the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">universe</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + applying to the soul the principle of necessity that prevails + outside of it.... In the Christian religion, on the other + hand, the interest, the mystery of the world are concentrated + in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">human + nature</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.... The sense + of sin—a sentiment that left no trace in Athens—involves a + consciousness of personal alienation from the Supreme + Goodness; the aspiration after holiness directs itself to a + union of affection and will with the source of all + Perfection; the agency for transforming men from their old + estrangement to new reconciliation is a Person, in whom the + divine and human historically blend; and the sanctifying + Spirit by which they are sustained at the height of their + purer life is a living link of communion between their minds + and the Soul of souls.... So Nature, to the Christian + consciousness, sank into the accidental and the + neutral.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Measuring ourselves by human standards, we + nourish pride; measuring ourselves by divine standards, we + nourish humility. Heathen nations, identifying God with + nature or with man, are unprogressive. The flat architecture + of the Parthenon, with its lines parallel to the earth, is + the type of heathen religion; the aspiring arches of the + Gothic cathedral symbolize Christianity.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Sterrett, Studies in Hegel, 33, + says that Hegel characterized the Chinese religion as that of + Measure, or temperate conduct; Brahmanism as that of + Phantasy, or inebriate dream-life; Buddhism as that of + Self-involvement; that of Egypt as the imbruted religion of + Enigma, symbolized by the Sphynx; that of Greece, as the + religion of Beauty; the Jewish as that of Sublimity; and + Christianity as the Absolute religion, the fully revealed + religion of truth and freedom. In all this Hegel entirely + fails to grasp the elements of Will, Holiness, Love, Life, + which characterize Judaism and Christianity, and distinguish + them from all other religions. R. H. Hutton:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Judaism + taught us that Nature must be interpreted by our knowledge of + God, not God by our knowledge of Nature.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Lyman Abbott:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christianity is not a new</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">life</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + but a new</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">power</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; + not a</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">summons</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">to a new life, but an</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">offer</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of new life; not a reënactment + of the old law, but a power of God unto salvation; not love + to God and man, but Christ's message that God loves us, and + will help us to the life of love.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Beyschlag, N. T. Theology, 5, + 6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christianity postulates an opening of the + heart of the eternal God to the heart of man coming to meet + him. Heathendom shows us the heart of man blunderingly + grasping the hem of God's garment, and mistaking Nature, his + majestic raiment, for himself. Only in the Bible does man + press beyond God's external manifestations to God + himself.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Wuttke, Christian Ethics, + 1:37-173; Porter, in Present Day Tracts, 4: no. 19, pp. + 33-64: Blackie, Four Phases of Morals; Faiths of the World + (St. Giles Lectures, second series); J. F. Clarke, Ten Great + Religions, 2:280-317; Garbett, Dogmatic Faith; Farrar, + Witness of History to Christ, 134, and Seekers after God, + 181, 182, 320; Curtis on Inspiration, 288. For denial of the + all-comprehensive character of Christian Morality, see John + Stuart Mill, on Liberty;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">per + contra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, see Review + of Mill, in Theol. Eclectic, 6:508-512; Row, in Strivings for + the Faith, pub. by Christian Evidence Society, 181-220; also, + Bampton Lectures, 1877:130-176; Fisher, Beginnings of + Christianity, 28-38, 174.</span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page180">[pg + 180]</span><a name="Pg180" id="Pg180" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In contrast + with the Christian system of morality the defects of heathen + systems are so marked and fundamental, that they constitute a + strong corroborative evidence of the divine origin of the + Scripture revelation. We therefore append certain facts and + references with regard to particular heathen systems.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">1.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Confucianism.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Confucius (</span><span lang= + "zh" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="zh"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Kung-fu-tse</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">), + B. C. 551-478, contemporary with Pythagoras and Buddha. + Socrates was born ten years after Confucius died. Mencius + (371-278) was a disciple of Confucius. Matheson, in Faiths of + the World (St. Giles Lectures), 73-108, claims that + Confucianism was</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">an + attempt to substitute a morality for + theology.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Legge, however, in Present Day Tracts, 3: + no. 18, shows that this is a mistake. Confucius simply left + religion where he found it. God, or Heaven, is worshiped in + China, but only by the Emperor. Chinese religion is + apparently a survival of the worship of the patriarchal + family. The father of the family was its only head and + priest. In China, though the family widened into the tribe, + and the tribe into the nation, the father still retained his + sole authority, and, as the father of his people, the Emperor + alone officially offered sacrifice to God. Between God and + the people the gulf has so widened that the people may be + said to have no practical knowledge of God or communication + with him. Dr. W. A. P. Martin:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Confucianism has degenerated into a + pantheistic medley, and renders worship to an + impersonal</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">anima + mundi,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">under the leading forms of + visible nature.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Dr. William Ashmore, private + letter:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + common people of China have: (1) Ancestor-worship, and the + worship of deified heroes: (2) Geomancy, or belief in the + controlling power of the elements of nature; but back of + these, and antedating them, is (3) the worship of Heaven and + Earth, or Father and Mother, a very ancient dualism; this + belongs to the common people also, though once a year the + Emperor, as a sort of high-priest of his people, offers + sacrifice on the altar of Heaven; in this he acts + alone.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Joss</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is not a Chinese word at all. It is the + corrupted form of the Portuguese word</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Deos.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The word</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">pidgin</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is similarly an attempt to say</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">business</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(big-i-ness or bidgin).</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Joss-pidgin</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">therefore means simply</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">divine service,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">or service offered to Heaven and Earth, or + to spirits of any kind, good or bad. There are many gods, a + Queen of Heaven, King of Hades, God of War, god of + literature, gods of the hills, valleys, streams, a goddess of + small-pox, of child-bearing, and all the various trades have + their gods. The most lofty expression the Chinese have + is</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Heaven,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">or</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Supreme Heaven,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">or</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Azure Heaven.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This is the surviving indication that in the + most remote times they had knowledge of one supreme, + intelligent and personal Power who ruled over + all.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Mr. Yugoro Chiba has shown that + the Chinese classics permit sacrifice by all the people. But + it still remains true that sacrifice to</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Supreme Heaven</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is practically confined to the Emperor, who + like the Jewish high-priest offers for his people once a + year.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Confucius did nothing to put + morality upon a religious basis. In practice, the relations + between man and man are the only relations considered. + Benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, sincerity, are + enjoined, but not a word is said with regard to man's + relations to God. Love to God is not only not commanded—it is + not thought of as possible. Though man's being is + theoretically an ordinance of God, man is practically a law + to himself. The first commandment of Confucius is that of + filial piety. But this includes worship of dead ancestors, + and is so exaggerated as to bury from sight the related + duties of husband to wife and of parent to child. Confucius + made it the duty of a son to slay his father's murderer, just + as Moses insisted on a strictly retaliatory penalty for + bloodshed; see J. A. Farrer, Primitive Manners and Customs, + 80. He treated invisible and superior beings with respect, + but held them at a distance. He recognized the</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Heaven</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">of tradition; but, instead of adding to our + knowledge of it, he stifled inquiry. Dr. Legge:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I have + been reading Chinese books for more than forty years, and any + general requirement to love God, or the mention of any one as + actually loving him, has yet to come for the first time under + my eye.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Ezra Abbot asserts that + Confucius gave the golden rule in positive as well as + negative form; see Harris, Philos. Basis of Theism, 222. This + however seems to be denied by Dr. Legge, Religions of China, + 1-58. Wu Ting Fang, former Chinese minister to Washington, + assents to the statement that Confucius gave the golden rule + only in its negative form, and he says this difference is the + difference between a passive and an aggressive civilization, + which last is therefore dominant. The golden rule, as + Confucius gives it, is:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Do not unto others that which you would not + they should do unto you.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Compare with this, Isocrates:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Be to + your parents what you would have your</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page181">[pg 181]</span><a name="Pg181" id= + "Pg181" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">children be to you.... Do not to others the + things which make you angry when others do them to + you</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; Herodotus:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">What I punish in another man, I will myself, + as far as I can, refrain from</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; Aristotle:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We should behave toward our friends as we + should wish them to behave toward us</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; Tobit, 4:15—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">What thou hatest, do to no + one</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; Philo:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">What one hates to endure, let him not + do</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; Seneca bids us</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">give as we wish to + receive</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + Rabbi Hillel:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Whatsoever is hateful to you, do not to + another; this is the whole law, and all the rest is + explanation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Broadus, in Am. Com. on Matthew, + 161—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + sayings of Confucius, Isocrates, and the three Jewish + teachers, are merely negative; that of Seneca is confined to + giving, and that of Aristotle to the treatment of friends. + Christ lays down a rule for positive action, and that toward + all men.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">He teaches that I am bound to do + to others all that they could rightly desire me to do to + them. The golden rule therefore requires a supplement, to + show what others can rightly desire, namely, God's glory + first, and their good as second and incidental thereto. + Christianity furnishes this divine and perfect standard; + Confucianism is defective in that it has no standard higher + than human convention. While Confucianism excludes + polytheism, idolatry, and deification of vice, it is a + shallow and tantalizing system, because it does not recognize + the hereditary corruption of human nature, or furnish any + remedy for moral evil except the</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">doctrines of the sages.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The heart of man,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">it says,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">is naturally perfectly upright and + correct.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Sin is simply</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">a disease, to be cured by self-discipline; a + debt, to be canceled by meritorious acts; an ignorance, to be + removed by study and contemplation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Bib. Sac., 1883:292, 293; N. Englander, + 1883:565; Marcus Dods, in Erasmus and other Essays, + 239.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">2.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-variant: small-caps">The Indian + Systems.</span></span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Brahmanism</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + as expressed in the Vedas, dates back to 1000-1500 B. C. As + Caird (in Faiths of the World, St. Giles Lectures, lecture 1) + has shown, it originated in the contemplation of the power in + nature apart from the moral Personality that works in and + through nature. Indeed we may say that all heathenism is + man's choice of a non-moral in place of a moral God. + Brahmanism is a system of pantheism,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">a false or illegitimate consecration of the + finite.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">All things are a manifestation + of Brahma. Hence evil is deified as well as good. And many + thousand gods are worshiped as partial representations of the + living principle which moves through all.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">How many gods have the + Hindus?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">asked Dr. Duff of his class. + Henry Drummond thought there were about twenty-five.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Twenty-five?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">responded the indignant professor;</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">twenty-five millions of + millions!</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">While the early Vedas present a + comparatively pure nature-worship, later Brahmanism becomes a + worship of the vicious and the vile, of the unnatural and the + cruel. Juggernaut and the suttee did not belong to original + Hindu religion.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Bruce, Apologetics, + 15—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Pantheism in theory always means polytheism + in practice.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The early Vedas are hopeful in spirit; later + Brahmanism is a religion of disappointment. Caste is fixed + and consecrated as a manifestation of God. Originally + intended to express, in its four divisions of priest, + soldier, agriculturist, slave, the different degrees of + unworldliness and divine indwelling, it becomes an iron + fetter to prevent all aspiration and progress. Indian + religion sought to exalt receptivity, the unity of existence, + and rest from self-determination and its struggles. Hence it + ascribed to its gods the same character as nature-forces. God + was the common source of good and of evil. Its ethics is an + ethics of moral indifference. Its charity is a charity for + sin, and the temperance it desires is a temperance that will + let the intemperate alone. Mozoomdar, for example, is ready + to welcome everything in Christianity but its reproof of sin + and its demand for righteousness. Brahmanism degrades woman, + but it deifies the cow.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Buddhism</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + beginning with Buddha, 600 B. C.,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">recalls the mind to its elevation above the + finite,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">from which Brahmanism had fallen + away. Buddha was in certain respects a reformer. He protested + against caste, and proclaimed that truth and morality are for + all. Hence Buddhism, through its possession of this one grain + of truth, appealed to the human heart, and became, next to + Christianity, the greatest missionary religion. Notice then, + first, its</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">universalism</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + But notice also that this is a false universalism, for it + ignores individualism and leads to universal stagnation and + slavery. While Christianity is a religion of history, of + will, of optimism, Buddhism is a religion of illusion, of + quietism, of pessimism; see Nash, Ethics and Revelation, + 107-109. In characterizing Buddhism as a missionary religion, + we must notice, secondly, its element of</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">altruism</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + But this altruism is one which destroys the self, instead of + preserving it. The future Buddha, out of compassion for a + famished tiger, permits the tiger to devour him.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Incarnated as a hare, he jumps into the fire + to cook himself for a meal for a beggar,—having</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page182">[pg 182]</span><a name= + "Pg182" id="Pg182" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">previously shaken himself three times, so + that none of the insects in his fur should perish with + him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; see William James, Varieties of Religious + Experience, 283. Buddha would deliver man, not by philosophy, + nor by asceticism, but by self-renunciation. All isolation + and personality are sin, the guilt of which rests, however, + not on man, but on existence in general.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">While Brahmanism is pantheistic, + Buddhism is atheistic in its spirit. Pfleiderer, Philos. + Religion, 1:285—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Brahmanic Akosmism, that had explained the world as mere + seeming, led to the Buddhistic Atheism.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Finiteness and separateness are evil, and + the only way to purity and rest is by ceasing to exist. This + is essential pessimism. The highest morality is to endure + that which must be, and to escape from reality and from + personal existence as soon as possible. Hence the doctrine + of</span> <span lang="sa" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "sa"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Nirvana</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">. + Rhys Davids, in his Hibbert Lectures, claims that early + Buddhism meant by</span> <span lang="sa" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="sa"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Nirvana</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + not annihilation, but the extinction of the self-life, and + that this was attainable during man's present mortal + existence. But the term</span> <span lang="sa" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="sa"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Nirvana</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">now means, to the great mass of + those who use it, the loss of all personality and + consciousness, and absorption into the general life of the + universe. Originally the term denoted only freedom from + individual desire, and those who had entered into</span> + <span lang="sa" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "sa"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Nirvana</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">might again come out of it; see + Ireland, Blot on the Brain, 238. But even in its original + form,</span> <span lang="sa" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="sa"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Nirvana</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">was sought only from a selfish + motive. Self-renunciation and absorption in the whole was not + the enthusiasm of benevolence,—it was the refuge of despair. + It is a religion without god or sacrifice. Instead of + communion with a personal God, Buddhism has in prospect only + an extinction of personality, as reward for untold ages of + lonely self-conquest, extending through many transmigrations. + Of Buddha it has been truly said</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">That all the all he had for needy man Was + nothing, and his best of being was But not to + be.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Wilkinson, Epic of Paul, + 296—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He by + his own act dying all the time, In ceaseless effort utterly + to cease, Will willing not to will, desire desiring To be + desire no more, until at last The fugitive go free, + emancipate But by becoming naught.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Of Christ Bruce well says:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">What a + contrast this Healer of disease and Preacher of pardon to the + worst, to Buddha, with his religion of + despair!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Buddhism is also fatalistic. It + inculcates submission and compassion—merely negative virtues. + But it knows nothing of manly freedom, or of active love—the + positive virtues of Christianity. It leads men to spare + others, but not to help them. Its morality revolves around + self, not around God. It has in it no organizing principle, + for it recognizes no God, no inspiration, no soul, no + salvation, no personal immortality. Buddhism would save men + only by inducing them to flee from existence. To the Hindu, + family life involves sin. The perfect man must forsake wife + and children. All gratification of natural appetites and + passions is evil. Salvation is not from sin, but from desire, + and from this men can be saved only by escaping from life + itself. Christianity buries sin, but saves the man; Buddha + would save the man by killing him. Christianity symbolizes + the convert's entrance upon a new life by raising him from + the baptismal waters; the baptism of Buddhism should be + immersion without emersion. The fundamental idea of + Brahmanism, extinction of personality, remains the same in + Buddhism; the only difference being that the result is + secured by active atonement in the former, by passive + contemplation in the latter. Virtue, and the knowledge that + everything earthly is a vanishing spark of the original + light, delivers man from existence and from + misery.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Prof. G. H. Palmer, of Harvard, + in The Outlook, June 19, 1897—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Buddhism is unlike Christianity in that it + abolishes misery by abolishing desire; denies personality + instead of asserting it; has many gods, but no one God who is + living and conscious; makes a shortening of existence rather + than a lengthening of it to be the reward of righteousness. + Buddhism makes no provision for family, church, state, + science, or art. It gives us a religion that is little, when + we want one that is large.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dr. E. Benjamin Andrews:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Schopenhauer and Spencer are merely teachers + of Buddhism. They regard the central source of all as + unknowable force, instead of regarding it as a Spirit, living + and holy. This takes away all impulse to scientific + investigation. We need to start from a Person, and not from a + thing.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">For comparison of the sage of + India, Sakya Muni, more commonly called Buddha + (properly</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Buddha</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">= the enlightened; but who, in + spite of Edwin Arnold's</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Light of Asia,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is represented as not pure from carnal + pleasures before he began his work), with Jesus Christ, see + Bib. Sac., July, 1882:458-498; W. C. Wilkinson, Edwin Arnold, + Poetizer and Paganizer; Kellogg, The Light of Asia and the + Light of the World. Buddhism and Christianity are compared in + Presb. Rev., July, 1883:505-548; Wuttke, Christian Ethics, + 1:47-54; Mitchell, in Present Day Tracts, 6: no. 33. See + also</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page183">[pg + 183]</span><a name="Pg183" id="Pg183" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">Oldenberg, + Buddha; Lillie, Popular Life of Buddha; Beal, Catena of + Buddhist Scriptures, 153—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Buddhism declares itself ignorant of any + mode of personal existence compatible with the idea of + spiritual perfection, and so far it is ignorant of + God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; 157—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The earliest idea of</span> <span lang="sa" + class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="sa"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Nirvana</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">seems to have included in it no + more than the enjoyment of a state of rest consequent on the + extinction of all causes of sorrow.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The impossibility of satisfying the human + heart with a system of atheism is shown by the fact that the + Buddha himself has been apotheosized to furnish an object of + worship. Thus Buddhism has reverted to Brahmanism.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Monier Williams:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Mohammed has as much claim to be</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Light of Asia</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">as Buddha has. What light from Buddha? Not + about the heart's depravity, or the origin of sin, or the + goodness, justice, holiness, fatherhood of God, or the remedy + for sin, but only the ridding self from suffering by ridding + self from life—a doctrine of merit, of self-trust, of + pessimism, and annihilation of + personality.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Christ, himself personal, loving + and holy, shows that God is a person of holiness and love. + Robert Browning:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He that + created love, shall not he love?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Only because Jesus is God, have we a gospel + for the world. The claim that Buddha is</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the Light of Asia</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">reminds one of the man who declared the moon + to be of greater value than the sun, because it gives light + in the darkness when it is needed, while the sun gives light + in the daytime when it is not needed.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">3.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-variant: small-caps">The Greek + Systems.</span></span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Pythagoras</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(584-504) based morality upon + the principle of numbers.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Moral good was identified with unity; evil + with multiplicity; virtue was harmony of the soul and its + likeness to God. The aim of life was to make it represent the + beautiful order of the Universe. The whole practical tendency + of Pythagoreanism was ascetic, and included a strict + self-control and an earnest culture.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Here already we seem to see the defect of + Greek morality in confounding the good with the beautiful, + and in making morality a mere self-development. Matheson, + Messages of the Old Religions: Greece reveals the intensity + of the hour, the value of the present life, the beauty of the + world that now is. Its religion is the religion of beautiful + humanity. It anticipates the new heaven and the new earth. + Rome on the other hand stood for union, incorporation, a + universal kingdom. But its religion deified only the Emperor, + not all humanity. It was the religion, not of love, but of + power, and it identified the church with the + state.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Socrates</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(469-400) made knowledge to be + virtue. Morality consisted in subordinating irrational + desires to rational knowledge. Although here we rise above a + subjectively determined good as the goal of moral effort, we + have no proper sense of sin. Knowledge, and not love, is the + motive. If men know the right, they will do the right. This + is a great overvaluing of knowledge. With Socrates, teaching + is a sort of midwifery—not depositing information in the + mind, but drawing out the contents of our own inner + consciousness. Lewis Morris describes it as the life-work of + Socrates to</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">doubt + our doubts away.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Socrates holds it right to injure one's + enemies. He shows proud self-praise in his dying address. He + warns against pederasty, yet compromises with it. He does not + insist upon the same purity of family life which Homer + describes in Ulysses and Penelope. Charles Kingsley, in Alton + Locke, remarks that the spirit of the Greek tragedy was 'man + mastered by circumstance'; that of modern tragedy is</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">man + mastering circumstance.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But the Greek tragedians, while showing man + thus mastered, do still represent him as inwardly free, as in + the case of Prometheus, and this sense of human freedom and + responsibility appears to some extent in Socrates.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Plato</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(430-348) held that morality is + pleasure in the good, as the truly beautiful, and that + knowledge produces virtue. The good is likeness to God,—here + we have glimpses of an extra-human goal and model. The body, + like all matter, being inherently evil, is a hindrance to the + soul,—here we have a glimpse of hereditary depravity. But + Plato</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">reduced + moral evil to the category of natural + evil.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">He failed to recognize God as + creator and master of matter; failed to recognize man's + depravity as due to his own apostasy from God; failed to + found morality on the divine will rather than on man's own + consciousness. He knew nothing of a common humanity, and + regarded virtue as only for the few. As there was no common + sin, so there was no common redemption. Plato thought to + reach God by intellect alone, when only conscience and heart + could lead to him. He believed in a freedom of the soul in a + preëxistent state where a choice was made between good and + evil, but he believed that, after that antemundane decision + had been made, the fates determined men's acts and lives + irreversibly. Reason drives two horses, appetite and emotion, + but their course has been + predetermined.</span></p><span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page184">[pg 184]</span><a name="Pg184" id="Pg184" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Man acts as reason prompts. All + sin is ignorance. There is nothing in this life but + determinism. Martineau, Types, 13, 48, 49, 78, 88—Plato in + general has no proper notion of responsibility; he reduces + moral evil to the category of natural evil. His Ideas with + one exception are not causes. Cause is mind, and mind is the + Good. The Good is the apex and crown of Ideas. The Good is + the highest Idea, and this highest Idea is a Cause. Plato has + a feeble conception of personality, whether in God or in man. + Yet God is a person in whatever sense man is a person, and + man's personality is reflective self-consciousness. Will in + God or man is not so clear. The Right is dissolved into the + Good. Plato advocated infanticide and the killing off of the + old and the helpless.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Aristotle</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(384-322) leaves out of view + even the element of God-likeness and antemundane evil which + Plato so dimly recognized, and makes morality the fruit of + mere rational self-consciousness. He grants evil + proclivities, but he refuses to call them immoral. He + advocates a certain freedom of will, and he recognizes inborn + tendencies which war against this freedom, but how these + tendencies originated he cannot say, nor how men may be + delivered from them. Not all can be moral; the majority must + be restrained by fear. He finds in God no motive, and love to + God is not so much as mentioned as the source of moral + action. A proud, composed, self-centered, and self-contained + man is his ideal character. See Nicomachean Ethics, 7:6, and + 10:10; Wuttke, Christian Ethics, 1:92-126. Alexander, + Theories of Will, 39-54—Aristotle held that desire and reason + are the springs of action. Yet he did not hold that knowledge + of itself would make men virtuous. He was a determinist. + Actions are free only in the sense of being devoid of + external compulsion. He viewed slavery as both rational and + right. Butcher, Aspects of Greek Genius, + 76—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">While + Aristotle attributed to the State a more complete personality + than it really possessed, he did not grasp the depth and + meaning of the personality of the + individual.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">A. H. Strong, Christ in Creation, + 289—Aristotle had no conception of the unity of humanity. His + doctrine of unity did not extend beyond the State.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He said + that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + whole is before the parts,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">but he meant by</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the whole</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">only the pan-Hellenic world, the + commonwealth of Greeks; he never thought of humanity, and the + word</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">mankind</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">never fell from his lips. He could not + understand the unity of humanity, because he knew nothing of + Christ, its organizing principle.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">On Aristotle's conception of God, see James + Ten Broeke, in Bap. Quar. Rev., Jan. 1892—God is recognized + as personal, yet he is only the Greek Reason, and not the + living, loving, providential Father of the Hebrew revelation. + Aristotle substitutes the logical for the dynamical in his + dealing with the divine causality. God is thought, not + power.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Epicurus</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(342-270) regarded happiness, + the subjective feeling of pleasure, as the highest criterion + of truth and good. A prudent calculating for prolonged + pleasure is the highest wisdom. He regards only this life. + Concern for retribution and for a future existence is folly. + If there are gods, they have no concern for men.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Epicurus, on pretense of consulting for + their ease, complimented the gods, and bowed them out of + existence.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Death is the falling apart of + material atoms and the eternal cessation of consciousness. + The miseries of this life are due to imperfection in the + fortuitously constructed universe. The more numerous these + undeserved miseries, the greater our right to seek pleasure. + Alexander, Theories of the Will, 55-75—The Epicureans held + that the soul is composed of atoms, yet that the will is + free. The atoms of the soul are excepted from the law of + cause and effect. An atom may decline or deviate in the + universal descent, and this is the Epicurean idea of freedom. + This indeterminism was held by all the Greek sceptics, + materialists though they were.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Zeno</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + the founder of the Stoic philosophy (340-264), regarded + virtue as the only good. Thought is to subdue nature. The + free spirit is self-legislating, self-dependent, + self-sufficient. Thinking, not feeling, is the criterion of + the true and the good. Pleasure is the consequence, not the + end of moral action. There is an irreconcilable antagonism of + existence. Man cannot reform the world, but he can make + himself perfect. Hence an unbounded pride in virtue. The sage + never repents. There is not the least recognition of the + moral corruption of mankind. There is no objective divine + ideal, or revealed divine will. The Stoic discovers moral law + only within, and never suspects his own moral perversion. + Hence he shows self-control and justice, but never humility + or love. He needs no compassion or forgiveness, and he grants + none to others. Virtue is not an actively outworking + character, but a passive resistance to irrational reality. + Man may retreat into himself. The Stoic is indifferent to + pleasure and pain, not because he believes in a divine + government, or in a divine love for mankind, but as a proud + defiance of the irrational world. He has no need of God or of + redemption. As the Epicurean gives himself to enjoyment of + the world, the Stoic gives himself to contempt of the</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page185">[pg 185]</span><a name= + "Pg185" id="Pg185" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">world. In all afflictions, each can + say,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + door is open.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">To the Epicurean, the refuge is + intoxication; to the Stoic, the refuge is suicide:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If the + house smokes, quit it.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Wuttke, Christian Ethics, 1:62-161, from + whom much of this account of the Greeks systems is condensed, + describes Epicureanism and Stoicism as alike making morality + subjective, although Epicureanism regarded spirit as + determined by nature, while Stoicism regarded nature as + determined by spirit.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The Stoics were materialists and + pantheists. Though they speak of a personal God, this is a + figure of speech. False opinion is at the root of all vice. + Chrysippus denied what we now call the liberty of + indifference, saying that there could not be an effect + without a cause. Man is enslaved to passion. The Stoics could + not explain how a vicious man could become virtuous. The + result is apathy. Men act only according to character, and + this a doctrine of fate. The Stoic indifference or apathy in + misfortune is not a bearing of it at all, but rather a + cowardly retreat from it. It is in the actual suffering of + evil that Christianity finds</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the soul of good.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The office of misfortune is disciplinary and + purifying; see Seth, Ethical Principles, 417.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + shadow of the sage's self, projected on vacancy, was called + God, and, as the sage had long since abandoned interest in + practical life, he expected his Divinity to do the + same.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The Stoic reverenced God just + because of his unapproachable majesty. Christianity sees in + God a Father, a Redeemer, a carer for our minute wants, a + deliverer from our sin. It teaches us to see in Christ the + humanity of the divine, affinity with God, God's supreme + interest in his handiwork. For the least of his creatures + Christ died. Kinship with God gives dignity to man. The + individuality that Stoicism lost in the whole, Christianity + makes the end of the creation. The State exists to develop + and promote it. Paul took up and infused new meaning into + certain phrases of the Stoic philosophy about the freedom and + royalty of the wise man, just as John adopted and glorified + certain phrases of Alexandrian philosophy about the Word. + Stoicism was lonely and pessimistic. The Stoics said that the + best thing was not to be born; the next best thing was to + die. Because Stoicism had no God of helpfulness and sympathy, + its virtue was mere conformity to nature, majestic egoism and + self-complacency. In the Roman</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Epictetus</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(89),</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Seneca</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(65), and</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Marcus + Aurelius</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">(121-180), + the religious element comes more into the foreground, and + virtue appears once more as God-likeness; but it is possible + that this later Stoicism was influenced by Christianity. On + Marcus Aurelius, see New Englander, July, 1881:415-431; + Capes, Stoicism.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">4.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-variant: small-caps">Systems of Western + Asia.</span></span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Zoroaster</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(1000 B. C. ?), the founder of + the Parsees, was a dualist, at least so far as to explain the + existence of evil and of good by the original presence in the + author of all things of two opposing principles. Here is + evidently a limit put upon the sovereignty and holiness of + God. Man is not perfectly dependent upon him, nor is God's + will an unconditional law for his creatures. As opposed to + the Indian systems, Zoroaster's insistence upon the divine + personality furnished a far better basis for a vigorous and + manly morality. Virtue was to be won by hard struggle of free + beings against evil. But then, on the other hand, this evil + was conceived as originally due, not to finite beings + themselves, but either to an evil deity who warred against + the good, or to an evil principle in the one deity himself. + The burden of guilt is therefore shifted from man to his + maker. Morality becomes subjective and unsettled. Not love to + God or imitation of God, but rather self-love and + self-development, furnish the motive and aim of morality. No + fatherhood or love is recognized in the deity, and other + things besides God (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e. + g.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, fire) are + worshiped. There can be no depth to the consciousness of sin, + and no hope of divine deliverance.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It is the one merit of Parseeism + that it recognizes the moral conflict of the world; its error + is that it carries this moral conflict into the very nature + of God. We can apply to Parseeism the words of the Conference + of Foreign Mission Boards to the Buddhists of Japan:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">All + religions are expressions of man's sense of dependence, but + only one provides fellowship with God. All religions speak of + a higher truth, but only one speaks of that truth as found in + a loving personal God, our Father. All religions show man's + helplessness, but only one tells of a divine Savior, who + offers to man forgiveness of sin, and salvation through his + death, and who is now a living person, working in and with + all who believe in him, to make them holy and righteous and + pure.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Matheson, Messages of Old + Religions, says that Parseeism recognizes an obstructive + element in the nature of God himself. Moral evil is reality; + but there is no reconciliation, nor is it shown that all + things work together for good. See Wuttke, Christian Ethics, + 1:47-54; Faiths of the World (St. Giles Lectures), 109-144; + Mitchell, in Present Day Tracts, 3: no. 25; Whitney on the + Avesta, in Oriental and Linguistic + Studies.</span></p><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page186">[pg + 186]</span><a name="Pg186" id="Pg186" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mohammed</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(570-632 A. D.), the founder of + Islam, gives us in the Koran a system containing four dogmas + of fundamental immorality, namely, polygamy, slavery, + persecution, and suppression of private judgement. + Mohammedanism is heathenism in monotheistic form. Its good + points are its conscientiousness and its relation to God. It + has prospered because it has preached the unity of God, and + because it is a book-religion. But both these it got from + Judaism and Christianity. It has appropriated the Old + Testament saints and even Jesus. But it denies the death of + Christ and sees no need of atonement. The power of sin is not + recognized. The idea of sin, in Moslems, is emptied of all + positive content. Sin is simply a falling short, accounted + for by the weakness and shortsightedness of man, inevitable + in the fatalistic universe, or not remembered in wrath by the + indulgent and merciful Father. Forgiveness is indulgence, and + the conception of God is emptied of the quality of justice. + Evil belongs only to the individual, not to the race. Man + attains the favor of God by good works, based on prophetic + teaching. Morality is not a fruit of salvation, but a means. + There is no penitence or humility, but only + self-righteousness; and this self-righteousness is consistent + with great sensuality, unlimited divorce, and with absolute + despotism in family, civil and religious affairs. There is no + knowledge of the fatherhood of God or of the brotherhood of + man. In all the Koran, there is no such declaration as + that</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God so loved the world</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John + 3:16)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The submission of Islam is + submission to an arbitrary will, not to a God of love. There + is no basing of morality in love. The highest good is the + sensuous happiness of the individual. God and man are + external to one another. Mohammed is a teacher but not a + priest. Mozley, Miracles, 140, 141—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Mohammed had no faith in human nature. There + were two things which he thought men could do, and would do, + for the glory of God—transact religious</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">forms</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + and</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">fight</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + and upon these two points he was severe; but within the + sphere of common practical life, where man's great trial + lies, his code exhibits the disdainful laxity of a legislator + who accomodates his rule to the recipient, and shows his + estimate of the recipient by the accommodation which he + adopts....</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Human + nature is weak,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">said he.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Lord Houghton: The Koran is all wisdom, all + law, all religion, for all time. Dead men bow before a dead + God.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Though + the world rolls on from change to change, And realms of + thought expand, The letter stands without expanse or range, + Stiff as a dead man's hand.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Wherever Mohammedanism has gone, it has + either found a desert or made one. Fairbairn, in Contemp. + Rev., Dec. 1882:866—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Koran has frozen Mohammedan thought; to + obey is to abandon progress.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Muir, in Present Day Tracts, 3: no. + 14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Mohammedanism reduces men to a dead level of + social depression, despotism, and semi-barbarism. Islam is + the work of man; Christianity of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See also Faiths of the World (St. Giles + Lectures, Second Series), 361-396; J. F. Clarke, Ten Great + Religions, 1:448-488; 280-317; Great Religions of the World, + published by the Harpers; Zwemer, Moslem Doctrine of + God.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc151" id="toc151"></a> <a name="pdf152" id= + "pdf152"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 3. The person and character of Christ.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. The + conception of Christ's person as presenting deity and humanity + indissolubly united, and the conception of Christ's character, + with its faultless and all-comprehending excellence, cannot be + accounted for upon any other hypothesis than that they were + historical realities.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The stylobate of the Parthenon + at Athens rises about three inches in the middle of the 101 + feet of the front, and four inches in the middle of the 228 + feet of the flanks. A nearly parallel line is found in the + entablature. The axes of the columns lean inward nearly three + inches in their height of 34 feet, thus giving a sort of + pyramidal character to the structure. Thus the architect + overcame the apparent sagging of horizontal lines, and at the + same time increased the apparent height of the edifice; see + Murray, Handbook of Greece, 5th ed., 1884, 1:308, 309; + Ferguson, Handbook of Architecture, 268-270. The neglect to + counteract this optical illusion has rendered the Madeleine + in Paris a stiff and ineffective copy of the Parthenon. The + Galilean peasant who should minutely describe these + peculiarities of the Parthenon would prove, not only that the + edifice was a historical reality, but that he had actually + seen it. Bruce, Apologetics, 343—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">In reading the memoirs of the evangelists, + you feel as one sometimes feels in a picture-gallery. Your + eye alights on the portrait of a person whom you do not know. + You look at it intently for a few moments and then remark to + a companion:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">That + must be like the original,—it is so + life-like.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Theodore Parker:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It would take a Jesus to</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page187">[pg 187]</span><a name="Pg187" id= + "Pg187" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">forge a Jesus.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Row, Bampton Lectures, 1877:178-219, and + in Present Day Tracts, 4: no. 22; F. W. Farrar, Witness of + History to Christ; Barry, Boyle Lecture on Manifold Witness + for Christ.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) No source can be assigned + from which the evangelists could have derived such a + conception. The Hindu avatars were only temporary unions of + deity with humanity. The Greeks had men half-deified, but no + unions of God and man. The monotheism of the Jews found the + person of Christ a perpetual stumbling-block. The Essenes were + in principle more opposed to Christianity than the + Rabbinists.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Herbert Spencer, Data of Ethics, + 279—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + coëxistence of a perfect man and an imperfect society is + impossible; and could the two coëxist, the resulting conduct + would not furnish the ethical standard + sought.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We must conclude that the + perfect manhood of Christ is a miracle, and the greatest of + miracles. Bruce, Apologetics, 346, 351—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">When Jesus asks:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Why callest thou me good?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">he means:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Learn first what goodness is, and call no + man good till you are sure that he deserves + it.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Jesus' goodness was entirely + free from religious scrupulosity; it was distinguished by + humanity; it was full of modesty and lowliness.... Buddhism + has flourished 2000 years, though little is known of its + founder. Christianity might have been so perpetuated, but it + is not so. I want to be sure that the ideal has been embodied + in an actual life. Otherwise it is only poetry, and the + obligation to conform to it ceases.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">For comparison of Christ's incarnation with + Hindu, Greek, Jewish, and Essene ideas, see Dorner, Hist. + Doct. Person of Christ, Introduction. On the Essenes, see + Herzog, Encyclop., art,: Essener; Pressensé, Jesus Christ, + Life, Times and Work, 84-87; Lightfoot on Colossians, + 349-419; Godet, Lectures in Defence of the Christian + Faith.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) No mere human genius, and + much less the genius of Jewish fishermen, could have originated + this conception. Bad men invent only such characters as they + sympathize with. But Christ's character condemns badness. Such + a portrait could not have been drawn without supernatural aid. + But such aid would not have been given to fabrication. The + conception can be explained only by granting that Christ's + person and character were historical realities.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Between Pilate and Titus 30,000 + Jews are said to have been crucified around the walls of + Jerusalem. Many of these were young men. What makes one of + them stand out on the pages of history? There are two + answers: The character of Jesus was a perfect character, and, + He was God as well as man. Gore, Incarnation, + 63—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Christ of the gospels, if he be not true to history, + represents a combined effort of the creative imagination + without parallel in literature. But the literary + characteristics of Palestine in the first century make the + hypothesis of such an effort morally + impossible.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Apocryphal gospels show us what mere + imagination was capable of producing. That the portrait of + Christ is not puerile, inane, hysterical, selfishly + assertive, and self-contradictory, can be due only to the + fact that it is the photograph from real life.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">For a remarkable exhibition of + the argument from the character of Jesus, see Bushnell, + Nature and the Supernatural, 276-332. Bushnell mentions the + originality and vastness of Christ's plan, yet its simplicity + and practical adaptation; his moral traits of independence, + compassion, meekness, wisdom, zeal, humility, patience; the + combination in him of seemingly opposite qualities. With all + his greatness, he was condescending and simple; he was + unworldly, yet not austere; he had strong feelings, yet was + self-possessed; he had indignation toward sin, yet compassion + toward the sinner; he showed devotion to his work, yet + calmness under opposition; universal philanthropy, yet + susceptibility to private attachments; the authority of a + Savior and Judge, yet the gratitude and the tenderness of a + son; the most elevated devotion, yet a life of activity and + exertion. See chapter on The Moral Miracle, in Bruce, + Miraculous Element of the Gospels, 43-78.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. The + acceptance and belief in the New Testament descriptions of + Jesus Christ cannot be accounted for except upon the ground + that the person and character described had an actual + existence.</p><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page188">[pg + 188]</span><a name="Pg188" id="Pg188" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) If these descriptions + were false, there were witnesses still living who had known + Christ and who would have contradicted them. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + There was no motive to induce acceptance of such false + accounts, but every motive to the contrary. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + The success of such falsehoods could be explained only by + supernatural aid, but God would never have thus aided + falsehood. This person and character, therefore, must have been + not fictitious but real; and if real, then Christ's words are + true, and the system of which his person and character are a + part is a revelation from God.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + counterfeit may for a season Deceive the wide earth; But the + lie waxing great comes to labor, And truth has its + birth.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Matthew Arnold, The Better + Part:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Was + Christ a man like us? Ah, let us see, If we then too can be + Such men as he!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">When the blatant sceptic declared:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I do + not believe that such a man as Jesus Christ ever + lived,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">George Warren merely + replied:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I wish + I were like him!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dwight L. Moody was called a hypocrite, but + the stalwart evangelist answered:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Well, suppose I am. How does that make your + case any better? I know some pretty mean things about myself; + but you cannot say anything against my + Master.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Goethe:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Let the culture of the spirit advance + forever; let the human spirit broaden itself as it will; yet + it will never go beyond the height and moral culture of + Christianity, as it glitters and shines in the + gospels.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Renan, Life of Jesus:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jesus + founded the absolute religion, excluding nothing, determining + nothing, save its essence.... The foundation of the true + religion is indeed his work. After him, there is nothing left + but to develop and fructify.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">And a Christian scholar has remarked:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It is + an astonishing proof of the divine guidance vouchsafed to the + evangelists that no man, of their time or since, has been + able to touch the picture of Christ without debasing + it.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We may find an illustration of + this in the words of Chadwick, Old and New Unitarianism, + 207—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jesus' + doctrine of marriage was ascetic, his doctrine of property + was communistic, his doctrine of charity was sentimental, his + doctrine of non-resistance was such as commends itself to + Tolstoi, but not to many others of our time. With the example + of Jesus, it is the same as with his teachings. Followed + unreservedly, would it not justify those who say:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + hope of the race is in its extinction</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; and bring all our joys and sorrows to a + sudden end?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">To this we may answer in the words of + Huxley, who declares that Jesus Christ is</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the noblest ideal of humanity which mankind + has yet worshiped.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Gordon, Christ of To-Day, + 179—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + question is not whether Christ is good enough to represent + the Supreme Being, but whether the Supreme Being is good + enough to have Christ for his representative. John Stuart + Mill looks upon the Christian religion as the worship of + Christ, rather than the worship of God, and in this way he + explains the beneficence of its influence.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">John Stuart Mill, Essays on + Religion, 254—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + most valuable part of the effect on the character which + Christianity has produced, by holding up in a divine person a + standard of excellence and a model for imitation, is + available even to the absolute unbeliever, and can never more + be lost to humanity. For it is Christ rather than God whom + Christianity has held up to believers as the pattern of + perfection for humanity. It is the God incarnate, more than + the God of the Jews or of nature, who, being idealized, has + taken so great and salutary hold on the modern mind. And + whatever else may be taken away from us by rational + criticism, Christ is still left: a unique figure, not more + unlike all his precursors than all his followers, even those + who had the direct benefit of his personal preaching.... Who + among his disciples, or among their proselytes, was capable + of inventing the sayings ascribed to Jesus, or of imagining + the life and character revealed in the Gospels?... About the + life and sayings of Jesus there is a stamp of personal + originality combined with profundity of insight which, if we + abandon the idle expectation of finding scientific precision + where something very different was aimed at, must place the + Prophet of Nazareth, even in the estimation of those who have + no belief in his inspiration, in the very first rank of the + men of sublime genius of whom our species can boast. When + this preëminent genius is combined with the qualities of + probably the greatest moral reformer and martyr to that + mission who ever existed upon earth, religion cannot be said + to have made a bad choice in pitching on this man as the + ideal representative and guide of humanity; nor even now + would it be easy, even for an unbeliever, to find a better + translation of the rule of virtue from the abstract into the + concrete than the endeavor so to live that Christ would + approve our life.</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page189">[pg 189]</span><a name="Pg189" id="Pg189" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">When to + this we add that, to the conception of the rational sceptic, + it remains a possibility that Christ actually was ... a man + charged with a special, express and unique commission from + God to lead mankind to truth and virtue, we may well conclude + that the influences of religion on the character, which will + remain after rational criticism has done its utmost against + the evidences of religion, are well worth preserving, and + that what they lack in direct strength as compared with those + of a firmer belief is more than compensated by the greater + truth and rectitude of the morality they + sanction.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">See also Ullmann, Sinlessness of Jesus; + Alexander, Christ and Christianity, 129-157; Schaff, Person + of Christ; Young, The Christ in History; George Dana + Boardman, The Problem of Jesus.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc153" id="toc153"></a> <a name="pdf154" id= + "pdf154"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 4. The testimony of Christ to himself—as being a messenger from + God and as being one with God.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Only one + personage in history has claimed to teach absolute truth, to be + one with God, and to attest his divine mission by works such as + only God could perform.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. This + testimony cannot be accounted for upon the hypothesis that + Jesus was an intentional deceiver: for (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + the perfectly consistent holiness of his life; (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + the unwavering confidence with which he challenged + investigation of his claims and staked all upon the result; + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) the vast improbability of + a lifelong lie in the avowed interests of truth; and + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) the impossibility that + deception should have wrought such blessing to the world,—all + show that Jesus was no conscious impostor.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Fisher, Essays on the Supernat. + Origin of Christianity, 515-538—Christ knew how vast his + claims were, yet he staked all upon them. Though others + doubted, he never doubted himself. Though persecuted unto + death, he never ceased his consistent testimony. Yet he lays + claim to humility:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 11:29—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I am + meek and lowly in heart.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">How can we reconcile with humility his + constant self-assertion? We answer that Jesus' self-assertion + was absolutely essential to his mission, for he and the truth + were one: he could not assert the truth without asserting + himself, and he could not assert himself without asserting + the truth. Since he was the truth, he needed to say so, for + men's sake and for the truth's sake, and he could be meek and + lowly in heart in saying so. Humility is not + self-depreciation, but only the judging of ourselves + according to God's perfect standard.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Humility</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is derived from</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span class= + "tei tei-foreign"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">humus</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">. + It is the coming down from airy and vain self-exploitation to + the solid ground, the hard-pan, of actual fact.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">God requires of us only so much + humility as is consistent with truth. The self-glorification + of the egotist is nauseating, because it indicates gross + ignorance or misrepresentation of self. But it is a duty to + be self-asserting, just so far as we represent the truth and + righteousness of God. There is a noble self-assertion which + is perfectly consistent with humility. Job must stand for his + integrity. Paul's humility was not of the Uriah Heep variety. + When occasion required, he could assert his manhood and his + rights, as at Philippi and at the Castle of Antonia. So the + Christian should frankly say out the truth that is in him. + Each Christian has an experience of his own, and should tell + it to others. In testifying to the truth he is only following + the example of</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate + witnessed the good confession</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(1 Tim. + 6:13)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. Nor can + Jesus' testimony to himself be explained upon the hypothesis + that he was self-deceived: for this would argue (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + a weakness and folly amounting to positive insanity. But his + whole character and life exhibit a calmness, dignity, + equipoise, insight, self-mastery, utterly inconsistent with + such a theory. Or it would argue (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + a self-ignorance and self-exaggeration which could spring only + from the deepest moral perversion. But the absolute purity of + his conscience, the humility of his spirit, the self-denying + beneficence of his life, show this hypothesis to be + incredible.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Rogers, Superhuman Origin of the + Bible, 39—If he were man, then to demand that all the world + should bow down to him would be worthy of scorn like that + which we feel for some straw-crowned monarch of Bedlam. + Forrest, The Christ of History and of</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page190">[pg 190]</span><a name="Pg190" id= + "Pg190" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Experience, 22, 76—Christ never united with + his disciples in prayer. He went up into the mountain to + pray, but not to pray</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">with + them</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 9:18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">as he + was</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">alone</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">praying, his disciples were with + him.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The consciousness of + preëxistence is the indispensable precondition of the total + demand which he makes in the Synoptics. Adamson, The Mind in + Christ, 81, 82—We value the testimony of Christians to their + communion with God. Much more should we value the testimony + of Christ. Only one who, first being divine, also knew that + he was divine, could reveal heavenly things with the + clearness and certainty that belong to the utterances of + Jesus. In him we have something very different from the + momentary flashes of insight which leave us in all the + greater darkness.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Nash, Ethics and Revelation, + 5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Self-respect is bottomed upon the ability to + become what one desires to be; and, if the ability steadily + falls short of the task, the springs of self-respect dry up; + the motives of happy and heroic action wither. Science, art, + generous civic life, and especially religion, come to man's + rescue,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—showing him his true greatness and breadth + of being in God. The State is the individual's larger self. + Humanity, and even the universe, are parts of him. It is the + duty of man to enable all men to be men. It is possible for + men not only truthfully but also rationally to assert + themselves, even in earthly affairs. Chatham to the Duke of + Devonshire:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">My + Lord, I believe I can save this country, and that no one else + can.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Leonardo da Vinci, in his + thirtieth year, to the Duke of Milan:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I can carry through every kind of work in + sculpture, in clay, marble, and bronze; also in painting I + can execute everything that can be demanded, as well as any + one whosoever.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Horace:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Exegi monumentum ære + perennius.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Savage, Life beyond Death, 209—A + famous old minister said once, when a young and zealous + enthusiast tried to get him to talk, and failing, burst out + with,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Have + you no religion at all?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">None</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">to speak + of</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">was the reply. When Jesus perceived a + tendency in his disciples to self-glorification, he urged + silence; but when he saw the tendency to introspection and + inertness, he bade them proclaim what he had done for them + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 8:4</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mark + 5:19</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). It is never + right for the Christian to proclaim himself; but, if Christ + had not proclaimed himself, the world could never have been + saved. Rush Rhees. Life of Jesus of Nazareth, + 235-237—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In the + teaching of Jesus, two topics have the leading place—the + Kingdom of God, and himself. He sought to be Lord, rather + than Teacher only. Yet the Kingdom is not one of power, + national and external, but one of fatherly love and of mutual + brotherhood.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Did Jesus do anything for + effect, or as a mere example? Not so. His baptism had meaning + for him as a consecration of himself to death for the sins of + the world, and his washing of the disciples' feet was the fit + beginning of the paschal supper and the symbol of his laying + aside his heavenly glory to purify us for the marriage supper + of the Lamb. Thomas à Kempis:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Thou art none the holier because thou art + praised, and none the worse because thou art censured. What + thou art, that thou art, and it avails thee naught to be + called any better than thou art in the sight of + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Jesus' consciousness of his + absolute sinlessness and of his perfect communion with God is + the strongest of testimonies to his divine nature and + mission. See Theological Eclectic, 4:137; Liddon, Our Lord's + Divinity, 153; J. S. Mill, Essays on Religion, 253; Young, + Christ of History; Divinity of Jesus Christ, by Andover + Professors, 37-62.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">If Jesus, + then, cannot be charged with either mental or moral + unsoundness, his testimony must be true, and he himself must be + one with God and the revealer of God to men.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Neither Confucius nor Buddha + claimed to be divine, or the organs of divine revelation, + though both were moral teachers and reformers. Zoroaster and + Pythagoras apparently believed themselves charged with a + divine mission, though their earliest biographers wrote + centuries after their death. Socrates claimed nothing for + himself which was beyond the power of others. Mohammed + believed his extraordinary states of body and soul to be due + to the action of celestial beings; he gave forth the Koran + as</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a + warning to all creatures,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and sent a summons to the King of Persia and + the Emperor of Constantinople, as well as to other + potentates, to accept the religion of Islam; yet he mourned + when he died that he could not have opportunity to correct + the mistakes of the Koran and of his own life. For Confucius + or Buddha, Zoroaster or Pythagoras, Socrates or Mohammed to + claim all power in heaven and earth, would show insanity or + moral perversion. But this is precisely what Jesus claimed. + He was either mentally or morally unsound, or his testimony + is true. See Baldensperger, Selbstbewusstsein Jesu; E. + Ballentine, Christ his own Witness.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page191">[pg 191]</span><a name= + "Pg191" id="Pg191" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc155" id="toc155"></a> <a name="pdf156" id= + "pdf156"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">IV. The Historical Results of the + Propagation of Scripture Doctrine.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">1. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The + rapid progress of the gospel in the first centuries of our era + shows its divine origin.</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. That + Paganism should have been in three centuries supplanted by + Christianity, is an acknowledged wonder of history.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The conversion of the Roman Empire to + Christianity was the most astonishing revolution of faith and + worship ever known. Fifty years after the death of Christ, there + were churches in all the principal cities of the Roman Empire. + Nero (37-68) found (as Tacitus declares) an</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">ingens multitudo</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">of + Christians to persecute. Pliny writes to Trajan (52-117) that + they</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%"> + “</span><span style="font-size: 90%">pervaded not merely the + cities but the villages and country places, so that the temples + were nearly deserted.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Tertullian (160-230) writes:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We are + but of yesterday, and yet we have filled all your places, your + cities, your islands, your castles, your towns, your + council-houses, even your camps, your tribes, your senate, your + forum. We have left you nothing but your + temples.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In the time of the emperor + Valerian (253-268), the Christians constituted half the + population of Rome. The conversion of the emperor Constantine + (272-337) brought the whole empire, only 300 years after Jesus' + death, under the acknowledged sway of the gospel. See McIlvaine + and Alexander, Evidences of Christianity.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. The wonder + is the greater when we consider the obstacles to the progress of + Christianity:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + The scepticism of the cultivated classes; (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + the prejudice and hatred of the common people; and (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + the persecutions set on foot by government.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + Missionaries even now find it difficult to get a hearing among + the cultivated classes of the heathen. But the gospel appeared + in the most enlightened age of antiquity—the Augustan age of + literature and historical inquiry. Tacitus called the religion + of Christ</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">exitiabilis superstitio</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">quos per + flagitia invisos vulgus Christianos + appellabat.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Pliny:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Nihil aliud inveni quam superstitionem pravam + et immodicam.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">If + the gospel had been false, its preachers would not have + ventured into the centres of civilization and refinement; or if + they had, they would have been detected. (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b)</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Consider the interweaving of + heathen religions with all the relations of life. Christians + often had to meet the furious zeal and blind rage of the + mob,—as at Lystra and Ephesus. (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + Rawlinson, in his Historical Evidences, claims that the + Catacombs of Rome comprised nine hundred miles of streets and + seven millions of graves within a period of four hundred + years—a far greater number than could have died a natural + death—and that vast multitudes of these must have been + massacred for their faith. The Encyclopædia Britannica, + however, calls the estimate of De Marchi, which Rawlinson + appears to have taken as authority, a great exaggeration. + Instead of nine hundred miles of streets, Northcote has three + hundred fifty. The number of interments to correspond would be + less than three millions. The Catacombs began to be deserted by + the time of Jerome. The times when they were universally used + by Christians could have been hardly more than two hundred + years. They did not begin in sand-pits. There were three sorts + of tufa: (1) rocky, used for quarrying and too hard for + Christian purposes; (2) sandy, used for sand-pits, too soft to + permit construction of galleries and tombs; (3) granular, that + used by Christians. The existence of the Catacombs must have + been well known to the heathen. After Pope Damasus the + exaggerated reverence for them began. They were decorated and + improved. Hence many paintings are of later date than 400, and + testify to papal polity, not to that of early Christianity. The + bottles contain, not blood, but wine of the eucharist + celebrated at the funeral.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Fisher, Nature and Method of Revelation, + 256-258, calls attention to Matthew Arnold's description of the + needs of the heathen world, yet his blindness to the true + remedy:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">On that + hard pagan world disgust And secret loathing fell; Deep + weariness and sated lust Made human life a hell. In his cool + hall, with haggard eyes, The Roman noble lay; He drove abroad, + in furious guise, Along the Appian Way; He made a feast, drank + fierce and fast, And crowned his hair with flowers,—No easier + nor no quicker</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page192">[pg + 192]</span><a name="Pg192" id="Pg192" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">passed The + impracticable hours.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Yet with mingled pride and sadness, Mr. Arnold + fastidiously rejects more heavenly nutriment. Of Christ he + says:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Now he is + dead! Far hence he lies, In the lorn Syrian town, And on his + grave, with shining eyes, The Syrian stars look + down.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">He sees that the millions</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Have such + need of joy, And joy whose grounds are true, And joy that + should all hearts employ As when the past was + new!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The want of the world is:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">One mighty wave of thought and joy, Lifting + mankind amain.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But the poet sees no ground of hope:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Fools! + that so often here, Happiness mocked our prayer, I think might + make us fear A like event elsewhere,—Make us not fly to dreams, + But moderate desire.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">He sings of the time when Christianity was + young:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Oh, had I + lived in that great day, How had its glory new Filled earth and + heaven, and caught away My ravished spirit + too!</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">But desolation of spirit does not + bring with it any lowering of self-esteem, much less the + humility which deplores the presence and power of evil in the + soul, and sighs for deliverance.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">They that + are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are + sick</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Mat. + 9:12)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. Rejecting + Christ, Matthew Arnold embodies in his verse</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + sweetness, the gravity, the strength, the beauty, and the + languor of death</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(Hutton, Essays, 302).</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">C. The wonder + becomes yet greater when we consider the natural insufficiency of + the means used to secure this progress.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + The proclaimers of the gospel were in general unlearned men, + belonging to a despised nation. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + The gospel which they proclaimed was a gospel of salvation + through faith in a Jew who had been put to an ignominious death. + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) This gospel was one which + excited natural repugnance, by humbling men's pride, striking at + the root of their sins, and demanding a life of labor and + self-sacrifice. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) The gospel, moreover, was + an exclusive one, suffering no rival and declaring itself to be + the universal and only religion.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + The early Christians were more unlikely to make converts than + modern Jews are to make proselytes, in vast numbers, in the + principal cities of Europe and America. Celsus called + Christianity</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a + religion of the rabble.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + The cross was the Roman gallows—the punishment of slaves. + Cicero calls it</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">servitutis extremum summumque + supplicium.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + There were many bad religions: why should the mild Roman Empire + have persecuted the only good one? The answer is in part: + Persecution did not originate with the official classes; it + proceeded really from the people at large. Tacitus called + Christians</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">haters of + the human race.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Men recognized in Christianity a foe to all + their previous motives, ideals, and aims. Altruism would break + up the old society, for every effort that centered in self or + in the present life was stigmatized by the gospel as unworthy. + (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">d</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + Heathenism, being without creed or principle, did not care to + propagate itself.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A man + must be very weak,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">said Celsus,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">to imagine that Greeks and barbarians, in + Asia, Europe, and Libya, can ever unite under the same system + of religion.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">So the Roman government would + allow no religion which did not participate in the worship of + the State.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Keep + yourselves from idols,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We worship no other God,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">was the Christian's answer. Gibbon, Hist. + Decline and Fall, 1: chap. 15, mentions as secondary causes: + (1) the zeal of the Jews; (2) the doctrine of immortality; (3) + miraculous powers; (4) virtues of early Christians; (5) + privilege of participation in church government. But these + causes were only secondary, and all would have been + insufficient without an invincible persuasion of the truth of + Christianity. For answer to Gibbon, see Perrone, Prelectiones + Theologicæ, 1:133.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Persecution destroys falsehood by leading its + advocates to investigate the grounds of their belief; but it + strengthens and multiplies truth by leading its advocates to + see more clearly the foundations of their faith. There have + been many conscientious persecutors:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 16:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">They + shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the hour cometh, that + whosoever killeth you shall think that he offereth service unto + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The Decretal of Pope Urban II + reads:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For we do + not count them to be homicides, to whom it may have happened, + through their burning zeal against the excommunicated, to put + any of them to death.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">St. Louis, King of France, urged his + officers</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">not to + argue with the infidel, but to subdue unbelievers by thrusting + the sword into them as far as it will go.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Of the use of the rack in England on a certain + occasion, it was said that it was used with all the tenderness + which the nature of the instrument would allow. This reminds us + of Isaak Walton's instruction</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page193">[pg 193]</span><a name="Pg193" id="Pg193" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">as to the use + of the frog:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Put the + hook through his mouth and out at his gills; and, in so doing, + use him as though you loved him.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Robert Browning, in his Easter Day, 275-288, + gives us what purports to be A Martyr's Epitaph, inscribed upon + a wall of the Catacombs, which furnishes a valuable contrast to + the sceptical and pessimistic strain of Matthew Arnold:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I was + born sickly, poor and mean, A slave: no misery could screen The + holders of the pearl of price from Cæsar's envy: therefore + twice I fought with beasts, and three times saw My children + suffer by his law; At length my own release was earned: I was + some time in being burned, But at the close a Hand came through + The fire above my head, and drew My soul to Christ, whom now I + see. Sergius, a brother, writes for me This testimony on the + wall—For me, I have forgot it all.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The progress + of a religion so unprepossessing and uncompromising to outward + acceptance and dominion, within the space of three hundred years, + cannot be explained without supposing that divine power attended + its promulgation, and therefore that the gospel is a revelation + from God.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Stanley, Life and Letters, + 1:527—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In the + Kremlin Cathedral, whenever the Metropolitan advanced from the + altar to give his blessing, there was always thrown under his + feet a carpet embroidered with the eagle of old Pagan Rome, to + indicate that the Christian Church and Empire of Constantinople + had succeeded and triumphed over it.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">On + this whole section, see F. W. Farrar, Witness of History to + Christ, 91; McIlvaine, Wisdom of Holy Scripture, 139.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">2. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The + beneficent influence of the Scripture doctrines and precepts, + wherever they have had sway, shows their divine + origin.</span></span> Notice:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. Their + influence on civilization in general, securing a recognition of + principles which heathenism ignored, such as Garbett mentions: + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) the importance of the + individual; (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) the law of mutual love; + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) the sacredness of human + life; (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) the doctrine of internal + holiness; (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">e</span></span>) the sanctity of home; + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">f</span></span>) monogamy, and the religious + equality of the sexes; (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">g</span></span>) identification of belief + and practice.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The continued + corruption of heathen lands shows that this change is not due to + any laws of merely natural progress. The confessions of ancient + writers show that it is not due to philosophy. Its only + explanation is that the gospel is the power of God.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Garbett, Dogmatic Faith, 177-186; F. W. Farrar, + Witness of History to Christ, chap. on Christianity and the + Individual; Brace, Gesta Christi, preface, + vi—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Practices + and principles implanted, stimulated or supported by + Christianity, such as regard for the personality of the weakest + and poorest; respect for woman; duty of each member of the + fortunate classes to raise up the unfortunate; humanity to the + child, the prisoner, the stranger, the needy, and even to the + brute; unceasing opposition to all forms of cruelty, oppression + and slavery; the duty of personal purity, and the sacredness of + marriage; the necessity of temperance; obligation of a more + equitable division of the profits of labor, and of greater + coöperation between employers and employed; the right of every + human being to have the utmost opportunity of developing his + faculties, and of all persons to enjoy equal political and + social privileges; the principle that the injury of one nation + is the injury of all, and the expediency and duty of + unrestricted trade and intercourse between all countries; and + finally, a profound opposition to war, a determination to limit + its evils when existing, and to prevent its arising by means of + international arbitration.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Max Müller:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The concept of humanity is the gift of + Christ.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Guizot, History of Civilization, + 1: Introd., tells us that in ancient times the individual + existed for the sake of the State; in modern times the State + exists for the sake of the individual.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The individual is a discovery of + Christ.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On the relations between + Christianity and Political Economy, see A. H. Strong, + Philosophy and Religion, pages 443-460; on the cause of the + changed view with regard to the relation of the individual to + the State, see page 207—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">What has wrought the change? Nothing but the + death of the Son of God. When it was seen that the smallest + child and the lowest slave had a soul of such worth</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page194">[pg 194]</span><a name= + "Pg194" id="Pg194" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">that Christ left his throne and gave up his + life to save it, the world's estimate of values changed, and + modern history began.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Lucian, the Greek satirist and humorist, 160 + A. D., said of the Christians:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Their first legislator [Jesus] has put it into + their heads that they are all brothers.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is this spirit of common brotherhood which + has led in most countries to the abolition of cannibalism, + infanticide, widow-burning, and slavery. Prince + Bismarck:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For + social well-being I ask nothing more than Christianity without + phrases</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—which means the religion of the deed rather + than of the creed. Yet it is only faith in the historic + revelation of God in Christ which has made Christian deeds + possible. Shaler, Interpretation of Nature, 232-278—Aristotle, + if he could look over society to-day, would think modern man a + new species, in his going out in sympathy to distant peoples. + This cannot be the result of natural selection, for + self-sacrifice is not profitable to the individual. Altruistic + emotions owe their existence to God. Worship of God has flowed + back upon man's emotions and has made them more sympathetic. + Self-consciousness and sympathy, coming into conflict with + brute emotions, originate the sense of sin. Then begins the war + of the natural and the spiritual. Love of nature and absorption + in others is the true</span> <span lang="sa" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="sa"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Nirvana</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">. + Not physical science, but the humanities, are most needed in + education.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">H. E. Hersey, Introd. to Browning's Christmas + Eve, 19—</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Sidney + Lanier tells us that the last twenty centuries have spent their + best power upon the development of personality. Literature, + education, government, and religion, have learned to recognize + the individual as the unit of force. Browning goes a step + further. He declares that so powerful is a complete personality + that its very touch gives life and courage and potency. He + turns to history for the inspiration of enduring virtue and the + stimulus for sustained effort, and he finds both in Jesus + Christ.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">J. P. Cooke, Credentials of + Science, 43—The change from the ancient philosopher to the + modern investigator is the change from self-assertion to + self-devotion, and the great revolution can be traced to the + influence of Christianity and to the spirit of humility + exhibited and inculcated by Christ. Lewes, Hist. Philos., + 1:408—Greek morality never embraced any conception of humanity; + no Greek ever attained to the sublimity of such a point of + view.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Kidd, Social Evolution, 165, 287—It is not + intellect that has pushed forward the world of modern times: it + is the altruistic feeling that originated in the cross and + sacrifice of Christ. The French Revolution was made possible by + the fact that humanitarian ideas had undermined the upper + classes themselves, and effective resistance was impossible. + Socialism would abolish the struggle for existence on the part + of individuals. What security would be left for social + progress? Removing all restrictions upon population ensures + progressive deterioration. A non-socialist community would + outstrip a socialist community where all the main wants of life + were secure. The real tendency of society is to bring all the + people into</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">rivalry</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + not only on a footing of political equality, but on conditions + of equal social opportunities. The State in future will + interfere and control, in order to preserve or secure free + competition, rather than to suspend it. The goal is not + socialism or State management, but competition in which all + shall have equal advantages. The evolution of human society is + not primarily intellectual but religious. The winning races are + the religious races. The Greeks had more intellect, but we have + more civilization and progress. The Athenians were as far above + us as we are above the negro race. Gladstone said that we are + intellectually weaker than the men of the middle ages. When the + intellectual development of any section of the race has for the + time being outrun its ethical development, natural selection + has apparently weeded it out, like any other unsuitable + product. Evolution is developing</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">reverence</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + with its allied qualities, mental energy, resolution, + enterprise, prolonged and concentrated application, simple + minded and single minded devotion to duty. Only religion can + overpower selfishness and individualism and ensure social + progress.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. Their + influence upon individual character and happiness, wherever they + have been tested in practice. This influence is seen + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) in the moral + transformations they have wrought—as in the case of Paul the + apostle, and of persons in every Christian community; + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) in the self-denying labors + for human welfare to which they have led—as in the case of + Wilberforce and Judson; (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) in the hopes they have + inspired in times of sorrow and death.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">These + beneficent fruits cannot have their source in merely natural + causes, apart from the truth and divinity of the Scriptures; for + in that case the <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page195">[pg + 195]</span><a name="Pg195" id="Pg195" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + contrary beliefs would be accompanied by the same blessings. But + since we find these blessings only in connection with Christian + teaching, we may justly consider this as their cause. This + teaching, then, must be true, and the Scriptures must be a divine + revelation. Else God has made a lie to be the greatest blessing + to the race.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The first Moravian missionaries to the West + Indies walked six hundred miles to take ship, worked their + passage, and then sold themselves as slaves, in order to get the + privilege of preaching to the negroes.... The father of John G. + Paton was a stocking-weaver. The whole family, with the exception + of the very small children, worked from 6 a. m. to 10 p. m., with + one hour for dinner at noon and a half hour each for breakfast + and supper. Yet family prayer was regularly held twice a day. In + these breathing-spells for daily meals John G. Paton took part of + his time to study the Latin Grammar, that he might prepare + himself for missionary work. When told by an uncle that, if he + went to the New Hebrides, the cannibals would eat him, he + replied:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">You + yourself will soon be dead and buried, and I had as lief be eaten + by cannibals as by worms.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Aneityumese raised arrow-root for fifteen years and sold it to + pay the £1200 required for printing the Bible in their own + language. Universal church-attendance and Bible-study make those + South Sea Islands the most heavenly place on earth on the + Sabbath-day.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">In 1839, twenty thousand negroes in Jamaica + gathered to begin a life of freedom. Into a coffin were put the + handcuffs and shackles of slavery, relics of the whipping-post + and the scourge. As the clock struck twelve at night, a + preacher cried with the first stroke:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The monster is dying!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and so with every stroke until the last, when + he cried:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + monster is dead!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Then all rose from their knees and + sang:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Praise + God from whom all blessings flow!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">...</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">What do you do that for?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">said the sick Chinaman whom the medical + missionary was tucking up in bed with a care which the patient + had never received since he was a baby. The missionary took the + opportunity to tell him of the love of Christ.... The aged + Australian mother, when told that her two daughters, + missionaries in China, had both of them been murdered by a + heathen mob, only replied:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">This decides me; I will go to China now + myself, and try to teach those poor creatures what the love of + Jesus means.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">... Dr. William Ashmore:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Let one missionary die, and ten come to his + funeral.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">A shoemaker, teaching neglected + boys and girls while he worked at his cobbler's bench, gave the + impulse to Thomas Guthrie's life of faith.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We must judge religions not by their ideals, + but by their performances. Omar Khayyam and Mozoomdar give us + beautiful thoughts, but the former is not Persia, nor is the + latter India.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">When the + microscopic search of scepticism, which has hunted the heavens + and sounded the seas to disprove the existence of a Creator, + has turned its attention to human society and has found on this + planet a place ten miles square where a decent man can live in + decency, comfort, and security, supporting and educating his + children, unspoiled and unpolluted; a place where age is + reverenced, infancy protected, manhood respected, womanhood + honored, and human life held in due regard—when sceptics can + find such a place ten miles square on this globe, where the + gospel of Christ has not gone and cleared the way and laid the + foundations and made decency and security possible, it will + then be in order for the sceptical literati to move thither and + to ventilate their views. But so long as these very men are + dependent upon the very religion they discard for every + privilege they enjoy, they may well hesitate before they rob + the Christian of his hope and humanity of its faith in that + Savior who alone has given that hope of eternal life which + makes life tolerable and society possible, and robs death of + its terrors and the grave of its gloom.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">On the beneficent influence of the gospel, see + Schmidt, Social Results of Early Christianity; D. J. Hill, The + Social Influence of Christianity.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page196">[pg 196]</span><a name= + "Pg196" id="Pg196" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + <hr class="page" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em"> + <a name="toc157" id="toc157"></a> <a name="pdf158" id="pdf158"></a> + + <h2 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"> + <span style="font-size: 144%">Chapter III. Inspiration Of The + Scriptures.</span></h2> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc159" id="toc159"></a> <a name="pdf160" id= + "pdf160"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">I. Definition of + Inspiration.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Inspiration is + that influence of the Spirit of God upon the minds of the + Scripture writers which made their writings the record of a + progressive divine revelation, sufficient, when taken together + and interpreted by the same Spirit who inspired them, to lead + every honest inquirer to Christ and to salvation.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Notice the significance of each part of this + definition: 1. Inspiration is an influence of the Spirit of God. + It is not a merely naturalistic phenomenon or psychological + vagary, but is rather the effect of the inworking of the personal + divine Spirit. 2. Yet inspiration is an influence upon the mind, + and not upon the body. God secures his end by awakening man's + rational powers, and not by an external or mechanical + communication. 3. The writings of inspired men are the record of + a revelation. They are not themselves the revelation. 4. The + revelation and the record are both progressive. Neither one is + complete at the beginning. 5. The Scripture writings must be + taken together. Each part must be viewed in connection with what + precedes and with what follows. 6. The same Holy Spirit who made + the original revelations must interpret to us the record of them, + if we are to come to the knowledge of the truth. 7. So used and + so interpreted, these writings are sufficient, both in quantity + and in quality, for their religious purpose. 8. That purpose is, + not to furnish us with a model history or with the facts of + science, but to lead us to Christ and to salvation.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + Inspiration is therefore to be defined, not by its method, but by + its result. It is a general term including all those kinds and + degrees of the Holy Spirit's influence which were brought to bear + upon the minds of the Scripture writers, in order to secure the + putting into permanent and written form of the truth best adapted + to man's moral and religious needs.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + Inspiration may often include revelation, or the direct + communication from God of truth to which man could not attain by + his unaided powers. It may include illumination, or the + quickening of man's cognitive powers to understand truth already + revealed. Inspiration, however, does not necessarily and always + include either revelation or illumination. It is simply the + divine influence which secures a transmission of needed truth to + the future, and, according to the nature of the truth to be + transmitted, it may be only an inspiration of superintendence, or + it may be also and at the same time an inspiration of + illumination or revelation.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) It + is not denied, but affirmed, that inspiration may qualify for + oral utterance of truth, or for wise leadership and daring deeds. + Men may be inspired to render external service to God's kingdom, + as in the cases of Bezalel and Samson; even though this service + is rendered unwillingly or unconsciously, as in the cases of + Balaam and Cyrus. All human intelligence, indeed, is due to the + inbreathing of that same Spirit who created man at the beginning. + We are now concerned with inspiration, however, only as it + pertains to the authorship of Scripture.</p><span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page197">[pg 197]</span><a name="Pg197" id= + "Pg197" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + Gen. 2:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">And + Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed + into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living + soul</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ex. 31:2, + 3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I have + called by name Bezalel ... and I have filled him with the + Spirit of God ... in all manner of + workmanship</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Judges 13:24, + 25—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">called + his name Samson: and the child grew, and Jehovah blessed him. + And the Spirit of Jehovah began to move him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Num. + 23:5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">And + Jehovah put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return unto + Balak, and thus shalt thou speak</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Chron. + 36:22—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jehovah + stirred up the spirit of Cyrus</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 44:28—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">that + saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">45:5—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I will gird thee, though thou hast not known + me</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Job + 32:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">there is + a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty giveth them + understanding.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">These passages show the true meaning of 2 Tim. + 3:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Every + scripture inspired of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The word θεόπνευστος is to be understood as + alluding, not to the flute-player's breathing into his + instrument, but to God's original inbreathing of life. The + flute is passive, but man's soul is active. The flute gives out + only what it receives, but the inspired man under the divine + influence is a conscious and free originator of thought and + expression. Although the inspiration of which we are to treat + is simply the inspiration of the Scripture writings, we can + best understand this narrower use of the term by remembering + that all real knowledge has in it a divine element, and that we + are possessed of complete consciousness only as we live, move, + and have our being in God. Since Christ, the divine Logos or + Reason, is</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the light which lighteth every + man</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John + 1:9)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, a special + influence of</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the spirit of Christ which was in + them</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(1 Pet. + 1:11)</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">rationally + accounts for the fact that</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">men spake + from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(2 Pet. + 1:21)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It may help our understanding of terms above + employed if we adduce instances of</span></p> + + <div class="tei tei-lg" style= + "margin-bottom: 0.90em; margin-top: 0.90em"> + <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(1) Inspiration without + revelation, as in Luke or Acts,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph" style="text-align: left"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 1:1-3</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(2) Inspiration including + revelation, as in the Apocalypse,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph" style="text-align: left"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rev. 1:1, + 11</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(3) Inspiration without + illumination, as in the prophets,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph" style="text-align: left"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Pet. + 1:11</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(4) Inspiration including + illumination, as in the case of Paul,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph" style="text-align: left"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 2:12</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(5) Revelation without + inspiration, as in God's words from Sinai,</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph" style= + "text-align: left"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ex. 20:1, + 22</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(6) Illumination without + inspiration, as in modern preachers,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph" style="text-align: left"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 2:20</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span> + </div> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Other definitions are those of Park:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Inspiration is such an influence over the + writers of the Bible that all their teachings which have a + religious character are trustworthy</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + of Wilkinson:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Inspiration is help from God to keep the + report of divine revelation free from error. Help to whom? No + matter to whom, so the result is secured. The final result, + viz.: the record or report of revelation, this must be free + from error. Inspiration may affect one or all of the agents + employed</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + of Hovey:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Inspiration was an influence of the Spirit of + God on those powers of men which are concerned in the + reception, retention and expression of religious truth—an + influence so pervading and powerful that the teaching of + inspired men was according to the mind of God. Their teaching + did not in any instance embrace all truth in respect to God, or + man, or the way of life; but it comprised just so much of the + truth on any particular subject as could be received in faith + by the inspired teacher and made useful to those whom he + addressed. In this sense the teaching of the original documents + composing our Bible may be pronounced free from + error</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + of G. B. Foster:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Revelation is the action of God in the soul of + his child, resulting in divine self-expression there: + Inspiration is the action of God in the soul of his child, + resulting in apprehension and appropriation of the divine + expression. Revelation has logical but not chronological + priority</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + of Horton, Inspiration and the Bible, 10-13—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We mean by Inspiration exactly those qualities + or characteristics which are the marks or notes of the + Bible.... We call our Bible inspired; by which we mean that by + reading and studying it we find our way to God, we find his + will for us, and we find how we can conform ourselves to his + will.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Fairbairn, Christ in Modern Theology, 496, + while nobly setting forth the naturalness of revelation, has + misconceived the relation of inspiration to revelation by + giving priority to the former:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The idea of a written revelation may be said + to be logically involved in the notion of a living God. Speech + is natural to spirit; and if God is by nature spirit, it will + be to him a matter of nature to reveal himself. But if he + speaks to man, it will be through men; and those who hear best + will be most possessed of God. This possession is termed</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">inspiration.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">God inspires, man reveals: revelation is the + mode or form—word, character, or institution—in which man + embodies what he has received. The terms, though not + equivalent, are co-extensive, the one denoting the process on + its inner side, the other on its outer.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This statement, although approved by Sanday, + Inspiration, 124, 125, seems to us almost precisely to reverse + the right meaning of the words. We prefer the view of Evans, + Bib. Scholarship and Inspiration, 54—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God has first revealed himself, and then has + inspired men to interpret, record and apply</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page198">[pg 198]</span><a name="Pg198" id= + "Pg198" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">this revelation. In redemption, inspiration is + the formal factor, as revelation is the material factor. The + men are inspired, as Prof. Stowe said. The thoughts are + inspired, as Prof. Briggs said. The words are inspired, as + Prof. Hodge said. The warp and woof of the Bible is + πνεῦμα:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the words that I have spoken unto you are + spirit</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John + 6:63)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. Its fringes run + off, as was inevitable, into the secular, the material, the + psychic.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Phillips Brooks, Life, + 2:351—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If the + true revelation of God is in Christ, the Bible is not properly + a revelation, but the history of a revelation. This is not only + a fact but a necessity, for a person cannot be revealed in a + book, but must find revelation, if at all, in a person. The + centre and core of the Bible must therefore be the gospels, as + the story of Jesus.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Some, like Priestley, have held that the + gospels are authentic but not inspired. We therefore add to the + proof of the genuineness and credibility of Scripture, the + proof of its inspiration. Chadwick, Old and New Unitarianism, + 11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Priestley's belief in supernatural revelation + was intense. He had an absolute distrust of reason as qualified + to furnish an adequate knowledge of religious things, and at + the same time a perfect confidence in reason as qualified to + prove that negative and to determine the contents of the + revelation.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We might claim the historical + truth of the gospels, even if we did not call them inspired. + Gore, in Lux Mundi, 341—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christianity brings with it a doctrine of the + inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, but is not based upon + it.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Warfield and Hodge, Inspiration, + 8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">While the + inspiration of the Scriptures is true, and being true is + fundamental to the adequate interpretation of Scripture, it + nevertheless is not, in the first instance, a principle + fundamental to the truth of the Christian + religion.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">On the idea of Revelation, see Ladd, in Journ. + Christ. Philos., Jan. 1883:156-178; on Inspiration,</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">ibid.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + Apr. 1883:225-248. See Henderson on Inspiration (2nd ed.), 58, + 205, 249, 303, 310. For other works on the general subject of + Inspiration, see Lee, Bannerman, Jamieson, Macnaught; Garbett, + God's Word Written; Aids to Faith, essay on Inspiration. Also, + Philippi, Glaubenslehre, 1:205; Westcott, Introd. to Study of + the Gospels, 27-65; Bib. Sac., 1:97; 4:154; 12:217; 15:29, 314; + 25:192-198; Dr. Barrows, in Bib. Sac., 1867:593; 1872:428; + Farrar, Science in Theology, 208; Hodge and Warfield, in Presb. + Rev., Apr. 1881:225-261; Manly, The Bible Doctrine of + Inspiration; Watts, Inspiration; Mead, Supernatural Revelation, + 350; Whiton, Gloria Patri, 136; Hastings, Bible Dict., + 1:296-299; Sanday, Bampton Lectures on Inspiration.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc161" id="toc161"></a> <a name="pdf162" id= + "pdf162"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">II. Proof of + Inspiration.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">1. Since we + have shown that God has made a revelation of himself to man, we + may reasonably presume that he will not trust this revelation + wholly to human tradition and misrepresentation, but will also + provide a record of it essentially trustworthy and sufficient; in + other words, that the same Spirit who originally communicated the + truth will preside over its publication, so far as is needed to + accomplish its religious purpose.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Since all natural intelligence, as we have seen, + presupposes God's indwelling, and since in Scripture the + all-prevailing atmosphere, with its constant pressure and effort + to enter every cranny and corner of the world, is used as an + illustration of the impulse of God's omnipotent Spirit to vivify + and energize every human soul (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 2:7</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + Job 32:8</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">), we may + infer that, but for sin, all men would be morally and + spiritually inspired (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Num. + 11:29—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Would + that all Jehovah's people were prophets, that Jehovah would put + his Spirit upon them!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 59:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">your + iniquities have separated between you and your + God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">). We have also seen that God's method of + communicating his truth in matters of religion is presumably + analogous to his method of communicating secular truth, such as + that of astronomy or history. There is an original delivery to + a single nation, and to single persons in that nation, that it + may through them be given to mankind. Sanday, Inspiration, + 140—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There is + a</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">purpose of God according to + selection</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Rom. + 9:11)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; there is + an</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">election</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">or</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">selection + of grace</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; and the object of that selection was Israel + and those who take their name from Israel's Messiah. If a tower + is built in ascending tiers, those who stand upon the lower + tiers are yet raised above the ground, and some may be raised + higher than others, but the full and unimpeded view is reserved + for those who mount upward to the top. And that is the place + destined for us if we will take it.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">If we follow the analogy of God's working in + other communications of knowledge, we shall reasonably presume + that he will preserve the record of his revelations in written + and accessible documents, handed down from those to whom these + revelations were first communicated, and we may expect that + these documents will be kept sufficiently</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page199">[pg 199]</span><a name="Pg199" id= + "Pg199" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">correct and trustworthy to accomplish their + religious purpose, namely, that of furnishing to the honest + inquirer a guide to Christ and to salvation. The physician + commits his prescriptions to writing; the Clerk of Congress + records its proceedings; the State Department of our government + instructs our foreign ambassadors, not orally, but by + dispatches. There is yet greater need that revelation should be + recorded, since it is to be transmitted to distant ages; it + contains long discourses; it embraces mysterious doctrines. + Jesus did not write himself; for he was the subject, not the + mere channel, of revelation. His unconcern about the apostles' + immediately committing to writing what they saw and heard is + inexplicable, if he did not expect that inspiration would + assist them.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We come to the discussion of Inspiration with + a presumption quite unlike that of Kuenen and Wellhausen, who + write in the interest of almost avowed naturalism. Kuenen, in + the opening sentences of his Religion of Israel, does indeed + assert the rule of God in the world. But Sanday, Inspiration, + 117, says well that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Kuenen + keeps this idea very much in the background. He expended a + whole volume of 593 large octavo pages (Prophets and Prophecy + in Israel, London, 1877) in proving that the prophets + were</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">not</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">moved to speak by God, but that + their utterances were all their own.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The following extract, says Sanday, indicates + the position which Dr. Kuenen really held:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We do not allow ourselves to be deprived of + God's presence in history. In the fortunes and development of + nations, and not least clearly in those of Israel, we see Him, + the holy and all-wise Instructor of his human children. But the + old</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">contrasts</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">must be altogether set aside. So + long as we derive a separate part of Israel's religious life + directly from God, and allow the supernatural or immediate + revelation to intervene in even one single point, so long also + our view of the whole continues to be incorrect, and we see + ourselves here and there necessitated to do violence to the + well-authenticated contents of the historical documents. It is + the supposition of a natural development alone which accounts + for all the phenomena</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(Kuenen, Prophets and Prophecy in Israel, + 585).</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">2. Jesus, who + has been proved to be not only a credible witness, but a + messenger from God, vouches for the inspiration of the Old + Testament, by quoting it with the formula: <span class= + "tei tei-q">“It is written”</span>; by declaring that + <span class="tei tei-q">“one jot or one tittle”</span> of it + <span class="tei tei-q">“shall in no wise pass away,”</span> and + that <span class="tei tei-q">“the Scripture cannot be + broken.”</span></p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Jesus quotes from four out of the five books of + Moses, and from the Psalms, Isaiah, Malachi, and Zechariah, with + the formula,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">it is + written</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + see</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. 4:4, 6, + 7</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + 11:10</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mark + 14:27</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 4:4-12</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. This formula + among the Jews indicated that the quotation was from a sacred + book and was divinely inspired. Jesus certainly regarded the + Old Testament with as much reverence as the Jews of his day. He + declared that</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass + away from the law</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Mat. + 5:18)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. He said + that</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the scripture cannot be + broken</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John + 10:35)</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">=</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + normative and judicial authority of the Scripture cannot be set + aside; notice here [in the singular, ἡ γραφή] the idea of the + unity of Scripture</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(Meyer). And yet our Lord's use of O. T. + Scripture was wholly free from the superstitious literalism + which prevailed among the Jews of his day. The phrases</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">word of + God</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John 10:35; + Mark 7:13)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">,</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">wisdom of + God</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Luke + 11:49)</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">oracles + of God</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Rom. + 3:2)</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">probably + designate the original revelations of God and not the record of + these in Scripture;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Sam. + 9:27</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Chron. + 17:3</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 40:8</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 13:19</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 3:2</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 8:25</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. Jesus refuses + assent to the O. T. law respecting the Sabbath + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mark 2:27</span></em> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">), + external defilements (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mark + 7:15</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">), divorce + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mark 10:2</span></em> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">). + He</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">came not to destroy but to + fulfil</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Mat. + 5:17)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; yet he + fulfilled the law by bringing out its inner spirit in his + perfect life, rather than by formal and minute obedience to its + precepts; see Wendt, Teaching of Jesus, 2:5-35.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The apostles quote the O. T. as the utterance + of God (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 4:8</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—διὸ λέγει,</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sc.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">θεός). Paul's insistence upon the + form of even a single word, as in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gal. + 3:16</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, and his use of + the O. T. for purposes of allegory, as in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gal + 4:21-31</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, show that in + his view the O. T. text was sacred. Philo, Josephus and the + Talmud, in their interpretations of the O. T., fall continually + into a</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">narrow + and unhappy literalism.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The N. T. does not indeed escape Rabbinical + methods, but even where these are most prominent they seem to + affect the form far more than the substance. And through the + temporary and local form the writer constantly penetrates to + the very heart of the O. T. teaching;</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">see Sanday, Bampton Lectures on Inspiration, + 87; Henderson, Inspiration, 254.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">3. Jesus + commissioned his apostles as teachers and gave them promises of a + supernatural aid of the Holy Spirit in their teaching, like the + promises made to the Old Testament prophets.</p><span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page200">[pg 200]</span><a name="Pg200" id= + "Pg200" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + Mat. 28:19, 20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Go ye ... + teaching ... and lo, I am with you.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Compare promises to Moses (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ex. + 3:12</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">), Jeremiah + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jer. + 1:5-8</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">), Ezekiel + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ezek. 2</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">3</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">). See also</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. 44:3</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Joel + 2:28—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I will + pour my Spirit upon thy seed</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 10:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">as ye go, + preach</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">19—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">be not anxious how or what ye shall + speak</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 14:26—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the Holy + Spirit ... shall teach you all things</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">15:26, + 27—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Spirit of truth ... shall bear witness of me: and ye also bear + witness</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">= the Spirit shall witness in and + through you;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">16:13—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">he shall guide you into all the + truth</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">= (1) limitation—all</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">the</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">truth of Christ,</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, not of + philosophy or science, but of religion; (2) + comprehension—</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">all</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">the truth within this limited + range,</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, sufficiency of + Scripture as rule of faith and practice (Hovey);</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">17:8—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the words which thou gavest me I have given + unto them</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 1:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he + charged them ... to wait for the promise of the + Father</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 20:22—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he + breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy + Spirit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Here was both promise and communication of the + personal Holy Spirit. Compare</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. 10:19, + 20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">it shall + be given you in that hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye + that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in + you.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Henderson, Inspiration, 247, + 248.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Jesus' testimony here is the testimony of God. + In</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Deut. + 18:18</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, it is said that + God will put his words into the mouth of the great Prophet. + In</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John 12:49, + 50</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, Jesus says:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I spake + not from myself, but the Father that sent me, he hath given me + a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And + I know that his commandment is life eternal; the things + therefore which I speak, even as the Father hath said unto me, + so I speak.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John 17:7, + 8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">all + things whatsoever thou hast given me are from thee: for the + words which thou gavest me I have given unto + them.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 8:40—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a man + that hath told you the truth, which I heard from + God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">4. The + apostles claim to have received this promised Spirit, and under + his influence to speak with divine authority, putting their + writings upon a level with the Old Testament Scriptures. We have + not only direct statements that both the matter and the form of + their teaching were supervised by the Holy Spirit, but we have + indirect evidence that this was the case in the tone of authority + which pervades their addresses and epistles.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Statements</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">:—</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 + Cor. 2:10, 13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">unto us + God revealed them through the Spirit.... Which things also we + speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the + Spirit teacheth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">11:23—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I received of the Lord that which also I + delivered unto you</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">12:8, + 28</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">the λόγος σοφίας was + apparently a gift peculiar to the + apostles</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">14:37, + 38—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + things which I write unto you ... they are the commandment of + the Lord</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gal. + 1:12—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">neither + did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to + me through revelation of Jesus Christ</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Thess. 4:2, + 8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">ye know + what charge we gave you through the Lord Jesus.... Therefore he + that rejecteth, rejecteth not man, but God, who giveth his Holy + Spirit unto you.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The following passages put the teaching of the + apostles on the same level with O. T. Scripture:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Pet. 1:11, + 12—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Spirit of + Christ which was in them</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">[O. T. prophets];—[N. T. preachers]</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">preached + the gospel unto you by the Holy Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Pet. + 1:21</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—O. T. + prophets</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">spake from God, being moved by the Holy + Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">3:2—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">remember the words which were spoken before by + the holy prophets</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">[O. T.],</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">and the + commandment of the Lord and Savior through your + apostles</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">[N. T.]; 16—</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">wrest</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">[Paul's Epistles],</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">as they do also + the</span></em> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">other + scriptures</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">,</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">unto their own destruction.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ex. + 4:14-16</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">7:1</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Implications</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">:—</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 + Tim. 3:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Every + scripture inspired of God is also profitable</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—a clear implication of inspiration, though + not a direct statement of it =</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">there is a divinely + inspired Scripture</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + In</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 5:3-5</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, Paul, + commanding the Corinthian church with regard to the incestuous + person, was arrogant if not inspired. There are more + imperatives in the Epistles than in any other writings of the + same extent. Notice the continual asseveration of authority, as + in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gal. 1:1, + 2</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, and the declaration + that disbelief of the record is sin, as in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 John 5:10, + 11</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jude 3—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the faith which was once for + all</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(ἅπαξ)</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">delivered unto the saints.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Kahnis, Dogmatik, 3:122; Henderson, + Inspiration (2nd ed.), 34, 234; Conant, Genesis, Introd., xiii, + note; Charteris, New Testament Scriptures: They claim truth, + unity, authority.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The passages quoted above show that inspired + men distinguished inspiration from their own unaided thinking. + These inspired men claim that their inspiration is the same + with that of the prophets.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rev. + 22:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the Lord, + the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show + unto his servants the things which must shortly come to + pass</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">= inspiration gave them + supernatural knowledge of the future. As inspiration in the O. + T. was the work of the pre-incarnate Christ, so inspiration in + the N. T. is the work of the ascended and glorified Christ by + his Holy Spirit. On the Relative Authority of the Gospels, see + Gerhardt, in Am. Journ. Theol., Apl. 1899:275-294, who shows + that not the words of Jesus in the gospels are the final + revelation, but rather the teaching of the risen and glorified + Christ in the Acts and the Epistles. The Epistles are the + posthumous works of Christ. Pattison, Making of the Sermon, + 23—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + apostles, believing themselves to be inspired</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page201">[pg 201]</span><a name= + "Pg201" id="Pg201" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">teachers, often preached without texts; and + the fact that their successors did not follow their example + shows that for themselves they made no such claim. Inspiration + ceased, and henceforth authority was found in the use of the + words of the now complete Scriptures.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">5. The + apostolic writers of the New Testament, unlike professedly + inspired heathen sages and poets, gave attestation by miracles or + prophecy that they were inspired by God, and there is reason to + believe that the productions of those who were not apostles, such + as Mark, Luke, Hebrews, James, and Jude, were recommended to the + churches as inspired, by apostolic sanction and authority.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The twelve wrought miracles (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 10:1</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). Paul's</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">signs of an + apostle</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(2 Cor. + 13:12)</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">= miracles. + Internal evidence confirms the tradition that Mark was the</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">interpreter + of Peter,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and that Luke's gospel and the Acts + had the sanction of Paul. Since the purpose of the Spirit's + bestowment was to qualify those who were to be the teachers and + founders of the new religion, it is only fair to assume that + Christ's promise of the Spirit was valid not simply to the twelve + but to all who stood in their places, and to these not simply as + speakers, but, since in this respect they had a still greater + need of divine guidance, to them as writers also.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The epistle to the Hebrews, with the letters + of James and Jude, appeared in the lifetime of some of the + twelve, and passed unchallenged; and the fact that they all, + with the possible exception of 2 Peter, were very early + accepted by the churches founded and watched over by the + apostles, is sufficient evidence that the apostles regarded + them as inspired productions. As evidences that the writers + regarded their writings as of universal authority, see</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 1:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">unto the + church of God which is at Corinth ... with all that call upon + the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every + place,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">etc.;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">7:17—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">so ordain I in all the + churches</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col. + 4:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">And when + this epistle hath been read among you, cause that it be read + also in the church of the Laodiceans</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Pet. 3:15, + 16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">our + beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to + him, wrote unto you.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Bartlett, in Princeton Rev., Jan. + 1880:23-57; Bib. Sac., Jan. 1884:204, 205.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Johnson, Systematic Theology, + 40—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Miraculous gifts were bestowed at Pentecost on + many besides apostles. Prophecy was not an uncommon gift during + the apostolic period.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">There is no antecedent improbability that + inspiration should extend to others than to the principal + leaders of the church, and since we have express instances of + such inspiration in oral utterances (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 11:28</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">21:9, + 10</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">) it seems natural + that there should have been instances of inspiration in written + utterances also. In some cases this appears to have been only + an inspiration of superintendence. Clement of Alexandria says + only that Peter neither forbade nor encouraged Mark in his plan + of writing the gospel. Irenæus tells us that Mark's gospel was + written after the death of Peter. Papias says that Mark wrote + down what he remembered to have heard from Peter. Luke does not + seem to have been aware of any miraculous aid in his writing, + and his methods appear to have been those of the ordinary + historian.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">6. The chief + proof of inspiration, however, must always be found in the + internal characteristics of the Scriptures themselves, as these + are disclosed to the sincere inquirer by the Holy Spirit. The + testimony of the Holy Spirit combines with the teaching of the + Bible to convince the earnest reader that this teaching is as a + whole and in all essentials beyond the power of man to + communicate, and that it must therefore have been put into + permanent and written form by special inspiration of God.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Foster, Christian Life and Theology, + 105—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + testimony of the Spirit is an argument from identity of + effects—the doctrines of experience and the doctrines of the + Bible—to identity of cause.... God-wrought experience proves a + God-wrought Bible.... This covers the Bible as a whole, if not + the whole of the Bible. It is true so far as I can test it. It is + to be believed still further if there is no other + evidence.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Lyman Abbott, in his Theology of an + Evolutionist, 105, calls the Bible</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">a record of man's laboratory work in the + spiritual realm, a history of the dawning of the consciousness of + God and of the divine life in the soul of + man.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">This seems to us unduly + subjective. We prefer to say that the Bible is also God's + witness to us of his presence and working in human hearts and + in human history—a witness which proves its</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page202">[pg 202]</span><a name="Pg202" id= + "Pg202" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">divine origin by awakening in us experiences + similar to those which it describes, and which are beyond the + power of man to originate.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">G. P. Fisher, in Mag. of Christ. Lit., Dec. + 1892:239—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Is the + Bible infallible? Not in the sense that all its statements + extending even to minutiæ in matters of history and science are + strictly accurate. Not in the sense that every doctrinal and + ethical statement in all these books is incapable of amendment. + The whole must sit in judgment on the parts. Revelation is + progressive. There is a human factor as well as a divine. The + treasure is in earthen vessels. But the Bible is infallible in + the sense that whoever surrenders himself in a docile spirit to + its teaching will fall into no hurtful error in matters of + faith and charity. Best of all, he will find in it the secret + of a new, holy and blessed life,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">hidden + with Christ in God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Col. + 3:3)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. The Scriptures + are the witness to Christ.... Through the Scriptures he is + truly and adequately made known to us.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Denney, Death of Christ, + 314—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The unity + of the Bible and its inspiration are correlative terms. If we + can discern a real unity in it—and I believe we can when we see + that it converges upon and culminates in a divine love bearing + the sin of the world—then that unity and its inspiration are + one and the same thing. And it is not only inspired as a whole, + it is the only book that is inspired. It is the only book in + the world to which God sets his seal in our hearts when we read + in search of an answer to the question, How shall a sinful man + be righteous with God?... The conclusion of our study of + Inspiration should be the conviction that the Bible gives us a + body of doctrine—a</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">faith which was once for all delivered unto + the saints</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Jude + 3)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc163" id="toc163"></a> <a name="pdf164" id= + "pdf164"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">III. Theories of + Inspiration.</span></h3> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc165" id="toc165"></a> <a name="pdf166" id= + "pdf166"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1. The Intuition-theory.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This holds + that inspiration is but a higher development of that natural + insight into truth which all men possess to some degree; a mode + of intelligence in matters of morals and religion which gives + rise to sacred books, as a corresponding mode of intelligence + in matters of secular truth gives rise to great works of + philosophy or art. This mode of intelligence is regarded as the + product of man's own powers, either without special divine + influence or with only the inworking of an impersonal God.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">This theory naturally connects + itself with Pelagian and rationalistic views of man's + independence of God, or with pantheistic conceptions of man + as being himself the highest manifestation of an + all-pervading but unconscious intelligence. Morell and F. W. + Newman in England, and Theodore Parker in America, are + representatives of this theory. See Morell, Philos. of + Religion, 127-179—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Inspiration is only a higher potency of what + every man possesses in some degree.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See also Francis W. Newman (brother of John + Henry Newman), Phases of Faith (= phases of unbelief); + Theodore Parker, Discourses of Religion, and Experiences as a + Minister:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God is + infinite; therefore he is immanent in nature, yet + transcending it; immanent in spirit, yet transcending that. + He must fill each point of spirit, as of space; matter must + unconsciously obey; man, conscious and free, has power to a + certain extent to disobey, but obeying, the immanent God acts + in man as much as in nature</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—quoted in Chadwick, Theodore Parker, 271. + Hence Parker's view of Inspiration: If the conditions are + fulfilled, inspiration comes in proportion to man's gifts and + to his use of those gifts. Chadwick himself, in his Old and + New Unitarianism, 68, says that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the Scriptures are inspired just so far as + they are inspiring, and no more.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">W. C. Gannett, Life of Ezra + Stiles Gannett, 196—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Parker's spiritualism affirmed, as the grand + truth of religion, the immanence of an infinitely perfect God + in matter and mind, and his activity in both + spheres.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Martineau, Study of Religion, + 2:178-180—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Theodore Parker treats the regular results + of the human faculties as an immediate working of God, and + regards the Principia of Newton as inspired.... What then + becomes of the human personality? He calls God not only + omnipresent, but omniactive. Is then Shakespeare only by + courtesy author of Macbeth?... If this were more than + rhetorical, it would be unconditional + pantheism.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Both nature and man are other + names for God. Martineau is willing to grant that our + intuitions and ideals are expressions of the Deity in us, but + our personal reasoning and striving, he thinks, cannot be + attributed to God. The word νοῦς has no plural: intellect, in + whatever subject manifested, being all one, just as a truth + is one and the same, in however many</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page203">[pg 203]</span><a name="Pg203" id= + "Pg203" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">persons' consciousness it may present + itself; see Martineau, Seat of Authority, 403. Palmer, + Studies in Theological Definition, 27—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We can draw no sharp distinction between the + human mind discovering truth, and the divine mind imparting + revelation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Kuenen belongs to this school.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">With regard + to this theory we remark:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Man has, indeed, a + certain natural insight into truth, and we grant that + inspiration uses this, so far as it will go, and makes it an + instrument in discovering and recording facts of nature or + history.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In the investigation, for + example, of purely historical matters, such as Luke records, + merely natural insight may at times have been sufficient. + When this was the case, Luke may have been left to the + exercise of his own faculties, inspiration only inciting and + supervising the work. George Harris, Moral Evolution, + 413—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + could not reveal himself</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">to</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">man, unless he first revealed + himself</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">man. If it should be written in + letters on the sky:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God is good,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—the words would have no meaning, unless + goodness had been made known already in human volitions. + Revelation is not by an occasional stroke, but by a + continuous process. It is not superimposed, but inherent.... + Genius is inspired; for the mind which perceives truth must + be responsive to the Mind that made things the vehicles of + thought.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Sanday, Bampton Lectures on + Inspiration:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + claiming for the Bible inspiration, we do not exclude the + possibility of other lower or more partial degrees of + inspiration in other literatures. The Spirit of God has + doubtless touched other hearts and other minds ... in such a + way as to give insight into truth, besides those which could + claim descent from Abraham.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Philo thought the LXX translators, the Greek + philosophers, and at times even himself, to be inspired. + Plato he regards as</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">most sacred</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(ἱερωτατος), but all good men are in various + degrees inspired. Yet Philo never quotes as authoritative any + but the Canonical Books. He attributes to them an authority + unique in its kind.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) In all matters of morals + and religion, however, man's insight into truth is vitiated by + wrong affections, and, unless a supernatural wisdom can guide + him, he is certain to err himself, and to lead others into + error.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 2:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Now the + natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for + they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because + they are spiritually judged</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + 10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">But + unto us God revealed them through the Spirit: for the Spirit + searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See quotation from Coleridge, in + Shairp, Culture and Religion, 114—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Water cannot rise higher than its source; + neither can human reasoning</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; Emerson, Prose Works, 1:474; + 2:468—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">'Tis + curious we only believe as deep as we live</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; Ullmann, Sinlessness of Jesus, 183, 184. + For this reason we hold to a communication of religious + truth, at least at times, more direct and objective than is + granted by George Adam Smith, Com. on Isaiah, + 1:372—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">To + Isaiah inspiration was nothing more nor less than the + possession of certain strong moral and religious convictions, + which he felt he owed to the communication of the Spirit of + God, and according to which he interpreted, and even dared to + foretell, the history of his people and of the world. Our + study completely dispels, on the evidence of the Bible + itself, that view of inspiration and prediction so long held + in the church.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">If this is meant as a denial of any + communication of truth other than the internal and + subjective, we set over against it.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Num. + 12:6-8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">if + there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself + known unto him in a vision, I will speak with him in a dream. + My servant Moses is not so; he is faithful in all my house: + with him will I speak mouth to mouth, even manifestly, and + not in dark speeches; and the form of Jehovah shall he + behold.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) The theory in question, + holding as it does that natural insight is the only source of + religious truth, involves a self-contradiction;—if the theory + be true, then one man is inspired to utter what a second is + inspired to pronounce false. The Vedas, the Koran and the Bible + cannot be inspired to contradict each other.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The Vedas permit thieving, and + the Koran teaches salvation by works; these cannot be + inspired and the Bible also. Paul cannot be inspired to write + his epistles, and Swedenborg also inspired to reject them. + The Bible does not admit that pagan teachings have the same + divine endorsement with its own. Among the Spartans to steal + was</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page204">[pg + 204]</span><a name="Pg204" id="Pg204" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">praiseworthy; only to be caught stealing was + criminal. On the religious consciousness with regard to the + personality of God, the divine goodness, the future life, the + utility of prayer, in all of which Miss Cobbe, Mr. Greg and + Mr. Parker disagree with each other, see Bruce, Apologetics, + 143, 144. With Matheson we may grant that the leading idea of + inspiration is</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + growth of the divine through the capacities of the + human,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">while yet we deny that inspiration confines + itself to this subjective enlightenment of the human + faculties, and also we exclude from the divine working all + those perverse and erroneous utterances which are the results + of human sin.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) It makes moral and + religious truth to be a purely subjective thing—a matter of + private opinion—having no objective reality independently of + men's opinions regarding it.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On this system truth is what + men</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">trow</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; things are what men</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">think</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—words representing only the + subjective.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Better + the Greek ἀλήθεια =</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the unconcealed</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(objective truth)</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—Harris, Philos. Basis of Theism, 182. If + there be no absolute truth, Lessing's</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">search for truth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is the only thing left to us. But who will + search, if there is no truth to be found? Even a wise cat + will not eternally chase its own tail. The exercise within + certain limits is doubtless useful, but the cat gives it up + so soon as it becomes convinced that the tail cannot be + caught. Sir Richard Burton became a Roman Catholic, a + Brahmin, and a Mohammedan, successively, apparently holding + with Hamlet that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">there + is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it + so.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">This same scepticism as to the existence of + objective truth appears in the sayings:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Your religion is good for you, and mine for + me</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">One man is born an Augustinian, and another + a Pelagian.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Dix, Pantheism, Introd., 12. + Richter:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It is + not the goal, but the course, that makes us + happy.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">e</span></span>) It logically involves the + denial of a personal God who is truth and reveals truth, and so + makes man to be the highest intelligence in the universe. This + is to explain inspiration by denying its existence; since, if + there be no personal God, inspiration is but a figure of speech + for a purely natural fact.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The</span> <span lang="la" + class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">animus</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of this theory is denial of the + supernatural. Like the denial of miracles, it can be + maintained only upon grounds of atheism or pantheism. The + view in question, as Hutton in his Essays remarks, would + permit us to say that the word of the Lord came to Gibbon, + amid the ruins of the Coliseum, saying:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Go, write the history of the Decline and + Fall!</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">But, replies Hutton: Such a view + is pantheistic. Inspiration is the voice of a living friend, + in distinction from the voice of a dead friend,</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, the influence + of his memory. The inward impulse of genius, Shakespeare's + for example, is not properly denominated inspiration. See + Row, Bampton Lectures for 1877:428-474; Rogers, Eclipse of + Faith, 73</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and 283</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + Henderson, Inspiration (2nd ed.), 443-469, 481-490. The view + of Martineau, Seat of Authority, 302, is substantially this. + See criticism of Martineau, by Rainy, in Critical Rev., + 1:5-20.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc167" id="toc167"></a> <a name="pdf168" id= + "pdf168"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 2. The Illumination Theory.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This regards + inspiration as merely an intensifying and elevating of the + religious perceptions of the Christian, the same in kind, + though greater in degree, with the illumination of every + believer by the Holy Spirit. It holds, not that the Bible is, + but that it contains, the word of God, and that not the + writings, but only the writers, were inspired. The illumination + given by the Holy Spirit, however, puts the inspired writer + only in full possession of his normal powers, but does not + communicate objective truth beyond his ability to discover or + understand.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">This theory naturally connects + itself with Arminian views of mere coöperation with God. It + differs from the Intuition-theory by containing several + distinctively Christian elements: (1) the influence of a + personal God; (2) an extraordinary work of the Holy Spirit; + (3) the Christological character of the Scriptures, putting + into form a revelation of which Christ is the centre + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rev. + 19:10</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). But while it + grants that the Scripture</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page205">[pg 205]</span><a name="Pg205" id="Pg205" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">writers + were</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">moved by the Holy Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(φερόμενοι—</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Pet. + 1:21</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">), it ignores + the complementary fact that the Scripture itself is</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">inspired of God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(θεόπνευστος—</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Tim. + 3:16</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). Luther's view + resembles this; see Dorner, Gesch. prot. Theol., 236, 237. + Schleiermacher, with the more orthodox Neander, Tholuck and + Cremer, holds it; see Essays by Tholuck, in Herzog, + Encyclopädie, and in Noyes, Theological Essays; Cremer, + Lexicon N.T., θεόπνευστος, and in Herzog and Hauck, + Realencyc., 9:183-203. In France, Sabatier, Philos. Religion, + 90, remarks:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Prophetic inspiration is piety raised to the + second power</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—it differs from the piety of common men + only in intensity and energy. See also Godet, in Revue + Chrétienne, Jan. 1878.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In England Coleridge propounded + this view in his Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit (Works, + 5:669)—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Whatever</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">finds me</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">bears witness that it has + proceeded from a Holy Spirit; in the Bible there is more + that</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">finds me</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">than I have experienced in all + other books put together.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">[Shall we then call Baxter's</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Saints' + Rest</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">inspired, while the Books of + Chronicles are not?] See also F. W. Robertson, Sermon I; Life + and Letters, letter 53, vol. 1:270; + 2:143-150—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">other</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">way, some twenty or thirty men + in the world's history have had special communication, + miraculous and from God; in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">this</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">way, + all may have it, and by devout and earnest cultivation of the + mind and heart may have it illimitably + increased.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Frederick W. H. Myers, Catholic + Thoughts on the Bible and Theology, 10-20, emphasizes the + idea that the Scriptures are, in their earlier parts, not + merely inadequate, but partially untrue, and subsequently + superseded by fuller revelations. The leading thought is that + of</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">accommodation</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; + the record of revelation is not necessarily infallible. + Allen, Religious Progress, 44, quotes Bishop + Thirlwall:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If that + Spirit by which every man spoke of old is a living and + present Spirit, its later lessons may well transcend its + earlier</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;—Pascal's</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">colossal man</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is the race; the first men represented only + infancy;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">we</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">are</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the ancients</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">, and we are wiser than our fathers. See + also Farrar, Critical History of Free Thought, 473, note 50; + Martineau, Studies in Christianity:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">One Gospel in Many + Dialects.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Of American writers who favor + this view, see J. F. Clarke, Orthodoxy, its Truths and + Errors, 74; Curtis, Human Element in Inspiration; Whiton, in + N. Eng., Jan. 1882:63-72; Ladd, in Andover Review, July, + 1885, in What is the Bible? and in Doctrine of Sacred + Scripture, 1:759—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a large + proportion of its writings inspired</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; 2:178, 275, 497—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">that fundamental misconception which + identifies the Bible and the word of God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; 2:488—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Inspiration, as the subjective condition of + Biblical revelation and the predicate of the word of God, + is</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">specifically</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">the same illumining, quickening, + elevating and purifying work of the Holy Spirit as that which + goes on in the persons of the entire believing + community.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Professor Ladd therefore pares + down all predictive prophecy, and regards</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Isaiah + 53</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, not as directly + and solely, but only as typically, Messianic. Clarke, + Christian Theology, 35-44—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Inspiration is exaltation, quickening of + ability, stimulation of spiritual power; it is uplifting and + enlargement of capacity for perception, comprehension and + utterance; and all under the influence of a thought, a truth, + or an ideal that has taken possession of the soul.... + Inspiration to write was not different in kind from the + common influence of God upon his people.... Inequality in the + Scriptures is plain.... Even if we were convinced that some + book would better have been omitted from the Canon, our + confidence in the Scriptures would not thereby be shaken. The + Canon did not make Scripture, but Scripture made the Canon. + The inspiration of the Bible does not prove its excellence, + but its excellence proves its inspiration. The Spirit brought + the Scriptures to help Christ's work, but not to take his + place. Scripture says with Paul:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Not + that we have lordship over your faith, but are helpers of + your joy: for in faith ye stand fast</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(2 Cor. + 1:24)</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">E. G. Robinson:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + office of the Spirit in inspiration is not different from + that which he performed for Christians at the time the + gospels were written.... When the prophets say:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Thus + saith the Lord,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">they mean simply that they have divine + authority for what they utter.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Calvin E. Stowe, History of Books of Bible, + 19—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It is + not the words of the Bible that were inspired. It is not the + thoughts of the Bible that were inspired. It was the men who + wrote the Bible who were inspired.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Thayer, Changed Attitude toward the Bible, + 63—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It was + not before the polemic spirit became rife in the + controversies which followed the Reformation that the + fundamental distinction between the word of God and the + record of that word became obliterated, and the pestilent + tenet gained currency that the Bible is absolutely free from + every error of every sort.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Principal Cave, in Homiletical Review, Feb. + 1892, admitting errors but none serious in the Bible, + proposes a mediating statement for the present controversy, + namely, that Revelation implies inerrancy, but that + Inspiration does not. Whatever God reveals must be true, but + many have become inspired without being rendered infallible. + See also Mead, Supernatural Revelation, 291</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page206">[pg + 206]</span><a name="Pg206" id="Pg206" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">With regard + to this theory we remark:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) There is unquestionably + an illumination of the mind of every believer by the Holy + Spirit, and we grant that there may have been instances in + which the influence of the Spirit, in inspiration, amounted + only to illumination.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Certain applications and + interpretations of Old Testament Scripture, as for example, + John the Baptist's application to Jesus of Isaiah's prophecy + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:29—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Behold, + the Lamb of God, that taketh away</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">[marg.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">beareth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">]</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the sin of the world</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">), and Peter's interpretation of David's + words (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 2:27—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">thou + wilt not leave my soul unto Hades, Neither wilt thou give thy + Holy One to see corruption</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">), may have required only the illuminating + influence of the Holy Spirit. There is a sense in which we + may say that the Scriptures are inspired only to those who + are themselves inspired. The Holy Spirit must show us Christ + before we recognize the work of the Spirit in Scripture. The + doctrines of atonement and of justification perhaps did not + need to be newly revealed to the N. T. writers; illumination + as to earlier revelations may have sufficed. But that Christ + existed before his incarnation, and that there are personal + distinctions in the Godhead, probably required revelation. + Edison says that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">inspiration is simply + perspiration.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Genius has been defined as</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">unlimited power to take + pains.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">But it is more—the power to do + spontaneously and without effort what the ordinary man does + by the hardest. Every great genius recognizes that this power + is due to the inflowing into him of a Spirit greater than his + own—the Spirit of divine wisdom and energy. The Scripture + writers attribute their understanding of divine things to the + Holy Spirit; see next paragraph. On genius, as due to</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">subliminal uprush,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">see F. W. H. Myers, Human Personality, + 1:70-120.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) But we deny that this was + the constant method of inspiration, or that such an influence + can account for the revelation of new truth to the prophets and + apostles. The illumination of the Holy Spirit gives no new + truth, but only a vivid apprehension of the truth already + revealed. Any original communication of truth must have + required a work of the Spirit different, not in degree, but in + kind.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The Scriptures clearly + distinguish between revelation, or the communication of new + truth, and illumination, or the quickening of man's cognitive + powers to perceive truth already revealed. No increase in the + power of the eye or the telescope will do more than to bring + into clear view what is already within its range. + Illumination will not lift the veil that hides what is + beyond. Revelation, on the other hand, is an</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">unveiling</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—the raising of a curtain, or the bringing + within our range of what was hidden before. Such a special + operation of God is described in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Sam. 23:2, + 3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Spirit of Jehovah spake by me, And his word was upon my + tongue. The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spake to + me</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 10:20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For it + is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that + speaketh in you</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 2:9-13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Things + which eye saw not, and ear heard not, And which entered not + into the heart of man, Whatsoever things God prepared for + them that love him. But unto us God revealed them through the + Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep + things of God. For who among men knoweth the things of a man, + save the spirit of the man, which is in him? even so the + things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of God. But we + received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which + is from God; that we might know the things that were freely + given to us of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Clairvoyance and second sight, + of which along with many cases of imposition and exaggeration + there seems to be a small residuum of proved fact, show that + there may be extraordinary operations of our natural powers. + But, as in the case of miracle, the inspiration of Scripture + necessitated an exaltation of these natural powers such as + only the special influence of the Holy Spirit can explain. + That the product is inexplicable as due to mere illumination + seems plain when we remember that revelation sometimes</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">excluded</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">illumination as to the meaning + of that which was communicated, for the prophets are + represented in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Pet. 1:11</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">as</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">searching what time or what manner of time + the Spirit of Christ which was in them did point unto, when + it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the + glories that should follow them.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Since no degree of illumination can account + for the prediction of</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">things + that are to come</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 16:13</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">), this theory + tends to the denial of any immediate revelation in prophecy + so-called, and the denial easily extends to any immediate + revelation of doctrine.</span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page207">[pg + 207]</span><a name="Pg207" id="Pg207" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) Mere illumination could + not secure the Scripture writers from frequent and grievous + error. The spiritual perception of the Christian is always + rendered to some extent imperfect and deceptive by remaining + depravity. The subjective element so predominates in this + theory, that no certainty remains even with regard to the + trustworthiness of the Scriptures as a whole.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">While we admit imperfections of + detail in matters not essential to the moral and religious + teaching of Scripture, we claim that the Bible furnishes a + sufficient guide to Christ and to salvation. The theory we + are considering, however, by making the measure of holiness + to be the measure of inspiration, renders even the collective + testimony of the Scripture writers an uncertain guide to + truth. We point out therefore that inspiration is not + absolutely limited by the moral condition of those who are + inspired. Knowledge, in the Christian, may go beyond conduct. + Balaam and Caiaphas were not holy men, yet they were inspired + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Num. 23:5; John + 11:49-52</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). The + promise of Christ assured at least the essential + trustworthiness of his witnesses (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. 10:7, 19, 20; John + 14:26; 15:26, 27; 16:13; 17:8</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">). This theory that inspiration is a wholly + subjective communication of truth leads to the practical + rejection of important parts of Scripture, in fact to the + rejection of all Scripture that professes to convey truth + beyond the power of man to discover or to understand. Notice + the progress from Thomas Arnold (Sermons, 2:185) to Matthew + Arnold (Literature and Dogma, 134, 137). Notice also + Swedenborg's rejection of nearly one half the Bible (Ruth, + Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Proverbs, + Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, and the whole of the N. T. + except the Gospels and the Apocalypse), connected with the + claim of divine authority for his new revelation.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">His + interlocutors all Swedenborgize</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(R. W. Emerson). On Swedenborg, see Hours + with the Mystics, 2:230; Moehler, Symbolism, 436-466; New + Englander, Jan. 1874:195; Baptist Review, 1883:143-157; Pond, + Swedenborgianism; Ireland, The Blot on the Brain, + 1-129.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) The theory is logically + indefensible, as intimating that illumination with regard to + truth can be imparted without imparting truth itself, whereas + God must first furnish objective truth to be perceived before + he can illuminate the mind to perceive the meaning of that + truth.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The theory is analogous to the + views that preservation is a continued creation; knowledge is + recognition; regeneration is increase of light. In order to + preservation, something must first be created which can be + preserved; in order to recognition, something must be known + which can be recognized or known again; in order to make + increase of light of any use, there must first be the power + to see. In like manner, inspiration cannot be mere + illumination, because the external necessarily precedes the + internal, the objective precedes the subjective, the truth + revealed precedes the apprehension of that truth. In the case + of all truth that surpasses the normal powers of man to + perceive or evolve, there must be special communication from + God; revelation must go before inspiration; inspiration alone + is not revelation. It matters not whether this communication + of truth be from without or from within. As in creation, God + can work from within, yet the new result is not explicable as + mere reproduction of the past. The eye can see only as it + receives and uses the external light furnished by the sun, + even though it be equally true that without the eye the light + of the sun would be nothing worth.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Pfleiderer, Grundriss, 17-19, + says that to Schleiermacher revelation is the original + appearance of a proper religious life, which life is derived + neither from external communication nor from invention and + reflection, but from a divine impartation, which impartation + can be regarded, not merely as an instructive influence upon + man as an intellectual being, but as an endowment determining + his whole personal existence—an endowment analogous to the + higher conditions of poetic and heroic exaltation. Pfleiderer + himself would give the name</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">revelation</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">to</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">every original experience in which man + becomes aware of, and is seized by, supersensible truth, + truth which does not come from external impartation nor from + purposed reflection, but from the unconscious and undivided + transcendental ground of the soul, and so is received as an + impartation from God through the medium of the soul's human + activity.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Kaftan, Dogmatik, 51</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We + must put the conception of revelation in place of + inspiration.</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page208">[pg + 208]</span><a name="Pg208" id="Pg208" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">Scripture + is the record of divine revelation. We do not propose a new + doctrine or inspiration, in place of the old. We need only + revelation, and, here and there, providence. The testimony of + the Holy Spirit is given, not to inspiration, but to + revelation—the truths that touch the human spirit and have + been historically revealed.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Allen, Jonathan Edwards, + 182—Edwards held that spiritual life in the soul is given by + God only to his favorites and dear children, while + inspiration may be thrown out, as it were, to dogs and + swine—a Balaam, Saul, and Judas. The greatest privilege of + apostles and prophets was, not their inspiration, but their + holiness. Better to have grace in the heart, than to be the + mother of Christ (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 11:27, 28</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). Maltbie + D. Babcock, in S. S. Times, 1901:590—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The man who mourns because infallibility + cannot be had in a church, or a guide, or a set of standards, + does not know when he is well off. How could God develop our + minds, our power of moral judgment, if there were no</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">spirit + to be tried</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 + John 4:1</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">), no + necessity for discrimination, no discipline of search and + challenge and choice? To give the right answer to a problem + is to put him on the side of infallibility so far as that + answer is concerned, but it is to do him an ineffable wrong + touching his real education. The blessing of life's schooling + is not in knowing the right answer in advance, but in + developing power through struggle.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Why did John Henry Newman + surrender to the Church of Rome? Because he assumed that an + external authority is absolutely essential to religion, and, + when such an assumption is followed, Rome is the only logical + terminus.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Dogma + was,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">he says,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the fundamental principle of my + religion.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Modern ritualism is a return to + this mediæval notion.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dogmatic Christianity,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">says Harnack,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">is Catholic. It needs an inerrant Bible, and + an infallible church to interpret that Bible. The dogmatic + Protestant is of the same camp with the sacramental and + infallible Catholic.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Lyman Abbott:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The new Reformation denies the infallibility + of the Bible, as the Protestant Reformation denied the + infallibility of the Church. There is no infallible + authority. Infallible authority is undesirable.... God has + given us something far better,—life.... The Bible is the + record of the gradual manifestation of God to man in human + experience, in moral laws and their applications, and in the + life of Him who was God manifest in the + flesh.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Leighton Williams:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There + is no inspiration apart from experience. Baptists are not + sacramental, nor creedal, but experimental + Christians</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—not Romanists, nor Protestants, but + believers in an inner light.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Life, as it develops, awakens into + self-consciousness. That self-consciousness becomes the most + reliable witness as to the nature of the life of which it is + the development. Within the limits of its own sphere, its + authority is supreme. Prophecy is the utterance of the soul + in moments of deep religious experience. The inspiration of + Scripture writers is not a peculiar thing,—it was given that + the same inspiration might be perfected in those who read + their writings.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christ is the only ultimate authority, and + he reveals himself in three ways, through Scripture, the + Reason, and the Church. Only Life saves, and the Way leads + through the Truth to the Life. Baptists stand nearer to the + Episcopal system of life than to the Presbyterian system of + creed. Whiton, Gloria Patri, 136—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The mistake is in looking to the Father + above the world, rather than to the Son and the Spirit within + the world, as the immediate source of revelation.... + Revelation is the unfolding of the life and thought of God + within the world. One should not be troubled by finding + errors in the Scriptures, any more than by finding + imperfections in any physical work of God, as in the human + eye.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc169" id="toc169"></a> <a name="pdf170" id= + "pdf170"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 3. The Dictation-theory.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This theory + holds that inspiration consisted in such a possession of the + minds and bodies of the Scripture writers by the Holy Spirit, + that they became passive instruments or amanuenses—pens, not + penmen, of God.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">This theory naturally connects + itself with that view of miracles which regards them as + suspensions or violations of natural law. Dorner, + Glaubenslehre, 1:624 (transl. 2:186-189), calls it a</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">docetic + view of inspiration. It holds to the abolition of second + causes, and to the perfect passivity of the human instrument; + denies any inspiration of persons, and maintains inspiration + of writings only. This exaggeration of the divine element led + to the hypothesis of a multiform divine sense in Scripture, + and, in assigning the spiritual meaning, a rationalizing + spirit led the way.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Representatives of this view are Quenstedt, + Theol. Didact., 1:76—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Holy Ghost inspired his amanuenses with + those expressions which they would have employed, had they + been left to themselves</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page209">[pg 209]</span><a name="Pg209" id="Pg209" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">Hooker, + Works, 2:383—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">They + neither spake nor wrote any word of their own, but uttered + syllable by syllable as the Spirit put it into their + mouths</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; Gaussen, Theopneusty, + 61—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Bible is not a book which God charged men already enlightened + to make under his protection; it is a book which God dictated + to them</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; Cunningham, Theol. Lectures, + 349—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + verbal inspiration of the Scriptures [which he advocates] + implies in general that the words of Scripture were suggested + or dictated by the Holy Spirit, as well as the substance of + the matter, and this, not only in some portion of the + Scriptures, but through the whole.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This reminds us of the old theory that God + created fossils in the rocks, as they would be had ancient + seas existed.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Sanday, Bamp. Lect. on + Inspiration, 74, quotes Philo as saying:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">A prophet gives forth nothing at all of his + own, but acts as interpreter at the prompting of another in + all his utterances, and as long as he is under inspiration he + is in ignorance, his reason departing from its place and + yielding up the citadel of the soul, when the divine Spirit + enters into it and dwells in it and strikes at the mechanism + of the voice, sounding through it to the clear declaration of + that which he prophesieth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 15:12—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">About + the setting of the sun a trance came upon + Abram</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—the sun is the light of human reason which + sets and gives place to the Spirit of God. Sanday, 78, says + also:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Josephus holds that even historical + narratives, such as those at the beginning of the Pentateuch + which were not written down by contemporary prophets, were + obtained by direct inspiration from God. The Jews from their + birth regard their Scripture as</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the decrees of God,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">which they strictly observe, and for which + if need be they are ready to die.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Rabbis said that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Moses did not write one word out of his own + knowledge.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The Reformers held to a much + freer view than this. Luther said:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">What does not carry Christ with it, is not + apostolic, even though St. Peter or St. Paul taught it. If + our adversaries fall back on the Scripture against Christ, we + fall back on Christ against the Scripture.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Luther refused canonical authority to books + not actually written by apostles or composed, like Mark and + Luke, under their direction. So he rejected from the rank of + canonical authority Hebrews, James, Jude, 2 Peter and + Revelation. Even Calvin doubted the Petrine authorship of 2 + Peter, excluded the book of Revelation from the Scripture on + which he wrote Commentaries, and also thus ignored the second + and third epistles of John; see Prof. R. E. Thompson, in S. + S. Times, Dec. 3, 1898:803, 804. The dictation-theory is + post-Reformation. H. P. Smith, Bib. Scholarship and + Inspiration, 85—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">After + the Council of Trent, the Roman Catholic polemic became + sharper. It became the endeavor of that party to show the + necessity of tradition and the untrustworthiness of Scripture + alone. This led the Protestants to defend the Bible more + tenaciously than before.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Swiss Formula of Consensus in 1675 not + only called the Scriptures</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the very word of God,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">but declared the Hebrew vowel-points to be + inspired, and some theologians traced them back to Adam. John + Owen held to the inspiration of the vowel-points; see Horton, + Inspiration and Bible, 8. Of the age which produced the + Protestant dogmatic theology, Charles Beard, in the Hibbert + Lectures for 1883, says:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I know no epoch of Christianity to which I + could more confidently point in illustration of the fact that + where there is most theology, there is often least + religion.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Of this view + we may remark:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) We grant that there are + instances when God's communications were uttered in an audible + voice and took a definite form of words, and that this was + sometimes accompanied with the command to commit the words to + writing.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">For examples, see</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ex. + 3:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, + Moses, Moses</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">20:22—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Ye + yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from + heaven</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 12:19—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that no + word more should be spoken unto them</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Numbers + 7:89—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">And + when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with him, + then he heard the Voice speaking unto him from above the + mercy-seat that was upon the ark of the testimony, from + between the two cherubim: and he spake unto + him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">8:1—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">And Jehovah spake unto Moses, + saying,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">etc.;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Dan. + 4:31—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">While + the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from + heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken: + The kingdom is departed from thee</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 9:5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">And he + said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou + persecutest</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rev. + 19:9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">And he + saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they that are bidden to the + marriage supper of the Lamb</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">21:5—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">And he that sitteth on the throne said, + Behold, I make all things new</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1:10, + 11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">and I + heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet saying, What + thou seest, write in a book and send it to the seven + churches.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">So the voice from heaven at the baptism, and + at the transfiguration, of Jesus (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 3:17</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, and</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">17:5</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; + see Broadus, Amer. Com., on these passages).</span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page210">[pg + 210]</span><a name="Pg210" id="Pg210" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) The theory in question, + however, rests upon a partial induction of Scripture + facts,—unwarrantably assuming that such occasional instances of + direct dictation reveal the invariable method of God's + communications of truth to the writers of the Bible.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Scripture nowhere declares that + this immediate communication of the words was universal. + On</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. 2:13—οὐκ ἐν + διδακτοίς ανθρωπίνης σοφίας, λόγοις, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν διδακτοîς + πνεύματος</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, the text + usually cited as proof of invariable dictation—Meyer + says:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There + is no dictation here; διδακτοîς excludes everything + mechanical.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Henderson, Inspiration (2nd ed.), 333, + 349—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">As + human wisdom did not dictate word for word, so the Spirit did + not.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Paul claims for Scripture simply a general + style of plainness which is due to the influence of the + Spirit. Manly:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dictation to an amanuensis is not</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">teaching</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Our Revised Version properly + translates the remainder of the verse,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 2:13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">combining spiritual things with spiritual + words.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) It cannot account for the + manifestly human element in the Scriptures. There are + peculiarities of style which distinguish the productions of + each writer from those of every other, and there are variations + in accounts of the same transaction which are inconsistent with + the theory of a solely divine authorship.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Notice Paul's anacoloutha and + his bursts of grief and indignation (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. 5:12</span></em> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">,</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Cor. 11:1</span></em> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">), + and his ignorance of the precise number whom he had baptized + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 1:16</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). One beggar or + two (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 20:30</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 18:35</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">);</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">about + five and twenty or thirty furlongs</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John + 6:19)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">shed + for many</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 26:28</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">has + περί,</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mark 14:24</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke 22:20</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">have ὑπέρ). Dictation of words + which were immediately to be lost by imperfect transcription? + Clarke, Christian Theology, 33-37—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We are under no obligation to maintain the + complete inerrancy of the Scriptures. In them we have the + freedom of life, rather than extraordinary precision of + statement or accuracy of detail. We have become Christians in + spite of differences between the evangelists. The Scriptures + are various, progressive, free. There is no authority in + Scripture for applying the word 'inspired' to our present + Bible as a whole, and theology is not bound to employ this + word in defining the Scriptures. Christianity is founded in + history, and will stand whether the Scriptures are inspired + or not. If special inspiration were wholly disproved, Christ + would still be the Savior of the world. But the divine + element in the Scriptures will never be + disproved.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) It is inconsistent with a + wise economy of means, to suppose that the Scripture writers + should have had dictated to them what they knew already, or + what they could inform themselves of by the use of their + natural powers.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Why employ eye-witnesses at all? + Why not dictate the gospels to Gentiles living a thousand + years before? God respects the instruments he has called into + being, and he uses them according to their constitutional + gifts. George Eliot represents Stradivarius as + saying:—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If my + hand slacked, I should rob God—since he is fullest + good—Leaving a blank instead of violins. God cannot make + Antonio Stradivari's violins, Without + Antonio.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mark + 11:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Lord hath need of him,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">may apply to man as well as + beast.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">e</span></span>) It contradicts what we + know of the law of God's working in the soul. The higher and + nobler God's communications, the more fully is man in + possession and use of his own faculties. We cannot suppose that + this highest work of man under the influence of the Spirit was + purely mechanical.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Joseph receives communication by + vision (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 1:20</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); Mary, by + words of an angel spoken in her waking moments + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 1:28</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). The more + advanced the recipient, the more conscious the communication. + These four theories might almost be called the Pelagian, the + Arminian, the Docetic, and the Dynamical. Sabatier, Philos. + Religion, 41, 42, 87—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">In the Gospel of the Hebrews, the Father + says at the baptism to Jesus:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">My Son, in all the prophets I was waiting + for thee, that thou mightest come, and that I might rest in + thee. For thou art my Rest.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Inspiration becomes more and more internal, + until in Christ it is continuous and complete. Upon the + opposite Docetic view, the most perfect</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page211">[pg 211]</span><a name="Pg211" id= + "Pg211" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">inspiration should have been that of + Balaam's ass.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Semler represents the Pelagian or Ebionitic + view, as Quenstedt represents this Docetic view. Semler + localizes and temporalizes the contents of Scripture. Yet, + though he carried this to the extreme of excluding any divine + authorship, he did good service in leading the way to the + historical study of the Bible.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc171" id="toc171"></a> <a name="pdf172" id= + "pdf172"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 4. The Dynamical Theory.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The true + view holds, in opposition to the first of these theories, that + inspiration is not simply a natural but also a supernatural + fact, and that it is the immediate work of a personal God in + the soul of man.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It holds, in + opposition to the second, that inspiration belongs, not only to + the men who wrote the Scriptures, but to the Scriptures which + they wrote, so that these Scriptures, when taken together, + constitute a trustworthy and sufficient record of divine + revelation.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It holds, in + opposition to the third theory, that the Scriptures contain a + human as well as a divine element, so that while they present a + body of divinely revealed truth, this truth is shaped in human + moulds and adapted to ordinary human intelligence.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In short, + inspiration is characteristically neither natural, partial, nor + mechanical, but supernatural, plenary, and dynamical. Further + explanations will be grouped under the head of The Union of the + Divine and Human Elements in Inspiration, in the section which + immediately follows.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">If the small circle be taken as + symbol of the human element in inspiration, and the large + circle as symbol of the divine, then the Intuition-theory + would be represented by the small circle alone; the + Dictation-theory by the large circle alone; the + Illumination-theory by the small circle external to the + large, and touching it at only a single point; the + Dynamical-theory by two concentric circles, the small + included in the large. Even when inspiration is but the + exaltation and intensification of man's natural powers, it + must be considered the work of God as well as of man. God can + work from within as well as from without. As creation and + regeneration are works of the immanent rather than of the + transcendent God, so inspiration is in general a work within + man's soul, rather than a communication to him from without. + Prophecy may be natural to perfect humanity. Revelation is an + unveiling, and the Röntgen rays enable us to see through a + veil. But the insight of the Scripture writers into truth so + far beyond their mental and moral powers is inexplicable + except by a supernatural influence upon their minds; in other + words, except as they were lifted up into the divine Reason + and endowed with the wisdom of God.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Although we propose this + Dynamical-theory as one which best explains the Scripture + facts, we do not regard this or any other theory as of + essential importance. No theory of inspiration is necessary + to Christian faith. Revelation precedes inspiration. There + was religion before the Old Testament, and an oral gospel + before the New Testament. God might reveal without recording; + might permit record without inspiration; might inspire + without vouching for anything more than religious teaching + and for the history, only so far as was necessary to that + religious teaching. Whatever theory of inspiration we frame, + should be the result of a strict induction of the Scripture + facts, and not an a priori scheme to which Scripture must be + conformed. The fault of many past discussions of the subject + is the assumption that God must adopt some particular method + of inspiration, or secure an absolute perfection of detail in + matters not essential to the religious teaching of Scripture. + Perhaps the best theory of inspiration is to have no + theory.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Warfield and Hodge, Inspiration, + 8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Very + many religious and historical truths must be established + before we come to the question of inspiration, as for + instance the being and moral government of God, the fallen + condition of man, the fact of a redemptive scheme, the + general historical truth of the Scriptures, and the validity + and authority of the revelation of God's will which they + contain, i. e., the general truth of Christianity and of its + doctrines. Hence it follows that while the inspiration of the + Scriptures is true, and being true is a principle fundamental + to the adequate interpretation of Scripture, it nevertheless + is not, in the first instance, a principle fundamental</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page212">[pg 212]</span><a name= + "Pg212" id="Pg212" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">to the truth of the Christian + religion.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Warfield, in Presb. and Ref. + Rev., April, 1893:208—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We do not found the whole Christian system + on the doctrine of inspiration.... Were there no such thing + as inspiration, Christianity would be true, and all its + essential doctrines would be credibly witnessed to + us</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—in the gospels and in the living church. F. + L. Patton, Inspiration, 22—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I must take exception to the disposition of + some to stake the fortunes of Christianity on the doctrine of + inspiration. Not that I yield to any one in profound + conviction of the truth and importance of the doctrine. But + it is proper for us to bear in mind the immense argumentative + advantage which Christianity has, aside altogether from the + inspiration of the documents on which it + rests.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">So argue also Sanday, Oracles of + God, and Dale, The Living Christ.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc173" id="toc173"></a> <a name="pdf174" id= + "pdf174"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">IV. The Union of the Divine and + Human Elements in Inspiration.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">1. The + Scriptures are the production equally of God and of man, and are + therefore never to be regarded as merely human or merely + divine.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The mystery of + inspiration consists in neither of these terms separately, but in + the union of the two. Of this, however, there are analogies in + the interpenetration of human powers by the divine efficiency in + regeneration and sanctification, and in the union of the divine + and human natures in the person of Jesus Christ.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">According to</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dalton's law,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">each gas is as a vacuum to every other:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Gases are + mutually passive, and pass into each other as into + vacua.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Each interpenetrates the other. But + this does not furnish a perfect illustration of our subject. The + atom of oxygen and the atom of nitrogen, in common air, remain + side by side but they do not unite. In inspiration the human and + the divine elements do unite. The Lutheran maxim,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Mens humana + capax divinæ,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is one of the most important + principles of a true theology.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Lutherans think of humanity as a thing made + by God for himself and to receive himself. The Reformed think of + the Deity as ever preserving himself from any confusion with the + creature. They fear pantheism and idolatry</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(Bp. of Salisbury, quoted in Swayne, Our Lord's + Knowledge, xx).</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Sabatier, Philos. Religion, + 66—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">That + initial mystery, the relation in our consciousness between the + individual and the universal element, between the finite and + the infinite, between God and man,—how can we comprehend their + coëxistence and their union, and yet how can we doubt it? Where + is the thoughtful man to-day who has not broken the thin crust + of his daily life, and caught a glimpse of those profound and + obscure waters on which floats our consciousness? Who has not + felt within himself a veiled presence, and a force much greater + than his own? What worker in a lofty cause has not perceived + within his own personal activity, and saluted with a feeling of + veneration, the mysterious activity of a universal and eternal + Power?</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In Deo + vivimus, movemur, et sumus.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">... This mystery cannot be dissipated, for + without it religion itself would no longer + exist.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Quackenbos, in Harper's Magazine, + July, 1900:264, says that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">hypnotic suggestion is but + inspiration.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The analogy of human influence + thus communicated may at least help us to some understanding of + the divine.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">2. This union + of the divine and human agencies in inspiration is not to be + conceived of as one of external impartation and reception.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">On the other + hand, those whom God raised up and providentially qualified to do + this work, spoke and wrote the words of God, when inspired, not + as from without, but as from within, and that not passively, but + in the most conscious possession and the most exalted exercise of + their own powers of intellect, emotion, and will.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Holy Spirit does not dwell in man as water + in a vessel. We may rather illustrate the experience of the + Scripture writers by the experience of the preacher who under the + influence of God's Spirit is carried beyond himself, and is + conscious of a clearer apprehension of truth and of a greater + ability to utter it than belong to his unaided nature, yet knows + himself to be no passive vehicle of a divine communication, but + to be as never before in possession and exercise of his own + powers. The inspiration of the Scripture writers, however, goes + far beyond the illumination granted to the preacher, in that it + qualifies them to put the truth, without error, into permanent + and written</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page213">[pg + 213]</span><a name="Pg213" id="Pg213" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">form. This + inspiration, moreover, is more than providential preparation. + Like miracles, inspiration may use man's natural powers, but + man's natural powers do not explain it. Moses, David, Paul, and + John were providentially endowed and educated for their work of + writing Scripture, but this endowment and education were not + inspiration itself, but only the preparation for it.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Beyschlag:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">With John, remembrance and exposition had + become inseparable.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">E. G. Robinson;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Novelists do not</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">create</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">characters,—they reproduce with + modifications material presented to their memories. So the + apostles reproduced their impressions of + Christ.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Hutton, Essays, + 2:231—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Psalmists vacillate between the first person and the third, + when they deliver the purposes of God. As they warm with their + spiritual inspiration, they lose themselves in the person of + Him who inspires them, and then they are again recalled to + themselves.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Stanley, Life and Letters, + 1:380—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Revelation is not resolved into a mere human + process because we are able to distinguish the natural agencies + through which it was communicated</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + 2:102—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">You seem + to me to transfer too much to these ancient prophets and + writers and chiefs our modern notions of</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">divine + origin</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.... Our notion, + or rather, the modern Puritanical notion of divine origin, is + of a preternatural force or voice, putting aside secondary + agencies, and separated from those agencies by an impassable + gulf. The ancient, Oriental, Biblical notion was of a supreme + Will acting through those agencies, or rather, being + inseparable from them.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Our</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">notions of inspiration and divine + communications insist on absolute perfection of fact, morals, + doctrine. The Biblical notion was that inspiration was + compatible with weakness, infirmity, + contradiction.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ladd, Philosophy of Mind, + 182—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + inspiration the thoughts, feelings, purposes are organized into + another One than the self in which they were themselves born. + That other One is</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + themselves</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. They enter + into communication with Him. Yet this may be supernatural, even + though natural psychological means are used. Inspiration which + is external is not inspiration at all.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This last sentence, however, seems to us a + needless exaggeration of the true principle. Though God + originally inspires from within, he may also communicate truth + from without.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">3. + Inspiration, therefore, did not remove, but rather pressed into + its own service, all the personal peculiarities of the writers, + together with their defects of culture and literary style.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Every + imperfection not inconsistent with truth in a human composition + may exist in inspired Scripture. The Bible is God's word, in the + sense that it presents to us divine truth in human forms, and is + a revelation not for a select class but for the common mind. + Rightly understood, this very humanity of the Bible is a proof of + its divinity.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Locke:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">When God made the prophet, he did not unmake the + man.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Prof. Day:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The bush in which God appeared to Moses remained + a bush, while yet burning with the brightness of God and uttering + forth the majesty of the mind of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">The + paragraphs of the Koran are called</span> <span lang="ar" + class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="ar"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">ayat</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + or</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">sign,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">from their supposed supernatural elegance. But + elegant literary productions do not touch the heart. The Bible + is not merely the word of God; it is also the word made flesh. + The Holy Spirit hides himself, that he may show forth Christ + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 3:8</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); he is known only + by his effects—a pattern for preachers, who are ministers of + the Spirit (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Cor. + 3:6</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). See Conant on + Genesis, 65.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Moslem declares that every word of the + Koran came by the agency of Gabriel from the seventh heaven, + and that its very pronunciation is inspired. Better the + doctrine of Martineau, Seat of Authority, + 289—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Though + the pattern be divine, the web that bears it must still be + human.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Jackson, James Martineau, + 255—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Paul's + metaphor of the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">treasure in earthen vessels</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(2 Cor. 4:7)</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">you cannot allow to give you + guidance; you want, not the treasure only, but the casket too, + to come from above, and be of the crystal of the sky. You want + the record to be divine, not only in its spirit, but also in + its letter.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Charles Hodge, Syst. Theol., + 1:157—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">When God + ordains praise out of the mouths of babes, they must speak as + babes, or the whole power and beauty of the tribute will be + lost.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Evans, Bib. Scholarship and Inspiration, 16, + 25—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + πνεῦμα of a dead wind is never changed, as the Rabbis of old + thought, into the πνεῦμα of a living spirit. The raven that fed + Elijah was nothing more than a bird. Nor does man, when + supernaturally influenced, cease to be a man. An inspired man + is not God, nor a divinely manipulated</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page214">[pg 214]</span><a name="Pg214" id= + "Pg214" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">automaton</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + Scripture there may be as much imperfection as, in the parts of + any organism, would be consistent with the perfect adaptation + of that organism to its destined end. Scripture then, taken + together, is a statement of moral and religious truth + sufficient for men's salvation, or an infallible and sufficient + rule of</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">faith and + practice</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">J. + S. Wrightnour:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Inspire + means to breathe in, as a flute-player breathes into his + instrument. As different flutes may have their own shapes, + peculiarities, and what might seem like defects, so here; yet + all are breathed into by one Spirit. The same Spirit who + inspired them selected those instruments which were best for + his purpose, as the Savior selected his apostles. In these + writings therefore is given us, in the precise way that is best + for us, the spiritual instruction and food that we need. Food + for the body is not always given in the most concentrated form, + but in the form that is best adapted for digestion. So God + gives gold, not in coin ready stamped, but in the quartz of the + mine whence it has to be dug and smelted.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Remains of Arthur H. Hallam, in John Brown's + Rab and his Friends, 274—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I see that the Bible fits in to every fold of + the human heart. I am a man, and I believe it is God's book, + because it is man's book.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">4. In + inspiration God may use all right and normal methods of literary + composition.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">As we + recognize in literature the proper function of history, poetry, + and fiction; of prophecy, parable, and drama; of personification + and proverb; of allegory and dogmatic instruction; and even of + myth and legend; we cannot deny the possibility that God may use + any one of these methods of communicating truth, leaving it to us + to determine in any single case which of these methods he has + adopted.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">In inspiration, as in regeneration and + sanctification, God works</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">in divers + manners</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Heb. + 1:1)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. The Scriptures, + like the books of secular literature, must be interpreted in the + light of their purpose. Poetry must not be treated as prose, and + parable must not be made to</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">go on all fours,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">when it was meant to walk erect and to tell one + simple story. Drama is not history, nor is personification to be + regarded as biography. There is a rhetorical overstatement which + is intended only as a vivid emphasizing of important truth. + Allegory is a popular mode of illustration. Even myth and legend + may convey great lessons not otherwise apprehensible to infantile + or untrained minds. A literary sense is needed in our judgments + of Scripture, and much hostile criticism is lacking in this + literary sense.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Denney, Studies in Theology, + 218—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There is + a stage in which the whole contents of the mind, as yet + incapable of science or history, may be called mythological. + And what criticism shows us, in its treatment of the early + chapters of Genesis, is that God does not disdain to speak to + the mind, nor through it, even when it is at this lowly stage. + Even the myth, in which the beginnings of human life, lying + beyond human research, are represented to itself by the + child-mind of the race, may be made the medium of + revelation.... But that does not make the first chapter of + Genesis science, nor the third chapter history. And what is of + authority in these chapters is not the quasi-scientific or + quasi-historical form, but the message, which through them + comes to the heart, of God's creative wisdom and + power.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Gore, in Lux Mundi, + 356—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + various sorts of mental or literary activity develop in their + different lines out of an earlier condition in which they lie + fused and undifferentiated. This we can vaguely call the + mythical stage of mental evolution. A myth is not a falsehood; + it is a product of mental activity, as instructive and rich as + any later product, but its characteristic is that it is not yet + distinguished into history and poetry and + philosophy.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">So Grote calls the Greek myths the + whole intellectual stock of the age to which they belonged—the + common root of all the history, poetry, philosophy, theology, + which afterwards diverged and proceeded from it. So the early + part of Genesis may be of the nature of myth in which we cannot + distinguish the historical germ, though we do not deny that it + exists. Robert Browning's Clive and Andrea del Sarto are + essentially correct representations of historical characters, + though the details in each poem are imaginary.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">5. The + inspiring Spirit has given the Scriptures to the world by a + process of gradual evolution.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">As in + communicating the truths of natural science, God has communicated + the truths of religion by successive steps, germinally at first, + more <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page215">[pg + 215]</span><a name="Pg215" id="Pg215" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + fully as men have been able to comprehend them. The education of + the race is analogous to the education of the child. First came + pictures, object-lessons, external rites, predictions; then the + key to these in Christ, and then didactic exposition in the + Epistles.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">There have been</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">divers + portions,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">as well as</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">divers + manners</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Heb. + 1:1)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. The early + prophecies like that of</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 3:15</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—the seed of the + woman bruising the serpent's head—were but faint glimmerings of + the dawn. Men had to be raised up who were capable of receiving + and transmitting the divine communications. Moses, David, + Isaiah mark successive advances in recipiency and transparency + to the heavenly light. Inspiration has employed men of various + degrees of ability, culture and religious insight. As all the + truths of the calculus lie germinally in the simplest + mathematical axiom, so all the truths of salvation may be + wrapped up in the statement that God is holiness and love. But + not every scholar can evolve the calculus from the axiom. The + teacher may dictate propositions which the pupil does not + understand: he may demonstrate in such a way that the pupil + participates in the process; or, best of all, he may incite the + pupil to work out the demonstration for himself. God seems to + have used all these methods. But while there are instances of + dictation and illumination, and inspiration sometimes includes + these, the general method seems to have been such a divine + quickening of man's powers that he discovers and expresses the + truth for himself.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">A. J. Balfour, Foundations of Belief, + 339—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Inspiration is that, seen from its divine + side, which we call discovery when seen from the human side.... + Every addition to knowledge, whether in the individual or the + community, whether scientific, ethical or theological, is due + to a coöperation between the human soul which assimilates and + the divine power which inspires. Neither acts, or could act, in + independent isolation. For</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">unassisted reason</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is a fiction, and pure receptivity it is + impossible to conceive. Even the emptiest vessel must limit the + quantity and determine the configuration of any liquid with + which it may be filled.... Inspiration is limited to no age, to + no country, to no people.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The early Semites had it, and the great + Oriental reformers. There can be no gathering of grapes from + thorns, or of figs from thistles. Whatever of true or of good + is found in human history has come from God. On the + Progressiveness of Revelation, see Orr, Problem of the O. T., + 431-478.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">6. Inspiration + did not guarantee inerrancy in things not essential to the main + purpose of Scripture.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Inspiration + went no further than to secure a trustworthy transmission by the + sacred writers of the truth they were commissioned to deliver. It + was not omniscience. It was a bestowal of various kinds and + degrees of knowledge and aid, according to need; sometimes + suggesting new truth, sometimes presiding over the collection of + preëxisting material and guarding from essential error in the + final elaboration. As inspiration was not omniscience, so it was + not complete sanctification. It involved neither personal + infallibility, nor entire freedom from sin.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God can use imperfect means. As the imperfection + of the eye does not disprove its divine authorship, and as God + reveals himself in nature and history in spite of their + shortcomings, so inspiration can accomplish its purpose through + both writers and writings in some respects imperfect. God is, in + the Bible as he was in Hebrew history, leading his people onward + to Christ, but only by a progressive unfolding of the truth. The + Scripture writers were not perfect men. Paul at Antioch resisted + Peter,</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">because he stood condemned</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Gal + 2:11)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. But Peter + differed from Paul, not in public utterances, nor in written + words, but in following his own teachings (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 15:6-11</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">);</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">versus</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Norman Fox, in Bap. Rev., + 1885:469-482. Personal defects do not invalidate an ambassador, + though they may hinder the reception of his message. So with + the apostles' ignorance of the time of Christ's second coming. + It was only gradually that they came to understand Christian + doctrines; they did not teach the truth all at once; their + final utterances supplemented and completed the earlier; and + all together furnished only that measure of knowledge which God + saw needful for the moral and religious teaching of mankind. + Many things are yet unrevealed, and many things which inspired + men uttered, they did not, when they uttered them, fully + understand.</span></p><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page216">[pg + 216]</span><a name="Pg216" id="Pg216" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Pfleiderer, Grundriss, 53, + 54—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The word + is divine-human in the sense that it has for its contents + divine truth in human, historical, and individually conditioned + form. The Holy Scripture contains the word of God in a way + plain, and entirely sufficient to beget saving + faith.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Frances Power Cobbe, Life, + 87—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Inspiration is not a miraculous and therefore + incredible thing, but normal and in accordance with the natural + relations of the infinite and finite spirit, a divine inflowing + of</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">mental</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">light precisely analogous to + that</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">moral</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">influence which divines call + grace. As every devout and obedient soul may expect to share in + divine grace, so the devout and obedient souls of all the ages + have shared, as Parker taught, in divine inspiration. And, as + the reception of grace even in large measure does not render + us</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">impeccable</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + so neither does the reception of inspiration render us</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">infallible</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We may concede to Miss Cobbe that + inspiration consists with imperfection, while yet we grant to + the Scripture writers an authority higher than our + own.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">7. Inspiration + did not always, or even generally, involve a direct communication + to the Scripture writers of the words they wrote.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Thought is + possible without words, and in the order of nature precedes + words. The Scripture writers appear to have been so influenced by + the Holy Spirit that they perceived and felt even the new truths + they were to publish, as discoveries of their own minds, and were + left to the action of their own minds in the expression of these + truths, with the single exception that they were supernaturally + held back from the selection of wrong words, and when needful + were provided with right ones. Inspiration is therefore not + verbal, while yet we claim that no form of words which taken in + its connections would teach essential error has been admitted + into Scripture.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Before expression there must be something to be + expressed. Thought is possible without language. The concept may + exist without words. See experiences of deaf-mutes, in Princeton + Rev., Jan. 1881:104-128. The prompter interrupts only when the + speaker's memory fails. The writing-master guides the pupil's + hand only when it would otherwise go wrong. The father suffers + the child to walk alone, except when it is in danger of + stumbling. If knowledge be rendered certain, it is as good as + direct revelation. But whenever the mere communication of ideas + or the direction to proper material would not suffice to secure a + correct utterance, the sacred writers were guided in the very + selection of their words. Minute criticism proves more and more + conclusively the suitableness of the verbal dress to the thoughts + expressed; all Biblical exegesis is based, indeed, upon the + assumption that divine wisdom has made the outward form a + trustworthy vehicle of the inward substance of revelation. See + Henderson, Inspiration (2nd ed.), 102, 114; Bib. Sac, 1872:428, + 640; William James, Psychology, 1:266</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Watts, New Apologetic, 40, 111, holds to a + verbal inspiration:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + bottles are not the wine, but if the bottles perish the wine is + sure to be spilled</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + the inspiring Spirit certainly gave language to Peter and + others at Pentecost, for the apostles spoke with other tongues; + holy men of old not only thought, but</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">spake + from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(2 Pet. + 1:21)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. So Gordon, + Ministry of the Spirit, 171—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Why the minute study of the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">words</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of Scripture, carried on by all + expositors, their search after the precise shade of verbal + significance, their attention to the minutest details of + language, and to all the delicate coloring of mood and tense + and accent?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Liberal scholars, Dr. Gordon + thinks, thus affirm the very doctrine which they deny. Rothe, + Dogmatics, 238, speaks of</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">a language of the Holy + Ghost.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Oetinger:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is the style of the heavenly + court.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">But Broadus, an almost equally conservative + scholar, in his Com. on</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 3:17</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, says that the + difference between</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">This is my beloved Son,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 3:22—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Thou art + my beloved Son,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">should make us cautious in theorizing about + verbal inspiration, and he intimates that in some cases that + hypothesis is unwarranted. The theory of verbal inspiration is + refuted by the two facts: 1. that the N. T. quotations from the + O. T., in 99 cases, differ both from the Hebrew and from the + LXX; 2. that Jesus' own words are reported with variations by + the different evangelists; see Marcus Dods, The Bible, its + Origin and Nature, chapter on Inspiration.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Helen Keller told Phillips Brooks that she had + always known that there was a God, but she had not known his + name. Dr. Z. F. Westervelt, of the Deaf Mute Institute, had + under his charge four children of different mothers. All of + these children were</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page217">[pg 217]</span><a name="Pg217" id="Pg217" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">dumb, though + there was no defect of hearing and the organs of speech were + perfect. But their mothers had never loved them and had never + talked to them in the loving way that provoked imitation. The + children heard scolding and harshness, but this did not + attract. So the older members of the church in private and in + the meetings for prayer should teach the younger to talk. But + harsh and contentious talk will not accomplish the result,—it + must be the talk of Christian love. William D. Whitney, in his + review of Max Müller's Science of Language, 26-31, combats the + view of Müller that thought and language are identical. Major + Bliss Taylor's reply to Santa Anna:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">General Taylor never + surrenders!</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">was a substantially correct, + though a diplomatic and euphemistic, version of the General's + actual profane words. Each Scripture writer uttered old truth + in the new forms with which his own experience had clothed it. + David reached his greatness by leaving off the mere repetition + of Moses, and by speaking out of his own heart. Paul reached + his greatness by giving up the mere teaching of what he had + been taught, and by telling what God's plan of mercy was to + all. Augustine:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Scriptura + est sensus Scripturæ</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Scripture</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">is</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">what Scripture</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">means</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">Among + the theological writers who admit the errancy of Scripture + writers as to some matters unessential to their moral and + spiritual teaching, are Luther, Calvin, Cocceius, Tholuck, + Neander, Lange, Stier, Van Oosterzee, John Howe, Richard + Baxter, Conybeare, Alford, Mead.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">8. Yet, + notwithstanding the ever-present human element, the all-pervading + inspiration of the Scriptures constitutes these various writings + an organic whole.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Since the + Bible is in all its parts the work of God, each part is to be + judged, not by itself alone, but in its connection with every + other part. The Scriptures are not to be interpreted as so many + merely human productions by different authors, but as also the + work of one divine mind. Seemingly trivial things are to be + explained from their connection with the whole. One history is to + be built up from the several accounts of the life of Christ. One + doctrine must supplement another. The Old Testament is part of a + progressive system, whose culmination and key are to be found in + the New. The central subject and thought which binds all parts of + the Bible together, and in the light of which they are to be + interpreted, is the person and work of Jesus Christ.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Bible says:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There is + no God</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Ps. + 14:1)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; but then, this + is to be taken with the context:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The fool + hath said in his heart.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Satan's</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">it is + written,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Mat. + 4:6)</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">is supplemented + by Christ's</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is written again</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Mat. + 4:7)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. Trivialities are + like the hair and nails of the body—they have their place as + parts of a complete and organic whole; see Ebrard, Dogmatik, + 1:40. The verse which mentions Paul's cloak at Troas (2 Tim. + 4:13) is (1) a sign of genuineness—a forger would not invent + it; (2) an evidence of temporal need endured for the gospel; + (3) an indication of the limits of inspiration,—even Paul must + have books and parchments.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col. + 2:21—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Handle + not, nor taste, nor touch</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—is to be interpreted by the context in</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">verse + 20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">why ... + do ye subject yourselves to ordinances?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and by</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">verse + 22—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">after the + precepts and doctrines of men.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hodge, Syst. Theol., 1:164—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The difference between John's gospel and the + book of Chronicles is like that between man's brain and the + hair of his head; nevertheless the life of the body is as truly + in the hair as in the brain.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Like railway coupons, Scripture texts + are</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Not good + if detached.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Crooker, The New Bible and its New Uses, + 137-144, utterly denies the unity of the Bible. Prof. A. B. + Davidson of Edinburgh says that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">A theology of the O. T. is really an + impossibility, because the O. T. is not a homogeneous + whole.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">These denials proceed from an + insufficient recognition of the principle of evolution in O. T. + history and doctrine. Doctrines in early Scripture are like + rivers at their source; they are not yet fully expanded; many + affluents are yet to come. See Bp. Bull's Sermon, in Works, + xv:183; and Bruce, Apologetics, 323—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The literature of the early stages of + revelation must share the defects of the revelation which it + records and interprets.... The final revelation enables us to + see the defects of the earlier.... We should find Christ in the + O. T. as we find the butterfly in the caterpillar, and man the + crown of the universe in the fiery cloud.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Crane, Religion of To-morrow, 224—Every part + is to be modified</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page218">[pg 218]</span><a name="Pg218" id="Pg218" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">by every + other part. No verse is true</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">out of</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">the Book, but the whole Book taken + together is true. Gore, in Lux Mundi, 350—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">To recognize the inspiration of the Scriptures + is to put ourselves to school in every part of + them.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Robert Browning, Ring and Book, + 175 (Pope, 228)—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Truth + nowhere lies, yet everywhere, in these; Not absolutely in a + portion, yet Evolvable from the whole; evolved at last + Painfully, held tenaciously by me.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">On the Organic Unity of the O. T., see Orr, + Problem of the O. T., 27-51.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">9. When the + unity of the Scripture is fully recognized, the Bible, in spite + of imperfections in matters non-essential to its religious + purpose, furnishes a safe and sufficient guide to truth and to + salvation.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The + recognition of the Holy Spirit's agency makes it rational and + natural to believe in the organic unity of Scripture. When the + earlier parts are taken in connection with the later, and when + each part is interpreted by the whole, most of the difficulties + connected with inspiration disappear. Taken together, with Christ + as its culmination and explanation, the Bible furnishes the + Christian rule of faith and practice.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Bible answers two questions: What has God + done to save me? and What must I do to be saved? The propositions + of Euclid are not invalidated by the fact that he believed the + earth to be flat. The ethics of Plato would not be disproved by + his mistakes with regard to the solar system. So religious + authority is independent of merely secular knowledge.—Sir Joshua + Reynolds was a great painter, and a great teacher of his art. His + lectures on painting laid down principles which have been + accepted as authority for generations. But Joshua Reynolds + illustrates his subject from history and science. It was a day + when both history and science were young. In some unimportant + matters of this sort, which do not in the least affect his + conclusions, Sir Joshua Reynolds makes an occasional slip; his + statements are inaccurate. Does he, therefore, cease to be an + authority in matters of his art?—The Duke of Wellington said once + that no human being knew at what time of day the battle of + Waterloo began. One historian gets his story from one combatant, + and he puts the hour at eleven in the morning. Another historian + gets his information from another combatant, and he puts it at + noon. Shall we say that this discrepancy argues error in the + whole account, and that we have no longer any certainty that the + battle of Waterloo was ever fought at all?</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Such slight imperfections are to be freely + admitted, while at the same time we insist that the Bible, + taken as a whole, is incomparably superior to all other books, + and is</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">able to make thee wise unto + salvation</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(2 Tim. + 3:15)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. Hooker, Eccl. + Polity:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Whatsoever is spoken of God or things + pertaining to God otherwise than truth is, though it seem an + honor, it is an injury. And as incredible praises given unto + men do often abate and impair the credit of their deserved + commendation, so we must likewise take great heed lest, in + attributing to Scripture more than it can have, the + incredibility of that do cause even those things which it hath + more abundantly to be less reverently + esteemed.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Baxter, Works, 21:349—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Those men who think that these human + imperfections of the writers do extend further, and may appear + in some passages of chronologies or history which are no part + of the rule of faith and life, do not hereby destroy the + Christian cause. For God might enable his apostles to an + infallible recording and preaching of the gospel, even all + things necessary to salvation, though he had not made them + infallible in every by-passage and circumstance, any more than + they were indefectible in life.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Bible, says Beet,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">contains possible errors in small details or + allusions, but it gives us with absolute certainty the great + facts of Christianity, and upon these great facts, and upon + these only, our faith is based.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Evans, Bib. Scholarship and Inspiration, 15, + 18, 65—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Teach + that the shell is part of the kernel and men who find that they + cannot keep the shell will throw away shell and kernel + together.... This overstatement of inspiration made Renan, + Bradlaugh and Ingersoll sceptics.... If in creation God can + work out a perfect result through imperfection why cannot he do + the like in inspiration? If in Christ God can appear in human + weakness and ignorance, why not in the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">written</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">word?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We therefore take exception to the view of + Watts, New Apologetic, 71—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Let the theory of historical errors and + scientific errors be adopted, and Christianity must share the + fate of Hinduism. If its inspired writers err when they tell us + of earthly things, none will believe when they tell of heavenly + things.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Watts adduces instances of</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page219">[pg 219]</span><a name= + "Pg219" id="Pg219" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Spinoza's giving up the form while claiming to + hold the substance, and in this way reducing revelation to a + phenomenon of naturalistic pantheism. We reply that no</span> + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a + priori</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">theory of + perfection in divine inspiration must blind us to the evidence + of actual imperfection in Scripture. As in creation and in + Christ, so in Scripture, God humbles himself to adopt human and + imperfect methods of self-revelation. See Jonathan Edwards, + Diary:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I observe + that old men seldom have any advantage of new discoveries, + because they are beside the way to which they have been so long + used.</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Resolved</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + if ever I live to years, that I will be impartial to hear the + reasons of all pretended discoveries, and receive them if + rational, however long soever I have been used to another way + of thinking.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bowne, The Immanence of God, 109, + 110—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Those who + would find the source of certainty and the seat of authority in + the Scriptures alone, or in the church alone, or reason and + conscience alone, rather than in the complex and indivisible + coworking of all these factors, should be reminded of the + history of religious thought. The stiffest doctrine of + Scripture inerrancy has not prevented warring interpretations; + and those who would place the seat of authority in reason and + conscience are forced to admit that outside illumination may do + much for both. In some sense the religion of the spirit is a + very important fact, but when it sets up in opposition to the + religion of a book, the light that is in it is apt to turn to + darkness.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">10. While + inspiration constitutes Scripture an authority more trustworthy + than are individual reason or the creeds of the church, the only + ultimate authority is Christ himself.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Christ has not + so constructed Scripture as to dispense with his personal + presence and teaching by his Spirit. The Scripture is the + imperfect mirror of Christ. It is defective, yet it reflects him + and leads to him. Authority resides not in it, but in him, and + his Spirit enables the individual Christian and the collective + church progressively to distinguish the essential from the + non-essential, and so to perceive the truth as it is in Jesus. In + thus judging Scripture and interpreting Scripture, we are not + rationalists, but are rather believers in him who promised to be + with us alway even unto the end of the world and to lead us by + his Spirit into all the truth.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">James speaks of the law as a mirror + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">James + 1:23-25—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">like unto a + man beholding his natural face in a mirror ... looketh into the + perfect law</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">); the law convicts of sin because it reflects + Christ. Paul speaks of the gospel as a mirror + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Cor. + 3:18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">we all, + beholding as in a mirror the glory of the + Lord</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">); the gospel transforms us because it + reflects Christ. Yet both law and gospel are imperfect; they + are like mirrors of polished metal, whose surface is often dim, + and whose images are obscure; (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 13:12—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For now + we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to + face</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">); even inspired men know only in part, and + prophesy only in part. Scripture itself is the conception and + utterance of a child, to be done away when that which is + perfect is come, and we see Christ as he is.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Authority is the right to impose beliefs or to + command obedience. The only ultimate authority is God, for he + is truth, justice and love. But he can impose beliefs and + command obedience only as he is known. Authority belongs + therefore only to God revealed, and because Christ is God + revealed he can say:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">All + authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on + earth</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Mat. + 28:18)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. The final + authority in religion is Jesus Christ. Every one of his + revelations of God is authoritative. Both nature and human + nature are such revelations. He exercises his authority through + delegated and subordinate authorities, such as parents and + civil government. These rightfully claim obedience so long as + they hold to their own respective spheres and recognize their + relation of dependence upon him.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + powers that be are ordained of God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Rom. + 13:1)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, even though + they are imperfect manifestations of his wisdom and + righteousness. The decisions of the Supreme Court are + authoritative even though the judges are fallible and come + short of establishing absolute justice. Authority is not + infallibility, in the government either of the family or of the + state.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The church of the middle ages was regarded as + possessed of absolute authority. But the Protestant Reformation + showed how vain were these pretensions. The church is an + authority only as it recognizes and expresses the supreme + authority of Christ. The Reformers felt the need of some + external authority in place of the church. They + substituted</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page220">[pg + 220]</span><a name="Pg220" id="Pg220" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Scripture. The phrase</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the word of God,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">which designates the truth orally uttered or + affecting the minds of men, came to signify only a book. + Supreme authority was ascribed to it. It often usurped the + place of Christ. While we vindicate the proper authority of + Scripture, we would show that its authority is not immediate + and absolute, but mediate and relative, through human and + imperfect records, and needing a supplementary and divine + teaching to interpret them. The authority of Scripture is not + apart from Christ or above Christ, but only in subordination to + him and to his Spirit. He who inspired Scripture must enable us + to interpret Scripture. This is not a doctrine of rationalism, + for it holds to man's absolute dependence upon the enlightening + Spirit of Christ. It is not a doctrine of mysticism, for it + holds that Christ teaches us only by opening to us the meaning + of his past revelations. We do not expect any new worlds in our + astronomy, nor do we expect any new Scriptures in our theology. + But we do expect that the same Christ who gave the Scriptures + will give us new insight into their meaning and will enable us + to make new applications of their teachings.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The right and duty of private judgment with + regard to Scripture belong to no ecclesiastical caste, but are + inalienable liberties of the whole church of Christ and of each + individual member of that church. And yet this judgment is, + from another point of view, no private judgment. It is not the + judgment of arbitrariness or caprice. It does not make the + Christian consciousness supreme, if we mean by this term the + consciousness of Christians apart from the indwelling Christ. + When once we come to Christ, he joins us to himself, he seats + us with him upon his throne, he imparts to us his Spirit, he + bids us use our reason in his service. In judging Scripture, we + make not ourselves but Christ supreme, and recognize him as the + only ultimate and infallible authority in matters of religion. + We can believe that the total revelation of Christ in Scripture + is an authority superior to individual reason or to any single + affirmation of the church, while yet we believe that this very + authority of Scripture has its limitation, and that Christ + himself must teach us what this total revelation is. So the + judgment which Scripture encourages us to pass upon its own + limitations only induces a final and more implicit reliance + upon the living and personal Son of God. He has never intended + that Scripture should be a substitute for his own presence, and + it is only his Spirit that is promised to lead us into all the + truth.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">On the authority of Scripture, see A. H. + Strong, Christ in Creation, 113-136—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The source of all authority is not Scripture, + but Christ.... Nowhere are we told that the Scripture of itself + is able to convince the sinner or to bring him to God. It is a + glittering sword, but it is</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the sword + of the Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Eph. + 6:17)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; and unless the + Spirit use it, it will never pierce the heart. It is a heavy + hammer, but only the Spirit can wield it so that it breaks in + pieces the flinty rock. It is the type locked in the form, but + the paper will never receive an impression until the Spirit + shall apply the power. No mere instrument shall have the glory + that belongs to God. Every soul shall feel its entire + dependence upon him. Only the Holy Spirit can turn the outer + word into an inner word. And the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of + Christ. Christ comes into direct contact with the soul. He + himself gives his witness to the truth. He bears testimony to + Scripture, even more than Scripture bears testimony to + him.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">11. The + preceding discussion enables us at least to lay down three + cardinal principles and to answer three common questions with + regard to inspiration.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Principles: + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) The human mind can be + inhabited and energized by God while yet attaining and retaining + its own highest intelligence and freedom. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + The Scriptures being the work of the one God, as well as of the + men in whom God moved and dwelt, constitute an articulated and + organic unity. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) The unity and authority of + Scripture as a whole are entirely consistent with its gradual + evolution and with great imperfection in its non-essential + parts.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Questions: + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Is any part of Scripture + uninspired? Answer: Every part of Scripture is inspired in its + connection and relation with every other part. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + Are there degrees of inspiration? Answer: There are degrees of + value, but not of inspiration. Each part in its connection with + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page221">[pg 221]</span><a name= + "Pg221" id="Pg221" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> the rest is made + completely true, and completeness has no degrees. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + How may we know what parts are of most value and what is the + teaching of the whole? Answer: The same Spirit of Christ who + inspired the Bible is promised to take of the things of Christ, + and, by showing them to us, to lead us progressively into all the + truth.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Notice the value of the Old Testament, revealing + as it does the natural attributes of God, as a basis and + background for the revelation of mercy in the New Testament. + Revelation was in many parts</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + (πολυμερῶς—Heb. 1:1)</span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">as well as in many ways.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Each individual oracle, taken by itself, was + partial and incomplete</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(Robertson Smith, O. T. in Jewish Ch., 21). + But the person and the words of Christ sum up and complete the + revelation, so that, taken together and in their connection + with him, the various parts of Scripture constitute an + infallible and sufficient rule of faith and practice. See + Browne, Inspiration of the N. T.; Bernard, Progress of Doctrine + in the N. T.; Stanley Leathes, Structure of the O. T.; Rainy, + Delivery and Development of Doctrine. See A. H. Strong, on + Method of Inspiration, in Philosophy and Religion, + 148-155.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The divine influence upon the minds of + post-biblical writers, leading to the composition of such + allegories as Pilgrim's Progress, and such dramas as Macbeth, + is to be denominated illumination rather than inspiration, for + the reasons that these writings contain error as well as truth + in matters of religion and morals; that they add nothing + essential to what the Scriptures give us; and that, even in + their expression of truth previously made known, they are not + worthy of a place in the sacred canon. W. H. P. Faunce:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">How far + is Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress true to present Christian + experience? It is untrue: 1. In its despair of this world. The + Pilgrim has to leave this world in order to be saved. Modern + experience longs to do God's will</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">here</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + and to save others instead of forsaking them. 2. In its agony + over sin and frightful conflict. Bunyan illustrates modern + experience better by Christiana and her children who go through + the Valley and the Shadow of Death in the daytime, and without + conflict with Apollyon. 3. In the constant uncertainty of the + issue of the Pilgrim's fight. Christian enters Doubting Castle + and meets Giant Despair, even after he has won most of his + victories. In modern experience,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">at + evening time there shall be light</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">—(Zech. + 14:7)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. 4. In the + constant conviction of an absent Christ. Bunyan's Christ is + never met this side of the Celestial City. The Cross at which + the burden dropped is the symbol of a sacrificial act, but it + is not the Savior himself. Modern experience has Christ living + in us and with us alway, and not simply a Christ whom we hope + to see at the end of the journey.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Beyschlag, N. T. Theol., + 2:18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Paul + declares his own prophecy and inspiration to be essentially + imperfect (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. 13:9, 10, 12; cf. 1 + Cor. 12:10; 1 Thess. 5:19-21</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">). This admission justifies a Christian + criticism even of his views. He can pronounce an anathema on + those who preach</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">a different gospel</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Gal. 1:8, + 9)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, for what belongs + to simple faith, the facts of salvation, are absolutely + certain. But where prophetic thought and speech go beyond these + facts of salvation, wood and straw may be mingled with the + gold, silver and precious stones built upon the one foundation. + So he distinguishes his own modest γνώμη from the ἐπιταγὴ + κυρίον (1 Cor. 7:25, 40).</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Clarke, Christian Theology, + 44—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + authority of Scripture is not one that binds, but one that sets + free. Paul is writing of Scripture when he says:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Not that + we have lordship over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: + for in faith ye stand fast</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(2 Cor. + 1:24)</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Cremer, in Herzog, Realencyc., + 183-203—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + church doctrine is</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">that</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">the Scriptures are inspired, but + it has never been determined by the church</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">how</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">they are + inspired.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Butler, Analogy, part</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-variant: small-caps">ii</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + chap.</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-variant: small-caps">iii</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + only question concerning the truth of Christianity is, whether + it be a real revelation, not whether it be attended with every + circumstance which we should have looked for; and concerning + the authority of Scripture, whether it be what it claims to be, + not whether it be a book of such sort, and so promulgated, as + weak men are apt to fancy a book containing a divine revelation + should. And therefore, neither obscurity, nor seeming + inaccuracy of style, nor various readings, nor early disputes + about the authors of particular parts, nor any other things of + the like kind, though they had been much more considerable than + they are, could overthrow the authority of the Scripture; + unless the prophets, apostles, or our Lord had promised that + the book containing the divine revelation should be secure from + these things.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">W. Robertson Smith:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">If am asked why I receive the Scriptures as + the word of God and as the only perfect rule of faith and life, + I answer with all the Fathers of the Protestant church:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Because + the Bible is the only record of the redeeming love of God; + because in the Bible alone I find God drawing nigh to men in + Jesus</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page222">[pg + 222]</span><a name="Pg222" id="Pg222" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">Christ, and + declaring his will for our salvation. And the record I know to + be true by the witness of his Spirit in my heart, whereby I am + assured that none other than God himself is able to speak such + words to my soul.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The gospel of Jesus Christ is the ἅπαξ + λεγόμενον of the Almighty. See Marcus Dods, The Bible, its + Origin and Nature; Bowne, The Immanence of God, + 66-115.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc175" id="toc175"></a> <a name="pdf176" id= + "pdf176"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">V. Objections to the Doctrine of + Inspiration.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In connection + with a divine-human work like the Bible, insoluble difficulties + may be expected to present themselves. So long, however, as its + inspiration is sustained by competent and sufficient evidence, + these difficulties cannot justly prevent our full acceptance of + the doctrine, any more than disorder and mystery in nature + warrant us in setting aside the proofs of its divine authorship. + These difficulties are lessened with time; some have already + disappeared; many may be due to ignorance, and may be removed + hereafter; those which are permanent may be intended to stimulate + inquiry and to discipline faith.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is + noticeable that the common objections to inspiration are urged, + not so much against the religious teaching of the Scriptures, as + against certain errors in secular matters which are supposed to + be interwoven with it. But if these are proved to be errors + indeed, it will not necessarily overthrow the doctrine of + inspiration; it will only compel us to give a larger place to the + human element in the composition of the Scriptures, and to regard + them more exclusively as a text-book of religion. As a rule of + religious faith and practice, they will still be the infallible + word of God. The Bible is to be judged as a book whose one aim is + man's rescue from sin and reconciliation to God, and in these + respects it will still be found a record of substantial truth. + This will appear more fully as we examine the objections one by + one.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Scriptures are given to teach us, not how + the heavens go, but how to go to heaven.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Their aim is certainly not to teach science or + history, except so far as science or history is essential to + their moral and religious purpose. Certain of their doctrines, + like the virgin-birth of Christ and his bodily resurrection, are + historical facts, and certain facts, like that of creation, are + also doctrines. With regard to these great facts, we claim that + inspiration has given us accounts that are essentially + trustworthy, whatever may be their imperfections in detail. To + undermine the scientific trustworthiness of the Indian Vedas is + to undermine the religion which they teach. But this only because + their scientific doctrine is an essential part of their religious + teaching. In the Bible, religion is not dependent upon physical + science. The Scriptures aim only to declare the creatorship and + lordship of the personal God. The method of his working may be + described pictorially without affecting this substantial truth. + The Indian cosmogonies, on the other hand, polytheistic or + pantheistic as they are, teach essential untruth, by describing + the origin of things as due to a series of senseless + transformations without basis of will or wisdom.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">So long as the difficulties of Scripture are + difficulties of form rather than substance, of its incidental + features rather than its main doctrine, we may say of its + obscurities as Isocrates said of the work of Heraclitus:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">What I + understand of it is so excellent that I can draw conclusions + from it concerning what I do not understand.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">If Bengel finds things in the Bible too hard + for his critical faculty, he finds nothing too hard for his + believing faculty.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">With John Smyth, who died at Amsterdam in + 1612, we may say:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I profess + I have changed, and shall be ready still to change, for the + better</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + and with John Robinson, in his farewell address to the Pilgrim + Fathers:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I am + verily persuaded that the Lord hath more truth yet to break + forth from his holy word.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Luthardt, Saving Truths, 205; Philippi, + Glaubenslehre, 205</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + Bap. Rev., April, 1881: art. by O. P. Eaches; Cardinal Newman, + in 19th Century, Feb. 1884.</span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page223">[pg + 223]</span><a name="Pg223" id="Pg223" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc177" id="toc177"></a> <a name="pdf178" id= + "pdf178"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1. Errors in matters of Science.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Upon this + objection we remark:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) We do not admit the + existence of scientific error in the Scripture. What is charged + as such is simply truth presented in popular and impressive + forms.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The common + mind receives a more correct idea of unfamiliar facts when + these are narrated in phenomenal language and in summary form + than when they are described in the abstract terms and in the + exact detail of science.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The Scripture writers + unconsciously observe Herbert Spencer's principle of style: + Economy of the reader's or hearer's attention,—the more + energy is expended upon the form the less there remains to + grapple with the substance (Essays, 1-47). Wendt, Teaching of + Jesus, 1:130, brings out the principle of Jesus' + style:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + greatest clearness in the smallest + compass.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Hence Scripture uses the phrases + of common life rather than scientific terminology. Thus the + language of appearance is probably used in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 7:19—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">all the + high mountains that were under the whole heaven were + covered</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—such would be the appearance, even if the + deluge were local instead of universal; in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Josh. 10:12, + 13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">and the + sun stood still</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—such would be the appearance, even if the + sun's rays were merely refracted so as preternaturally to + lengthen the day; in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 93:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + world also is established, that it cannot be + moved</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—such is the appearance, even though the + earth turns on its axis and moves round the sun. In + narrative, to substitute for</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">sunset</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">some scientific description would divert + attention from the main subject. Would it be preferable, in + the O. T., if we should read:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">When the revolution of the earth upon its + axis caused the rays of the solar luminary to impinge + horizontally upon the retina,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Isaac went out to + meditate</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 24:63</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">)?</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Le + secret d'ennuyer est de tout dire.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Charles Dickens, in his American Notes, 72, + describes a prairie sunset:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The decline of day here was very gorgeous, + tinging the firmament deeply with red and gold, up to the + very keystone of the arch above us</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(quoted by Hovey, Manual of Christian + Theology, 97). Did Dickens therefore believe the firmament to + be a piece of solid masonry?</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Canon Driver rejects the Bible + story of creation because the distinctions made by modern + science cannot be found in the primitive Hebrew. He thinks + the fluid state of the earth's substance should have been + called</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">surging + chaos,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">instead of</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">waters</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Gen. + 1:2)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">An + admirable phrase for modern and cultivated + minds,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">replies Mr. Gladstone,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">but a + phrase that would have left the pupils of the Mosaic writer + in exactly the condition out of which it was his purpose to + bring them, namely, a state of utter ignorance and darkness, + with possibly a little ripple of bewilderment to + boot</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; see Sunday School Times, April 26, 1890. + The fallacy of holding that Scripture gives in detail all the + facts connected with a historical narrative has led to many + curious arguments. The Gregorian Calendar which makes the + year begin in January was opposed by representing that Eve + was tempted at the outset by an apple, which was possible + only in case the year began in September; see Thayer, Change + of Attitude towards the Bible, 46.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) It is not necessary to a + proper view of inspiration to suppose that the human authors of + Scripture had in mind the proper scientific interpretation of + the natural events they recorded.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is enough + that this was in the mind of the inspiring Spirit. Through the + comparatively narrow conceptions and inadequate language of the + Scripture writers, the Spirit of inspiration may have secured + the expression of the truth in such germinal form as to be + intelligible to the times in which it was first published, and + yet capable of indefinite expansion as science should advance. + In the miniature picture of creation in the first chapter of + Genesis, and in its power of adjusting itself to every advance + of scientific investigation, we have a strong proof of + inspiration.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The word</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">day</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Genesis 1</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is an instance of this general + mode of expression. It would be absurd to teach early races, + that deal only in small numbers, about the myriads of years + of creation. The child's object-lesson, with its graphic + summary, conveys to his</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page224">[pg 224]</span><a name="Pg224" id="Pg224" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">mind more + of truth than elaborate and exact statement would convey. + Conant (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Genesis + 2:10</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">) says of the + description of Eden and its rivers:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Of course the author's object is not a + minute topographical description, but a general and + impressive conception as a whole.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Yet the progress of science only shows that + these accounts are not less but more true than was supposed + by those who first received them. Neither the Hindu Shasters + nor any heathen cosmogony can bear such comparison with the + results of science. Why change our interpretations of + Scripture so often? Answer: We do not assume to be original + teachers of science, but only to interpret Scripture with the + new lights we have. See Dana, Manual of Geology, 741-746; + Guyot, in Bib. Sac., 1855:324; Dawson, Story of Earth and + Man, 32.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">This conception of early + Scripture teaching as elementary and suited to the childhood + of the race would make it possible, if the facts so required, + to interpret the early chapters of Genesis as mythical or + legendary. God might condescend to</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Kindergarten formulas.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Goethe said that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We should deal with children as God deals + with us: we are happiest under the influence of innocent + delusions.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Longfellow:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">How beautiful is youth! how bright it + gleams, With its illusions, aspirations, dreams! Book of + beginnings, story without end, Each maid a heroine, and each + man a friend!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We might hold with Goethe and with + Longfellow, if we only excluded from God's teaching all + essential error. The narratives of Scripture might be + addressed to the imagination, and so might take mythical or + legendary form, while yet they conveyed substantial truth + that could in no other way be so well apprehended by early + man; see Robert Browning's poem,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Development,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">in Asolando. The Koran, on the other hand, + leaves no room for imagination, but fixes the number of the + stars and declares the firmament to be solid. Henry + Drummond:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Evolution has given us a new Bible.... The + Bible is not a book which has been made,—it has + grown.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Bagehot tells us that</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">One of + the most remarkable of Father Newman's Oxford sermons + explains how science teaches that the earth goes round the + sun, and how Scripture teaches that the sun goes round the + earth; and it ends by advising the discreet believer to + accept both.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This is mental bookkeeping by double entry; + see Mackintosh, in Am. Jour. Theology, Jan. 1899:41. + Lenormant, in Contemp. Rev., Nov. 1879—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">While the tradition of the deluge holds so + considerable a place in the legendary memories of all + branches of the Aryan race, the monuments and original texts + of Egypt, with their many cosmogonic speculations, have not + afforded any, even distant, allusion to this + cataclysm.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Lenormant here wrongly assumed + that the language of Scripture is scientific language. If it + is the language of appearance, then the deluge may be a local + and not a universal catastrophe. G. F. Wright, Ice Age in + North America, suggests that the numerous traditions of the + deluge may have had their origin in the enormous floods of + the receding glacier. In South-western Queensland, the + standard gauge at the Meteorological Office registered 10-¾, + 20, 35-¾, 10-¾ inches of rainfall, in all 77-¼ inches, in + four successive days.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) It may be safely said + that science has not yet shown any fairly interpreted passage + of Scripture to be untrue.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">With regard + to the antiquity of the race, we may say that owing to the + differences of reading between the Septuagint and the Hebrew + there is room for doubt whether either of the received + chronologies has the sanction of inspiration. Although science + has made probable the existence of man upon the earth at a + period preceding the dates assigned in these chronologies, no + statement of inspired Scripture is thereby proved false.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Usher's scheme of chronology, on + the basis of the Hebrew, puts the creation 4004 years before + Christ. Hales's, on the basis of the Septuagint, puts it 5411 + B. C. The Fathers followed the LXX. But the genealogies + before and after the flood may present us only with the names + of</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">leading + and representative men.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Some of these names seem to stand, not for + individuals, but for tribes,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e. + g.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 10:16</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—where Canaan + is said to have begotten the Jebusite and the Amorite; + 29—Joktan begot Ophir and Havilah. In</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 10:6</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, we read that + Mizraim belonged to the sons of Ham. But Mizraim is a dual, + coined to designate the two parts, Upper and Lower Egypt. + Hence a son of Ham could not bear the name of Mizraim.</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. 10:13</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">reads:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">And + Mizraim begat Ludim.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But Ludim is a plural form. The word + signifies a whole nation, and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">begat</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is not employed in a literal sense. So + in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">verses 15, 16:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Canaan + begat ... the Jebusite,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">a tribe; the ancestors of</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page225">[pg 225]</span><a name= + "Pg225" id="Pg225" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">which would have been called Jebus. Abraham, + Isaac and Jacob, however, are names, not of tribes or + nations, but of individuals; see Prof. Edward König, of Bonn, + in S. S. Times, Dec. 14, 1901. E. G. Robinson:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We may + pretty safely go back to the time of Abraham, but no + further.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Bib. Sac., + 1899:403—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + lists in Genesis may relate to families and not to + individuals.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">G. F. Wright, Ant. and Origin of + Human Race, lect. II—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">When in David's time it is said that</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Shebuel, the son of Gershom, the son of + Moses, was ruler over the treasures</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(1 Chron. 23:16; + 26:24)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, Gershom was + the immediate son of Moses, but Shebuel was separated by many + generations from Gershom. So when Seth is said to have + begotten Enosh when he was 105 years old (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 5:6</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">), it is, + according to Hebrew usage, capable of meaning that Enosh was + descended from the branch of Seth's line which set off at the + 105th year, with any number of intermediate links + omitted.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The appearance of completeness + in the text may be due to alteration of the text in the + course of centuries; see Bib. Com., 1:30. In the + phrase</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of + Abraham</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Mat. + 1:1)</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">thirty-eight to + forty generations are omitted. It may be so in some of the + Old Testament genealogies. There is room for a hundred + thousand years, if necessary (Conant). W. H. Green, in Bib. + Sac., April, 1890:303, and in Independent, June 18, + 1891—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Scriptures furnish us with no data for a chronological + computation prior to the life of Abraham. The Mosaic records + do not fix, and were not intended to fix, the precise date of + the Flood or of the Creation.... They give a series of + specimen lives, with appropriate numbers attached, to show by + selected examples what was the original term of human life. + To make them a complete and continuous record, and to deduce + from them the antiquity of the race, is to put them to a use + they were never intended to serve.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Comparison with secular history + also shows that no such length of time as 100,000 years for + man's existence upon earth seems necessary. Rawlinson, in + Jour. Christ. Philosophy, 1883:339-364, dates the beginning + of the Chaldean monarchy at 2400 B. C. Lenormant puts the + entrance of the Sanskritic Indians into Hindustan at 2500 B. + C. The earliest Vedas are between 1200 and 1000 B. C. (Max + Müller). Call of Abraham, probably 1945 B. C. Chinese history + possibly began as early as 2356 B. C. (Legge). The old Empire + in Egypt possibly began as early as 2650 B. C. Rawlinson puts + the flood at 3600 B. C., and adds 2000 years between the + deluge and the creation, making the age of the world 1886 + + 3600 + 2000 = 7486. S. R. Pattison, in Present Day Tracts, 3: + no. 13, concludes that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">a term of about 8000 years is warranted by + deductions from history, geology, and + Scripture.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See also Duke of Argyll, + Primeval Man, 76-128; Cowles on Genesis, 49-80; Dawson, + Fossil Men, 246; Hicks, in Bap. Rev., July, 1884 (15000 + years); Zöckler, Urgeschichte der Erde und des Menschen, + 137-163. On the critical side, see Crooker, The New Bible and + its Uses, 80-102.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Evidence of a geological nature + seems to be accumulating, which tends to prove man's advent + upon earth at least ten thousand years ago. An arrowhead of + tempered copper and a number of human bones were found in the + Rocky Point mines, near Gilman, Colorado, 460 feet beneath + the surface of the earth, embedded in a vein of + silver-bearing ore. More than a hundred dollars worth of ore + clung to the bones when they were removed from the mine. On + the age of the earth and the antiquity of man, see G. F. + Wright, Man and the Glacial Epoch, lectures</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-variant: small-caps">iv</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-variant: small-caps">x</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + and in McClure's Magazine, June, 1901, and Bib. Sac., + 1903:31—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Charles + Darwin first talked about 300 million years as a mere trifle + of geologic time. His son George limits it to 50 or 100 + million; Croll and Young to 60 or 70 million; Wallace to 28 + million; Lord Kelvin to 24 million; Thompson and Newcomb to + only 10 million.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Sir Archibald Geikie, at the British + Association at Dover in 1899, said that 100 million years + sufficed for that small portion of the earth's history which + is registered in the stratified rocks of the + crust.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Shaler, Interpretation of + Nature, 122, considers vegetable life to have existed on the + planet for at least 100 million years. Warren Upham, in Pop. + Science Monthly, Dec. 1893:153—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">How old is the earth? 100 million + years.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">D. G. Brinton, in Forum, Dec. + 1893:454, puts the minimum limit of man's existence on earth + at 50,000 years. G. F. Wright does not doubt that man's + presence on this continent was preglacial, say eleven or + twelve thousand years ago. He asserts that there has been a + subsidence of Central Asia and Southern Russia since man's + advent, and that Arctic seals are still found in Lake Baikal + in Siberia. While he grants that Egyptian civilization may go + back to 5000 B. C., he holds that no more than 6000 or 7000 + years before this are needed as preparation for history. Le + Conte, Elements of Geology, 613—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Men saw the great glaciers of the second + glacial epoch, but there is no reliable evidence of their + existence before the first glacial epoch. Deltas, implements, + lake shores, waterfalls, indicate only 7000 to</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page226">[pg 226]</span><a name= + "Pg226" id="Pg226" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">10,000 years.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Recent calculations of Prof. Prestwich, the + most eminent living geologist of Great Britain, tend to bring + the close of the glacial epoch down to within 10,000 or + 15,000 years.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) Even if error in matters + of science were found in Scripture, it would not disprove + inspiration, since inspiration concerns itself with science + only so far as correct scientific views are necessary to morals + and religion.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Great harm results from + identifying Christian doctrine with specific theories of the + universe. The Roman church held that the revolution of the + sun around the earth was taught in Scripture, and that + Christian faith required the condemnation of Galileo; John + Wesley thought Christianity to be inseparable from a belief + in witchcraft; opposers of the higher criticism regard the + Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch as</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">articulus stantis vel cadentis + ecclesiæ.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We mistake greatly when we link + inspiration with scientific doctrine. The purpose of + Scripture is not to teach science, but to teach religion, + and, with the exception of God's creatorship and preserving + agency in the universe, no scientific truth is essential to + the system of Christian doctrine. Inspiration might leave the + Scripture writers in possession of the scientific ideas of + their time, while yet they were empowered correctly to + declare both ethical and religious truth. A right spirit + indeed gains some insight into the meaning of nature, and so + the Scripture writers seem to be preserved from incorporating + into their productions much of the scientific error of their + day. But entire freedom from such error must not be regarded + as a necessary accompaniment of inspiration.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc179" id="toc179"></a> <a name="pdf180" id= + "pdf180"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 2. Errors in matters of History.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">To this + objection we reply:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) What are charged as such + are often mere mistakes in transcription, and have no force as + arguments against inspiration, unless it can first be shown + that inspired documents are by the very fact of their + inspiration exempt from the operation of those laws which + affect the transmission of other ancient documents.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We have no right to expect that + the inspiration of the original writer will be followed by a + miracle in the case of every copyist. Why believe in + infallible copyists, more than in infallible printers? God + educates us to care for his word, and for its correct + transmission. Reverence has kept the Scriptures more free + from various readings than are other ancient manuscripts. + None of the existing variations endanger any important + article of faith. Yet some mistakes in transcription there + probably are. In</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Chron. + 22:14</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, instead of + 100,000 talents of gold and 1,000,000 talents of silver (= + $3,750,000,000), Josephus divides the sum by ten. Dr. Howard + Osgood:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A + French writer, Revillout, has accounted for the differing + numbers in Kings and Chronicles, just as he accounts for the + same differences in Egyptian and Assyrian later accounts, by + the change in the value of money and debasement of issues. He + shows the change all over Western Asia.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Per + contra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, see Bacon, + Genesis of Genesis, 45.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Chron. 13:3, + 17</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, where the + numbers of men in the armies of little Palestine are stated + as 400,000 and 800,000, and 500,000 are said to have been + slain in a single battle,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">some ancient copies of the Vulgate and Latin + translations of Josephus have 40,000, 80,000, and + 50,000</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; see Annotated Paragraph Bible,</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + loco</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">. In</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Chron. + 17:14-19</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + Jehoshaphat's army aggregates 1,160,000, besides the + garrisons of his fortresses. It is possible that by errors in + transcription these numbers have been multiplied by ten. + Another explanation however, and perhaps a more probable one, + is given under (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">d</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + below. Similarly, compare</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Sam. + 6:19</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, where 50,070 + are slain, with the 70 of Josephus;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Sam. + 8:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">1,700 + horsemen,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">with</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Chron. + 18:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">7,000 + horsemen</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Esther + 9:16</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—75,000 slain by + the Jews, with LXX—15,000. In</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 27:9</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, we have</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Jeremiah</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">for</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Zechariah</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—this Calvin allows to be a mistake; and, if + a mistake, then one made by the first copyist, for it appears + in all the uncials, all the manuscripts and all the versions + except the Syriac Peshito where it is omitted, evidently on + the authority of the individual transcriber and translator. + In</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 7:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + tomb that Abraham bought</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—Hackett regards</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Abraham</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">as a clerical error for</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Jacob</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(compare</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. 33:18, + 19</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). See Bible Com., + 3:165, 249, 251, 317.</span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page227">[pg + 227]</span><a name="Pg227" id="Pg227" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Other so-called errors + are to be explained as a permissible use of round numbers, + which cannot be denied to the sacred writers except upon the + principle that mathematical accuracy was more important than + the general impression to be secured by the narrative.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Numbers + 25:9</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, we read that + there fell in the plague 24,000;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. 10:8</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">says 23,000. The actual number + was possibly somewhere between the two. Upon a similar + principle, we do not scruple to celebrate the Landing of the + Pilgrims on December 22nd and the birth of Christ on December + 25th. We speak of the battle of Bunker Hill, although at + Bunker Hill no battle was really fought. In</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ex. 12:40, + 41</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, the sojourn of + the Israelites in Egypt is declared to be 430 years. Yet + Paul, in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gal. + 3:17</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, says that the + giving of the law through Moses was 430 years after the call + of Abraham, whereas the call of Abraham took place 215 years + before Jacob and his sons went down into Egypt, and Paul + should have said 645 years instead of 430. Franz + Delitzsch:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Hebrew Bible counts four centuries of Egyptian sojourn + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 15:13-16</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">), more + accurately, 430 years (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ex. + 12:40</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); but + according to the LXX (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ex. + 12:40</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">) this number + comprehends the sojourn in Canaan and Egypt, so that 215 + years come to the pilgrimage in Canaan, and 215 to the + servitude in Egypt. This kind of calculation is not + exclusively Hellenistic; it is also found in the oldest + Palestinian Midrash. Paul stands on this side in</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gal. + 3:17</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, making, not + the immigration into Egypt, but the covenant with Abraham + the</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">terminus a + quo</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">of the 430 + years which end in the Exodus from Egypt and in the + legislation</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; see also Hovey, Com. on</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gal. + 3:17</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. It was not + Paul's purpose to write chronology,—so he may follow the LXX, + and call the time between the promise to Abraham and the + giving of the law to Moses 430 years, rather than the actual + 600. If he had given the larger number, it might have led to + perplexity and discussion about a matter which had nothing to + do with the vital question in hand. Inspiration may have + employed current though inaccurate statements as to matters + of history, because they were the best available means of + impressing upon men's minds truth of a more important sort. + In</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. 15:13</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">the 430 years is called in round + numbers 400 years, and so in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 7:6</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) Diversities of statement + in accounts of the same event, so long as they touch no + substantial truth, may be due to the meagreness of the + narrative, and might be fully explained if some single fact, + now unrecorded, were only known. To explain these apparent + discrepancies would not only be beside the purpose of the + record, but would destroy one valuable evidence of the + independence of the several writers or witnesses.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On the Stokes trial, the judge + spoke of two apparently conflicting testimonies as neither of + them necessarily false. On the difference between Matthew and + Luke as to the scene of the Sermon on the Mount + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 5:1</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 6:17</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">) see Stanley, + Sinai and Palestine, 360. As to one blind man or two + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 20:30</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 18:35</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">) see Bliss, + Com. on Luke, 275, and Gardiner, in Bib. Sac., July, + 1879:513, 514; Jesus may have healed the blind men during a + day's excursion from Jericho, and it might be described + as</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">when + they went out,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">or</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">as they drew nigh to + Jericho.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Prof. M. B. Riddle:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 18:35</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">describes the + general movement towards Jerusalem and not the precise detail + preceding the miracle;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. 20:30</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">intimates that the miracle + occurred during an excursion from the city,—Luke afterwards + telling of the final departure</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; Calvin holds to two meetings; Godet to two + cities; if Jesus healed two blind men, he certainly healed + one, and Luke did not need to mention more than one, even if + he knew of both; see Broadus on</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 20:30</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. In</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 8:28</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, where Matthew + has two demoniacs at Gadara and Luke has only one at Gerasa, + Broadus supposes that the village of Gerasa belonged to the + territory of the city of Gadara, a few miles to the Southeast + of the lake, and he quotes the case of Lafayette:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In the + year 1824 Lafayette visited the United States and was + welcomed with honors and pageants. Some historians will + mention only Lafayette, but others will relate the same visit + as made and the same honors as enjoyed by two persons, + namely, Lafayette and his son. Will not both be + right?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On Christ's last Passover, see + Robinson, Harmony, 212; E. H. Sears, Fourth Gospel, Appendix + A; Edersheim, Life and Times of the Messiah, 2:507. + Augustine:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Locutiones variæ, sed non contrariæ: + dlversæ, sed non adversæ.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Bartlett, in Princeton Rev., + Jan. 1880:46, 47, gives the following modern illustrations: + Winslow's Journal (of Plymouth Plantation) speaks of a ship + sent out</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">by + Master Thomas Weston.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But Bradford in his far briefer narrative of + the matter, mentions it</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page228">[pg 228]</span><a name="Pg228" id="Pg228" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">as + sent</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">by Mr. + Weston and another.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">John Adams, in his letters, tells the story + of the daughter of Otis about her father's destruction of his + own manuscripts. At one time he makes her say:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In one + of his unhappy moments he committed them all to the + flames</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; yet, in the second letter, she is made to + say that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he was + several days in doing it.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">One newspaper says: President Hayes attended + the Bennington centennial; another newspaper says: the + President and Mrs. Hayes; a third: the President and his + Cabinet; a fourth: the President, Mrs. Hayes and a majority + of his Cabinet. Archibald Forbes, in his account of Napoleon + III at Sedan, points out an agreement of narratives as to the + salient points, combined with</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the hopeless and bewildering discrepancies + as to details,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">even as these are reported by eye-witnesses, + including himself, Bismarck, and General Sheridan who was on + the ground, as well as others.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Thayer, Change of Attitude, 52, + speaks of Luke's</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">plump + anachronism in the matter of Theudas</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 5:36—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For + before those days rose up Theudas.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Josephus, Antiquities, 20:5:1, mentions an + insurrectionary Theudas, but the date and other incidents do + not agree with those of Luke. Josephus however may have + mistaken the date as easily as Luke, or he may refer to + another man of the same name. The inscription on the Cross is + given in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mark + 15:26</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, as</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + King of the Jews</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 23:38</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, as</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">This is + the King of the Jews</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 27:37</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, as</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">This is + Jesus the King of the Jews</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; and in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 19:19</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, as</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jesus + of Nazareth the King of the Jews.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The entire superscription, in Hebrew, Greek + and Latin, may have contained every word given by the several + evangelists combined, and may have read</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the + Jews,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and each separate report may be + entirely correct so far as it goes. See, on the general + subject, Haley, Alleged Discrepancies; Fisher, Beginnings of + Christianity, 406-412.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) While historical and + archæological discovery in many important particulars goes to + sustain the general correctness of the Scripture narratives, + and no statement essential to the moral and religious teaching + of Scripture has been invalidated, inspiration is still + consistent with much imperfection in historical detail and its + narratives <span class="tei tei-q">“do not seem to be exempted + from possibilities of error.”</span></p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The words last quoted are those + of Sanday. In his Bampton Lectures on Inspiration, 400, he + remarks that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Inspiration belongs to the historical books + rather as conveying a religious lesson, than as histories; + rather as interpreting, than as narrating plain matter of + fact. The crucial issue is that in these last respects they + do not seem to be exempted from possibilities of + error.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">R. V. Foster, Systematic + Theology, (Cumberland Presbyterian): The Scripture + writers</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">were + not inspired to do otherwise than to take these statements as + they found them.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Inerrancy is not freedom from misstatements, + but from error defined as</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">that which misleads in any serious or + important sense.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">When we compare the accounts of</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Chronicles</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">with those of</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Kings</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">we find in the former an + exaggeration of numbers, a suppression of material + unfavorable to the writer's purpose, and an emphasis upon + that which is favorable, that contrasts strongly with the + method of the latter. These characteristics are so continuous + that the theory of mistakes in transcription does not seem + sufficient to account for the facts. The author's aim was to + draw out the religious lessons of the story, and historical + details are to him of comparative unimportance.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">H. P. Smith, Bib. Scholarship + and Inspiration, 108—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Inspiration did not correct the Chronicler's + historical point of view, more than it corrected his + scientific point of view, which no doubt made the earth the + centre of the solar system. It therefore left him open to + receive documents, and to use them, which idealized the + history of the past, and described David and Solomon + according to the ideas of later times and the priestly class. + David's sins are omitted, and numbers are multiplied, to give + greater dignity to the earlier kingdom.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">As Tennyson's Idylls of the King give a + nobler picture of King Arthur, and a more definite aspect to + his history, than actual records justify, yet the picture + teaches great moral and religious lessons, so the Chronicler + seems to have manipulated his material in the interest of + religion. Matters of arithmetic were minor matters.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Majoribus intentus est.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">E. G. Robinson:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + numbers of the Bible are characteristic of a semi-barbarous + age. The writers took care to guess enough. The tendency of + such an age is always to exaggerate.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Two Formosan savages divide five pieces + between them by taking two apiece and throwing one away. The + lowest tribes can count only with the fingers of their hands; + when they use their toes as well, it marks an advance in + civilization. To</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page229">[pg 229]</span><a name="Pg229" id="Pg229" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">the modern + child a hundred is just as great a number as a million. So + the early Scriptures seem to use numbers with a childlike + ignorance as to their meaning. Hundreds of thousands can be + substituted for tens of thousands, and the substitution seems + only a proper tribute to the dignity of the subject. Gore, in + Lux Mundi, 353—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">This + was not conscious perversion, but unconscious idealizing of + history, the reading back into past records of a ritual + development which was really later. Inspiration excludes + conscious deception, but it appears to be quite consistent + with this sort of idealizing; always supposing that the + result read back into the earlier history does represent the + real purpose of God and only anticipates the + realization.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">There are some who contend that + these historical imperfections are due to transcription and + that they did not belong to the original documents. Watts, + New Apologetic, 71, 111, when asked what is gained by + contending for infallible original autographs if they have + been since corrupted, replies:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Just what we gain by contending for the + original perfection of human nature, though man has since + corrupted it. We must believe God's own testimony about his + own work. God may permit others to do what, as a holy + righteous God, he cannot do himself.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">When the objector declares it a matter of + little consequence whether a pair of trousers were or were + not originally perfect, so long as they are badly rent just + now, Watts replies:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The tailor who made them would probably + prefer to have it understood that the trousers did not leave + his shop in their present forlorn condition. God drops no + stitches and sends out no imperfect work.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Watts however seems dominated by an</span> + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a + priori</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">theory of + inspiration, which blinds him to the actual facts of the + Bible.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Evans, Bib. Scholarship and + Inspiration, 40—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Does + the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">present</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">error destroy the inspiration of + the Bible as we have it? No. Then why should the</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">original</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">error destroy the inspiration of + the Bible, as it was first given? There are spots on yonder + sun; do they stop its being the sun? Why, the sun is all the + more a sun for the spots. So the Bible.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Inspiration seems to have permitted the + gathering of such material as was at hand, very much as a + modern editor might construct his account of an army movement + from the reports of a number of observers; or as a modern + historian might combine the records of a past age with all + their imperfections of detail. In the case of the Scripture + writers, however, we maintain that inspiration has permitted + no sacrifice of moral and religious truth in the completed + Scripture, but has woven its historical material together + into an organic whole which teaches all the facts essential + to the knowledge of Christ and of salvation.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">When we come to examine in + detail what purport to be historical narratives, we must be + neither credulous nor sceptical, but simply candid and + open-minded. With regard for example to the great age of the + Old Testament patriarchs, we are no more warranted in + rejecting the Scripture accounts upon the ground that life in + later times is so much shorter, than we are to reject the + testimony of botanists as to trees of the Sequoia family + between four and five hundred feet high, or the testimony of + geologists as to Saurians a hundred feet long, upon the + ground that the trees and reptiles with which we are + acquainted are so much smaller. Every species at its + introduction seems to exhibit the maximum of size and + vitality. Weismann, Heredity, 6, 30—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Whales live some hundreds of years; + elephants two hundred—their gestation taking two years. + Giants prove that the plan upon which man is constructed can + also be carried out on a scale far larger than the normal + one.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">E. Ray Lankester, Adv. of + Science, 205-237, 286—agrees with Weismann in his general + theory. Sir George Cornewall Lewis long denied centenarism, + but at last had to admit it.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Charles Dudley Warner, in + Harper's Magazine, Jan. 1895, gives instances of men 137, + 140, and 192 years old. The German Haller asserts that</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + ultimate limit of human life does not exceed two centuries: + to fix the exact number of years is exceedingly + difficult.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">J. Norman Lockyer, in Nature, + regards the years of the patriarchs as lunar years. In Egypt, + the sun being used, the unit of time was a year; but in + Chaldea, the unit of time was a month, for the reason that + the standard of time was the moon. Divide the numbers by + twelve, and the lives of the patriarchs come out very much + the same length with lives at the present day. We may ask, + however, how this theory would work in shortening the lives + between Noah and Moses. On the genealogies in Matthew and + Luke, see Lord Harvey, Genealogies of our Lord, and his art, + in Smith's Bible Dictionary;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">per + contra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, see + Andrews, Life of Christ, 55</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On Quirinius and the enrollment + for taxation (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 2:2</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">), see Pres. + Woolsey, in New Englander, 1869. On the general subject, see + Rawlinson, Historical Evidences, and essay in Modern + Scepticism, published by Christian Evidence Society, 1:265; + Crooker, New Bible and New Uses, 102-126.</span></p> + </div> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page230">[pg + 230]</span><a name="Pg230" id="Pg230" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc181" id="toc181"></a> <a name="pdf182" id= + "pdf182"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 3. Errors in Morality.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) What are charged as such + are sometimes evil acts and words of good men—words and acts + not sanctioned by God. These are narrated by the inspired + writers as simple matter of history, and subsequent results, or + the story itself, is left to point the moral of the tale.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Instances of this sort are + Noah's drunkenness (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 9:20-27</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); Lot's + incest (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 19:30-38</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); Jacob's + falsehood (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 27:19-24</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); David's + adultery (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Sam. + 11:1-4</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); Peter's + denial (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 26:69-75</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). See Lee, + Inspiration, 265, note. Esther's vindictiveness is not + commended, nor are the characters of the Book of Esther said + to have acted in obedience to a divine command. Crane, + Religion of To-morrow, 241—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">In law and psalm and prophecy we behold the + influence of Jehovah working as leaven among a primitive and + barbarous people. Contemplating the Old Scriptures in this + light, they become luminous with divinity, and we are + furnished with the principle by which to discriminate between + the divine and the human in the book. Particularly in David + do we see a rugged, half-civilized, kingly man, full of gross + errors, fleshly and impetuous, yet permeated with a divine + Spirit that lifts him, struggling, weeping, and warring, up + to some of the loftiest conceptions of Deity which the mind + of man has conceived. As an angelic being, David is a + caricature; as a man of God, as an example of God moving upon + and raising up a most human man, he is a splendid example. + The proof that the church is of God, is not its + impeccability, but its progress.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Where evil acts appear at + first sight to be sanctioned, it is frequently some right + intent or accompanying virtue, rather than the act itself, upon + which commendation is bestowed.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">As Rehab's faith, not her + duplicity (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Josh. + 2:1-24</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. 11:31</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">James + 2:25</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); Jael's + patriotism, not her treachery (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Judges + 4:17-22</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">5:24</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). + Or did they cast in their lot with Israel and use the common + stratagems of war (see next paragraph)? Herder:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + limitations of the pupil are also limitations of the + teacher.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">While Dean Stanley praises + Solomon for tolerating idolatry, James Martineau, Study, + 2:137, remarks:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It + would be a ridiculous pedantry to apply the Protestant pleas + of private judgment to such communities as ancient Egypt and + Assyria.... It is the survival of coercion, after conscience + has been born to supersede it, that shocks and revolts us in + persecution.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) Certain commands and + deeds are sanctioned as relatively just—expressions of justice + such as the age could comprehend, and are to be judged as parts + of a progressively unfolding system of morality whose key and + culmination we have in Jesus Christ.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ex. + 20:25—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I gave + them statutes that were not good</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—as Moses' permission of divorce and + retaliation (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Deut. + 24:1</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. 5:31, 32; + 19:7-9</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ex. + 21:24</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. 5:38, + 39</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). Compare Elijah's + calling down fire from heaven (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 K. + 1:10-12</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">) with Jesus' + refusal to do the same, and his intimation that the spirit of + Elijah was not the spirit of Christ (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 9:52-56</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">);</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">Mattheson, + Moments on the Mount, 253-255, on</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 17:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jesus + only</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The strength of Elias paled before him. To + shed the blood of enemies requires less strength than to shed + one's own blood, and to conquer by fire is easier than to + conquer by love.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hovey:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">In divine revelation, it is first starlight, + then dawn, finally day.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">George Washington once gave directions for + the transportation to the West Indies and the sale there of a + refractory negro who had given him trouble. This was not at + variance with the best morality of his time, but it would not + suit the improved ethical standards of today. The use of + force rather than moral suasion is sometimes needed by + children and by barbarians. We may illustrate by the Sunday + School scholar's unruliness which was cured by his classmates + during the week.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">What + did you say to him?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">asked the teacher.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We didn't say nothing; we just punched his + head for him.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This was Old Testament righteousness. The + appeal in the O. T. to the hope of earthly rewards was + suitable to a stage of development not yet instructed as to + heaven and hell by the coming and work of Christ; + compare</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ex. 20:12</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">with</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. 5:10; + 25:46</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. The Old + Testament aimed to fix in the mind of a selected people the + idea of the unity and holiness of God; in order to + exterminate idolatry, much other teaching was postponed. See + Peabody,</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page231">[pg + 231]</span><a name="Pg231" id="Pg231" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">Religion of + Nature, 45; Mozley, Ruling Ideas of Early Ages; Green, in + Presb. Quar., April, 1877:221-252; McIlvaine, Wisdom of Holy + Scripture, 328-368; Brit. and For. Evang. Rev., Jan. + 1878:1-32; Martineau, Study, 2:137.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">When therefore we find in the + inspired song of Deborah, the prophetess (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Judges + 5:30</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">), an allusion + to the common spoils of war—</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a + damsel, two damsels to every man</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">or in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Prov. 31:6, + 7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Give + strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto + the bitter in soul. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, + and remember his misery no more</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—we do not need to maintain that these + passages furnish standards for our modern conduct. Dr. Fisher + calls the latter</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + worst advice to a person in affliction, or dispirited by the + loss of property.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">They mark past stages in God's providential + leading of mankind. A higher stage indeed is already + intimated in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Prov. + 31:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">it is + not for kings to drink wine, Nor for princes to say, Where is + strong drink?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We see that God could use very imperfect + instruments and could inspire very imperfect men. Many things + were permitted for men's</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">hardness of heart</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Mat. + 19:8)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. The Sermon on + the Mount is a great advance on the law of Moses + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 5:21—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Ye have + heard that it was said to them of old time</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">22—</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">But I + say unto you</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">).</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Robert G. Ingersoll would have + lost his stock in trade if Christians had generally + recognized that revelation is gradual, and is completed only + in Christ. This gradualness of revelation is conceded in the + common phrase:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the new + dispensation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Abraham Lincoln showed his wisdom by never + going far ahead of the common sense of the people. God + similarly adapted his legislation to the capacities of each + successive age. The command to Abraham to sacrifice his son + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 22:1-19</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">) was a + proper test of Abraham's faith in a day when human sacrifice + violated no common ethical standard because the Hebrew, like + the Roman,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">patria + potestas</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">did not regard the child as + having a separate individuality, but included the child in + the parent and made the child equally responsible for the + parent's sin. But that very command was given</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">only</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">as a test of faith, and with the + intent to make the intended obedience the occasion of + revealing God's provision of a substitute and so of doing + away with human sacrifice for all future time. We may well + imitate the gradualness of divine revelation in our treatment + of dancing and of the liquor traffic.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) God's righteous + sovereignty affords the key to other events. He has the right + to do what he will with his own, and to punish the transgressor + when and where he will; and he may justly make men the + foretellers or executors of his purposes.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Foretellers, as in the + imprecatory Psalms (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">137:9</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. 13:16-18</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jer. 50:16, + 29</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); executors, as + in the destruction of the Canaanites (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Deut. 7:2, + 16</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). In the former + case the Psalm was not the ebullition of personal anger, but + the expression of judicial indignation against the enemies of + God. We must distinguish the substance from the form. The + substance was the denunciation of God's righteous judgments; + the form was taken from the ordinary customs of war in the + Psalmist's time. See Park, in Bib. Sac., 1862:165; Cowles, + Com. on Ps. 137; Perowne on Psalms, Introd., 61; Presb. and + Ref. Rev., 1897:490-505;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Tim. + 4:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Lord will render to him according to his + works</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—a prophecy, not a curse, ἀποδώσει, not + ἀποδώη, as in A. V. In the latter case, an exterminating war + was only the benevolent surgery that amputated the putrid + limb, and so saved the religious life of the Hebrew nation + and of the after-world. See Dr. Thomas Arnold, Essay on the + Right Interpretation of Scripture; Fisher, Beginnings of + Christianity, 11-24.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Another interpretation of these + events has been proposed, which would make them illustrations + of the principle indicated in (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + above: E. G. Robinson, Christian Theology, + 45—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It was + not the imprecations of the Psalm that were inspired of God, + but his purposes and ideas of which these were by the times + the necessary vehicle; just as the adultery of David was not + by divine command, though through it the purpose of God as to + Christ's descent was accomplished.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">John Watson (Ian Maclaren), Cure of Souls, + 143—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">When + the massacre of the Canaanites and certain proceedings of + David are flung in the face of Christians, it is no longer + necessary to fall back on evasions or special pleading. It + can now be frankly admitted that, from our standpoint in this + year of grace, such deeds were atrocious, and that they never + could have been according to the mind of God, but that they + must be judged by their date, and considered the defects of + elementary moral processes. The Bible is vindicated, because + it is, on the whole, a steady ascent, and because it + culminates in Christ.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Lyman Abbott, Theology of an + Evolutionist, 56—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Abraham + mistook the voice of conscience, calling on him to consecrate + his only son to God, and interpreted it as a</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page232">[pg 232]</span><a name= + "Pg232" id="Pg232" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">command to slay his son as a burnt offering. + Israel misinterpreted his righteous indignation at the cruel + and lustful rites of the Canaanitish religion as a divine + summons to destroy the worship by putting the worshipers to + death; a people undeveloped in moral judgment could not + distinguish between formal regulations respecting camp-life + and eternal principles of righteousness, such as, Thou shalt + love thy neighbor as thyself, but embodied them in the same + code, and seemed to regard them as of equal + authority.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Wilkinson, Epic of Paul, + 281—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If so + be such man, so placed ... did in some part That utterance + make his own, profaning it, To be his vehicle for sense not + meant By the august supreme inspiring Will</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, putting some + of his own sinful anger into God's calm predictions of + judgment. Compare the stern last words of</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, the + priest</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">when stoned to death in the temple + court:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Jehovah look upon it and require + it</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(2 Chron. + 24:20-22)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, with the + last words of Jesus:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Father, + forgive them, for they know not what they + do</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Luke 23:34)</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and of Stephen:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Lord, + lay not this sin to their charge</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Acts + 7:60)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">e</span></span>) Other apparent + immoralities are due to unwarranted interpretations. Symbol is + sometimes taken for literal fact; the language of irony is + understood as sober affirmation; the glow and freedom of + Oriental description are judged by the unimpassioned style of + Western literature; appeal to lower motives is taken to + exclude, instead of preparing for, the higher.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Hosea 1:2, + 3</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, the command to + the prophet to marry a harlot was probably received and + executed in vision, and was intended only as symbolic: + compare</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jer. + 25:15-18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Take + this cup ... and cause all the nations ... to + drink.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Literal obedience would have made the + prophet contemptible to those whom he would instruct, and + would require so long a time as to weaken, if not destroy, + the designed effect; see Ann. Par. Bible,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + loco</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">. In</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 K. + 6:19</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, Elisha's + deception, so called, was probably only ironical and + benevolent; the enemy dared not resist, because they were + completely in his power. In the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Song of + Solomon</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, we have, as + Jewish writers have always held, a highly-wrought dramatic + description of the union between Jehovah and his people, + which we must judge by Eastern and not by Western literary + standards.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Francis W. Newman, in his Phases + of Faith, accused even the New Testament of presenting low + motives for human obedience. It is true that all right + motives are appealed to, and some of these motives are of a + higher sort than are others. Hope of heaven and fear of hell + are not the highest motives, but they may be employed as + preliminary incitements to action, even though only love for + God and for holiness will ensure salvation. Such motives are + urged both by Christ and by his apostles:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 6:20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">lay up + for yourselves treasures in heaven</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">10:28—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">fear + him who is able to destroy both soul and body in + hell</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jude + 23—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">some + save with fear, snatching them out of the + fire.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In this respect the N. T. does + not differ from the O. T. George Adam Smith has pointed out + that the royalists got their texts,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + powers that be</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Rom. 13:1)</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + king as supreme</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(1 Pet. + 2:13)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, from the N. + T., while the O. T. furnished texts for the defenders of + liberty. While the O. T. deals with</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">national</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">life, and the discharge of + social and political functions, the N. T. deals in the main + with</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">individuals</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and with their relations to God. + On the whole subject, see Hessey, Moral Difficulties of the + Bible; Jellett, Moral Difficulties of the O. T.; Faith and + Free Thought (Lect. by Christ. Ev. Soc.), 2:173; Rogers, + Eclipse of Faith; Butler, Analogy, part ii, chap. iii; Orr, + Problem of the O. T., 465-483.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc183" id="toc183"></a> <a name="pdf184" id= + "pdf184"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 4. Errors of Reasoning.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) What are charged as such + are generally to be explained as valid argument expressed in + highly condensed form. The appearance of error may be due to + the suppression of one or more links in the reasoning.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 22:32</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, Christ's + argument for the resurrection, drawn from the fact that God + is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is perfectly and + obviously valid, the moment we put in the suppressed premise + that the living relation to God which is here implied cannot + properly be conceived as something merely spiritual, but + necessarily requires a new and restored life of the body. If + God is the God of the living, then Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob + shall rise from the dead. See more full exposition, under + Eschatology. Some of the Scripture arguments are enthymemes, + and an enthymeme, according to Arbuthnot and Pope, is</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a + syllogism in which the major is married to the minnor, and + the marriage is kept secret.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page233">[pg + 233]</span><a name="Pg233" id="Pg233" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Where we cannot see the + propriety of the conclusions drawn from given premises, there + is greater reason to attribute our failure to ignorance of + divine logic on our part, than to accommodation or <span lang= + "la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-style: italic">ad hominem</span></span> arguments on the + part of the Scripture writers.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">By divine logic we mean simply a + logic whose elements and processes are correct, though not + understood by us. In</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. 7:9, 10</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(Levi's paying tithes in + Abraham), there is probably a recognition of the organic + unity of the family, which in miniature illustrates the + organic unity of the race. In</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gal. + 3:20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a + mediator is not a mediator of one; but God is + one</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—the law, with its two contracting parties, + is contrasted with the promise, which proceeds from the sole + fiat of God and is therefore unchangeable. Paul's argument + here rests on Christ's divinity as its foundation—otherwise + Christ would have been a mediator in the same sense in which + Moses was a mediator (see Lightfoot,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + loco</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">). In</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gal. + 4:21-31</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, Hagar and + Ishmael on the one hand, and Sarah and Isaac on the other, + illustrate the exclusion of the bondmen of the law from the + privileges of the spiritual seed of Abraham. Abraham's two + wives, and the two classes of people in the two sons, + represent the two covenants (so Calvin). In</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 10:34—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I said, + Ye are gods,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">the implication is that Judaism was not a + system of mere monotheism, but of theism tending to + theanthropism, a real union of God and man (Westcott, Bib. + Com.,</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + loco</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">). Godet well + remarks that he who doubts Paul's logic will do well first to + suspect his own.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) The adoption of Jewish + methods of reasoning, where it could be proved, would not + indicate error on the part of the Scripture writers, but rather + an inspired sanction of the method as applied to that + particular case.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gal. + 3:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He + saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to + thy seed, which is Christ.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Here it is intimated that the very form of + the expression in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + Gen. 22:18</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, which + denotes unity, was selected by the Holy Spirit as significant + of that one person, Christ, who was the true seed of Abraham + and in whom all nations were to be blessed. Argument from the + form of a single word is in this case correct, although the + Rabbins often made more of single words than the Holy Spirit + ever intended. Watts, New Apologetic, 69—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">F. W. Farrar asserts that the plural of the + Hebrew or Greek terms for</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">seed</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is never used by Hebrew or Greek writers as + a designation of human offspring. But see Sophocles, Œdipus + at Colonus, 599, 600—γῆς ἔμῆς ἀπηλάθην πρὸς τῶν ἐμαυτοῦ + σπερμάτων—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I was + driven away from my own country by my own + offspring.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">In</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 10:1-6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">and the + rock was Christ</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—the Rabbinic tradition that the smitten + rock followed the Israelites in their wanderings is declared + to be only the absurd literalizing of a spiritual fact—the + continual presence of Christ, as preëxistent Logos, with his + ancient people.</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Per + contra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, see Row, + Rev. and Mod. Theories, 98-128.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) If it should appear + however upon further investigation that Rabbinical methods have + been wrongly employed by the apostles in their argumentation, + we might still distinguish between the truth they are seeking + to convey and the arguments by which they support it. + Inspiration may conceivably make known the truth, yet leave the + expression of the truth to human dialectic as well as to human + rhetoric.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Johnson, Quotations of the N. T. + from the O. T., 137, 138—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">In the utter absence of all evidence to the + contrary, we ought to suppose that the allegories of the N. + T. are like the allegories of literature in general, merely + luminous embodiments of the truth.... If these allegories are + not presented by their writers as evidences, they are none + the less precious, since they illuminate the truth otherwise + evinced, and thus render it at once clear to the apprehension + and attractive to the taste.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">If however the purpose of the writers was to + use these allegories for proof, we may still see shining + through the rifts of their traditional logic the truth which + they were striving to set forth. Inspiration may have put + them in possession of this truth without altering their + ordinary scholastic methods of demonstration and expression. + Horton, Inspiration, 108—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Discrepancies and illogical reasonings were + but inequalities or cracks in the mirrors, which did not + materially distort or hide the Person</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">whose glory they sought to reflect. Luther + went even further than this when he said that a certain + argument in the epistle was</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">good enough for the + Galatians.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page234">[pg + 234]</span><a name="Pg234" id="Pg234" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc185" id="toc185"></a> <a name="pdf186" id= + "pdf186"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 5. Errors in quoting or interpreting the Old Testament.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) What are charged as such + are commonly interpretations of the meaning of the original + Scripture by the same Spirit who first inspired it.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. 5:14,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">arise + from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon + thee</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is an inspired interpretation + of</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 60:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Arise, + shine; for thy light is come.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 68:18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Thou + hast received gifts among men</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—is quoted in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. 4:8</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">as</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">gave + gifts to men.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The words in Hebrew are probably a concise + expression for</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">thou + hast taken spoil which thou mayest distribute as gifts to + men.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 4:8</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">agrees exactly + with the sense, though not with the words, of the Psalm. + In</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. 11:21,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jacob + ... worshiped, leaning upon the top of his + staff</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(LXX);</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. 47:31</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">has</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">bowed + himself upon the bed's head.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The meaning is the same, for the staff of + the chief and the spear of the warrior were set at the bed's + head. Jacob, too feeble to rise, prayed in his bed. Here + Calvin says that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + apostle does not hesitate to accommodate to his own purpose + what was commonly received,—they were not so + scrupulous</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">as to details. Even Gordon, + Ministry of the Spirit, 177, speaks of</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">a reshaping of his own words by the Author + of them.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We prefer, with Calvin, to see + in these quotations evidence that the sacred writers were + insistent upon the substance of the truth rather than upon + the form, the spirit rather than the letter.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Where an apparently false + translation is quoted from the Septuagint, the sanction of + inspiration is given to it, as expressing a part at least of + the fulness of meaning contained in the divine original—a + fulness of meaning which two varying translations do not in + some cases exhaust.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 4:4</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—Heb.:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Tremble, + and sin not</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(= no longer); LXX:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Be ye + angry, and sin not.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 4:26</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">quotes the LXX. + The words may originally have been addressed to David's + comrades, exhorting them to keep their anger within bounds. + Both translations together are needed to bring out the meaning + of the original.</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 40:6-8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Mine ears + hast thou opened</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is translated in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 10:5-7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a body + didst thou prepare for me.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Here the Epistle quotes from the LXX. But the + Hebrew means literally:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Mine ears + hast thou bored</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—an allusion to the custom of pinning a slave + to the doorpost of his master by an awl driven through his ear, + in token of his complete subjection. The sense of the verse is + therefore given in the Epistle:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Thou hast made me thine in body and soul—lo, + I come to do thy will.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">A. C. Kendrick:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">David, just entering upon his kingdom after + persecution, is a type of Christ entering on his earthly + mission. Hence David's words are put into the mouth of + Christ. For</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">ears,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">the organs with which we hear and obey and + which David conceived to be hollowed out for him by God, the + author of the Hebrews substitutes the word</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">body,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">as the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">general</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">instrument of doing God's + will</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(Com. on</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 10:5-7</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">).</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) The freedom of these + inspired interpretations, however, does not warrant us in like + freedom of interpretation in the case of other passages whose + meaning has not been authoritatively made known.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We have no reason to believe + that the scarlet thread of Rahab (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Josh. + 2:18</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">) was a designed + prefiguration of the blood of Christ, nor that the three + measures of meal in which the woman hid her leaven + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 13:33</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">) symbolized + Shem, Ham and Japheth, the three divisions of the human race. + C. H. M., in his notes on the tabernacle in Exodus, tells us + that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + loops of blue = heavenly grace; the taches of gold = the + divine energy of Christ; the rams' skins dyed red = Christ's + consecration and devotedness; the badgers' skins = his holy + vigilance against temptation</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">! The tabernacle was indeed a type of Christ + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:14</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—ἐσκήνωσεν.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2:19, + 21—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">in + three days I will raise it up ... but he spake of the temple + of his body</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">); yet it does not follow that every detail + of the structure was significant. So each parable teaches + some one main lesson,—the particulars may be mere drapery; + and while we may use the parables for illustration, we should + never ascribe divine authority to our private impressions of + their meaning.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 25:1-13</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—the parable + of the five wise and the five foolish virgins—has been made + to teach that the number of the saved precisely equals the + number of the lost. Augustine defended persecution from the + words in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 14:23—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">constrain them to come + in.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The Inquisition was justified + by</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 13:30—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">bind + them in bundles to burn them.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Innocent III denied the Scriptures to the + laity, quoting</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 12:20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If even + a beast touch the mountain, it shall be + stoned.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">A Plymouth Brother held that he would be + safe on an evangelizing journey because he read in</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 19:36—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A bone + of him shall not be broken.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 17:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">they + saw no one, save Jesus</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page235">[pg 235]</span><a name="Pg235" id="Pg235" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">only</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—has been held to mean that we should trust + only Jesus. The Epistle of Barnabas discovered in Abraham's + 318 servants a prediction of the crucified Jesus, and others + have seen in Abraham's three days' journey to Mount Moriah + the three stages in the development of the soul. Clement of + Alexandria finds the four natural elements in the four colors + of the Jewish Tabernacle. All this is to make a + parable</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">run on + all fours.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">While we call a hero a lion, we + do not need to find in the man something to correspond to the + lion's mane and claws. See Toy, Quotations in the N. T.; + Franklin Johnson, Quotations of the N. T. from the O. T.; + Crooker, The New Bible and its New Uses, 126-136.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) While we do not grant + that the New Testament writers in any proper sense misquoted or + misinterpreted the Old Testament, we do not regard absolute + correctness in these respects as essential to their + inspiration. The inspiring Spirit may have communicated truth, + and may have secured in the Scriptures as a whole a record of + that truth sufficient for men's moral and religious needs, + without imparting perfect gifts of scholarship or exegesis.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In answer to Toy, Quotations in + the N. T., who takes a generally unfavorable view of the + correctness of the N. T. writers, Johnson, Quotations of the + N. T. from the O. T., maintains their correctness. On pages + x, xi, of his Introduction, Johnson remarks:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I think + it just to regard the writers of the Bible as the creators of + a great literature, and to judge and interpret them by the + laws of literature. They have produced all the chief forms of + literature, as history, biography, anecdote, proverb, + oratory, allegory, poetry, fiction. They have needed + therefore all the resources of human speech, its sobriety and + scientific precision on one page, its rainbow hues of fancy + and imagination on another, its fires of passion on yet + another. They could not have moved and guided men in the best + manner had they denied themselves the utmost force and + freedom of language; had they refused to employ its wide + range of expressions, whether exact or poetic; had they not + borrowed without stint its many forms of reason, of terror, + of rapture, of hope, of joy, of peace. So also, they have + needed the usual freedom of literary allusion and citation, + in order to commend the gospel to the judgment, the tastes, + and the feelings of their readers.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc187" id="toc187"></a> <a name="pdf188" id= + "pdf188"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 6. Errors in Prophecy.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) What are charged as such + may frequently be explained by remembering that much of + prophecy is yet unfulfilled.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It is sometimes taken for + granted that the book of Revelation, for example, refers + entirely to events already past. Moses Stuart, in his + Commentary, and Warren's Parousia, represent this preterist + interpretation. Thus judged, however, many of the predictions + of the book might seem to have failed.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) The personal surmises of + the prophets as to the meaning of the prophecies they recorded + may have been incorrect, while yet the prophecies themselves + are inspired.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Pet. 1:10, + 11</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, the apostle + declares that the prophets searched</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">what + time or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in + them did point unto, when it testified beforehand the + sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow + them.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">So Paul, although he does not + announce it as certain, seems to have had some hope that he + might live to witness Christ's second coming. See</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Cor. + 5:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">not for + that we would be unclothed, but that we would be clothed + upon</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(ἐπενδύσασθαι—put on the + spiritual body, as over the present one, without the + intervention of death);</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Thess. 4:15, + 17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">we that + are alive, that are left unto the coming of the + Lord.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">So</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. 2:15</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">quotes from</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Hosea + 11:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Out of + Egypt did I call my son,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and applies the prophecy to Christ, although + Hosea was doubtless thinking only of the exodus of the people + of Israel.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) The prophet's earlier + utterances are not to be severed from the later utterances + which elucidate them, nor from the whole revelation of which + they form a part. It is unjust to forbid the prophet to explain + his own meaning.</p><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page236">[pg + 236]</span><a name="Pg236" id="Pg236" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 + Thessalonians</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">was + written expressly to correct wrong inferences as to the + apostle's teaching drawn from his peculiar mode of speaking in + the first epistle. In</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Thess. 2:2-5</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">he removes the impression</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">that the + day of the Lord is now present</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">or</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">just at + hand</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; declares that</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">it will + not be, except the falling away come first, and the man of + sin be revealed</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; reminds the Thessalonians:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">when I + was yet with you, I told you these things.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Yet still, in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">verse + 1</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, he speaks + of</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our + gathering together unto him.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">These passages, taken together, + show: (1) that the two epistles are one in their teaching; + (2) that in neither epistle is there any prediction of the + immediate coming of the Lord; (3) that in the second epistle + great events are foretold as intervening before that coming; + (4) that while Paul never taught that Christ would come + during his own lifetime, he hoped at least during the earlier + part of his life that it might be so—a hope that seems to + have been dissipated in his later years. (See</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Tim. + 4:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I am + already being offered, and the time of my departure is + come.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">) We must remember, however, that there was + a</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">coming of the Lord</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">in the destruction of Jerusalem within three + or four years of Paul's death. Henry Van Dyke:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + point of Paul's teaching in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Thess.</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is not that Christ is coming + to-morrow, but that he is surely coming.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The absence of perspective in prophecy may + explain Paul's not at first defining the precise time of the + end, and so leaving it to be misunderstood.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The second Epistle to the + Thessalonians, therefore, only makes more plain the meaning + of the first, and adds new items of prediction. It is + important to recognize in Paul's epistles a progress in + prophecy, in doctrine, in church polity. The full statement + of the truth was gradually drawn out, under the influence of + the Spirit, upon occasion of successive outward demands and + inward experiences. Much is to be learned by studying the + chronological order of Paul's epistles, as well as of the + other N. T. books. For evidence of similar progress in the + epistles of Peter, compare</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Pet. 4:7</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">with</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Pet. 3:4</span></em> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) The character of prophecy + as a rough general sketch of the future, in highly figurative + language, and without historical perspective, renders it + peculiarly probable that what at first sight seem to be errors + are due to a misinterpretation on our part, which confounds the + drapery with the substance, or applies its language to events + to which it had no reference.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">James 5:9</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Phil. 4:5</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">are instances of that large + prophetic speech which regards the distant future as near at + hand, because so certain to the faith and hope of the church. + Sanday, Inspiration, 376-378—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">No doubt the Christians of the Apostolic age + did live in immediate expectation of the Second Coming, and + that expectation culminated at the crisis in which the + Apocalypse was written. In the Apocalypse, as in every + predictive prophecy, there is a double element, one part + derived from the circumstances of the present and another + pointing forwards to the future.... All these things, in an + exact and literal sense have fallen through with the + postponement of that great event in which they centre. From the + first they were but meant as the imaginative pictorial and + symbolical clothing of that event. What measure of real + fulfilment the Apocalypse may yet be destined to receive we + cannot tell. But in predictive prophecy, even when most closely + verified, the essence lies less in the prediction than in the + eternal laws of moral and religious truth which the fact + predicted reveals or exemplifies.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Thus we recognize both the divinity and the + freedom of prophecy, and reject the rationalistic theory which + would relate the fall of the Beaconsfield government in + Matthew's way:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">That it + might be fulfilled which was spoken by Cromwell, saying:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Get you + gone, and make room for honest men!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%"> + See the more full statement of the nature of prophecy, on + pages 132-141. Also Bernard, Progress of Doctrine in the N. + T.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc189" id="toc189"></a> <a name="pdf190" id= + "pdf190"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 7. Certain books unworthy of a place in inspired + Scripture.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) This charge may be shown, + in each single case, to rest upon a misapprehension of the aim + and method of the book, and its connection with the remainder + of the Bible, together with a narrowness of nature or of + doctrinal view, which prevents the critic from appreciating the + wants of the peculiar class of men to which the book is + especially serviceable.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Luther called</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">James</span></em> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a right + strawy epistle.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">His constant pondering of the doctrine of + justification by faith alone made it difficult for him to + grasp the complementary truth that we are justified only by + such faith as brings forth good works, or to perceive</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page237">[pg 237]</span><a name= + "Pg237" id="Pg237" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the essential agreement of James and Paul. + Prof. R. E. Thompson, in S. S. Times, Dec. 3,1898:803, + 804—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Luther + refused canonical authority to books not actually written by + apostles or composed (as Mark and Luke) under their + direction. So he rejected from the rank of canonical + authority Hebrews, James, Jude, 2 Peter, Revelation. Even + Calvin doubted the Petrine authorship of 2 Peter, excluded + the book of Revelation from the Scripture on which he wrote + Commentaries, and also thus ignored 2 and 3 + John.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">G. P. Fisher in S. S. Times, + Aug. 29, 1891—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Luther, + in his preface to the N. T. (Edition of 1522), gives a list + of what he considers as the principal books of the N. T. + These are John's Gospel and First Epistle, Paul's Epistles, + especially Romans and Galatians, and Peter's First Epistle. + Then he adds that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">St. + James' Epistle is a right strawy Epistle</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">compared with + them</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span lang="de" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="de"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">ein recht strohern + Epistel gegen sie,</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">thus characterizing it not absolutely but + only relatively.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Zwingle even said of the Apocalypse:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It is + not a Biblical book.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">So Thomas Arnold, with his exaggerated love + for historical accuracy and definite outline, found the + Oriental imagery and sweeping visions of the book of + Revelation so bizarre and distasteful that he doubted their + divine authority.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) The testimony of church + history and general Christian experience to the profitableness + and divinity of the disputed books is of greater weight than + the personal impressions of the few who criticize them.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Instance the testimonies of the + ages of persecution to the worth of the prophecies, which + assure God's people that his cause shall surely triumph. + Denney, Studies in Theology, 226—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is at least as likely that the individual + should be insensible to the divine message in a book, as that + the church should have judged it to contain such a message if + it did not do so.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Milton, Areopagitica:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Bible brings in holiest men passionately + murmuring against Providence through all the arguments of + Epicurus.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Bruce, Apologetics, + 329—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">O. T. + religion was querulous, vindictive, philolevitical, hostile + toward foreigners, morbidly self-conscious, and tending to + self-righteousness. Ecclesiastes shows us how we ought</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">not</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">to feel. To go about + crying</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Vanitas!</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is to miss the lesson it was + meant to teach, namely, that the Old Covenant was + vanity—proved to be vanity by allowing a son of the Covenant + to get into so despairing a mood.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Chadwick says that Ecclesiastes got into the + Canon only after it had received an orthodox + postscript.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Pfleiderer, Philos. Religion, + 1:193—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Slavish + fear and self-righteous reckoning with God are the unlovely + features of this Jewish religion of law to which the ethical + idealism of the prophets had degenerated, and these traits + strike us most visibly in Pharsiaism.... It was this side of + the O. T. religion to which Christianity took a critical and + destroying attitude, while it revealed a new and higher + knowledge of God. For, says Paul,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">ye + received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye + received the spirit of adoption</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Rom. + 8:15)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. In unity with + God man does not lose his soul but preserves it. God not only + commands but gives.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ian Maclaren (John Watson), Cure of Souls, + 144—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">When + the book of Ecclesiastes is referred to the days of the third + century B. C., then its note is caught, and any man who has + been wronged and embittered by political tyranny and social + corruption has his bitter cry included in the book of + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) Such testimony can be + adduced in favor of the value of each one of the books to which + exception is taken, such as Esther, Job, Song of Solomon, + Ecclesiastes, Jonah, James, Revelation.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Esther is the book, next to the + Pentateuch, held in highest reverence by the Jews.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Job was + the discoverer of infinity, and the first to see the bearing + of infinity on righteousness. It was the return of religion + to nature. Job heard the voice beyond the + Sinai-voice</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(Shadow-Cross, 89). Inge, Christian + Mysticism, 43—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">As to + the Song of Solomon, its influence upon Christian Mysticism + has been simply deplorable. A graceful romance in honor of + true love has been distorted into a precedent and sanction + for giving way to hysterical emotions in which sexual imagery + has been freely used to symbolize the relation between the + soul and its Lord.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Chadwick says that the Song of Solomon got + into the Canon only after it had received an allegorical + interpretation. Gladden, Seven Puzzling Bible Books, 165, + thinks it impossible that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the addition of one more inmate to the harem + of that royal rake, King Solomon, should have been made the + type of the spiritual affection between Christ and his + church. Instead of this, the book is a glorification of pure + love. The Shulamite, transported to the court of Solomon, + remains faithful to her shepherd lover, and is restored to + him.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p><span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page238">[pg 238]</span><a name="Pg238" id="Pg238" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Bruce, Apologetics, + 321—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Song of Solomon, literally interpreted as a story of true + love, proof against the blandishments of the royal harem, is + rightfully in the Canon as a buttress to the true religion; + for whatever made for purity in the relations of the sexes + made for the worship of Jehovah—Baal worship and impurity + being closely associated.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Rutherford, McCheyne, and Spurgeon have + taken more texts from the Song of Solomon than from any other + portion of Scripture of like extent. Charles G. Finney, + Autobiography, 378—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">At this time it seemed as if my soul was + wedded to Christ in a sense which I never had any thought or + conception of before. The language of the Song of Solomon was + as natural to me as my breath. I thought I could understand + well the state he was in when he wrote that Song, and + concluded then, as I have ever thought since, that that Song + was written by him after he had been reclaimed from his great + backsliding. I not only had all the fulness of my first love, + but a vast accession to it. Indeed, the Lord lifted me up so + much above anything that I had experienced before, and taught + me so much of the meaning of the Bible, of Christ's relations + and power and willingness, that I found myself saying to him: + I had not known or conceived that any such thing was + true.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On Jonah, see R. W. Dale, in + Expositor, July, 1892, advocating the non-historical and + allegorical character of the book. Bib. Sac., + 10:737-764—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jonah + represents the nation of Israel as emerging through a miracle + from the exile, in order to carry out its mission to the + world at large. It teaches that God is the God of the whole + earth; that the Ninevites as well as the Israelites are dear + to him; that his threatenings of penalty are + conditional.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc191" id="toc191"></a> <a name="pdf192" id= + "pdf192"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 8. Portions of the Scripture books written by others than the + persons to whom they are ascribed.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The + objection rests upon a misunderstanding of the nature and + object of inspiration. It may be removed by considering + that</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) In the case of books + made up from preëxisting documents, inspiration simply + preserved the compilers of them from selecting inadequate or + improper material. The fact of such compilation does not + impugn their value as records of a divine revelation, since + these books supplement each other's deficiencies and together + are sufficient for man's religious needs.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Luke distinctly informs us that + he secured the materials for his gospel from the reports of + others who were eye-witnesses of the events he recorded + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 1:1-4</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). The book of + Genesis bears marks of having incorporated documents of + earlier times. The account of creation which begins + with</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. 2:4</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is evidently written by a + different hand from that which penned</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1:1-31</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2:1-3</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + Instances of the same sort may be found in the books of + Chronicles. In like manner, Marshall's Life of Washington + incorporates documents by other writers. By thus + incorporating them, Marshall vouches for their truth. See + Bible Com., 1:2, 22.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Dorner, Hist. Prot. Theology, + 1:243—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Luther ascribes to faith critical + authority with reference to the Canon. He denies the + canonicity of James, without regarding it as spurious. So + of Hebrews and Revelation, though later, in 1545, he passed + a more favorable judgment upon the latter. He even says of + a proof adduced by Paul in Galatians that it is too weak to + hold. He allows that in external matters not only Stephen + but even the sacred authors contain inaccuracies. The + authority of the O. T. does not seem to him invalidated by + the admission that several of its writings have passed + through revising hands. What would it matter, he asks, if + Moses did not write the Pentateuch? The prophets studied + Moses and one another. If they built in much wood, hay and + stubble along with the rest, still the foundation abides; + the fire of the great day shall consume the former; for in + this manner do we treat the writings of Augustine and + others. Kings is far more to be believed than Chronicles. + Ecclesiastes is forged and cannot come from Solomon. Esther + is not canonical. The church may have erred in adopting a + book into the Canon. Faith first requires proof. Hence he + ejects the Apocryphal books of the O. T. from the Canon. So + some parts of the N. T. receive only a secondary, + deuterocanonical position. There is a difference between + the word of God and the holy Scriptures, not merely in + reference to the form, but also in reference to the subject + matter.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">H. P. Smith, Bib. Scholarship + and Inspiration, 94—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Editor of the Minor Prophets united in one roll the + prophetic fragments which were in circulation in his + time.</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page239">[pg + 239]</span><a name="Pg239" id="Pg239" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">Finding a + fragment without an author's name he inserted it in the + series. It would not have been distinguished from the work + of the author immediately preceding. So</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Zech. + 9:1-4</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">came to go + under the name of Zechariah, and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. 40-66</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">under the name of Isaiah. + Reuss called these</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">anatomical studies.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">On the authorship of the book of Daniel, + see W. C. Wilkinson, in Homiletical Review, March, + 1902:208, and Oct. 1902:305; on Paul, see Hom. Rev., June, + 1902:501; on 110th Psalm, Hom. Rev., April, + 1902:309.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) In the case of + additions to Scripture books by later writers, it is + reasonable to suppose that the additions, as well as the + originals, were made by inspiration, and no essential truth + is sacrificed by allowing the whole to go under the name of + the chief author.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mark + 16:9-20</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">appears to + have been added by a later hand (see English Revised + Version). The Eng. Rev. Vers. also brackets or segregates a + part of</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">verse 3</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and the whole of</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">verse 4</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John 5</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(the moving of the water by + the angel), and the whole passage</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 7:53-8:11</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">(the + woman taken in adultery). Westcott and Hort regard the + latter passage as an interpolation, probably</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Western</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">in its origin (so also</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mark + 16:9-20</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). Others + regard it as authentic, though not written by John. The + closing chapter of Deuteronomy was apparently added after + Moses' death—perhaps by Joshua. If criticism should prove + other portions of the Pentateuch to have been composed + after Moses' time, the inspiration of the Pentateuch would + not be invalidated, so long as Moses was its chief author + or even the original source and founder of its legislation + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 5:46—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he + wrote of me</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">). Gore, in Lux Mundi, + 355—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Deuteronomy may be a republication of the + law, in the spirit and power of Moses, and put dramatically + into his mouth.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">At a spot near the Pool of + Siloam, Manasseh is said to have ordered that Isaiah should + be sawn asunder with a wooden saw. The prophet is again + sawn asunder by the recent criticism. But his prophecy + opens (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 1:1</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">) with the + statement that it was composed during a period which + covered the reigns of four kings—Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and + Hezekiah—nearly forty years. In so long a time the style of + a writer greatly changes.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Chapters + 40-66</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">may have + been written in Isaiah's later age, after he had retired + from public life. Compare the change in the style of + Zechariah, John and Paul, with that in Thomas Carlyle and + George William Curtis. On Isaiah, see Smyth, Prophecy a + Preparation for Christ; Bib. Sac., Apr. 1881:230-253; also + July, 1881; Stanley, Jewish Ch., 2:646, 647; Nägelsbach, + Int. to Lange's Isaiah.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">For the view that there were + two Isaiahs, see George Adam Smith, Com. on Isaiah, 2:1-25: + Isaiah flourished B. C. 740-700. The last 27 chapters deal + with the captivity (598-538) and with Cyrus (550), whom + they name. The book is not one continuous prophecy, but a + number of separate orations. Some of these claim to be + Isaiah's own, and have titles, such as</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + vision of Isaiah the son of Amos</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(1:1)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(2:1)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + But such titles describe only the individual prophecies + they head. Other portions of the book, on other subjects + and in different styles, have no titles at all. + Chapters</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">40-66</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">do not claim to be his. There + are nine citations in the N. T. from the disputed chapters, + but none by our Lord. None of these citations were given in + answer to the question: Did Isaiah write chapters</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">44-66</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">? + Isaiah's name is mentioned only for the sake of reference. + Chapters</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">44-66</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">set forth the exile and + captivity as already having taken place. Israel is + addressed as ready for deliverance. Cyrus is named as + deliverer. There is no grammar of the future like + Jeremiah's. Cyrus is pointed out as proof that</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">former</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">prophecies of deliverance are + at last coming to pass. He is not presented as a + prediction, but as a proof that prediction is being + fulfilled. The prophet could not have referred the heathen + to Cyrus as proof that prophecy had been fulfilled, had he + not been visible to them in all his weight of war. Babylon + has still to fall before the exiles can go free. But + chapters</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">40-66</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">speak of the coming of Cyrus + as past, and of the fall of Babylon as yet to come. Why not + use the prophetic perfect of both, if both were yet future? + Local color, language and thought are all consistent with + exilic authorship. All suits the exile, but all is foreign + to the subjects and methods of Isaiah, for example, the use + of the terms</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">righteous</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">righteousness</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + Calvin admits exilic authorship (on</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 55:3</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). The + passage</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">56:9-57</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + however, is an exception and is preëxilic.</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">40-48</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">are certainly by one hand, and + may be dated 555-538. 2nd Isaiah is not a unity, but + consists of a number of pieces written before, during, and + after the exile, to comfort the people of God.</span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page240">[pg + 240]</span><a name="Pg240" id="Pg240" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) It is unjust to deny to + inspired Scripture the right exercised by all historians of + introducing certain documents and sayings as simply + historical, while their complete truthfulness is neither + vouched for nor denied.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">An instance in point is the + letter of Claudius Lysias in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 23:26-30</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—a letter + which represents his conduct in a more favorable light than + the facts would justify—for he had not learned that Paul + was a Roman when he rescued him in the temple + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts 21:31-33; + 22:26-29</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). An + incorrect statement may be correctly reported. A set of + pamphlets printed in the time of the French Revolution + might be made an appendix to some history of France without + implying that the historian vouched for their truth. The + sacred historians may similarly have been inspired to use + only the material within their reach, leaving their readers + by comparison with other Scriptures to judge of its + truthfulness and value. This seems to have been the method + adopted by the compiler of</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 + Chronicles</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. The + moral and religious lessons of the history are patent, even + though there is inaccuracy in reporting some of the facts. + So the assertions of the authors of the Psalms cannot be + taken for absolute truth. The authors were not sinless + models for the Christian,—only Christ is that. But the + Psalms present us with a record of the actual experience of + believers in the past. It has its human weakness, but we + can profit by it, even though it expresses itself at times + in imprecations.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jeremiah + 20:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">O + lord, thou hast deceived me</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—may possibly be thus + explained.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc193" id="toc193"></a> <a name="pdf194" id= + "pdf194"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 9. Sceptical or fictitious Narratives.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Descriptions of human + experience may be embraced in Scripture, not as models for + imitation, but as illustrations of the doubts, struggles, and + needs of the soul. In these cases inspiration may vouch, not + for the correctness of the views expressed by those who thus + describe their mental history, but only for the + correspondence of the description with actual fact, and for + its usefulness as indirectly teaching important moral + lessons.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The book of Ecclesiastes, for + example, is the record of the mental struggles of a soul + seeking satisfaction without God. If written by Solomon + during the time of his religious declension, or near the + close of it, it would constitute a most valuable commentary + upon the inspired history. Yet it might be equally valuable, + though composed by some later writer under divine direction + and inspiration. H. P. Smith, Bib. Scholarship and + Inspiration, 97—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">To + suppose Solomon the author of Ecclesiastes is like supposing + Spenser to have written In Memoriam.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Luther, Keil, Delitzsch, Ginsburg, + Hengstenberg all declare it to be a production of later times + (330 B. C.). The book shows experience of misgovernment. An + earlier writer cannot write in the style of a later one, + though the later can imitate the earlier. The early Latin and + Greek Fathers quoted the Apocryphal Wisdom of Solomon as by + Solomon; see Plumptre, Introd. to Ecclesiastes, in Cambridge + Bible. Gore, in Lux Mundi, 355—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Ecclesiastes, + though like the book of Wisdom purporting to be by Solomon, + may be by another author....</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A + pious fraud</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">cannot be inspired; an idealizing + personification, as a normal type of literature, can be + inspired.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Yet Bernhard Schäfer, Das Buch Koheleth, + ably maintains the Solomonic authorship.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Moral truth may be put + by Scripture writers into parabolic or dramatic form, and the + sayings of Satan and of perverse men may form parts of such a + production. In such cases, inspiration may vouch, not for the + historical truth, much less for the moral truth of each + separate statement, but only for the correspondence of the + whole with ideal fact; in other words, inspiration may + guarantee that the story is true to nature, and is valuable + as conveying divine instruction.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It is not necessary to suppose + that the poetical speeches of Job's friends were actually + delivered in the words that have come down to us. Though Job + never had had a historical existence, the book would still be + of the utmost value, and would convey to us a vast amount of + true teaching with regard to the dealings of God and the + problem of evil. Fact is local; truth is universal. Some + novels contain more truth than can be</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page241">[pg 241]</span><a name="Pg241" + id="Pg241" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">found in some histories. Other books of + Scripture, however, assure us that Job was an actual + historical character (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ez. + 14:14</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">James + 5:11</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). Nor is it + necessary to suppose that our Lord, in telling the parable + of the Prodigal Son (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 15:11-32</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">) or that + of the Unjust Steward (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">16:1-8</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">), + had in mind actual persons of whom each parable was an + exact description.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Fiction is not an unworthy + vehicle of spiritual truth. Parable, and even fable, may + convey valuable lessons. In</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Judges 9:14, + 15</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, the trees, the + vine, the bramble, all talk. If truth can be transmitted in + myth and legend, surely God may make use of these methods + of communicating it, and even though</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. 1-3</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">were mythical it might still + be inspired. Aristotle said that poetry is truer than + history. The latter only tells us that certain things + happened. Poetry presents to us the permanent passions, + aspirations and deeds of men which are behind all history + and which make it what it is; see Dewey, Psychology, 197. + Though Job were a drama and Jonah an apologue, both might + be inspired. David Copperfield, the Apology of Socrates, + Fra Lippo Lippi, were not the authors of the productions + which bear their names, but Dickens, Plato and Browning, + rather. Impersonation is a proper method in literature. The + speeches of Herodotus and Thucydides might be analogues to + those in Deuteronomy and in the Acts, and yet these last + might be inspired.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The book of Job could not have + been written in patriarchal times. Walled cities, kings, + courts, lawsuits, prisons, stocks, mining enterprises, are + found in it. Judges are bribed by the rich to decide + against the poor. All this belongs to the latter years of + the Jewish Kingdom. Is then the book of Job all a lie? No + more than Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and the parable of + the Good Samaritan are all a lie. The book of Job is a + dramatic poem. Like Macbeth or the Ring and the Book, it is + founded in fact. H. P. Smith, Biblical Scholarship and + Inspiration, 101—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + value of the book of Job lies in the spectacle of a human + soul in its direst affliction working through its doubts, + and at last humbly confessing its weakness and sinfulness + in the presence of its Maker. The inerrancy is not in Job's + words or in those of his friends, but in the truth of the + picture presented. If Jehovah's words at the end of the + book are true, then the first thirty-five chapters are not + infallible teaching.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Gore, in Lux Mundi, 355, + suggests in a similar manner that the books of Jonah and of + Daniel may be dramatic compositions worked up upon a basis + of history. George Adam Smith, in the Expositors' Bible, + tells us that Jonah flourished 780 B. C., in the reign of + Jeroboam II. Nineveh fell in 606. The book implies that it + was written after this (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">3:3</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Nineveh</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">was</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">an exceeding great + city</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">). The book does not claim to be written + by Jonah, by an eye-witness, or by a contemporary. The + language has Aramaic forms. The date is probably 300 B. C. + There is an absence of precise data, such as the sin of + Nineveh, the journey of the prophet thither, the place + where he was cast out on land, the name of the Assyrian + king. The book illustrates God's mission of prophecy to the + Gentiles, his care for them, their susceptibility to his + word. Israel flies from duty, but is delivered to carry + salvation to the heathen. Jeremiah had represented Israel + as swallowed up and cast out (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jer. 51:34, 44</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Nebuchadnezzar + the king of Babylon hath devoured me ... he hath, like a + monster, swallowed me up, he hath filled his maw with my + delicacies; he hath cast me out.... I will bring forth out + of his mouth that which he hath swallowed + up.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">) Some tradition of Jonah's proclaiming + doom to Nineveh may have furnished the basis of the + apologue. Our Lord uses the story as a mere illustration, + like the homiletic use of Shakespeare's dramas.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">As + Macbeth did,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">As + Hamlet said,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">do not commit us to the historical reality + of Macbeth or of Hamlet. Jesus may say as to questions of + criticism:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Man, + who made me a judge or a divider over + you?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + came not to judge the world, but to save the + world</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Luke + 12:14; John 12:47)</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">. He had no thought of confirming, or of + not confirming, the historic character of the story. It is + hard to conceive the compilation of a psalm by a man in + Jonah's position. It is not the prayer of one inside the + fish, but of one already saved. More than forty years ago + President Woolsey of Yale conceded that the book of Jonah + was probably an apologue.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) In none of these cases + ought the difficulty of distinguishing man's words from God's + words, or ideal truth from actual truth, to prevent our + acceptance of the fact of inspiration; for in this very + variety of the Bible, combined with the stimulus it gives to + inquiry and the general plainness of its lessons, we have the + very characteristics we should expect in a book whose + authorship was divine.</p><span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page242">[pg 242]</span><a name="Pg242" id="Pg242" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The Scripture is a stream in + which</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + lamb may wade and the elephant may swim.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">There is need both of literary sense and of + spiritual insight to interpret it. This sense and this + insight can be given only by the Spirit of Christ, the Holy + Spirit, who inspired the various writings to witness of him + in various ways, and who is present in the world to take of + the things of Christ and show them to us (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 28:20</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John 16:13, + 14</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). In a + subordinate sense the Holy Spirit inspires us to recognize + inspiration in the Bible. In the sense here suggested we may + assent to the words of Dr. Charles H. Parkhurst at the + inauguration of William Adams Brown as Professor of + Systematic Theology in the Union Theological Seminary, + November 1, 1898—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Unfortunately + we have condemned the word</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">inspiration</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">to a particular and isolated field of + divine operation, and it is a trespass upon current usage + to employ it in the full urgency of its Scriptural intent + in connection with work like your own or mine. But the word + voices a reality that lies so close to the heart of the + entire Christian matter that we can ill afford to relegate + it to any single or technical function. Just as much to-day + as back at the first beginnings of Christianity, those who + would</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">declare</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">the truths of God must be + inspired to</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">behold</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">the + truths of God.... The only irresistible persuasiveness is + that which is born of vision, and it is</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">not</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">vision to be able merely to + describe what some seer has seen, though it were Moses or + Paul that was the seer.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc195" id="toc195"></a> <a name="pdf196" id= + "pdf196"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 10. Acknowledgment of the non-inspiration of Scripture + teachers and their writings.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This + charge rests mainly upon the misinterpretation of two + particular passages:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Acts 23:5 (<span class= + "tei tei-q">“I wist not, brethren, that he was the high + priest”</span>) may be explained either as the language of + indignant irony: <span class="tei tei-q">“I would not + recognize such a man as high priest”</span>; or, more + naturally, an actual confession of personal ignorance and + fallibility, which does not affect the inspiration of any of + Paul's final teachings or writings.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Of a more reprehensible sort was + Peter's dissimulation at Antioch, or practical disavowal of + his convictions by separating or withdrawing himself from the + Gentile Christians (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gal. + 2:11-13</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). Here was + no public teaching, but the influence of private example. But + neither in this case, nor in that mentioned above, did God + suffer the error to be a final one. Through the agency of + Paul, the Holy Spirit set the matter right.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) 1 Cor. 7:12, 10 + (<span class="tei tei-q">“I, not the Lord”</span>; + <span class="tei tei-q">“not I, but the Lord”</span>). Here + the contrast is not between the apostle inspired and the + apostle uninspired, but between the apostle's words and an + actual saying of our Lord, as in Mat. 5:32; 19:3-10; Mark + 10:11; Luke 16:18 (Stanley on Corinthians). The expressions + may be paraphrased:—<span class="tei tei-q">“With regard to + this matter no express command was given by Christ before his + ascension. As one inspired by Christ, however, I give you my + command.”</span></p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Meyer on</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 7:10</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Paul + distinguishes, therefore, here and in verses 12, 25, not + between</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">his own</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">inspired</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">commands, but between those + which proceeded from his own (God-inspired) subjectivity + and those which Christ himself supplied by his objective + word.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Paul + knew from the living voice of tradition what commands + Christ had given concerning divorce.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Or if it should be maintained that Paul + here disclaims inspiration,—a supposition contradicted by + the following δοκῶ—</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + think that I also have the Spirit of God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(verse + 40)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">,—it only + proves a single exception to his inspiration, and since it + is expressly mentioned, and mentioned only once, it implies + the inspiration of all the rest of his writings. We might + illustrate Paul's method, if this were the case, by the + course of the New York Herald when it was first published. + Other journals had stood by their own mistakes and had + never been willing to acknowledge error. The Herald gained + the confidence of the public by correcting every mistake of + its reporters. The result was that, when there was no + confession of error, the paper was regarded as absolutely + trustworthy. So Paul's one acknowledgment of + non-inspiration might imply that in all other cases his + words had divine authority. On Authority in Religion, see + Wilfred Ward, in Hibbert Journal, July, + 1903:677-692.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page243">[pg 243]</span><a name= + "Pg243" id="Pg243" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + <hr class="page" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> + <a name="toc197" id="toc197"></a> <a name="pdf198" id="pdf198"></a> + + <h1 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"> + <span style="font-size: 173%">Part IV. The Nature, Decrees, And Works + Of God.</span></h1> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em"> + <a name="toc199" id="toc199"></a> <a name="pdf200" id="pdf200"></a> + + <h2 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"> + <span style="font-size: 144%">Chapter I. The Attributes Of + God.</span></h2> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In contemplating + the words and acts of God, as in contemplating the words and acts + of individual men, we are compelled to assign uniform and permanent + effects to uniform and permanent causes. Holy acts and words, we + argue, must have their source in a principle of holiness; truthful + acts and words, in a settled proclivity to truth; benevolent acts + and words, in a benevolent disposition.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Moreover, these + permanent and uniform sources of expression and action to which we + have applied the terms principle, proclivity, disposition, since + they exist harmoniously in the same person, must themselves inhere, + and find their unity, in an underlying spiritual substance or + reality of which they are the inseparable characteristics and + partial manifestations.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Thus we are led + naturally from the works to the attributes, and from the attributes + to the essence, of God.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">For all practical purposes we may use the words + essence, substance, being, nature, as synonymous with each other. + So, too, we may speak of attribute, quality, characteristic, + principle, proclivity, disposition, as practically one. As, in + cognizing matter, we pass from its effects in sensation to the + qualities which produce the sensations, and then to the material + substance to which the qualities belong; and as, in cognizing mind, + we pass from its phenomena in thought and action to the faculties + and dispositions which give rise to these phenomena, and then to + the mental substance to which these faculties and dispositions + belong; so, in cognizing God, we pass from his words and acts to + his qualities or attributes, and then to the substance or essence + to which these qualities or attributes belong.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The teacher in a Young Ladies' Seminary + described substance as a cushion, into which the attributes as + pins are stuck. But pins and cushion alike are substance,—neither + one is quality. The opposite error is illustrated from the + experience of Abraham Lincoln on the Ohio River.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">What is + this transcendentalism that we hear so much + about?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">asked Mr. Lincoln. The answer came:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">You see + those swallows digging holes in yonder bank? Well, take away the + bank from around those holes, and what is left is + transcendentalism.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Substance is often represented as being thus + transcendental. If such representations were correct, metaphysics + would indeed be</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">that, of + which those who listen understand nothing, and which he who + speaks does not himself understand,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">and + the metaphysician would be the fox who ran into the hole and then + pulled in the hole after him. Substance and attributes are + correlates,—neither one is possible without the other. There is + no quality that does not qualify something; and there is no + thing, either material or spiritual, that can be known or can + exist without qualities to differentiate it from other things. In + applying the categories of substance and attribute to God, we + indulge in no merely curious speculation, but rather yield to the + necessities of rational thought and show how we must think of God + if we think at all. See Shedd, History of Doctrine, 1:240; + Kahnis, Dogmatik, 3:172-188.</span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page244">[pg 244]</span><a name= + "Pg244" id="Pg244" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc201" id="toc201"></a> <a name="pdf202" id= + "pdf202"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">I. Definition of the term + Attributes.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The attributes + of God are those distinguishing characteristics of the divine + nature which are inseparable from the idea of God and which + constitute the basis and ground for his various manifestations to + his creatures.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We call them + attributes, because we are compelled to attribute them to God as + fundamental qualities or powers of his being, in order to give + rational account of certain constant facts in God's + self-revelations.</p> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc203" id="toc203"></a> <a name="pdf204" id= + "pdf204"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">II. Relation of the divine + Attributes to the divine Essence.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">1. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The + attributes have an objective existence.</span></span> They are + not mere names for human conceptions of God—conceptions which + have their only ground in the imperfection of the finite mind. + They are qualities objectively distinguishable from the divine + essence and from each other.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The + nominalistic notion that God is a being of absolute simplicity, + and that in his nature there is no internal distinction of + qualities or powers, tends directly to pantheism; denies all + reality of the divine perfections; or, if these in any sense + still exist, precludes all knowledge of them on the part of + finite beings. To say that knowledge and power, eternity and + holiness, are identical with the essence of God and with each + other, is to deny that we know God at all.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The Scripture + declarations of the possibility of knowing God, together with the + manifestation of the distinct attributes of his nature, are + conclusive against this false notion of the divine + simplicity.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Aristotle says well that there is no such thing + as a science of the unique, of that which has no analogies or + relations. Knowing is distinguishing; what we cannot distinguish + from other things we cannot know. Yet a false tendency to regard + God as a being of absolute simplicity has come down from mediæval + scholasticism, has infected much of the post-reformation + theology, and is found even so recently as in Schleiermacher, + Rothe, Olshausen, and Ritschl. E. G. Robinson defines the + attributes as</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">our methods + of conceiving of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">But + this definition is influenced by the Kantian doctrine of + relativity and implies that we cannot know God's essence, that + is, the thing-in-itself, God's real being. Bowne, Philosophy of + Theism, 141—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">This notion + of the divine simplicity reduces God to a rigid and lifeless + stare.... The One is manifold without being + many.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The divine simplicity is the starting-point of + Philo: God is a being absolutely bare of quality. All quality + in finite beings has limitation, and no limitation can be + predicated of God who is eternal, unchangeable, simple + substance, free, self-sufficient, better than the good and the + beautiful. To predicate any quality of God would reduce him to + the sphere of finite existence. Of him we can only say</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">that</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">he is, not</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">what</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">he is; see art. by Schürer, in + Encyc. Brit., 18:761.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Illustrations of this tendency are found in + Scotus Erigena:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Deus + nescit se quid est, quia non est quid</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + and in Occam: The divine attributes are distinguished neither + substantially nor logically from each other or from the divine + essence; the only distinction is that of names; so Gerhard and + Quenstedt. Charnock, the Puritan writer, identifies both + knowledge and will with the simple essence of God. + Schleiermacher makes all the attributes to be modifications of + power or causality; in his system God and world = the</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">natura + naturans</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">natura naturata</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">of Spinoza. There is no distinction of + attributes and no succession of acts in God, and therefore no + real personality or even spiritual being; see Pfleiderer, Prot. + Theol. seit Kant, 110. Schleiermacher said:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">My God is the Universe.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">God is causative force. Eternity, omniscience + and holiness are simply aspects of causality. Rothe, on the + other hand, makes omniscience to be the all-comprehending + principle of the divine nature; and Olshausen, on</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:1</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, in a similar + manner attempts to prove that the Word of God must have + objective and substantial being, by assuming that knowing = + willing; whence it would seem to follow that, since God wills + all that he knows, he must will moral evil.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page245">[pg 245]</span><a name="Pg245" id= + "Pg245" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bushnell and others identify righteousness in + God with benevolence, and therefore cannot see that any + atonement needs to be made to God. Ritschl also holds that love + is the fundamental divine attribute, and that omnipotence and + even personality are simply modifications of love; see Mead, + Ritschl's Place in the History of Doctrine, 8. Herbert Spencer + only carries the principle further when he concludes God to be + simple unknowable force.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">But to call God everything is the same as to + call him nothing. With Dorner, we say that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">definition is no + limitation.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">As we rise in the scale of + creation from the mere jelly-sac to man, the homogeneous + becomes the heterogeneous, there is differentiation of + functions, complexity increases. We infer that God, the highest + of all, instead of being simple force, is infinitely complex, + that he has an infinite variety of attributes and powers. + Tennyson, Palace of Art (lines omitted in the later + editions):</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">All + nature widens upward: evermore The simpler essence lower lies: + More complex is more perfect, owning more Discourse, more + widely wise.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jer. + 10:10</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—God is</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + living God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 5:26</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—he</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">hath life + in himself</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—unsearchable riches of positive + attributes;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 17:23—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">thou + lovedst me</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—manifoldness in unity. This complexity in God + is the ground of blessedness for him and of progress for + us:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Tim. + 1:11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + blessed God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jer. 9:23, + 24—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">let him + glory in this, that he knoweth me.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The complex nature of God permits anger at the + sinner and compassion for him at the same moment:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 7:11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a God + that hath indignation every day</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 3:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God so + loved the world</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. 85:10, + 11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">mercy and + truth are met together.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Julius Müller, Doct. Sin, 2:116</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + Schweizer, Glaubenslehre, 1:229-235; Thomasius, Christi Person + und Werk, 1:43, 50; Martensen, Dogmatics, + 91—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If God + were the simple One, τὸ ἁπλῶς ἕν, the mystic abyss in which + every form of determination were extinguished, there would be + nothing in the Unity to be known.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hence</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">nominalism is incompatible with the idea of + revelation. We teach, with realism, that the attributes of God + are objective determinations in his revelation and as such are + rooted in his inmost essence.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">2. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The + attributes inhere in the divine essence.</span></span> They are + not separate existences. They are attributes of God.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">While we + oppose the nominalistic view which holds them to be mere names + with which, by the necessity of our thinking, we clothe the one + simple divine essence, we need equally to avoid the opposite + realistic extreme of making them separate parts of a composite + God.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We cannot + conceive of attributes except as belonging to an underlying + essence which furnishes their ground of unity. In representing + God as a compound of attributes, realism endangers the living + unity of the Godhead.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Notice the + analogous necessity of attributing the properties of matter to an + underlying substance, and the phenomena of thought to an + underlying spiritual essence; else matter is reduced to mere + force, and mind, to mere sensation,—in short, all things are + swallowed up in a vast idealism. The purely realistic explanation + of the attributes tends to low and polytheistic conceptions of + God. The mythology of Greece was the result of personifying the + divine attributes. The <span class="tei tei-foreign"><span style= + "font-style: italic">nomina</span></span> were turned into + <span class="tei tei-foreign"><span style= + "font-style: italic">numina</span></span>, as Max Müller says; + see Taylor, Nature on the Basis of Realism, 293. Instance also + Christmas Evans's sermon describing a Council in the Godhead, in + which the attributes of Justice, Mercy, Wisdom, and Power argue + with one another. Robert Hall called Christmas Evans <span class= + "tei tei-q">“the one-eyed orator of Anglesey,”</span> but added + that his one eye could <span class="tei tei-q">“light an army + through a wilderness”</span>; see Joseph Cross, Life and Sermons + of Christmas Evans, 112-116; David Rhys Stephen, Memoirs of + Christmas Evans, 168-176. We must remember that <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Realism may so exalt the attributes that no personal + subject is left to constitute the ground of unity. Looking upon + Personality as anthropomorphism, it falls into a worse + personification, that of omnipotence, holiness, benevolence, + which are mere blind thoughts, unless there is one who is the + Omnipotent, the Holy, the Good.”</span> See Luthardt, Compendium + der Dogmatik, 70.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">3. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The + attributes belong to the divine essence as such.</span></span> + They are to be distinguished from those other powers or relations + which do not appertain to the divine essence + universally.</p><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page246">[pg + 246]</span><a name="Pg246" id="Pg246" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The personal + distinctions (<span class="tei tei-foreign"><span style= + "font-style: italic">proprietates</span></span>) in the nature of + the one God are not to be denominated attributes; for each of + these personal distinctions belongs not to the divine essence as + such and universally, but only to the particular person of the + Trinity who bears its name, while on the contrary all of the + attributes belong to each of the persons.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The relations + which God sustains to the world (<span class= + "tei tei-foreign"><span style= + "font-style: italic">predicata</span></span>), moreover, such as + creation, preservation, government, are not to be denominated + attributes; for these are accidental, not necessary or + inseparable from the idea of God. God would be God, if he had + never created.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">To make creation eternal and necessary is to + dethrone God and to enthrone a fatalistic development. It follows + that the nature of the attributes is to be illustrated, not alone + or chiefly from wisdom and holiness in man, which are not + inseparable from man's nature, but rather from intellect and will + in man, without which he would cease to be man altogether. Only + that is an attribute, of which it can be safely said that he who + possesses it would, if deprived of it, cease to be God. Shedd, + Dogm. Theol., 1:335—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + attribute is the whole essence acting in a certain way. The + centre of unity is not in any one attribute, but in the + essence.... The difference between the divine attribute and the + divine person is, that the person is a mode of the</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">existence</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of the essence, while the attribute + is a mode either of the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + relation</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, or of + the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">operation</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + of the essence.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">4. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The + attributes manifest the divine essence.</span></span> The essence + is revealed only through the attributes. Apart from its + attributes it is unknown and unknowable.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But though we + can know God only as he reveals to us his attributes, we do, + notwithstanding, in knowing these attributes, know the being to + whom these attributes belong. That this knowledge is partial does + not prevent its corresponding, so far as it goes, to objective + reality in the nature of God.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">All God's + revelations are, therefore, revelations of himself in and through + his attributes. Our aim must be to determine from God's works and + words what qualities, dispositions, determinations, powers of his + otherwise unseen and unsearchable essence he has actually made + known to us; or in other words, what are the revealed attributes + of God.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + John 1:18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">No man + hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the + bosom of the Father, he hath declared him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Tim. + 6:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">whom no + man hath seen, nor can see</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 5:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Blessed + are the pure in heart: for they shall see + God</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">11:27—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">neither doth any man know the Father, save the + Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal + him.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">C. A. Strong:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Kant, not content with knowing the + reality</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">the phenomena, was trying to know + the reality</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">apart from</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">the phenomena; he was seeking to + know, without fulfilling the conditions of knowledge; in short, + he wished to know without knowing.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">So Agnosticism perversely regards God as + concealed by his own manifestation. On the contrary, in knowing + the phenomena we know the object itself. J. C. C. Clarke, Self + and the Father, 6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + language, as in nature, there are no verbs without subjects, + but we are always hunting for the noun that has no adjective, + and the verb that has no subject, and the subject that has no + verb. Consciousness is necessarily a consciousness of self. + Idealism and monism would like to see all verbs solid with + their subjects, and to write</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I do</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">or</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + feel</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">in the mazes of a monogram, but + consciousness refuses, and before it says</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Do</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">or</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Feel</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">it finishes saying</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">J. G. Holland's Katrina, to her lover:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God is + not worshiped in his attributes. I do not love your attributes, + but you. Your attributes all meet me otherwhere, Blended in + other personalities, Nor do I love nor do I worship them, Nor + those who bear them. E'en the spotted pard Will dare a danger + which will make you pale; But shall his courage steal my heart + from you? You cheat your conscience, for you know That I may + like your attributes. Yet love not you.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc205" id="toc205"></a> <a name="pdf206" id= + "pdf206"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">III. Methods of determining the + divine Attributes.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We have seen + that the existence of God is a first truth. It is presupposed in + all human thinking, and is more or less consciously recognized by + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page247">[pg 247]</span><a name= + "Pg247" id="Pg247" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> all men. This + intuitive knowledge of God we have seen to be corroborated and + explicated by arguments drawn from nature and from mind. Reason + leads us to a causative and personal Intelligence upon whom we + depend. This Being of indefinite greatness we clothe, by a + necessity of our thinking, with all the attributes of perfection. + The two great methods of determining what these attributes are, + are the Rational and the Biblical.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">1. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The + Rational method.</span></span> This is threefold:—(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + the <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-style: italic">via + negationis</span></span>, or the way of negation, which consists + in denying to God all imperfections observed in created beings; + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) the <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-style: italic">via eminentiæ</span></span>, or the way of + climax, which consists in attributing to God in infinite degree + all the perfections found in creatures; and (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + the <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-style: italic">via + causalitatis</span></span>, or the way of causality, which + consists in predicating of God those attributes which are + required in him to explain the world of nature and of mind.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This rational + method explains God's nature from that of his creation, whereas + the creation itself can be fully explained only from the nature + of God. Though the method is valuable, it has insuperable + limitations, and its place is a subordinate one. While we use it + continually to confirm and supplement results otherwise obtained, + our chief means of determining the divine attributes must be</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">2. + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The + Biblical method.</span></span> This is simply the inductive + method, applied to the facts with regard to God revealed in the + Scriptures. Now that we have proved the Scriptures to be a + revelation from God, inspired in every part, we may properly look + to them as decisive authority with regard to God's + attributes.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The rational method of determining the + attributes of God is sometimes said to have been originated by + Dionysius the Areopagite, reputed to have been a judge at Athens + at the time of Paul and to have died A. D. 95. It is more + probably eclectic, combining the results attained by many + theologians, and applying the intuitions of perfection and + causality which lie at the basis of all religious thinking. It is + evident from our previous study of the arguments for God's + existence, that from nature we cannot learn either the Trinity or + the mercy of God, and that these deficiencies in our rational + conclusions with respect to God must be supplied, if at all, by + revelation. Spurgeon, Autobiography, 166—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The old saying is 'Go from Nature up to Nature's + God.' But it is hard work going up hill. The best thing is to go + from Nature's God down to Nature; and, if you once get to + Nature's God and believe him and love him, it is surprising how + easy it is to hear music in the waves, and songs in the wild + whisperings of the winds, and to see God + everywhere.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See also Kahnis, Dogmatik, + 3:181.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc207" id="toc207"></a> <a name="pdf208" id= + "pdf208"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">IV. Classification of the + Attributes.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The attributes + may be divided into two great classes: Absolute or Immanent, and + Relative or Transitive.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">By Absolute or + Immanent Attributes, we mean attributes which respect the inner + being of God, which are involved in God's relations to himself, + and which belong to his nature independently of his connection + with the universe.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">By Relative or + Transitive Attributes, we mean attributes which respect the + outward revelation of God's being, which are involved in God's + relations to the creation, and which are exercised in consequence + of the existence of the universe and its dependence upon + him.</p><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page248">[pg + 248]</span><a name="Pg248" id="Pg248" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Under the head + of Absolute or Immanent Attributes, we make a three-fold division + into Spirituality, with the attributes therein involved, namely, + Life and Personality; Infinity, with the attributes therein + involved, namely, Self-existence, Immutability, and Unity; and + Perfection, with the attributes therein involved, namely, Truth, + Love, and Holiness.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Under the head + of Relative or Transitive Attributes, we make a three-fold + division, according to the order of their revelation, into + Attributes having relation to Time and Space, as Eternity and + Immensity; Attributes having relation to Creation, as + Omnipresence, Omniscience, and Omnipotence; and Attributes having + relation to Moral Beings, as Veracity and Faithfulness, or + Transitive Truth; Mercy and Goodness, or Transitive Love; and + Justice and Righteousness, or Transitive Holiness.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This + classification may be better understood from the following + schedule:</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <div class="tei tei-lg" style= + "margin-bottom: 0.90em; margin-top: 0.90em"> + <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">1. Absolute or Immanent + Attributes:</span> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">A. Spirituality, involving (a) + Life, (b) Personality.</span> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">B. Infinity, involving (a) + Self-existence, (b) Immutability, (c) Unity.</span> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">C. Perfection, involving (a) + Truth, (b) Love, (c) Holiness.</span> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-lg" style= + "margin-bottom: 0.90em; margin-top: 0.90em"> + <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">2. Relative or Transitive + Attributes:</span> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">A. Related to Time and + Space—(a) Eternity, (b) Immensity.</span> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">B. Related to Creation—(a) + Omnipresence, (b) Omniscience, (c) Omnipotence.</span> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">C. Related to Moral Beings—(a) + Veracity, (b) Mercy, (c) Justice.</span> + </div> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It will be observed, upon examination of the + preceding schedule, that our classification presents God first as + Spirit, then as the infinite Spirit, and finally as the perfect + Spirit. This accords with our definition of the term God (see + page</span> <a href="#Pg052" class="tei tei-ref"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">52</span></a><span style="font-size: 90%">). It + also corresponds with the order in which the attributes commonly + present themselves to the human mind. Our first thought of God is + that of mere Spirit, mysterious and undefined, over against our + own spirits. Our next thought is that of God's greatness; the + quantitative element suggests itself; his natural attributes rise + before us; we recognize him as</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page249">[pg 249]</span><a name="Pg249" id="Pg249" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">the infinite + One. Finally comes the qualitative element; our moral natures + recognize a moral God; over against our error, selfishness and + impurity, we perceive his absolute perfection.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It should also be observed that this moral + perfection, as it is an immanent attribute, involves relation + of God to himself. Truth, love and holiness, as they + respectively imply an exercise in God of intellect, affection + and will, may be conceived of as God's self-knowing, God's + self-loving, and God's self-willing. The significance of this + will appear more fully in the discussion of the separate + attributes.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Notice the distinction between absolute and + relative, between immanent and transitive, attributes. Absolute + = existing in no necessary relation to things outside of God. + Relative = existing in such relation. Immanent =</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">remaining + within, limited to, God's own nature in their activity and + effect, inherent and indwelling, internal and + subjective—opposed to emanent or transitive.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Transitive = having an object outside of God + himself. We speak of transitive verbs, and we mean verbs that + are followed by an object. God's transitive attributes are so + called, because they respect and affect things and beings + outside of God.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The aim of this classification into Absolute + and Relative Attributes is to make plain the divine + self-sufficiency. Creation is not a necessity, for there is a + πλήρωμα in God (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col. + 1:19</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">), even before he + makes the world or becomes incarnate. And πλήρωμα is not</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + filling material,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">nor</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the vessel filled,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">but</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">that which is complete in + itself,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">or, in other words,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">plenitude,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">fulness,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">totality,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">abundance.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The whole universe is but a drop of dew upon + the fringe of God's garment, or a breath exhaled from his + mouth. He could create a universe a hundred times as great. + Nature is but the symbol of God. The tides of life that ebb and + flow on the far shores of the universe are only faint + expressions of his life. The Immanent Attributes show us how + completely matters of grace are Creation and Redemption, and + how unspeakable is the condescension of him who took our + humanity and humbled himself to the death of the Cross.</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. 8:3, + 4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">When I + consider thy heavens ... what is man that thou art mindful of + him?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">113:5, + 6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Who is + like unto Jehovah our God, that hath his seat on high, that + humbleth himself?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Phil. 2:6, + 7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Who, + existing in the form of God, ... emptied himself, taking the + form of a servant.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ladd, Theory of Reality, + 69—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + know</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">that</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">I am, because, as the basis of all + discriminations as to</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">what</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">I am, and as the core of all such + self-knowledge, I immediately know myself as</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">will</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">So as to the non-ego,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">that + things actually are is a factor in my knowledge of them which + springs from the root of an experience with myself as a</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">will</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + at once active and inhibited, as an agent and yet opposed by + another.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The ego and the non-ego as well + are fundamentally and essentially</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">will</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Matter + must be,</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">per + se</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, Force. But this + is ... to be a Will</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(439). We know nothing of the atom apart from + its force (442). Ladd quotes from G. E. Bailey:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + life-principle, varying only in degree, is omnipresent. There + is but one indivisible and absolute Omniscience and + Intelligence, and this thrills through every atom of the whole + Cosmos</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(446).</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Science has only made the Substrate of + material things more and more completely + self-like</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(449). Spirit is the true and essential Being + of what is called Nature (472).</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The ultimate Being of the world is a + self-conscious Mind and Will, which is the Ground of all + objects made known in human experience</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(550).</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">On classification of attributes, see Luthardt, + Compendium, 71; Rothe, Dogmatik, 71; Kahnis, Dogmatik, 3:162; + Thomasius, Christi Person und Werk, 1:47, 52, 136. On the + general subject, see Charnock, Attributes; Bruce, + Eigenschaftslehre.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc209" id="toc209"></a> <a name="pdf210" id= + "pdf210"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">V. Absolute or Immanent + Attributes.</span></h3> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc211" id="toc211"></a> <a name="pdf212" id= + "pdf212"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + First division.—Spirituality, and attributes therein + involved.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In calling + spirituality an attribute of God, we mean, not that we are + justified in applying to the divine nature the adjective + <span class="tei tei-q">“spiritual,”</span> but that the + substantive <span class="tei tei-q">“Spirit”</span> describes + that nature (John 4:24, marg.—<span class="tei tei-q">“God is + spirit”</span>; Rom. 1:20—<span class="tei tei-q">“the + invisible things of him”</span>; 1 Tim. 1:17—<span class= + "tei tei-q">“incorruptible, invisible”</span>; Col. + 1:15—<span class="tei tei-q">“the invisible God”</span>). This + implies, negatively, that (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + God is not matter. Spirit is not a refined form of matter but + an immaterial substance, invisible, uncompounded, + indestructible. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) God is not dependent upon + matter. It cannot be shown that the human mind, in any other + state than the present, is dependent <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page250">[pg 250]</span><a name="Pg250" id="Pg250" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> for consciousness upon its connection + with a physical organism. Much less is it true that God is + dependent upon the material universe as his sensorium. God is + not only spirit, but he is pure spirit. He is not only not + matter, but he has no necessary connection with matter (Luke + 24:39—<span class="tei tei-q">“A spirit hath not flesh and + bones, as ye behold me having”</span>).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">John gives us the three + characteristic attributes of God when he says that God + is</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">spirit,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">light,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">love</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John 4:24; 1 John 1:5; + 4:8)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">,—not</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">spirit,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">light,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">love. Le Conte, in Royce's + Conception of God, 45—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God is spirit, for spirit is essential Life + and essential Energy, and essential Love, and essential + Thought; in a word, essential Person.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Biedermann, Dogmatik, + 631—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Das + Wesen des Geistes als des reinen Gegensatzes zur Materie, ist + das</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">reine + Sein</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, das</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in sich + ist</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, aber</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">nicht da + ist</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Martineau, Study, 2:366—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The subjective Ego is always</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">here</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + as opposed to all else, which is variously</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">there</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.... + Without local relations, therefore, the soul is + inaccessible.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But, Martineau continues,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">if + matter be but centres of force, all the soul needs may be + centres from which to act.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Romanes, Mind and Motion, + 34—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Because + within the limits of human experience mind is only known as + associated with brain, it does not follow that mind cannot + exist in any other mode.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">La Place swept the heavens with his + telescope, but could not find anywhere a God.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He + might just as well,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">says President Sawyer,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">have swept his kitchen with a + broom.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Since God is not a material + being, he cannot be apprehended by any physical + means.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Those + passages of Scripture which seem to ascribe to God the + possession of bodily parts and organs, as eyes and hands, are + to be regarded as anthropomorphic and symbolic. <span class= + "tei tei-q">“When God is spoken of as appearing to the + patriarchs and walking with them, the passages are to be + explained as referring to God's temporary manifestations of + himself in human form—manifestations which prefigured the final + tabernacling of the Son of God in human flesh. Side by side + with these anthropomorphic expressions and manifestations, + moreover, are specific declarations which repress any + materializing conceptions of God; as, for example, that heaven + is his throne and the earth his footstool (Is. 66:1), and that + the heaven of heavens cannot contain him (1 K. + 8:27).”</span></p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ex. 33:18-20</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">declares that man cannot see God + and live;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. 2:7-16</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">intimates that without the + teaching of God's Spirit we cannot know God; all this teaches + that God is above sensuous perception, in other words, that he + is not a material being. The second command of the decalogue + does not condemn sculpture and painting, but only the making of + images of</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">God</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + It forbids our conceiving God after the likeness of a</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">thing</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + but it does not forbid our conceiving God after the likeness + of our inward</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">self</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">,</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, as</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">personal</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + This again shows that God is a spiritual being. Imagination + can be used in religion, and great help can be derived from + it. Yet we do not know God by imagination,—imagination only + helps us vividly to realize the presence of the God whom we + already know. We may almost say that some men have not + imagination enough to be religious. But imagination must not + lose its wings. In its representations of God, it must not be + confined to a picture, or a form, or a place. Humanity tends + too much to rest in the material and the sensuous, and we + must avoid all representations of God which would identify + the Being who is worshiped with the helps used in order to + realize his presence;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 4:24—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">they + that worship him must worship in spirit and + truth.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">An Egyptian Hymn to the Nile, + dating from the 19th dynasty (14th century B. C.), contains + these words:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">His + abode is not known; no shrine is found with painted figures; + there is no building that can contain him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(Cheyne, Isaiah, 2:120). The repudiation of + images among the ancient Persians (Herod. 1:131), as among + the Japanese Shintos, indicates the remains of a primitive + spiritual religion. The representation of Jehovah with body + or form degrades him to the level of heathen gods. Pictures + of the Almighty over the chancels of Romanist cathedrals + confine the mind and degrade the conception of the worshiper. + We may use imagination in prayer, picturing God as a + benignant form holding out arms of mercy, but we should + regard such pictures only as scaffolding for the building of + our edifice of worship, while we recognize, with the + Scripture, that the reality worshiped is immaterial and + spiritual. Otherwise our idea of</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page251">[pg 251]</span><a name="Pg251" id= + "Pg251" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God is brought down to the low level of + man's material being. Even man's spiritual nature may be + misrepresented by physical images, as when mediæval artists + pictured death, by painting a doll-like figure leaving the + body at the mouth of the person dying.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The longing for a tangible, + incarnate God meets its satisfaction in Jesus Christ. Yet + even pictures of Christ soon lose their power. Luther + said:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If I + have a picture of Christ in my heart, why not one upon + canvas?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We answer: Because the picture + in the heart is capable of change and improvement, as we + ourselves change and improve; the picture upon canvas is + fixed, and holds to old conceptions which we should outgrow. + Thomas Carlyle:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Men + never think of painting the face of Christ, till they lose + the impression of him upon their hearts.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Swedenborg, in modern times, represents the + view that God exists in the shape of a man—an + anthropomorphism of which the making of idols is only a + grosser and more barbarous form; see H. B. Smith, System of + Theology, 9, 10. This is also the doctrine of Mormonism; see + Spencer, Catechism of Latter Day Saints. The Mormons teach + that God is a man; that he has numerous wives by whom he + peoples space with an infinite number of spirits. Christ was + a favorite son by a favorite wife, but birth as man was the + only way he could come into the enjoyment of real life. These + spirits are all the sons of God, but they can realize and + enjoy their sonship only through birth. They are about every + one of us pleading to be born. Hence, polygamy.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We come now + to consider the positive import of the term Spirit. The + spirituality of God involves the two attributes of Life and + Personality.</p> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc213" id="toc213"></a> <a name="pdf214" id= + "pdf214"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1. Life.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The + Scriptures represent God as the living God.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-style: italic">Jer. + 10:10—</span><span class="tei tei-q">“He is the living + God”</span></em>; <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">1 Thess. 1:9—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q">“turned unto God from idols, to serve a living + and true God”</span></em>; <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-style: italic">John + 5:26-</span><span class="tei tei-q">“hath life in + himself”</span></em>; <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">14:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q">“I + am ... the life,”</span></em> and <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-style: italic">Heb. + 7:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q">“the power of an endless + life”</span></em>; <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Rev. 11:11—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q">“the Spirit of life.”</span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Life is a + simple idea, and is incapable of real definition. We know it, + however, in ourselves, and we can perceive the insufficiency + or inconsistency of certain current definitions of it. We + cannot regard life in God as</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Mere <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">process</span></em>, without a subject; + for we cannot conceive of a divine life without a God to live + it.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Versus</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Lewes, Problems of Life and + Mind, 1:10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Life + and mind are processes; neither is a substance; neither is a + force; ... the name given to the whole group of phenomena + becomes the personification of the phenomena, and the product + is supposed to have been the producer.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Here we have a product without any + producer—a series of phenomena without any substance of which + they are manifestations. In a similar manner we read in + Dewey, Psychology, 247—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Self + is an</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">activity</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + It is not something which acts; it is activity.... It is + constituted by activities.... Through its activity the soul + is.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Here it does not appear how + there can be activity, without any subject or being that is + active. The inconsistency of this view is manifest when + Dewey goes on to say:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + activity may further or develop the + self,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and when he speaks of</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + organic activity of the self.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">So Dr. Burdon Sanderson:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Life + is a state of ceaseless change,—a state of change with + permanence; living matter ever changes while it is ever the + same.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Plus + ça change, plus c'est la même chose.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But this permanent thing in the midst of + change is the subject, the self, the being, that</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">has</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">life.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Nor can we + regard life as</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Mere <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">correspondence</span></em> with outward + condition and environment; for this would render impossible a + life of God before the existence of the universe.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Versus</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Herbert Spencer, Biology, + 1:59-71—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Life is + the definite combination of heterogeneous changes, both + simultaneous and successive, in correspondence with external + coëxistences and sequences.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Here we have, at best, a definition of + physical and finite life; and even this is insufficient, + because the definition recognizes no original source of + activity within, but only a power of reaction in response to + stimulus from without. We might as well say that the boiling + tea-kettle is alive (Mark Hopkins).</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page252">[pg 252]</span><a name="Pg252" + id="Pg252" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We find this defect also in Robert + Browning's lines in The Ring and the Book (The Pope, + 1307):</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">O + Thou—as represented here to me In such conception as my + soul allows—Under thy measureless, my atom-width!—Man's + mind, what is it but a convex glass Wherein are gathered + all the scattered points Picked out of the immensity of + sky, To reunite there, be our heaven for earth, Our known + Unknown, our God revealed to man?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Life is something more than a passive + receptivity.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) Life is rather + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">mental energy</span></em>, or energy of + intellect, affection, and will. God is the living God, as + having in his own being a source of being and activity, both + for himself and others.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Life means energy, activity, + movement. Aristotle:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Life + is energy of mind.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Wordsworth, Excursion, book + 5:602—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Life + is love and immortality, The Being one, and one the + element.... Life, I repeat, is energy of love Divine or + human.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Prof. C. L. Herrick, on + Critics of Ethical Monism, in Denison Quarterly, Dec. + 1896:248—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Force + is energy under resistance, or self-limited energy, for all + parts of the universe are derived from the energy. Energy + manifesting itself under self-conditioning or differential + forms is force. The change of pure energy into force is + creation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Prof. Herrick quotes from S. T. Coleridge, + Anima Poetæ:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Space + is the name for God; it is the most perfect image of + soul—pure soul being to us nothing but unresisted action. + Whenever action is resisted, limitation begins—and + limitation is the first constituent of body; the more + omnipresent it is in a given space, the more that space is + body or matter; and thus all body presupposes soul, + inasmuch as all resistance presupposes + action.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Schelling:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Life + is the tendency to individualism.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">If spirit in man implies life, + spirit in God implies endless and inexhaustible life. The + total life of the universe is only a faint image of that + moving energy which we call the life of God. Dewey, + Psychology, 253—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + sense of being alive is much more vivid in childhood than + afterwards. Leigh Hunt says that, when he was a child, the + sight of certain palings painted red gave him keener + pleasure than any experience of manhood.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Matthew Arnold:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Bliss + was it in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was very + heaven.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The child's delight in country + scenes, and our intensified perceptions in brain fever, + show us by contrast how shallow and turbid is the stream of + our ordinary life. Tennyson, Two Voices:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">'Tis + life, whereof our nerves are scant, Oh life, not death, for + which we pant; More life, and fuller, that we + want.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">That life the needy human + spirit finds only in the infinite God. Instead of + Tyndall's:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Matter has in it the promise and potency + of every form of life,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">we accept Sir William Crookes's + dictum:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Life + has in it the promise and potency of every form of + matter.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See A. H. Strong, on The + Living God, in Philos. and Religion, 180-187.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc215" id="toc215"></a> <a name="pdf216" id= + "pdf216"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 2. Personality.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The + Scriptures represent God as a personal being. By personality + we mean the power of self-consciousness and of + self-determination. By way of further explanation we + remark:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Self-consciousness is + more than consciousness. This last the brute may be supposed + to possess, since the brute is not an automaton. Man is + distinguished from the brute by his power to objectify self. + Man is not only conscious of his own acts and states, but by + abstraction and reflection he recognizes the self which is + the subject of these acts and states. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Self-determination is + more than determination. The brute shows determination, but + his determination is the result of influences from without; + there is no inner spontaneity. Man, by virtue of his + free-will, determines his action from within. He determines + self in view of motives, but his determination is not caused + by motives; he himself is the cause.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">God, as + personal, is in the highest degree self-conscious and + self-determining. The rise in our own minds of the idea of + God, as personal, depends largely upon our recognition of + personality in ourselves. Those who deny spirit in man place + a bar in the way of the recognition of this attribute of + God.</p><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page253">[pg + 253]</span><a name="Pg253" id="Pg253" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ex. + 3:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">And + God said unto Moses,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-variant: small-caps">I am that I + am</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">: and he said, + Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel,</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-variant: small-caps">I + am</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">hath sent me + unto you.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">God is not the everlasting</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-variant: small-caps">It + is</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">or</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-variant: small-caps">I + was</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">but the everlasting</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-variant: small-caps">I + am</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(Morris, Philosophy and Christianity, + 128);</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-variant: small-caps">I + am</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">implies both personality and + presence.</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 2:11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of + God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 1:9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">good + pleasure which he purposed</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">11—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + counsel of his will.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Definitions of personality are the + following: Boethius—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Persona est animæ rationalis individua + substantia</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(quoted in Dorner, Glaubenslehre, 2:415). + F. W. Robertson, Genesis 3—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Personality = self-consciousness, will, + character.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Porter, Human Intellect, + 626—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Distinct subsistence, either actually or + latently self-conscious and + self-determining.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Harris, Philos. Basis of Theism: Person + =</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">being, conscious of self, subsisting in + individuality and identity, and endowed with intuitive + reason, rational sensibility, and + free-will.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Harris, 98, 99, quotation from + Mansel—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + freedom of the will is so far from being, as it is + generally considered, a controvertible question in + philosophy, that it is the fundamental postulate without + which all action and all speculation, philosophy in all its + branches and human consciousness itself, would be + impossible.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">One of the most astounding + announcements in all literature is that of Matthew Arnold, + in his</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Literature and Dogma,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">that the Hebrew Scriptures recognize in + God only</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + power, not ourselves, that makes for + righteousness</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= the God of pantheism. The</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-variant: small-caps">I + am</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">of</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ex. 3:14</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">could hardly have been so + misunderstood, if Matthew Arnold had not lost the sense of + his own personality and responsibility. From free-will in + man we rise to freedom in God—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">That + living Will that shall endure, When all that seems shall + suffer shock.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Observe that personality needs to be + accompanied by life—the power of self-consciousness and + self-determination needs to be accompanied by activity—in + order to make up our total idea of God as Spirit. Only this + personality of God gives proper meaning to his punishments + or to his forgiveness. See Bib. Sac., April, 1884:217-233; + Eichhorn, die Persönlichkeit Gottes.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Illingworth, Divine and Human + Personality, 1:25, shows that the sense of personality has + had a gradual growth; that its pre-Christian recognition + was imperfect; that its final definition has been due to + Christianity. In 29-53, he notes the characteristics of + personality as reason, love, will. The brute</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">perceives</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; + only the man</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">apperceives</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">,</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, recognizes + his perception as belonging to himself. In the German + story, Dreiäuglein, the three-eyed child, had besides her + natural pair of eyes one other to see what the pair did, + and besides her natural will had an additional will to set + the first to going right. On consciousness and + self-consciousness, see Shedd, Dogm. Theol., + 1:179-189—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + consciousness the object is another substance than the + subject; but in self-consciousness the object is the same + substance as the subject.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Tennyson, in his Palace of Art, speaks + of</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + abysmal depths of personality.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We do not fully know ourselves, nor yet + our relation to God. But the divine consciousness embraces + the whole divine content of being:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of + God</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(1 Cor. + 2:10)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We are not fully masters of + ourselves. Our self-determination is as limited as is our + self-consciousness. But the divine will is absolutely + without hindrance; God's activity is constant, intense, + infinite;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Job + 23:13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">What + his soul desireth, even that he doeth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 5:17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">My + Father worketh even until now, and I + work.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Self-knowledge and self-mastery are the + dignity of man; they are also the dignity of God; + Tennyson:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Self-reverence, self-knowledge, + self-control, These three lead life to sovereign + power.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Robert Browning, The Last Ride + Together:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">What + act proved all its thought had been? What will but felt the + fleshly screen?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Moberly, Atonement and Personality, 6, + 161, 216-255—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Perhaps the root of personality is + capacity for affection.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">... Our personality is incomplete; we + reason truly only with God helping; our love in higher Love + endures; we will rightly, only as God works in us to will + and to do; to make us truly ourselves we need an infinite + Personality to supplement and energize our own; we are + complete only in Christ (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col. 2:9, + 10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and in + him ye are made full.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">)</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Webb, on the Idea of + Personality as applied to God, in Jour. Theol. Studies, + 2:50—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Self + knows itself and what is not itself as two, just because + both alike are embraced within the unity of its experience, + stand out against this background, the apprehension of + which is the very essence of that rationality or + personality which distinguishes us from the lower animals. + We find that background, God, present in us, or rather, we + find ourselves present in it. But if I find myself present + in it, then it, as more complete, is simply more personal + than I. Our not-self is outside of us, so that we are + finite and lonely, but God's not-self is within him, so + that there is a mutual inwardness of love and insight of + which the most perfect communion among men is only a faint + symbol. We are 'hermit-spirits,' as Keble says, and we come + to union with others only by realizing our union with God. + Personality is not impenetrable in man, for</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page254">[pg + 254]</span><a name="Pg254" id="Pg254" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">in + him we live, and move, and have our + being</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Acts + 17:28)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, and</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">that + which hath been made is life in him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John 1:3, + 4)</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Palmer, Theologic Definition, + 39—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">That + which has its cause without itself is a thing, while that + which has its cause within itself is a + person.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc217" id="toc217"></a> <a name="pdf218" id= + "pdf218"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + Second Division.—Infinity, and attributes therein + involved.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">By infinity + we mean, not that the divine nature has no known limits or + bounds, but that it has no limits or bounds. That which has + simply no known limits is the indefinite. The infinity of God + implies that he is in no way limited by the universe or + confined to the universe; he is transcendent as well as + immanent. Transcendence, however, must not be conceived as + freedom from merely spatial restrictions, but rather as + unlimited resource, of which God's glory is the expression.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 145:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">his + greatness is unsearchable</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + Job 11:7-9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">high as + heaven ... deeper than Sheol</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 66:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Heaven + is my throne, and the earth is my + footstool</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 K. + 8:27—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Heaven + and the heaven of heavens cannot contain + thee</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 11:33—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">how + unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding + out.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">There can be no infinite number, + since to any assignable number a unit can be added, which + shows that this number was not infinite before. There can be + no infinite universe, because an infinite universe is + conceivable only as an infinite number of worlds or of minds. + God himself is the only real Infinite, and the universe is + but the finite expression or symbol of his + greatness.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We therefore object to the + statement of Lotze, Microcosm, 1:446—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The complete system, grasped in its + totality, offers an expression of the whole nature of the + One.... The Cause makes actual existence its complete + manifestation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">In a similar way Schurman, Belief in God, + 26, 173-178, grants infinity, but denies + transcendence:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + infinite Spirit may include the finite, as the idea of a + single organism embraces within a single life a plurality of + members and functions.... The world is the expression of an + ever active and inexhaustible will. That the external + manifestation is as boundless as the life it expresses, + science makes exceedingly probable. In any event, we have not + the slightest reason to contrast the finitude of the world + with the infinity of God.... If the natural order is eternal + and infinite, as there seems no reason to doubt, it will be + difficult to find a meaning for</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">beyond</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">or</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">before.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Of this illimitable, ever-existing universe, + God is the Inner ground or substance. There is no evidence, + neither does any religious need require us to believe, that + the divine Being manifest in the universe has any actual or + possible existence elsewhere, in some transcendent sphere.... + The divine will can express itself only as it does, because + no other expression would reveal what it is. Of such a will, + the universe is the eternal expression.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In + explanation of the term infinity, we may notice:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) That infinity can belong + to but one Being, and therefore cannot be shared with the + universe. Infinity is not a negative but a positive idea. It + does not take its rise from an impotence of thought, but is an + intuitive conviction which constitutes the basis of all other + knowledge.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Porter, Human Intellect, + 651, 652, and this Compendium, pages 59-62.</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Versus</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Mansel, Proleg. Logica, chap. + 1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Such + negative notions ... imply at once an attempt to think, and a + failure in that attempt.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">On the contrary, the conception of the + Infinite is perfectly distinguishable from that of the + finite, and is both necessary and logically prior to that of + the finite. This is not true of our idea of the universe, of + which all we know is finite and dependent. We therefore + regard such utterances as those of Lotze and Schurman above, + and those of Chamberlin and Caird below, as pantheistic in + tendency, although the belief of these writers in divine and + human personality saves them from falling into other errors + of pantheism.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Prof. T. C. Chamberlin, of the + University of Chicago:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is not sufficient to the modern + scientific thought to think of a Ruler outside of the + universe, nor of a universe with the Ruler outside. A supreme + Being who does not embrace all the activities and + possibilities and potencies of the universe seems something + less than the supremest Being, and a universe with a Ruler + outside seems something less than a universe. And therefore + the thought is growing on the minds of scientific thinkers + that the supreme Being is the universal Being, embracing and + comprehending all things.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page255">[pg 255]</span><a name="Pg255" id="Pg255" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">Caird, + Evolution of Religion, 2:62—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Religion, if it would continue to exist, + must combine the monotheistic idea with that which it has + often regarded as its greatest enemy, the spirit of + pantheism.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We grant in reply that religion + must appropriate the element of truth in pantheism, namely, + that God is the only substance, ground and principle of + being, but we regard it as fatal to religion to side with + pantheism in its denials of God's transcendence and of God's + personality.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) That the infinity of God + does not involve his identity with <span class="tei tei-q">“the + all,”</span> or the sum of existence, nor prevent the + coëxistence of derived and finite beings to which he bears + relation. Infinity implies simply that God exists in no + necessary relation to finite things or beings, and that + whatever limitation of the divine nature results from their + existence is, on the part of God, a self-limitation.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. 113:5, + 6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">that + humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in + the earth.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is involved in God's infinity that there + should be no barriers to his self-limitation in creation and + redemption (see page 9, F.). Jacob Boehme said:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God is + infinite, for God is all.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%"> + But this is to make God all imperfection, as well as all + perfection. Harris, Philos. Basis Theism:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The relation of the absolute to the finite + is not the mathematical relation of a total to its parts, but + it is a dynamical and rational relation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Shedd, Dogm. Theol., + 1:189-191—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + infinite is not the total;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the all</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is a pseudo-infinite, and to assert that it + is greater than the simple infinite is the same error that is + committed in mathematics when it is asserted that an infinite + number plus a vast finite number is greater than the simple + infinite.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Fullerton, Conception of the + Infinite, 90—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Infinite, though it involves unlimited possibility of + quantity, is not itself a quantitative but rather a + qualitative conception.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hovey, Studies of Ethics and Religion, + 39-47—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Any + number of finite beings, minds, loves, wills, cannot reveal + fully an infinite Being, Mind, Love, Will. God must be + transcendent as well as immanent in the universe, or he is + neither infinite nor an object of supreme + worship.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Clarke, Christian Theology, + 117—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Great + as the universe is, God is not limited to it, wholly absorbed + by what he is doing in it, and capable of doing nothing more. + God in the universe is not like the life of the tree in the + tree, which does all that it is capable of in making the tree + what it is. God in the universe is rather like the spirit of + a man in his body, which is greater than his body, able to + direct his body, and capable of activities in which his body + has no share. God is a free spirit, personal, self-directing, + unexhausted by his present activities.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Persian poet said truly:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + world is a bud from his bower of beauty; the sun is a spark + from the light of his wisdom; the sky is a bubble on the sea + of his power.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Faber:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">For greatness which is infinite makes room + For all things in its lap to lie. We should be crushed by a + magnificence Short of infinity. We share in what is infinite; + 'tis ours, For we and it alike are Thine. What I enjoy, great + God, by right of Thee, Is more than doubly + mine.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) That the infinity of God + is to be conceived of as intensive, rather than as extensive. + We do not attribute to God infinite extension, but rather + infinite energy of spiritual life. That which acts up to the + measure of its power is simply natural and physical force. Man + rises above nature by virtue of his reserves of power. But in + God the reserve is infinite. There is a transcendent element in + him, which no self-revelation exhausts, whether creation or + redemption, whether law or promise.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Transcendence is not mere + outsideness,—it is rather boundless supply within. God is not + infinite by virtue of existing</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">extra flammantia mœnia + mundi</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(Lucretius) or of filling a + space outside of space,—he is rather infinite by being the + pure and perfect Mind that passes beyond all phenomena and + constitutes the ground of them. The former conception of + infinity is simply supra-cosmic, the latter alone is properly + transcendent; see Hatch, Hibbert Lectures, 244.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God is + the living God, and has not yet spoken his last word on any + subject</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(G. W. Northrup). God's + life</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">operates unspent.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">There is</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">ever more to follow.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The legend stamped with the Pillars of + Hercules upon the old coins of Spain was</span> <span lang= + "la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ne plus + ultra</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Nothing + beyond,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">but when Columbus discovered + America the legend was fitly changed to</span> <span lang= + "la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Plus + ultra</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">More + beyond.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">So the motto of the University of Rochester + is</span> <span class="tei tei-foreign"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Meliora</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Better + things.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p><span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page256">[pg 256]</span><a name="Pg256" id="Pg256" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Since God's infinite resources + are pledged to aid us, we may, as Emerson bids us,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">hitch + our wagon to a star,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and believe in progress. Tennyson, Locksley + Hall:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Men, my + brothers, men the workers, ever reaping something new. That + which they have done but earnest of the things that they + shall do.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Millet's L'Angelus is a witness + to man's need of God's transcendence. Millet's aim was to + paint, not</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">air</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">but</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">prayer</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + We need a God who is not confined to nature. As Moses at the + beginning of his ministry cried,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Show + me, I pray thee, thy glory</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Ex. + 33:18)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, so we need + marked experiences at the beginning of the Christian life, in + order that we may be living witnesses to the supernatural. + And our Lord promises such manifestations of himself:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 14:21—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I will + love him, and will manifest myself unto + him.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 71:15—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">My + mouth shall tell of thy righteousness, And of thy salvation + all the day; For I know not the numbers + thereof</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= it is infinite.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 89:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Mercy + shall be built up forever</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= ever growing manifestations and cycles of + fulfilment—first literal, then spiritual.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 113:4-6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jehovah + is high above all nations, And his glory above the heavens. + Who is like unto Jehovah our God, That hath his seat on high, + That humbleth himself</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">[stoopeth down]</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">to behold The things that are in heaven and + in the earth?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mal. + 2:15—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">did he + not make one, although he had the residue of the + Spirit?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= he might have created many wives for Adam, + though he did actually create but one. In this</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">residue + of the Spirit,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">says Caldwell, Cities of our Faith, + 370,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">there + yet lies latent—as winds lie calm in the air of a summer + noon, as heat immense lies cold and hidden in the mountains + of coal—the blessing and the life of nations, the infinite + enlargement of Zion.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 52:10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jehovah + hath made bare his holy arm</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= nature does not exhaust or entomb God; + nature is the mantle in which he commonly reveals himself; + but he is not fettered by the robe he wears—he can thrust it + aside, and make bare his arm in providential interpositions + for earthly deliverance, and in mighty movements of history + for the salvation of the sinner and for the setting up of his + own kingdom. See also</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">of his + fulness we all received, and grace for + grace</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">=</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Each blessing appropriated became the + foundation of a greater blessing. To have realized and used + one measure of grace was to have gained a larger measure in + exchange for it χάριν ἀντὶ χάριτος</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; so Westcott, in Bib. Com.,</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + loco</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">. Christ can + ever say to the believer, as he said to Nathanael</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John 1:50):</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">thou + shalt see greater things than these.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Because God is infinite, he can + love each believer as much as if that single soul were the + only one for whom he had to care. Both in providence and in + redemption the whole heart of God is busy with plans for the + interest and happiness of the single Christian. Threatenings + do not half reveal God, nor his promises half express + the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">eternal weight of glory</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(2 Cor. + 4:17)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. Dante, + Paradiso, 19:40-63—God</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Could not upon the universe so write The + impress of his power, but that his word Must still be left in + distance infinite.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">To</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">limit + the Holy One of Israel</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Ps. + 78:41</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—marg.) is + falsehood as well as sin.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">This attribute of infinity, or + of transcendence, qualifies all the other attributes, and so + is the foundation for the representations of majesty and + glory as belonging to God (see</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ex. + 33:18</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 19:1</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 6:3</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 6:13</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 7:2</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 1:23</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">9:23</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 1:3</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Pet. + 4:14</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rev. + 21:23</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). Glory is not + itself a divine attribute; it is rather a result—an objective + result—of the exercise of the divine attributes. This glory + exists irrespective of the revelation and recognition of it + in the creation (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 17:5</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). Only God can + worthily perceive and reverence his own glory. He does all + for his own glory. All religion is founded on the glory of + God. All worship is the result of this immanent quality of + the divine nature. Kedney, Christian Doctrine, 1:360-373, + 2:354, apparently conceives of the divine glory as an eternal + material environment of God, from which the universe is + fashioned. This seems to contradict both the spirituality and + the infinity of God. God's infinity implies absolute + completeness apart from anything external to himself. We + proceed therefore to consider the attributes involved in + infinity.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Of the + attributes involved in Infinity, we mention:</p> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc219" id="toc219"></a> <a name="pdf220" id= + "pdf220"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1. Self-existence.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">By + self-existence we mean</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) That God is + <span class="tei tei-q">“<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">causa + sui</span></span>,”</span> having the ground of his existence + in himself. Every being must have the ground of its existence + either in or out of itself. We have the ground of our + existence outside of us. God is not thus dependent. He is + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-style: italic">a se</span></span>; + hence we speak of the aseity of God.</p><span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page257">[pg 257]</span><a name="Pg257" id= + "Pg257" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">God's self-existence is implied + in the name</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jehovah</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Ex. + 6:3)</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">and in the + declaration</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-variant: small-caps">I am that I + am</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ex. + 3:14</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">), both of + which signify that it is God's nature to be. Self-existence + is certainly incomprehensible to us, yet a self-existent + person is no greater mystery than a self-existent thing, + such as Herbert Spencer supposes the universe to be; indeed + it is not so great a mystery, for it is easier to derive + matter from mind than to derive mind from matter. See + Porter, Human Intellect, 661. Joh. Angelus Silesius:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Gott + ist das was Er ist; Ich was Ich durch Ihn bin; Doch kennst + du Einen wohl, So kennst du mich und + Ihn.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Martineau, Types, + 1:302—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">A</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cause</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">may be eternal, but nothing + that is</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">caused</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">can be so.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">He protests against the phrase</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">causa + sui</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">So Shedd, Dogm. Theol., 1:338, objects to + the phrase</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + is his own cause,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">because God is the uncaused Being. But + when we speak of God as</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">causa + sui</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">we do not attribute to him beginning of + existence. The phrase means rather that the ground of his + existence is not outside of himself, but that he himself is + the living spring of all energy and of all + being.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">But lest + this should be misconstrued, we add</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) That God exists by the + necessity of his own being. It is his nature to be. Hence the + existence of God is not a contingent but a necessary + existence. It is grounded, not in his volitions, but in his + nature.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Julius Müller, Doctrine of Sin, + 2:126, 130, 170, seems to hold that God is primarily will, so + that the essence of God is his act:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God's + essence does not precede his freedom</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">if + the essence of God were for him something given, something + already present, the question</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">from + whence it was given?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">could not be evaded; God's essence must in + this case have its origin in something apart from him, and + thus the true conception of God would be entirely swept + away.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">But this implies that truth, + reason, love, holiness, equally with God's essence, are all + products of will. If God's essence, moreover, were his act, + it would be in the power of God to annihilate himself. Act + presupposes essence; else there is no God to act. The will + by which God exists, and in virtue of which he is</span> + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">causa + sui</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, is + therefore not will in the sense of volition, but will in + the sense of the whole movement of his active being. With + Müller's view Thomasius and Delitzsch are agreed. For + refutation of it, see Philippi, Glaubenslehre, + 2:63.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">God's essence is not his act, + not only because this would imply that he could destroy + himself, but also because before willing there must be + being. Those who hold God's essence to be simple activity + are impelled to this view by the fear of postulating some + dead thing in God which precedes all exercise of faculty. + So Miller, Evolution of Love, 43—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Perfect action, conscious and volitional, + is the highest generalization, the ultimate unit, the + unconditioned nature, of infinite Being</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, God's nature + is subjective action, while external nature is his + objective action. A better statement, however, is that of + Bowne, Philos. of Theism, 170—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">While + there is a necessity in the soul, it becomes controlling + only through freedom; and we may say that everyone must + constitute himself a rational soul.... This is absolutely + true of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc221" id="toc221"></a> <a name="pdf222" id= + "pdf222"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 2. Immutability.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">By this we + mean that the nature, attributes, and will of God are exempt + from all change. Reason teaches us that no change is possible + in God, whether of increase or decrease, progress or + deterioration, contraction or development. All change must be + to better or to worse. But God is absolute perfection, and no + change to better is possible. Change to worse would be + equally inconsistent with perfection. No cause for such + change exists, either outside of God or in God himself.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Psalm + 102:27—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">thou + art the same</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mal. + 3:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I, + Jehovah, change not</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">James + 1:17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">with + whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by + turning.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Spenser, Faerie Queen, Cantos of + Mutability, 8:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Then + 'gin I think on that which nature sayde, Of that same time + when no more change shall be, But steadfast rest of all + things, firmly stayed Upon the pillours of eternity; For + all that moveth doth in change delight, But henceforth all + shall rest eternally With him that is the God of Sabaoth + hight; Oh thou great Sabaoth God, grant me that Sabbath's + sight!</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Bowne, Philos. of Theism, 146, + defines immutability as</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + constancy and continuity of the divine nature which exists + through all the divine acts as their law and + source.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page258">[pg + 258]</span><a name="Pg258" id="Pg258" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The + passages of Scripture which seem at first sight to ascribe + change to God are to be explained in one of three ways:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) As illustrations of the + varied methods in which God manifests his immutable truth and + wisdom in creation.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Mathematical principles receive + new application with each successive stage of creation. The + law of cohesion gives place to chemical law, and chemistry + yields to vital forces, but through all these changes there + is a divine truth and wisdom which is unchanging, and which + reduces all to rational order. John Caird, Fund. Ideas of + Christianity, 2:140—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Immutability + is not stereotyped sameness, but impossibility of deviation + by one hair's breadth from the course which is best. A man + of great force of character is continually finding new + occasions for the manifestation and application of moral + principle. In God infinite consistency is united with + infinite flexibility. There is no iron-bound impassibility, + but rather an infinite originality in + him.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) As anthropomorphic + representations of the revelation of God's unchanging + attributes in the changing circumstances and varying moral + conditions of creatures.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 6:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">it + repented Jehovah that he had made man</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—is to be interpreted in the light + of</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Num. + 23:19—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + is not a man, that he should lie: neither the son of man, + that he should repent.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">So</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Sam. + 15:11</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">with</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">15:29</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + God's unchanging holiness requires him to treat the wicked + differently from the righteous. When the righteous become + wicked, his treatment of them must change. The sun is not + fickle or partial because it melts the wax but hardens the + clay,—the change is not in the sun but in the objects it + shines upon. The change in God's treatment of men is + described anthropomorphically, as if it were a change in + God himself,—other passages in close conjunction with the + first being given to correct any possible misapprehension. + Threats not fulfilled, as in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jonah 3:4, + 10</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, are to be + explained by their conditional nature. Hence God's + immutability itself renders it certain that his love will + adapt itself to every varying mood and condition of his + children, so as to guide their steps, sympathize with their + sorrows, answer their prayers. God responds to us more + quickly than the mother's face to the changing moods of her + babe. Godet, in The Atonement, 338—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + is of all beings the most delicately and infinitely + sensitive.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">God's immutability is not that + of the stone, that has no internal experience, but rather + that of the column of mercury, that rises and falls with + every change in the temperature of the surrounding + atmosphere. When a man bicycling against the wind turns + about and goes with the wind instead of going against it, + the wind seems to change, though it is blowing just as it + was before. The sinner struggles against the wind of + prevenient grace until he seems to strike against a stone + wall. Regeneration is God's conquest of our wills by his + power, and conversion is our beginning to turn round and to + work with God rather than against God. Now we move without + effort, because we have God at our back;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Phil. 2:12, + 13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">work + out your own salvation ... for it is God who worketh in + you.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">God has not changed, but we have + changed;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 3:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + wind bloweth where it will ... so is every one that is born + of the Spirit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Jacob's first wrestling with the Angel was + the picture of his lifelong self-will, opposing God; his + subsequent wrestling in prayer was the picture of a + consecrated will, working with God (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 32:24-28</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). We seem + to conquer God, but he really conquers us. He seems to + change, but it is we who change after all.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) As describing + executions, in time, of purposes eternally existing in the + mind of God. Immutability must not be confounded with + immobility. This would deny all those imperative volitions of + God by which he enters into history. The Scriptures assure us + that creation, miracles, incarnation, regeneration, are + immediate acts of God. Immutability is consistent with + constant activity and perfect freedom.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The abolition of the Mosaic + dispensation indicates no change in God's plan; it is rather + the execution of his plan. Christ's coming and work were no + sudden makeshift, to remedy unforeseen defects in the Old + Testament scheme: Christ came rather in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + fulness of the time</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Gal. + 4:4)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, to fulfill + the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">counsel</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">of God (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 2:23</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">).</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 8:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + remembered Noah</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= interposed by special act for Noah's + deliverance, showed that he remembered</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page259">[pg 259]</span><a name="Pg259" + id="Pg259" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Noah. While we change, God does not. There + is no fickleness or inconstancy in him. Where we once found + him, there we may find him still, as Jacob did at Bethel + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. 35:1, 6, + 9</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). Immutability + is a consolation to the faithful, but a terror to God's + enemies (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mal. + 3:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I, + Jehovah, change not; therefore ye, O sons of Jacob, are not + consumed</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 7:11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a God + that hath indignation every day</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">). It is consistent with constant activity + in nature and in grace (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 5:17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">My + Father worketh even until now, and I + work</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Job 23:13, + 14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he is + in one mind, and who can turn him?... For he performeth + that which is appointed for me: and many such things are + with him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">). If God's immutability were immobility, + we could not worship him, any more than the ancient Greeks + were able to worship Fate. Arthur Hugh Clough:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It + fortifies my soul to know, That, though I perish, Truth is + so: That, howsoe'er I stray and range, Whate'er I do, Thou + dost not change. I steadier step when I recall That, if I + slip, Thou dost not fall.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">On this attribute see Charnock, + Attributes, 1:310-362; Dorner, Gesammelte Schriften, + 188-377; translated in Bib. Sac., 1879:28-59, + 209-223.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc223" id="toc223"></a> <a name="pdf224" id= + "pdf224"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 3. Unity.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">By this we + mean (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) that the divine nature + is undivided and indivisible (<span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-style: italic">unus</span></span>); and (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) that there is but one + infinite and perfect Spirit (<span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-style: italic">unicus</span></span>).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Deut. + 6:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Hear, + O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 44:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">besides me there is no + God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 5:44—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + only God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">17:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + only true God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 8:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">no + God but one</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Tim. + 1:17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + only God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">6:15—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + blessed and only Potentate</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. 4:5, + 6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">one + Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, + who is over all, and through all, and in + all.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">When we read in Mason, Faith of the + Gospel, 25—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + unity of God is not numerical, denying the existence of a + second; it is integral, denying the possibility of + division,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">we reply that the unity of God is both,—it + includes both the numerical and the integral + elements.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Humboldt, in his Cosmos, has + pointed out that the unity and creative agency of the + heavenly Father have given unity to the order of nature, + and so have furnished the impulse to modern physical + science. Our faith in a</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">universe</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">rests historically upon the demonstration + of God's unity which has been given by the incarnation and + death of Christ. Tennyson, In Memoriam:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">That + God who ever lives and loves, One God, one law, one + element, And one far off divine event To which the whole + creation moves.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">See A. H. Strong, Christ in Creation, + 184-187. Alexander McLaren:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + heathen have many gods because they have no one that + satisfies hungry hearts or corresponds to their unconscious + ideals. Completeness is not reached by piecing together + many fragments. The wise merchantman will gladly barter a + sack full of</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">goodly pearls</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">for the one of great price. Happy they who + turn away from the many to embrace the + One!</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Against + polytheism, tritheism, or dualism, we may urge that the + notion of two or more Gods is self-contradictory; since each + limits the other and destroys his godhood. In the nature of + things, infinity and absolute perfection are possible only to + one. It is unphilosophical, moreover, to assume the existence + of two or more Gods, when one will explain all the facts. The + unity of God is, however, in no way inconsistent with the + doctrine of the Trinity; for, while this doctrine holds to + the existence of hypostatical, or personal, distinctions in + the divine nature, it also holds that this divine nature is + numerically and eternally one.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Polytheism is man's attempt to + rid himself of the notion of responsibility to one moral + Lawgiver and Judge by dividing up his manifestations, and + attributing them to separate wills. So Force, in the + terminology of some modern theorizers, is only God with his + moral attributes left out.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Henotheism</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(says Max Müller, Origin and + Growth of Religion, 285)</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">conceives of each individual god as + unlimited by the power of other gods. Each is felt, at the + time, as supreme and absolute, notwithstanding the + limitations which to our minds must arise from his power + being conditioned by the power of all the + gods.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Even polytheism cannot rest in + the doctrine of many gods, as an exclusive and + all-comprehending explanation of the universe. The Greeks + believed in one supreme Fate that ruled both gods and men. + Aristotle:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God, + though he is one, has many names, because he is called + according to states into which he is ever entering + anew.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The doctrine of God's unity should teach + men to give up hope of any other God, to</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page260">[pg + 260]</span><a name="Pg260" id="Pg260" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">reveal + himself to them or to save them. They are in the hands of + the one and only God, and therefore there is but one law, + one gospel, one salvation; one doctrine, one duty, one + destiny. We cannot rid ourselves of responsibility by + calling ourselves mere congeries of impressions or mere + victims of circumstance. As God is one, so the soul made in + God's image is one also. On the origin of polytheism, see + articles by Tholuck, in Bib. Repos., 2:84, 246, 441, and + Max Müller, Science of Religion, 124.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Moberly, Atonement and + Personality, 83—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end and sum and meaning + of Being, is but One. We who believe in a personal God do + not believe in a limited God. We do not mean one more, a + bigger specimen of existences, amongst existences. Rather, + we mean that the reality of existence itself is personal: + that Power, that Law, that Life, that Thought, that Love, + are ultimately, in their very reality, identified in one + supreme, and that necessarily a personal Existence. Now + such supreme Being cannot be multiplied: it is incapable of + a plural: it cannot be a generic term. There cannot be more + than one all-inclusive, more than one ultimate, more than + one God. Nor has Christian thought, at any point, for any + moment, dared or endured the least approach to such a + thought or phrase as</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">two + Gods.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">If the Father is God, and the + Son God, they are both the same God wholly, unreservedly. + God is a particular, an unique, not a general, term. Each + is not only God, but is the very same</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">singularis unicus et totus + Deus.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">They are not both</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">generically</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">God, + as though</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">could be an attribute or predicate; but + both</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">identically</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">God, + the God, the one all-inclusive, indivisible, God.... If the + thought that wishes to be orthodox had less tendency to + become tritheistic, the thought that claims to be free + would be less Unitarian.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc225" id="toc225"></a> <a name="pdf226" id= + "pdf226"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + Third Division.—Perfection, and attributes therein + involved.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">By + perfection we mean, not mere quantitative completeness, but + qualitative excellence. The attributes involved in perfection + are moral attributes. Right action among men presupposes a + perfect moral organization, a normal state of intellect, + affection and will. So God's activity presupposes a principle + of intelligence, of affection, of volition, in his inmost + being, and the existence of a worthy object for each of these + powers of his nature. But in eternity past there is nothing + existing outside or apart from God. He must find, and he does + find, the sufficient object of intellect, affection, and will, + in himself. There is a self-knowing, a self-loving, a + self-willing, which constitute his absolute perfection. The + consideration of the immanent attributes is, therefore, + properly concluded with an account of that truth, love, and + holiness, which render God entirely sufficient to himself.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 5:48—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Ye + therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is + perfect</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + Rom. 12:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">perfect + will of God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col. + 1:28—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">perfect + in Christ</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Deut. + 32:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Rock, his work is perfect</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 18:30—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">As for + God, his way is perfect.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc227" id="toc227"></a> <a name="pdf228" id= + "pdf228"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1. Truth.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">By truth + we mean that attribute of the divine nature in virtue of + which God's being and God's knowledge eternally conform to + each other.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In further + explanation we remark:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. + Negatively:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) The immanent truth of + God is not to be confounded with that veracity and + faithfulness which partially manifest it to creatures. These + are transitive truth, and they presuppose the absolute and + immanent attribute.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Deut + 32:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A God + of faithfulness and without iniquity, Just and right is + he</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 17:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + only true God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(ἀληθινόν);</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 John + 5:20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">we + know him that is true</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(τὸν ἀληθινόν). In both these passages + ἀληθινός describes God as the genuine, the real, as + distinguished from ἀληθής, the veracious (compare</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 6:32—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + true bread</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 8:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + true tabernacle</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">).</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 14:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I am + ... the truth.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">As</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I am + ... the life</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">signifies, not</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I am + the living one,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">but rather</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page261">[pg 261]</span><a name="Pg261" id="Pg261" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">am he who + is life and the source of life,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">so</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">I am ... the + truth</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">signifies, not</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I am + the truthful one,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">but</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I am + he who is truth and the source of truth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—in other words, truth of being, not + merely truth of expression. So</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 John + 5:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Spirit is the truth.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Cf.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">1 Esdras + 1:38—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + truth abideth and is forever strong, and it liveth and + ruleth forever</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= personal truth? See Godet on</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:18</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; Shedd, Dogm. + Theol., 1:181.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Truth is God perfectly + revealed and known. It may be likened to the electric + current which manifests and measures the power of the + dynamo. There is no realm of truth apart from the + world-ground, just as there is no law of nature that is + independent of the Author of nature. While we know + ourselves only partially, God knows himself fully. John + Caird, Fund. Ideas of Christianity, + 1:192—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + the life of God there are no unrealized possibilities. The + presupposition of all our knowledge and activity is that + absolute and eternal unity of knowing and being which is + only another expression for the nature of God. In one + sense, he is all reality, and the only reality, whilst all + finite existence is but a</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">becoming</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + which never</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">is</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Lowrie, Doctrine of St. John, + 57-63—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Truth + is reality revealed. Jesus is the Truth, because in him the + sum of the qualities hidden in God is presented and + revealed to the world, God's nature in terms of an active + force and in relation to his rational + creation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This definition however ignores the fact + that God is truth, apart from and before all creation. As + an immanent attribute, truth implies a conformity of God's + knowledge to God's being, which antedates the universe; see + B. (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + below.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Truth in God is not a + merely active attribute of the divine nature. God is truth, + not only in the sense that he is the being who truly knows, + but also in the sense that he is the truth that is known. The + passive precedes the active; truth of being precedes truth of + knowing.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Plato:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Truth + is his (God's) body, and light his + shadow.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Hollaz (quoted in Thomasius, + Christi Person und Werk, 1:137) says that</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">truth + is the conformity of the divine essence with the divine + intellect.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Gerhard, loc. ii:152; Kahnis, + Dogmatik, 2:272, 279; 3:193—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Distinguish in God the personal + self-consciousness [spirituality, personality—see pages + 252, 253] from the unfolding of this in the divine + knowledge, which can have no other object but God himself. + So far, now, as self-knowing in God is absolutely identical + with his being is he the absolutely true. For truth is the + knowledge which answers to the being, and the being which + answers to the knowledge.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Royce, World and Individual, + 1:270—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Truth + either may mean that about which we judge,</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">or</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">it may mean the correspondence + between our ideas and their objects.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God's truth is both object of his + knowledge and knowledge of his object. Miss Clara French, + The Dramatic Action and Motive of King John:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">You + spell Truth with a capital, and make it an independent + existence to be sought for and absorbed; but, unless truth + is God, what can it do for man? It is only a personality + that can touch a personality.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">So we assent to the poet's declaration + that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise + again,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">only because Truth is + personal. Christ, the Revealer of God, is the Truth. He is + not simply the medium but also the object of all + knowledge;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 4:20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">ye + did not so learn Christ</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= ye knew more than the doctrine about + Christ,—ye knew Christ himself;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 17:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">this + is life eternal that they should know thee the only true + God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus + Christ.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. + Positively:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) All truth among men, + whether mathematical, logical, moral, or religious, is to be + regarded as having its foundation in this immanent truth of + the divine nature and as disclosing facts in the being of + God.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">There is a higher Mind than our + mind. No apostle can say</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I am + the truth,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">though each of them can say</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + speak the truth.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Truth is not a scientific or moral, but a + substantial, thing—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">nicht + Schulsache, sondern Lebenssache.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Here is the dignity of education, that + knowledge of truth is knowledge of God. The laws of + mathematics are disclosures to us, not of the divine reason + merely, for this would imply truth outside of and before + God, but of the divine nature. J. W. A. Stewart:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Science is possible because God is + scientific.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Plato:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + geometrizes.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bowne:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + heavens are crystalized mathematics.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The statement that two and two make four, + or that virtue is commendable and vice condemnable, + expresses an everlasting principle in the being of God. + Separate statements of truth are inexplicable apart from + the total revelation of truth, and this total revelation is + inexplicable apart from One who is truth and who</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page262">[pg + 262]</span><a name="Pg262" id="Pg262" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">is thus + revealed. The separate electric lights in our streets are + inexplicable apart from the electric current which throbs + through the wires, and this electric current is itself + inexplicable apart from the hidden dynamo whose power it + exactly expresses and measures. The separate lights of + truth are due to the realizing agency of the Holy Spirit; + the one unifying current which they partially reveal is the + outgoing work of Christ, the divine Logos; Christ is the + one and only Revealer of him who dwells</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">in + light unapproachable; whom no man hath seen, nor can + see</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(1 Tim. + 6:16)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Prof. H. E. Webster began his + lectures</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">by + assuming the Lord Jesus Christ</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">and</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">the + multiplication-table.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But this was tautology, because the Lord + Jesus Christ, the Truth, the only revealer of God, includes + the multiplication-table. So Wendt, Teaching of Jesus, + 1:257; 2:202, unduly narrows the scope of Christ's + revelation when he maintains that with Jesus truth is not + the truth which corresponds to reality but rather the right + conduct which corresponds to the duty prescribed by + God.</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Grace + and truth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John + 1:17)</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">then means + the favor of God and the righteousness which God approves. + To understand Jesus is impossible without being ethically + like him. He is king of truth, in that he reveals this + righteousness, and finds obedience for it among men. This + ethical aspect of the truth, we would reply, important as + it is, does not exclude but rather requires for its + complement and presupposition that other aspect of the + truth as the reality to which all being must conform and + the conformity of all being to that reality. Since Christ + is the truth of God, we are successful in our search for + truth only as we recognize him. Whether all roads lead to + Rome depends upon which way your face is turned. Follow a + point of land out into the sea, and you find only ocean. + With the back turned upon Jesus Christ all following after + truth leads only into mist and darkness. Aristotle's ideal + man was</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a + hunter after truth.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But truth can never be found disjoined + from love, nor can the loveless seeker discern it.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For + the loving worm within its clod Were diviner than a + loveless God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(Robert Browning). Hence Christ can + say:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 18:37—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Every + one that is of the truth heareth my + voice.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) This attribute + therefore constitutes the principle and guarantee of all + revelation, while it shows the possibility of an eternal + divine self-contemplation apart from and before all creation. + It is to be understood only in the light of the doctrine of + the Trinity.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">To all this doctrine, however, a + great school of philosophers have opposed themselves. Duns + Scotus held that God's will made truth as well as right. + Descartes said that God could have made it untrue that the + radii of a circle are all equal. Lord Bacon said that Adam's + sin consisted in seeking a good in itself, instead of being + content with the merely empirical good. Whedon, On the Will, + 316—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Infinite wisdom and infinite holiness + consist in, and result from, God's volitions + eternally.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We reply that, to make truth and + good matters of mere will, instead of regarding them as + characteristics of God's being, is to deny that anything is + true or good in itself. If God can make truth to be + falsehood, and injustice to be justice, then God is + indifferent to truth or falsehood, to good or evil, and he + ceases thereby to be God. Truth is not arbitrary,—it is + matter of being—the being of God. There are no regulative + principles of knowledge which are not transcendental also. + God knows and wills truth, because he is truth. Robert + Browning, A Soul's Tragedy, 214—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Were't + not for God, I mean, what hope of truth—Speaking truth, + hearing truth—would stay with Man?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">God's will does not make truth, but truth + rather makes God's will. God's perfect knowledge in + eternity past has an object. That object must be himself. + He is the truth Known, as well as the truthful Knower. But + a perfect objective must be personal. The doctrine of the + Trinity is the necessary complement to the doctrine of the + Attributes. Shedd, Dogm. Theol., 1:183—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + pillar of cloud becomes a pillar of + fire.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See A. H. Strong, Christ in + Creation, 102-112.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On the question whether it is + ever right to deceive, see Paine, Ethnic Trinities, + 300-339. Plato said that the use of such medicines should + be restricted to physicians. The rulers of the state may + lie for the public good, but private people not:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">officiosum mendacium.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is better to say that deception is + justifiable only where the person deceived has, like a wild + beast or a criminal or an enemy in war, put himself out of + human society and deprived himself of the right to truth. + Even then deception is a sad necessity which witnesses to + an abnormal condition of human affairs. With James + Martineau, when asked what answer he would give to an + intending murderer when truth would mean death, we may + say:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + suppose I should tell an untruth, and then should be sorry + for it forever after.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">On truth as an attribute of God, see Bib. + Sac., Oct. 1877:735; Finney, Syst. Theol., 661; Janet, + Final Causes, 416.</span></p> + </div> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page263">[pg + 263]</span><a name="Pg263" id="Pg263" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc229" id="toc229"></a> <a name="pdf230" id= + "pdf230"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 2. Love.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">By love we + mean that attribute of the divine nature in virtue of which + God is eternally moved to self-communication.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-style: italic">1 John + 4:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q">“God is love”</span></em>; + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">3:16—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q">“hereby know we love, because he laid down his + life for us”</span></em>; <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-style: italic">John + 17:24—</span><span class="tei tei-q">“thou lovedst me before + the foundation of the world”</span></em>; <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-style: italic">Rom. + 15:30—</span><span class="tei tei-q">“the love of the + Spirit.”</span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In further + explanation we remark:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. + Negatively:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) The immanent love of + God is not to be confounded with mercy and goodness toward + creatures. These are its manifestations, and are to be + denominated transitive love.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Thomasius, Christi Person und + Werk, 1:138, 139—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God's + regard for the happiness of his creatures flows from this + self-communicating attribute of his nature. Love, in the + true sense of the word, is living good-will, with impulses + to impartation and union; self-communication (bonum + communicativum sui); devotion, merging of the</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">ego</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">in another, in order to + penetrate, fill, bless this other with itself, and in this + other, as in another self, to possess itself, without + giving up itself or losing itself. Love is therefore + possible only between persons, and always presupposes + personality. Only as Trinity has God love, absolute love; + because as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost he stands in perfect + self-impartation, self-devotion, and communion with + himself.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Julius Müller, Doct. Sin, + 2:136—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + has in himself the eternal and wholly adequate object of + his love, independently of his relation to the + world.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In the Greek mythology, Eros + was one of the oldest and yet one of the youngest of the + gods. So Dante makes the oldest angel to be the youngest, + because nearest to God the fountain of life. In</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 John 2:7, 8,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + old commandment</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">of love is evermore</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a new + commandment</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">because it reflects this eternal attribute + of God.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There + is a love unstained by selfishness, Th' outpouring tide of + self-abandonment, That loves to love, and deems its + preciousness Repaid in loving, though no sentiment Of love + returned reward its sacrament; Nor stays to question what + the loved one will, But hymns its overture with blessings + immanent; Rapt and sublimed by love's exalting thrill, + Loves on, through frown or smile, divine, immortal + still.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Clara Elizabeth Ward:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If I + could gather every look of love, That ever any human + creature wore, And all the looks that joy is mother of, All + looks of grief that mortals ever bore, And mingle all with + God-begotten grace, Methinks that I should see the Savior's + face.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Love is not the + all-inclusive ethical attribute of God. It does not include + truth, nor does it include holiness.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Ladd, Philosophy of Conduct, + 352, very properly denies that benevolence is the + all-inclusive virtue. Justness and Truth, he remarks, are not + reducible to benevolence. In a review of Ladd's work in Bib. + Sac., Jan. 1903:185, C. M. Mead adds:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He + comes to the conclusion that it is impossible to resolve + all the virtues into the generic one of love or benevolence + without either giving a definition of benevolence which is + unwarranted and virtually nullifies the end aimed at, or + failing to recognize certain virtues which are as genuinely + virtues as benevolence itself. Particularly is it argued + that the virtues of the will (courage, constancy, + temperance), and the virtues of judgment (wisdom, justness, + trueness), get no recognition in this attempt to subsume + all virtues under the one virtue of love. 'The unity of the + virtues is due to the unity of a personality, in active and + varied relations with other persons' (361). If benevolence + means wishing</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">happiness</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">to all men, then happiness is + made the ultimate good, and eudæmonism is accepted as the + true ethical philosophy. But if, on the other hand, in + order to avoid this conclusion, benevolence is made to mean + wishing the highest</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">welfare</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">to all men, and the highest + welfare is conceived as a life of virtue, then we come to + the rather inane conclusion that the essence of virtue is + to wish that men may be virtuous.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See also art. by Vos, in Presb. and Ref. + Rev., Jan. 1892:1-37.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) Nor is God's love a + mere regard for being in general, irrespective of its moral + quality.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Jonathan Edwards, in his + treatise On the Nature of Virtue, defines virtue as regard + for being in general. He considers that God's love is first + of all directed toward himself as having the greatest + quantity of being, and only secondarily directed + toward</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page264">[pg + 264]</span><a name="Pg264" id="Pg264" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">his + creatures whose quantity of being is infinitesimal as + compared with his. But we reply that being in general is far + too abstract a thing to elicit or justify love. Charles Hodge + said truly that, if obligation is primarily due to being in + general, then there is no more virtue in loving God than + there is in loving Satan. Virtue, we hold, must consist, not + in love for being in general, but in love for good being, + that is, in love for God as holy. Love has no moral value + except as it is placed upon a right object and is + proportioned to the worth of that object.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Love + of being in general</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">makes virtue an irrational thing, because + it has no standard of conduct. Virtue is rather the love of + God as right and as the source of right.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">G. S. Lee, The Shadow-cross, + 38—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + is love, and law is the way he loves us. But it is also + true that God is law, and love is the way he rules + us.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Clarke, Christian Theology, + 88—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Love + is God's desire to impart himself, and so all good, to + other persons, and to possess them for his own spiritual + fellowship.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The intent to communicate himself is the + intent to communicate holiness, and this is the</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">terminus ad quem</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">of God's administration. Drummond, in his + Ascent of Man, shows that Love began with the first cell of + life. Evolution is not a tale of battle, but a love-story. + We gradually pass from selfism to otherism. Evolution is + the object of nature, and altruism is the object of + evolution. Man = nutrition, looking to his own things; + Woman = reproduction, looking to the things of others. But + the greatest of these is love. The mammalia = the mothers, + last and highest, care for others. As the mother gives + love, so the father gives righteousness. Law, once a latent + thing, now becomes active. The father makes a sort of + conscience for those beneath him. Nature, like Raphael, is + producing a Holy Family.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Jacob Boehme:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Throw + open and throw out thy heart. For unless thou dost exercise + thy heart, and the love of thy heart, upon every man in the + world, thy self-love, thy pride, thy envy, thy distaste, + thy dislike, will still have dominion over thee.... In the + name and in the strength of God, love all men. Love thy + neighbor as thyself, and do to thy neighbor as thou doest + to thyself. And do it now. For now is the accepted time, + and now is the day of salvation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">These expressions are scriptural and + valuable, if they are interpreted ethically, and are + understood to inculcate the supreme duty of loving the Holy + One, of being holy as he is holy, and of seeking to bring + all intelligent beings into conformity with his + holiness.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) God's love is not a + merely emotional affection, proceeding from sense or impulse, + nor is it prompted by utilitarian considerations.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Of the two words for love in the + N. T., φιλέω designates an emotional affection, which is not + and cannot be commanded (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 11:36—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Behold + how he loved him!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">), while ἀγαπάω expresses a rational and + benevolent affection which springs from deliberate choice + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 3:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God so + loved the world</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 19:19—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Thou + shall love thy neighbor as thyself</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">5:44—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Love + your enemies</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">). Thayer, N. T. Lex., 653—Ἀγαπᾶν</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">properly denotes a love founded in + admiration, veneration, esteem, like the Lat.</span> + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">diligere</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + to be kindly disposed to one, to wish one well; but φιλεîν + denotes an inclination prompted by sense and emotion, + Lat.</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">amare</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">.... + Hence men are said ἀγαπᾶν God, not + φιλεîν.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In this word ἀγάπη, when used + of God, it is already implied that God loves, not for what + he can get, but for what he can give. The rationality of + his love involves moreover a subordination of the emotional + element to a higher law than itself, namely, that of + holiness. Even God's self-love must have a reason and norm + in the perfections of his own being.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. + Positively:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) The immanent love of + God is a rational and voluntary affection, grounded in + perfect reason and deliberate choice.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Ritschl, Justification and + Reconciliation, 3:277—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Love + is will, aiming either at the appropriation of an object, + or at the enrichment of its existence, because moved by a + feeling of its worth.... Love is to persons; it is a + constant will; it aims at the promotion of the other's + personal end, whether known or conjectured; it takes up the + other's personal end and makes it part of his own. Will, as + love, does not give itself up for the other's sake; it aims + at closest fellowship with the other for a common + end.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">A. H. Strong, Christ in + Creation, 388-405—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Love + is not rightfully independent of the other faculties, but + is subject to regulation and control.... We sometimes say + that religion consists in love.... It would be more + strictly true to say that religion consists in a new + direction of our love, a turning of the current toward God + which once flowed</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page265">[pg 265]</span><a name="Pg265" id="Pg265" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">toward + self.... Christianity rectifies the affections, before + excessive, impulsive, lawless,—gives them worthy and + immortal objects, regulates their intensity in some due + proportion to the value of the things they rest upon, and + teaches the true methods of their manifestation. In true + religion love forms a copartnership with reason.... God's + love is no arbitrary, wild, passionate torrent of emotion + ... and we become like God by bringing our emotions, + sympathies, affections, under the dominion of reason and + conscience.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Since God's love is + rational, it involves a subordination of the <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">emotional</span></em> element to a + higher law than itself, namely, that of truth and + holiness.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-style: italic">Phil. + 1:9—</span><span class="tei tei-q">“And this I pray, that + your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all + discernment.”</span></em> True love among men illustrates + God's love. It merges self in another instead of making that + other an appendage to self. It seeks the other's true good, + not merely his present enjoyment or advantage. Its aim is to + realize the divine idea in that other, and therefore it is + exercised for God's sake and in the strength which God + supplies. Hence it is a love for holiness, and is under law + to holiness. So God's love takes into account the highest + interests, and makes infinite sacrifice to secure them. For + the sake of saving a world of sinners, God <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q">“spared not his own + Son, but delivered him up for us all”</span> <span style= + "font-style: italic">(Rom. 8:32)</span></em>, and <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q">“Jehovah hath laid on + him the iniquity of us all”</span> <span style= + "font-style: italic">(Is. 53:6)</span></em>. Love requires a + rule or standard for its regulation. This rule or standard is + the holiness of God. So once more we see that love cannot + include holiness, because it is subject to the law of + holiness. Love desires only the best for its object, and the + best is <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">God</span></em>. The golden rule does + not bid us give what others desire, but what they need: + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Rom. 15:2—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q">“Let each one of us please his neighbor for that + which is good, unto edifying.”</span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) The immanent love of + God therefore requires and finds a perfect standard in his + own holiness, and a personal object in the image of his own + infinite perfections. It is to be understood only in the + light of the doctrine of the Trinity.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">As there is a higher Mind than + our mind, so there is a greater Heart than our heart. God is + not simply the loving One—he is also the Love that is loved. + There is an infinite life of sensibility and affection in + God. God has feeling, and in an infinite degree. But feeling + alone is not love. Love implies not merely receiving but + giving, not merely emotion but impartation. So the love of + God is shown in his eternal giving.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">James + 1:5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God, + who giveth,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">or</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + giving God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(τοῦ διδόντος Θεοῦ) = giving is not an + episode in his being—it is his nature to give. And not only + to</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">give</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + but to give</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">himself</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + This he does eternally in the self-communications of the + Trinity; this he does transitively and temporally in his + giving of himself for us in Christ, and to us in the Holy + Spirit.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Jonathan Edwards, Essay on + Trinity (ed. G. P. Fisher), 79—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">That + in John God is love shows that there are more persons than + one in the Deity, for it shows love to be essential and + necessary to the Deity, so that his nature consists in it, + and this supposes that there is an eternal and necessary + object, because all love respects another that is the + beloved. By love here the apostle certainly means something + beside that which is commonly called self-love: that is + very improperly called love, and is a thing of an exceeding + diverse nature from the affection or virtue of love the + apostle is speaking of.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">When Newman Smyth, Christian Ethics, + 226-239, makes the first characteristic of love to be + self-affirmation, and when Dorner, Christian Ethics, 73, + makes self-assertion an essential part of love, they + violate linguistic usage by including under love what + properly belongs to holiness.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) The immanent love of + God constitutes a ground of the divine blessedness. Since + there is an infinite and perfect object of love, as well as + of knowledge and will, in God's own nature, the existence of + the universe is not necessary to his serenity and joy.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Blessedness is not itself a + divine attribute; it is rather a result of the exercise of + the divine attributes. It is a subjective result of this + exercise, as glory is an objective result. Perfect faculties, + with perfect objects for their exercise, ensure God's + blessedness. But love is especially its source.</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 20:35—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It is + more blessed to give than to receive.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Happiness (hap, happen) is grounded in + circumstances; blessedness, in character.</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page266">[pg + 266]</span><a name="Pg266" id="Pg266" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">Love + precedes creation and is the ground of creation. Its object + therefore cannot be the universe, for that does not exist, + and, if it did exist, could not be a proper object of love + for the infinite God. The only sufficient object of his + love is the image of his own perfections, for that alone is + equal to himself. Upton, Hibbert Lectures, + 264—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Man + most truly realizes his own nature, when he is ruled by + rational, self-forgetful love. He cannot help inferring + that the highest thing in the individual consciousness is + the dominant thing in the universe at + large.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Here we may assent, if we + remember that not the love itself but that which is loved + must be the dominant thing, and we shall see that to be not + love but holiness.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Jones, Robert Browning, + 219—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Love + is for Browning the highest, richest conception man can + form. It is our idea of that which is perfect; we cannot + even imagine anything better. And the idea of evolution + necessarily explains the world as the return of the highest + to itself. The universe is homeward bound.... All things + are potentially spirit, and all the phenomena of the world + are manifestations of love.... Man's reason is not, but + man's love is, a direct emanation from the inmost being of + God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(345). Browning should have applied to + truth and holiness the same principle which he recognized + with regard to love. But we gratefully accept his + dicta:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He + that created love, shall not he love?... God! thou art + Love! I build my faith on that.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">e</span></span>) The love of God + involves also the possibility of divine suffering, and the + suffering on account of sin which holiness necessitates on + the part of God is itself the atonement.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Christ is</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Lamb that hath been slain from the foundation of the + world</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Rev. + 13:8);</span></em> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Pet. 1:19, + 20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish + and without spot, even the blood of Christ: who was foreknown + indeed before the foundation of the + world.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">While holiness requires + atonement, love provides it. The blessedness of God is + consistent with sorrow for human misery and sin. God is + passible, or capable of suffering. The permission of moral + evil in the decree of creation was at cost to God. + Scripture attributes to him emotions of grief and anger at + human sin (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 6:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">it + grieved him at his heart</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 1:18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">wrath + of God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 4:30—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">grieve not the Holy Spirit of + God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">); painful sacrifice in the gift of Christ + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 8:32—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">spared not his own son</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 22:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">hast + not withheld thy son</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">) and participation in the suffering of + his people (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 63:9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">in + all their affliction he was afflicted</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">); Jesus Christ in his sorrow and + sympathy, his tears and agony, is the revealer of God's + feelings toward the race, and we are urged to follow in his + steps, that we may be perfect, as our Father in heaven is + perfect. We cannot, indeed, conceive of love without + self-sacrifice, nor of self-sacrifice without suffering. It + would seem, then, that as immutability is consistent with + imperative volitions in human history, so the blessedness + of God may be consistent with emotions of + sorrow.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">But does God feel in + proportion to his greatness, as the mother suffers more + than the sick child whom she tends? Does God suffer + infinitely in every suffering of his creatures? We must + remember that God is infinitely greater than his creation, + and that he sees all human sin and woe as part of his great + plan. We are entitled to attribute to him only such + passibleness as is consistent with infinite perfection. In + combining passibleness with blessedness, then, we must + allow blessedness to be the controlling element, for our + fundamental idea of God is that of absolute perfection. + Martensen, Dogmatics, 101—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">This + limitation is swallowed up in the inner life of perfection + which God lives, in total independence of his creation, and + in triumphant prospect of the fulfilment of his great + designs. We may therefore say with the old theosophic + writers:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + the outer chambers is sadness, but in the inner ones is + unmixed joy.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christ was</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">anointed ... with the + oil of gladness above his fellows,</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">for + the joy that was set before him endured the + cross</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Heb. 1:9; + 12:2)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. Love + rejoices even in pain, when this brings good to those + beloved.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Though round its base the rolling clouds + are spread, Eternal sunshine settles on its + head.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In George Adam Smith's Life of + Henry Drummond, 11, Drummond cries out after hearing the + confessions of men who came to him:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I am + sick of the sins of these men! How can God bear + it?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Simon, Reconciliation, + 338-343, shows that before the incarnation, the Logos was a + sufferer from the sins of men. This suffering however was + kept in check and counterbalanced by his consciousness as a + factor in the Godhead, and by the clear knowledge that men + were themselves the causes of this suffering. After he + became incarnate he suffered without knowing whence all the + suffering came. He had a subconscious life into which were + interwoven elements due to the sinful conduct of the race + whose energy was drawn from himself and with which in + addition he had organically united himself. If this is + limitation, it is also self-limitation which</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page267">[pg + 267]</span><a name="Pg267" id="Pg267" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">Christ + could have avoided by not creating, preserving, and + redeeming mankind. We rejoice in giving away a daughter in + marriage, even though it costs pain. The highest + blessedness in the Christian is coincident with agony for + the souls of others. We partake of Christ's joy only when + we know the fellowship of his sufferings. Joy and sorrow + can coëxist, like Greek fire, that burns under + water.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Abbé Gratry, La Morale et la + Loi de l'Histoire, 165, 166—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">What! + Do you really suppose that the personal God, free and + intelligent, loving and good, who knows every detail of + human torture, and hears every sigh—this God who sees, who + loves as we do, and more than we do—do you believe that he + is present and looks pitilessly on what breaks your heart, + and what to him must be the spectacle of Satan reveling in + the blood of humanity? History teaches us that men so feel + for sufferers that they have been drawn to die with them, + so that their own executioners have become the next + martyrs. And yet you represent God, the absolute goodness, + as alone impassible? It is here that our evangelical faith + comes in. Our God was made man to suffer and to die! Yes, + here is the true God. He has suffered from the beginning in + all who have suffered. He has been hungry in all who have + hungered. He has been immolated in all and with all who + have offered up their lives. He is the Lamb slain from the + foundation of the world.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Similarly Alexander Vinet, Vital + Christianity, 240, remarks that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + suffering God is not simply the teaching of modern divines. + It is a New Testament thought, and it is one that answers + all the doubts that arise at the sight of human suffering. + To know that God is suffering with it makes that suffering + more awful, but it gives strength and life and hope, for we + know that, if God is in it, suffering is the road to + victory. If he shares our suffering we shall share his + crown,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and we can say with the</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Psalmist, + 68:19—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Blessed be God, who daily beareth our + burden, even the God who is our + salvation,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and with</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Isaiah + 63:9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his + presence saved them.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Borden P. Bowne, + Atonement:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Something like this work of grace was a + moral necessity with God. It was an awful responsibility + that was taken when our human race was launched with its + fearful possibilities of good and evil. God thereby put + himself under infinite obligation to care for his human + family; and reflections on his position as Creator and + Ruler, instead of removing, only make more manifest this + obligation. So long as we conceive God as sitting apart in + supreme ease and self-satisfaction, he is not</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">love</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">at all, but only a reflection + of our selfishness and vulgarity. So long as we conceive + him as bestowing blessing upon us out of his infinite + fulness, but at no real cost to himself, he sinks below the + moral heroes of our race. There is ever a higher thought + possible, until we see God taking the world upon his heart, + entering into the fellowship of our sorrow, and becoming + the supreme burden bearer and leader in self-sacrifice. + Then only are the possibilities of grace and condescension + and love and moral heroism filled up, so that nothing + higher remains. And the work of Christ, so far as it was a + historical event, must be viewed not merely as a piece of + history, but also as a manifestation of that cross which + was hidden in the divine love from the foundation of the + world, and which is involved in the existence of the human + world at all.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Royce, Spirit of Modern + Philosophy, 264—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + eternal resolution that, if the world</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">will</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">be tragic, it</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">shall</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">still, in Satan's despite, be + spiritual, is the very essence of the eternal joy of that + World-Spirit of whose wisdom ours is but a fragmentary + reflection.... When you suffer, your sufferings are God's + sufferings,—not his external work nor his external penalty, + nor the fruit of his neglect, but identically his own + personal woe. In you God himself suffers, precisely as you + do, and has all your reason for overcoming this + grief.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Henry N. Dodge, Christus + Victor:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">O + Thou, that from eternity Upon thy wounded heart hast borne + Each pang and cry of misery Wherewith our human hearts are + torn, Thy love upon the grievous cross Doth glow, the + beacon-light of time, Forever sharing pain and loss With + every man in every clime. How vast, how vast Thy sacrifice, + As ages come and ages go, Still waiting till it shall + suffice To draw the last cold heart and + slow!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On the question, Is God + passible? see Bennett Tyler, Sufferings of Christ; A + Layman, Sufferings of Christ; Woods, Works, 1:299-317; Bib. + Sac., 11:744; 17:422-424; Emmons, Works, 4:201-208; + Fairbairn, Place of Christ, 483-487; Bushnell, Vic. + Sacrifice, 59-93; Kedney, Christ. Doctrine Harmonized, + 1:185-245; Edward Beecher, Concord of Ages, 81-204; Young, + Life and Light of Men, 20-43, 147-150; Schaff, Hist. + Christ. Church, 2:191; Crawford, Fatherhood of God, 43, 44; + Anselm, Proslogion, cap. 8; Upton, Hibbert Lectures, 268; + John Caird, Fund. Ideas of Christianity, 2:117, 118, + 137-142.</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Per</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page268">[pg + 268]</span><a name="Pg268" id="Pg268" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">contra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + see Shedd, Essays and Addresses, 277, 279 note; Woods, in + Lit. and Theol. Rev., 1834:43-61; Harris, God the Creator + and Lord of All, 1:201. On the Biblical conception of Love + in general, see article by James Orr, in Hastings' Bible + Dictionary.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc231" id="toc231"></a> <a name="pdf232" id= + "pdf232"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 3. Holiness.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Holiness + is self-affirming purity. In virtue of this attribute of his + nature, God eternally wills and maintains his own moral + excellence. In this definition are contained three elements: + first, purity; secondly, purity willing; thirdly, purity + willing itself.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ex. + 15:11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">glorious in holiness</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">19:10-16</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—the + people of Israel must purify themselves before they come + into the presence of God;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 6:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Holy, + holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—notice the contrast with the unclean + lips, that must be purged with a coal from the altar + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">verses + 5-7</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">);</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Cor, + 7:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">cleanse ourselves from all defilement of + flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of + God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Thess. + 3:13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">unblamable in holiness</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">4:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + called us not for uncleanness, but in + sanctification</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 12:29—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">our + God is a consuming fire</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—to all iniquity. These passages show that + holiness is the opposite to impurity, that it is itself + purity. The development of the conception of holiness in + Hebrew history was doubtless a gradual one. At first it may + have included little more than the idea of separation from + all that is common, small and mean. Physical cleanliness + and hatred of moral evil were additional elements which in + time became dominant. We must remember however that the + proper meaning of a term is to be determined not by the + earliest but by the latest usage. Human nature is ethical + from the start, and seeks to express the thought of a rule + or standard of obligation, and of a righteous Being who + imposes that rule or standard. With the very first + conceptions of majesty and separation which attach to the + apprehension of divinity in the childhood of the race there + mingles at least some sense of the contrast between God's + purity and human sin. The least developed man has a + conscience which condemns some forms of wrong doing, and + causes a feeling of separation from the power or powers + above. Physical defilement becomes the natural symbol of + moral evil. Places and vessels and rites are invested with + dignity as associated with or consecrated to the + Deity.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">That the conception of + holiness clears itself of extraneous and unessential + elements only gradually, and receives its full expression + only in the New Testament revelation and especially in the + life and work of Christ, should not blind us to the fact + that the germs of the idea lie far back in the very + beginnings of man's existence upon earth. Even then the + sense of wrong within had for its correlate a dimly + recognized righteousness without. So soon as man knows + himself as a sinner he knows something of the holiness of + that God whom he has offended. We must take exception + therefore to the remark of Schurman, Belief in God, + 231—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + first gods were probably non-moral + beings,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">for Schurman himself had just + said:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A God + without moral character is no God at + all.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Dillmann, in his O. T. + Theology, very properly makes the fundamental thought of O. + T. religion, not the unity or the majesty of God, but his + holiness. This alone forms the ethical basis for freedom + and law. E. G. Robinson, Christian + Theology—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + one aim of Christianity is personal holiness. But personal + holiness will be the one absorbing and attainable aim of + man, only as he recognizes it to be the one preëminent + attribute of God. Hence everything divine is holy—the + temple, the Scriptures, the Spirit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See articles on Holiness in O. T., by J. + Skinner, and on Holiness in N. T., by G. B. Stevens, in + Hastings' Bible Dictionary.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The development of the idea of + holiness as well as the idea of love was prepared for + before the advent of man. A. H. Strong, Education and + Optimism:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There + was a time when the past history of life upon the planet + seemed one of heartless and cruel slaughter. The survival + of the fittest had for its obverse side the destruction of + myriads. Nature was</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">red + in tooth and claw with ravine.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But further thought has shown that this + gloomy view results from a partial induction of facts. + Paleontological life was marked not only by a struggle for + life, but by a struggle for the life of others. The + beginnings of altruism are to be seen in the instinct of + reproduction, and in the care of offspring. In every lion's + den and tiger's lair, in every mother eagle's feeding of + her young, there is a self-sacrifice which faintly shadows + forth man's subordination of personal interests to the + interests of others. But in the ages before man can be + found incipient justice as well as incipient love. The + struggle for one's own life has its moral side as well as + the struggle for the life of others. The instinct of + self-preservation is the beginning of right, righteousness, + justice, and law, on earth. Every creature owes</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page269">[pg + 269]</span><a name="Pg269" id="Pg269" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">it to God + to preserve its own being. So we can find an adumbration of + morality even in the predatory and internecine warfare of + the geologic ages. The immanent God was even then preparing + the way for the rights, the dignity, the freedom of + humanity.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">And, we may add, was preparing the way for + the understanding by men of his own fundamental attribute + of holiness. See Henry Drummond, Ascent of Man; + Griffith-Jones, Ascent through Christ.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In further + explanation we remark:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. + Negatively, that holiness is not</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Justice, or purity + demanding purity from creatures. Justice, the relative or + transitive attribute, is indeed the manifestation and + expression of the immanent attribute of holiness, but it is + not to be confounded with it.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Quenstedt, Theol., 8:1:34, + defines holiness as</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">summa + omnisque labis expers to Deo puritas, puritatem debitam + exigens a creaturis</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—a definition of transitive holiness, or + justice, rather than of the immanent attribute.</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 5:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Jehovah of hosts is exalted in justice, + and God the Holy One is sanctified in + righteousness</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—Justice is simply God's holiness in its + judicial activity. Though holiness is commonly a term of + separation and expresses the inherent opposition of God to + all that is sinful, it is also used as a term of union, as + in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Lev. + 11:44—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">be ye + holy; for I am holy.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">When Jesus turned from the young ruler + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mark + 10:23</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">) he + illustrated the first;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John 8:29</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">illustrates the second:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he + that sent me is with me.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Lowrie, Doctrine of St. John, + 51-57—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + is light</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(1 John + 1:5)</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">indicates the + character of God, moral purity as revealed, as producing + joy and life, as contrasted with doing ill, walking in + darkness, being in a state of perdition.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Universal human conscience is + itself a revelation of the holiness of God, and the joining + everywhere of suffering with sin is the revelation of God's + justice. The wrath, anger, jealousy of God show that this + reaction of God's nature is necessary. God's nature is + itself holy, just, and good. Holiness is not replaced by + love, as Ritschl holds, since there is no self-impartation + without self-affirmation. Holiness not simply</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">demands</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">in law, but</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">imparts</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">in the Holy Spirit; see + Pfleiderer, Grundriss, 79—</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">versus</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">Ritschl's + doctrine that holiness is God's exaltation, and that it + includes love; see also Pfleiderer, Die Ritschlische + Theologie, 53-63. Santayana, Sense of Beauty, + 69—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If + perfection is the ultimate justification of being, we may + understand the ground of the moral dignity of beauty. + Beauty is a pledge of the possible conformity between the + soul and nature, and consequently a ground of faith in the + supremacy of the good.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We would regard nature however as merely + the symbol and expression of God, and so would regard + beauty as a ground of faith in his supremacy. What + Santayana says of beauty is even more true of holiness. + Wherever we see it, we recognize in it a pledge of the + possible conformity between the soul and God, and + consequently a ground of faith in the supremacy of + God.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Holiness is not a + complex term designating the aggregate of the divine + perfections. On the other hand, the notion of holiness is, + both in Scripture and in Christian experience, perfectly + simple, and perfectly distinct from that of other + attributes.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Dick, Theol., 1:275—Holiness = + venerableness,</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">no + particular attribute, but the general character of God as + resulting from his moral attributes.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Wardlaw calls holiness the union of all the + attributes, as pure white light is the union of all the + colored rays of the spectrum (Theology, 1:618-634). So + Nitzsch, System of Christ. Doct., 166; H. W. Beecher:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Holiness = wholeness.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Approaching this conception is the + definition of W. N. Clarke, Christian Theology, + 83—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Holiness is the glorious fulness of the + goodness of God, consistently held as the principle of his + own action, and the standard for his + creatures.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">This implies, according to Dr. + Clarke, 1. An inward character of perfect goodness; 2. That + character as the consistent principle of his own action; 3. + The goodness which is the principle of his own action is also + the standard for theirs. In other words, holiness is 1. + character; 2. self-consistency; 3. requirement. We object to + this definition that it fails to define. We are not told what + is essential to this character; the definition includes in + holiness that which properly belongs to love; it omits all + mention of the most important elements in holiness, namely + purity and right.</span></p><span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page270">[pg 270]</span><a name="Pg270" id="Pg270" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">A similar lack of clear + definition appears in the statement of Mark Hopkins, Law of + Love, 105—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It is + this double aspect of love, revealing the whole moral + nature, and turning every way like the flaming sword that + kept the way of the tree of life, that is termed + holiness.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">As has been shown above, holiness is + contrasted in Scripture, not with mere finiteness or + littleness or misfortune or poverty or even unreality, but + only with uncleanness and sinfulness. E. G. Robinson, + Christ. Theology, 80—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Holiness in man is the image of God's. But + it is clear that holiness in man is not in proportion to + the other perfections of his being—to his power, his + knowledge, his wisdom, though it is in proportion to his + rectitude of will—and therefore cannot be the sum of all + perfections.... To identify holiness with the sum of all + perfections is to make it mean mere completeness of + character.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) Holiness is not God's + self-love, in the sense of supreme regard for his own + interest and happiness. There is no utilitarian element in + holiness.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Buddeus, Theol. Dogmat., 2:1:36, + defines holiness as God's self-love. But God loves and + affirms self, not as self, but as the holiest. There is no + self-seeking in God. Not the seeking of God's interests, but + love for God as holy, is the principle and source of holiness + in man. To call holiness God's self-love is to say that God + is holy because of what he can make by it,</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, to deny that + holiness has any independent existence. See Thomasius, + Christi Person und Werk, 1:155.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We would not deny, but would + rather maintain, that there is a proper self-love which is + not selfishness. This proper self-love, however, is not + love at all. It is rather self-respect, self-preservation, + self-vindication, and it constitutes an important + characteristic of holiness. But to define holiness as + merely God's love for himself, is to leave out of the + definition the reason for this love in the purity and + righteousness of the divine nature. God's self-respect + implies that God respects himself for something in his own + being. What is that something? Is holiness God's</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">moral + excellence</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(Hopkins), or God's</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">perfect goodness</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(Clarke)? But what is this moral + excellence or perfect goodness? We have here the method and + the end described, but not the motive and ground. God does + not love himself for his love, but he loves himself for his + holiness. Those who maintain that love is self-affirming as + well as self-communicating, and therefore that holiness is + God's love for himself, must still admit that this + self-affirming love which is holiness conditions and + furnishes the standard for the self-communicating love + which is benevolence.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">G. B. Stevens, Johannine + Theology, 364, tells us that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God's + righteousness is the self-respect of perfect + love.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Miller, Evolution of Love, + 53—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Self-love is that kind of action which in + a perfect being actualizes, in a finite being seeks to + actualize, a perfect or ideal self.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">In other words, love is self-affirmation. + But we object that self-love is not</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">love</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">at all, because there is in it + no self-communicating. If holiness is in any sense a form + or manifestation of love—a question which we have yet to + consider—it is certainly not a unitarian and utilitarian + self-love, which would be identical with selfishness, but + rather an affection which implies trinitarian otherness and + the maintenance of self as an ideal object. This appears to + be the meaning of Jonathan Edwards, in his Essay on the + Trinity (ed. Fisher), 79—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">All + love respects another that is the beloved. By love the + apostle certainly means something beside that which is + commonly called self-love: that is very improperly called + love, and is a thing of an exceeding diverse nature from + the affection or virtue of love the apostle is speaking + of.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Yet we shall see that while + Jonathan Edwards denies holiness to be a unitarian and + utilitarian self-love, he regards its very essence to be + God's trinitarian love for himself as a being of perfect + moral excellence.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Ritschl's lack of trinitarian + conviction makes it impossible for him to furnish any + proper ground for either love or holiness in the nature of + God. Ritschl holds that Christ as a person is an end in + himself; he realized his own ideal; he developed his own + personality; he reached his own perfection in his work for + man; he is not merely a means toward the end of man's + salvation. But when Ritschl comes to his doctrine of God, + he is strangely inconsistent with all this, for he fails to + represent God as having any end in himself, and deals with + him simply as a means toward the kingdom of God as an end. + Garvie, Ritschlian Theology, 256, 278, 279, well points out + that personality means self-possession as well as + self-communication, distinction from others as well as + union with others. Ritschl does not see that God's love is + primarily directed towards</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page271">[pg 271]</span><a name="Pg271" id="Pg271" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">his + Son, and only secondarily directed toward the Christian + community. So he ignores the immanent Trinity. Before + self-communication there must be self-maintenance. + Otherwise God gives up his independence and makes created + existence necessary.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) Holiness is not + identical with, or a manifestation of, love. Since + self-maintenance must precede self-impartation, and since + benevolence has its object, motive, standard and limit in + righteousness, holiness the self-affirming attribute can in + no way be resolved into love the self-communicating.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">That holiness is a form of love + is the doctrine of Jonathan Edwards, Essay on the Trinity + (ed. Fisher), 97—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">'Tis + in God's infinite love to himself that his holiness + consists. As all creature holiness is to be resolved into + love, as the Scripture teaches us, so doth the holiness of + God himself consist in infinite love to himself. God's + holiness is the infinite beauty and excellence of his + nature, and God's excellency consists in his love to + himself.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In his treatise on The Nature + of Virtue, Jonathan Edwards defines virtue as regard for + being in general. He considers that God's love is first of + all directed toward himself as having the greatest quantity + of being, and only secondarily directed towards his + creatures whose quantity of being is infinitesimal as + compared with his. God therefore finds his chief end in + himself, and God's self-love is his holiness. This + principle has permeated and dominated subsequent New + England theology, from Samuel Hopkins, Works, 2:9-66, who + maintains that holiness = love of being in general, to + Horace Bushnell, Vicarious Sacrifice, who declares:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Righteousness, transferred into a word of + the affections, is love; and love, translated back into a + word of the conscience, is righteousness; the eternal law + of right is only another conception of the law of love; the + two principles, right and love, appear exactly to measure + each other.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">So Park, Discourses, 155-180.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Similar doctrine is taught by + Dorner, Christian Ethics, 73, 93, 184—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Love + unites existence for self with existence for others, + self-assertion and self-impartation.... Self-love in God is + not selfishness, because he is the original and necessary + seat of good in general, universal good. God guards his + honor even in giving himself to others.... Love is the + power and desire to be one's self while in another, and + while one's self to be in another who is taken into the + heart as an end.... I am to love my neighbor only as + myself.... Virtue however requires not only good will, but + the willing of the right thing.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">So Newman Smyth, Christian Ethics, + 226-239, holds that 1. Love is self-affirmation. Hence he + maintains that holiness or self-respect is involved in + love. Righteousness is not an independent excellence to be + contrasted with or put in opposition to benevolence; it is + an essential part of love. 2. Love is self-impartation. The + only limit is ethical. Here is an ever deepening immanence, + yet always some transcendence of God, for God cannot deny + himself. 3. Love is self-finding in another. Vicariousness + belongs to love. We reply to both Dorner and Smyth that + their acknowledgment that love has its condition, limit, + motive, object and standard, shows that there is a + principle higher than love, and which regulates love. This + principle is recognized as ethical. It is identical with + the right. God cannot deny himself because he is + fundamentally the right. This self-affirmation is holiness, + and holiness cannot be a part of love, or a form of love, + because it conditions and dominates love. To call it + benevolence is to ignore its majestic distinctness and to + imperil its legitimate supremacy.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">God must first maintain his + own being before he can give to another, and this + self-maintenance must have its reason and motive in the + worth of that which is maintained. Holiness cannot be love, + because love is irrational and capricious except as it has + a standard by which it is regulated, and this standard + cannot be itself love, but must be holiness. We agree with + Clarke, Christian Theology, 92, that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">love + is the desire to impart holiness.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Love is a means to holiness, and holiness + is therefore the supreme good and something higher than + mere love. It is not true,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">vice + versa</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, that + holiness is the desire to impart love, or that holiness is + a means to love. Instead then of saying, with Clarke, + that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">holiness is central in God, but love is + central in holiness,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">we should prefer to say:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Love + is central in God, but holiness is central in + love,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">though in this case we should use the term + love as including self-love. It is still better not to use + the word love at all as referring to God's regard for + himself. In ordinary usage, love means only regard for + another and self-communication to that other. To embrace in + it God's self-affirmation is to misinterpret holiness and + to regard it as a means to an end, instead of making it + what it really is, the superior object, and the regulative + principle, of love.</span></p><span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page272">[pg 272]</span><a name="Pg272" id="Pg272" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">That which lays down the norm + or standard for love must be the superior of love. When we + forget that</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Righteousness and justice are the + foundation of his throne</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Ps. + 97:2)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, we lose one + of the chief landmarks of Christian doctrine and involve + ourselves in a mist of error.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rev. + 4:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">there + was a rainbow round about the throne</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= in the midst of the rainbow of pardon + and peace there is a throne of holiness and judgment. + In</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. 6:9, 10,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Thy + kingdom come</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is not the first petition, but + rather,</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hallowed be thy name.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is a false idea of the divine + simplicity which would reduce the attributes to one. + Self-assertion is not a form of self-impartation. Not + sentiency, a state of the sensibility, even though it be + the purest benevolence, is the fundamental thing, but + rather activity of will and a right direction of that will. + Hodge, Essays, 133-136, 262-273, shows well that holy love + is a love controlled by holiness. Holiness is not a mere + means to happiness. To be happy is not the ultimate reason + for being holy. Right and wrong are not matters of profit + and loss. To be told that God is only benevolence, and that + he punishes only when the happiness of the universe + requires it, destroys our whole allegiance to God and does + violence to the constitution of our nature.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">That God is only love has been + called</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + doctrine of the papahood of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God is</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a + summer ocean of kindliness, never agitated by + storms</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(Dale, Ephesians, 59). But + Jesus gives us the best idea of God, and in him we find, + not only pity, but at times moral indignation.</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 17:11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Holy + Father</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= more than love. Love can be exercised by + God only when it is right love. Holiness is the track on + which the engine of love must run. The track cannot be the + engine. If either includes the other, then it is holiness + that includes love, since holiness is the maintenance of + God's perfection, and perfection involves love. He that is + holy affirms himself also as the perfect love. If love were + fundamental, there would be nothing to give, and so love + would be vain and worthless. There can be no giving of + self, without a previous self-affirming. God is not holy + because he loves, but he loves because he is holy. Love + cannot direct itself; it is under bonds to holiness. + Justice is not dependent on love for its right to be. + Stephen G. Barnes:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Mere + good will is not the sole content of the law; it is + insufficient in times of fiery trial; it is inadequate as a + basis for retribution. Love needs justice, and justice + needs love; both are commanded in God's law and are + perfectly revealed in God's character.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">There may be a friction + between a man's two hands, and there may be a conflict + between a man's conscience and his will, between his + intellect and his affection. Force is God's energy under + resistance, the resistance as well as the energy being his. + So, upon occasion of man's sin, holiness and love in God + become opposite poles or forces. The first and most serious + effect of sin is not its effect upon man, but its effect + upon God. Holiness necessarily requires suffering, and love + endures it. This eternal suffering of God on account of sin + is the atonement, and the incarnate Christ only shows what + has been in the heart of God from the beginning. To make + holiness a form of love is really to deny its existence, + and with this to deny that any atonement is necessary for + man's salvation. If holiness is the same as love, how is it + that the classic world, that knew of God's holiness, did + not also know of his love? The ethics here reminds one of + Abraham Lincoln's meat broth that was made of the shadow of + a pigeon that died of starvation. Holiness that is only + good will is not holiness at all, for it lacks the + essential elements of purity and righteousness.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">At the railway switching + grounds east of Rochester, there is a man whose duty it is + to move a bar of iron two or three inches to the left or to + the right. So he determines whether a train shall go toward + New York or toward Washington, toward New Orleans or San + Francisco. Our conclusion at this point in our theology + will similarly determine what our future system will be. + The principle that holiness is a manifestation of love, or + a form of benevolence, leads to the conclusions that + happiness is the only good, and the only end; that law is a + mere expedient for the securing of happiness; that penalty + is simply deterrent or reformatory in its aim; that no + atonement needs to be offered to God for human sin; that + eternal retribution cannot be vindicated, since there is no + hope of reform. This view ignores the testimony of + conscience and of Scripture that sin is intrinsically + ill-deserving, and must be punished on that account, not + because punishment will work good to the universe,—indeed, + it could not work good to the universe, unless it were just + and right in itself. It ignores the fact that mercy is + optional with God, while holiness is invariable; that + punishment is many times traced to God's holiness, but + never to God's love; that God is not simply love but + light—moral light—and therefore is</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a + consuming fire</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Heb. + 12:29)</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">to all + iniquity. Love chastens (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 12:6</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">), but only + holiness punishes (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jer. + 10:24—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">correct me, but in measure; not in thine + anger</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ez. + 28:22—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be + sanctified in her</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">36:21, + 22</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—in</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page273">[pg + 273]</span><a name="Pg273" id="Pg273" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">judgment</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I do + not this for your sake, but for my holy + name</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 John + 1:5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + is light, and in him is no darkness</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—moral darkness;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rev. 15:1, + 4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + wrath of God ... thou only art holy ... thy righteous acts + have been made manifest</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">16:5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">righteous + art thou ... because thou didst thus + judge</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">19:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">true + and righteous are his judgments; for he hath judged the + great harlot</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">).</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Hovey, God with Us, + 187-221; Philippi, Glaubenslehre, 2:80-82; Thomasius, + Christi Person und Werk, 154, 155, 346-353; Lange, Pos. + Dogmatik, 203.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. + Positively, that holiness is</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Purity of substance.—In + God's moral nature, as necessarily acting, there are indeed + the two elements of willing and being. But the passive + logically precedes the active; being comes before willing; + God <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">is</span></em> pure before he <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">wills</span></em> purity. Since purity, + however, in ordinary usage is a negative term and means only + freedom from stain or wrong, we must include in it also the + positive idea of moral rightness. God is holy in that he is + the source and standard of the right.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">E. G. Robinson, Christian + Theology, 80—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Holiness is moral purity, not only in the + sense of absence of all moral stain, but of complacency in + all moral good.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Shedd, Dogm. Theology, + 1:362—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Holiness in God is conformity to his own + perfect nature. The only rule for the divine will is the + divine reason; and the divine reason prescribes everything + that is befitting an infinite Being to do. God is not under + law, nor above law. He</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">is</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">law. He is righteous by nature + and necessity.... God is the source and author of law for all + moral beings.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We may better Shedd's definition by saying + that holiness is that attribute in virtue of which God's + being and God's will eternally conform to each other. In thus + maintaining that holy being logically precedes holy willing, + we differ from the view of Lotze, Philos. of Religion, + 139—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Such + will of God no more follows from his nature as secondary to + it, or precedes it as primary to it than, in motion, + direction can be antecedent or subsequent to + velocity.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Bowne, Philos. of Theism, + 16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God's + nature = a fixed law of activity or mode of manifestation.... + But laws of thought are no limitation, because they are + simply modes of thought-activity. They do not</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">rule</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">intellect, but only express what + intellect</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">is</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In spite of these utterances + of Lotze and of Bowne, we must maintain that, as truth of + being logically precedes truth of knowing, and as a loving + nature precedes loving emotions, so purity of substance + precedes purity of will. The opposite doctrine leads to + such utterances as that of Whedon (On the Will, + 316):</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + is holy, in that he freely chooses to make his own + happiness in eternal right. Whether he could not make + himself equally happy in wrong is more than we can say.... + Infinite wisdom and infinite holiness consist in, and + result from, God's volitions eternally.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Whedon therefore believes, not in + God's</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">unchangeableness</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + but in God's</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">unchangingness</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + He cannot say whether motives may not at some time prove + strongest for divine apostasy to evil. The essential + holiness of God affords no basis for certainty. Here we + have to rely on our faith, more than on the object of + faith; see H. B. Smith, Review of Whedon, in Faith and + Philosophy, 355-399. As we said with regard to truth, so + here we say with regard to holiness, that to make holiness + a matter of mere will, instead of regarding it as a + characteristic of God's being, is to deny that anything is + holy in itself. If God can make impurity to be purity, then + God in himself is indifferent to purity or impurity, and he + ceases therefore to be God. Robert Browning, A Soul's + Tragedy, 223—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + trust in God—the Right shall be the Right And other than + the Wrong, while He endures.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">P. S. Moxom:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Revelation is a disclosure of the divine + righteousness. We do not add to the thought when we say + that it is also a disclosure of the divine love, for love + is a manifestation or realization of that rightness of + relations which righteousness is.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">H. B. Smith, System, + 223-231—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Virtue = love for both happiness and + holiness, yet holiness as ultimate,—love to the highest + Person and to his ends and objects.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Energy of will.—This + purity is not simply a passive and dead quality; it is the + attribute of a personal being; it is penetrated and pervaded + by will. Holiness is the free moral movement of the + Godhead.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">As there is a higher Mind than + our mind, and a greater Heart than our heart, so there is a + grander Will than our will. Holiness contains this element of + will, although it is a will which expresses nature, instead + of causing nature. It is not a still and moveless purity, + like the whiteness of the new-fallen snow, or the stainless + blue of the summer</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page274">[pg 274]</span><a name="Pg274" id="Pg274" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">sky. It is + the most tremendous of energies, in unsleeping movement. It + is</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a + glassy sea</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Rev. + 15:2)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, but</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a + glassy sea mingled with fire.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">A. J. Gordon:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Holiness is not a dead-white purity, the + perfection of the faultless marble statue. Life, as well as + purity, enters into the idea of holiness. They who + are</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">without fault before the + throne</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">are they who</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">follow the Lamb whithersoever he + goeth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—holy activity attending and expressing + their holy state.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Martensen, Christian Ethics, 62, + 63—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + is the perfect unity of the ethically necessary and the + ethically free</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + cannot do otherwise than will his own essential + nature.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Thomasius, Christi Person + und Werk, 141; and on the Holiness of Christ, see Godet, + Defence of the Christian Faith, 203-241.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The centre of personality is + will. Knowing has its end in feeling, and feeling has its + end in willing. Hence I must make feeling subordinate to + willing, and happiness to righteousness. I must will with + God and for God, and must use all my influence over others + to make them like God in holiness. William James, Will to + Believe, 123—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Mind + must first get its impression from the object; then define + what that object is and what active measures its presence + demands; and finally react.... All faiths and philosophies, + moods and systems, subserve and pass into a third stage, + the stage of action.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">What is true of man is even more true of + God. All the wills of men combined, aye, even the whole + moving energy of humanity in all climes and ages, is as + nothing compared with the extent and intensity of God's + willing. The whole momentum of God's being is behind moral + law. That law is his self-expression. His beneficent yet + also his terrible arm is ever defending and enforcing it. + God must maintain his holiness, for this is his very + Godhead. If he did not maintain it, love would have nothing + to give away, or to make others partakers of.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Does God will the good because + it is the good, or is the good good because God wills it? + In the former case, there would seem to be a good above + God; in the latter case, good is something arbitrary and + changeable. Kaftan, Dogmatik, 186, 187, says that neither + of these is true; he holds that there is no</span> + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a + priori</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">good + before the willing of it, and he also holds that will + without direction is not will; the good is good for God, + not</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">before</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + but</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + his self-determination. Dorner, System Doctrine, 1:432, + holds on the contrary that both these are true, because God + has no mere simple form of being, whether necessary or + free, but rather a manifoldly diverse being, absolutely + correlated however, and reciprocally conditioning + itself,—that is, a trinitarian being, both necessary and + free. We side with Dorner here, and claim that the belief + that God's will is the executive of God's being is + necessary to a correct ethics and to a correct theology. + Celsus justified polytheism by holding that whatever is a + part of God reveals God, serves God, and therefore may + rationally be worshiped. Christianity he excepted from this + wide toleration, because it worshiped a jealous God who was + not content to be one of many. But this jealousy really + signifies that God is a Being to whom moral distinctions + are real. The God of Celsus, the God of pantheism, is not + jealous, because he is not the Holy One, but simply the + Absolute. The category of the ethical is merged in the + category of being; see Bruce, Apologetics, 16. The great + lack of modern theology is precisely this ethical lack; + holiness is merged in benevolence; there is no proper + recognition of God's righteousness.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 17:25—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">O + righteous Father, the world knew thee + not</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—is + a text as true to-day as in Jesus' time. See Issel, Begriff + der Heiligkeit in N. T., 41, 84, who defines holiness in + God as</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + ethical perfection of God in its exaltation above all that + is sinful,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and holiness in men as</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + condition corresponding to that of God, in which man keeps + himself pure from sin.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + Self-affirmation.—Holiness is God's self-willing. His own + purity is the supreme object of his regard and maintenance. + God is holy, in that his infinite moral excellence affirms + and asserts itself as the highest possible motive and end. + Like truth and love, this attribute can be understood only in + the light of the doctrine of the Trinity.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Holiness is purity willing + itself. We have an analogy in man's duty of + self-preservation, self-respect, self-assertion. Virtue is + bound to maintain and defend itself, as in the case of Job. + In his best moments, the Christian feels that purity is not + simply the negation of sin, but the affirmation of an inward + and divine principle of righteousness. Thomasius, Christi + Person und Werk, 1:137—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Holiness + is the perfect agreement of the divine willing with the + divine being; for as the personal creature is holy when it + wills and determines itself as God wills, so is God the + holy one because he wills himself as what he is (or, to be + what he is). In virtue of this attribute, God excludes from + himself everything that contradicts his nature, and affirms + himself in his absolutely</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page275">[pg 275]</span><a name="Pg275" id="Pg275" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">good being—his being like + himself.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Tholuck on Romans, 5th ed., + 151—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + term holiness should be used to indicate a relation of God + to himself. That is holy which, undisturbed from without, + is wholly like itself.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dorner, System of Doctrine, + 1:456—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It is + the part of goodness to protect + goodness.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We shall see, when we consider + the doctrine of the Trinity, that that doctrine has close + relations to the doctrine of the immanent attributes. It is + in the Son that God has a perfect object of will, as well + as of knowledge and love.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The object of God's willing in + eternity past can be nothing outside of himself. It must be + the highest of all things. We see what it must be, only + when we remember that the right is the unconditional + imperative of our moral nature. Since we are made in his + image we must conclude that God eternally wills + righteousness. Not all God's acts are acts of love, but all + are acts of holiness. The self-respect, self-preservation, + self-affirmation, self-assertion, self-vindication, which + we call God's holiness, is only faintly reflected in such + utterances as</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Job 27:5, + 6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Till + I die I will not put away mine integrity from me. My + righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it + go</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">31:37—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince + would I go near unto him.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The fact that the Spirit of God is + denominated the Holy Spirit should teach us what is God's + essential nature, and the requisition that we should be + holy as he is holy should teach us what is the true + standard of human duty and object of human ambition. God's + holiness moreover, since it is self-affirmation, furnishes + the guarantee that God's love will not fail to secure its + end, and that all things will serve his purpose.</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 11:36—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For + of him, and through him, and unto him, are all things. To + him be the glory for ever. Amen.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">On the whole subject of Holiness, as an + attribute of God, see A. H. Strong, Philosophy and + Religion, 188-200, and Christ in Creation, 388-405; + Delitzsch, art. Heiligkeit, in Herzog, Realencyclop.; + Baudissin, Begriff der Heiligkeit im A. T.,—synopsis in + Studien und Kritiken, 1880:169; Robertson Smith, Prophets + of Israel, 224-234; E. B. Coe, in Presb. and Ref. Rev., + Jan. 1890:42-47; and articles on Holiness in O. T., and + Holiness in N. T., in Hastings' Bible + Dictionary.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc233" id="toc233"></a> <a name="pdf234" id= + "pdf234"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">VI. Relative or Transitive + Attributes.</span></h3> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc235" id="toc235"></a> <a name="pdf236" id= + "pdf236"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + First Division.—Attributes having relation to Time and + Space.</h4> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc237" id="toc237"></a> <a name="pdf238" id= + "pdf238"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1. Eternity.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">By this we + mean that God's nature (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) is without beginning or + end; (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) is free from all + succession of time; and (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + contains in itself the cause of time.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Deut. + 32:40—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For I + lift up my hand to heaven, And say, As I live + forever....</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 90:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Before the mountains ... from everlasting + ... thou art God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">102:27—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">thy + years shall have no end</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 41:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + Jehovah, the first, and with the last</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 2:7</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—πρὸ τῶν + αἰώνων—</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">before the worlds</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">or</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">ages</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου—</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">before the foundation of the + world</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Eph. + 1:4)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Tim. + 1:17</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—Βασιλεῖ τῶν + αἰώνων—</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">King + of the ages</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(so also</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rev. + 15:8</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">).</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Tim. + 6:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">who + only hath immortality.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rev. + 1:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Alpha and the Omega.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dorner:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We + must not make Kronos (time) and Uranos (space) earlier + divinities before God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">They are among the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">all + things</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">that were</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">made + by him</span> <span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John + 1:3)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. Yet time and + space are not</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">substances</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; + neither are they</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">attributes</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(qualities of substance); they + are rather</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">relations</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of finite existence. (Porter, + Human Intellect, 568, prefers to call time and space</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">correlates</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">to beings and + events.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">) With finite existence they come into + being; they are not mere regulative conceptions of our + minds; they exist objectively, whether we perceive them or + not. Ladd:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Time + is the mental presupposition of the duration of events and + of objects. Time is not an entity, or it would be necessary + to suppose some other time in which it endures. We think of + space and time as unconditional, because they furnish the + conditions of our knowledge. The age of a son is + conditioned on the age of his father. The conditions + themselves cannot be conditioned. Space and time are mental + forms, but not only that. There is an extra-mental + something in the case of space and time, as in the case of + sound.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ex. + 3:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + am</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—involves eternity.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 102:12-14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">But + thou, O Jehovah, wilt abide forever.... Thou wilt arise, + and have mercy upon Zion; for it is time to have pity upon + her.... For thy servants ... have pity upon her + dust</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= because God is eternal, he will have + compassion upon Zion: he will do this, for even we, her + children, love her very dust.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jude + 25—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">glory, majesty, dominion and power, before + all time, and now, and for evermore.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Pfleiderer, Philos. Religion, + 1:165—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + is</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">King + of the æons</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(1 Tim. + 1:17)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, because he + distinguishes, in his thinking, his eternal inner essence + from his changeable working in the world. He is not merged + in the process.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Edwards</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page276">[pg 276]</span><a name="Pg276" id="Pg276" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">the + younger describes timelessness as</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + immediate and invariable possession of the whole unlimited + life together and at once.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Tyler, Greek Poets, + 148—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + heathen gods had only existence without end. The Greeks + seem never to have conceived of existence without + beginning.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">On precognition as connected with the + so-called future already existing, and on apparent time + progression as a subjective human sensation and not + inherent in the universe as it exists in an infinite Mind, + see Myers, Human Personality, 2:262</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Tennyson, Life, + 1:322—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For + was and is and will be are but is: And all creation is one + act at once, The birth of light; but we that are not all, + As parts, can see but parts, now this, now that, And live + perforce from thought to thought, and make The act a + phantom of succession: there Our weakness somehow shapes + the shadow, Time.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Augustine:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Mundus non in tempore, sed cum tempore, + factus est.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">There is no meaning to the question: Why + did creation take place when it did rather than earlier? or + the question: What was God doing before creation? These + questions presuppose an independent time in which God + created—a time before time. On the other hand, creation did + not take place at any time, but God gave both the world and + time their existence. Royce, World and Individual, + 2:111-115—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Time + is the form of the will, as space is the form of the + intellect (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">124, 133). Time runs only in + one direction (unlike space), toward fulfilment of striving + or expectation. In pursuing its goals, the self lives in + time. Every</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">now</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is also a succession, as is + illustrated in any melody. To God the universe is</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">totum + simul</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">, as to us any succession is one whole. + 233—Death is a change in the time-span—the minimum of time + in which a succession can appear as a completed whole. To + God</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a + thousand years</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">are</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">as + one day</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(2 Pet. + 3:8)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. 419—God, In + his totality as the Absolute Being, is conscious + not,</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">time, but</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">of</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">time, and of all that infinite + time contains. In time there follow, in their sequence, the + chords of his endless symphony. For him is this whole + symphony of life at once.... You unite present, past and + future in a single consciousness whenever you hear any + three successive words, for one is past, another is + present, at the same time that a third is future. So God + unites in timeless perception the whole succession of + finite events.... The single notes are not lost in the + melody. You are in God, but you are not lost in + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Mozart, quoted in Wm. James, + Principles of Psychology, 1:255—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">All + the inventing and making goes on in me as in a beautiful + strong dream. But the best of all is</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">the hearing of it all + at once</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Eternity + is infinity in its relation to time. It implies that God's + nature is not subject to the law of time. God is not in time. + It is more correct to say that time is in God. Although there + is logical succession in God's thoughts, there is no + chronological succession.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Time is duration measured by + successions. Duration without succession would still be + duration, though it would be immeasurable. Reid, Intellectual + Powers, essay 3, chap. 5—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We + may measure duration by the succession of thoughts in the + mind, as we measure length by inches or feet, but the + notion or idea of duration must be antecedent to the + mensuration of it, as the notion of length is antecedent to + its being measured.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God is not under the law of time. Solly, + The Will, 254—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + looks through time as we look through + space.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Murphy, Scientific Bases, + 90—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Eternity is not, as men believe, Before + and after us, an endless line. No, 'tis a circle. + Infinitely great—All the circumference with creations + thronged: God at the centre dwells, beholding all. And as + we move in this eternal round, The finite portion which + alone we see Behind us, is the past; what lies before We + call the future. But to him who dwells Far at the centre, + equally remote From every point of the circumference, Both + are alike, the future and the past.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Vaughan (1655):</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I saw + Eternity the other night. Like a great ring of pure and + endless light. And calm as it was bright; and round beneath + it Time in hours, days, years, Driven by the spheres, Like + a vast shadow moved, in which the world And all her train + were hurled.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We cannot have derived from + experience our idea of eternal duration in the past, for + experience gives us only duration that has had beginning. + The idea of duration as without beginning must therefore be + given us by intuition. Case, Physical Realism, 379, + 380—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Time + is the continuance, or continual duration, of the + universe.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bradley, Appearance and Reality, + 39—Consider time as a stream—under a spatial form:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If + you take time as a relation between units without duration, + then the whole time has no duration, and is not time at + all. But if you give duration to the whole time, then at + once the units themselves are found to possess it, and they + cease to be units.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page277">[pg 277]</span><a name="Pg277" id="Pg277" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">now</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is not time, unless it turns + past into future, and this is a process. The now then + consists of nows, and these nows are undiscoverable. The + unit is nothing but its own relation to something beyond, + something not discoverable. Time therefore is not real, but + is appearance.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">John Caird, Fund. Ideas, + 1:185—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">That + which grasps and correlates objects in space cannot itself + be one of the things of space; that which apprehends and + connects events as succeeding each other in time must + itself stand above the succession or stream of events. In + being able to measure them, it cannot be flowing with them. + There could not be for self-consciousness any such thing as + time, if it were not, in one aspect of it, above time, if + it did not belong to an order which is or has in it an + element which is eternal.... As taken up into thought, + succession is not successive.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">A. H. Strong, Historical Discourse, May 9, + 1900—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + is above space and time, and we are in God. We mark the + passage of time, and we write our histories. But we can do + this, only because in our highest being we do not belong to + space and time, but have in us a bit of eternity. John + Caird tells us that we could not perceive the flowing of + the stream if we were ourselves a part of the current; only + as we have our feet planted on solid rock, can we observe + that the water rushes by. We belong to God; we are akin to + God; and while the world passes away and the lust thereof, + he that doeth the will of God abideth + forever.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">J. Estlin Carpenter and P. H. + Wicksteed, Studies in Theology, 10—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Dante + speaks of God as him in whom</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">every</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">where</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and every</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">when</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">are focused in a + point</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">, that is, to whom every season is</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">now</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and every place is</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">here</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Amiel's Journal:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Time + is the supreme illusion. It is the inner prism by which we + decompose being and life, the mode by which we perceive + successively what is simultaneous in idea.... Time is the + successive dispersion of being, just as speech is the + successive analysis of an intuition, or of an act of the + will. In itself it is relative and negative, and it + disappears within the absolute Being.... Time and space are + fragments of the Infinite for the use of finite creatures. + God permits them that he may not be alone. They are the + mode under which creatures are possible and conceivable.... + If the universe subsists, it is because the eternal Mind + loves to perceive its own content, in all its wealth and + expression, especially in its stages of preparation.... The + radiations of our mind are imperfect reflections from the + great show of fireworks set in motion by Brahma, and great + art is great only because of its conformities with the + divine order—with that which is.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Yet we are + far from saying that time, now that it exists, has no + objective reality to God. To him, past, present, and future + are <span class="tei tei-q">“one eternal now,”</span> not in + the sense that there is no distinction between them, but only + in the sense that he sees past and future as vividly as he + sees the present. With creation time began, and since the + successions of history are veritable successions, he who sees + according to truth must recognize them.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Thomas Carlyle calls God</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Eternal Now.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Mason, Faith of the Gospel, + 30—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God is + not contemptuous of time.... One day is with the Lord as a + thousand years. He values the infinitesimal in time, even as + he does in space. Hence the patience, the long-suffering, the + expectation, of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We are reminded of the inscription on the + sun-dial, in which it is said of the hours:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Pereunt + et imputantur</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">They + pass by, and they are charged to our + account.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">A certain preacher remarked on + the wisdom of God which has so arranged that the moments of + time come successively and not simultaneously, and thus + prevent infinite confusion! Shedd, Dogm. Theol., 1:344, + illustrates God's eternity by the two ways in which a + person may see a procession: first from a doorway in the + street through which the procession is passing; and + secondly, from the top of a steeple which commands a view + of the whole procession at the same instant.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">S. E. Meze, quoted in Royce, + Conception of God, 40—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">As if + all of us were cylinders, with their ends removed, moving + through the waters of some placid lake. To the cylinders + the waters seem to move. What has passed is a memory, what + is to come is doubtful. But the lake knows that all the + water is equally real, and that it is quiet, immovable, + unruffled. Speaking technically, time is no reality. + Things</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">seem</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">past and future, and, in a + sense, non-existent to us, but, in fact, they are just as + genuinely real as the present is.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Yet even here there is an order. You + cannot play a symphony backward and have music. This + qualification at least must be put upon the words of + Berkeley;</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A + succession of ideas I take to</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">constitute</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">time, and not to be only the + sensible measure thereof, as Mr. Locke and others + think.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p><span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page278">[pg 278]</span><a name="Pg278" + id="Pg278" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Finney, quoted in Bib. Sac., + Oct. 1877:722—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Eternity to us means all past, present and + future duration. But to God it means only now. Duration and + space, as they respect his existence, mean infinitely + different things from what they do when they respect our + existence. God's existence and his acts, as they respect + finite existence, have relation to time and space. But as + they respect his own existence, everything is</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">here</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">now</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + With respect to all finite existences, God can say: I was, + I am, I shall be, I will do; but with respect to his own + existence, all that he can say is: I am, I + do.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Edwards the younger, Works, + 1:386, 387—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There + is no succession in the divine mind; therefore no new + operations take place. All the divine acts are from + eternity, nor is there any time with God. The</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">effects</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of these divine acts do indeed + all take place in time and in a succession. If it should be + said that on this supposition the effects take place not + till long after the acts by which they are produced, I + answer that they do so in our view, but not in the view of + God. With him there is no time; no before or after with + respect to time: nor has time any existence in the divine + mind, or in the nature of things independently of the minds + and perceptions of creatures; but it depends on the + succession of those perceptions.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We must qualify this statement of the + younger Edwards by the following from Julius Müller:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If + God's working can have no relation to time, then all bonds + of union between God and the world are snapped + asunder.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It is an interesting question + whether the human spirit is capable of timeless existence, + and whether the conception of time is purely physical. In + dreams we seem to lose sight of succession; in extreme pain + an age is compressed into a minute. Does this throw light + upon the nature of prophecy? Is the soul of the prophet + rapt into God's timeless existence and vision? It is + doubtful whether</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rev. + 10:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">there + shall be time no longer</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">can be relied upon to prove the + affirmative; for the Rev. Vers. marg. and the American + Revisers translate</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">there + shall be delay no longer.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Julius Müller, Doct. Sin, + 2:147—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">All + self-consciousness is a victory over + time.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">So with memory; see Dorner, + Glaubenslehre, 1:471. On</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + death-vision of one's whole existence,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">see Frances Kemble Butler's experience in + Shedd, Dogm. Theol., 1:351—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Here + there is succession and series, only so exceedingly rapid + as to seem simultaneous.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This rapidity however is so great as to + show that each man can at the last be judged in an instant. + On space and time as unlimited, see Porter, Hum. Intellect, + 564-566. On the conception of eternity, see Mansel, + Lectures, Essays and Reviews, 111-126, and Modern + Spiritualism, 255-292; New Englander, April, 1875: art. on + the Metaphysical Idea of Eternity. For practical lessons + from the Eternity of God, see Park, Discourses, 137-154; + Westcott, Some Lessons of the Rev. Vers., (Pott, N. Y., + 1897), 187—with comments on αἰῶνες in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 3:21</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">,</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 11:3</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">,</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rev. + 4</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">10, + 11</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + universe under the aspect of time.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc239" id="toc239"></a> <a name="pdf240" id= + "pdf240"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 2. Immensity.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">By this we + mean that God's nature (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) is without extension; + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) is subject to no + limitations of space; and (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) contains in itself the + cause of space.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Kings + 8:27—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens + cannot contain thee.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Space is a creation of God;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 8:39—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">nor + height nor depth, nor any other + creature.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Zahn, Bib. Dogmatik, + 149—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Scripture does not teach the immanence of + God in the world, but the immanence of the world in + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Dante does not put God, but + Satan at the centre; and Satan, being at the centre, is + crushed with the whole weight of the universe. God is the + Being who encompasses all. All things exist in him. E. G. + Robinson:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Space + is a relation; God is the author of relations and of our + modes of thought; therefore God is the author of space. + Space conditions our thought, but it does not condition + God's thought.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Jonathan Edwards:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Place + itself is mental, and within and without are mental + conceptions.... When I say the material universe exists + only in the mind, I mean that it is absolutely dependent on + the conception of the mind for its existence, and does not + exist as spirits do, whose existence does not consist in, + nor in dependence on, the conception of other + minds.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">H. M. Stanley, on Space and + Science, in Philosophical Rev., Nov. + 1898:615—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Space + is not full of things, but things are spaceful.... Space is + a form of dynamic appearance.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bradley carries the ideality of space to + an extreme, when, in his Appearance and Reality, 35-38, he + tells us: Space is not a mere relation, for it has parts, + and what can be the parts of a relation? But space is + nothing but a relation, for it is lengths of lengths + of—nothing that we can find. We can find no terms either + inside or outside. Space, to be space, must have space + outside itself. Bradley therefore concludes that space is + not reality but only appearance.</span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page279">[pg + 279]</span><a name="Pg279" id="Pg279" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Immensity + is infinity in its relation to space. God's nature is not + subject to the law of space. God is not in space. It is more + correct to say that space is in God. Yet space has an + objective reality to God. With creation space began to be, + and since God sees according to truth, he recognizes + relations of space in his creation.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Many of the remarks made in + explanation of time apply equally to space. Space is not a + substance nor an attribute, but a relation. It exists so soon + as extended matter exists, and exists as its necessary + condition, whether our minds perceive it or not. Reid, + Intellectual Powers, essay 2, chap. 9—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Space + is not so properly an object of sense, as a necessary + concomitant of the objects of sight and + touch.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">When we see or touch body, we + get the idea of space in which the body exists, but the + idea of space is not furnished by the sense; it is + an</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a + priori</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">cognition + of the reason. Experience furnishes the occasion of its + evolution, but the mind evolves the conception by its own + native energy.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Anselm, Proslogion, + 19—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Nothing contains thee, but thou containest + all things.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Yet it is not precisely accurate to say + that space is in God, for this expression seems to intimate + that God is a greater space which somehow includes the + less. God is rather unspatial and is the Lord of space. The + notion that space and the divine immensity are identical + leads to a materialistic conception of God. Space is not an + attribute of God, as Clarke maintained, and no argument for + the divine existence can be constructed from this premise + (see pages 85, 86). Martineau, Types, 1:138, 139, + 170—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Malebranche said that God is the place of + all spirits, as space is the place of all bodies.... + Descartes held that there is no such thing as empty + space.</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Nothing</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">cannot possibly have + extension. Wherever extension is, there must be</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">something</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">extended. Hence the doctrine + of a</span> <span class="tei tei-foreign"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">plenum</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + A</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">vacuum</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is + inconceivable.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Lotze, Outlines of Metaphysics, + 87—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">According to the ordinary view ... + space</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">exists</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + and things exist</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + it</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; according to + our view, only things exist, and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">between + them</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">nothing + exists, but space exists</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + them</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Case, Physical Realism, 379, + 380—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Space + is the continuity, or continuous extension, of the universe + as one substance.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ladd:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Is + space extended? Then it must be extended in some other + space. That other space is the space we are talking about. + Space then is not an entity, but a mental presupposition of + the existence of extended substance. Space and time are + neither finite nor infinite. Space has neither + circumference nor centre,—its centre would be everywhere. + We cannot</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">imagine</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">space at all. It is simply a + precondition of mind enabling us to perceive + things.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In Bib. Sac., 1890:415-444, + art.: Is Space a Reality? Prof. Mead opposes the doctrine + that space is purely subjective, as taught by Bowne; also + the doctrine that space is a certain order of relations + among realities; that space is nothing apart from things; + but that things, when they exist, exist in certain + relations, and that the sum, or system, of these relations + constitutes space.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We prefer the view of Bowne, + Metaphysics, 127, 137, 143, that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Space + is the form of objective experience, and is nothing in + abstraction from that experience.... It is a form of + intuition, and not a mode of existence. According to this + view, things are not in space and space-relations, but + appear to be. In themselves they are essentially + non-spatial; but by their interactions with one another, + and with the mind, they give rise to the appearance of a + world of extended things in a common space. + Space-predicates, then, belong to phenomena only, and not + to things-in-themselves.... Apparent reality exists + spatially; but proper ontological reality exists + spacelessly and without spatial + predicates.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">For the view that space is relative, see + also Cocker, Theistic Conception of the World, 66-96; + Calderwood, Philos. of the Infinite, 331-335.</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Per + contra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, see + Porter, Human Intellect, 662; Hazard, Letters on Causation + in Willing, appendix; Bib. Sac., Oct. 1877:723; Gear, in + Bap. Rev., July, 1880:434; Lowndes, Philos. of Primary + Beliefs, 144-161.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc241" id="toc241"></a> <a name="pdf242" id= + "pdf242"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + Second Division.—Attributes having relation to Creation.</h4> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc243" id="toc243"></a> <a name="pdf244" id= + "pdf244"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1. Omnipresence.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">By this we + mean that God, in the totality of his essence, without + diffusion or expansion, multiplication or division, + penetrates and fills the universe in all its + parts.</p><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page280">[pg + 280]</span><a name="Pg280" id="Pg280" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. 139:7</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Whither + shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from + thy presence?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jer. 23:23, + 24—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Am I + a God at hand, saith Jehovah, and not a God afar off?... Do + not I fill heaven and earth?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts 17:27, + 28—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he is + not far from each one of us: for in him we live, and move, + and have our being.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Faber:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For + God is never so far off As even to be near. He is within. + Our spirit is The home he holds most dear. To think of him + as by our side Is almost as untrue As to remove his shrine + beyond Those skies of starry blue. So all the while I + thought myself Homeless, forlorn and weary, Missing my joy, + I walked the earth Myself God's + sanctuary.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Henri Amiel:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">From + every point on earth we are equally near to heaven and the + infinite.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Tennyson, The Higher Pantheism:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Speak + to him then, for he hears, and spirit with spirit can meet; + Closer is he than breathing, and nearer than hands and + feet.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">As + full, as perfect, in a hair as heart.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The atheist wrote:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + is nowhere,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">but his little daughter read it:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + is now here,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and it converted him. The child however + sometimes asks:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If + God is everywhere, how is there any room for + us?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and the only answer is that + God is not a material but a spiritual being, whose presence + does not exclude finite existence but rather makes such + existence possible. This universal presence of God had to + be learned gradually. It required great faith in Abraham to + go out from Ur of the Chaldees, and yet to hold that God + would be with him in a distant land (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 11:8</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). Jacob + learned that the heavenly ladder followed him wherever he + went (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 28:15</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). Jesus + taught that</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">neither in this mountain, nor in + Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John + 4:21)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. Our Lord's + mysterious comings and goings after his resurrection were + intended to teach his disciples that he was with + them</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">always, even unto the end of the + world</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Mat. + 28:20)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. The + omnipresence of Jesus demonstrates,</span> <span lang="la" + class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a + fortiori</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, the + omnipresence of God.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In + explanation of this attribute we may say:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) God's omnipresence is + not potential but essential.—We reject the Socinian + representation that God's essence is in heaven, only his + power on earth. When God is said to <span class= + "tei tei-q">“dwell in the heavens,”</span> we are to + understand the language either as a symbolic expression of + exaltation above earthly things, or as a declaration that his + most special and glorious self-manifestations are to the + spirits of heaven.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 123:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">O + thou that sittest in the heavens</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">113:5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">That + hath his seat on high</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 57:15—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + high and lofty One that inhabiteth + eternity.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Mere potential omnipresence is Deistic as + well as Socinian. Like birds in the air or fish in the + sea,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">at + home, abroad, We are surrounded still with + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We do not need to go up to + heaven to call him down, or into the abyss to call him up + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. 10:6, + 7</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). The best + illustration is found in the presence of the soul in every + part of the body. Mind seems not confined to the brain. + Natural realism in philosophy, as distinguished from + idealism, requires that the mind should be at the point of + contact with the outer world, instead of having reports and + ideas brought to it in the brain; see Porter, Human + Intellect, 149. All believers in a soul regard the soul as + at least present in all parts of the brain, and this is a + relative omnipresence no less difficult in principle than + its presence in all parts of the body. An animal's brain + may be frozen into a piece solid as ice, yet, after + thawing, it will act as before: although freezing of the + whole body will cause death. If the immaterial principle + were confined to the brain we should expect freezing of the + brain to cause death. But if the soul may be omnipresent in + the body or even in the brain, the divine Spirit may be + omnipresent in the universe. Bowne, Metaphysics, + 136—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If + finite things are modes of the infinite, each thing must be + a mode of the entire infinite; and the infinite must be + present in its unity and completeness in every finite + thing, just as the entire soul is present in all its + acts.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">This idealistic conception of + the entire mind as present in all its thoughts must be + regarded as the best analogue to God's omnipresence in the + universe. We object to the view that this omnipresence is + merely potential, as we find it in Clarke, Christian + Theology, 74—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We + know, and only know, that God is able to put forth all his + power of action, without regard to place.... Omnipresence + is an element in the immanence of God.... A local God would + be no real God. If he is not everywhere, he is not true God + anywhere. Omnipresence is implied in all providence, in all + prayer, in all communion with God and reliance on + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">So long as it is conceded that + consciousness is not confined to a single point in the + brain, the question whether other portions of the brain or + of the body are also the seat of consciousness may be + regarded as a purely academic one, and the answer need + not</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page281">[pg + 281]</span><a name="Pg281" id="Pg281" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">affect + our present argument. The principle of omnipresence is + granted when once we hold that the soul is conscious at + more than one point of the physical organism. Yet the + question suggested above is an interesting one and with + regard to it psychologists are divided. Paulsen, Einleitung + in die Philosophie (1892), 138-159, holds that + consciousness is correlated with the sum-total of bodily + processes, and with him agree Fechner and Wundt.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Pflüger and Lewes say that as the + hemispheres of the brain owe their intelligence to the + consciousness which we know to be there, so the + intelligence of the spinal cord's acts must really be due + to the invisible presence of a consciousness lower in + degree.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Professor Brewer's + rattlesnake, after several hours of decapitation, still + struck at him with its bloody neck, when he attempted to + seize it by the tail. From the reaction of the frog's leg + after decapitation may we not infer a certain + consciousness?</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Robin, on tickling the breast of a + criminal an hour after decapitation, saw the arm and hand + move toward the spot.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hudson, Demonstration of a Future Life, + 239-249, quotes from Hammond, Treatise on Insanity, chapter + 2, to prove that the brain is not the sole organ of the + mind. Instinct does not reside exclusively in the brain; it + is seated in the</span> <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">medulla + oblongata</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, or in + the spinal cord, or in both these organs. Objective mind, + as Hudson thinks, is the function of the physical brain, + and it ceases when the brain loses its vitality. + Instinctive acts are performed by animals after excision of + the brain, and by human beings born without brain. Johnson, + in Andover Rev., April, 1890:421—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + brain is not the only seat of consciousness. The same + evidence that points to the brain as the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">principal</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">seat of consciousness points + to the nerve-centres situated in the spinal cord or + elsewhere as the seat of a more or less</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">subordinate</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">consciousness or + intelligence.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ireland, Blot on the Brain, + 26—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I do + not take it for proved that consciousness is entirely + confined to the brain.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In spite of these opinions, + however, we must grant that the general consensus among + psychologists is upon the other side. Dewey, Psychology, + 349—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + sensory and motor nerves have points of meeting in the + spinal cord. When a stimulus is transferred from a sensory + nerve to a motor without the conscious intervention of the + mind, we have reflex action.... If something approaches the + eye, the stimulus is transferred to the spinal cord, and + instead of being continued to the brain and giving rise to + a sensation, it is discharged into a motor nerve and the + eye is immediately closed.... The reflex action in itself + involves no consciousness.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">William James, Psychology, 1:16, 66, 134, + 214—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + cortex of the brain is the sole organ of consciousness in + man.... If there be any consciousness pertaining to the + lower centres, it is a consciousness of which the self + knows nothing.... In lower animals this may not be so much + the case.... The seat of the mind, so far as its dynamical + relations are concerned, is somewhere in the cortex of the + brain.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See also C. A. Strong, Why the + Mind has a Body, 40-50.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) God's omnipresence is + not the presence of a part but of the whole of God in every + place.—This follows from the conception of God as incorporeal + We reject the materialistic representation that God is + composed of material elements which can be divided or + sundered. There is no multiplication or diffusion of his + substance to correspond with the parts of his dominions. The + one essence of God is present at the same moment in all.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Kings + 8:27—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot + contain</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(circumscribe)</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">thee.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">God must be present in all his essence and + all his attributes in every place. He is</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">totus + in omni parte.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Alger, Poetry of the Orient:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Though God extends beyond Creation's rim, + Each smallest atom holds the whole of + him.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">From this it follows that the + whole Logos can be united to and be present in the man + Christ Jesus, while at the same time he fills and governs + the whole universe; and so the whole Christ can be united + to, and can be present in, the single believer, as fully as + if that believer were the only one to receive of his + fulness.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">A. J. Gordon:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + mathematics the whole is equal to the sum of its parts. But + we know of the Spirit that every part is equal to the + whole. Every church, every true body of Jesus Christ, has + just as much of Christ as every other, and each has the + whole Christ.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 13:20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">where + two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I + in the midst of them.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + parish priest of austerity Climbed up in a high church + steeple, To be nearer God so that he might Hand his word + down to the people. And in sermon script he daily wrote + What he thought was sent from heaven, And he dropt it down + on the people's heads Two times one day in seven. In his + age God said,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Come + down and die,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">And he cried out from the steeple,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Where + art thou, Lord?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">And the Lord replied,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Down + here among my people.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page282">[pg + 282]</span><a name="Pg282" id="Pg282" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) God's omnipresence is + not necessary but free.—We reject the pantheistic notion that + God is bound to the universe as the universe is bound to God. + God is immanent in the universe, not by compulsion, but by + the free act of his own will, and this immanence is qualified + by his transcendence.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">God might at will cease to be + omnipresent, for he could destroy the universe; but while the + universe exists, he is and must be in all its parts. God is + the life and law of the universe,—this is the truth in + pantheism. But he is also personal and free,—this pantheism + denies. Christianity holds to a free, as well as to an + essential, omnipresence—qualified and supplemented, however, + by God's transcendence. The boasted truth in pantheism is an + elementary principle of Christianity, and is only the + stepping-stone to a nobler truth—God's personal presence with + his church. The Talmud contrasts the worship of an idol and + the worship of Jehovah:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + idol seems so near, but is so far, Jehovah seems so far, + but is so near!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">God's omnipresence assures us that he is + present with us to hear, and present in every heart and in + the ends of the earth to answer, prayer. See Rogers, + Superhuman Origin of the Bible, 10; Bowne, Metaphysics, + 136; Charnock, Attributes, 1:363-405.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The Puritan turned from the + moss-rose bud, saying:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + have learned to call nothing on earth + lovely.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">But this is to despise not + only the workmanship but the presence of the Almighty. The + least thing in nature is worthy of study because it is the + revelation of a present God. The uniformity of nature and + the reign of law are nothing but the steady will of the + omnipresent God. Gravitation is God's omnipresence in + space, as evolution is God's omnipresence in time. Dorner, + System of Doctrine, 1:73-</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + being omnipresent, contact with him may be sought at any + moment in prayer and contemplation; indeed, it will always + be true that we live and move and have our being in him, as + the perennial and omnipresent source of our + existence.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 10:6-8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Say + not in thy heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, + to bring Christ down:) or, Who shall descend into the + abyss? (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.) But + what saith it? The word is nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in + thy heart.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Lotze, Metaphysics, § 256, quoted in + Illingworth, Divine Immanence, 135, 136. Sunday-school + scholar:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Is + God in my pocket?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Certainly.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">No, + he isn't, for I haven't any pocket.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">God is omnipresent so long as there is a + universe, but he ceases to be omnipresent when the universe + ceases to be.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc245" id="toc245"></a> <a name="pdf246" id= + "pdf246"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 2. Omniscience.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">By this we + mean God's perfect and eternal knowledge of all things which + are objects of knowledge, whether they be actual or possible, + past, present, or future.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">God knows his inanimate + creation:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 147:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">counteth the number of the stars; He calleth + them all by their names.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">He has knowledge of brute creatures:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 10:29</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—sparrows—</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">not one + of them shall fall on the ground without your + Father.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Of men and their works:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 33:13-15—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">beholdeth all the sons of men ... + considereth all their works.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Of hearts of men and their thoughts:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 15:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God, + who knoweth the heart</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 139:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">understandest my thought afar + off.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Of our wants:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 6:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">knoweth what things ye have need + of.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Of the least things:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 10:30—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + very hairs of your head are all + numbered.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Of the past:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mal. + 3:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">book + of remembrance.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Of the future:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. 46:9, + 10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">declaring the end from the + beginning.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Of men's future free acts:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 44:28—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">that + saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd and shall perform all my + pleasure.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Of men's future evil acts:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 2:23—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">him, + being delivered up by the determinate counsel and + foreknowledge of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Of the ideally possible:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Sam. + 23:12—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Will + the men of Keilah deliver up me and my men into the hands + of Saul? And Jehovah said, They will deliver thee + up</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sc.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">if thou remainest);</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 11:23—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">if + the mighty works had been done in Sodom which were done in + thee, it would have remained.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">From eternity:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 15:18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Lord, who maketh these things known from of + old.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Incomprehensible:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 139:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Such + knowledge is too wonderful for me</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 11:33—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">O the + depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of + God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Related to wisdom:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 104:24—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + wisdom hast thou made them all</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 3:10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">manifold wisdom of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Job + 7:20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">O + thou watcher of men</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 56:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Thou + numberest my wanderings</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= my whole life has been one continuous + exile;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Put + thou my tears into thy bottle</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= the skin bottle of the east,—there are + tears enough to fill one;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Are + they not in thy book?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= no tear has fallen to the ground + unnoted,—God has gathered them all. Paul Gerhardt:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Du + zählst wie oft ein Christe wein', Und was sein Kummer sei; + Kein stilles Thränlein ist so klein, Du hebst und legst es + bei.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 4:13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">there + is no creature that is not manifest in his sight: but + all</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page283">[pg + 283]</span><a name="Pg283" id="Pg283" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">things + are naked and laid open before the eyes of him with whom we + have to do</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—τετραχηλισμένα—with head bent back and + neck laid bare, as animals slaughtered in sacrifice,</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">or</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">seized by the throat and + thrown on the back, so that the priest might discover + whether there was any blemish. Japanese proverb:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + has forgotten to forget.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) The omniscience of God + may be argued from his omnipresence, as well as from his + truth or self-knowledge, in which the plan of creation has + its eternal ground, and from prophecy, which expresses God's + omniscience.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It is to be remembered that + omniscience, as the designation of a relative and transitive + attribute, does not include God's self-knowledge. The term is + used in the technical sense of God's knowledge of all things + that pertain to the universe of his creation. H. A. + Gordon:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Light + travels faster than sound. You can see the flash of fire from + the cannon's mouth, a mile away, considerably before the + noise of the discharge reaches the ear. God flashed the light + of prediction upon the pages of his word, and we see it. Wait + a little and we see the event itself.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Royce, The Conception of God, + 9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">An + omniscient being would be one who simply found presented to + him, not by virtue of fragmentary and gradually completed + processes of inquiry, but by virtue of an all-embracing, + direct and transparent insight into his own truth—who found + thus presented to him, I say, the complete, the fulfilled + answer to every genuinely rational + question.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Browning, Ferishtah's Fancies, + Plot-culture:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">How + will it fare shouldst thou impress on me That certainly an + Eye is over all And each, to make the minute's deed, word, + thought As worthy of reward and punishment? Shall I permit + my sense an Eye-viewed shame, Broad daylight + perpetration,—so to speak,—I had not dared to breathe + within the Ear, With black night's help around + me?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Since it is free from + all imperfection, God's knowledge is immediate, as + distinguished from the knowledge that comes through sense or + imagination; simultaneous, as not acquired by successive + observations, or built up by processes of reasoning; + distinct, as free from all vagueness or confusion; true, as + perfectly corresponding to the reality of things; eternal, as + comprehended in one timeless act of the divine mind.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">An infinite mind must always + act, and must always act in an absolutely perfect manner. + There is in God no sense, symbol, memory, abstraction, + growth, reflection, reasoning,—his knowledge is all direct + and without intermediaries. God was properly represented by + the ancient Egyptians, not as having eye, but as being eye. + His thoughts toward us are</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">more + than can be numbered</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Ps. + 40:5)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, not because + there is succession in them, now a remembering and now a + forgetting, but because there is never a moment of our + existence in which we are out of his mind; he is always + thinking of us. See Charnock, Attributes, 1:406-497.</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 16:13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Thou + art a God that seeth.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Mivart, Lessons from Nature, + 374—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Every + creature of every order of existence, while its existence is + sustained, is so complacently contemplated by God, that the + intense and concentrated attention of all men of science + together upon it could but form an utterly inadequate symbol + of such divine contemplation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">So God's scrutiny of every deed of darkness + is more searching than the gaze of a whole Coliseum of + spectators, and his eye is more watchful over the good than + would be the united care of all his hosts in heaven and + earth.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Armstrong, God and the + Soul:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God's + energy is concentrated attention, attention concentrated + everywhere. We can attend to two or three things at once; + the pianist plays and talks at the same time; the magician + does one thing while he seems to do another. God attends to + all things, does all things, at once.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Marie Corelli, Master Christian, + 104—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + biograph is a hint that every scene of human life is + reflected in a ceaseless moving panorama</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">some + where</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, for the + beholding of</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">some + one</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Wireless telegraphy is a stupendous + warning that from God no secrets are hid, that</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">there + is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; and hid, + that shall not be known</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Mat. + 10:26)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. The + Röntgen rays, which take photographs of our insides, right + through our clothes, and even in the darkness of midnight, + show that to God</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + night shineth as the day</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Ps. + 139:12)</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Professor Mitchel's equatorial + telescope, slowly moving by clockwork, toward sunset, + suddenly touched the horizon and disclosed a boy in a tree + stealing apples, but the boy was all unconscious that he + was under the gaze of the astronomer. Nothing was</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page284">[pg + 284]</span><a name="Pg284" id="Pg284" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">so + fearful to the prisoner in the French</span> <span lang= + "fr" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="fr"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cachot</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">as the eye of the guard that + never ceased to watch him in perfect silence through the + loophole in the door. As in the Roman empire the whole + world was to a malefactor one great prison, and in his + flight to the most distant lands the emperor could track + him, so under the government of God no sinner can escape + the eye of his Judge. But omnipresence is protective as + well as detective. The text</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 16:13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Thou, + God, seest me</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—has been used as a restraint from evil + more than as a stimulus to good. To the child of the devil + it should certainly be the former. But to the child of God + it should as certainly be the latter. God should not be + regarded as an exacting overseer or a standing threat, but + rather as one who understands us, loves us, and helps + us.</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. 139:17, + 18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">How + precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is + the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in + number than the sand: When I awake, I am still with + thee.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) Since God knows things + as they are, he knows the necessary sequences of his creation + as necessary, the free acts of his creatures as free, the + ideally possible as ideally possible.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">God knows what would have taken + place under circumstances not now present; knows what the + universe would have been, had he chosen a different plan of + creation; knows what our lives would have been, had we made + different decisions in the past (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 48:18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Oh that + thou hadst hearkened ... then had thy peace been as a + river</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">). Clarke, Christian Theology, + 77—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God has + a double knowledge of his universe. He knows it as it exists + eternally in his mind, as his own idea; and he knows it as + actually existing in time and space, a moving, changing, + growing universe, with perpetual process of succession. In + his own idea, he knows it all at once; but he is also aware + of its perpetual becoming, and with reference to events as + they occur he has foreknowledge, present knowledge, and + knowledge afterwards.... He conceives of all things + simultaneously, but observes all things in their + succession.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Royce, World and Individual, + 2:374—holds that God does not temporally foreknow anything + except as he is expressed in finite beings, but yet that + the Absolute possesses a perfect knowledge at one glance of + the whole of the temporal order, present, past and future. + This, he says, is not foreknowledge, but eternal knowledge. + Priestley denied that any contingent event could be an + object of knowledge. But Reid says the denial that any free + action can be foreseen involves the denial of God's own + free agency, since God's future actions can be foreseen by + men; also that while God foresees his own free actions, + this does not determine those actions necessarily. + Tennyson, In Memoriam, 26—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">And + if that eye which watches guilt And goodness, and hath + power to see Within the green the mouldered tree, And + towers fallen as soon as built—Oh, if indeed that eye + foresee Or see (in Him is no before) In more of life true + life no more And Love the indifference to be, Then might I + find, ere yet the morn Breaks hither over Indian seas, That + Shadow waiting with the keys, To shroud me from my proper + scorn.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) The fact that there is + nothing in the present condition of things from which the + future actions of free creatures necessarily follow by + natural law does not prevent God from foreseeing such + actions, since his knowledge is not mediate, but immediate. + He not only foreknows the motives which will occasion men's + acts, but he directly foreknows the acts themselves. The + possibility of such direct knowledge without assignable + grounds of knowledge is apparent if we admit that time is a + form of finite thought to which the divine mind is not + subject.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Aristotle maintained that there + is no certain knowledge of contingent future events. Socinus, + in like manner, while he admitted that God knows all things + that are knowable, abridged the objects of the divine + knowledge by withdrawing from the number those objects whose + future existence he considered as uncertain, such as the + determinations of free agents. These, he held, cannot be + certainly foreknown, because there is nothing in the present + condition of things from which they will necessarily follow + by natural law. The man who makes a clock can tell when it + will strike. But free-will, not being subject to mechanical + laws, cannot have its acts predicted or foreknown. God knows + things only in their causes—future events only in their + antecedents. John Milton seems also to deny God's + foreknowledge of free acts:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">So, + without least impulse or shadow of fate, Or aught by me + immutably foreseen, They trespass.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p><span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page285">[pg 285]</span><a name="Pg285" + id="Pg285" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">With this Socinian doctrine + some Arminians agree, as McCabe, in his Foreknowledge of + God, and in his Divine Nescience of Future Contingencies a + Necessity. McCabe, however, sacrifices the principle of + free will, in defence of which he makes this surrender of + God's foreknowledge, by saying that in cases of fulfilled + prophecy, like Peter's denial and Judas's betrayal, God + brought special influences to bear to secure the result,—so + that Peter's and Judas's wills acted irresponsibly under + the law of cause and effect. He quotes Dr. Daniel Curry as + declaring that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + denial of absolute divine foreknowledge is the essential + complement of the Methodist theology, without which its + philosophical incompleteness is defenceless against the + logical consistency of Calvinism.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">See also article by McCabe in Methodist + Review, Sept. 1892:760-773. Also Simon, Reconciliation, + 287—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + has constituted a creature, the actions of which he can + only know as such when they are performed. In presence of + man, to a certain extent, even the great God condescends to + wait; nay more, has himself so ordained things that he must + wait, inquiring,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">What + will he do?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">So Dugald Stewart:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Shall + we venture to affirm that it exceeds the power of God to + permit such a train of contingent events to take place as + his own foreknowledge shall not extend + to?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Martensen holds this view, and + Rothe, Theologische Ethik, 1:212-234, who declares that the + free choices of men are continually increasing the + knowledge of God. So also Martineau, Study of Religion, + 2:279—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + belief in the divine foreknowledge of our future has no + basis in philosophy. We no longer deem it true that even + God knows the moment of my moral life that is coming next. + Even he does not know whether I shall yield to the secret + temptation at midday. To him life is a drama of which he + knows not the conclusion.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Then, says Dr. A. J. Gordon, there is + nothing so dreary and dreadful as to be living under the + direction of such a God. The universe is rushing on like an + express-train in the darkness without headlight or + engineer; at any moment we may be plunged into the abyss. + Lotze does not deny God's foreknowledge of free human + actions, but he regards as insoluble by the intellect the + problem of the relation of time to God, and such + foreknowledge as</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">one + of those postulates as to which we know not how they can be + fulfilled.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bowne, Philosophy of Theism, + 159—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Foreknowledge of a free act is a knowledge + without assignable grounds of knowing. On the assumption of + a real time, it is hard to find a way out of this + difficulty.... The doctrine of the ideality of time helps + us by suggesting the possibility of an all-embracing + present, or an eternal now, for God. In that case the + problem vanishes with time, its + condition.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Against the doctrine of the + divine nescience we urge not only our fundamental + conviction of God's perfection, but the constant testimony + of Scripture. In</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. 41:21, + 22</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, God makes his + foreknowledge the test of his Godhead in the controversy + with idols. If God cannot foreknow free human acts, + then</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Lamb that hath been slain from the foundation of the + world</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Rev. + 13:8)</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">was only a + sacrifice to be offered</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in case</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Adam should fall, God not + knowing whether he would or not, and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in case</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Judas should betray Christ, + God not knowing whether he would or not. Indeed, since the + course of nature is changed by man's will when he burns + towns and fells forests, God cannot on this theory predict + even the course of nature. All prophecy is therefore a + protest against this view.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">How God foreknows free human + decisions we may not be able to say, but then the method of + God's knowledge in many other respects is unknown to us. + The following explanations have been proposed. God may + foreknow free acts:—</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">1.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mediately</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + by foreknowing the motives of these acts, and this either + because these motives induce the acts, (1) necessarily, or + (2) certainly. This last</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">certainly</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is to be accepted, if either; since + motives are never</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">causes</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + but are only</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">occasions</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + of action. The cause is the will, or the man himself. But + it may be said that foreknowing acts through their motives + is not foreknowing at all, but is reasoning or inference + rather. Moreover, although intelligent beings commonly act + according to motives previously dominant, they also at + critical epochs, as at the fall of Satan and of Adam, + choose between motives, and in such cases knowledge of the + motives which have hitherto actuated them gives no clue to + their next decisions. Another statement is therefore + proposed to meet these difficulties, namely, that God may + foreknow free acts:—</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">2.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Immediately</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + by pure intuition, inexplicable to us. Julius Müller, + Doctrine of Sin, 2:203, 225—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If + God can know a future event as certain only by a + calculation of causes, it must be allowed that he cannot + with certainty foreknow any free act of man; for his + foreknowledge would then be proof that the act in question + was the necessary consequence of certain causes, and was + not in itself free. If, on the contrary, the divine + knowledge be regarded as</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">intuitive</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + we see that it stands in the same immediate relation to the + act itself as to its antecedents, and thus the difficulty + is removed.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Even</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page286">[pg 286]</span><a name="Pg286" id="Pg286" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">upon this + view there still remains the difficulty of perceiving how + there can be in God's mind a subjective certitude with + regard to acts in respect to which there is no assignable + objective ground of certainty. Yet, in spite of this + difficulty, we feel bound both by Scripture and by our + fundamental idea of God's perfection to maintain God's + perfect knowledge of the future free acts of his creatures. + With President Pepper we say:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Knowledge of contingency is not + necessarily contingent knowledge.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">With Whedon:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It is + not calculation, but pure knowledge.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Dorner, System of Doct., 1:332-337; + 2:58-62; Jahrbuch für deutsche Theologie, 1858:601-605; + Charnock, Attributes, 1:429-446; Solly, The Will, 240-254. + For a valuable article on the whole subject, though + advocating the view that God foreknows acts by foreknowing + motives, see Bib. Sac., Oct. 1883:655-694. See also Hill, + Divinity, 517.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">e</span></span>) Prescience is not + itself causative. It is not to be confounded with the + predetermining will of God. Free actions do not take place + because they are foreseen, but they are foreseen because they + are to take place.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Seeing a thing in the future + does not cause it to be, more than seeing a thing in the past + causes it to be. As to future events, we may say with + Whedon:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Knowledge</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">takes</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">them, not</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">makes</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">them.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Foreknowledge may, and does, presuppose + predetermination, but it is not itself predetermination. + Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa, 1:38:1:1, says that</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + knowledge of God is the cause of things</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; but he is obliged to add:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God is + not the cause of all things that are known by God, since evil + things that are known by God are not from + him.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">John Milton, Paradise Lost, book + 3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Foreknowledge had no influence on their + fault, Which had no less proved certain + unforeknown.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">f</span></span>) Omniscience embraces + the actual and the possible, but it does not embrace the + self-contradictory and the impossible, because these are not + objects of knowledge.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">God does not know what the + result would be if two and two made five, nor does he + know</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">whether + a chimæra ruminating in a vacuum devoureth second + intentions</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; and that, simply for the reason that he + cannot know self-contradiction and nonsense. These things are + not objects of knowledge. Clarke, Christian Theology, + 80—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Can God + make an old man in a minute? Could he make it well with the + wicked while they remained wicked? Could he create a world in + which 2 + 2 = 5?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Royce, Spirit of Modern Philosophy, + 366—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Does + God know the whole number that is the square root of 65? or + what adjacent hills there are that have no valleys between + them? Does God know round squares, and sugar salt-lumps, and + Snarks and Boojums and Abracadabras?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">g</span></span>) Omniscience, as + qualified by holy will, is in Scripture denominated + <span class="tei tei-q">“wisdom.”</span> In virtue of his + wisdom God chooses the highest ends and uses the fittest + means to accomplish them.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Wisdom is not simply</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">estimating all things at their proper + value</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(Olmstead); it has in it also + the element of counsel and purpose. It has been defined + as</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + talent of using one's talents.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">It implies two things: first, choice of the + highest end; secondly, choice of the best means to secure + this end. J. C. C. Clarke, Self and the Father, + 39—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Wisdom + is not invented conceptions, or harmony of theories with + theories; but is humble obedience of mind to the reception of + facts that are found in things.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Thus man's wisdom, obedience, faith, are all + names for different aspects of the same thing. And wisdom in + God is the moral choice which makes truth and holiness + supreme. Bowne, Principles of Ethics, + 261—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Socialism pursues a laudable end by unwise + or destructive means. It is not enough to mean well. Our + methods must take some account of the nature of things, if + they are to succeed. We cannot produce well-being by law. + No legislation can remove inequalities of nature and + constitution. Society cannot produce equality, any more + than it can enable a rhinoceros to sing, or legislate a cat + into a lion.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc247" id="toc247"></a> <a name="pdf248" id= + "pdf248"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 3. Omnipotence.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">By this we + mean the power of God to do all things which are objects of + power, whether with or without the use of means.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 17:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I am + God Almighty.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">He performs natural wonders:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 1:1-3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Let + there be Light</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 44:24—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">stretcheth forth the heavens + alone</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 1:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">upholding all things by the word of his + power.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Spiritual wonders:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Cor. + 4:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God, + that said, Light shall shine out of darkness, who shined in + our hearts</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page287">[pg 287]</span><a name="Pg287" id="Pg287" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 1:19—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">exceeding greatness of his power to + us-ward who believe</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 3:20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">able + to do exceeding abundantly.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Power to create new things:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 3:9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">able + of these stones to raise up children unto + Abraham</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 4:17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">giveth life to the dead, and calleth the + things that are not, as though they + were.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">After his own pleasure:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 115:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He + hath done whatsoever he hath pleased</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 1:11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">worketh all things after the counsel of + his will.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Nothing impossible:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen + 18:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Is + anything too hard for Jehovah?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 19:26—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">with + God all things are possible.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">E. G. Robinson, Christian Theology, + 73—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If + all power in the universe is dependent on his creative will + for its existence, it is impossible to conceive any limit + to his power except that laid on it by his own will. But + this is only negative proof; absolute omnipotence is not + logically demonstrable, though readily enough recognized as + a just conception of the infinite God, when propounded on + the authority of a positive revelation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The omnipotence of God is + illustrated by the work of the Holy Spirit, which in + Scripture is compared to wind, water and fire. The ordinary + manifestations of these elements afford no criterion of the + effects they are able to produce. The rushing mighty wind + at Pentecost was the analogue of the wind-Spirit who bore + everything before him on the first day of creation + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 1:2</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 3:8</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 2:2</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). The pouring + out of the Spirit is likened to the flood of Noah when the + windows of heaven were opened and there was not room enough + to receive that which fell (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mal. + 3:10</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). And the + baptism of the Holy Spirit is like the fire that shall + destroy all impurity at the end of the world + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 3:11</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Pet. + 3:7-13</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). See A. H. + Strong, Christ in Creation, 307-310.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Omnipotence does not + imply power to do that which is not an object of power; as, + for example, that which is self-contradictory or + contradictory to the nature of God.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Self-contradictory + things:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">facere + factum infectum</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—the making of a past event to have not + occurred (hence the uselessness of praying:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">May it + be that much good was done</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">); drawing a shorter than a straight line + between two given points; putting two separate mountains + together without a valley between them. Things contradictory + to the nature of God: for God to lie, to sin, to die. To do + such things would not imply power, but impotence. God has all + the power that is consistent with infinite perfection—all + power to do what is worthy of himself. So no greater thing + can be said by man than this:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I dare do all that may become a man; Who + dares do more is none.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Even God cannot make wrong to be right, + nor hatred of himself to be blessed. Some have held that + the prevention of sin in a moral system is not an object of + power, and therefore that God cannot prevent sin in a moral + system. We hold the contrary; see this Compendium: + Objections to the Doctrine of Decrees.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Dryden, Imitation of Horace, + 3:29:71—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Over + the past not heaven itself has power; What has been has, + and I have had my hour</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—words applied by Lord John Russell to his + own career. Emerson, The Past:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">All + is now secure and fast, Not the gods can shake the + Past.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Sunday-school scholar:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Say, + teacher, can God make a rock so big that he can't lift + it?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Seminary Professor:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Can + God tell a lie?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Seminary student:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">With + God all things are possible.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Omnipotence does not + imply the exercise of all his power on the part of God. He + has power over his power; in other words, his power is under + the control of wise and holy will. God can do all he will, + but he will not do all he can. Else his power is mere force + acting necessarily, and God is the slave of his own + omnipotence.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Schleiermacher held that nature + not only is grounded in the divine causality, but fully + expresses that causality; there is no causative power in God + for anything that is not real and actual. This doctrine does + not essentially differ from Spinoza's</span> <span lang="la" + class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">natura + naturans</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and</span> <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">natura + naturata</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">. See + Philippi, Glaubenslehre, 2:62-66. But omnipotence is not + instinctive; it is a power used according to God's + pleasure. God is by no means encompassed by the laws of + nature, or shut up to a necessary evolution of his own + being, as pantheism supposes. As Rothe has shown, God has a + will-power over his nature-power, and is not compelled to + do all that he can do. He is able from the stones of the + street to</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">raise + up children unto Abraham,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">but he has not done it. In God are + unopened treasures, an inexhaustible fountain of new + beginnings, new creations, new revelations. To suppose that + in creation he has expended all the inner possibilities of + his being is to deny his omnipotence. So</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Job + 26:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Lo, + these are but the outskirts</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page288">[pg 288]</span><a name="Pg288" id="Pg288" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">of + his ways: And how small a whisper do we hear of him! But + the thunder of his power who can + understand?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Rogers, Superhuman Origin of the + Bible, 10; Hodgson, Time and Space, 579, 580.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Pet. + 5:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Humble yourselves therefore under the + mighty hand of God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—his mighty hand of providence, salvation, + blessing—</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">that + he may exalt you in due time; casting all your anxiety upon + him, because he careth for you.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + mighty powers held under mighty control</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—this is the greatest exhibition of power. + Unrestraint is not the highest freedom. Young men must + learn that self-restraint is the true power.</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Prov. + 16:32—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He + that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; And he + that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a + city.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Shakespeare, Coriolanus, + 2:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We + have power in ourselves to do it, but it is a power that we + have no power to do.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">When dynamite goes off, it all goes off: + there is no reserve. God uses as much of his power as he + pleases: the remainder of wrath in himself, as well as in + others, he restrains.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) Omnipotence in God does + not exclude, but implies, the power of self-limitation. Since + all such self-limitation is free, proceeding from neither + external nor internal compulsion, it is the act and + manifestation of God's power. Human freedom is not rendered + impossible by the divine omnipotence, but exists by virtue of + it. It is an act of omnipotence when God humbles himself to + the taking of human flesh in the person of Jesus Christ.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Thomasius:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If + God is to be over all and in all, he cannot himself be + all.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. 113: 5, + 6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Who + is like unto Jehovah our God.... That humbleth himself to + behold the things that are in heaven and in the + earth?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Phil. 2:7, + 8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">emptied himself ... humbled + himself.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Charnock, Attributes, 2:5-107. + President Woolsey showed true power when he controlled his + indignation and let an offending student go free. Of Christ + on the cross, says Moberly, Atonement and Personality, + 116—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It + was the power [to retain his life, to escape suffering], + with the will to hold it unused, which proved him to be + what he was, the obedient and perfect + man.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We are likest the omnipotent + One when we limit ourselves for love's sake. The attribute + of omnipotence is the ground of trust, as well as of fear, + on the part of God's creatures. Isaac Watts:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">His + every word of grace is strong As that which built the + skies; The voice that rolls the stars along Speaks all the + promises.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc249" id="toc249"></a> <a name="pdf250" id= + "pdf250"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + Third Division.—Attributes having relation to Moral + Beings.</h4> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc251" id="toc251"></a> <a name="pdf252" id= + "pdf252"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1. Veracity and Faithfulness, or Transitive Truth.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">By + veracity and faithfulness we mean the transitive truth of + God, in its twofold relation to his creatures in general and + to his redeemed people in particular.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 138:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + will ... give thanks unto thy name for thy lovingkindness + and for thy truth: For thou hast magnified thy word above + all thy name</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 3:33—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">hath + set his seal to this, that God is true</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 3:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">let + God be found true, but every man a liar</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 1:25—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + truth of God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 14:17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Spirit of truth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 John + 5:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Spirit is the truth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 1:9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + is faithful</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Thess. + 5:24—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">faithful is he that calleth + you</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Pet. + 4:19—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a + faithful Creator</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Cor. + 1:20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">how + many soever be the promises of God, in him is the + yea</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Num. + 23:19—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + is not a man that he should lie</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Tit. + 1:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God, + who cannot lie, promised</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 6:18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">in + which it is impossible for God to lie.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) In virtue of his + veracity, all his revelations to creatures consist with his + essential being and with each other.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In God's veracity we have the + guarantee that our faculties in their normal exercise do not + deceive us; that the laws of thought are also laws of things; + that the external world, and second causes in it, have + objective existence; that the same causes will always produce + the same effects; that the threats of the moral nature will + be executed upon the unrepentant transgressor; that man's + moral nature is made in the image of God's; and that we may + draw just conclusions from what conscience is in us to what + holiness is in him. We may therefore expect that all past + revelations, whether in nature or in his word, will not only + not be contradicted by our future knowledge, but will rather + prove to have in them more of truth than we ever dreamed. + Man's word may pass away, but God's word abides forever + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 5:18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">one jot + or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the + law</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 40:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + word of God shall stand forever</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">).</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 6:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">be + not as the hypocrites.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">In God the outer expression and the inward + reality always correspond. Assyrian wills were written on a + small tablet encased in another upon which the same thing + was written over again. Breakage, or falsification, of + the</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page289">[pg + 289]</span><a name="Pg289" id="Pg289" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">outer + envelope could be corrected by reference to the inner. So + our outer life should conform to the heart within, and the + heart within to the outer life. On the duty of speaking the + truth, and the limitations of the duty, see Newman Smyth, + Christian Ethics, 386-403—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Give + the truth always to those who in the bonds of humanity have + a right to the truth; conceal it, or falsify it, only when + the human right to the truth has been forfeited, or is held + in abeyance, by sickness, weakness, or some criminal + intent.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) In virtue of his + faithfulness, he fulfills all his promises to his people, + whether expressed in words or implied in the constitution he + has given them.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In God's faithfulness we have + the sure ground of confidence that he will perform what his + love has led him to promise to those who obey the gospel. + Since his promises are based, not upon what we are or have + done, but upon what Christ is and has done, our defects and + errors do not invalidate them, so long as we are truly + penitent and believing:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 John + 1:9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">faithful and righteous to forgive us our + sins</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">= faithful to his promise, and + righteous to Christ. God's faithfulness also ensures a supply + for all the real wants of our being, both here and hereafter, + since these wants are implicit promises of him who made + us:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 84:11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">No good + thing will he withhold from them that walk + uprightly</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">91:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">His + truth is a shield and a buckler</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 6:33—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">all + these things shall be added unto you</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 2:9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Things which eye saw not, and ear heard + not, And which entered not into the heart of man, + Whatsoever things God prepared for them that love + him.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Regulus goes back to Carthage + to die rather than break his promise to his enemies. George + William Curtis economizes for years, and gives up all hope + of being himself a rich man, in order that he may pay the + debts of his deceased father. When General Grant sold all + the presents made to him by the crowned heads of Europe, + and paid the obligations in which his insolvent son had + involved him, he said:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Better poverty and honor, than wealth and + disgrace.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Many a business man would rather die than + fail to fulfil his promise and let his note go to + protest.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Maxwelton braes are bonnie, Where early + falls the dew, And 'twas there that Annie Laurie Gave me + her promise true; Which ne'er forget will I; And for bonnie + Annie Laurie I'd lay me down and dee.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Betray the man she loves? Not</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Till + a' the seas gang dry, my dear, And the rocks melt wi'the + sun.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">God's truth will not be less + than that of mortal man. God's veracity is the natural + correlate to our faith.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc253" id="toc253"></a> <a name="pdf254" id= + "pdf254"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 2. Mercy and Goodness, or Transitive Love.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">By mercy + and goodness we mean the transitive love of God in its + two-fold relation to the disobedient and to the obedient + portions of his creatures.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Titus + 3:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">his + love toward man</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 2:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">goodness of God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. 5:44, + 45—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">love + your enemies ... that ye may be sons of your + Father</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 3:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + so loved the world</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Pet. + 1:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">granted unto us all things that pertain + unto life and godliness</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 8:32—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">freely give us all + things</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 4:10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Herein is love, not that we loved God, but + that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation + for our sins.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Mercy is that eternal + principle of God's nature which leads him to seek the + temporal good and eternal salvation of those who have opposed + themselves to his will, even at the cost of infinite + self-sacrifice.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Martensen:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Viewed + in relation to sin, eternal love is compassionate + grace.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">God's continued importation of + natural life is a foreshadowing, in a lower sphere, of what + he desires to do for his creatures in the higher sphere—the + communication of spiritual and eternal life through Jesus + Christ. When he bids us love our enemies, he only bids us + follow his own example. Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, + 2:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Wilt + thou draw near the nature of the gods? Draw near them, + then, in being merciful.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Twelfth Night, 3:4—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + nature there's no blemish but the mind; None can be called + deformed but the unkind. Virtue is + beauty.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Goodness is the eternal + principle of God's nature which leads him to communicate of + his own life and blessedness to those who are like him in + moral character. Goodness, therefore, is nearly identical + with the love of complacency; mercy, with the love of + benevolence.</p><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page290">[pg + 290]</span><a name="Pg290" id="Pg290" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Notice, however, that transitive + love is but an outward manifestation of immanent love. The + eternal and perfect object of God's love is in his own + nature. Men become subordinate objects of that love only as + they become connected and identified with its principal + object, the image of God's perfections in Christ. Only in the + Son do men become sons of God. To this is requisite an + acceptance of Christ on the part of man. Thus it can be said + that God imparts himself to men just so far as men are + willing to receive him. And as God gives himself to men, in + all his moral attributes, to answer for them and to renew + them in character, there is truth in the statement of Nordell + (Examiner, Jan. 17, 1884) that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + maintenance of holiness is the function of divine justice; + the diffusion of holiness is the function of divine + love.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We may grant this as + substantially true, while yet we deny that love is a mere + form or manifestation of holiness. Self-impartation is + different from self-affirmation. The attribute which moves + God to pour out is not identical with the attribute which + moves him to maintain. The two ideas of holiness and of + love are as distinct as the idea of integrity on the one + hand and of generosity on the other. Park:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + loves Satan, in a certain sense, and we ought + to.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Shedd:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">This + same love of compassion God feels toward the non-elect; but + the expression of that compassion is forbidden for reasons + which are sufficient for God, but are entirely unknown to + the creature.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The goodness of God is the basis of</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">reward</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + under God's government. Faithfulness leads God to keep his + promises; goodness leads him to make them.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Edwards, Nature of Virtue, in + Works, 2:263—Love of benevolence does not presuppose beauty + in its object. Love of complacence does presuppose beauty. + Virtue is not love to an object for its beauty. The beauty + of intelligent beings does not consist in love for beauty, + or virtue in love for virtue. Virtue is love for being in + general, exercised in a general good will. This is the + doctrine of Edwards. We prefer to say that virtue is love, + not for being in general, but for good being, and so for + God, the holy One. The love of compassion is perfectly + compatible with hatred of evil and with indignation against + one who commits it. Love does not necessarily imply + approval, but it does imply desire that all creatures + should fulfil the purpose of their existence by being + morally conformed to the holy One; see Godet, in The + Atonement, 339.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 5:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were + yet sinners, Christ died for us.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We ought to love our enemies, and Satan is + our worst enemy. We ought to will the good of Satan, or + cherish toward him the love of benevolence, though not the + love of complacence. This does not involve a condoning of + his sin, or an ignoring of his moral depravity, as seems + implied in the verses of Wm. C. Gannett:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + poem hangs on the berry-bush When comes the poet's eye; The + street begins to masquerade When Shakespeare passes by. The + Christ sees white in Judas' heart And loves his traitor + well; The God, to angel his new heaven, Explores his + deepest hell.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc255" id="toc255"></a> <a name="pdf256" id= + "pdf256"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 3. Justice and Righteousness, or Transitive Holiness.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">By justice + and righteousness we mean the transitive holiness of God, in + virtue of which his treatment of his creatures conforms to + the purity of his nature,—righteousness demanding from all + moral beings conformity to the moral perfection of God, and + justice visiting non-conformity to that perfection with penal + loss or suffering.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 18:25—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">shall + not the Judge of all the earth do right?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Deut. + 32:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">All + his ways are justice; A God of faithfulness and without + iniquity, Just and right is he</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 5:5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Thou + hatest all workers of iniquity</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">7:9-12—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + righteous God trieth the hearts ... saveth the upright ... + is a righteous judge, Yea, a God that hath indignation + every day</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">18:24-26—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jehovah + recompensed me according to my righteousness.... With the + merciful, thou wilt show thyself merciful ... with the + perverse thou wilt show thyself froward</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 5:48—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Ye + therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is + perfect</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 2:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">will + render to every man according to his + works</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Pet. + 1:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Ye + shall be holy; for I am holy.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">These passages show that God loves the + same persons whom he hates. It is not true that he hates + the sin, but loves the sinner; he both hates and loves the + sinner himself, hates him as he is a living and wilful + antagonist of truth and holiness, loves him as he is a + creature capable of good and ruined by his + transgression.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">There is no abstract sin that + can be hated apart from the persons in whom that sin is + represented and embodied. Thomas Fuller found it difficult + to starve the profaneness but to feed the person of the + impudent beggar who applied to him for food. Mr.</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page291">[pg + 291]</span><a name="Pg291" id="Pg291" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">Finney + declared that he would kill the slave-catcher, but would + love him with all his heart. In our civil war Dr. Kirk + said:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + knows that we love the rebels, but God also knows that we + will kill them if they do not lay down their + arms.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The complex nature of God not + only permits but necessitates this same double treatment of + the sinner, and the earthly father experiences the same + conflict of emotions when his heart yearns over the corrupt + son whom he is compelled to banish from the household. + Moberly, Atonement and Personality, 7—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It is + the sinner who is punished, not the sin.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Since justice and + righteousness are simply transitive holiness—righteousness + designating this holiness chiefly in its mandatory, justice + chiefly in its punitive, aspect,—they are not mere + manifestations of benevolence, or of God's disposition to + secure the highest happiness of his creatures, nor are they + grounded in the nature of things as something apart from or + above God.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Cremer, N. T. Lexicon: δίκαιος + =</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + perfect coincidence existing between God's nature, which is + the standard for all, and his acts.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Justice and righteousness are simply + holiness exercised toward creatures. The same holiness which + exists in God in eternity past manifests itself as justice + and righteousness, so soon as intelligent creatures come into + being. Much that was said under Holiness as an immanent + attribute of God is equally applicable here. The modern + tendency to confound holiness with love shows itself in the + merging of justice and righteousness in mere benevolence. + Instances of this tendency are the following: Ritschl, + Unterricht, § 16—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + righteousness of God denotes the manner in which God + carries out his loving will in the redemption alike of + humanity as a whole and of individual men; hence his + righteousness is indistinguishable from his + grace</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; see also Ritschl, Rechtf. und + Versöhnung, 2:113; 3:296. Prof. George M. Forbes:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Only + right makes love moral; only love makes right + moral.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Jones, Robert Browning, + 70—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Is it + not beneficence that places death at the heart of sin? + Carlyle forgot this. God is not simply a great taskmaster. + The power that imposes law is not an alien + power.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">D'Arcy, Idealism and Theology, + 237-240—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">How + can self-realization be the realization of others? Why must + the true good be always the common good? Why is the end of + each the end of all?... We need a concrete universal which + will unify all persons.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">So also, Harris, Kingdom of + Christ on Earth, 39-42; God the Creator, 287, 290, + 302—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Love, + as required and regulated by reason, may be called + righteousness. Love is universal good will or benevolence, + regulated in its exercise by righteousness. Love is the + choice of God and man as the objects of trust and service. + This choice involves the determination of the will to seek + universal well-being, and in this aspect it is benevolence. + It also involves the consent of the will to the reason, and + the determination to regulate all action in seeking + well-being by its truths, laws, and ideals; and in this + aspect it is righteousness.... Justice is the consent of + the will to the law of love, in its authority, its + requirements, and its sanctions. God's wrath is the + necessary reaction of this law of love in the constitution + and order of the universe against the wilful violator of + it, and Christ's sufferings atone for sin by asserting and + maintaining the authority, universality, and inviolability + of God's law of love in his redemption of men and his + forgiveness of their sins.... Righteousness cannot be the + whole of love, for this would shut us up to the merely + formal principle of the law without telling us what the law + requires. Benevolence cannot be the whole of love, for this + would shut us up to hedonism, in the form of + utilitarianism, excluding righteousness from the character + of God and man.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Newman Smyth also, in his + Christian Ethics, 227-231, tells us that</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">love, + as self-affirming, is righteousness; as self-imparting, is + benevolence; as self-finding in others, is sympathy. + Righteousness, as subjective regard for our own moral + being, is holiness; as objective regard for the persons of + others, is justice. Holiness is involved in love as its + essential respect to itself; the heavenly Father is the + holy Father (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 17:11</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). Love + contains in its unity a trinity of virtue. Love affirms its + own worthiness, imparts to others its good, and finds its + life again in the well-being of others. The ethical limit + of self-impartation is found in self-affirmation. Love in + self-bestowal cannot become suicidal. The benevolence of + love has its moral bounds in the holiness of love. True + love in God maintains its transcendence, and excludes + pantheism.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p><span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page292">[pg 292]</span><a name="Pg292" + id="Pg292" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The above doctrine, quoted for + substance from Newman Smyth, seems to us unwarrantably to + include in love what properly belongs to holiness. It + virtually denies that holiness has any independent + existence as an attribute of God. To make holiness a + manifestation of love seems to us as irrational as to say + that self-affirmation is a form of self-impartation. The + concession that holiness regulates and limits love shows + that holiness cannot itself be love, but must be an + independent and superior attribute. Right furnishes the + rule and law for love, but it is not true that love + furnishes the rule and law for right. There is no such + double sovereignty as this theory would imply. The one + attribute that is independent and supreme is holiness, and + love is simply the impulse to communicate this + holiness.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">William Ashmore:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Dr. + Clarke lays great emphasis on the character of</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a + good God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">... But he is more than a merely</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">good</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">God; he is a just God, and a + righteous God, and a holy God—a God who is</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">angry + with the wicked,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">even while ready to forgive them, if they + are willing to repent in his way, and not in their own. He + is the God who brought in a flood upon the world of the + ungodly; who rained down fire and brimstone from heaven; + and who is to come in</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">flaming fire, taking vengeance on them + that know not God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and obey not the gospel of his son.... + Paul reasoned about both the</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">goodness</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and the</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">severity</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Transitive holiness, as + righteousness, imposes law in conscience and Scripture, and + may be called legislative holiness. As justice, it executes + the penalties of law, and may be called distributive or + judicial holiness. In righteousness God reveals chiefly his + love of holiness; in justice, chiefly his hatred of sin.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The self-affirming purity of God + demands a like purity in those who have been made in his + image. As God wills and maintains his own moral excellence, + so all creatures must will and maintain the moral excellence + of God. There can be only one centre in the solar system,—the + sun is its own centre and the centre for all the planets + also. So God's purity is the object of his own will,—it must + be the object of all the wills of all his creatures also. + Bixby, Crisis in Morals, 282—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It is + not rational or safe for the hand to separate itself from + the heart. This is a</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">universe</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + and God is the heart of the great system. Altruism is not + the result of society, but society is the result of + altruism. It begins in creatures far below man. The animals + which know how to combine have the greatest chance of + survival. The unsociable animal dies out. The most perfect + organism is the most sociable. Right is the debt which the + part owes to the whole.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">This seems to us but a partial expression + of the truth. Right is more than a debt to others,—it is a + debt to one's self, and the self-affirming, + self-preserving, self-respecting element constitutes the + limit and standard of all outgoing activity. The sentiment + of loyalty is largely a reverence for this principle of + order and stability in government.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 145:5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Of + the glorious majesty of thine honor, And of thy wondrous + works, will I meditate</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">97:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Clouds + and darkness are round about him: Righteousness and justice + are the foundation of his throne.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">John Milton, + Eikonoklastes:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Truth + and justice are all one; for truth is but justice in our + knowledge, and justice is but truth in our practice.... For + truth is properly no more than contemplation, and her + utmost efficiency is but teaching; but justice in her very + essence is all strength and activity, and hath a sword put + into her hand to use against all violence and oppression on + the earth. She it is who accepts no person, and exempts + none from the severity of her stroke.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">A. J. Balfour, Foundations of Belief, + 326—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Even + the poet has not dared to represent Jupiter torturing + Prometheus without the dim figure of Avenging Fate waiting + silently in the background.... Evolution working out a + nobler and nobler justice is proof that God is just. Here + is</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">preferential action</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">S. S. Times, June 9, + 1900—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + natural man is born with a wrong personal astronomy. Man + should give up the conceit of being the centre of all + things. He should accept the Copernican theory, and content + himself with a place on the edge of things—the place he has + always really had. We all laugh at John Jasper and his + thesis that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + sun do move.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Copernican theory is leaking down into + human relations, as appears from the current phrase:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There + are others</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) Neither justice nor + righteousness, therefore, is a matter of arbitrary will. They + are revelations of the inmost nature of God, the one in the + form of moral requirement, the other in the form of judicial + sanction. As <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page293">[pg + 293]</span><a name="Pg293" id="Pg293" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> God cannot but demand of his creatures + that they be like him in moral character, so he cannot but + enforce the law which he imposes upon them. Justice just as + much binds God to punish as it binds the sinner to be + punished.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">All arbitrariness is excluded + here. God is what he is—infinite purity. He cannot change. If + creatures are to attain the end of their being, they must be + like God in moral purity. Justice is nothing but the + recognition and enforcement of this natural necessity. Law is + only the transcript of God's nature. Justice does not make + law,—it only reveals law. Penalty is only the reaction of + God's holiness against that which is its opposite. Since + righteousness and justice are only legislative and + retributive holiness, God can cease to demand purity and to + punish sin only when he ceases to be holy, that is, only when + he ceases to be God.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Judex + damnatur cum nocens absolvitur.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Simon, Reconciliation, + 141—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">To + claim the performance of duty is as truly obligatory as it + is obligatory to perform the duty which is + prescribed.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">E. H. Johnson, Systematic Theology, + 84—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Benevolence intends what is well for the + creature; justice insists on what is fit. But the + well-for-us and the fit-for-us precisely coincide. The only + thing that is well for us is our normal employment and + development; but to provide for this is precisely what is + fitting and therefore due to us. In the divine nature the + distinction between justice and benevolence is one of + form.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We criticize this utterance as + not sufficiently taking into account the nature of the + right. The right is not merely the fit. Fitness is only + general adaptation which may have in it no ethical element, + whereas right is solely and exclusively ethical. The right + therefore regulates the fit and constitutes its standard. + The well-for-us is to be determined by the right-for-us, + but not</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">vice + versa</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">. George W. + Northrup:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + is not bound to bestow the same endowments upon creatures, + nor to keep all in a state of holiness forever, nor to + redeem the fallen, nor to secure the greatest happiness of + the universe. But he is bound to purpose and to do what his + absolute holiness requires. He has no attribute, no will, + no sovereignty, above this law of his being. He cannot lie, + he cannot deny himself, he cannot look upon sin with + complacency, he cannot acquit the guilty without an + atonement.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) Neither justice nor + righteousness bestows rewards. This follows from the fact + that obedience is due to God, instead of being optional or a + gratuity. No creature can claim anything for his obedience. + If God rewards, he rewards in virtue of his goodness and + faithfulness, not in virtue of his justice or his + righteousness. What the creature cannot claim, however, + Christ <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">can</span></em> claim, and the rewards + which are goodness to the creature are righteousness to + Christ. God rewards Christ's work <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">for</span></em> us and <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">in</span></em> us.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Bruch, Eigenschaftslehre, + 280-282, and John Austin, Province of Jurisprudence, 1:88-93, + 220-223, both deny, and rightly deny, that justice bestows + rewards. Justice simply punishes infractions of law. + In</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 25:34—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">inherit + the kingdom</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—inheritance implies no merit;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">46</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—the + wicked are adjudged to eternal punishment; the righteous, + not to eternal reward, but to eternal life.</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 17:7-10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">when + ye shall have done all the things that are commanded you, + say, We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which + it was our duty to do.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 6:23</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—punishment is + the</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">wages of + sin</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">: but salvation is</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">the gift of + God</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2:6</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—God + rewards, not</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">on account + of</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">man's work + but</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">according to his + works</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Reward is thus seen to be in Scripture a + matter of grace to the creature; only to the Christ who + works for us in atonement, and in us in regeneration and + sanctification, is reward a matter of debt (see also</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John 6:27</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 John + 8</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). Martineau, + Types, 2:86, 244, 249—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Merit + is toward man; virtue toward God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">All mere service is + unprofitable, because it furnishes only an equivalent to + duty, and there is no margin. Works of supererogation are + impossible, because our all is due to God. He would have us + rise into the region of friendship, realize that he has + been treating us not as Master but as Father, enter into a + relation of uncalculating love. With this proviso that + rewards are matters of grace, not of debt, we may assent to + the maxim of Solon:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A + republic walks upon two feet—just punishment for the + unworthy and due reward for the worthy.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">George Harris, Moral Evolution, + 139—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Love</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page294">[pg 294]</span><a name="Pg294" id="Pg294" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">seeks + righteousness, and is satisfied with nothing other than + that.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">But when Harris adopts the + words of the poet:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + very wrath from pity grew, From love of men the hate of + wrong,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">he seems to us virtually to + deny that God hates evil for any other reason than because + of its utilitarian disadvantages, and to imply that good + has no independent existence in his nature. Bowne, Ethics, + 171—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Merit + is desert of reward, or better, desert of moral + approval.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Tennyson:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For + merit lives from man to man, And not from man, O Lord, to + thee.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Baxter:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Desert</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is written over the gate of + hell; but over the gate of heaven only,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">The Gift of + God</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">e</span></span>) Justice in God, as the + revelation of his holiness, is devoid of all passion or + caprice. There is in God no selfish anger. The penalties he + inflicts upon transgression are not vindictive but + vindicative. They express the revulsion of God's nature from + moral evil, the judicial indignation of purity against + impurity, the self-assertion of infinite holiness against its + antagonist and would-be destroyer. But because its decisions + are calm, they are irreversible.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Anger, within certain limits, is + a duty of man.</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 97:10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">ye that + love Jehovah, hate evil</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 4:28—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Be ye + angry, and sin not.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The calm indignation of the judge, who + pronounces sentence with tears, is the true image of the holy + anger of God against sin. Weber, Zorn Gottes, 28, makes wrath + only the jealousy of love. It is more truly the jealousy of + holiness. Prof. W. A. Stevens, Com. on</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Thess. + 2:10</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Holily</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">righteously</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">are terms that describe the + same conduct in two aspects; the former, as conformed to + God's character in itself; the latter, as conformed to his + law; both are positive.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Lillie, on</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Thess. + 1:6</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Judgment is</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a righteous thing with + God</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Divine justice requires it for its own + satisfaction.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Shedd, Dogm. Theol., 1:175-178, + 365-385; Trench, Syn. N. T., 1:180, 181.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Of Gaston de Foix, the old + chronicler admirably wrote:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He + loved what ought to be loved, and hated what ought to be + hated, and never had miscreant with him.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Compare</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. 101:5, + 6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Him + that hath a high look and a proud heart will I not suffer. + Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they + may dwell with me.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Even Horace Bushnell spoke of the</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">wrath-principle</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">in God.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 K. + 11:9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">And + Jehovah was angry with Solomon</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">because of his polygamy. Jesus' anger was + no less noble than his love. The love of the right involved + hatred of the wrong. Those may hate who hate evil for its + hatefulness and for the sake of God. Hate sin in yourself + first, and then you may hate it in itself and in the world. + Be angry only in Christ and with the wrath of God. W. C. + Wilkinson, Epic of Paul, 264—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">But + we must purge ourselves of self-regard, Or we are sinful in + abhorring sin.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Instance Judge Harris's pity, as he + sentenced the murderer; see A. H. Strong, Philosophy and + Religion, 192, 193.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Horace's</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Ira + furor brevis est</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Anger + is a temporary madness</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—is true only of selfish and sinful anger. + Hence the man who is angry is popularly called</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">mad.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">But anger, though apt to become sinful, is + not necessarily so. Just anger is neither madness, nor is + it brief. Instance the judicial anger of the church of + Corinth in inflicting excommunication:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Cor. + 7:11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">what + indignation, yea what fear, yea what longing, yea what + zeal, yea what avenging!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The only revenge permissible to the + Christian church is that in which it pursues and + exterminates sin. To be incapable of moral indignation + against wrong is to lack real love for the right. Dr. + Arnold of Rugby was never sure of a boy who only loved + good; till the boy also began to hate evil, Dr. Arnold did + not feel that he was safe. Herbert Spencer said that good + nature with Americans became a crime. Lecky, Democracy and + Liberty:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There + is one thing worse than corruption, and that is + acquiescence in corruption.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Colestock, Changing Viewpoint, + 139—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Xenophon intends to say a very commendable + thing of Cyrus the Younger, when he writes of him that no + one had done more good to his friends or more harm to his + enemies.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Luther said to a monkish + antagonist:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + will break in pieces your heart of brass and pulverize your + iron brains.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Shedd, Dogmatic Theology, + 1:175-178—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Human + character is worthless in proportion as abhorrence of sin + is lacking in it. It is related of Charles II that</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he + felt no gratitude for benefits, and no resentment for + wrongs; he did not love anyone, and he did not hate + anyone.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">He was indifferent toward + right and wrong, and the only feeling he had was + contempt.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But see the death-bed scene of the</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">merry + monarch,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">as portrayed in Bp. Burnet, + Evelyn's Memoirs, or the Life of Bp. Ken. Truly</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + end of mirth is heaviness</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Prov. + 14:13)</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span></p><span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page295">[pg 295]</span><a name="Pg295" id="Pg295" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Stout, Manual of Psychology, + 22—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Charles Lamb tells us that his friend + George Dyer could never be brought to say anything in + condemnation of the most atrocious crimes, except that the + criminal must have been very eccentric.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Professor Seeley:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">No + heart is pure that is not passionate.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">D. W. Simon, Redemption of Man, 249, 250, + says that God's resentment</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">is a + resentment of an essentially altruistic + character.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">If this means that it is perfectly + consistent with love for the sinner, we can accept the + statement; if it means that love is the only source of the + resentment, we regard the statement as a misinterpretation + of God's justice, which is but the manifestation of his + holiness and is not a mere expression of his love. See a + similar statement of Lidgett, Spiritual Principle of the + Atonement, 251—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Because God is love, his love coëxists + with his wrath against sinners, is the very life of that + wrath, and is so persistent that it uses wrath as its + instrument, while at the same time it seeks and supplies a + propitiation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">This statement ignores the fact that + punishment is never in Scripture regarded as an expression + of God's love, but always of God's holiness. When we say + that we love God, let us make sure that it is the true God, + the God of holiness, that we love, for only this love will + make us like him.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The moral indignation of a + whole universe of holy beings against moral evil, added to + the agonizing self-condemnations of awakened conscience in + all the unholy, is only a faint and small reflection of the + awful revulsion of God's infinite justice from the impurity + and selfishness of his creatures, and of the intense, + organic, necessary, and eternal reaction of his moral being + in self-vindication and the punishment of sin; see</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jer. + 44:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Oh, + do not this abominable thing that I + hate!</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Num. + 32:23—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">be + sure your sin will find you out</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. 10:30, + 31—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For + we know him that said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will + recompense. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It + is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living + God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">On justice as an attribute of a moral + governor, see N. W. Taylor, Moral Government, 2:253-293; + Owen, Dissertation on Divine Justice, in Works, + 10:483-624.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc257" id="toc257"></a> <a name="pdf258" id= + "pdf258"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">VII. Rank and Relations of the + several Attributes.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The attributes + have relations to each other. Like intellect, affection and will + in man, no one of them is to be conceived of as exercised + separately from the rest. Each of the attributes is qualified by + all the others. God's love is immutable, wise, holy. Infinity + belongs to God's knowledge, power, justice. Yet this is not to + say that one attribute is of as high rank as another. The moral + attributes of truth, love, holiness, are worthy of higher + reverence from men, and they are more jealously guarded by God, + than the natural attributes of omnipresence, omniscience, and + omnipotence. And yet even among the moral attributes one stands + as supreme. Of this and of its supremacy we now proceed to + speak.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Water is not water unless composed of oxygen and + hydrogen. Oxygen cannot be resolved into hydrogen, nor hydrogen + into oxygen. Oxygen has its own character, though only in + combination with hydrogen does it appear in water. Will in man + never acts without intellect and sensibility, yet will, more than + intellect or sensibility, is the manifestation of the man. So + when God acts, he manifests not one attribute alone, but his + total moral excellence. Yet holiness, as an attribute of God, has + rights peculiar to itself; it determines the attitude of the + affections; it more than any other faculty constitutes God's + moral being.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Clarke, Christian Theology, + 83,92—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God would + not be holy if he were not love, and could not be love if he + were not holy. Love is an element in holiness. If this were + lacking, there would be no perfect character as principle of + his own action or as standard for us. On the other hand only + the perfect being can be love. God must be free from all taint + of selfishness in order to be love. Holiness requires God to + act as love, for holiness is God's self-consistency. Love is + the desire to impart holiness. Holiness makes God's character + the standard for his creatures; but love, desiring to impart + the best good, does the same. All work of love is work of + holiness, and all work of holiness is work of love. Conflict of + attributes is impossible, because holiness always includes + love, and love always expresses holiness. They never need + reconciliation with each other.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The general correctness of the foregoing + statement is impaired by the vagueness of its conception of + holiness. The Scriptures do not regard holiness as including + love, or make all the acts of holiness to be acts of love. + Self-affirmation does not include self-impartation,</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page296">[pg 296]</span><a name= + "Pg296" id="Pg296" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">and sin necessitates an exercise of holiness + which is not also an exercise of love. But for the Cross, and + God's suffering for sin of which the Cross is the expression, + there would be conflict between holiness and love. The wisdom + of God is most shown, not in reconciling man and God, but in + reconciling the holy God with the loving God.</span></p> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc259" id="toc259"></a> <a name="pdf260" id= + "pdf260"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1. Holiness the fundamental attribute in God.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">That + holiness is the fundamental attribute in God, is evident:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) From Scripture,—in which + God's holiness is not only most constantly and powerfully + impressed upon the attention of man, but is declared to be the + chief subject of rejoicing and adoration in heaven.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It is God's attribute of + holiness that first and most prominently presents itself to + the mind of the sinner, and conscience only follows the + method of Scripture:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Pet. + 1:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Ye + shall be holy; for I am holy</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 12:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + sanctification without which no man shall see the + lord</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">;</span></em> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 5:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Depart + from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Yet this constant insistence upon holiness + cannot be due simply to man's present state of sin, for in + heaven, where there is no sin, there is the same + reiteration:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 6:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Holy, + holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rev. + 4:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Holy, + holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Of no other attribute is it said that God's + throne rests upon it:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 97:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Righteousness and justice are the foundation + of his throne</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">99:4, 5, + 9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + king's strength also loveth justice.... Exalt ye Jehovah our + God.... holy is he.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We would substitute the word holiness for + the word love in the statement of Newman Smyth, Christian + Ethics, 45—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We + assume that love is lord in the divine will, not that the + will of God is sovereign over his love. God's omnipotence, as + Dorner would say, exists for his love.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) From our own moral + constitution,—in which conscience asserts its supremacy over + every other impulse and affection of our nature. As we may be + kind, but must be righteous, so God, in whose image we are + made, may be merciful, but must be holy.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Bishop Butler's Sermons upon + Human Nature, Bohn's ed., 385-414, showing</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + supremacy of conscience in the moral constitution of + man.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We must be just, before we are + generous. So with God, justice must be done always; mercy is + optional with him. He was not under obligation to provide a + redemption for sinners:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Pet. + 2:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to + hell.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Salvation is a matter of grace, + not of debt. Shedd, Discourses and Essays, + 277-298—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + quality of justice is necessary exaction; but</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + quality of mercy is not (con)strained</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">[</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Denham:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">His mirth is forced and + strained</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">]. God can apply the salvation, after he has + wrought it out, to whomsoever he will:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 9:18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he hath + mercy on whom he will.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Young, Night-Thoughts, + 4:233—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A God + all mercy is a God unjust.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Emerson:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Your goodness must have some edge to it; + else it is none.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Martineau, Study, 2:100—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">No one can be just without subordinating + Pity to the sense of Right.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We may learn of God's + holiness</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a + priori</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">. Even the + heathen could say</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Fiat + justitia, ruat cœlum,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">or</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">pereat mundus.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But, for our knowledge of God's mercy, we + are dependent upon special revelation. Mercy, like + omnipotence, may exist in God without being exercised. Mercy + is not grace but debt, if God owes the exercise of it either + to the sinner or to himself;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">versus</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">G. B. Stevens, in New Eng., + 1888:421-443.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">But + justice is an attribute which not only</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">exists</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of necessity, but must be</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">exercised</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of necessity; because not to + exercise it would be injustice</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; see Shedd, Dogm. Theol., 1:218, 219, 389, + 390; 2:402, and Sermons to Nat. Man, 366. If it be said that, + by parity of reasoning, for God not to exercise mercy is to + show himself unmerciful,—we reply that this is not true so + long as higher interests require that exercise to be + withheld. I am not unmerciful when I refuse to give the poor + the money needed to pay an honest debt; nor is the Governor + unmerciful when he refuses to pardon the condemned and + unrepentant criminal. Mercy has its conditions, as we proceed + to show, and it does not cease to</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">be</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">when + these conditions do not permit it to</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">be + exercised</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. Not so + with justice: justice must always be exercised; when it + ceases to</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">be + exercised</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, it also + ceases to</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">be</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The story of the prodigal shows + a love that ever reaches out after the son in the far + country, but which is ever conditioned by the father's + holiness and restrained from acting until the son has + voluntarily forsaken his riotous living. A just father may + banish a corrupt son from the household, yet may love him so + tenderly that his banishment</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page297">[pg 297]</span><a name="Pg297" id="Pg297" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">causes + exquisite pain. E. G. Robinson:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God, Christ and the Holy Spirit have a + conscience, that is, they distinguish between right and + wrong.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">E. H. Johnson, Syst. Theology, + 85, 86—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Holiness is primary as respects benevolence; + for (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + Holiness is itself moral excellence, while the moral + excellence of benevolence can be explained. + (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + Holiness is an attribute of being, while benevolence is an + attribute of action; but action presupposes and is controlled + by being. (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + Benevolence must take counsel of holiness, since for a being + to desire aught contrary to holiness would be to wish him + harm, while that which holiness leads God to seek, + benevolence finds best for the creature. (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">d</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + The Mosaic dispensation elaborately symbolized, and the + Christian dispensation makes provision to meet, the + requirements of holiness as supreme;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">James + 3:17</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">First + pure, then</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">[by + consequence]</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">peaceable</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We are</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">to do + justly</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">as well as</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">to love + kindness, and to walk humbly with</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">our God (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Micah + 6:8</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). Dr. Samuel + Johnson:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It is + surprising to find how much more kindness than justice + society contains.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">There is a sinful mercy. A School + Commissioner finds it terrible work to listen to the pleas of + incompetent teachers begging that they may not be dismissed, + and he can nerve himself for it only by remembering the + children whose education may be affected by his refusal to do + justice. Love and pity are not the whole of Christian duty, + nor are they the ruling attributes of God.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) From the actual dealings + of God,—in which holiness conditions and limits the exercise of + other attributes. Thus, for example, in Christ's redeeming + work, though love makes the atonement, it is violated holiness + that requires it; and in the eternal punishment of the wicked, + the demand of holiness for self-vindication overbears the + pleading of love for the sufferers.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Love cannot be the fundamental + attribute of God, because love always requires a norm or + standard, and this norm or standard is found only in + holiness;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Phil. + 1:9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">And + this I pray, that your love may abound yet more in knowledge + and all discernment</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; see A. H. Strong, Christ in Creation, + 388-405. That which conditions all is highest of all. + Holiness shows itself higher than love, in that it conditions + love. Hence God's mercy does not consist in outraging his own + law of holiness, but in enduring the penal affliction by + which that law of holiness is satisfied. Conscience in man is + but the reflex of holiness in God. Conscience demands either + retribution or atonement. This demand Christ meets by his + substituted suffering. His sacrifice assuages the thirst of + conscience in man, as well as the demand of holiness in + God:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 6:55—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For my + flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink + indeed.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Shedd, Discourses and Essays, 280, 291, + 292; Dogmatic Theology, 1:377, 378—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The sovereignty and freedom of God in + respect to justice relates not to the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">abolition</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + nor to the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">relaxation</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + but to the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">substitution</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + of punishment. It does not consist in any power to violate or + waive legal claims. The exercise of the other attributes of + God is regulated and conditioned by that of justice.... Where + then is the mercy of God, in case justice is strictly + satisfied by a vicarious person? There is mercy in</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">permitting</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">another person to do for the + sinner what the sinner is bound to do for himself; and + greater mercy in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">providing</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">that person; and still greater + mercy in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">becoming</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">that person.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Enthusiasm, like fire, must not + only burn, but must be controlled. Man invented chimneys to + keep in the heat but to let out the smoke. We need the walls + of discretion and self-control to guide the flaming of our + love. The holiness of God is the regulating principle of his + nature. The ocean of his mercy is bounded by the shores of + his justice. Even if holiness be God's self-love, in the + sense of God's self-respect or self-preservation, still this + self-love must condition love to creatures. Only as God + maintains himself in his holiness, can he have anything of + worth to give; love indeed is nothing but the + self-communication of holiness. And if we say, with J. M. + Whiton, that self-affirmation in a universe in which God is + immanent is itself a form of self-impartation, still this + form of self-impartation must condition and limit that other + form of self-impartation which we call love to creatures. See + Thomasius, Christi Person und Werk, 1:137-155, 346-353; + Patton, art. on Retribution and the Divine Goodness, in + Princeton Rev., Jan. 1878:8-16; Owen, Dissertation on the + Divine Justice, in Works, 10: 483-624.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) From God's eternal + purpose of salvation,—in which justice and mercy are reconciled + only through the foreseen and predetermined sacrifice of + Christ. The declaration that Christ is <span class= + "tei tei-q">“the Lamb ... slain from <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page298">[pg 298]</span><a name="Pg298" id="Pg298" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> the foundation of the world”</span> + implies the existence of a principle in the divine nature which + requires satisfaction, before God can enter upon the work of + redemption. That principle can be none other than holiness.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Since both mercy and justice are + exercised toward sinners of the human race, the otherwise + inevitable antagonism between them is removed only by the + atoning death of the God-man. Their opposing claims do not + impair the divine blessedness, because the reconciliation + exists in the eternal counsels of God. This is intimated + in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rev. + 13:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Lamb that hath been slain from the foundation of the + world.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This same reconciliation is alluded to + in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 85:10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Mercy + and truth are met together; Righteousness and peace have + kissed each other</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; and in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 3:26—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">that he + might himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath + faith in Jesus.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The atonement, then, if man was to be saved, + was necessary, not primarily on man's account, but on God's + account. Shedd, Discourses and Essays, 279—The sacrifice of + Christ was an</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">atonement</span> <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">ab + intra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, a + self-oblation on the part of Deity himself, by which to + satisfy those immanent and eternal imperatives of the divine + nature which without it must find their satisfaction in the + punishment of the transgressor, or else be + outraged.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Thus God's word of redemption, as well as + his word of creation, is forever</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">settled + in heaven</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Ps. + 119:89)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. Its + execution on the cross was</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">according to the pattern</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">on high. The Mosaic sacrifice prefigured the + sacrifice of Christ; but the sacrifice of Christ was but the + temporal disclosure of an eternal fact in the nature of God. + See Kreibig, Versöhnung, 155, 156.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">God requires satisfaction + because he is holiness, but he makes satisfaction because he + is love. The Judge himself, with all his hatred of + transgression, still loves the transgressor, and comes down + from the bench to take the criminal's place and bear his + penalty. But this is an eternal provision and an eternal + sacrifice.</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 9:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered + himself without blemish unto God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Matheson, Voices of the Spirit, 215, + 216—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christ's sacrifice was offered through the + Spirit. It was not wrung from a reluctant soul through + obedience to outward law; it came from the inner heart, from + the impulse of undying love. It was a completed offering + before Calvary began; it was seen by the Father before it was + seen by the world. It was finished in the Spirit, ere it + began in the flesh, finished in the hour when Christ + exclaimed:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">not as I will, but as thou + wilt</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Mat. + 26:39).</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Lang, Homer, + 506—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Apollo + is the bringer of pestilence and the averter of pestilence, + in accordance with the well-known rule that the two opposite + attributes should be combined in the same + deity.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Lord Bacon, Confession of + Faith:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Neither + angel, man nor world, could stand or can stand one moment in + God's sight without beholding the same in the face of a + Mediator; and therefore before him, with whom all things are + present, the Lamb of God was slain before all worlds; without + which eternal counsel of his, it was impossible for him to + have descended to any work of creation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Orr, Christian View of God and the World, + 819—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Creation is built on redemption + lines</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—which is to say that incarnation and + atonement were included in God's original design of the + world.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc261" id="toc261"></a> <a name="pdf262" id= + "pdf262"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 2. The holiness of God the ground of moral obligation.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. Erroneous + Views. The ground of moral obligation is not</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) In power,—whether of + civil law (Hobbes, Gassendi), or of divine will (Occam, + Descartes). We are not bound to obey either of these, except + upon the ground that they are right. This theory assumes that + nothing is good or right in itself, and that morality is mere + prudence.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Civil + law</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">: See Hobbes, + Leviathan, part i, chap. 6 and 13; part ii, chap. 30; + Gassendi, Opera, 6:120. Upon this view, might makes right; + the laws of Nero are always binding; a man may break his + promise when civil law permits; there is no obligation to + obey a father, a civil governor, or God himself, when once it + is certain that the disobedience will be hidden, or when the + offender is willing to incur the punishment. Martineau, Seat + of Authority, 67—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Mere + magnitude of scale carries no moral quality; nor could a + whole population of devils by unanimous ballot confer + righteousness upon their will, or make it binding upon a + single Abdiel.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Robert Browning, Christmas Eve, + xvii—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Justice, good, and truth were still Divine + if, by some demon's will, Hatred and wrong had been + proclaimed Law through the world, and right + misnamed.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p><span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page299">[pg 299]</span><a name="Pg299" id="Pg299" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Divine + will</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">: See Occam, + lib. 2, quæs. 19 (quoted in Porter, Moral Science, 125); + Descartes (referred to in Hickok, Moral Science, 27, 28); + Martineau, Types, 148—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Descartes held that the will of God is not + the revealer but the inventor of moral distinctions. God + could have made Euclid a farrago of lies, and Satan a model + of moral perfection.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Upon this view, right and wrong are variable + quantities. Duns Scotus held that God's will makes not only + truth but right. God can make lying to be virtuous and purity + to be wrong. If Satan were God, we should be bound to obey + him. God is essentially indifferent to right and wrong, good + and evil. We reply that behind the divine will is the divine + nature, and that in the moral perfection of that nature lies + the only ground of moral obligation. God pours forth his love + and exerts his power in accordance with some determining + principle in his own nature. That principle is not happiness. + Finney, Syst. Theology, 936, 937—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Could God's command make it obligatory upon + us to will evil to him? If not, then his will is not the + ground of moral obligation. The thing that is most valuable, + namely, the highest good of God and of the universe must be + both the end and the ground. It is the divine reason and not + the divine will that perceives and affirms the law of + conduct. The divine will publishes, but does not originate, + the rule. God's will could not make vice to be + virtuous.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">As between power or utility on + the one hand, and right on the other hand, we must regard + right as the more fundamental. We do not, however, as will be + seen further on, place the ground of moral obligation even in + right, considered as an abstract principle; but place it + rather in the moral excellence of him who is the personal + Right and therefore the source of right. Character obliges, + and the master often bows in his heart to the servant, when + this latter is the nobler man.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Nor in utility,—whether + our own happiness or advantage present or eternal (Paley), for + supreme regard for our own interest is not virtuous; or the + greatest happiness or advantage to being in general (Edwards), + for we judge conduct to be useful because it is right, not + right because it is useful. This theory would compel us to + believe that in eternity past God was holy only because of the + good he got from it,—that is, there was no such thing as + holiness in itself, and no such thing as moral character in + God.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Our own + happiness</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">: Paley, + Mor. and Pol. Philos., book i, chap. vii—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Virtue is the doing good to mankind, in + obedience to the will of God, and for the sake of everlasting + happiness.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">This unites (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + and (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">). + John Stuart Mill and Dr. N. W. Taylor held that our own + happiness is the supreme end. These writers indeed regard the + highest happiness as attained only by living for others + (Mill's altruism), but they can assign no reason why one who + knows no other happiness than the pleasures of sense should + not adopt the maxim of Epicurus, who, according to Lucretius, + taught that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">ducit + quemque voluptas.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This theory renders virtue impossible; for a + virtue which is mere regard to our own interest is not virtue + but prudence.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We have + a sense of right and wrong independently of all + considerations of happiness or its loss.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">James Mill held that the utility is not the + criterion of the morality but itself constitutes the + morality. G. B. Foster well replies that virtue is not mere + egoistic sagacity, and the moral act is not simply a clever + business enterprise. All languages distinguish between virtue + and prudence. To say that the virtues are great utilities is + to confound the effect with the cause. Carlyle says that a + man can do without happiness. Browning, Red Cotton Nightcap + Country:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Thick + heads ought to recognize The devil, that old stager, at his + trick Of general utility, who leads Downward perhaps, but + fiddles all the way.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This is the morality of Mother Goose:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He put + in his thumb, And pulled out a plum, And said,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">What a + good boy am I!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">E. G. Robinson, Principles and + Practice of Morality, 160—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Utility has nothing ultimate in itself, and + therefore can furnish no ground of obligation. Utility is + mere fitness of one thing to minister to something + else.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">To say that things are right + because they are useful, is like saying that things are + beautiful because they are pleasing. Martineau, Types of + Ethical Theory, 2:170, 511, 556—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The moment the appetites pass into the + self-conscious state, and become ends instead of impulses, + they draw to themselves terms of censure.... So intellectual + conscientiousness, or strict submission of the mind to + evidence, has its inspiration in pure love of truth, and + would not survive an hour if entrusted to the keeping either + of providence or of social affection.... Instincts, which + provide for they know not what, are proof that</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">want</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is the original</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page300">[pg 300]</span><a name= + "Pg300" id="Pg300" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">impulse to action, instead of pleasure being + the end.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On the happiness theory, appeals + to self-interest on behalf of religion ought to be + effective,—as a matter of fact few are moved by + them.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Dewey, Psychology, 300, + 362—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Emotion + turned inward eats up itself. Live on feelings rather than on + the things to which feelings belong, and you defeat your own + end, exhaust your power of feeling, commit emotional suicide. + Hence arise cynicism, the</span> <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">nil + admirari</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">spirit, + restless searching for the latest sensation. The only remedy + is to get outside of self, to devote self to some worthy + object, not for feeling's sake but for the sake of the + object.... We do not desire an object because it gives us + pleasure, but it gives us pleasure because it satisfies the + impulse which, in connection with the idea of the object, + constitutes the desire.... Pleasure is the accompaniment of + the activity or development of the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">self</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Salter, First Steps in + Philosophy, 150—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It is + right to aim at happiness. Happiness is an end. + Utilitarianism errs in making happiness the only and the + highest end. It exalts a state of feeling into the supremely + desirable thing. Intuitionalism gives the same place to a + state of will. The truth includes both. The true end is the + highest development of being, self and others, the + realization of the divine idea, God in + man.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">Bowne, + Principles of Ethics, 96—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The standard of appeal is not the actual + happiness of the actual man but the normal happiness of the + normal man.... Happiness must have a law. But then also the + law must lead to happiness.... The true ethical aim is to + realize the good. But then the contents of this good have to + be determined in accordance with an inborn ideal of human + worth and dignity.... Not all good, but the true good, not + the things which please, but the things which should please, + are to be the aim of action.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Bixby, Crisis of Morals, + 223—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Utilitarian is really asking about the wisest method of + embodying the ideal. He belongs to that second stage in which + the moral artist considers through what material and in what + form and color he may best realize his thought. What the + ideal is, and why it is the highest, he does not tell us. + Morality begins, not in feeling, but in reason. And reason is + impersonal. It discerns the moral equality of + personalities.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Genung, Epic of the Inner Life, 20—Job + speaks out his character like one of Robert Browning's + heroes. He teaches that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">there is a service of God which is not work + for reward: it is a heart-loyalty, a hunger after God's + presence, which survives loss and chastisement; which in + spite of contradictory seeming cleaves to what is godlike as + the needle seeks the pole; and which reaches up out of the + darkness and hardness of this life into the light and love + beyond.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Greatest good of + being</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">: Not only + Edwards, but Priestley, Bentham, Dwight, Finney, Hopkins, + Fairchild, hold this view. See Edwards, Works, + 2:261-304—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Virtue + is benevolence toward being in general</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; Dwight, Theology, + 3:150-162—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Utility + the foundation of Virtue</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; Hopkins, Law of Love, 7-28; Fairchild, + Moral Philosophy; Finney, Syst. Theol., 42-135. This theory + regards good as a mere state of the sensibility, instead of + consisting in purity of being. It forgets that in eternity + past</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">love + for being in general</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= simply God's self-love, or God's regard + for his own happiness. This implies that God is holy only for + a purpose; he is bound to be unholy, if greater good would + result; that is, holiness has no independent existence in his + nature. We grant that a thing is often known to be right by + the fact that it is useful; but this is very different from + saying that its usefulness makes it right.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Utility + is only the setting of the diamond, which</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">marks</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + but does not</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">make</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + its value.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If + utility be a criterion of rectitude, it is only because it is + a revelation of the divine nature.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See British Quarterly, July, 1877, on + Matthew Arnold and Bishop Butler. Bp. Butler, Nature of + Virtue, in Works, Bohn's ed., 334—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Benevolence is the true + self-love.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Love and holiness are obligatory + in themselves, and not because they promote the general good. + Cicero well said that they who confounded the</span> + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">honestum</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">with the</span> <span lang="la" + class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">utile</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">deserved to be banished from + society. See criticism on Porter's Moral Science, in Lutheran + Quarterly, Apr. 1885:325-331; also F. L. Patton, on + Metaphysics of Oughtness, in Presb. Rev., + 1886:127-150.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Encyc. Britannica, 7:690, on + Jonathan Edwards—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Being + in general, being without any qualities, is too abstract a + thing to be the primary cause of love. The feeling which + Edwards refers to is not love, but awe or reverence, and + moreover necessarily a blind awe. Properly stated therefore, + true virtue, according to Edwards, would consist in a blind + awe of being in general,—only this would be inconsistent with + his definition of virtue as existing in God. In reality, as + he makes virtue merely the second object of love, his theory + becomes identical with that utilitarian theory with which the + names of Hume, Bentham and Mill are + associated.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hodge, Essays, 275—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">If obligation is due primarily to being in + general, then there is no more virtue in loving + God—willing</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page301">[pg + 301]</span><a name="Pg301" id="Pg301" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">his + good—than there is in loving Satan. But love to Christ + differs in its nature from benevolence toward the + devil.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Plainly virtue consists, not in + love for mere being, but in love for good being, or in other + words, in love for the holy God. Not the greatest good of + being, but the holiness of God, is the ground of moral + obligation.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Dr. E. A. Park interprets the + Edwardian theory as holding that virtue is love to all beings + according to their value, love of the greater therefore more + than the less,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">love to + particular beings in a proportion compounded of the degree of + being and the degree of virtue or benevolence to being which + they have.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Love is choice. Happiness, says + Park, is not the sole good, much less the happiness of + creatures. The</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">greatest</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">good is holiness, though + the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">last</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">good aimed at is happiness. + Holiness is disinterested love—free choice of the general + above the private good. But we reply that this gives us no + reason or standard for virtue. It does not tell us what is + good nor why we should choose it. Martineau, Types, 2:70, 77, + 471, 484—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Why + should I promote the general well-being? Why should I + sacrifice myself for others? Only because this is godlike. It + Would never have been prudent to do right, had it not been + something infinitely more.... It is not fitness that makes an + act moral, but it is its morality that makes it + fit.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Herbert Spencer must be classed + as a utilitarian. He says that justice requires that</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">every + man be free to do as he wills provided he infringes not the + equal freedom of every other man.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But, since this would permit injury to + another by one willing to submit to injury in return, Mr. + Spencer limits the freedom to</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">such actions as subserve + life.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">This is practically equivalent + to saying that the greatest sum of happiness is the ultimate + end. On Jonathan Edwards, see Robert Hall, Works, 1:43 sq.; + Alexander, Moral Science, 194-198; Bib. Repertory (Princeton + Review), 25:22; Bib. Sacra, 9:176, 197; 10:403, + 705.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) Nor in the nature of + things (Price),—whether by this we mean their fitness (Clarke), + truth (Wollaston), order (Jouffroy), relations (Wayland), + worthiness (Hickok), sympathy (Adam Smith), or abstract right + (Haven and Alexander); for this nature of things is not + ultimate, but has its ground in the nature of God. We are bound + to worship the highest; if anything exists beyond and above + God, we are bound to worship that,—that indeed is God.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Wayland, Moral Science, + 33-48; Hickok, Moral Science, 27-34; Haven, Moral Philosophy, + 27-50; Alexander, Moral Science, 159-198. In opposition to + all the forms of this theory, we urge that nothing exists + independently of or above God.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">If the ground of morals exist independently + of God, either it has ultimately no authority, or it usurps + the throne of the Almighty. Any rational being who kept the + law would be perfect without God, and the moral centre of all + intelligences would be outside of God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(Talbot). God is not a Jupiter controlled by + Fate. He is subject to no law but the law of his own + nature.</span> <span lang="fr" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="fr"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Noblesse + oblige</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">,—character + rules,—purity is the highest. And therefore to holiness all + creatures, voluntarily or involuntarily, are constrained to + bow. Hopkins, Law of Love, 77—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Right and wrong have nothing to do with + things, but only with actions; nothing to do with any nature + of things existing necessarily, but only with the nature of + persons.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Another has said:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + idea of right cannot be original, since right means + conformity to some standard or rule.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This standard or rule is not an abstraction, + but an existing being—the infinitely perfect God.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Faber:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">For right is right, since God is God; And + right the day must win; To doubt would be disloyalty, To + falter would be sin.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Tennyson:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">And because right is right, to follow right + Were wisdom in the scorn of consequence.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Right is right, and I should will the right, + not because God</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">wills</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">it, but because God</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">is</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">it. E. G. Robinson, Principles + and Practice of Morality, 178-180—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Utility and relations simply reveal the + constitution of things and so represent God. Moral law was + not made for purposes of utility, nor do relations constitute + the reason for obligation. They only show what the nature of + God is who made the universe and revealed himself in it. In + his nature is found the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">reason</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">for morality.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">S. S. Times, Oct. 17, + 1891—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Only + that is level which conforms to the curvature of the earth's + surface. A straight line tangent to the earth's curve would + at its ends be much further from the earth's centre than at + its middle. Now equity means levelness. The standard of + equity is not an impersonal thing, a 'nature of things' + outside of God. Equity or righteousness is no more to be + conceived independently of the divine centre of the moral + world than is levelness comprehensible apart from the earth's + centre.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p><span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page302">[pg 302]</span><a name="Pg302" id="Pg302" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Since God finds the rule and + limitation of his action solely in his own being, and his + love is conditioned by his holiness, we must differ from such + views as that of Moxom:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Whether we define God's nature as perfect + holiness or perfect love is immaterial, since his nature is + manifested only through his action, that is, through his + relation to other beings. Most of our reasoning on the divine + standard of righteousness, or the ultimate ground of moral + obligation, is reasoning in a circle, since we must always go + back to God for the principle of his action; which principle + we can know only by means of his action. God, the perfectly + righteous Being, is the ideal standard of human + righteousness. Righteousness in man therefore is conformity + to the nature of God. God, in agreement with his perfect + nature, always wills the perfectly good toward man. His + righteousness is an expression of his love; his love is a + manifestation of his righteousness.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">So Newman Smyth:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Righteousness is the eternal genuineness of + the divine love. It is not therefore an independent + excellence, to be contrasted with, or even put in opposition + to, benevolence; it is an essential part of + love.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In reply to which we urge as + before that that which is the object of love, that which + limits and conditions love, that which furnishes the norm and + reason for love, cannot itself be love, nor hold merely equal + rank with love. A double standard is as irrational in ethics + as in commerce, and it leads in ethics to the same debasement + of the higher values, and the same unsettling of relations, + as has resulted in our currency from the attempt to make + silver regulate gold at the same time that gold regulates + silver.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. The + Scriptural View.—According to the Scriptures, the ground of + moral obligation is the holiness of God, or the moral + perfection of the divine nature, conformity to which is the law + of our moral being (Robinson, Chalmers, Calderwood, Gregory, + Wuttke). We show this:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) From the commands: + <span class="tei tei-q">“Ye shall be holy,”</span> where the + ground of obligation assigned is simply and only: <span class= + "tei tei-q">“for I am holy”</span> (1 Pet. 1:16); and + <span class="tei tei-q">“Ye therefore shall be perfect,”</span> + where the standard laid down is: <span class="tei tei-q">“as + your heavenly Father is perfect”</span> (Mat. 5:48). Here we + have an ultimate reason and ground for being and doing right, + namely, that God is right, or, in other words, that holiness is + his nature.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) From the nature of the + love in which the whole law is summed up (Mat. + 22:37—<span class="tei tei-q">“Thou shalt love the Lord thy + God”</span>; Rom. 13:10—<span class="tei tei-q">“love therefore + is the fulfilment of the law”</span>). This love is not regard + for abstract right or for the happiness of being, much less for + one's own interest, but it is regard for God as the fountain + and standard of moral excellence, or in other words, love for + God as holy. Hence this love is the principle and source of + holiness in man.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) From the example of + Christ, whose life was essentially an exhibition of supreme + regard for God, and of supreme devotion to his holy will. As + Christ saw nothing good but what was in God (Mark + 10:18—<span class="tei tei-q">“none is good save one, even + God”</span>), and did only what he saw the Father do (John + 5:19; see also 30—<span class="tei tei-q">“I seek not mine own + will, but the will of him that sent me”</span>), so for us, to + be like God is the sum of all duty, and God's infinite moral + excellence is the supreme reason why we should be like him.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">For statements of the correct + view of the ground of moral obligation, see E. G. Robinson, + Principles and Practice of Morality, 138-180; Chalmers, Moral + Philosophy, 412-420; Calderwood, Moral Philosophy; Gregory, + Christian Ethics, 112-122; Wuttke, Christian Ethics, + 2:80-107; Talbot, Ethical Prolegomena, in Bap. Quar., July, + 1877:257-274—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + ground of all moral law is the nature of God, or the ethical + nature of God in relation to the like nature in man, or the + imperativeness of the divine nature.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Plato:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The divine will is the fountain of all + efficiency; the divine reason is the fountain, of all law; + the divine nature is the fountain of all + virtue.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">If it be said that God is + love</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page303">[pg + 303]</span><a name="Pg303" id="Pg303" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">as well as + holiness, we ask: Love to what? And the only answer is: Love + to the right, or to holiness. To ask why right is a good, is + no more sensible than to ask why happiness is a good. There + must be something ultimate. Schiller said there are people + who want to know why ten is not twelve. We cannot study + character apart from conduct, nor conduct apart from + character. But this does not prevent us from recognizing that + character is the fundamental thing and that conduct is only + the expression of it.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The moral perfection of the + divine nature includes truth and love, but since it is + holiness that conditions the exercise of every other + attribute, we must conclude that holiness is the ground of + moral obligation. Infinity also unites with holiness to make + it the perfect ground, but since the determining element is + holiness, we call this, and not infinity, the ground of + obligation. J. H. Harris, Baccalaureate Sermon, Bucknell + University, 1890—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">As + holiness is the fundamental attribute of God, so holiness is + the supreme good of man. Aristotle perceived this when he + declared the chief good of man to be energizing according to + virtue. Christianity supplies the Holy Spirit and makes this + energizing possible.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Holiness is the goal of man's spiritual + career; see</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Thess. + 3:13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">to the + end he may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness + before our God and Father.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Arthur H. Hallam, in John + Brown's Rab and his Friends, 272—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Holiness and happiness are two notions of + one thing.... Unless therefore the heart of a created being + is at one with the heart of God, it cannot but be + miserable.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It is more true to say that + holiness and happiness are, as cause and effect, inseparably + bound together. Martineau, Types, 1:xvi; + 2:70-77—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Two + classes of facts it is indispensable for us to know: what are + the springs of voluntary conduct, and what are its + effects</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; Study, 1:26—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ethics must either perfect themselves in + Religion, or disintegrate themselves into + Hedonism.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">William Law remarks:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Ethics + are not external but internal. The essence of a moral act + does not lie in its result, but in the motive from which it + springs. And that again is good or bad, according as it + conforms to the character of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">For further discussion of the subject see + our chapter on The Law of God. See also Thornwell, Theology, + 1:363-373; Hinton, Art of Thinking, 47-62; Goldwin Smith, in + Contemporary Review, March, 1882, and Jan. 1884; H. B. Smith, + System of Theology, 195-231, esp. 223.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page304">[pg 304]</span><a name= + "Pg304" id="Pg304" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + <hr class="page" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em"> + <a name="toc263" id="toc263"></a> <a name="pdf264" id="pdf264"></a> + + <h2 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"> + <span style="font-size: 144%">Chapter II. Doctrine Of The + Trinity.</span></h2> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In the nature of + the one God there are three eternal distinctions which are + represented to us under the figure of persons, and these three are + equal. This tripersonality of the Godhead is exclusively a truth of + revelation. It is clearly, though not formally, made known in the + New Testament, and intimations of it may be found in the Old.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The doctrine of + the Trinity may be expressed in the six following statements: 1. In + Scripture there are three who are recognized as God. 2. These three + are so described in Scripture that we are compelled to conceive of + them as distinct persons. 3. This tripersonality of the divine + nature is not merely economic and temporal, but is immanent and + eternal. 4. This tripersonality is not tritheism; for while there + are three persons, there is but one essence. 5. The three persons, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, are equal. 6. Inscrutable yet not + self-contradictory, this doctrine furnishes the key to all other + doctrines.—These statements we proceed now to prove and to + elucidate.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Reason shows us the Unity of God; only revelation + shows us the Trinity of God, thus filling out the indefinite + outlines of this Unity and vivifying it. The term</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Trinity</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">is + not found in Scripture, although the conception it expresses is + Scriptural. The invention of the term is ascribed to Tertullian. + The Montanists first defined the personality of the Spirit, and + first formulated the doctrine of the Trinity. The term</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Trinity</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">is + not a metaphysical one. It is only a designation of four facts: (1) + the Father is God; (2) the Son is God; (3) the Spirit is God; (4) + there is but one God.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Park:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The doctrine of the Trinity does not on the one + hand assert that three persons are united in one person, or three + beings in one being, or three Gods in one God (tritheism); nor on + the other hand that God merely manifests himself in three + different ways (modal trinity, or trinity of manifestations); but + rather that there are three eternal distinctions in the substance + of God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Smyth, preface to Edwards, + Observations on the Trinity:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The church doctrine of the Trinity affirms that + there are in the Godhead three distinct hypostases or + subsistences—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit—each + possessing one and the same divine nature, though in a different + manner. The essential points are (1) the unity of essence; (2) + the reality of immanent or ontological + distinctions.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Park on Edwards's View of the + Trinity, in Bib. Sac., April, 1881:333. Princeton Essays, + 1:28—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There is + one God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are this one God; there is + such a distinction between Father, Son and Holy Spirit as to lay + a sufficient ground for the reciprocal use of the personal + pronouns.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Joseph Cook:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(1) The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are + one God; (2) each has a peculiarity incommunicable to the others; + (3) neither is God without the others; (4) each, with the others, + is God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We regard the doctrine of the Trinity as + implicitly held by the apostles and as involved in the New + Testament declarations with regard to Father, Son and Holy + Spirit, while we concede that the doctrine had not by the New + Testament writers been formulated. They held it, as it were in + solution; only time, reflection, and the shock of controversy and + opposition, caused it to crystalize into definite and dogmatic + form. Chadwick, Old and New Unitarianism, 59, 60, claims that the + Jewish origin of Christianity shows that the Jewish Messiah could + not originally have been conceived of as divine. If Jesus had + claimed this, he would not have been taken before Pilate,—the + Jews would have dispatched him. The doctrine of the Trinity, says + Chadwick, was not developed until the Council of Nice, 325. E. G. + Robinson:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There was + no doctrine of</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page305">[pg + 305]</span><a name="Pg305" id="Pg305" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">the Trinity in + the Patristic period, as there was no doctrine of the Atonement + before Anselm.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The Outlook, Notes and Queries, + March 30, 1901—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + doctrine of the Trinity cannot be said to have taken final shape + before the appearance of the so-called Athanasian Creed in the + 8th or 9th century. The Nicene Creed, formulated in the 4th + century, is termed by Dr. Schaff, from the orthodox point of + view,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">semi-trinitarian.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + earliest time known at which Jesus was deified was, after the New + Testament writers, in the letters of Ignatius, at the beginning + of the second century.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Gore, Incarnation, 179—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The doctrine of the Trinity is not so much + heard, as overheard, in the statements of + Scripture.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">George P. Fisher quotes some able + and pious friend of his as saying:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">What meets us in the New Testament is the</span> + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">disjecta + membra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">of the + Trinity.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">G. B. Foster:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The doctrine of the Trinity is the Christian + attempt to make intelligible the personality of God without + dependence upon the world.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Charles Kingsley said that, whether the doctrine + of the Trinity is in the Bible or no, it ought to be there, + because our spiritual nature cries out for it. Shedd, Dogmatic + Theology, 1:250—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Though the + doctrine of the Trinity is not discoverable by human reason, it + is susceptible of a rational defense, when + revealed.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On New England Trinitarianism, see + New World, June, 1896:272-295—art. by Levi L. Paine. He says that + the last phase of it is represented by Phillips Brooks, James M. + Whiton and George A. Gordon. These hold to the essential + divineness of humanity and preëminently of Christ, the unique + representative of mankind, who was, in this sense, a true + incarnation of Deity. See also, L. L. Paine, Evolution of + Trinitarianism, 141, 287.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Neander declared that the Trinity is not a + fundamental doctrine of Christianity. He was speaking however of + the speculative, metaphysical form which the doctrine has assumed + in theology. But he speaks very differently of the devotional and + practical form in which the Scriptures present it, as in the + baptismal formula and in the apostolic benediction. In regard to + this he says:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We + recognize therein the essential contents of Christianity summed + up in brief.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Whiton, Gloria Patri, 10, 11, 55, + 91, 92—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + transcendent, the Father, is revealed by God immanent, the Son. + This one nature belongs equally to God, to Christ, and to + mankind, and in this fact is grounded the immutableness of moral + distinctions and the possibility of moral progress.... The + immanent life of the universe is one with the transcendent Power; + the filial stream is one with its paternal Fount. To Christ + supremely belongs the name of Son, which includes all that life + that is begotten of God. In Christ the before unconscious Sonship + of the world awakes to consciousness of the Father. The Father is + the Life transcendent, above all; the Son is Life immanent, + through all; the Holy Spirit is the Life individualized, in all. + In Christ we have collectivism; in the Holy Spirit we have + individualism; as Bunsen says:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The chief power in the world is + personality.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">For treatment of the whole doctrine, see Dorner, + System of Doctrine, 1:344-465; Twesten, Dogmatik, and translation + in Bib. Sac., 3:502; Ebrard, Dogmatik, 1:145-199; Thomasius, + Christi Person und Werk, 1:57-135; Kahnis, Dogmatik, 3:203-229; + Shedd, Dogm. Theol., 1:248-333, and History of Doctrine, + 1:246-385; Farrar, Science and Theology, 138; Schaff, Nicene + Doctrine of the Holy Trinity, in Theol. Eclectic, 4:209. For the + Unitarian view, see Norton, Statement of Reasons, and J. F. + Clarke, Truths and Errors of Orthodoxy.</span></p> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc265" id="toc265"></a> <a name="pdf266" id= + "pdf266"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">I. In Scriptures there are Three + who are recognized as God.</span></h3> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc267" id="toc267"></a> <a name="pdf268" id= + "pdf268"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1. Proofs from the New Testament.</h4> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc269" id="toc269"></a> <a name="pdf270" id= + "pdf270"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + A. The Father is recognized as God.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The Father + is recognized as God,—and that in so great a number of + passages (such as John 6:27—<span class="tei tei-q">“him the + Father, even God, hath sealed,”</span> and 1 Pet. + 1:2—<span class="tei tei-q">“foreknowledge of God the + Father”</span>) that we need not delay to adduce extended + proof.</p> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc271" id="toc271"></a> <a name="pdf272" id= + "pdf272"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + B. Jesus Christ is recognized as God.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) He is expressly called + God.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In John + 1:1—Θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος—the absence of the article shows Θεός to + be the predicate (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> 4:24—πνεῦμα ὁ Θεός). + This predicate precedes the verb by way of emphasis, to + indicate progress in the thought = <span class= + "tei tei-q">“the Logos was <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page306">[pg 306]</span><a name="Pg306" id="Pg306" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> not only with God, but was God”</span> + (see Meyer and Luthardt, Comm. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">in + loco</span></span>). <span class="tei tei-q">“Only ὁ λόγος + can be the subject, for in the whole Introduction the + question is, not who God is, but who the Logos is”</span> + (Godet).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Westcott in Bible + Commentary,</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + loco</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + predicate stands emphatically first. It is necessarily + without the article, inasmuch as it describes the nature of + the Word and does not identify his person. It would be pure + Sabellianism to say:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Word was ὁ Θεός.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Thus in verse 1 we have set forth the Word + in his absolute eternal being, (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + his existence: beyond time; (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + his personal existence: in active communion with God; + (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + his nature: God in essence.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Marcus Dods, in Expositor's Greek + Testament,</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + loco</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Word is distinguishable from God, yet Θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος—the + word was God, of divine nature; not</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a + God,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">which to a Jewish ear would + have been abominable, nor yet identical with all that can + be called God, for then the article would have been + inserted (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">1 John + 3:4).</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In John + 1:18, μονογενὴς θεός—<span class="tei tei-q">“the only + begotten God”</span>—must be regarded as the correct reading, + and as a plain ascription of absolute Deity to Christ. He is + not simply the only revealer of God, but he is himself God + revealed.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">No + man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who + is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared + him.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">In this passage, although Tischendorf (8th + ed.) has μονογενὴς ὑιός, Westcott and Hort (with א*BC*L + Pesh. Syr.) read μονογενὴς Θεός and the Rev. Vers. + puts</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">the only begotten + God</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">in the margin, though it + retains</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">the only begotten + Son</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">in the text. Harnack says the + reading μονογενὴς θεός is</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">established beyond + contradiction</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; see Westcott, Bib. Com. on John, pages + 32, 33. Here then we have a new and unmistakable assertion + of the deity of Christ. Meyer says that the apostles + actually call Christ God only in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John 1:1</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">20:28</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + and that Paul never so recognizes him. But Meyer is able to + maintain his position only by calling the doxologies to + Christ, in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Tim. + 4:18</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">,</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. 13:21</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Pet. + 3:18</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + post-apostolic. See Thayer, N. T. Lexicon, on Θεός, and on + μονογενής.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In John + 20:28, the address of Thomas Ὁ κύριός μου καὶ ὁ θεός + μου—<span class="tei tei-q">“My Lord and my God”</span>—since + it was unrebuked by Christ, is equivalent to an assertion on + his own part of his claim to Deity.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 20:28—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord + and my God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This address cannot be interpreted as a + sudden appeal to God in surprise and admiration, without + charging the apostle with profanity. Nor can it be + considered a mere exhibition of overwrought enthusiasm, + since it was accepted by Christ. Contrast the conduct of + Paul and Barnabas when the heathen at Lystra were bringing + sacrifice to them as Jupiter and Mercury (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 14:11-18</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). The + words of Thomas, as addressed directly to Christ and as + accepted by Christ, can be regarded only as a just + acknowledgment on the part of Thomas that Christ was his + Lord and his God. Alford, Commentary,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + loco</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Socinian view that these words are merely an exclamation is + refuted (1) by the fact that no such exclamations were in + use among the Jews; (2) by the εἶπεν αὐτῷ; (3) by the + impossibility of referring the ὁ κύριός μου to another than + Jesus: see</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">verse + 13</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; (4) by the N. + T. usage of expressing the vocative by the nominative with + an article; (5) by the psychological absurdity of such a + supposition: that one just convinced of the presence of him + whom he dearly loved should, instead of addressing him, + break out into an irrelevant cry; (6) by the further + absurdity of supposing that, if such were the case, the + Apostle John, who of all the sacred writers most constantly + keeps in mind the object for which he is writing, should + have recorded anything so beside that object; (7) by the + intimate conjunction of πεπίστευκας.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 5:34—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Swear + not ... by the heaven</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—swearing by Jehovah is not mentioned, + because no Jew did so swear. This exclamation of Thomas, + the greatest doubter among the twelve, is the natural + conclusion of John's gospel. The thesis</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Word was God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John 1:1)</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">has now become part of the + life and consciousness of the apostles.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Chapter 21</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is only an Epilogue, or + Appendix, written later by John, to correct the error that + he was not to die; see Westcott, Bible Com.,</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + loco</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">. The Deity + of Christ is the subject of the apostle who best understood + his Master. Lyman Beecher:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jesus + Christ is the acting Deity of the + universe.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In Rom. + 9:5, the clause ὁ ὢν ἐπὶ πάντων Θεὸς εὐλογητός cannot be + translated <span class="tei tei-q">“blessed be the God over + all,”</span> for ὢν is superfluous if the clause is a + doxology; <span class="tei tei-q">“εὐλογητός precedes the + name of God in a doxology, but follows it, <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page307">[pg 307]</span><a name="Pg307" id= + "Pg307" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> as here, in a + description”</span> (Hovey). The clause can therefore justly + be interpreted only as a description of the higher nature of + the Christ who had just been said, τὸ κατὰ σάρκα, or + according to his lower nature, to have had his origin from + Israel (see Tholuck, Com. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">in + loco</span></span>).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Sanday, Com. on</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 9:5</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + words would naturally refer to Christ, unless</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">God</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">is + so definitely a proper name that it would imply a contrast + in itself. We have seen that this is not + so.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Hence Sanday + translates:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">of whom is the Christ + as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God blessed + forever</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">. See President T. Dwight, in Jour. Soc. + Bib. Exegesis, 1881:22-55;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">per + contra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, Ezra + Abbot, in the same journal, 1881:1-19, and Denney, in + Expositor's Gk. Test.,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + loco</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In Titus + 2:13, ἐπιφάνειαν τῆς δόξης τοῦ μεγάλου Θεοῦ καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν + Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ we regard (with Ellicott) as <span class= + "tei tei-q">“a direct, definite, and even studied declaration + of Christ's divinity”</span> = <span class="tei tei-q">“the + ... appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus + Christ”</span> (so English Revised Version). Ἐπιφάνεια is a + term applied specially to the Son and never to the Father, + and μεγάλου is uncalled for if used of the Father, but + peculiarly appropriate if used of Christ. Upon the same + principles we must interpret the similar text 2 Pet. 1:1 (see + Huther, in Meyer's Com.: <span class="tei tei-q">“The close + juxtaposition indicates the author's certainty of the oneness + of God and Jesus Christ”</span>).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Titus + 2:13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">looking for the blessed hope and appearing + of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus + Christ</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—so the English Revised Version. The + American Revisers however translate:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + glory of the great God and Savior</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; and Westcott and Hort bracket the word + ἡμῶν. These considerations somewhat lessen the cogency of + this passage as a proof-text, yet upon the whole the + balance of argument seems to us still to incline in favor + of Ellicott's interpretation as given above.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In Heb. + 1:8, πρὸς δὲ τὸν υἱόν; ὁ θρόνος σου, ὁ Θεὸς, εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα is + quoted as an address to Christ, and verse 10 which + follows—<span class="tei tei-q">“Thou, Lord, in the beginning + hast laid the foundation of the earth”</span>—by applying to + Christ an Old Testament ascription to Jehovah, shows that ὁ + Θεός, in verse 8, is used in the sense of absolute + Godhead.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It is sometimes objected that + the ascription of the name God to Christ proves nothing as to + his absolute deity, since angels and even human judges are + called gods, as representing God's authority and executing + his will. But we reply that, while it is true that the name + is sometimes so applied, it is always with adjuncts and in + connections which leave no doubt of its figurative and + secondary meaning. When, however, the name is applied to + Christ, it is, on the contrary, with adjuncts and in + connections which leave no doubt that it signifies absolute + Godhead. See</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ex. + 4:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">thou + shalt be to him as God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">7:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">See, + I have made thee as God to Pharaoh</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">22:28—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Thou + shalt not revile God</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">, [marg.,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">the + judges</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">],</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">nor curse a ruler + of thy people</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 82:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + standeth in the congregation of God; he judgeth among the + gods</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">[among the mighty];</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">6—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + said, Ye are gods, And all of you sons of the Most + High</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">7—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Nevertheless ye shall die like men, And + fall like one of the princes.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 10:34-36—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If he + called them gods, unto whom the word of God + came</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(who were God's commissioned and appointed + representatives), how much more proper for him who is one + with the Father to call himself God.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">As in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. 82:7</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">those who had been called gods + are represented as dying, so in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 97:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Worship him, all ye + gods</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—they + are bidden to fall down before Jehovah. Ann. Par. + Bible:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Although the deities of the heathen have + no positive existence, they are often described in + Scripture as if they had, and are represented as bowing + down before the majesty of Jehovah.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This verse is quoted in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 1:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">let + all the angels of God worship him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, Christ. Here + Christ is identified with Jehovah. The quotation is made + from the Septuagint, which has</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">angels</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">for</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">gods</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Its + use here is in accordance with the spirit of the Hebrew + word, which includes all that human error might regard as + objects of worship.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Those who are figuratively and + rhetorically called</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">gods</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">are bidden to fall down in + worship before him who is the true God, Jesus Christ. See + Dick, Lectures on Theology, 1:314; Liddon, Our Lord's + Divinity, 10.</span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page308">[pg + 308]</span><a name="Pg308" id="Pg308" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In 1 John + 5:20—ἐσμεν ἐν τῷ ἀληθινῷ, ἐν τῷ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ. οὗτος + ἐστιν ὁ ἀληθινὸς Θεός—<span class="tei tei-q">“it would be a + flat repetition, after the Father had been twice called ὁ + ἀληθινός, to say now again: <span class="tei tei-q">‘this is + ὁ ἀληθενὸς Θεός.’</span> Our being in God has its basis in + Christ his Son, and this also makes it more natural that + οὖτος should be referred to υἱῷ. But ought not ὁ ἀληθενός + then to be without the article (as in John 1:1—Θεός ἦν ὁ + λόγος)? No, for it is John's purpose in 1 John 5:20 to say, + not <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">what</span></em> Christ is, but + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">who</span></em> he is. In declaring + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">what</span></em> one is, the predicate + must have no article; in declaring <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">who</span></em> one is, the predicate + must have the article. St. John here says that this Son, on + whom our being in the true God rests, is this true God + himself”</span> (see Ebrard, Com. <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">in + loco</span></span>).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Other passages might be here + adduced, as</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col. + 2:9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">in him + dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead + bodily</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Phil + 2:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">existing in the form of + God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; but we prefer to consider these under + other heads as indirectly proving Christ's divinity. Still + other passages once relied upon as direct statements of the + doctrine must be given up for textual reasons. Such + are</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 20:28</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, where the + correct reading is in all probability not ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ, + but ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ Κυρίου (so ACDE Tregelles and Tischendorf; + B and א, however, have τοῦ Θεοῦ. The Rev. Vers. continues to + read</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">church + of God</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; Amer. Revisers, however, read</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">church of the Lord</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—see Ezra Abbot's investigation in Bib. + Sac., 1876: 313-352); and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Tim. + 3:16</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, where ὅς is + unquestionably to be substituted for Θεός, though even here + ἐφανερώθη intimates preëxistence.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Rev. George E. Ellis, D. D., + before the Unitarian Club, Boston, November, + 1882—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Fifty + years of study, thought and reading given largely to the + Bible and to the literature which peculiarly relates to it, + have brought me to this conclusion, that the book—taken + with the especial divine quality and character claimed for + it, and so extensively assigned to it, as inspired and + infallible as a whole, and in all its contents—is an + Orthodox book. It yields what is called the Orthodox creed. + The vast majority of its readers, following its letter, its + obvious sense, its natural meaning, and yielding to the + impression which some of its emphatic texts make upon them, + find in it Orthodoxy. Only that kind of ingenious, special, + discriminative, and in candor I must add, forced treatment, + which it receives from us liberals can make the book teach + anything but Orthodoxy. The evangelical sects, so called, + are clearly right in maintaining that their view of + Scripture and of its doctrines draws a deep and wide + division of creed between them and ourselves. In that + earnest controversy by pamphlet warfare between Drs. + Channing and Ware on the one side, and Drs. Worcester and + Woods and Professor Stuart on the other—a controversy which + wrought up the people of our community sixty years ago more + than did our recent political campaign—I am fully convinced + that the liberal contestants were worsted. Scripture + exegesis, logic and argument were clearly on the side of + the Orthodox contestants. And this was so, mainly because + the liberal party put themselves on the same plane with the + Orthodox in their way of regarding and dealing with + Scripture texts in their bearing upon the controversy. + Liberalism cannot vanquish Orthodoxy, if it yields to the + latter in its own way of regarding and treating the whole + Bible. Martin Luther said that the Papists burned the Bible + because it was not on their side. Now I am not about to + attack the Bible because it is not on my side; but I am + about to object as emphatically as I can against a + character and quality assigned to the Bible, which it does + not claim for itself, which cannot be certified for it: and + the origin and growth and intensity of the fond and + superstitious influences resulting in that view we can + trace distinctly to agencies accounting for, but not + warranting, the current belief. Orthodoxy cannot readjust + its creeds till it readjusts its estimate of the + Scriptures. The only relief which one who professes the + Orthodox creed can find is either by forcing his ingenuity + into the proof-texts or indulging his liberty outside of + them.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">With this confession of a + noted Unitarian it is interesting to compare the opinion of + the so-called Trinitarian, Dr. Lyman Abbott, who says that + the New Testament nowhere calls Christ God, but everywhere + calls him man, as in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Tim. + 2:5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">for + there is one God, one mediator also between God and men, + himself man, Christ Jesus.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">On this passage Prof. L. L. Paine remarks + in the New World, Dec. 1894—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">That + Paul ever confounded Christ with God himself, or regarded + him as in any way the Supreme Divinity, is a position + invalidated not only by direct statements, but also by the + whole drift of his epistles.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page309">[pg + 309]</span><a name="Pg309" id="Pg309" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Old Testament + descriptions of God are applied to him.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This + application to Christ of titles and names exclusively + appropriated to God is inexplicable, if Christ was not + regarded as being himself God. The peculiar awe with which + the term <span class="tei tei-q">“Jehovah”</span> was set + apart by a nation of strenuous monotheists as the sacred and + incommunicable name of the one self-existent and + covenant-keeping God forbids the belief that the Scripture + writers could have used it as the designation of a + subordinate and created being.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 3:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Make + ye ready the way of the Lord</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—is a quotation from</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 40:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Prepare ye ... the way of + Jehovah.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 12:41—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">These + things said Isaiah, because he saw his glory; and he spake + of him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">[</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + Christ]—refers to</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 6:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon + a throne.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">So in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. 4:7, + 8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">measure of the gift of Christ ... led + captivity captive</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—is an application to Christ of what is + said of Jehovah in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 68:18</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. In</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Pet. + 3:15</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, moreover, we + read, with all the great uncials, several of the Fathers, + and all the best versions:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">sanctify in your hearts Christ as + Lord</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; here the apostle borrows his language + from</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 8:13</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, where we + read:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jehovah of hosts, him + shall ye sanctify</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">When we remember that, with the Jews, + God's covenant-title was so sacred that for the Kethib + (=</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">written</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">)</span> <span lang="he" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="he"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jehovah</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">there was always substituted + the Keri (=</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">read</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—imperative)</span> <span lang="he" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="he"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Adonai</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + in order to avoid pronunciation of the great Name, it seems + the more remarkable that the Greek equivalent of</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Jehovah</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">should have been so constantly used of + Christ.</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 10:9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">confess ... Jesus as + Lord</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 12:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">no + man can say, Jesus is Lord, but in the Holy + Spirit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We must remember also the indignation of + the Jews at Christ's assertion of his equality and oneness + with the Father. Compare Goethe's,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Wer + darf ihn nennen?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">with Carlyle's,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + awful Unnameable of this Universe.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Jews, it has been said, have always + vibrated between monotheism and moneytheism. Yet James, the + strongest of Hebrews, in his Epistle uses the word 'Lord' + freely and alternately of God the Father and of Christ the + Son. This would have been impossible if James had not + believed in the community of essence between the Son and + the Father.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It is interesting to note that + 1 Maccabees does not once use the word Θεός or κύριος, or + any other direct designation of God unless it be οὐρανός + (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">swear + ... by the heaven</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">—Mat. + 5:34</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). So the book + of Esther contains no mention of the name of God, though + the apocryphal additions to Esther, which are found only in + Greek, contain the name of God in the first verse, and + mention it in all eight times. See Bissell, Apocrypha, in + Lange's Commentary; Liddon, Our Lord's Divinity, 93; Max + Müller on Semitic Monotheism, in Chips from a German + Workshop, 1:337.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) He possesses the + attributes of God.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Among + these are life, self-existence, immutability, truth, love, + holiness, eternity, omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence. + All these attributes are ascribed to Christ in connections + which show that the terms are used in no secondary sense, nor + in any sense predicable of a creature.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Life</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + him was life</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">14:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + am ... the life.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Self-existence</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 5:26—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">have + life in himself</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 7:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">power + of an endless life.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Immutability</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 13:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jesus + Christ is the same yesterday and to-day, yea and + forever.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Truth</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 14:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I am + ... the truth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rev. + 3:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he + that is true.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Love</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 John + 3:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hereby know we love</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(τὴν ἀγάπην = the personal Love, as the + personal Truth)</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">because he laid down + his life for us</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Holiness</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 1:35—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">that + which is to be born shall be called holy, the Son of + God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 6:69—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">thou + art the Holy One of God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 7:26—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">holy, + guileless, undefiled, separated from + sinners.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eternity</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + the beginning was the Word.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Godet says ἐν ἀρχῇ = not</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">in + eternity,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">but</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">in + the beginning of the creation</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; the eternity of the Word being an + inference from the ἦν—the Word</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">was</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + when the world was</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">created</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">:</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 1:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + the beginning God created.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But Meyer says, ἐν ἀρχῇ here rises above + the historical conception of</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in the + beginning</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">in Genesis (which includes the beginning + of time itself) to the absolute conception of anteriority + to time; the creation is something subsequent. He finds a + parallel in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Prov. 8:23—ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸ + τοῦ τὴν γῆν ποιῆσαι</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">. The interpretation</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">in + the beginning of the gospel</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is entirely unexegetical; so Meyer. + So</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 17:5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">glory + which I had with thee before the world + was</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 1:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">chose + us in him before the foundation of the + world.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dorner also says that ἐν ἀρχῇ in</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John 1:1</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is not</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + beginning of the world,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">but designates the point</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page310">[pg + 310]</span><a name="Pg310" id="Pg310" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">back of + which it is impossible to go,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, eternity; + the world is first spoken of in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">verse 3. John + 8:58—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Before Abraham was born, I + am</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1:15</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col. + 1:17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he is + before all things</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 1:11</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—the + heavens</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">shall perish; but thou + continuest</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rev. + 21:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I am + the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the + end.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Omnipresence</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 28:20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I am + with you always</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 1:23—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + fulness of him that filleth all in all.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Omniscience</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 9:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jesus + knowing their thoughts</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John 2:24, + 25—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">knew + all men ... knew what was in man</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">16:30—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">knowest + all things</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 1:24—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Thou, + Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—a prayer offered before the day of + Pentecost and showing the attitude of the disciples toward + their Master;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 4:5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">until + the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden + things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the + hearts</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col. + 2:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">in + whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge + hidden.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Omnipotence</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 27:18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">All + authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on + earth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rev. + 1:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Lord God, which is and which was and which is to come, the + Almighty.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Beyschlag, N. T. Theology, + 1:249-260, holds that Jesus' preëxistence is simply the + concrete form given to an ideal conception. Jesus traces + himself back, as everything else holy and divine was traced + back in the conceptions of his time, to a heavenly original + in which it preëxisted before its earthly + appearance;</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e. + g.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">: the + tabernacle, in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 8:5</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; Jerusalem, + in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gal. 4:25</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rev. + 21:10</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; the kingdom + of God in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 13:24</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; much more + the Messiah, in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + John 6:62—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">ascending where he was + before</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">8:58—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Before + Abraham was born, I am</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">17:4, + 5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">glory + which I had with thee before the world + was</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">17:24—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">thou + lovedst me before the foundation of the + world.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This view that Jesus existed before + creation only ideally in the divine mind, means simply that + God foreknew him and his coming. The view is refuted by the + multiplied intimations of a personal, in distinction from + an ideal, preëxistence.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Lowrie, Doctrine of St. John, + 115—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + words</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + the beginning</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John 1:1)</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">suggest that the author is + about to write a second book of Genesis, an account of a + new creation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">As creation presupposes a Creator, the + preëxistence of the personal Word is assigned as the + explanation of the being of the universe. The ἦν indicates + absolute existence, which is a loftier idea than that of + mere preëxistence, although it includes this. While John + the Baptist and Abraham are said to have arisen, appeared, + come into being, it is said that the Logos</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">was</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + and that the Logos was</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">God</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + This implies coëternity with the Father. But, if the view + we are combating were correct, John the Baptist and Abraham + preëxisted, equally with Christ. This is certainly not the + meaning of Jesus in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 8:58—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Before Abraham was born, I + am</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col. + 1:17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he is + before all things</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">αὐτός + emphasizes the personality, while ἔστιν declares that the + preëxistence is absolute existence</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(Lightfoot);</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:15—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He + that cometh after me is become before me: for he was before + me</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">= not that Jesus was</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">born</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">earlier than John the Baptist, + for he was born six months later, but that he</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">existed</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">earlier. He stands before John + in rank, because he existed long before John in + time;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">6:62—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Son of man ascending where he was before</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">16:28—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + came out from the Father, and am come into the + world.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">So</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. 9:6, + 7</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, calls + Christ</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Everlasting + Father</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= eternity is an attribute of the Messiah. + T. W. Chambers, in Jour. Soc. Bib. Exegesis, + 1881:169-171—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christ is the Everlasting One,</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">whose + goings forth have been from of old, even from the days of + eternity</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Micah 5:2).</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Of + the increase of his government ... there shall be no + end,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">just because of his existence there has + been no beginning.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(d) The + works of God are ascribed to him.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We do not + here speak of miracles, which may be wrought by communicated + power, but of such works as the creation of the world, the + upholding of all things, the final raising of the dead, and + the judging of all men. Power to perform these works cannot + be delegated, for they are characteristic of omnipotence.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Creation</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">All + things were made through him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 8:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">one + lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all + things</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col. + 1:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">all + things have been created through him, and unto + him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb, + 1:10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Thou, + Lord, in the beginning didst lay the foundation of the + earth, And the heavens are the works of thy + hands</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">3:3, + 4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he + that built all things is God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= Christ, the builder of the house of + Israel, is the God who made all things;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rev. + 3:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + beginning of the creation of God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Plato:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Mind + is the ἀρχή of motion</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">).</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Upholding</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col. + 1:17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">in + him all things consist</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(marg.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">hold + together</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">);</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 1:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">upholding all things by the word of his + power.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Raising the dead and + judging the world</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 5:27-29—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">authority to execute judgment ... all that + are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come + forth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. 25:31, + 32—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">sit + on the throne of his glory; and before him shall be + gathered all the nations.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">If our argument were addressed wholly to + believers, we might also urge Christ's work in the world as + Revealer of God and Redeemer from sin, as a proof of his + deity. [On the works of Christ, see Liddon, Our Lord's + Divinity, 153;</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">per + contra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, see + Examination of Liddon's Bampton Lectures, + 72.]</span></p><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page311">[pg + 311]</span><a name="Pg311" id="Pg311" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Statements of Christ's + creative and of his upholding activity are combined + in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John 1:3, 4—Πάντα δι᾽ + αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν. ὅ γέγονεν + ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">All + things were made through him; and without him was not + anything made. That which hath been made was life in + him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(marg.). Westcott:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It + would be difficult to find a more complete consent of + ancient authorities in favor of any reading than that which + supports this punctuation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Westcott therefore adopts it. The passage + shows that the universe 1. exists within the bounds of + Christ's being; 2. is not dead, but living; 3. derives its + life from him; see Inge, Christian Mysticism, 46. Creation + requires the divine presence, as well as the divine agency. + God creates through Christ. All things were made, not ὐπὸ + αὐτοῦ—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">by + him,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">but δι᾽ + αὐτοῦ—</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">through him.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christian believers</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Behind creation's throbbing screen Catch + movements of the great Unseen.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Van Oosterzee, Christian + Dogmatics, iv, lvi—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">That + which many a philosopher dimly conjectured, namely, that + God did not produce the world in an absolute, immediate + manner, but in some way or other, mediately, here presents + itself to us with the lustre of revelation, and exalts so + much the more the claim of the Son of God to our deep and + reverential homage.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Would that such scientific men as Tyndall + and Huxley might see Christ in nature, and, doing his will, + might learn of the doctrine and be led to the Father! The + humblest Christian who sees Christ's hand in the physical + universe and in human history knows more of the secret of + the universe than all the mere scientists put + together.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col + 1:17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + him all things consist,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">or</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">hold + together,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">means nothing less than that Christ is the + principle of cohesion in the universe, making it a cosmos + instead of a chaos. Tyndall said that the attraction of the + sun upon the earth was as inconceivable as if a horse + should draw a cart without traces. Sir Isaac Newton:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Gravitation must be caused by an agent + acting constantly according to certain + laws.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Lightfoot:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Gravitation is an expression of the mind + of Christ.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Evolution also is a method of his + operation. The laws of nature are the habits of Christ, and + nature itself is but his steady and constant will. He binds + together man and nature in one organic whole, so that we + can speak of a</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">universe.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Without him there would be no intellectual + bond, no uniformity of law, no unity of truth. He is the + principle of induction, that enables us to argue from one + thing to another. The medium of interaction between things + is also the medium of intercommunication between minds. It + is fitting that he who draws and holds together the + physical and intellectual, should also draw and hold + together the moral universe, drawing all men to himself + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 12:32</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">) and so to + God, and reconciling all things in heaven and earth + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col. + 1:20</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). In + Christ</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + law appears, Drawn out in living + characters,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">because he is the ground and source of all + law, both in nature and in humanity. See A. H. Strong, + Christ in Creation, 6-12.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">e</span></span>) He receives honor and + worship due only to God.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In + addition to the address of Thomas, in John 20:28, which we + have already cited among the proofs that Jesus is expressly + called God, and in which divine honor is paid to him, we may + refer to the prayer and worship offered by the apostolic and + post-apostolic church.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 5:23—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">that + all may honor the Son, even as they honor the + Father</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">14:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If + ye shall ask me</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">[so אB and Tisch. 8th ed.]</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">anything in my + name, that will I do</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 7:59—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Stephen, calling upon the Lord, and + saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 23:46</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—Jesus' + words:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Father, into thy hands I commend my + spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">);</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 10:9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">confess with thy mouth Jesus as + Lord</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">13—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">whosoever shall call upon the name of the + Lord shall be saved</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 4:26—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Then + began men to call upon the name of + Jehovah</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">);</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. 11:24, + 25—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">this + do in remembrance of me</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= worship of Christ;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 1:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">let + all the angels of God worship him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Phil. 2:10, + 11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">in + the name of Jesus every knee should bow ... every tongue + should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rev. + 5:12-14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain to + receive the power....</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Pet. + 3:18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Lord + and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the + glory</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Tim. 4:18 and Heb. + 13:21—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">to + whom be the glory for ever and ever</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—these ascriptions of eternal glory to + Christ imply his deity. See also</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Pet. + 3:15—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Sanctify in your hearts Christ as + Lord,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 5:21—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">subjecting yourselves one to another in + the fear of Christ.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Here is enjoined an attitude of mind + towards Christ which would be idolatrous if Christ were not + God. See Liddon, Our Lord's Divinity, 266, 366.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Foster, Christian Life and + Theology, 154—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + the eucharistic liturgy of the</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Teaching</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">we read:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hosanna to the God of + David</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; Ignatius styles him repeatedly + God</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">begotten and unbegotten, come in the + flesh</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; speaking once of</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + blood of God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">, in evident allusion to</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 20:28</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; the epistle + to Diognetus takes up the Pauline words and calls him + the</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">architect and world-builder by whom [God] + created the heavens</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">, and</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page312">[pg 312]</span><a name="Pg312" id="Pg312" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">names him + God (chap. vii); Hermas speaks of him as</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + holy preëxistent Spirit, that created every + creature</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">, which style of expression is followed by + Justin, who calls him God, as also all the later great + writers. In the second epistle of Clement (130-160, + Harnack), we read:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Brethren, it is fitting that you should + think of Jesus Christ as of God—as the Judge of the living + and the dead.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">And Ignatius describes him as</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">begotten and unbegotten, passible and + impassible, ... who was before the eternities with the + Father.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">These testimonies only give + evidence that the Church Fathers saw in Scripture divine + honor ascribed to Christ. They were but the precursors of a + host of later interpreters. In a lull of the awful massacre + of Armenian Christians at Sassouan, one of the Kurdish + savages was heard to ask:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Who + was that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Lord + Jesus</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">that they were calling + to?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In their death agonies, the + Christians, like Stephen of old, called upon the name of + the Lord. Robert Browning quoted, in a letter to a lady in + her last illness, the words of Charles Lamb, when</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">in a + gay fancy with some friends as to how he and they would + feel if the greatest of the dead were to appear suddenly in + flesh and blood once more—on the first suggestion,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">And + if Christ entered this room?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">changed his tone at once and stuttered out + as his manner was when moved:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">You + see—if Shakespere entered, we should all rise; if He + appeared, we must kneel.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">On prayer to Jesus, see Liddon, Bampton + Lectures, note F; Bernard, in Hastings' Bib. Dict., 4:44; + Zahn, Skizzen aus dem Leben der alten Kirche, 9, + 288.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">f</span></span>) His name is associated + with that of God upon a footing of equality.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We do not + here allude to 1 John 5:7 (the three heavenly witnesses), for + the latter part of this verse is unquestionably spurious; but + to the formula of baptism, to the apostolic benedictions, and + to those passages in which eternal life is said to be + dependent equally upon Christ and upon God, or in which + spiritual gifts are attributed to Christ equally with the + Father.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">The formula of + baptism</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 28:19—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">baptising them into the name of the father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 2:38—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">be + baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus + Christ</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 6:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">baptized into Christ + Jesus.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + the common baptismal formula the Son and the Spirit are + coördinated with the Father, and εἰς ὄνομα has religious + significance.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">It would be both absurd and profane to + speak of baptizing into the name of the Father and of + Moses.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">The apostolic + benedictions</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 1:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Grace + to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus + Christ</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Cor. + 13:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and + the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you + all.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + the benedictions grace is something divine, and Christ has + power to impart it. But why do we find</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">instead of simply</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Father,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">as in the baptismal formula? Because it is + only the Father who does not become man or have a + historical existence. Elsewhere he is specially + called</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">God the + Father</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">to distinguish him from God the Son and + God the Holy Spirit (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gal. + 1:3</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 3:14</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">6:23</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">).</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Other + passages</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 5:23—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">that + all may honor the Son, even as they honor the + Father</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 14:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">believe in God, believe also in + me</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—double imperative (so Westcott, Bible + Com.,</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + loco</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">);</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">17:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">this + is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true + God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus + Christ</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 11:27—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">no + one knoweth the Son, save the Father; neither doth any know + the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son + willeth to reveal him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 12:4-6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + same Spirit ... the same Lord</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">[Christ] ...</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the same God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">[the Father] bestow spiritual + gifts,</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e. + g.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + faith:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 10:17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by + the word of Christ</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; peace:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col. + 3:15—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">let + the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Thess. 2:16, + 17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">now + our lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father ... + comfort your hearts</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—two names with a verb in the singular + intimate the oneness of the Father and the Son + (Lillie).</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 5:5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">kingdom of Christ and + God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col. + 3:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christ ... seated on the right hand of + God</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">= participation in the + sovereignty of the universe,—the Eastern divan held not + only the monarch but his son;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rev. + 20:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">priests of God and of + Christ</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">22:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + throne of God and of the Lamb</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">16—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + root and the offspring of David</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= both the Lord of David and his son. + Hackett:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">As + the dying Savior said to the Father,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Into + thy hands I commend my spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Luke + 23:46)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, so the + dying Stephen said to the Savior,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">receive my spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Acts + 7:59)</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">g</span></span>) Equality with God is + expressly claimed.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Here we + may refer to Jesus' testimony to himself, already treated of + among the proofs of the supernatural character of the + Scripture teaching (see pages <a href="#Pg189" class= + "tei tei-ref">189</a>, <a href="#Pg190" class= + "tei tei-ref">190</a>). Equality with God is not only claimed + for himself by Jesus, but it is claimed for him by his + apostles.</p><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page313">[pg + 313]</span><a name="Pg313" id="Pg313" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 5:18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">called God his own Father, making himself + equal with God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Phil. + 2:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">who, + existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an + equality with God a thing to be grasped</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—counted not his equality with God a thing + to be forcibly retained. Christ made and left upon his + contemporaries the impression that he claimed to be God. + The New Testament has left, upon the great mass of those + who have read it, the impression that Jesus Christ claims + to be God. If he is not God, he is a deceiver or is + self-deceived, and, in either case,</span> <span lang="la" + class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Christus, si non Deus, + non bonus</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">. See + Nicoll, Life of Jesus Christ, 187.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">h</span></span>) Further proof of + Christ's deity may be found in the application to him of the + phrases: <span class="tei tei-q">“Son of God,”</span> + <span class="tei tei-q">“Image of God”</span>; in the + declarations of his oneness with God; in the attribution to + him of the fulness of the Godhead.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. 26:63, + 64—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether + thou art the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him, + Thou hast said</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—it is for this testimony that Christ + dies.</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col. + 1:15—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + image of the invisible God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 1:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + effulgence of his</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">[the Father's]</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">glory, and the very image of his + substance</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 10:30—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I and + the Father are one</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">14:9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he + that hath seen me hath seen the Father</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">17:11, + 22—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">that + they may be one, even as we are</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—ἕ, not εἰς;</span> <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">unum</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + not</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">unus</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + one substance, not one person.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Unum</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is antidote to the + Arian,</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sumus</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">to the Sabellian + heresy.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col. + 2:9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">in + him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead + bodily</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1:19—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">for + it was the pleasure of the Father that in him should all + the fulness dwell;</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">or (marg.)</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">for the whole fulness + of God was pleased to dwell in him</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 16:15—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">all + things whatsoever the Father hath are + mine</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">17:10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">all + things that are mine are thine, and thine are + mine.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Meyer on</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 10:30—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I and + the Father are one</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Here + the Arian understanding of a mere ethical harmony as taught + in the words</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">are + one</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is unsatisfactory, because + irrelevant to the exercise of power. Oneness of essence, + though not contained in the words themselves, is, by the + necessities of the argument, presupposed in + them.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Dalman, The Words of + Jesus:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Nowhere do we find that Jesus called + himself the Son of God in such a sense as to suggest a + merely religious and ethical relation to God—a relation + which others also possessed and which they were capable of + attaining or were destined to acquire.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We may add that while in the lower sense + there are many</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sons of + God</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">there is but one</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">only begotten + Son</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">i</span></span>) These proofs of + Christ's deity from the New Testament are corroborated by + Christian experience.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Christian + experience recognizes Christ as an absolutely perfect Savior, + perfectly revealing the Godhead and worthy of unlimited + worship and adoration; that is, it practically recognizes him + as Deity. But Christian experience also recognizes that + through Christ it has introduction and reconciliation to God + as one distinct from Jesus Christ, as one who was alienated + from the soul by its sin, but who is now reconciled through + Jesus's death. In other words, while recognizing Jesus as + God, we are also compelled to recognize a distinction between + the Father and the Son through whom we come to the + Father.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Although + this experience cannot be regarded as an independent witness + to Jesus' claims, since it only tests the truth already made + known in the Bible, still the irresistible impulse of every + person whom Christ has saved to lift his Redeemer to the + highest place, and bow before him in the lowliest worship, is + strong evidence that only that interpretation of Scripture + can be true which recognizes Christ's absolute Godhead. It is + the church's consciousness of her Lord's divinity, indeed, + and not mere speculation upon the relations of Father, Son, + and Holy Ghost, that has compelled the formulation of the + Scripture doctrine of the Trinity.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In the letter of Pliny to + Trajan, it is said of the early Christians</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">quod + essent soliti carmen Christo quasi Deo dicere + invicem.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The prayers and hymns of the + church show what the church has believed Scripture to + teach. Dwight Moody is said to have</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page314">[pg 314]</span><a name="Pg314" + id="Pg314" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">received his first conviction of the truth + of the gospel from hearing the concluding words of a + prayer,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For + Christ's sake, Amen,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">when awakened from physical slumber in Dr. + Kirk's church, Boston. These words, wherever uttered, imply + man's dependence and Christ's deity. See New Englander, + 1878:432. In</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 4:32</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, the Revised + Version substitutes</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + Christ</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">for</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">for + Christ's sake.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The exact phrase</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">for + Christ's sake</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is not found in the N. T. in connection + with prayer, although the O. T. phrase</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">for + my name's sake</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Ps. + 25:11)</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">passes into + the N. T. phrase</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">in + the name of Jesus</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Phil. + 2:10)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 72:15—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">men + shall pray for him continually</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= the words of the hymn:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For + him shall endless prayer be made, And endless blessings + crown his head.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">All this is proof that the idea of prayer + for Christ's sake is in Scripture, though the phrase is + absent.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">A caricature scratched on the + wall of the Palatine palace in Rome, and dating back to the + third century, represents a human figure with an ass's + head, hanging upon a cross, while a man stands before it in + the attitude of worship. Under the effigy is this + ill-spelled inscription:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Alexamenos adores his + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">This appeal to the testimony + of Christian consciousness was first made by + Schleiermacher. William E. Gladstone:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">All I + write, and all I think, and all I hope, is based upon the + divinity of our Lord, the one central hope of our poor, + wayward race.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">E. G. Robinson:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">When + you preach salvation by faith in Christ, you preach the + Trinity.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">W. G. T. Shedd:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + construction of the doctrine of the Trinity started, not + from the consideration of the three persons, but from + belief in the deity of one of them.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">On the worship of Christ in the authorized + services of the Anglican church, see Stanley, Church and + State, 333-335; Liddon, Divinity of our Lord, + 514.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In + contemplating passages apparently inconsistent with those now + cited, in that they impute to Christ weakness and ignorance, + limitation and subjection, we are to remember, first, that + our Lord was truly man, as well as truly God, and that this + ignorance and weakness may be predicated of him as the + God-man in whom deity and humanity are united; secondly, that + the divine nature itself was in some way limited and humbled + during our Savior's earthly life, and that these passages may + describe him as he was in his estate of humiliation, rather + than in his original and present glory; and, thirdly, that + there is an order of office and operation which is consistent + with essential oneness and equality, but which permits the + Father to be spoken of as first and the Son as second. These + statements will be further elucidated in the treatment of the + present doctrine and in subsequent examination of the + doctrine of the Person of Christ.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">There are certain things of + which Christ was ignorant:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mark + 13:32—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">of that + day or that hour knoweth no one, not even the angels in + heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">He was subject to physical fatigue:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 4:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jesus + therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus by the + well.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">There was a limitation connected + with Christ's taking of human flesh:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Phil. + 2:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">emptied + himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the + likeness of men</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 14:28—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Father is greater than I.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">There is a subjection, as respects order of + office and operation, which is yet consistent with equality + of essence and oneness with God;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 15:28—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">then + shall the Son also himself be subjected to him that did + subject all things unto him, that God may be all in + all.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">This must be interpreted + consistently with</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + John 17:5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">glorify thou me with thine own self with + the glory which I had with thee before the world + was,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and with</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Phil. + 2:6</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, where this + glory is described as being</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">the form of + God</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">equality with + God</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Even in his humiliation, + Christ was the Essential Truth, and ignorance in him never + involved error or false teaching. Ignorance on his part + might make his teaching at times incomplete,—it never in + the smallest particular made his teaching false. Yet here + we must distinguish between what he</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">intended</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">to teach and what was + merely</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">incidental</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">to his teaching. When he said: + Moses</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">wrote + of me</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John + 5:46)</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">David + in the Spirit called him Lord</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Mat. + 22:43)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, if his + purpose was to teach the authorship of the Pentateuch and + of the 110th Psalm, we should regard his words as + absolutely authoritative. But it is possible that he + intended only to</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">locate</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">the passages referred to, and + if so, his words cannot be used to exclude critical + conclusions as to their authorship. Adamson, The Mind in + Christ, 136—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If he + spoke of Moses or David, it was only to identify the + passage. The authority of the earlier dispensation did not + rest upon its record being due to Moses, nor did the + appropriateness of the Psalm lie in its being uttered by + David.</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page315">[pg + 315]</span><a name="Pg315" id="Pg315" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">There is + no evidence that the question of authorship ever came + before him.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Adamson rather more precariously suggests + that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">there + may have been a lapse of memory in Jesus' mention of</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Zachariah, son of + Barachiah</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Mat. + 23:35)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, since this + was a matter of no spiritual import.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">For assertions of Jesus' + knowledge, see</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John 2:24, + 25—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he + knew all men ... he needed not that any one should bear + witness concerning man; for he himself knew what was in + man</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">6:64—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jesus + knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, + and who it was that should betray him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">12:33—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">this + he said, signifying by what manner of death he should + die</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">21:19—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Now + this he spake, signifying by what manner of death + he</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">[Peter]</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">should glorify God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">13:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">knowing + that his hour was come that he should + depart</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 25:31—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">when + the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the angels + with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his + glory</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= he knew that he was to act as final + judge of the human race. Other instances are mentioned by + Adamson, The Mind in Christ, 24-49: 1. Jesus' knowledge of + Peter (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:42</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); 2. his + finding Philip (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1:43</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); + 3. his recognition of Nathanael (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1:47-50</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); + 4. of the woman of Samaria (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">4:17-19, + 39</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); 5. miraculous + draughts of fishes (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 5:6-9</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 21:6</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); 6. death of + Lazarus (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 11:14</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); 7. the + ass's colt (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 21:2</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); 8. of the + upper room (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mark + 14:15</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); 9. of + Peter's denial (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 26:34</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); 10. of the + manner of his own death (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 12:33</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">18:32</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); + 11. of the manner of Peter's death (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 21:19</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">); 12. of the + fall of Jerusalem (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 24:2</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">).</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On the other hand there are + assertions and implications of Jesus' ignorance: he did not + know the day of the end (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mark + 13:32</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">), though + even here he intimates his superiority to angels;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">5:30-34—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Who + touched my garments?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">though even here power had gone forth from + him to heal;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 11:34—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Where + have ye laid him?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">though here he is about to raise Lazarus + from the dead;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mark + 11:13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, + he came, if haply he might find anything + thereon</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= he did not know that it had no fruit, + yet he had power to curse it. With these evidences of the + limitations of Jesus' knowledge, we must assent to the + judgment of Bacon, Genesis of Genesis, + 33—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We + must decline to stake the authority of Jesus on a question + of literary criticism</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; and of Gore, Incarnation, + 195—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">That + the use by our Lord of such a phrase as</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Moses wrote of + me</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">binds us to the Mosaic + authorship of the Pentateuch as a whole, I do not think we + need to yield.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See our section on The Person of Christ; + also Rush Rhees, Life of Jesus, 243, 244.</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Per + contra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, see + Swayne, Our Lord's Knowledge as Man; and Crooker, The New + Bible, who very unwisely claims that belief in a Kenosis + involves the surrender of Christ's authority and + atonement.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It is inconceivable that any + mere</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">creature</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">should say,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + is greater than I am,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">or should be spoken of as ultimately and + in a mysterious way becoming</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">subject to God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">In his state of humiliation Christ was + subject to the Spirit (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 1:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">after + that he had given commandment through the Holy + Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">10:38—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + anointed him with the Holy Spirit ... for God was with + him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb.9:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">through + the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish unto + God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">), but in his state of exaltation Christ + is Lord of the Spirit (κυρίου πνεύματος—</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Cor. + 3:18</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—Meyer), + giving the Spirit and working through the Spirit.</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 2:7</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + marg.—</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Thou + madest him for a little while lower than the + angels.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">On the whole subject, see Shedd, Hist. + Doctrine, 262, 351; Thomasius, Christi Person und Werk, + 1:61-64; Liddon, Our Lord's Divinity, 127, 207, 458;</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">per + contra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, see + Examination of Liddon, 252, 294; Professors of Andover + Seminary, Divinity of Christ.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc273" id="toc273"></a> <a name="pdf274" id= + "pdf274"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + C. The Holy Spirit is recognized as God.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) He is spoken of as God; + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) the attributes of God + are ascribed to him, such as life, truth, love, holiness, + eternity, omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence; + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) he does the works of + God, such as creation, regeneration, resurrection; + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) he receives honor due + only to God; (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">e</span></span>) he is associated with + God on a footing of equality, both in the formula of baptism + and in the apostolic benedictions.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Spoken of as + God.</span></span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts 5:3, + 4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">lie + to the Holy Spirit ... not lied unto men, but unto + God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 3:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">ye + are a temple of God ... the Spirit of God dwelleth in + you</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">6:19—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">your + body is a temple of the Holy Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">12:4-6</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">same + Spirit ... same Lord ... same God, who worketh all things + in all</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + divine Trinity is here indicated in an ascending climax, in + such a way that we pass from the Spirit who bestows the + gifts to the Lord [Christ] who is served by means of them, + and finally to God, who as the absolute first cause and + possessor of all Christian powers works the entire sum of + all charismatic gifts in all who are + gifted</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(Meyer in</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">loco</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">).</span></p><span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page316">[pg 316]</span><a name="Pg316" id="Pg316" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Attributes of + God.</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Life:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 8:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Spirit of life.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Truth:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John 16:13</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Spirit of truth.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Love:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 15:30—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">love + of the Spirit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Holiness:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 4:30—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Holy Spirit of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Eternity:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 9:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + eternal Spirit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Omnipresence:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 139:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Whither shall I go from thy + Spirit?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Omniscience:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 12:11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">all + these</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">[including gifts of healings and + miracles]</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">worketh the one + and the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally even as + he will.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Works of + God.</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Creation:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 1:2</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + marg.—</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Spirit of God was brooding upon the face + of the waters.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Casting out of demons:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 12:28—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">But + if I by the Spirit of God cast out + demons.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Conviction of sin:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 16:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">convict the world in respect of + sin.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Regeneration:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 3:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">born + of the Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Tit. + 3:5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">renewing of the Holy + Spirit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Resurrection:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 8:11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">give + life also to your mortal bodies through his + Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 15:45—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + last Adam became a life-giving spirit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">d</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Honor due to + God.</span></span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 3:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">ye + are a temple of God ... the Spirit of God dwelleth in + you</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—he who inhabits the temple is the object + of worship there. See also the next item.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Associated with + God.</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">Formula of + baptism:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 28:19—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">baptizing them into the name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">If the baptismal formula is worship, then + we have here worship paid to the Spirit. Apostolic + benedictions:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Cor. + 13:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the + communion of the Holy Spirit be with you + all.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">If the apostolic benedictions are prayers, + then we have here a prayer to the Spirit.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Pet. + 1:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">foreknowledge of God the Father ... + sanctification of the Spirit ... sprinkling of the blood of + Jesus Christ.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 9:14</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, Kendrick, + Com.</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + loco</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + interprets:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Offers himself by virtue of an eternal + spirit which dwells within him and imparts to his sacrifice + a spiritual and an eternal efficacy. The</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">here spoken of was not, then, the</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Holy + Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; it was not his purely divine nature; it + was that blending of his divine nature with his human + personality which forms the mystery of his being, + that</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">spirit of holiness</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">by virtue of which he was declared</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">the Son of God with + power</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">on account of his resurrection from the + dead.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Hovey adds a note to + Kendrick's Commentary,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + loco</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, as + follows:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">This + adjective</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">eternal</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">naturally suggests that the + word</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Spirit</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">refers to the higher and + divine nature of Christ. His truly human nature, on its + spiritual side, was indeed eternal as to the future, but so + also is the spirit of every man. The unique and superlative + value of Christ's self-sacrifice seems to have been due to + the impulse of the divine side of his + nature.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The phrase</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">eternal spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">would then mean his divinity. To both + these interpretations we prefer that which makes the + passage refer to the Holy Spirit, and we cite in support of + this view</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 1:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he + had given commandment through the Holy Spirit unto the + apostles</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">10:38—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + anointed him with the Holy Spirit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">On</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 2:10</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, Mason, Faith + of the Gospel, 63, remarks:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Spirit of God finds nothing even in God which baffles his + scrutiny. His</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">search</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is not a seeking for knowledge yet beyond + him.... Nothing but God could search the depths of + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">As spirit + is nothing less than the inmost principle of life, and the + spirit of man is man himself, so the spirit of God must be + God (see 1 Cor. 2:11—Meyer). Christian experience, moreover, + expressed as it is in the prayers and hymns of the church, + furnishes an argument for the deity of the Holy Spirit + similar to that for the deity of Jesus Christ. When our eyes + are opened to see Christ as a Savior, we are compelled to + recognize the work in us of a divine Spirit who has taken of + the things of Christ and has shown them to us; and this + divine Spirit we necessarily distinguish both from the Father + and from the Son. Christian experience, however, is not an + original and independent witness to the deity of the Holy + Spirit: it simply shows what the church has held to be the + natural and unforced interpretation of the Scriptures, and so + confirms the Scripture argument already adduced.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The Holy Spirit is God himself + personally present in the believer. E. G. Robinson:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">If</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Spirit + of God</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">no more implies deity than + does</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">angel + of God,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">why is not the Holy Spirit + called simply the angel or messenger, of + God?</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Walker, The Spirit and the + Incarnation, 337—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Holy Spirit is God in his innermost being or essence, the + principle of life of both the Father and the Son; that in + which God, both as Father and Son, does everything, and in + which he comes to us and is in us increasingly through his + manifestations. Through the working and indwelling of this + Holy Spirit, God in his person of Son was fully incarnate + in Christ.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Gould, Am. Com. on</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 2:11</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For + who among men knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit + of the man, which is in him? even so the things of</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page317">[pg + 317]</span><a name="Pg317" id="Pg317" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">God none + knoweth, save the Spirit of God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + analogy must not be pushed too far, as if the Spirit of God + and God were coëxtensive terms, as the corresponding terms + are, substantially, in man. The point of the analogy is + evidently</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">self-knowledge</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + and in both cases the contrast is between the spirit within + and anything outside.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Andrew Murray, Spirit of Christ, + 140—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We + must not expect always to feel the power of the Spirit when + it works. Scripture links power and weakness in a wonderful + way, not as succeeding each other but as existing + together.</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I was + with you in weakness ... my preaching was in + power</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(1 Cor. + 2:3)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">when + I am weak then am I strong</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(2 Cor. + 12:10)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. The power + is the power of God given to faith, and faith grows strong + in the dark.... He who would command nature must first and + most absolutely obey her.... We want to get possession of + the Power, and use it. God wants the Power to get + possession of us, and use us.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This proof + of the deity of the Holy Spirit is not invalidated by the + limitations of his work under the Old Testament dispensation. + John 7:39—<span class="tei tei-q">“for the Holy Spirit was + not yet”</span>—means simply that the Holy Spirit could not + fulfill his peculiar office as Revealer of Christ until the + atoning work of Christ should be accomplished.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John 7:39</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is to be interpreted in the + light of other Scriptures which assert the agency of the + Holy Spirit under the old dispensation (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 51:11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">take + not thy holy Spirit from me</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">) and which describe his peculiar office + under the new dispensation (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John 16:14, + 15—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he + shall take of mine, and shall declare it unto + you</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">). Limitation in the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">manner</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of the Spirit's work in the O. + T. involved a limitation in the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">extent</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">power</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of it also. Pentecost was the + flowing forth of a tide of spiritual influence which had + hitherto been dammed up. Henceforth the Holy Spirit was the + Spirit of Jesus Christ, taking of the things of Christ and + showing them, applying his finished work to human hearts, + and rendering the hitherto localized Savior omnipresent + with his scattered followers to the end of time.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Under the conditions of his + humiliation, Christ was a servant. All authority in heaven + and earth was given him only after his resurrection. Hence + he could not send the Holy Spirit until he ascended. The + mother can show off her son only when he is fully grown. + The Holy Spirit could reveal Christ only when there was a + complete Christ to reveal. The Holy Spirit could fully + sanctify, only after the example and motive of holiness + were furnished in Christ's life and death. Archer + Butler:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + divine Artist could not fitly descend to make the copy, + before the original had been provided.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">And yet the Holy Spirit + is</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + eternal Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Heb. + 9:14)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, and he not + only existed, but also wrought, in Old Testament + times.</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Pet. + 1:21—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">men + spake from God, being moved by the Holy + Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—seems to fix the meaning of the + phrase</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Holy Spirit,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">where it appears in the O. T. Before + Christ</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Holy Spirit was not yet</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John + 7:39)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, just as + before Edison electricity was not yet. There was just as + much electricity in the world before Edison as there is + now. Edison has only taught us its existence and how to use + it. Still we can say that, before Edison, electricity, as a + means of lighting, warming and transporting people, had no + existence. So until Pentecost, the Holy Spirit, as the + revealer of Christ,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">was not + yet</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Augustine calls Pentecost the</span> + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">dies + natalis</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, or + birthday, of the Holy Spirit; and for the same reason that + we call the day when Mary brought forth her firstborn son + the birthday of Jesus Christ, though before Abraham was + born, Christ was. The Holy Spirit had been engaged in the + creation, and had inspired the prophets, but</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">officially</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + as Mediator between men and Christ,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">the Holy Spirit was + not yet</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">He could not show the things of Christ + until the things of Christ were ready to be shown. See + Gordon, Ministry of the Spirit, 19-25; Prof. J. S. + Gubelmann, Person and Work of the Holy Spirit in O. T. + Times. For proofs of the deity of the Holy Spirit, see + Walker, Doctrine of the Holy Spirit; Hare, Mission of the + Comforter; Parker, The Paraclete; Cardinal Manning, + Temporal Mission of the Holy Ghost; Dick, Lectures on + Theology, 1:341-350. Further references will be given in + connection with the proof of the Holy Spirit's + personality.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc275" id="toc275"></a> <a name="pdf276" id= + "pdf276"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 2. Intimations of the Old Testament.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The passages + which seem to show that even in the Old Testament there are + three who are implicitly recognized as God may be classed under + four heads:</p> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc277" id="toc277"></a> <a name="pdf278" id= + "pdf278"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + A. Passages which seem to teach plurality of some sort in the + Godhead.</h5><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page318">[pg + 318]</span><a name="Pg318" id="Pg318" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) The plural noun אלהים + is employed, and that with a plural verb—a use remarkable, + when we consider that the singular אל was also in existence; + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) God uses plural + pronouns in speaking of himself; (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) Jehovah distinguishes + himself from Jehovah; (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) a Son is ascribed to + Jehovah; (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">e</span></span>) the Spirit of God is + distinguished from God; (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">f</span></span>) + there are a threefold ascription and a threefold + benediction.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 20:13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + caused</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">[plural]</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">me to wander from my father's + house</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">35:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">built + there an altar, and called the place + El-Beth-el</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">because there God was + revealed</span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">[plural]</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">unto him.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 1:26—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Let + us make man in our image, after our + likeness</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">3:22—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Behold, + the man is become as one of us</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">11:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Come, + let us go down, and there confound their + language</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 6:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Whom + shall I send, and who will go for us?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 19:24—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Then + Jehovah rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and + fire from Jehovah out of heaven</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Hos. + 1:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them + by Jehovah, their God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Tim. + 1:18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Lord grant unto him to find mercy of the Lord in that + day</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—though Ellicott here decides adversely to + the Trinitarian reference. (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">d</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 2:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Thou + art my son; this day have I begotten + thee</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Prov. + 30:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Who + hath established all the ends of the earth? What is his + name, and what is his son's name, if thou + knowest?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. 1:1 and 2, + marg.—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + created ... the Spirit of God was + brooding</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 33:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">By + the word of Jehovah were the heavens made, And all the host + of them by the breath</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">[spirit]</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">of his mouth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 48:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Lord Jehovah hath sent me, and his + Spirit</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">63:7, + 10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">loving kindnesses of Jehovah ... grieved + his holy Spirit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">f</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 6:3</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—the + trisagion:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Holy, holy, + holy</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Num. + 6:24-26—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Jehovah bless thee, and keep thee: Jehovah + make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto + thee: Jehovah lift up his countenance upon thee, and give + thee peace.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It has been suggested that as + Baal was worshiped in different places and under different + names, as Baal-Berith, Baal-hanan, Baal-peor, Baal-zeebub, + and his priests could call upon any one of these as + possessing certain personified attributes of Baal, while + yet the whole was called by the plural term</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Baalim,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and Elijah could say:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Call + ye upon your Gods,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">so</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Elohim</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">may be the collective designation of the + God who was worshiped in different localities; see + Robertson Smith, Old Testament in the Jewish Church, 229. + But this ignores the fact that Baal is always addressed in + the singular, never in the plural, while the plural</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Elohim</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is the term commonly used in addresses to + God. This seems to show that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Baalim</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is a collective term, while</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Elohim</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is not. So when Ewald, Lehre von Gott, + 2:333, distinguishes five names of God, corresponding to + five great periods of the history of Israel,</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">viz.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + the</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Almighty</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">of the Patriarchs, the</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Jehovah</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">of the Covenant, the</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + of Hosts</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of the Monarchy, the</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Holy + One</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">of the Deuteronomist and the later + prophetic age, and the</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Our + Lord</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of Judaism, he ignores the + fact that these designations are none of them confined to + the times to which they are attributed, though they may + have been predominantly used in those times.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The fact + that אלהים is sometimes used in a narrower sense, as + applicable to the Son (Ps. 45:6; <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> Heb. 1:8), need not + prevent us from believing that the term was originally chosen + as containing an allusion to a certain plurality in the + divine nature. Nor is it sufficient to call this plural a + simple <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-style: italic">pluralis + majestaticus</span></span>; since it is easier to derive this + common figure from divine usage than to derive the divine + usage from this common figure—especially when we consider the + constant tendency of Israel to polytheism.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 45:6</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 1:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">of + the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and + ever.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Here it is God who calls Christ</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">God</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">or</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Elohim</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The term Elohim has here + acquired the significance of a singular. It was once + thought that the royal style of speech was a custom of a + later date than the time of Moses. Pharaoh does not use it. + In</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 41:41-44</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, he + says:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + have set thee over all the land of Egypt ... I am + Pharaoh.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But later investigations seem to prove + that the plural for God was used by the Canaanites before + the Hebrew occupation. The one Pharaoh is called</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">my + gods</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">or</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">my + god,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">indifferently. The word</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">master</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is usually found in the plural in the O. + T. (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. 24:9, + 51</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">39:19</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">40:1</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). + The plural gives utterance to the sense of awe. It + signifies magnitude or completeness. (See The Bible + Student, Aug. 1900:67.)</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">This ancient Hebrew + application of the plural to God is often explained as a + mere plural of dignity, = one who combines in himself many + reasons for adoration (אלהים from אלה to fear, to adore). + Oehler, O. T. Theology, 1:128-130, calls it a</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">quantitative plural,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">signifying unlimited greatness. The + Hebrews had many plural forms, where</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page319">[pg 319]</span><a name="Pg319" + id="Pg319" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">we should use the singular, as</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">heavens</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">instead of</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">heaven,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">waters</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">instead of</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">water.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We too speak of</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">news,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">wages,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and say</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">you</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">instead of</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">thou</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; see F. W. Robertson, on Genesis, 12. But + the Church Fathers, such as Barnabas, Justin Martyr, + Irenæus, Theophilus, Epiphanius, and Theodoret, saw in this + plural an allusion to the Trinity, and we are inclined to + follow them. When finite things were pluralized to express + man's reverence, it would be far more natural to pluralize + the name of God. And God's purpose in securing this + pluralization may have been more far-reaching and + intelligent than man's. The Holy Spirit who presided over + the development of revelation may well have directed the + use of the plural in general, and even the adoption of the + plural name Elohim in particular, with a view to the future + unfolding of truth with regard to the Trinity.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We therefore dissent from the + view of Hill, Genetic Philosophy, 323, + 330—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Hebrew religion, even much later than the time of Moses, as + it existed in the popular mind, was, according to the + prophetic writings, far removed from a real monotheism, and + consisted in the wavering acceptance of the preëminence of + a tribal God, with a strong inclination towards a general + polytheism. It is impossible therefore to suppose that + anything approaching the philosophical monotheism of modern + theology could have been elaborated or even entertained by + primitive man....</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Thou + shalt have no other gods before me</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Ex. + 20:3)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, the first + precept of Hebrew monotheism, was not understood at first + as a denial of the hereditary polytheistic faith, but + merely as an exclusive claim to worship and + obedience.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">E. G. Robinson says, in a similar strain, + that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">we + can explain the idolatrous tendencies of the Jews only on + the supposition that they had lurking notions that their + God was a merely national god. Moses seems to have + understood the doctrine of the divine unity, but the Jews + did not.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">To the views of both Hill and + Robinson we reply that the primitive intuition of God is + not that of many, but that of One. Paul tells us that + polytheism is a later and retrogressive stage of + development, due to man's sin (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 1:19-25</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). We + prefer the statement of McLaren:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + plural Elohim is not a survival from a polytheistic stage, + but expresses the divine nature in the manifoldness of its + fulnesses and perfections, rather than in the abstract + unity of its being</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—and, we may add, expresses the divine + nature in its essential fulness, as a complex of + personalities. See Conant, Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, 108; + Green, Hebrew Grammar, 306; Girdlestone, O. T. Synonyms, + 38, 53; Alexander on</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Psalm + 11:7</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">29:1</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">58:11</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc279" id="toc279"></a> <a name="pdf280" id= + "pdf280"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + B. Passages relating to the Angel of Jehovah.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) The angel of Jehovah + identifies himself with Jehovah; (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) he is identified with + Jehovah by others; (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) he accepts worship due + only to God. Though the phrase <span class="tei tei-q">“angel + of Jehovah”</span> is sometimes used in the later Scriptures + to denote a merely human messenger or created angel, it seems + in the Old Testament, with hardly more than a single + exception, to designate the pre-incarnate Logos, whose + manifestations in angelic or human form foreshadowed his + final coming in the flesh.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. 22:11, + 16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + angel of Jehovah called unto him</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">[Abraham, when about to + sacrifice Isaac] ...</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">By myself have I sworn, saith + Jehovah</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">31:11, + 13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + angel of God said unto me</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">[Jacob] ...</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I am the God of + Beth-el.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. 16:9, + 13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">angel + of Jehovah said unto her ... and she called the name of + Jehovah that spake unto her, Thou art a God that + seeth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">48:15, + 16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + God who hath fed me ... the angel who hath redeemed + me.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ex. 3:2, 4, + 5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + angel of Jehovah appeared unto him ... God called unto him + out of the midst of the bush ... put off thy shoes from off + thy feet</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Judges + 13:20-22—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">angel + of Jehovah ascended.... Manoah and his wife ... fell on + their faces ... Manoah said ... We shall surely die, + because we have seen God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">angel of the + Lord</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">appears to be a human messenger in</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Haggai + 1:13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Haggai, Jehovah's + messenger</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; a created angel in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 1:20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">an + angel of the Lord</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">[called Gabriel]</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">appeared unto</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Joseph; in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 3:26—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">an + angel of the Lord spake unto Philip</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; and in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">12:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">an + angel of the Lord stood by him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(Peter). But commonly, in the O.T., + the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">angel + of Jehovah</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is a theophany, a self-manifestation of + God. The only distinction is that between Jehovah in + himself and Jehovah in manifestation. The appearances + of</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">the angel of + Jehovah</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">seem to be preliminary manifestations of + the divine Logos, as in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. 18:2, + 13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">three + men stood over against him</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">[Abraham] ...</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">And Jehovah said unto + Abraham</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Dan. 3:25, + 28—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + aspect of the fourth is like a son of the gods.... Blessed + be the God ... who hath sent his angel.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The N.T.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">angel of the + Lord</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">does not permit, the O.T.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">angel of the + Lord</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">requires, worship (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rev. 22:8, + 9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">See + thou do it not</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ex. + 3:5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">put + off thy shoes</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">). As supporting this interpretation, see + Hengstenberg, Christology, 1:107-123; J. Pye Smith,</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page320">[pg + 320]</span><a name="Pg320" id="Pg320" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">Scripture + Testimony to the Messiah. As opposing it, see Hofmann, + Schriftbeweis, 1:329, 378; Kurtz, History of Old Covenant, + 1:181. On the whole subject, see Bib. Sac., + 1879:593-615.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc281" id="toc281"></a> <a name="pdf282" id= + "pdf282"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + C. Descriptions of the divine Wisdom and Word.</h5> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + Wisdom is represented as distinct from God, and as + eternally existing with God; (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + the Word of God is distinguished from God, as executor of + his will from everlasting.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Prov. + 8:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Doth + not wisdom cry?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 11:19—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">wisdom is justified by her + works</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 7:35—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">wisdom is justified of all her + children</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">11:49—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Therefore + also said the wisdom of God, I will send unto them prophets + and apostles</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Prov. 8:22, 30, + 31—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Jehovah possessed me in the beginning of + his way, Before his works of old.... I was by him, as a + master workman: And I was daily his delight.... And my + delight was with the sons of men</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">3:19—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jehovah + by wisdom founded the earth,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 1:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">his + Son ... through whom ... he made the + worlds.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 107:20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He + sendeth his word, and healeth them</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">119:89—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For + ever, O Jehovah, Thy word is settled in + heaven</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">147:15-18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He + sendeth out his commandment.... He sendeth out his + word.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In the Apocryphal book + entitled Wisdom, 7:26, 28, wisdom is described as</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + brightness of the eternal light,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + unspotted mirror of God's majesty,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + image of his goodness</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—reminding us of</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 1:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + effulgence of his glory, and the very image of his + substance.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">In Wisdom, 9:9, 10, wisdom is represented + as being present with God when he made the world, and the + author of the book prays that wisdom may be sent to him out + of God's holy heavens and from the throne of his glory. In + 1 Esdras 4:35-38, Truth in a similar way is spoken of as + personal:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Great + is the Truth and stronger than all things. All the earth + calleth upon the Truth, and the heaven blesseth it; all + works shake and tremble at it, and with it is no + unrighteous thing. As for the Truth, it endureth and is + always strong; it liveth and conquereth + forevermore.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It must be + acknowledged that in none of these descriptions is the idea + of personality clearly developed. Still less is it true that + John the apostle derived his doctrine of the Logos from the + interpretations of these descriptions in Philo Judæus. John's + doctrine (John 1:1-18) is radically different from the + Alexandrian Logos-idea of Philo. This last is a Platonizing + speculation upon the mediating principle between God and the + world. Philo seems at times to verge towards a recognition of + personality in the Logos, though his monotheistic scruples + lead him at other times to take back what he has given, and + to describe the Logos either as the thought of God or as its + expression in the world. But John is the first to present to + us a consistent view of this personality, to identify the + Logos with the Messiah, and to distinguish the Word from the + Spirit of God.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Dorner, in his History of the + Doctrine of the Person of Christ, 1:13-45, and in his System + of Doctrine, 1:348, 349, gives the best account of Philo's + doctrine of the Logos. He says that Philo calls the Logos + ἀρχάγγελος, ἀρχιερεύς, δεύτερος θεός. Whether this is + anything more than personification is doubtful, for Philo + also calls the Logos the κόσμος νοητός. Certainly, so far as + he makes the Logos a distinct personality, he makes him also + a subordinate being. It is charged that the doctrine of the + Trinity owes its origin to the Platonic philosophy in its + Alexandrian union with Jewish theology. But Platonism had no + Trinity. The truth is that by the doctrine of the Trinity + Christianity secured itself against false heathen ideas of + God's multiplicity and immanence, as well as against false + Jewish ideas of God's unity and transcendence. It owes + nothing to foreign sources.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We need not assign to John's + gospel a later origin, in order to account for its doctrine + of the Logos, any more than we need to assign a later + origin to the Synoptics in order to account for their + doctrine of a suffering Messiah. Both doctrines were + equally unknown to Philo. Philo's Logos does not and cannot + become man. So says Dorner. Westcott, in Bible Commentary + on John, Introd., xv-xviii, and on John + 1:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + theological use of the term [in John's gospel] appears to + be derived directly from the Palestinian</span> + <span class="tei tei-foreign"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Memra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + and not from the Alexandrian</span> <span lang="el" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="el"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Logos</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Instead of Philo's doctrine + being a stepping-stone from Judaism to Christianity, it was + a stumbling-stone. It had</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page321">[pg 321]</span><a name="Pg321" id="Pg321" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">no + doctrine of the Messiah or of the atonement. Bennett and + Adeny, Bib. Introd., 340—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + difference between Philo and John may be stated thus: + Philo's Logos is Reason, while John's is Word; Philo's is + impersonal, while John's is personal; Philo's is not + incarnate, while John's is incarnate; Philo's is not the + Messiah, while John's is the Messiah.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Philo lived from B. C. 10 or + 20 to certainly A. D. 40, when he went at the head of a + Jewish embassy to Rome, to persuade the Emperor to abstain + from claiming divine honor from the Jews. In his De Opifice + Mundi he says:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Word is nothing else but the intelligible + world.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">He calls the Word the</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">chainband,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">pilot,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">steersman,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">of all things. Gore, Incarnation, + 69—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Logos + in Philo must be translated</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Reason.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">But in the Targums, or early Jewish + paraphrases of the O. T., the</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Word</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">of Jehovah (</span><span class= + "tei tei-foreign"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Memra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">,</span> + <span class="tei tei-foreign"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Devra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + is constantly spoken of as the efficient instrument of the + divine action, in cases where the O. T. speaks of Jehovah + himself,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Word of God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">had come to be used personally, as almost + equivalent to God manifesting himself, or God in + action.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">George H. Gilbert, in Biblical + World, Jan. 1899:44—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">John's use of the term Logos was suggested + by Greek philosophy, while at the same time the content of + the word is Jewish.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Hatch, Hibbert Lectures, + 174-208—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Stoics invested the Logos with personality. They were + Monists and they made λόγος and ὕλη the active and the + passive forms of the one principle. Some made God a mode of + matter—</span><span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">natura + naturata</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; others + made matter a mode of God—</span><span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">natura + naturans</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">= the + world a self-evolution of God. The Platonic forms, as + manifold expressions of a single λόγος, were expressed by a + singular term, Logos, rather than the Logoi, of God. From + this Logos proceed all forms of mind or reason. So held + Philo:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + mind is an offshoot from the divine and happy soul (of + God), an offshoot not separated from him, for nothing + divine is cut off and disjoined, but only + extended.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Philo's Logos is not only form but + force—God's creative energy—the eldest-born of the</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + am,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">which robes itself with the + world as with a vesture, the high priest's robe, + embroidered with all the forces of the seen and unseen + worlds.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Wendt, Teaching of Jesus, + 1:53—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Philo + carries the transcendence of God to its logical + conclusions. The Jewish doctrine of angels is expanded in + his doctrine of the Logos. The Alexandrian philosophers + afterwards represented Christianity as a spiritualized + Judaism. But a philosophical system dominated by the idea + of the divine transcendence never could have furnished a + motive for missionary labors like those of Paul. Philo's + belief in transcendence abated his redemptive hopes. But, + conversely, the redemptive hopes of orthodox Judaism saved + it from some of the errors of exclusive + transcendence.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See a quotation from Siegfried, in + Schürer's History of the Jewish People, article on + Philo:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Philo's doctrine grew out of God's + distinction and distance from the world. It was dualistic. + Hence the need of mediating principles, some being less + than God and more than creature. The cosmical significance + of Christ bridged the gulf between Christianity and + contemporary Greek thought. Christianity stands for a God + who is revealed. But a Logos-doctrine like that of Philo + may reveal less than it conceals. Instead of God incarnate + for our salvation, we may have merely a mediating principle + between God and the world, as in + Arianism.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The preceding statement is + furnished in substance by Prof. William Adams Brown. With + it we agree, adding only the remark that the Alexandrian + philosophy gave to Christianity, not the substance of its + doctrine, but only the terminology for its expression. The + truth which Philo groped after, the Apostle John seized and + published, as only he could, who had heard, seen, and + handled</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Word of life</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(1 John + 1:1).</span></em> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Christian doctrine of the Logos was perhaps before anything + else an effort to express how Jesus Christ was God (Θεός), + and yet in another sense was not God (ὁ θεός); that is to + say, was not the whole Godhead</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(quoted in Marcus Dods, Expositors' Bible, + on</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:1</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). See also + Kendrick, in Christian Review, 26:369-399; Gloag, in Presb. + and Ref. Rev., 1891:45-57; Réville, Doctrine of the Logos + in John and Philo; Godet on John, Germ. transl., 13, 135; + Cudworth, Intellectual System, 2:320-333; Pressensé, Life + of Jesus Christ, 83; Hagenbach, Hist. Doct., 1:114-117; + Liddon, Our Lord's Divinity, 59-71; Conant on Proverbs, + 53.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc283" id="toc283"></a> <a name="pdf284" id= + "pdf284"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + D. Descriptions of the Messiah.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) He is one with Jehovah; + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) yet he is in some sense + distinct from Jehovah.</p><span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page322">[pg 322]</span><a name="Pg322" id="Pg322" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 9:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">unto + us a child is born, unto us a son is given ... and his name + shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, + Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Micah + 5:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">thou + Bethlehem ... which art little ... out of thee shall one + come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose + goings forth are from of old, from + everlasting.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. 45:6, + 7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Thy + throne, O God, is for ever and ever.... Therefore God, thy + God, hath anointed thee</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mal + 3:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: + and the Lord, whom ye seek, will suddenly come to his + temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom ye + desire.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Henderson, in his Commentary on this + passage, points out that the Messiah is here called</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">the + Lord</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">or</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">the + Sovereign</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—a title nowhere given in this form (with + the article) to any but Jehovah; that he is predicted as + coming to the temple as its proprietor; and that he is + identified with the angel of the covenant, elsewhere shown + to be one with Jehovah himself.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is to + be remembered, in considering this, as well as other classes + of passages previously cited, that no Jewish writer before + Christ's coming had succeeded in constructing from them a + doctrine of the Trinity. Only to those who bring to them the + light of New Testament revelation do they show their real + meaning.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Our + general conclusion with regard to the Old Testament + intimations must therefore be that, while they do not by + themselves furnish a sufficient basis for the doctrine of the + Trinity, they contain the germ of it, and may be used in + confirmation of it when its truth is substantially proved + from the New Testament.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">That the doctrine of the Trinity + is not plainly taught in the Hebrew Scriptures is evident + from the fact that Jews unite with Mohammedans in accusing + trinitarians of polytheism. It should not surprise us that + the Old Testament teaching on this subject is undeveloped and + obscure. The first necessity was that the Unity of God should + be insisted on. Until the danger of idolatry was past, a + clear revelation of the Trinity might have been a hindrance + to religious progress. The child now, like the race then, + must learn the unity of God before it can profitably be + taught the Trinity,—else it will fall into tritheism; see + Gardiner, O. T. and N. T., 49. We should not therefore begin + our proof of the Trinity with a reference to passages in the + Old Testament. We should speak of these passages, indeed, as + furnishing intimations of the doctrine rather than proof of + it. Yet, after having found proof of the doctrine in the New + Testament, we may expect to find traces of it in the Old + which will corroborate our conclusions. As a matter of fact, + we shall see that traces of the idea of a Trinity are found + not only in the Hebrew Scriptures but in some of the heathen + religions as well. E. G. Robinson:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + doctrine of the Trinity underlay the O. T., unperceived by + its writers, was first recognized in the economic + revelation of Christianity, and was first clearly + enunciated in the necessary evolution of Christian + doctrine.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc285" id="toc285"></a> <a name="pdf286" id= + "pdf286"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">II. These Three are so described in + Scripture that we are compelled to conceive of them as distinct + Persons.</span></h3> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc287" id="toc287"></a> <a name="pdf288" id= + "pdf288"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1. The Father and the Son are persons distinct from each + other.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Christ distinguishes the + Father from himself as <span class= + "tei tei-q">“another”</span>; (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + the Father and the Son are distinguished as the begetter and + the begotten; (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) the Father and the Son + are distinguished as the sender and the sent.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John 5:32, + 37—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It is + another that beareth witness of me ... the Father that sent + me, he hath borne witness of me.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 2:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Thou + art my Son; this day have I begotten thee</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + only begotten from the Father</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">18—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the only begotten Son</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">3:16—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">gave his only begotten + Son.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 10:36—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">say ye + of him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, + Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of + God?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gal + 4:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">when + the fulness of the time came, God sent forth his + Son.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In these passages the Father is + represented as objective to the Son, the Son to the Father, + and both the Father and Son to the Spirit.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc289" id="toc289"></a> <a name="pdf290" id= + "pdf290"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 2. The Father and the Son are persons distinct from the + Spirit.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Jesus distinguishes the + Spirit from himself and from the Father; (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + the Spirit proceeds from the Father; (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + the Spirit is sent by the Father and by the + Son.</p><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page323">[pg + 323]</span><a name="Pg323" id="Pg323" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John 14:16, + 17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I will + pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, + that he may be with you for ever, even the Spirit of + truth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—or</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Spirit of the + truth</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= he whose work it is to reveal and apply + the truth, and especially to make manifest him who is the + truth. Jesus had been their Comforter: he now promises them + another Comforter. If he himself was a person, then the + Spirit is a person. (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 15:26—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the + Father.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 14:26—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in + my name</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">15:26—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">when + the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the + Father</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gal. + 4:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our + hearts.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Greek church holds that the Spirit + proceeds from the Father only; the Latin church, that the + Spirit proceeds both from the Father and from the Son. The + true formula is: The Spirit proceeds from the Father</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">through</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">or</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">by</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(not</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">and</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">) the Son. See Hagenbach, History of + Doctrine, 1:262, 263. Moberly, Atonement and Personality, + 195—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The</span> <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Filioque</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is a valuable defence of the + truth that the Holy Spirit is not simply the abstract second + Person of the Trinity, but rather the Spirit of the incarnate + Christ, reproducing Christ in human hearts, and revealing in + them the meaning of true manhood.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc291" id="toc291"></a> <a name="pdf292" id= + "pdf292"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 3. The Holy Spirit is a person.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. + Designations proper to personality are given him.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) The masculine pronoun + ἐκεῖνος, though πνεῦμα is neuter; (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + the name παράκλητος, which cannot be translated by <span class= + "tei tei-q">“comfort”</span>, or be taken as the name of any + abstract influence. The Comforter, Instructor, Patron, Guide, + Advocate, whom this term brings before us, must be a person. + This is evident from its application to Christ in 1 John + 2:1—<span class="tei tei-q">“we have an + Advocate—παράκλητον—with the Father, Jesus Christ the + righteous.”</span></p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 16:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He + (ἐκεῖνος) shall glorify me</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. 1:14</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">also, some of the best + authorities, including Tischendorf (8th ed.), read ὄς, the + masculine pronoun:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">who is an earnest of our + inheritance</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 14:16-18</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, παράκλητος + is followed by the neuters ὁ and αὐτό, because πνεῦμα had + intervened. Grammatical and not theological considerations + controlled the writer. See G. B. Stevens, Johannine Theology, + 189-217, especially on the distinction between Christ and the + Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is another person than Christ, + in spite of Christ's saying of the coming of the Holy + Spirit:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">I + come unto you</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 16:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">if I go + not away, the Comforter will not come unto + you.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The word παράκλητος, as appears + from</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 John + 2:1</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, quoted above, + is a term of broader meaning than merely</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Comforter.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Holy Spirit is, indeed, as has been + said,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + mother-principle in the Godhead,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">as one whom his mother + comforteth</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">so God by his Spirit comforts his children + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 66:13</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). But the Holy + Spirit is also an Advocate of God's claims in the soul, and + of the soul's interests in prayer (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 8:26—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">maketh + intercession for us</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">). He comforts not only by being our + advocate, but by being our instructor, patron, and guide; and + all these ideas are found attaching to the word παράκλητος in + good Greek usage. The word indeed is a verbal adjective, + signifying</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">called + to one's aid,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">hence a</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">helper</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; the idea of encouragement is included in + it, as well as those of comfort and of advocacy. See + Westcott, Bible Com., on</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 14:16</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; Cremer, + Lexicon of N. T. Greek,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + voce</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">T. Dwight, in S. S. Times, + on</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 14:16</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + fundamental meaning of the word παράκλητος, which is a verbal + adjective, is</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">called + to one's aid,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and thus, when used as a noun, it conveys + the idea of</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">helper.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This more general sense probably attaches to + its use in John's Gospel, while in the Epistle + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 John 2:1, + 2</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">) it conveys the + idea of Jesus acting as advocate on our behalf before God as + a Judge.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">So the Latin</span> <span lang= + "la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">advocatus</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">signifies one</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">called + to</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, called in to + aid, counsel, plead. In this connection Jesus says:</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I will + not leave you orphans</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John + 14:18)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. Cumming, + Through the Eternal Spirit, 228—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">As the orphaned family, in the day of the + parent's death, need some friend who shall lighten their + sense of loss by his own presence with them, so the Holy + Spirit is</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">called + in</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">to supply the present love and help which + the Twelve are losing in the death of + Jesus.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">A. A. Hodge, Pop. Lectures, + 237—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Roman</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">client,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">the poor and dependent man, called in + his</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">patron</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">to help him in all his needs. The patron + thought for, advised, directed, supported, defended, + supplied, restored, comforted his client in all his + complications. The client, though weak, with a powerful + patron, was socially and politically secure + forever.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. His name + is mentioned in immediate connection with other persons, and in + such a way as to imply his own personality.</p><span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page324">[pg 324]</span><a name="Pg324" id= + "Pg324" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) In connection with + Christians; (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) in connection with + Christ; (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) in connection with the + Father and the Son. If the Father and the Son are persons, the + Spirit must be a person also.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 15:28—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">it + seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 16:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He + shall glorify me: for he shall take of mine, and shall + declare it unto you</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">17:4—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I glorified thee on the + earth.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 28:29—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">baptizing them into the name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Cor. + 13:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the + communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you + all</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Jude + 21—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">praying + in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, + looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus + Christ.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Pet. 1:1, + 2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">elect + ... according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in + sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling + of the blood of Jesus Christ.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Yet it is noticeable in all these passages + that there is no obtrusion of the Holy Spirit's personality, + as if he desired to draw attention to himself. The Holy + Spirit shows, not himself, but Christ. Like John the Baptist, + he is a mere voice, and so is an example to Christian + preachers, who are themselves</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">made + ... sufficient as ministers ... of the + Spirit</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(2 Cor. + 3:6)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. His leading is + therefore often unperceived; he so joins himself to us that + we infer his presence only from the new and holy exercises of + our own minds; he continues to work in us even when his + presence is ignored and his purity is outraged by our + sins.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">C. He + performs acts proper to personality.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">That which + searches, knows, speaks, testifies, reveals, convinces, + commands, strives, moves, helps, guides, creates, recreates, + sanctifies, inspires, makes intercession, orders the affairs of + the church, performs miracles, raises the dead—cannot be a mere + power, influence, efflux, or attribute of God, but must be a + person.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 1:2</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + marg.—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">the + Spirit of God was brooding upon the face of the + waters</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">6:3—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">My Spirit shalt not strive with man for + ever</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 12:12—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Holy Spirit shall teach you in that very hour what ye ought + to say</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 3:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">born of + the Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—here Bengel translates:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">the Spirit breathes + where he wills, and thou hearest his + voice</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—see also Gordon, Ministry of the Spirit, + 166;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">16:8—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">convict the world in respect of sin, and of + righteousness, and of judgment</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 2:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Spirit gave them utterance</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">8:29—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the Spirit said unto Philip, Go + near</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">10:19, + 20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Spirit said unto him</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">[Peter],</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Behold, three men seek thee.... go with them + ... for I have sent them</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">13:2—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barnabas + and Saul</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">16:6, + 7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">forbidden of the Holy Spirit ... Spirit of + Jesus suffered them not</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 8:11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">give + life also to your mortal bodies through his + Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">26—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity ... + maketh intercession for us</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">15:19—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">in + the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Holy + Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. 2:10, + 11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Spirit searcheth all things.... things of God none knoweth, + save the Spirit of God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">12:8-11</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—distributes + spiritual gifts</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">to each one severally even as he + will</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—here Meyer calls attention to the + words</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">as he will,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">as proving the personality of the + Spirit;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Pet. + 1:21—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">men + spake from God, being moved by the Holy + Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Pet. + 1:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">sanctification of the + Spirit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">How can a person be given in various + measures? We answer, by being permitted to work in our behalf + with various degrees of power. Dorner:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">To be power does not belong to the + impersonal.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">D. He is + affected as a person by the acts of others.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">That which + can be resisted, grieved, vexed, blasphemed, must be a person; + for only a person can perceive insult and be offended. The + blasphemy against the Holy Ghost cannot be merely blasphemy + against a power or attribute of God, since in that case + blasphemy against God would be a less crime than blasphemy + against his power. That against which the unpardonable sin can + be committed must be a person.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 63:10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">they + rebelled and grieved his holy Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + Mat. 12:31—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Every + sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the + blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be + forgiven</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts 5:3, 4, + 9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">lie to + the Holy Ghost ... thou hast not lied unto men but unto + God.... agreed together to try the Spirit of the + Lord</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">7:51—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">ye do always resist the Holy + Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 4:30—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">grieve + not the Holy Spirit of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Satan cannot be</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">grieved.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Selfishness can be angered, but only love + can be grieved. Blaspheming the Holy Spirit is like + blaspheming one's own mother. The passages just quoted show + the Spirit's possession of an emotional nature. Hence we read + of</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the love of the Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Rom. + 15:30)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. The + unutterable sighings of the Christian in intercessory prayer + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. 8:26, + 27</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">) reveal the mind + of the Spirit, and show the infinite depths of feeling which + are awakened in God's</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page325">[pg 325]</span><a name="Pg325" id="Pg325" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">heart by + the sins and needs of men. These deep desires and emotions + which are only partially communicated to us, and which only + God can understand, are conclusive proof that the Holy Spirit + is a person. They are only the overflow into us of the + infinite fountain of divine love to which the Holy Spirit + unites us.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">As Christ in the garden</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">began + to be sorrowful and sore troubled</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Mat. + 26:37)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, so the Holy + Spirit is sorrowful and sore troubled at the ignoring, + despising, resisting of his work, on the part of those whom + he is trying to rescue from sin and to lead out into the + freedom and joy of the Christian life. Luthardt, in S. S. + Times, May 26, 1888—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Every sin can be forgiven—even the sin + against the Son of man—except the sin against the Holy + Spirit. The sin against the Son of man can be forgiven + because he can be misconceived. For he did not appear as that + which he really was. Essence and appearance, truth and + reality, contradicted each other.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hence Jesus could pray:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Father, + forgive them, for they know not what they + do</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Luke + 23:34)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. The office + of the Holy Spirit, however, is to show to men the nature of + their conduct, and to sin against him is to sin against light + and without excuse. See A. H. Strong, Christ in Creation, + 297-313. Salmond, in Expositor's Greek Testament, on</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 4:30</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">What + love is in us points truly, though tremulously, to what love + is in God. But in us love, in proportion as it is true and + sovereign, has both its</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">wrath-side</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and its</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">grief-side</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; + and so must it be with God, however difficult for us to think + it out.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">E. He + manifests himself in visible form as distinct from the Father + and the Son, yet in direct connection with personal acts + performed by them.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. 3:16, + 17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jesus, + when he was baptized, went up straightway from the water: and + lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of + God descending as a dove, and coming upon him; and lo, a voice + out of the heavens, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I + am well pleased</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + Luke 3:21, 22—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jesus + also having been baptized, and praying, the heaven was + opened, and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form, as a + dove, upon him, and a voice came out of heaven, Thou art my + beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Here are the prayer of Jesus, the approving + voice of the Father, and the Holy Spirit descending in + visible form to anoint the Son of God for his work.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I ad + Jordanem, et videbis Trinitatem.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">F. This + ascription to the Spirit of a personal subsistence distinct + from that of the Father and of the Son cannot be explained as + personification; for:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) This would be to + interpret sober prose by the canons of poetry. Such sustained + personification is contrary to the genius of even Hebrew + poetry, in which Wisdom itself is most naturally interpreted as + designating a personal existence. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + Such an interpretation would render a multitude of passages + either tautological, meaningless, or absurd,—as can be easily + seen by substituting for the name Holy Spirit the terms which + are wrongly held to be its equivalents; such as the power, or + influence, or efflux, or attribute of God. (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + It is contradicted, moreover, by all those passages in which + the Holy Spirit is distinguished from his own gifts.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + The Bible is not primarily a book of poetry, although there + is poetry in it. It is more properly a book of history and + law. Even if the methods of allegory were used by the + Psalmists and the Prophets, we should not expect them largely + to characterize the Gospels and Epistles;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 13:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Love + suffereth long, and is kind</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—is a rare instance in which Paul's style + takes on the form of poetry. Yet it is the Gospels and + Epistles which most constantly represent the Holy Spirit as a + person. (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 10:38—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + anointed him</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">[Jesus]</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">with the Holy Spirit and with + power</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">= anointed him with power and + with power?</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 15:13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">abound + in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= in the power of the power of God?</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">19—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">in the power of signs and wonders, in the + power of the Holy Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= in the power of the power of God?</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 2:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">demonstration of the Spirit and of + power</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">= demonstration of power and of + power? (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 1:35—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most + High shall overshadow thee</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">4:14—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit + into Galilee</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. 12:4, 8, + 11</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—after mention of + the gifts of the Spirit, such as wisdom, knowledge, faith, + healings, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, + interpretation of tongues, all these are traced to the Spirit + who bestows them:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">all + these worketh the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each + one severally even as he will</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Here is not only giving, but giving + discreetly, in the exercise of an independent will such as + belongs only to a person.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 8:26—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Spirit himself maketh intercession for us</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—must be interpreted, if the Holy Spirit is + not a person distinct from the Father, as meaning that the + Holy Spirit intercedes with himself.</span></p><span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page326">[pg 326]</span><a name="Pg326" id= + "Pg326" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + personality of the Holy Spirit was virtually rejected by the + Arians, as it has since been by Schleiermacher, and it has + been positively denied by the Socinians</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(E. G. Robinson). Gould, Bib. Theol. N. T., + 83, 96—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Twelve represent the Spirit as sent by the Son, who has been + exalted that he may send this new power out of the heavens. + Paul represents the Spirit as bringing to us the Christ. In + the Spirit Christ dwells in us. The Spirit is the historic + Jesus translated into terms of universal Spirit. Through the + Spirit we are in Christ and Christ in us. The divine + Indweller is to Paul alternately Christ and the Spirit. The + Spirit is the divine principle incarnate in Jesus and + explaining his preëxistence (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Cor. 3:17, + 18</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). Jesus was an + incarnation of the Spirit of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">This seeming identification of + the Spirit with Christ is to be explained upon the ground + that the divine essence is common to both and permits the + Father to dwell in and to work through the Son, and the Son + to dwell in and to work through the Spirit. It should not + blind us to the equally patent Scriptural fact that there are + personal relations between Christ and the Holy Spirit, and + work done by the latter in which Christ is the object and not + the subject;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 16:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He + shall glorify me: for he shall take of mine, and shall + declare it unto you.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Holy Spirit is not some</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">thing</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + but some</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">one</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; + not αὐτό, but Αὐτός; Christ's</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">alter + ego</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, or other self. + We should therefore make vivid our belief in the personality + of Christ and of the Holy Spirit by addressing each of them + frequently in the prayers we offer and in such hymns + as</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jesus, + lover of my soul,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly + Dove!</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On the personality of the Holy + Spirit, see John Owen, in Works, 3:64-92; Dick, Lectures on + Theology, 1:341-350.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc293" id="toc293"></a> <a name="pdf294" id= + "pdf294"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">III. This Tripersonality of the + Divine Nature is not merely economic and temporal, but is + immanent and eternal.</span></h3> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc295" id="toc295"></a> <a name="pdf296" id= + "pdf296"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1. Scripture proof that these distinctions of personality are + eternal.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We prove + this (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) from those passages which + speak of the existence of the Word from eternity with the + Father; (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) from passages asserting + or implying Christ's preëxistence; (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + from passages implying intercourse between the Father and the + Son before the foundation of the world; (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">d</span></span>) + from passages asserting the creation of the world by Christ; + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">e</span></span>) from passages asserting + or implying the eternity of the Holy Spirit.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John 1:1, + 2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In the + beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the + Word was God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 1:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In the + beginning God created the heavens and the + earth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Phil. + 2:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">existing in the form of God ... on an + equality with God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 8:58—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">before + Abraham was born, I am</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1:18—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom + of the Father</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(R. V.);</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col. + 1:15-17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">firstborn of all creation</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">or</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">before + every creature ... he is before all + things.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In these passages</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">am</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">and</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">is</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">indicate an eternal fact; the + present tense expresses permanent being.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rev. 22:13, + 14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I am + the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the + beginning and the end.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 17:5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Father, + glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I + had with thee before the world was</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">24—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the + world.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">d</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">All + things were made through him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 8:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">one + Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all + things</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col. + 1:16—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">all + things have been created through him and unto + him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 1:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">through + whom also he made the worlds</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">10—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Thou, Lord, in the beginning didst lay the + foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thy + hands.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 1:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Spirit of God was brooding</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—existed therefore before creation;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 33:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">by the + word of Jehovah were the heavens made; and all the host of + them by the breath</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">[Spirit]</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">of his mouth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 9:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">through + the eternal Spirit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">With these passages before us, + we must dissent from the statement of Dr. E. G. + Robinson:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">About + the ontologic Trinity we know absolutely nothing. The Trinity + we can contemplate is simply a revealed one, one of economic + manifestations. We may</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">suppose</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">that + the ontologic underlies the economic.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Scripture compels us, in our judgment, to go + further than this, and to maintain that there are personal + relations between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit + independently of creation and of time; in other words we + maintain that Scripture reveals to us a social Trinity and an + intercourse of love apart from and before the existence of + the universe. Love before time implies distinctions of + personality before time. There are three eternal + consciousnesses and three eternal wills in the divine nature. + We here state only the fact,—the explanation of it, and its + reconciliation with the fundamental unity of God is treated + in our next section. We now proceed to show that the two + varying systems which ignore this tripersonality are + unscriptural and at the same time exposed to philosophical + objection.</span></p> + </div> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page327">[pg + 327]</span><a name="Pg327" id="Pg327" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc297" id="toc297"></a> <a name="pdf298" id= + "pdf298"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 2. Errors refuted by the foregoing passages.</h4> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc299" id="toc299"></a> <a name="pdf300" id= + "pdf300"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + A. The Sabellian.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Sabellius + (of Ptolemais in Pentapolis, 250) held that Father, Son, and + Holy Spirit are mere developments or revelations to + creatures, in time, of the otherwise concealed + Godhead—developments which, since creatures will always + exist, are not transitory, but which at the same time are not + eternal <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-style: italic">a parte + ante</span></span>. God as united to the creation is Father; + God as united to Jesus Christ is Son; God as united to the + church is Holy Spirit. The Trinity of Sabellius is therefore + an economic and not an immanent Trinity—a Trinity of forms or + manifestations, but not a necessary and eternal Trinity in + the divine nature.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Some have + interpreted Sabellius as denying that the Trinity is eternal + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-style: italic">a parte + post</span></span>, as well as <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a parte ante</span></span>, and as + holding that, when the purpose of these temporary + manifestations is accomplished, the Triad is resolved into + the Monad. This view easily merges in another, which makes + the persons of the Trinity mere names for the ever shifting + phases of the divine activity.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The best statement of the + Sabellian doctrine, according to the interpretation first + mentioned, is that of Schleiermacher, translated with + comments by Moses Stuart, in Biblical Repository, 6:1-16. The + one unchanging God is differently reflected from the world on + account of the world's different receptivities. Praxeas of + Rome (200) Noetus of Smyrna (230), and Beryl of Arabia (250) + advocated substantially the same views. They were called + Monarchians (μόνη ἀρχή), because they believed not in the + Triad, but only in the Monad. They were called Patripassians, + because they held that, as Christ is only God in human form, + and this God suffers, therefore the Father suffers. Knight, + Colloquia Peripatetica, xlii, suggests a connection between + Sabellianism and Emanationism. See this Compendium, on + Theories which oppose Creation.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">A view similar to that of + Sabellius was held by Horace Bushnell, in his God in + Christ, 113-115, 130 sq., 172-175, and Christ in Theology, + 119, 120—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Father, Son and Holy Spirit, being + incidental to the revelation of God, may be and probably + are from eternity to eternity, inasmuch as God may have + revealed himself from eternity, and certainly will reveal + himself so long as there are minds to know him. It may be, + in fact, the nature of God to reveal himself, as truly as + it is of the sun to shine or of living mind to + think.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">He does not deny the immanent Trinity, but + simply says we know nothing about it. Yet a Trinity of + Persons in the divine essence itself he called plain + tritheism. He prefers</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">instrumental Trinity</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">to</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">modal + Trinity</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">as a designation of his + doctrine. The difference between Bushnell on the one hand, + and Sabellius and Schleiermacher on the other, seems then + to be the following: Sabellius and Schleiermacher hold that + the One</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">becomes</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">three in the process of + revelation, and the three are only</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">media</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">or</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">modes</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of revelation. Father, Son, + and Spirit are mere names applied to these modes of the + divine action, there being no internal distinctions in the + divine nature. This is modalism, or a modal Trinity. + Bushnell stands by the Trinity of revelation alone, and + protests against any constructive reasonings with regard to + the immanent Trinity. Yet in his later writings he reverts + to Athanasius and speaks of God as eternally</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">threeing himself</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; see Fisher, Edwards on the Trinity, + 73.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Lyman Abbott, in The Outlook, + proposes as illustration of the Trinity, 1. the artist + working on his pictures; 2. the same man teaching pupils + how to paint; 3. the same man entertaining his friends at + home. He has not taken on these types of conduct. They are + not masks (</span><span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">personæ</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">), + nor offices, which he takes up and lays down. There is a + threefold</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">nature</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">in him: he is artist, teacher, + friend. God is complex, and not simple. I do not know him, + till I know him in all these relations. Yet it is evident + that Dr. Abbott's view provides no basis for love or for + society within the divine nature. The three persons are but + three successive aspects or activities of the one God. + General Grant, when in office, was but one person, even + though he was a father, a President, and a commander in + chief of the army and navy of the United States.</span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page328">[pg + 328]</span><a name="Pg328" id="Pg328" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is + evident that this theory, in whatever form it may be held, is + far from satisfying the demands of Scripture. Scripture + speaks of the second person of the Trinity as existing and + acting before the birth of Jesus Christ, and of the Holy + Spirit as existing and acting before the formation of the + church. Both have a personal existence, eternal in the past + as well as in the future—which this theory expressly + denies.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">A revelation that is not a + self-revelation of God is not honest. Stuart: Since God is + revealed as three, he must be essentially or immanently + three, back of revelation; else the revelation would not be + true. Dorner: A Trinity of revelation is a misrepresentation, + if there is not behind it a Trinity of nature. Twesten + properly arrives at the threeness by considering, not so much + what is involved in the revelation of God to us, as what is + involved in the revelation of God to himself. The + unscripturalness of the Sabellian doctrine is plain, if we + remember that upon this view the Three cannot exist at once: + when the Father says</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Thou + art my beloved Son</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Luke + 3:22)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, he is simply + speaking to himself; when Christ sends the Holy Spirit, he + only sends himself.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In the + beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the + Word was God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">sets + aside the false notion that the Word become</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">personal</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">first at the time of creation, + or at the incarnation</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(Westcott, Bib. Com.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + loco</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">).</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Mason, Faith of the Gospel, + 50, 51—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Sabellius claimed that the Unity became a + Trinity by expansion. Fatherhood began with the world. God + is not eternally Father, nor does he love eternally. We + have only an impersonal, unintelligible God, who has played + upon us and confused our understanding by showing himself + to us under three disguises. Before creation there is no + Fatherhood, even in germ.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">According to Pfleiderer, + Philos. Religion, 2:269, Origen held that the Godhead might + be represented by three concentric circles; the widest, + embracing the whole being, is that of the Father; the next, + that of the Son, which extends to the rational creation; + and the narrowest is that of the Spirit, who rules in the + holy men of the church. King, Reconstruction of Theology, + 192, 194—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">To + affirm social relations in the Godhead is to assert + absolute Tritheism.... Unitarianism emphasizes the humanity + of Christ, to preserve the unity of God; the true view + emphasizes the divinity of Christ, to preserve the + unity.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">L. L. Paine, Evolution of + Trinitarianism, 141, 287, says that New England + Trinitarianism is characterized by three things: 1. + Sabellian Patripassianism; Christ is all the Father there + is, and the Holy Spirit is Christ's continued life; 2. + Consubstantiality, or community of essence, of God and man; + unlike the essential difference between the created and the + uncreated which Platonic dualism maintained, this theory + turns</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">moral</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">likeness + into</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">essential</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">likeness; 3. Philosophical + monism, matter itself being but an evolution of Spirit.... + In the next form of the scientific doctrine of evolution, + the divineness of man becomes a vital truth, and out of it + arises a Christology that removes Jesus of Nazareth indeed + out of the order of absolute Deity, but at the same time + exalts him to a place of moral eminence that is secure and + supreme.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Against this danger of + regarding Christ as a merely economic and temporary + manifestation of God we can guard only by maintaining the + Scriptural doctrine of an immanent Trinity. Moberly, + Atonement and Personality, 86, 165—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We + cannot incur any Sabellian peril while we maintain—what is + fatal to Sabellianism—that that which is revealed within + the divine Unity is not only a distinction of aspects or of + names, but a real reciprocity of mutual relation. + One</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">aspect</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">cannot contemplate, or be loved by, + another.... Sabellianism degrades the persons of Deity into + aspects. But there can be no mutual relation between + aspects. The heat and the light of flame cannot severally + contemplate and be in love with one + another.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Bushnell's doctrine + reviewed by Hodge, Essays and Reviews, 433-473. On the + whole subject, see Dorner, Hist. Doct. Person of Christ, + 2:152-169; Shedd, Hist. Doctrine, 1:259; Baur, Lehre von + der Dreieinigkeit, 1:256-305; Thomasius, Christi Person und + Werk 1:83.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc301" id="toc301"></a> <a name="pdf302" id= + "pdf302"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + B. The Arian.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Arius (of + Alexandria; condemned by Council of Nice, 325) held that the + Father is the only divine being absolutely without beginning; + the Son and the Holy Spirit, through whom God creates and + recreates, having been <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page329">[pg 329]</span><a name="Pg329" id="Pg329" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> themselves created out of nothing + before the world was; and Christ being called God, because he + is next in rank to God, and is endowed by God with divine + power to create.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The + followers of Arius have differed as to the precise rank and + claims of Christ. While Socinus held with Arius that worship + of Christ was obligatory, the later Unitarians have perceived + the impropriety of worshiping even the highest of created + beings, and have constantly tended to a view of the Redeemer + which regards him as a mere man, standing in a peculiarly + intimate relation to God.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">For statement of the Arian + doctrine, see J. Freeman Clarke, Orthodoxy, Its Truths and + Errors.</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Per + contra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, see + Schäffer, in Bib. Sac., 21:1, article on Athanasius and the + Arian controversy. The so-called Athanasian Creed, which + Athanasius never wrote, is more properly designated as + the</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Symbolum + Quicumque</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">. It has + also been called, though facetiously,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Anathemasian Creed.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Yet no error in doctrine can be more + perilous or worthy of condemnation than the error of Arius + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 16:22—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If + any man loveth not the Lord, let him be + anathema</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 John + 2:23—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath + not the Father</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">4:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">every + spirit that confesseth not Jesus is not of God: and this is + the spirit of the antichrist</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">). It regards Christ as called God only by + courtesy, much as we give to a Lieutenant Governor the + title of Governor. Before the creation of the Son, the love + of God, if there could be love, was expended on himself. + Gwatkin, Studies of Arianism:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Arian Christ is nothing but a heathen idol, invented to + maintain a heathenish Supreme in heathen isolation from the + world. The nearer the Son is pulled down towards man by the + attenuation of his Godhead, the more remote from man + becomes the unshared Godhead of the Father. You have + an</span> <span class="tei tei-foreign"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Être + Suprême</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">who is + practically unapproachable, a mere One-and-all, destitute + of personality.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Gore, Incarnation, 90, 91, + 110, shows the immense importance of the controversy with + regard to ὁμοούσιον and ὁμοιούσιον. Carlyle once sneered + that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Christian world was torn in pieces over a + diphthong.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But Carlyle afterwards came to see that + Christianity itself was at stake, and that it would have + dwindled away to a legend, if the Arians had won. Arius + appealed chiefly to logic, not to Scripture. He claimed + that a Son must be younger than his Father. But he was + asserting the principle of heathenism and idolatry, in + demanding worship for a creature. The Goths were easily + converted to Arianism. Christ was to them a hero-god, a + demigod, and the later Goths could worship Christ and + heathen idols impartially.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is + evident that the theory of Arius does not satisfy the demands + of Scripture. A created God, a God whose existence had a + beginning and therefore may come to an end, a God made of a + substance which once was not, and therefore a substance + different from that of the Father, is not God, but a finite + creature. But the Scripture speaks of Christ as being in the + beginning God, with God, and equal with God.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Luther, alluding to</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:1</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, says:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Word was God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is against Arius;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Word was with God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is against Sabellius.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Racovian Catechism, Quaes. 183, 184, + 211, 236, 237, 245, 246, teaches that Christ is to be truly + worshiped, and they are denied to be Christians who refuse + to adore him. Davidis was persecuted and died in prison for + refusing to worship Christ; and Socinus was charged, though + probably unjustly, with having caused his imprisonment. + Bartholomew Legate, an Essexman and an Arian, was burned to + death at Smithfield, March 13, 1613. King James I asked him + whether he did not pray to Christ. Legate's answer was + that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">indeed he had prayed to Christ in the days + of his ignorance, but not for these last seven + years</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; which so shocked James that</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he + spurned at him with his foot.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">At the stake Legate still refused to + recant, and so was burned to ashes amid a vast conflux of + people. The very next month another Arian named Whiteman + was burned at Burton-on-Trent.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It required courage, even a + generation later, for John Milton, in his Christian + Doctrine, to declare himself a high Arian. In that treatise + he teaches that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Son of God did not exist from all eternity, is not coëval + or coëssential or coëqual with the Father, but came into + existence by the will of God to be the next being to + himself, the first-born and best beloved, the Logos or Word + through whom all creation should take its + beginnings.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page330">[pg 330]</span><a name="Pg330" id="Pg330" + class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">So + Milton regards the Holy Spirit as a created being, inferior + to the Son and possibly confined to our heavens and earth. + Milton's Arianism, however, is characteristic of his later, + rather than his earlier, writings; compare the Ode on + Christ's Nativity with Paradise Lost, 3:383-391; and see + Masson's Life of Milton, 1:39; 6:823, 824; A. H. Strong, + Great Poets and their Theology, 260-262.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Dr. Samuel Clarke, when asked + whether the Father who had created could not also destroy + the Son, said that he had not considered the question. + Ralph Waldo Emerson broke with his church and left the + ministry because he could not celebrate the Lord's + Supper,—it implied a profounder reverence for Jesus than he + could give him. He wrote:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It + seemed to me at church to-day, that the Communion Service, + as it is now and here celebrated, is a document of the + dullness of the race. How these, my good neighbors, the + bending deacons, with their cups and plates, would have + straightened themselves to sturdiness, if the proposition + came before them to honor thus a + fellow-man</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; see Cabot's Memoir, 314. Yet Dr. Leonard + Bacon said of the Unitarians that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">it + seemed as if their exclusive contemplation of Jesus Christ + in his human character as the example for our imitation had + wrought in them an exceptional beauty and Christlikeness of + living.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Chadwick, Old and New + Unitarian Belief, 20, speaks of Arianism as exalting Christ + to a degree of inappreciable difference from God, while + Socinus looked upon him only as a miraculously endowed man, + and believed in an infallible book. The term</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Unitarians,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">he claims, is derived from the</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Uniti,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">a society in Transylvania, in support of + mutual toleration between Calvinists, Romanists, and + Socinians. The name stuck to the advocates of the divine + Unity, because they were its most active members. B. W. + Lockhart:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Trinity guarantees God's knowableness. + Arius taught that Jesus was neither human nor divine, but + created in some grade of being between the two, essentially + unknown to man. An absentee God made Jesus his messenger, + God himself not touching the world directly at any point, + and unknown and unknowable to it. Athanasius on the + contrary asserted that God did not send a messenger in + Christ, but came himself, so that to know Christ is really + to know God who is essentially revealed in him. This gave + the Church the doctrine of God immanent, or Immanuel, God + knowable and actually known by men, because actually + present.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Chapman, Jesus Christ and the + Present Age, 14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + world was never further from Unitarianism than it is + to-day; we may add that Unitarianism was never further from + itself.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On the doctrines of the early + Socinians, see Princeton Essays, 1:195. On the whole + subject, see Blunt, Dict. of Heretical Sects, art.: Arius; + Guericke, Hist. Doctrine, 1:313, 319. See also a further + account of Arianism in the chapter of this Compendium on + the Person of Christ.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc303" id="toc303"></a> <a name="pdf304" id= + "pdf304"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">IV. This Tripersonality is not + Tritheism; for, while there are three Persons, there is but one + Essence.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + The term <span class="tei tei-q">“person”</span> only + approximately represents the truth. Although this word, more + nearly than any other single word, expresses the conception which + the Scriptures give us of the relation between the Father, the + Son, and the Holy Spirit, it is not itself used in this + connection in Scripture, and we employ it in a qualified sense, + not in the ordinary sense in which we apply the word <span class= + "tei tei-q">“person”</span> to Peter, Paul, and John.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The word</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">person</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">is + only the imperfect and inadequate expression of a fact that + transcends our experience and comprehension. Bunyan:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">My dark and + cloudy words, they do but hold The truth, as cabinets encase the + gold.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Three Gods, limiting each other, + would deprive each other of Deity. While we show that the unity + is articulated by the persons, it is equally important to + remember that the persons are limited by the unity. With us + personality implies entire separation from all others—distinct + individuality. But in the one God there can be no such + separation. The personal distinctions in him must be such as are + consistent with essential unity. This is the merit of the + statement in the</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Symbolum + Quicumque</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">(or + Athanasian Creed, wrongly so called):</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy + Ghost is God; and yet there are not three Gods but one God. So + likewise the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy Ghost is + Lord; yet there are not three Lords but one Lord. For as we are + compelled by Christian truth to acknowledge each person by + himself to be God and Lord, so we are forbidden by the same truth + to say that there are three Gods or three + Lords.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page331">[pg 331]</span><a name="Pg331" id="Pg331" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">Hagenbach, + History of Doctrine, 1:270. We add that the personality of the + Godhead as a whole is separate and distinct from all others, + and in this respect is more fully analogous to man's + personality than is the personality of the Father or of the + Son.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The church of Alexandria in the second century + chanted together:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">One only + is holy, the Father; One only is holy, the Son; One only is + holy, the Spirit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Moberly, Atonement and Personality, 154, 167, + 168—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The three + persons are neither three Gods, nor three parts of God. Rather + are they God threefoldly, tri-personally.... The personal + distinction in Godhead is a distinction within, and of, Unity: + not a distinction which qualifies Unity, or usurps the place of + it, or destroys it. It is not a relation of mutual + exclusiveness, but of mutual inclusiveness. No one person is or + can be without the others.... The personality of the supreme or + absolute Being cannot be without self-contained mutuality of + relations such as Will and Love. But the mutuality would not be + real, unless the subject which becomes object, and the object + which becomes subject, were on each side alike and equally + Personal.... The Unity of all-comprehending inclusiveness is a + higher mode of unity than the unity of singular + distinctiveness.... The disciples are not to have the presence + of the Spirit instead of the Son, but to have the Spirit is to + have the Son. We mean by the Personal God not a limited + alternative to unlimited abstracts, such as Law, Holiness, + Love, but the transcendent and inclusive completeness of them + all. The terms Father and Son are certainly terms which rise + more immediately out of the temporal facts of the incarnation + than out of the eternal relations of the divine Being. They are + metaphors, however, which mean far more in the spiritual than + they do in the material sphere. Spiritual hunger is more + intense than physical hunger. So sin, judgment, grace, are + metaphors. But in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John 1:1-18</span></em> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Son</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is not used, but</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Word.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + The necessary qualification is that, while three persons among + men have only a <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">specific</span></em> unity of nature or + essence—that is, have the same <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">species</span></em> of nature or + essence,—the persons of the Godhead have a <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">numerical</span></em> unity of nature or + essence—that is, have the <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">same</span></em> nature or essence. The + undivided essence of the Godhead belongs equally to each of the + persons; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each possesses all the + substance and all the attributes of Deity. The plurality of the + Godhead is therefore not a plurality of essence, but a plurality + of hypostatical, or personal, distinctions. God is not three and + one, but three in one. The one indivisible essence has three + modes of subsistence.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Trinity is not simply a partnership, in + which each member can sign the name of the firm; for this is + unity of council and operation only, not of essence. God's nature + is not an abstract but an organic unity. God, as living, cannot + be a mere Monad. Trinity is the organism of the Deity. The one + divine Being exists in three modes. The life of the vine makes + itself known in the life of the branches, and this union between + vine and branches Christ uses to illustrate the union between the + Father and himself. (See</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + John 15:10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If ye + keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have + kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his + love</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">verse + 5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I am the + vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in me, and I in him, + the same beareth much fruit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">17:22, + 23—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">That they + may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and thou in + me.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">) So, in the organism of the body, the arm has + its own life, a different life from that of the head or the + foot, yet has this only by partaking of the life of the whole. + See Dorner, System of Doctrine, 1:450-453—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The one divine personality is so present in + each of the distinctions, that these, which singly and by + themselves would not be personal, yet do participate in the one + divine personality, each in its own manner. This one divine + personality is the unity of the three modes of subsistence + which participate in itself. Neither is personal without the + others. In each, in its manner, is the whole + Godhead.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The human body is a complex rather than a + simple organism, a unity which embraces an indefinite number of + subsidiary and dependent organisms. The one life of the body + manifests itself in the life of the nervous system, the life of + the circulatory system, and the life of the digestive system. + The complete destruction of either one of these systems + destroys the other two. Psychology as well as physiology + reveals to us the possibility of a three-fold life within the + bounds of a single being. In the individual man there is + sometimes a double and even a triple consciousness. Herbert + Spencer, Autobiography, 1:459; 2:204—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Most active minds have, I presume, more or + less frequent experiences of double consciousness—one + consciousness seeming to take note</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page332">[pg 332]</span><a name="Pg332" id= + "Pg332" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">of what the other is about, and to applaud or + blame.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">He mentions an instance in his own + experience.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">May there + not be possible a bi-cerebral thinking, as there is a binocular + vision?... In these cases it seems as though there were going + on, quite apart from the consciousness which seemed to + constitute myself, some process of elaborating coherent + thoughts—as though one part of myself was an independent + originator over whose sayings and doings I had no control, and + which were nevertheless in great measure consistent; while the + other part of myself was a passive spectator or listener, quite + unprepared for many of the things that the first part said, and + which were nevertheless, though unexpected, not + illogical.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">This fact that there can be more + than one consciousness in the same personality among men should + make us slow to deny that there can be three consciousnesses in + the one God.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Humanity at large is also an organism, and + this fact lends new confirmation to the Pauline statement of + organic interdependence. Modern sociology is the doctrine of + one life constituted by the union of many.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Unus homo, nullus homo</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is a principle of ethics as well as of + sociology. No man can have a conscience to himself. The moral + life of one results from and is interpenetrated by the moral + life of all. All men moreover live, move and have their being + in God. Within the bounds of the one universal and divine + consciousness there are multitudinous</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">finite</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">consciousnesses. Why then should + it be thought incredible that in the nature of this one God + there should be three</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">infinite</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">consciousnesses? Baldwin, + Psychology, 53, 54—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + integration of finite consciousnesses in an all-embracing + divine consciousness may find a valid analogy in the + integration of subordinate consciousnesses in the + unit-personality of man. In the hypnotic state, multiple + consciousnesses may be induced in the same nervous organism. In + insanity there is a secondary consciousness at war with that + which normally dominates.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Schurman, Belief in God, 26, + 161—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + infinite Spirit may include the finite, as the idea of a single + organism embraces within a single life a plurality of members + and functions.... All souls are parts or functions of the + eternal life of God, who is above all, and through all, and in + all, and in whom we live, and move, and have our + being.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We would draw the conclusion that, + as in the body and soul of man, both as an individual and as a + race, there is diversity in unity, so in the God in whose image + man is made, there is diversity in unity, and a triple + consciousness and will are consistent with, and even find their + perfection in, a single essence.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">By the personality of God we mean more than we + mean when we speak of the personality of the Son and the + personality of the Spirit. The personality of the Godhead is + distinct and separate from all others, and is, in this respect, + like that of man. Hence Shedd, Dogm. Theol., 1:194, says</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">it is + preferable to speak of the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">personality</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of the essence rather than of + the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">person</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of the essence; because the + essence is not one person, but three persons.... The divine + essence cannot be at once three persons and one person, + if</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">person</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is employed in one signification; but it can + be at once three persons and one personal + Being.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">While we speak of the one God as + having a personality in which there are three persons, we would + not call this personality a superpersonality, if this latter + term is intended to intimate that God's personality is less + than the personality of man. The personality of the Godhead is + inclusive rather than exclusive.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">With this qualification we may assent to the + words of D'Arcy, Idealism and Theology, 93, 94, 218, 230, 236, + 254—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + innermost truth of things, God, must be conceived as personal; + but the ultimate Unity, which is his, must be believed to be + superpersonal. It is a unity of persons, not a personal unity. + For us personality is the ultimate form of unity. It is not so + in him. For in him all persons live and move and have their + being.... God is personal and also superpersonal. In him there + is a transcendent unity that can embrace a personal + multiplicity.... There is in God an ultimate superpersonal + unity in which all persons are one—[all human persons and the + three divine persons].... Substance is more real than quality, + and subject is more real than substance. The most real of all + is the concrete totality, the all-inclusive Universal.... What + human love strives to accomplish—the overcoming of the + opposition of person to person—is perfectly attained in the + divine Unity.... The presupposition on which philosophy is + driven back—[that persons have an underlying ground of unity] + is identical with that which underlies Christian + theology.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Pfleiderer and Lotze on + personality, in this Compendium, p. 104.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + This oneness of essence explains the fact that, while Father, + Son, and Holy Spirit, as respects their personality, are distinct + subsistences, there is an intercommunion of persons and an + immanence of one divine person in <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page333">[pg 333]</span><a name="Pg333" id="Pg333" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> another which permits the peculiar work of + one to be ascribed, with a single limitation, to either of the + others, and the manifestation of one to be recognized in the + manifestation of another. The limitation is simply this, that + although the Son was sent by the Father, and the Spirit by the + Father and the Son, it cannot be said <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">vice + versa</span></span> that the Father is sent either by the Son, or + by the Spirit. The Scripture representations of this + intercommunion prevent us from conceiving of the distinctions + called Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as involving separation + between them.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dorner adds that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">in one is each of the + others.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">This is true with the limitation + mentioned in the text above. Whatever Christ does, God the + Father can be said to do; for God acts only in and through + Christ the Revealer. Whatever the Holy Spirit does, Christ can + be said to do; for the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. The + Spirit is the omnipresent Jesus, and Bengel's dictum is + true:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Ubi + Spiritus, ibi Christus.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Passages illustrating this intercommunion are + the following:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 1:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + created</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 1:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">through + whom</span></span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">[the + Son]</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">also he made the + worlds</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John 5:17, + 19—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">My Father + worketh even until now, and I work.... The Son can do nothing + of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing; for what things + soever he doeth, these the Son also doeth in like + manner</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">14:9—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">he that hath seen me hath seen the + Father</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">11—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I am in the Father and the Father in + me</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">18—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I will not leave you desolate: I come unto + you</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(by the Holy Spirit);</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">15:26—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">when the Comforter is come, whom I will send + unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of + truth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">17:21—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">that they may all be one; even as thou, + Father, art in me, and I in thee</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Cor. + 5:19—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God was + in Christ reconciling</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Titus + 2:10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God our + Savior</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 12:23—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God the + Judge of all</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 5:22—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">neither + doth the father judge any man, but he hath given all judgment + unto the Son</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 17:31—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">judge the + world in righteousness by the man whom he hath + ordained.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is this intercommunion, together with the + order of personality and operation to be mentioned hereafter, + which explains the occasional use of the term</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Father</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">for the whole Godhead; as in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 4:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">one God + and Father of all, who is over all through + all</span></span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">[in + Christ],</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">and in you + all</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">[by the Spirit]. This + intercommunion also explains the designation of Christ + as</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">the + Spirit</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and of the Spirit as</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">the Spirit of + Christ</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">as in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 15:45—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the last + Adam became a life-giving Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Cor. + 3:17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Now the + Lord is the Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gal. + 4:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">sent + forth the Spirit of his Son</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Phil. + 1:19—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">supply of + the Spirit of Jesus Christ</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(see Alford and Lange on</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Cor. 3:17, + 18</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). So the Lamb, + in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rev. + 5:6</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, has</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">seven horns and seven + eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all + the earth</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">= + the Holy Spirit, with his manifold powers, is the Spirit of the + omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent Christ. Theologians + have designated this intercommunion by the terms + περιχώρησις,</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">circumincessio</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">,</span> + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">intercommunicatio</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">,</span> + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">circulatio</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">,</span> + <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">inexistentia</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">. + The word οὐσία was used to denote essence, substance, nature, + being; and the words πρόσωπον and ὑπόστασις for person, + distinction, mode of subsistence. On the changing uses of the + words πρόσωπον and ὑπόστασις see Dorner, Glaubenslehre, 2:321, + note 2. On the meaning of the word 'person' in connection with + the Trinity, see John Howe, Calm Discourse of the Trinity; + Jonathan Edwards, Observations on the Trinity; Shedd, Dogm. + Theol., 1:194, 267-275, 299, 300.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Holy Spirit is Christ's</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">alter + ego</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, or other self. + When Jesus went away, it was an exchange of his presence for + his omnipresence; an exchange of limited for unlimited power; + an exchange of companionship for indwelling. Since Christ comes + to men in the Holy Spirit, he speaks through the apostles as + authoritatively as if his own lips uttered the words. Each + believer, in having the Holy Spirit, has the whole Christ for + his own; see A. J. Gordon, Ministry of the Spirit. Gore, + Incarnation, 218—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + persons of the Holy Trinity are not separable individuals. Each + involves the others; the coming of each is the coming of the + others. Thus the coming of the Spirit must have involved the + coming of the Son. But the specialty of the Pentecostal gift + appears to be the coming of the Holy Spirit out of the uplifted + and glorified</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">manhood</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of the incarnate Son. The Spirit + is the life-giver, but the life with which he works in the + church is the life of the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Incarnate</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + the life of Jesus.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Moberly, Atonement and Personality, + 85—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For + centuries upon centuries, the essential unity of God had been + burnt and branded in upon the consciousness of Israel. It had + to be completely established first, as a basal element of + thought, indispensable, unalterable, before there could begin + the disclosure to man of the reality of the eternal relations + within the one indivisible being of God. And when the + disclosure came, it came not as modifying, but as further + interpreting and illumining, that unity which</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page334">[pg 334]</span><a name= + "Pg334" id="Pg334" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">it absolutely presupposed.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">E. G. Robinson, Christian Theology, + 238—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There is + extreme difficulty in giving any statement of a triunity that + shall not verge upon tritheism on the one hand, or upon mere + modalism on the other. It was very natural that Calvin should + be charged with Sabellianism, and John Howe with + tritheism.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc305" id="toc305"></a> <a name="pdf306" id= + "pdf306"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">V. The Three Persons, Father, Son, + and Holy Spirit, are equal.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">In + explanation, notice that:</p> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc307" id="toc307"></a> <a name="pdf308" id= + "pdf308"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1. These titles belong to the Persons.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) The Father is not God as + such; for God is not only Father, but also Son and Holy Spirit. + The term <span class="tei tei-q">“Father”</span> designates + that hypostatical distinction in the divine nature in virtue of + which God is related to the Son, and through the Son and the + Spirit to the church and the world. As author of the believer's + spiritual as well as natural life, God is doubly his Father; + but this relation which God sustains to creatures is not the + ground of the title. God is Father primarily in virtue of the + relation which he sustains to the eternal Son; only as we are + spiritually united to Jesus Christ do we become children of + God.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) The Son is not God as + such; for God is not only Son, but also Father and Holy Spirit. + <span class="tei tei-q">“The Son”</span> designates that + distinction in virtue of which God is related to the Father, is + sent by the Father to redeem the world, and with the Father + sends the Holy Spirit.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) The Holy Spirit is not + God as such; for God is not only Holy Spirit, but also Father + and Son. <span class="tei tei-q">“The Holy Spirit”</span> + designates that distinction in virtue of which God is related + to the Father and the Son, and is sent by them to accomplish + the work of renewing the ungodly and of sanctifying the + church.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Neither of these names + designates the Monad as such. Each designates rather that + personal distinction which forms the eternal basis and ground + for a particular self-revelation. In the sense of being the + Author and Provider of men's natural life, God is the Father + of all. But even this natural sonship is mediated by Jesus + Christ; see</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 8:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">one + Lord, Jesus Christ through whom are all things, and we + through him.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The phrase</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Our + Father</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">however, can be used with the highest truth + only by the regenerate, who have been newly born of God by + being united to Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. + See</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gal. + 3:26—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For ye + are all sons of God, through faith, in Jesus + Christ</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">4:4-6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + sent forth his Son ... that we might receive the adoption of + sons ... sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, + crying, Abba, Father</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 1:5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">foreordained as unto adoption as sons + through Jesus Christ.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">God's love for Christ is the measure of his + love for those who are one with Christ. Human nature in + Christ is lifted up into the life and communion of the + eternal Trinity. Shedd, Dogm. Theol., 1:306-310.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Human fatherhood is a reflection + of the divine, not,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">vice + versa</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, the divine + a reflection of the human;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. 3:14, + 15—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Father, from whom every fatherhood</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">πατριά</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">in heaven and on earth is + named.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Chadwick, Unitarianism, 77-83, makes the + name</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Father</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">only a symbol for the great Cause of organic + evolution, the Author of all being. But we may reply with + Stearns, Evidence of Christian Experience, + 177—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">to know + God outside of the sphere of redemption is not to know him in + the deeper meaning of the term</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Father</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">. It is only through the Son that we know + the Father:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 11:27—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Neither + doth any know the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever + the Son willeth to reveal him.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Whiton, Gloria Patri, + 38—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Unseen can be known only by the seen which comes forth from + it. The all-generating or Paternal Life which is hidden from + us can be known only by the generated or Filial Life in which + it reveals itself. The goodness and righteousness which + inhabits eternity can be known only by the goodness and + righteousness which issues from it in the successive births + of time. God above the world is made known only by God in the + world. God transcendent, the Father, is revealed by God + immanent, the Son.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Faber:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">O marvellous, O worshipful! No song or sound + is heard, But everywhere and every hour, In love, in wisdom + and in power,</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page335">[pg 335]</span><a name="Pg335" id="Pg335" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">the Father + speaks his dear eternal Word.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We may interpret this as meaning that + self-expression is a necessity of nature to an infinite Mind. + The Word is therefore eternal. Christ is the mirror from + which are flashed upon us the rays of the hidden Luminary. So + Principal Fairbairn says:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Theology must be on its historical side + Christocentric, but on its doctrinal side + Theocentric.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Salmond, Expositor's Greek + Testament, on</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 1:5</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">By</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">adoption</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Paul does not mean the bestowal of the full + privileges of the family on those who are sons by nature, but + the acceptance into the family of those who are not sons + originally and by right in the relation proper of those who + are sons by birth. Hence υἱοθεσία is never affirmed of + Christ, for he alone is Son of God by nature. So Paul regards + our sonship, not as lying in the natural relation in which + men stand to God as his children, but as implying a new + relation of grace, founded on a covenant relation of God and + on the work of Christ (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gal. 4:5</span></em> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">).</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc309" id="toc309"></a> <a name="pdf310" id= + "pdf310"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 2. Qualified sense of these titles.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Like the + word <span class="tei tei-q">“person”</span>, the names Father, + Son, and Holy Spirit are not to be confined within the precise + limitations of meaning which would be required if they were + applied to men.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) The Scriptures enlarge + our conceptions of Christ's Sonship by giving to him in his + preëxistent state the names of the Logos, the Image, and the + Effulgence of God.—The term <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Logos”</span> combines in itself the two ideas of + thought and word, of reason and expression. While the Logos as + divine thought or reason is one with God, the Logos as divine + word or expression is distinguishable from God. Words are the + means by which personal beings express or reveal themselves. + Since Jesus Christ was <span class="tei tei-q">“the + Word”</span> before there were any creatures to whom + revelations could be made, it would seem to be only a necessary + inference from this title that in Christ God must be from + eternity expressed or revealed to himself; in other words, that + the Logos is the principle of truth, or self-consciousness, in + God.—The term <span class="tei tei-q">“Image”</span> suggests + the ideas of copy or counterpart. Man is the image of God only + relatively and derivatively. Christ is the Image of God + absolutely and archetypally. As the perfect representation of + the Father's perfections, the Son would seem to be the object + and principle of love in the Godhead.—The term <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Effulgence,”</span> finally, is an allusion to the + sun and its radiance. As the effulgence of the sun manifests + the sun's nature, which otherwise would be unrevealed, yet is + inseparable from the sun and ever one with it, so Christ + reveals God, but is eternally one with God. Here is a principle + of movement, of will, which seems to connect itself with the + holiness, or self-asserting purity, of the divine nature.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Smyth, Introd. to Edwards' + Observations on the Trinity:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The ontological relations of the persons of + the Trinity are not a mere blank to human + thought.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In the + beginning was the Word</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—means more than</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">in the beginning was the</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">x</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + or the zero.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Godet indeed says that Logos =</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">reason</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">only in philosophical writings, but never in + the Scriptures. He calls this a Hegelian notion. But both + Plato and Philo had made this signification a common one. On + λόγος as = reason + speech, see Lightfoot on Colossians, 143, + 144. Meyer interprets it as</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">personal subsistence, the self-revelation of + the divine essence, before all time immanent in + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Neander, Planting and Training, + 369—Logos =</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + eternal Revealer of the divine essence.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bushnell:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Mirror of creative + imagination</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">form of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Word = 1. Expression; 2. + Definite expression; 3. Ordered expression; 4. Complete + expression. We make thought definite by putting it into + language. So God's wealth of ideas is in the Word formed into + an ordered Kingdom, a true Cosmos; see Mason, Faith of the + Gospel, 76. Max Müller:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">A word is simply a spoken thought made + audible as sound. Take away from a word the sound, and what + is left is simply the thought of</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page336">[pg 336]</span><a name="Pg336" id= + "Pg336" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">it.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Whiton, Gloria Patri, 72, + 73—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Greek saw in the word the abiding thought behind the passing + form. The Word was God and yet finite—finite only as to form, + infinite as to what the form suggests or expresses. By Word + some form must be meant, and any form is finite. The Word is + the form taken by the infinite Intelligence which transcends + all forms.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We regard this identification of + the Word with the finite manifestation of the Word as + contradicted by</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:1</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, where the Word + is represented as being with God before creation, and + by</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Phil. + 2:6</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, where the Word + is represented as existing in the form of God before his + self-limitation in human nature. Scripture requires us to + believe in an objectification of God to himself in the person + of the Word prior to any finite manifestation of God to men. + Christ existed as the Word, and the Word was with God, before + the Word was made flesh and before the world came into being; + in other words, the Logos was the eternal principle of truth + or self-consciousness in the nature of God.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Passages representing Christ as + the Image of God are</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col. + 1:15—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">who is + the image of the invisible God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Cor. + 4:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Christ, + who is the image of God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(εἰκών);</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 1:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + very image of his substance</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ); here + χαρακτήρ means</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">impress,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">counterpart.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christ is the perfect image of God, as men + are not. He therefore has consciousness and will. He + possesses all the attributes and powers of God. The + word</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Image</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">suggests the perfect equality with God which + the title</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Son</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">might at first seem to deny. The living + Image of God which is equal to himself and is the object of + his infinite love can be nothing less than personal. As the + bachelor can never satisfy his longing for companionship by + lining his room with mirrors which furnish only a lifeless + reflection of himself, so God requires for his love a + personal as well as an infinite object. The Image is not + precisely the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">repetition</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of the original. The stamp from + the seal is not precisely the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">reproduction</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of the seal. The letters on the + seal run backwards and can be easily read only when the + impression is before us. So Christ is the only interpretation + and revelation of the hidden Godhead. As only in love do we + come to know the depths of our own being, so it is only in + the Son that</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God is love</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(1 John + 4:8)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Christ is spoken of as the + Effulgence of God in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 1:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">who + being the effulgence of his glory</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης);</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Cor. + 4:6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">shined + in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the + glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Notice that the radiance of the sun is as + old as the sun itself, and without it the sun would not be + sun. So Christ is coëqual and coëternal with the + Father.</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 84:11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jehovah + God is a sun.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But we cannot see the sun except by the + sunlight. Christ is the sunlight which streams forth from the + Sun and which makes the Sun visible. If there be an eternal + Sun, there must be also an eternal Sunlight, and Christ must + be eternal. Westcott on</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Hebrews + 1:3</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The use + of the absolute timeless term ὤν,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">being</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + guards against the thought that the Lord's sonship was by + adoption, and not by nature. ἀπαύγασμα does not express + personality, and χαρακτήρ does not express coëssentiality. + The two words are related exactly as ὁμοούσιος and μονογενής, + and like those must be combined to give the fulness of the + truth. The truth expressed thus antithetically holds good + absolutely.... In Christ the essence of God is made distinct; + in Christ the revelation of God's character is + seen.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On Edwards's view of the + Trinity, together with his quotations from Ramsey's + Philosophical Principles, from which he seems to have derived + important suggestions, see Allen, Jonathan Edwards, 338-376; + G. P. Fisher, Edwards's Essay on the Trinity, + 110-116.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) The names thus given to + the second person of the Trinity, if they have <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-style: italic">any</span></em> + significance, bring him before our minds in the general aspect + of Revealer, and suggest a relation of the doctrine of the + Trinity to God's immanent attributes of truth, love, and + holiness. The prepositions used to describe the internal + relations of the second person to the first are not + prepositions of rest, but prepositions of direction and + movement. The Trinity, as the organism of Deity, secures a + life-movement of the Godhead, a process in which God evermore + objectifies himself and in the Son gives forth of his fulness. + Christ represents the centrifugal action of the deity. But + there must be centripetal action also. In the Holy Spirit the + movement is completed, and the divine activity and thought + returns into itself. True religion, in reuniting us to God, + reproduces in us, in our limited measure, this eternal process + of the divine mind. Christian experience witnesses that + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page337">[pg 337]</span><a name= + "Pg337" id="Pg337" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> God in himself + is unknown; Christ is the organ of external revelation; the + Holy Spirit is the organ of internal revelation—only he can + give us an inward apprehension or realization of the truth. It + is <span class="tei tei-q">“through the eternal Spirit”</span> + that Christ <span class="tei tei-q">“offered himself without + blemish unto God,”</span> and it is only through the Holy + Spirit that the church has access to the Father, or fallen + creatures can return to God.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Here we see that God is Life, + self-sufficient Life, Infinite Life, of which the life of the + universe is but a faint reflection, a rill from the fountain, + a drop from the ocean. Since Christ is the only Revealer, the + only outgoing principle in the Godhead, it is he in whom the + whole creation comes to be and holds together. He is the Life + of nature: all natural beauty and grandeur, all forces + molecular and molar, all laws of gravitation and evolution, + are the work and manifestation of the omnipresent Christ. He + is the Life of humanity: the intellectual and moral impulses + of man, so far as they are normal and uplifting, are due to + Christ; he is the principle of progress and improvement in + history. He is the Life of the church: the one and only + Redeemer and spiritual Head of the race is also its Teacher + and Lord.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">All objective revelation of God + is the work of Christ. But all subjective manifestation of + God is the work of the Holy Spirit. As Christ is the + principle of outgoing, so the Holy Spirit is the principle of + return to God. God would take up finite creatures into + himself, would breath into them his breath, would teach them + to launch their little boats upon the infinite current of his + life. Our electric cars can go up hill at great speed so long + as they grip the cable. Faith is the grip which connects us + with the moving energy of God.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The universe is homeward + bound,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">because the Holy Spirit is ever + turning objective revelation into subjective revelation, and + is leading men consciously or unconsciously to appropriate + the thought and love and purpose of Him in whom all things + find their object and end;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">for of + him and through him, and unto him, are all + things</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Rom. + 11:36)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">,—here there + is allusion to the Father as the source, the Son as the + medium, and the Spirit as the perfecting and completing + agent, in God's operations. But all these external processes + are only signs and finite reflections of a life-process + internal to the nature of God.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Meyer on</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Word was with God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">πρὸς τὸν θεόν does not = παρὰ τῷ θεῷ, but + expresses the existence of the Logos in God in respect of + intercourse. The moral essence of this essential fellowship + is love, which excludes any merely modalistic + conception.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Marcus Dods, Expositor's Greek + Testament,</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + loco</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">This + preposition implies intercourse and therefore separate + personality.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Mason, Faith of the Gospel, + 62—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">And + the Word was toward God</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">= his face is not outwards, as if he were + merely revealing, or waiting to reveal, God to the creation. + His face is turned inwards. His whole Person is directed + toward God, motion corresponding to motion, thought to + thought.... In him God stands revealed to himself. Contrast + the attitude of fallen Adam, with his face averted from God. + Godet, on</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:1</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Πρὸς + τὸν θεόν intimates not only personality but movement.... The + tendency of the Logos</span> <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">ad extra</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">rests upon an anterior and + essential relation</span> <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">ad + intra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">. To reveal + God, one must know him; to project him outwardly, one must + have plunged into his bosom.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Compare</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the + Father</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(R. V.) where we find, not ἐν τῷ κόλπῷ, but + εἰς τὸν κόλπον. As ἦν εἰς τὴν πόλιν means</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">went into the city and was + there,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">so the use of these prepositions + indicates in the Godhead movement as well as rest. Dorner, + System of Doctrine, 3:193, translates πρός by</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span lang="de" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="de"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">hingewandt + zu</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">or</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">turned toward.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The preposition would then imply that the + Revealer, who existed in the beginning, was ever over against + God, in the life-process of the Trinity, as the perfect + objectification of himself.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Das Aussichselbstsein kraft des + Durchsichselbstsein mit dem Fürsichselbstsein + zusammenschliesst.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dorner speaks of</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">das Aussensichoderineinemandernsein; + Sichgeltendmachen des Ausgeschlossenen; + Sichnichtsogesetzthaben; + Stehenbleibenwollen.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">There is in all human + intelligence a threefoldness which points toward a + trinitarian life in God. We can distinguish a</span> + <span lang="de" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "de"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Wissen</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + a</span> <span lang="de" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "de"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Bewusstsein</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + a</span> <span lang="de" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "de"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Selbstbewusstein</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">. + In complete self-consciousness there are the three elements: + 1. We are ourselves; 2. We form a picture of ourselves; 3. We + recognize this picture as the picture of ourselves. The + little child speaks of himself in the third person:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Baby + did it.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The objective comes before the + subject;</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">me</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">comes first, and</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is a later development;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">himself</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">still holds its place, rather than</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">heself.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But this duality belongs only to undeveloped + intelligence; it is characteristic of the animal creation; we + revert to it in our</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page338">[pg 338]</span><a name="Pg338" id="Pg338" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">dreams; the + insane are permanent victims of it; and since sin is moral + insanity, the sinner has no hope until, like the prodigal, + he</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">comes to himself</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Luke + 15:17)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. The insane + person is</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">mente + alienatus</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, and we + call physicians for the insane by the name of</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">alienists</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + Mere duality gives us only the notion of separation. Perfect + self-consciousness whether in man or in God requires a third + unifying element. And in God mediation between the</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and the</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Thou</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">must be the work of a Person also, and the + Person who mediates between the two must be in all respects + the equal of either, or he could not adequately interpret the + one to the other; see Mason, Faith of the Gospel, + 57-59.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Shedd, Dogm. Theol., 1:179-189, + 276-283—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It is + one of the effects of conviction by the Holy Spirit to + convert consciousness into self-consciousness.... Conviction + of sin is the consciousness of self as the guilty author of + sin. Self-consciousness is trinal, while mere consciousness + is dual.... One and the same human spirit subsists in two + modes or distinctions—subject and object ... The three + hypostatical consciousnesses in their combination and unity + constitute the one consciousness of God ... as the three + persons make one essence.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Dorner considers the internal + relations of the Trinity (System, 1:412</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sq.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + in three aspects: 1. Physical. God is</span> <span lang="la" + class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">causa + sui</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">. But effect + that equals cause must itself be causative. Here would be + duality, were it not for a third principle of unity. Trinitas + dualitatem ad unitatem reducit. 2. Logical. + Self-consciousness sets self over against self. Yet the + thinker must not regard self as one of many, and call + himself</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">he,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">as children do; for the thinker would then + be, not</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">self</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">-conscious, + but</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">mente + alienatus</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">beside + himself.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">He therefore</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">comes to himself</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">in a third, as the brute cannot. 3. Ethical. + God—self-willing right. But right based on arbitrary will is + not right. Right based on passive nature is not right either. + Right as</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">being</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—Father. + Right as</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">willing</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—Son. + Without the latter principle of freedom, we have a dead + ethic, a dead God, an enthroned necessity. The unity of + necessity and freedom is found by God, as by the Christian, + in the Holy Spirit. The Father—I; the Son—Me; the Spirit the + unity of the two; see C. C. Everett, Essays, Theological and + Literary, 32. There must be not only Sun and Sunlight, but an + Eye to behold the Light. William James, in his Psychology, + distinguishes the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + Me</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, the self as + known, from the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">I</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + the self as knower.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">But we need still further to + distinguish a third principle, a subject-object, from both + subject and object. The subject cannot recognize the object + as one with itself except through a unifying principle which + can be distinguished from both. We may therefore regard the + Holy Spirit as the principle of self-consciousness in man as + well as in God. As there was a natural union of Christ with + humanity prior to his redeeming work, so there is a natural + union of the Holy Spirit with all men prior to his + regenerating work:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Job + 32:18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">there + is a spirit in man, And the breath of the Almighty giveth + them understanding.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Kuyper, Work of the Holy Spirit, teaches + that the Holy Spirit constitutes the principle of life in all + living things, and animates all rational beings, as well as + regenerates and sanctifies the elect of God. Matheson, Voices + of the Spirit, 75, remarks on</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Job 34:14, + 15—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If he + gather unto himself his Spirit and his breath; all flesh + shall perish together</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—that the Spirit is not only necessary to + man's salvation, but also to keep up even man's natural + life.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Ebrard, Dogmatik, 1:172, speaks + of the Son as the centrifugal, while the Holy Spirit is the + centripetal movement of the Godhead. God apart from Christ is + unrevealed (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">No man + hath seen God at any time</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">); Christ is the organ of external + revelation (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">18—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom + of the Father, he hath declared him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">); the Holy Spirit is the organ of internal + revelation (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 2:10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">unto us + Christ revealed them through the Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">). That the Holy Spirit is the principle of + all movement towards God appears from</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 9:14</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—Christ</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">through + the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish unto + God</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 2:28—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">access + in one Spirit unto the Father</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 8:26—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Spirit also helpeth our infirmity ... the Spirit himself + maketh intercession for us</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 4:24—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God is + a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in + spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">16:8-11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">convict + the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of + judgment.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Twesten, Dogmatik, on the Trinity; also + Thomasius, Christi Person und Werk, 1:111. Mason, Faith of + the Gospel, 68—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It is + the joy of the Son to receive, his gladness to welcome most + those wishes of the Father which will cost most to himself. + The Spirit also has his joy in making known,—in perfecting + fellowship and keeping the eternal love alive by that + incessant sounding of the deeps which makes the heart of the + Father known to the Son, and the heart of the Son known to + the Father.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We may add that the Holy Spirit is the organ + of internal revelation even to the Father and to the + Son.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) In the light of what has + been said, we may understand somewhat more fully the + characteristic differences between the work of Christ and that + of the Holy Spirit. We may sum them up in the four statements + that, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page339">[pg + 339]</span><a name="Pg339" id="Pg339" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> first, all outgoing seems to be the work + of Christ, all return to God the work of the Spirit; secondly, + Christ is the organ of external revelation, the Holy Spirit the + organ of internal revelation; thirdly, Christ is our advocate + in heaven, the Holy Spirit is our advocate in the soul; + fourthly, in the work of Christ we are passive, in the work of + the Spirit we are active. Of the work of Christ we shall treat + more fully hereafter, in speaking of his Offices as Prophet, + Priest, and King. The work of the Holy Spirit will be treated + when we come to speak of the Application of Redemption in + Regeneration and Sanctification. Here it is sufficient to say + that the Holy Spirit is represented in the Scriptures as the + author of life—in creation, in the conception of Christ, in + regeneration, in resurrection; and as the giver of light—in the + inspiration of Scripture writers, in the conviction of sinners, + in the illumination and sanctification of Christians.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 1:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Spirit of God was brooding</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + Luke 1:35</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">—to + Mary:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">The + Holy Spirit shall come upon thee</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 3:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">born of + the Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. 37:9, + 14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Come + from the four winds, O breath.... I will put my Spirit in + you, and ye shall live</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 8:11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">give + life also to your mortal bodies through his + Spirit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 John + 2:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">an + advocate</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(παράκλητον)</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">with the Father, Jesus Christ the + righteous</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John 14:16, + 17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">another + Comforter</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(παράκλητον),</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">that he may be with you for ever, even the + Spirit of truth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 8:26—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Spirit himself maketh intercession for us.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">2 Pet. + 1:21—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">men + spake from God, being moved by the Holy + Spirit</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 16:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">convict + the world in respect of sin</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">13—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he + shall guide you into all the truth</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 8:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">as many + as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of + God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">McCosh: The works of the Spirit + are Conviction, Conversion, Sanctification, Comfort. Donovan: + The Spirit is the Spirit of conviction, enlightenment, + quickening, in the sinner; and of revelation, remembrance, + witness, sanctification, consolation, to the saint. The + Spirit enlightens the sinner, as the flash of lightning + lights the traveler stumbling on the edge of a precipice at + night; enlightens the Christian, as the rising sun reveals a + landscape which was all there before, but which was hidden + from sight until the great luminary made it visible.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + morning light did not create The lovely prospect it revealed; + It only showed the real state Of what the darkness had + concealed.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christ's advocacy before the throne is like + that of legal counsel pleading in our stead; the Holy + Spirit's advocacy in the heart is like the mother's teaching + her child to pray for himself.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">J. W. A. Stewart:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Without + the work of the Holy Spirit redemption would have been + impossible, as impossible as that fuel should warm without + being lighted, or that bread should nourish without being + eaten. Christ is God entering into human history, but without + the Spirit Christianity would be only history. The Holy + Spirit is God entering into human hearts. The Holy Spirit + turns creed into life. Christ is the physician who leaves the + remedy and then departs. The Holy Spirit is the nurse who + applies and administers the remedy, and who remains with the + patient until the cure is completed.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Matheson, Voices of the Spirit, + 78—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It is + in vain that the mirror exists in the room, if it is lying on + its face; the sunbeams cannot reach it till its face is + upturned to them. Heaven lies about thee not only in thine + infancy but at all times. But it is not enough that a place + is prepared for thee; thou must be prepared for the place. It + is not enough that thy light has come; thou thyself must + arise and shine. No outward shining can reveal, unless thou + art thyself a reflector of its glory. The Spirit must set + thee on thy feet, that thou mayest hear him that speaks to + thee (Ez. 2:2).</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The Holy Spirit reveals not + himself but Christ.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 16:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He + shall glorify me: for he shall take of mine, and shall + declare it unto you.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">So should the servants of the Spirit hide + themselves while they make known Christ. E. H. Johnson, The + Holy Spirit, 40—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Some + years ago a large steam engine all of glass was exhibited + about the country. When it was at work one would see the + piston and the valves go; but no one could see what made them + go. When steam is hot enough to be a continuous elastic + vapor, it is invisible.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">So we perceive the presence of the Holy + Spirit, not by visions or voices, but by the effect he + produces within us in the shape of new knowledge, new love, + and new energy of our own powers. Denney, Studies in + Theology, 161—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">No man + can bear witness to Christ and to himself at the same + time.</span> <span lang="fr" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="fr"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Esprit</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is fatal to unction; no man can + give the impression that he himself is clever and also that + Christ is mighty to save. The</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page340">[pg 340]</span><a name="Pg340" id="Pg340" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">power of + the Holy Spirit is felt only when the witness is unconscious + of self, and when others remain unconscious of + him.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Moule, Veni Creator, + 8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Holy Spirit, as Tertullian says, is the vicar of Christ. The + night before the Cross, the Holy Spirit was present to the + mind of Christ as a person.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Gore, in Lux Mundi, + 318—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It was + a point in the charge against Origen that his language seemed + to involve an exclusion of the Holy Spirit from nature, and a + limitation of his activity to the church. The whole of life + is certainly his. And yet, because his special attribute is + holiness, it is in rational natures, which alone are capable + of holiness, that he exerts his special influence. A special + inbreathing of the divine Spirit gave to man his proper + being.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 2:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Jehovah + God ... breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and + man became a living soul</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 3:8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Spirit breatheth where it will ... so is every one that is + born of the Spirit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">E. H. Johnson, on The Offices of the Holy + Spirit, in Bib. Sac., July, 1892:381-382—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Why is he specially called the Holy, when + Father and Son are also holy, unless because he produces + holiness,</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, makes the + holiness of God to be ours individually? Christ is the + principle of collectivism, the Holy Spirit the principle of + individualism. The Holy Spirit shows man the Christ in him. + God above all = Father; God through all = Son; God in all = + Holy Spirit (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 4:6</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">).</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The doctrine of the Holy Spirit + has never yet been scientifically unfolded. No treatise on it + has appeared comparable to Julius Müller's Doctrine of Sin, + or to I. A. Dorner's History of the Doctrine of the Person of + Christ. The progress of doctrine in the past has been marked + by successive stages. Athanasius treated of the Trinity; + Augustine of sin; Anselm of the atonement; Luther of + justification; Wesley of regeneration; and each of these + unfoldings of doctrine has been accompanied by religious + awakening. We still wait for a complete discussion of the + doctrine of the Holy Spirit, and believe that widespread + revivals will follow the recognition of the omnipotent Agent + in revivals. On the relations of the Holy Spirit to Christ, + see Owen, in Works, 3:152-159; on the Holy Spirit's nature + and work, see works by Faber, Smeaton, Tophel, G. Campbell + Morgan, J. D. Robertson, Biederwolf; also C. E. Smith, The + Baptism of Fire; J. D. Thompson, The Holy Comforter; + Bushnell, Forgiveness and Law, last chapter; Bp. Andrews, + Works, 3:107-400; James S. Candlish, Work of the Holy Spirit; + Redford, Vox Dei; Andrew Murray, The Spirit of Christ; A. J. + Gordon, Ministry of the Spirit; Kuyper, Work of the Holy + Spirit; J. E. Cumming, Through the Eternal Spirit; Lechler, + Lehre vom Heiligen Geiste; Arthur, Tongue of Fire; A. H. + Strong, Philosophy and Religion, 250-258, and Christ in + Creation, 297-313.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc311" id="toc311"></a> <a name="pdf312" id= + "pdf312"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 3. Generation and procession consistent with equality.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">That the + Sonship of Christ is eternal, is intimated in Psalm 2:7. + <span class="tei tei-q">“This day have I begotten thee”</span> + is most naturally interpreted as the declaration of an eternal + fact in the divine nature. Neither the incarnation, the + baptism, the transfiguration, nor the resurrection marks the + beginning of Christ's Sonship, or constitutes him Son of God. + These are but recognitions or manifestations of a preëxisting + Sonship, inseparable from his Godhood. He is <span class= + "tei tei-q">“born before every creature”</span> (while yet no + created thing existed—see Meyer on Col. 1:15) and <span class= + "tei tei-q">“by the resurrection of the dead”</span> is not + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">made</span></em> to be, but only + <span class="tei tei-q">“<em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">declared</span></em> to be,”</span> + <span class="tei tei-q">“according to the Spirit of + holiness”</span> (= according to his divine nature) + <span class="tei tei-q">“the Son of God with power”</span> (see + Philippi and Alford on Rom. 1:3, 4). This Sonship is unique—not + predicable of, or shared with, any creature. The Scriptures + intimate, not only an eternal generation of the Son, but an + eternal procession of the Spirit.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Psalm + 2:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I will + tell of the decree: Jehovah said unto me, Thou art my Son; This + day I have begotten thee</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">see Alexander, Com.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + in loco</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; also Com. + on</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 13:33</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">To-day</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">refers to the date of the decree itself; but + this, as a divine act, was eternal,—and so must be the + Sonship which it affirms.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Philo says that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">to-day</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">with God means</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">forever.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">This begetting of which the Psalm speaks is + not the resurrection, for while Paul in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts 13:33</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">refers to this Psalm to + establish the fact of Jesus' Sonship, he refers in</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts 13:34, + 35</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">to another Psalm, + the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sixteenth</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + to establish the fact that this Son of God was to rise from + the dead. Christ is shown to be Son of God by his incarnation + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. 1:5, + 6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">when he + again bringeth in the firstborn</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page341">[pg 341]</span><a name="Pg341" id= + "Pg341" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">into the world he saith, And let all the + angels of God worship him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">), his baptism (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 3:17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">This is + my beloved Son</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">), his transfiguration (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 17:5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">This is + my beloved Son</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">), his resurrection (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts 13:34, + 35—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">as + concerning that he raised him up from the dead ... he saith + also in another psalm, Thou wilt not give thy Holy One to see + corruption</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">).</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col. + 1:15—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + firstborn of all creation</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—πρωτότοκος πάσης κτίσεως =</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">begotten first before all + creation</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(Julius Müller, Proof-texts, + 14); or</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">first-born before every creature,</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, begotten, and + that antecedently to everything that was + created</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(Ellicott, Com.</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + loco</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">).</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Herein</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(says Luthardt, Compend. Dogmatik, 81, + on</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col. + 1:15</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">is + indicated an antemundane origin from God—a relation internal + to the divine nature.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Lightfoot, on</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col. + 1:15</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, says that in + Rabbi Bechai God is called the</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span lang= + "la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">primogenitus + mundi</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. 1:4</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(ὁρισθέντος =</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">manifested to be the mighty Son of + God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">) see Lange's Com., notes by Schaff on pages + 56 and 61. Bruce, Apologetics, 404—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The resurrection was the actual introduction + of Christ into the full possession of divine Sonship so far + as thereto belonged, not only the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">inner</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of a holy spiritual essence, but + also the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">outer</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of an existence in power and + heavenly glory.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Allen, Jonathan Edwards, 353, + 354—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Calvin + waves aside eternal generation as an</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">absurd fiction.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But to maintain the deity of Christ merely + on the ground that it is essential to his making an adequate + atonement for sin, is to involve the rejection of his deity + if ever the doctrine of atonement becomes obnoxious.... Such + was the process by which, in the mind of the last century, + the doctrine of the Trinity was undermined. Not to ground the + distinctions of the divine essence by some immanent eternal + necessity was to make easy the denial of what has been called + the ontological Trinity, and then the rejection of the + economical Trinity was not difficult or far + away.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">If Westcott and Hort's reading ὁ + μονογενὴς Θεός,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">the + only begotten God</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:18</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, is correct, we + have a new proof of Christ's eternal Sonship. Meyer explains + ἑαυτοῦ in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 8:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God, + sending his own Son,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">as an allusion to the metaphysical Sonship. + That this Sonship is unique, is plain from</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John 1:14, + 18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + only begotten from the Father ... the only begotten Son who + is in the bosom of the father</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 8:32—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">his own + Son</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gal. + 4:4—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">sent + forth his Son</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Prov. + 8:22-31—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">When he + marked out the foundations of the earth; Then I was by him as + a master workman</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">30:4—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Who hath established all the ends of the + earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou + knowest?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The eternal procession of the Spirit seems + to be implied in</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 15:26—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the + Father</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—see Westcott, Bib. Com.,</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + loco</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 9:14—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + eternal Spirit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Westcott here says that παρά (not ἐξ) shows + that the reference is to the temporal mission of the Holy + Spirit, not to the eternal procession. At the same time he + maintains that the temporal corresponds to the + eternal.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The + Scripture terms <span class="tei tei-q">“generation”</span> and + <span class="tei tei-q">“procession,”</span> as applied to the + Son and to the Holy Spirit, are but approximate expressions of + the truth, and we are to correct by other declarations of + Scripture any imperfect impressions which we might derive + solely from them. We use these terms in a special sense, which + we explicitly state and define as excluding all notion of + inequality between the persons of the Trinity. The eternal + generation of the Son to which we hold is</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) Not creation, but the + Father's communication of himself to the Son. Since the names, + Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not applicable to the divine + essence, but are only applicable to its hypostatical + distinctions, they imply no derivation of the essence of the + Son from the essence of the Father.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The error of the Nicene Fathers + was that of explaining Sonship as derivation of essence. The + Father cannot impart his essence to the Son and yet retain + it. The Father is</span> <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">fons + trinitatis</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + not</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">fons + deitatis</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">. See + Shedd, Hist. Doct., 1:308-311, and Dogm. Theol., + 1:287-299;</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">per + contra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, see Bib. + Sac., 41:698-760.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) Not a commencement of + existence, but an eternal relation to the Father,—there never + having been a time when the Son began to be, or when the Son + did not exist as God with the Father.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">If there had been an eternal + sun, it is evident that there must have been an eternal + sunlight also. Yet an eternal sunlight must have evermore + proceeded from the sun.</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page342">[pg 342]</span><a name="Pg342" id="Pg342" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">When Cyril + was asked whether the Son existed before generation, he + answered:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + generation of the Son did not precede his existence, but he + always existed, and that by generation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) Not an act of the + Father's will, but an internal necessity of the divine + nature,—so that the Son is no more dependent upon the Father + than the Father is dependent upon the Son, and so that, if it + be consistent with deity to be Father, it is equally consistent + with deity to be Son.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The sun is as dependent upon the + sunlight as the sunlight is upon the sun; for without + sunlight the sun is no true sun. So God the Father is as + dependent upon God the Son, as God the Son is dependent upon + God the Father; for without Son the Father would be no true + Father. To say that aseity belongs only to the Father is + logically Arianism and Subordinationism proper, for it + implies a subordination of the essence of the Son to the + Father. Essential subordination would be inconsistent with + equality. See Thomasius, Christi Person und Werk, 1:115. + Palmer, Theol. Definitions, 66, 67, says that Father = + independent life; Son begotten = independent life voluntarily + brought under limitations; Spirit = necessary consequence of + existence of the other two.... The words and actions whereby + we design to affect others are</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">begotten.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The atmosphere of unconscious influence is + not</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">begotten,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">but</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">proceeding.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) Not a relation in any way + analogous to physical derivation, but a life-movement of the + divine nature, in virtue of which Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, + while equal in essence and dignity, stand to each other in an + order of personality, office, and operation, and in virtue of + which the Father works through the Son, and the Father and the + Son through the Spirit.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The subordination of the</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">person</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of the Son to the</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">person</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of the Father, or in other words + an order of personality, office, and operation which permits + the Father to be officially first, the Son second, and the + Spirit third, is perfectly consistent with equality. Priority + is not necessarily superiority. The possibility of an order, + which yet involves no inequality, may be illustrated by the + relation between man and woman. In office man is first and + woman second, but woman's soul is worth as much as man's; + see</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 11:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the + man: and the head of Christ is God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">On</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 14:28—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Father is greater than I</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—see Westcott, Bib. Com.,</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + loco</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Edwards, Observations on the + Trinity (edited by Smyth), 22—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">In the Son the whole deity and glory of the + Father is as it were repeated or duplicated. Everything in + the Father is repeated or expressed again, and that fully, so + that there is properly no inferiority.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Edwards, Essay on the Trinity (edited by + Fisher), 110-116—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Father is the Deity subsisting in the prime, unoriginated, + and most absolute manner, or the Deity in its direct + existence. The Son is the Deity generated by God's + understanding, or having an Idea of himself and subsisting in + that Idea. The Holy Ghost is the Deity subsisting in act, or + the divine essence flowing out and breathed forth in God's + infinite love to and delight in himself. And I believe the + whole divine essence does truly and distinctly subsist both + in the divine Idea and in the divine Love, and each of them + are properly distinct persons.... We find no other attributes + of which it is said in Scripture that they are God, or that + God is they, but λόγος and ἀγάπη, the Reason and the Love of + God, Light not being different from Reason.... Understanding + may be predicated of this Love.... It is not a blind Love.... + The Father has Wisdom or Reason by the Son's being in him.... + Understanding is in the Holy Spirit, because the Son is in + him.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Yet Dr. Edwards A. Park declared + eternal generation to be</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">eternal nonsense,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">and is thought to have hid Edwards's + unpublished Essay on the Trinity for many years because it + taught this doctrine.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The New Testament calls Christ + θεός, but not ὁ θεός. We frankly recognize an eternal + subordination of Christ to the Father, but we maintain at the + same time that this subordination is a subordination of + order, office, and operation, not a subordination of + essence.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Non de + essentia dicitur, sed de ministeriis.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">E. G. Robinson:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">An eternal generation is necessarily an + eternal subordination and dependence. This seems to be fully + admitted even by the most orthodox of the Anglican writers, + such as Pearson and Hooker. Christ's subordination to the + Father is merely official, not essential.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Whiton, Gloria Patri, 42, + 96—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + early Trinitarians by eternal Sonship meant, first, that it + is of the very nature of Deity to issue forth into visible + expression. Thus</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page343">[pg 343]</span><a name="Pg343" id="Pg343" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">next, that + this outward expression of God is not something other than + God, but God himself, in a self-expression as divine as the + hidden Deity. Thus they answered Philip's cry,</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">show us + the Father, and it sufficeth us</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John + 14:8)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, and thus they + affirmed Jesus' declaration, they secured Paul's faith that + God has never left himself without witness. They + meant,</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">he that hath seen me hath seen the + Father</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(John + 14:9)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.... The Father + is the Life transcendent, the divine Source,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">above + all</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; the Son is the Life immanent, the divine + Stream,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">through + all</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; the Holy Spirit is the Life + individualized,</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">in all</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Eph. + 4:6)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. The Holy + Spirit has been called</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the executive of the + Godhead.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Whiton is here speaking of the economic + Trinity; but all this is even more true of the immanent + Trinity. On the Eternal Sonship, see Weiss, Bib. Theol. N. + T., 424, note; Treffrey, Eternal Sonship of our Lord; + Princeton Essays, 1:30-56; Watson, Institutes, 1:530-577; + Bib. Sac., 27:268. On the procession of the Spirit, see + Shedd, Dogm. Theol., 1:300-304, and History of Doctrine, + 1:387; Dick, Lectures on Theology, 1:347-350.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The same + principles upon which we interpret the declaration of Christ's + eternal Sonship apply to the procession of the Holy Spirit from + the Father through the Son, and show this to be not + inconsistent with the Spirit's equal dignity and glory.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We therefore + only formulate truth which is concretely expressed in + Scripture, and which is recognized by all ages of the church in + hymns and prayers addressed to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, + when we assert that in the nature of the one God there are + three eternal distinctions, which are best described as + persons, and each of which is the proper and equal object of + Christian worship.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">We are also + warranted in declaring that, in virtue of these personal + distinctions or modes of subsistence, God exists in the + relations, respectively, first, of Source, Origin, Authority, + and in this relation is the Father; secondly, of Expression, + Medium, Revelation, and in this relation is the Son; thirdly, + of Apprehension, Accomplishment, Realization, and in this + relation is the Holy Spirit.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">John Owen, Works, + 3:64-92—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + office of the Holy Spirit is that of concluding, completing, + perfecting. To the Father we assign</span> <span lang="la" + class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">opera + naturæ</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; to the + Son,</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">opera + gratiæ procuratæ</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + to the Spirit,</span> <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">opera gratiæ + applicatæ</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">All God's revelations are through the Son or + the Spirit, and the latter includes the former. Kuyper, Work + of the Holy Spirit, designates the three offices respectively + as those of Causation, Construction, Consummation; the Father + brings forth, the Son arranges, the Spirit perfects. Allen, + Jonathan Edwards, 365-373—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God is Life, Light, Love. As the Fathers + regarded Reason both in God and man as the personal, + omnipresent second Person of the Trinity, so Jonathan Edwards + regarded Love both in God and in man as the personal, + omnipresent third Person of the Trinity. Hence the Father is + never said to love the Spirit as he is said to love the + Son—for this love</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + is</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">the Spirit. The + Father and the Son are said to love men, but the Holy Spirit + is never said to love them, for love</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">is</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">the Holy Spirit. But why could + not Edwards also hold that the Logos or divine Reason also + dwelt in humanity, so that manhood was constituted in Christ + and shared with him in the consubstantial image of the + Father? Outward nature reflects God's light and has Christ in + it,—why not universal humanity?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Moberly, Atonement and + Personality, 136, 202, speaks of</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">1. God, the Eternal, the Infinite, in his + infinity, as himself; 2. God, as self-expressed within the + nature and faculties of man—body, soul, and spirit—the + consummation and interpretation and revelation of what true + manhood means and is, in its very truth, in its relation to + God; 3. God, as Spirit of Beauty and Holiness, which are + himself present in things created, animate and inanimate, and + constituting in them their divine response to God; + constituting above all in created personalities the full + reality of their personal response. Or again: 1. What a man + is invisibly in himself; 2. his outward material projection + or expression as body; and 3. the response which that which + he is through his bodily utterance or operation makes to him, + as the true echo or expression of himself.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Moberly seeks thus to find in man's nature + an analogy to the inner processes of the divine.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page344">[pg 344]</span><a name= + "Pg344" id="Pg344" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc313" id="toc313"></a> <a name="pdf314" id= + "pdf314"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">VI. Inscrutable, yet not + self-contradictory, this Doctrine furnishes the Key to all other + Doctrines.</span></h3> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc315" id="toc315"></a> <a name="pdf316" id= + "pdf316"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1. The mode of this triune existence is inscrutable.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is + inscrutable because there are no analogies to it in our finite + experience. For this reason all attempts are vain adequately to + represent it;</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) From inanimate things—as + the fountain, the stream, and the rivulet trickling from it + (Athanasius); the cloud, the rain, and the rising mist + (Boardman); color, shape, and size (F. W. Robertson); the + actinic, luminiferous, and calorific principles in the ray of + light (Solar Hieroglyphics, 34).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Luther:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">When logic objects to this doctrine that it + does not square with her rules, we must say;</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Mulier + taceat in ecclesia.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Luther called the Trinity a flower, in which + might be distinguished its form, its fragrance, and its + medicinal efficacy; see Dorner, Gesch. prot. Theol., 189. In + Bap. Rev., July, 1880:434, Geer finds an illustration of the + Trinity in infinite space with its three dimensions. For + analogy of the cloud, rain, mist, see W. E. Boardman, Higher + Christian Life. Solar Hieroglyphics, 34 (reviewed in New + Englander, Oct. 1874:789)—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Godhead is a tripersonal unity, and the + light is a trinity. Being immaterial and homogeneous, and + thus essentially one in its nature, the light includes a + plurality of constituents, or in other words is essentially + three in its constitution, its constituent principles being + the actinic, the luminiferous, and the calorific; and in + glorious manifestation the light is one, and is the created, + constituted, and ordained emblem of the tripersonal + God</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—of whom it is said that</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God is + light, and in him is no darkness at all</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(1 John + 1:5)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. The actinic + rays are in themselves invisible; only as the luminiferous + manifest them, are they seen; only as the calorific accompany + them, are they felt.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Joseph Cook:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Sunlight, rainbow, heat—one solar radiance; + Father, Son, Holy Spirit, one God. As the rainbow shows what + light is when unfolded, so Christ reveals the nature of God. + As the rainbow is unraveled light, so Christ is unraveled + God, and the Holy Spirit, figured by heat, is Christ's + continued life.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ruder illustrations are those of Oom Paul + Krüger: the fat, the wick, the flame, in the candle; and of + Augustine: the root, trunk, branches, all of one wood, in the + tree. In Geer's illustration, mentioned above, from the three + dimensions of space, we cannot demonstrate that there is not + a fourth, but besides length, breadth, and thickness, we + cannot conceive of its existence. As these three exhaust, so + far as we know, all possible modes of material being, so we + cannot conceive of any fourth person in the + Godhead.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) From the constitution or + processes of our own minds—as the psychological unity of + intellect, affection, and will (substantially held by + Augustine); the logical unity of thesis, antithesis, and + synthesis (Hegel); the metaphysical unity of subject, object, + and subject-object (Melanchthon, Olshausen, Shedd).</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Augustine:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Mens meminit sui, intelligit se, diligit se; + si hoc cernimus, Trinitatem cernimus.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">... I exist, I am conscious, I will; I exist + as conscious and willing, I am conscious of existing and + willing, I will to exist and be conscious; and these three + functions, though distinct, are inseparable and form one + life, one mind, one essence....</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Amor autem alicujus amantis est, et amore + aliquid amatur. Ecce tria sunt, amans, et quod amatur, et + amor. Quid est ergo amor, nisi quædam vita duo aliqua + copulans, vel copulare appetans, amantem scilicet et quod + amatur.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Calvin speaks of Augustine's + view as</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a + speculation far from solid.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">But Augustine himself had said:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If + asked to define the Trinity, we can only say that it is not + this or that.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">John of Damascus:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">All we know of the divine nature is that it + is not to be known.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">By this, however, both Augustine and John of + Damascus meant only that the precise</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">mode</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of God's triune existence is + unrevealed and inscrutable.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Hegel, Philos. Relig., transl., + 3:99, 100—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God is, + but is at the same time the Other, the self-differentiating, + the Other in the sense that this Other is God himself and has + potentially the Divine nature in it, and that the abolishing + of this difference, of this</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page345">[pg 345]</span><a name="Pg345" id="Pg345" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">otherness, + this return, this love, is Spirit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hegel calls God</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">the absolute Idea, the unity of Life and + Cognition, the Universal that thinks itself and thinkingly + recognizes itself in an infinite Actuality, from which, as + its Immediacy, it no less distinguishes itself + again</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; see Schwegler, History of Philosophy, 321, + 331. Hegel's general doctrine is that the highest unity is to + be reached only through the fullest development and + reconciliation of the deepest and widest antagonism. Pure + being is pure nothing; we must die to live. Light is thesis, + Darkness is antithesis, Shadow is synthesis, or union of + both. Faith is thesis, Unbelief is antithesis, Doubt is + synthesis, or union of both.</span> <span lang="de" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="de"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Zweifel</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">comes from</span> <span lang= + "de" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="de"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Zwei</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + as doubt from δύο. Hegel called Napoleon</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">ein Weltgeist zu Pferde</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">a + world-spirit on horseback.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Ladd, Introd. to Philosophy, 202, speaks + of</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + monotonous tit-tat-too of the Hegelian + logic.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Ruskin speaks of it as</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">pure, + definite, and highly finished nonsense.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">On the Hegelian principle good and evil + cannot be contradictory to each other; without evil there + could be no good. Stirling well entitled his exposition of + the Hegelian Philosophy</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Secret of Hegel,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and his readers have often remarked that, if + Stirling discovered the secret, he never made it + known.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Lord Coleridge told Robert + Browning that he could not understand all his poetry.</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Ah, + well,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">replied the poet,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">if a + reader of your calibre understands ten per cent. of what I + write, he ought to be content.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">When Wordsworth was told that Mr. Browning + had married Miss Barrett, he said:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is a good thing that these two understand + each other, for no one else understands + them.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">A pupil once brought to Hegel a + passage in the latter's writings and asked for an + interpretation. The philosopher examined it and + replied:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">When + that passage was written, there were two who knew its + meaning—God and myself. Now, alas! there is but one, and that + is God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Heinrich Heine, speaking of the + effect of Hegelianism upon the religious life of Berlin, + says:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I could + accommodate myself to the very enlightened Christianity, + filtrated from all superstition, which could then be had in + the churches, and which was free from the divinity of Christ, + like turtle soup without turtle.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">When German systems of philosophy die, their + ghosts take up their abode in Oxford. But if I see a ghost + sitting in a chair and then sit down boldly in the chair, the + ghost will take offence and go away. Hegel's doctrine of God + as the only begotten Son is translated in the Journ. Spec. + Philos., 15:395-404.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The most satisfactory exposition + of the analogy of subject, object, and subject-object is to + be found in Shedd, History of Doctrine, 1:365, note 2. See + also Olshausen on John 1:1; H. N. Day, Doctrine of Trinity in + Light of Recent Psychology, in Princeton Rev., Sept. + 1882:156-179; Morris, Philosophy and Christianity, 122-163. + Moberly, Atonement and Personality, 174, has a similar + analogy: 1. A man's invisible self; 2. the visible expression + of himself in a picture or poem; 3. the response of this + picture or poem to himself. The analogy of the family is held + to be even better, because no man's personality is complete + in itself; husband, wife, and child are all needed to make + perfect unity. Allen, Jonathan Edwards, 372, says that in the + early church the Trinity was a doctrine of reason; in the + Middle Ages it was a mystery; in the 18th century it was a + meaningless or irrational dogma; again in the 19th century it + becomes a doctrine of the reason, a truth essential to the + nature of God. To Allen's characterization of the stages in + the history of the doctrine we would add that even in our day + we cannot say that a complete exposition of the Trinity is + possible. Trinity is a unique fact, different aspects of + which may be illustrated, while, as a whole, it has no + analogies. The most we can say is that human nature, in its + processes and powers, points towards something higher than + itself, and that Trinity in God is needed in order to + constitute that perfection of being which man seeks as an + object of love, worship and service.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">No one of + these furnishes any proper analogue of the Trinity, since in no + one of them is there found the essential element of + tripersonality. Such illustrations may sometimes be used to + disarm objection, but they furnish no positive explanation of + the mystery of the Trinity, and, unless carefully guarded, may + lead to grievous error.</p> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc317" id="toc317"></a> <a name="pdf318" id= + "pdf318"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 2. The Doctrine of the Trinity is not self-contradictory.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This it + would be, only if it declared God to be three in the same + numerical sense in which he is said to be one. This we do not + assert. We assert simply that the same God who is one with + respect to his essence is three <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page346">[pg 346]</span><a name="Pg346" id="Pg346" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> with respect to the internal distinctions + of that essence, or with respect to the modes of his being. The + possibility of this cannot be denied, except by assuming that + the human mind is in all respects the measure of the + divine.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The fact + that the ascending scale of life is marked by increasing + differentiation of faculty and function should rather lead us + to expect in the highest of all beings a nature more complex + than our own. In man many faculties are united in one + intelligent being, and the more intelligent man is, the more + distinct from each other these faculties become; until + intellect and affection, conscience and will assume a relative + independence, and there arises even the possibility of conflict + between them. There is nothing irrational or self-contradictory + in the doctrine that in God the leading functions are yet more + markedly differentiated, so that they become personal, while at + the same time these personalities are united by the fact that + they each and equally manifest the one indivisible essence.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Unity is as essential to the + Godhead as threeness. The same God who in one respect is + three, in another respect is one. We do not say that one God + is three Gods, nor that one person is three persons, nor that + three Gods are one God, but only that there is one God with + three distinctions in his being. We do not refer to the + faculties of man as furnishing any proper analogy to the + persons of the Godhead; we rather deny that man's nature + furnishes any such analogy. Intellect, affection, and will in + man are not distinct personalities. If they were + personalized, they might furnish such an analogy. F. W. + Robertson, Sermons, 3:58, speaks of the Father, Son, and Holy + Spirit as best conceived under the figure of personalized + intellect, affection and will. With this agrees the saying of + Socrates, who called thought the soul's conversation with + itself. See D. W. Simon, in Bib. Sac., Jan. 1887.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 86:11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Unite + my heart to fear thy name</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—intimates a complexity of powers in man, + and a possible disorganization due to sin. Only the fear and + love of God can reduce our faculties to order and give us + peace, purity, and power. When William after a long courtship + at length proposed marriage, Mary said that she</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">unanimously consented.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Thou + shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all + thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy + mind</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Luke + 10:27).</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">Man must not + lead a dual life, a double life, like that of Dr. Jekyll and + Mr. Hyde. The good life is the unified life. H. H. + Bawden:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Theoretically, symmetrical development is + the complete criterion. This is the old Greek conception of + the perfect life. The term which we translate</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">temperance</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">or</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">self-control</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is better expressed by</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">whole-mindedness.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Illingworth, Personality Divine + and Human, 54-80—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Our + sense of divine personality culminates in the doctrine of the + Trinity. Man's personality is essentially triune, because it + consists of a subject, an object, and their relation. What is + potential and unrealized triunity in man is complete in + God.... Our own personality is triune, but it is a potential + unrealized triunity, which is incomplete in itself and must + go beyond itself for completion, as for example in the + family.... But God's personality has nothing potential or + unrealized about it.... Trinity is the most intelligible mode + of conceiving of God as personal.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">John Caird, Fundamental Ideas of + Christianity, 1:59, 80—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The parts of a stone are all precisely + alike; the parts of a skilful mechanism are all different + from one another. In which of the two cases is the unity more + real—in that in which there is an absence of distinction, or + in that in which there is essential difference of form and + function, each separate part having an individuality and + activity of its own? The highest unities are not simple but + complex.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Gordon, Christ of To-day, + 106—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">All + things and persons are modes of one infinite consciousness. + Then it is not incredible that there should be three + consciousnesses in God. Over against the multitudinous finite + personalities are three infinite personalities. This + socialism in Deity may be the ground of human + society.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The phenomena of double and even + of triple consciousness in one and the same individual + confirm this view. This fact of more than one consciousness + in a finite creature points towards the possibility of a + threefold consciousness in the nature of God. Romanes, Mind + and Motion, 102, intimates that the social organism, if it + attained the</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page347">[pg + 347]</span><a name="Pg347" id="Pg347" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">highest + level of psychical perfection, might be endowed with + personality, and that it now has something resembling + it—phenomena of thought and conduct which compel us to + conceive of families and communities and nations as having a + sort of moral personality which implies responsibility and + accountability.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The</span> <span lang="de" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="de"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Zeitgeist</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">he says,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">is the product of a kind of collective + psychology, which is something other than the sum of all the + individual minds of a generation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We do not maintain that any one of these + fragmentary or collective consciousnesses attains personality + in man, at least in the present life. We only maintain that + they indicate that a larger and more complex life is possible + than that of which we have common experience, and that there + is no necessary contradiction in the doctrine that in the + nature of the one and perfect God there are three personal + distinctions. R. H. Hutton:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">A voluntary self-revelation of the divine + mind may be expected to reveal even deeper complexities of + spiritual relations in his eternal nature and essence than + are found to exist in our humanity—the simplicity of a + harmonized complexity, not the simplicity of absolute + unity.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc319" id="toc319"></a> <a name="pdf320" id= + "pdf320"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 3. The doctrine of the Trinity has important relations to other + doctrines.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. It is + essential to any proper theism.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Neither + God's independence nor God's blessedness can be maintained upon + grounds of absolute unity. Anti-trinitarianism almost + necessarily makes creation indispensable to God's perfection, + tends to a belief in the eternity of matter, and ultimately + leads, as in Mohammedanism, and in modern Judaism and + Unitarianism, to Pantheism. <span class="tei tei-q">“Love is an + impossible exercise to a solitary being.”</span> Without + Trinity we cannot hold to a living Unity in the Godhead.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Brit. and For. Evang. Rev., Jan. + 1882:35-63—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + problem is to find a</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">perfect + objective</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, congruous + and fitting, for a perfect intelligence, and the answer + is:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a + perfect intelligence</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The author of this article quotes James + Martineau, the Unitarian philosopher, as follows:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There + is only one resource left for completing the needful + Objectivity for God,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">viz.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + to admit in some form the coëval existence of matter, as the + condition or medium of the divine agency or manifestation. + Failing the proof [of the absolute origination of matter] we + are left with the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + divine cause</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, and + the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">material + condition</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">of all + nature, in eternal co-presence and relation, as supreme + object and rudimentary object.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See also Martineau, Study, + 1:405—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In + denying that a plurality of self-existences is possible, I + mean to speak only of self-existent</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">causes</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + A self-existence which is</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">not</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">a cause is by no means excluded, + so far as I can see, by a self-existence which</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">is</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">a cause; nay, is even required + for the exercise of its causality.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Here we see that Martineau's Unitarianism + logically drove him into Dualism. But God's blessedness, upon + this principle, requires not merely an eternal universe but + an infinite universe, for nothing less will afford fit object + for an infinite mind. Yet a God who is necessarily bound to + the universe, or by whose side a universe, which is not + himself, eternally exists, is not infinite, independent, or + free. The only exit from this difficulty is in denying God's + self-consciousness and self-determination, or in other words, + exchanging our theism for dualism, and our dualism for + pantheism.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">E. H. Johnson, in Bib. Sac., + July, 1892:379, quotes from Oxenham's Catholic Doctrine of + the Atonement, 108, 109—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Forty years ago James Martineau wrote to + George Macdonald:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Neither + my intellectual preference nor my moral admiration goes + heartily with the Unitarian heroes, sects or productions, of + any age. Ebionites, Arians, Socinians, all seem to me to + contrast unfavorably with their opponents, and to exhibit a + type of thought far less worthy, on the whole, of the true + genius of Christianity.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">In his paper entitled A Way out of the + Unitarian Controversy, Martineau says that the Unitarian + worships the Father; the Trinitarian worships the Son:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">But he + who is the Son in one creed is the Father in the other.... + The two creeds are agreed in that which constitutes the pith + and kernel of both. The Father is God in his primeval + essence. But God, as manifested, is the + Son.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dr. Johnson adds:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">So Martineau, after a lifelong service in a + Unitarian pulpit and professorship, at length publicly + accepts for truth the substance of that doctrine which, in + common with the church, he has found so profitable, and tells + Unitarians that they and we alike worship the Son, because + all that we know of</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page348">[pg 348]</span><a name="Pg348" id="Pg348" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">God was + revealed by act of the Son.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">After he had reached his eightieth year, + Martineau withdrew from the Unitarian body, though he never + formally united with any Trinitarian church.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">H. C. Minton, in Princeton Rev., + 1903:655-659, has quoted some of Martineau's most significant + utterances, such as the following:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The great strength of the orthodox doctrine + lies, no doubt, in the appeal it makes to the inward</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">sense + of sin,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—that sad weight whose burden oppresses + every serious soul. And the great weakness of Unitarianism + has been its insensibility to this abiding sorrow of the + human consciousness. But the orthodox remedy is surely the + most terrible of all mistakes,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">viz.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">,</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">to get rid</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of the burden, by throwing it on + Christ or permitting him to take it.... For myself I own that + the literature to which I turn for the nurture and + inspiration of Faith, Hope and Love is almost exclusively the + product of orthodox versions of the Christian religion. The + Hymns of the Wesleys, the Prayers of the Friends, the + Meditations of Law and Tauler, have a quickening and + elevating power which I rarely feel in the books on our + Unitarian shelves.... Yet I can less than ever appropriate, + or even intellectually excuse, any distinctive article of the + Trinitarian scheme of salvation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Whiton, Gloria Patri, 23-26, + seeks to reconcile the two forms of belief by asserting + that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">both + Trinitarians and Unitarians are coming to regard human nature + as essentially one with the divine. The Nicene Fathers + builded better than they knew, when they declared + Christ</span> <span lang="el" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="el"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">homoousios</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">with the Father. We assert the + same of mankind.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">But here Whiton goes beyond the warrant of + Scripture. Of none but the only begotten Son can it be said + that before Abraham was born he was, and that in him dwelleth + all the fulness of the Godhead bodily (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 8:57</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Col. + 2:9</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">).</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Unitarianism has repeatedly + demonstrated its logical insufficiency by this</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">facilis + descensus Averno,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">this lapse from theism into pantheism. In + New England the high Arianism of Channing degenerated into + the half-fledged pantheism of Theodore Parker, and the + full-fledged pantheism of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Modern Judaism + is pantheistic in its philosophy, and such also was the later + Arabic philosophy of Mohammedanism. Single personality is + felt to be insufficient to the mind's conception of Absolute + Perfection. We shrink from the thought of an eternally lonely + God.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We take + refuge in the term</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Godhead.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The literati find relief in speaking + of</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + gods.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Twesten (translated in Bib. Sac., + 3:502)—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There + may be in polytheism an element of truth, though disfigured + and misunderstood. John of Damascus boasted that the + Christian Trinity stood midway between the abstract + monotheism of the Jews and the idolatrous polytheism of the + Greeks.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Twesten, quoted in Shedd, Dogm. + Theology, 1:255—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There + is a πλήρωμα in God. Trinity does not contradict Unity, but + only that solitariness which is inconsistent with the living + plenitude and blessedness ascribed to God in Scripture, and + which God possesses in himself and independently of the + finite.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Shedd himself remarks:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The attempt of the Deist and the Socinian to + construct the doctrine of divine</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Unity</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is a failure, because it fails + to construct the doctrine of the divine</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Personality</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. + It contends by implication that God can be self-knowing as a + single subject merely, without an object; without the + distinctions involved in the subject contemplating, the + object contemplated, and the perception of the identity of + both.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Mason, Faith of the Gospel, + 75—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God is + no sterile and motionless unit.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Bp. Phillips Brooks:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Unitarianism has got the notion of God as + tight and individual as it is possible to make it, and is + dying of its meagre Deity.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Unitarianism is not the doctrine of one + God—for the Trinitarian holds to this; it is rather the + unipersonality of this one God. The divine nature demands + either an eternal Christ or an eternal creation. Dr. + Calthorp, the Unitarian, of Syracuse, therefore consistently + declares that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Nature + and God are the same.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">It is the old worship of Baal and + Ashtaroth—the deification of power and pleasure. For</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Nature</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">includes everything—all bad impulses as well + as good. When a man discovers gravity, he has not discovered + God, but only one of the manifestations of God.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Gordon, Christ of To-day, + 112—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + supreme divinity of Jesus Christ is but the sovereign + expression in human history of the great law of difference in + identity that runs through the entire universe and that has + its home in the heart of the Godhead.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Even James Freeman Clarke, in his Orthodoxy, + its Truths and Errors, 436, admits that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">there is an essential truth hidden in the + idea of the Trinity. While the church doctrine, in every form + which it has taken, has failed to satisfy the human + intellect, the human heart has clung to the substance + contained in them all.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">William Adams Brown:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">If God is by nature love, he must be by + nature social. Fatherhood and Sonship must be immanent in + him. In him the limitations of finite personality are + removed.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">But Dr. Brown wrongly + adds:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Not the + mysteries of God's being, as he is</span> <span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page349">[pg 349]</span><a name="Pg349" id= + "Pg349" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">in himself, but as he is revealed, are + opened to us in this doctrine.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Similarly P. S. Moxom:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I do not know how it is possible to + predicate any moral quality of a person who is absolutely out + of relation to other persons. If God were conceived of as + solitary in the universe, he could not be characterized as + righteous.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">But Dr. Moxom erroneously thinks + that these other moral personalities must be outside of God. + We maintain that righteousness, like love, requires only + plurality of persons within the God-head. See Thomasius, + Christi Person und Werk, 1:105, 156. For the pantheistic + view, see Strauss, Glaubenslehre, 1:462-524.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">W. L. Walker, Christian Theism, + 317, quotes Dr. Paul Carus, Primer of Philosophy, + 101—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We + cannot even conceive of God without attributing trinity to + him. An absolute unity would be non-existence. God, if + thought of as real and active, involves an antithesis, which + may be formulated as God and World, or</span> <span lang="la" + class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">natura + naturans</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">and</span> <span lang="la" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">natura + naturata</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, or in + some other way. This antithesis implies already the + trinity-conception. When we think of God, not only as that + which is eternal and immutable in existence, but also as that + which changes, grows, and evolves, we cannot escape the + result and we must progress to a triune God-idea. The + conception of a God-man, of a Savior, of God revealed in + evolution, brings out the antithesis of God Father and God + Son, and the very conception of this relation implies God the + Spirit that proceeds from both.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">This confession of an economic Trinity is a + rational one only as it implies a Trinity immanent and + eternal.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. It is + essential to any proper revelation.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">If there be + no Trinity, Christ is not God, and cannot perfectly know or + reveal God. Christianity is no longer the one, all-inclusive, + and final revelation, but only one of many conflicting and + competing systems, each of which has its portion of truth, but + also its portion of error. So too with the Holy Spirit. + <span class="tei tei-q">“As God can be revealed only through + God, so also can he be appropriated only through God. If the + Holy Spirit be not God, then the love and self-communication of + God to the human soul are not a reality.”</span> In other + words, without the doctrine of the Trinity we go back to mere + natural religion and the far-off God of deism,—and this is + ultimately exchanged for pantheism in the way already + mentioned.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Martensen, Dogmatics, 104; + Thomasius, Christi Person und Werk, 156. If Christ be not + God, he cannot perfectly know himself, and his testimony to + himself has no independent authority. In prayer the Christian + has practical evidence of the Trinity, and can see the value + of the doctrine; for he comes to God the Father, pleading the + name of Christ, and taught how to pray aright by the Holy + Spirit. It is impossible to identify the Father with either + the Son or the Spirit. See</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 8:27—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he that + searcheth the hearts</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">[</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, God]</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, + because he maketh intercession for the saints according to + the will of God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See also Godet on</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 1:18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">No man + hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in + the bosom of the Father, he hath declared + him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; notice here the relation between ὁ ὤν and + ἐξηγήσατο. Napoleon I:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Christianity says with simplicity,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">No man + hath seen God, except God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 16:15—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">All + things whatsoever the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, + that he taketh of mine, and shall declare it unto + you</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; here Christ claims for himself all that + belongs to God, and then declares that the Holy Spirit shall + reveal him. Only a divine Spirit can do this, even as only a + divine Christ can put out an unpresumptuous hand to take all + that belongs to the Father. See also Westcott, on</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 14:9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he that + hath seen me hath seen the Father; how sayest thou, Show us + the Father?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The agnostic is perfectly + correct in his conclusions, if there be no Christ, no medium + of communication, no principle of revelation in the Godhead. + Only the Son has revealed the Father. Even Royce, in his + Spirit of Modern Philosophy, speaks of the existence of an + infinite Self, or Logos, or World-mind, of which all + individual minds are parts or bits, and of whose timeless + choice we partake. Some such principle in the divine nature + must be assumed, if Christianity is the complete and + sufficient revelation of God's will to men. The Unitarian + view regards the religion of Christ as only</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">one of + the day's works of humanity</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—an evanescent moment in the ceaseless + advance of the race. The Christian on the other hand regards + Christ as the only Revealer of God, the only God with whom we + have to do, the final authority in religion, the source of + all truth and the judge of all mankind.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Heaven + and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page350">[pg 350]</span><a name= + "Pg350" id="Pg350" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">away</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Mat. + 24:35).</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">The + resurrection of just and unjust shall be his work + (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 5:28</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">), and future + retribution shall be</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + wrath of the Lamb</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Rev. + 6:16)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. Since God + never thinks, says, or does any thing, except through Christ, + and since Christ does his work in human hearts only through + the Holy Spirit, we may conclude that the doctrine of the + Trinity is essential to any proper revelation.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">C. It is + essential to any proper redemption.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">If God be + absolutely and simply one, there can be no mediation or + atonement, since between God and the most exalted creature the + gulf is infinite. Christ cannot bring us nearer to God than he + is himself. Only one who is God can reconcile us to God. So, + too, only one who is God can purify our souls. A God who is + only unity, but in whom is no plurality, may be our Judge, but, + so far as we can see, cannot be our Savior or our + Sanctifier.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God is + the way to himself.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Nothing human holds good before God, and + nothing but God himself can satisfy God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The best method of arguing with Unitarians, + therefore, is to rouse the sense of sin; for the soul that + has any proper conviction of its sins feels that only an + infinite Redeemer can ever save it. On the other hand, a + slight estimate of sin is logically connected with a low view + of the dignity of Christ. Twesten, translated in Bib. Sac., + 3:510—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It + would seem to be not a mere accident that Pelagianism, when + logically carried out, as for example among the Socinians, + has also always led to Unitarianism.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">In the reverse order, too, it is manifest + that rejection of the deity of Christ must tend to render + more superficial men's views of the sin and guilt and + punishment from which Christ came to save them, and with this + to deaden religious feeling and to cut the sinews of all + evangelistic and missionary effort (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 12:44</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 10:26</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). See Arthur, + on the Divinity of our Lord in relation to his work of + Atonement, in Present Day Tracts, 6: no. 35; Ellis, quoted by + Watson, Theol. Inst., 23; Gunsaulus, Transfig. of Christ, + 13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We have + tried to see God in the light of nature, while he + said:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">In thy light shall we see + light</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Ps. + 36:9)</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We should see nature in the light of Christ. + Eternal life is attained only through the knowledge of God in + Christ (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 16:9</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). Hence to + accept Christ is to accept God; to reject Christ is to turn + one's back on God:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 12:44—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He that + believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent + me</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. 10:26, + 29—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">there + remaineth no more a sacrifice for sin</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">... [for him]</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">who hath trodden under foot the Son of + God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">In The Heart of Midlothian, + Jeanie Deans goes to London to secure pardon for her sister. + She cannot in her peasant attire go direct to the King, for + he will not receive her. She goes to a Scotch housekeeper in + London; through him to the Duke of Argyle; through him to the + Queen; through the Queen she gets pardon from the King, whom + she never sees. This was mediæval mediatorship. But now we + come directly to Christ, and this suffices us, because he is + himself God (The Outlook). A man once went into the cell of a + convicted murderer, at the request of the murderer's wife and + pleaded with him to confess his crime and accept Christ, but + the murderer refused. The seeming clergyman was the Governor, + with a pardon which he had designed to bestow in case he + found the murderer penitent. A. H. Strong, Christ in + Creation, 86—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I have + heard that, during our Civil War, a swaggering, drunken, + blaspheming officer insulted and almost drove from the dock + at Alexandria, a plain unoffending man in citizen's dress; + but I have also heard that that same officer turned pale, + fell on his knees, and begged for mercy, when the plain man + demanded his sword, put him under arrest and made himself + known as General Grant. So we may abuse and reject the Lord + Jesus Christ, and fancy that we can ignore his claims and + disobey his commands with impunity; but it will seem a more + serious thing when we find at the last that he whom we have + abused and rejected is none other than the living God before + whose judgment bar we are to stand.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Henry B. Smith began life under + Unitarian influences, and had strong prejudices against + evangelical doctrine, especially the doctrines of human + depravity and of the divinity of Christ. In his Senior year + in College he was converted. Cyrus Hamlin says:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + regard Smith's conversion as the most remarkable event in + College in my day.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Doubts of depravity vanished with one + glimpse into his own heart; and doubts about Christ's + divinity could not hold their own against the + confession:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Of one + thing I feel assured: I need an infinite + Savior.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Here is the ultimate strength of + Trinitarian doctrine. When the Holy Spirit convinces a man of + his sin, and brings him face to face with the outraged + holiness and love of God, he is moved to cry from the depths + of his soul:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">None + but an infinite Savior can ever save me!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Only in a divine Christ—Christ</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page351">[pg 351]</span><a name= + "Pg351" id="Pg351" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">for</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">us upon the Cross, and + Christ</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">us by his Spirit—can the + convicted soul find peace and rest. And so every revival of + true religion gives a new impulse to the Trinitarian + doctrine. Henry B. Smith wrote in his later life:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">When + the doctrine of the Trinity was abandoned, other articles of + the faith, such as the atonement and regeneration, have + almost always followed, by logical necessity, as, when one + draws the wire from a necklace of gems, the gems all fall + asunder.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">D. It is + essential to any proper model for human life.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">If there be + no Trinity immanent in the divine nature, then Fatherhood in + God has had a beginning and it may have an end; Sonship, + moreover, is no longer a perfection, but an imperfection, + ordained for a temporary purpose. But if fatherly giving and + filial receiving are eternal in God, then the law of love + requires of us conformity to God in both these respects as the + highest dignity of our being.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Hutton, Essays, + 1:232—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + Trinity tells us something of God's absolute and essential + nature; not simply what he is</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">to + us</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, but what he + is</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">in + himself</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">. If Christ + is the eternal Son of the Father, God is indeed and in + essence a Father; the social nature, the spring of love is of + the very essence of the eternal Being; the communication of + life, the reciprocation of affection dates from beyond time, + belongs to the very being of God. The Unitarian idea of a + solitary God profoundly affects our conception of God, + reduces it to mere power, identifies God with abstract cause + and thought. Love is grounded in power, not power in love. + The Father is merged in the omniscient and omnipotent genius + of the universe.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Hence</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 John + 2:23—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not + the Father.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">D'Arcy, Idealism and Theology, + 204—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If God + be simply one great person, then we have to think of him as + waiting until the whole process of creation has been + accomplished before his love can find an object upon which to + bestow itself. His love belongs, in that case, not to his + inmost essence, but to his relation to some of his creatures. + The words</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God is love</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(1 John 4:8)</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">become a rhetorical + exaggeration, rather than the expression of a truth about the + divine nature.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Hutton, Essays, + 1:239—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We need + also the inspiration and help of a perfect filial will. We + cannot conceive of the Father as sharing in that dependent + attitude of spirit which is our chief spiritual want. It is a + Father's perfection to originate—a Son's to receive. We need + sympathy and aid in this</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">receptive</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">life; hence, the help of the + true Son. Humility, self-sacrifice, submission, are heavenly, + eternal, divine. Christ's filial life to the root of all + filial life in us. See</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gal. 2:19, + 20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">it is + no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me: and that life + which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith + which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up + for me.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Thomas Erskine of Linlathen, The Spiritual + Order, 233—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There + is nothing degrading in this dependence, for we share it with + the eternal Son.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Gore, Incarnation, 162—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God can limit himself by the conditions of + manhood, because the Godhead contains in itself eternally the + prototype of human self-sacrifice and self-limitation, for + God is love.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">On the practical lessons and uses of the + doctrine of the Trinity, see Presb. and Ref. Rev., Oct + 1902:524-550—art. by R. M. Edgar; also sermon by Ganse, in + South Church Lectures, 300-310. On the doctrine in general, + see Robie, in Bib. Sac., 27:262-289; Pease, Philosophy of + Trinitarian Doctrine; N. W. Taylor, Revealed Theology, 1:133; + Schultz, Lehre von der Gottheit Christi.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On heathen trinities, see Bib. + Repos., 6:116; Christlieb, Mod. Doubt and Christian Belief, + 266, 267—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Lao-tse + says, 600 B. C.,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Tao, + the intelligent principle of all being, is by nature one; the + first begat the second; both together begat the third; these + three made all things.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Egyptian triad of Abydos was Osiris, + Isis his wife, and Horus their Son. But these were no true + persons; for not only did the Son proceed from the Father, + but the Father proceeded from the Son; the Egyptian trinity + was pantheistic in its meaning. See Renouf, Hibbert Lectures, + 29; Rawlinson, Religions of the Ancient World, 46, 47. The + Trinity of the Vedas was Dyaus, Indra, Agni. Derived from the + three dimensions of space? Or from the family—father, mother, + son? Man creates God in his own image, and sees family life + in the Godhead?</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The Brahman Trimurti or Trinity, + to the members of which are given the names Brahma, Vishnu, + Siva—source, supporter, end—is a personification of the + pantheistic All, which dwells equally in good and evil, in + god and man. The three are represented in the three mystic + letters of the syllable</span> <span lang="sa" class= + "tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="sa"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Om</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + or</span> <span lang="sa" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "sa"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Aum</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + and by the image at Elephanta of three heads and one body; + see Hardwick, Christ and Other Masters, 1:276. The</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page352">[pg 352]</span><a name= + "Pg352" id="Pg352" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">places of the three are interchangeable. + Williams:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In the + three persons the one God is shown; Each first in place, each + last, not one alone; Of Siva, Vishnu, Brahma, each may be, + First, second, third, among the blessed + three.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">There are ten incarnations of + Vishnu for men's salvation in various times of need; and the + one Spirit which temporarily invests itself with the + qualities of matter is reduced to its original essence at the + end of the æon (Kalpa). This is only a grosser form of + Sabellianism, or of a modal Trinity. According to Renouf it + is not older than A. D. 1400. Buddhism in later times had its + triad. Buddha, or Intelligence, the first principle, + associated with Dharma, or Law, the principle of matter, + through the combining influence of Sangha, or Order, the + mediating principle. See Kellogg, The Light of Asia and the + Light of the World, 184, 355. It is probably from a Christian + source.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The Greek trinity was composed + of Zeus, Athena, and Apollo. Apollo or Loxias (λόγος) utters + the decisions of Zeus.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">These three surpass all the other gods in + moral character and in providential care over the universe. + They sustain such intimate and endearing relations to each + other, that they may be said to</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">agree in one</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; see Tyler, Theol. of Greek Poets, 170, + 171; Gladstone, Studies of Homer, vol. 2, sec. 2. Yet the + Greek trinity, while it gives us three persons, does not give + us oneness of essence. It is a system of tritheism. Plotinus, + 300 A. D., gives us a philosophical Trinity in his τὸ ἔν, ὁ + νοῦς, ἡ ψυχή.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Watts, New Apologetic, 195—The + heathen trinities are</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">residuary fragments of the lost knowledge of + God, not different stages in a process of theological + evolution, but evidence of a moral and spiritual + degradation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">John Caird, Fund. Ideas of Christianity, + 92—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">In the + Vedas the various individual divinities are separated by no + hard and fast distinction from each other. They are only + names for one indivisible whole, of which the particular + divinity invoked at any one time is the type or + representative. There is a latent recognition of a unity + beneath all the multiplicity of the objects of adoration. The + personal or anthropomorphic element is never employed as it + is in the Greek and Roman mythology. The personality ascribed + to Mitra or Varuna or Indra or Agni is scarcely more real + than our modern smiling heaven or whispering breeze or sullen + moaning restless sea.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">There is but one,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">they say,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">though the poets call him by different + names.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">’</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The all-embracing heaven, mighty + nature, is the reality behind each of these partial + manifestations. The pantheistic element which was implicit in + the Vedic phase of Indian religion becomes explicit in + Brahmanism, and in particular in the so-called Indian systems + of philosophy and in the great Indian epic poems. They seek + to find in the flux and variety of things the permanent + underlying essence. That is Brahma. So Spinoza sought rest in + the one eternal substance, and he wished to look at all + things</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">under + the form of eternity.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">All things and beings are forms of one + whole, of the infinite substance which we call + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See also L. L. Paine, Ethnic + Trinities.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The gropings of the heathen + religions after a trinity in God, together with their + inability to construct a consistent scheme of it, are + evidence of a rational want in human nature which only the + Christian doctrine is able to supply. This power to satisfy + the inmost needs of the believer is proof of its truth. We + close our treatment with the words of Jeremy Taylor:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He who + goes about to speak of the mystery of the Trinity, and does + it by words and names of man's invention, talking of essence + and existences, hypostases and personalities, priority in + coëquality, and unity in pluralities, may amuse himself and + build a tabernacle in his head, and talk something—he knows + not what; but the renewed man, that feels the power of the + Father, to whom the Son is become wisdom, sanctification, and + redemption, in whose heart the love of the Spirit of God is + shed abroad—this man, though he understand nothing of what is + unintelligible, yet he alone truly understands the Christian + doctrine of the Trinity.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page353">[pg 353]</span><a name= + "Pg353" id="Pg353" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + <hr class="page" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em"> + <a name="toc321" id="toc321"></a> <a name="pdf322" id="pdf322"></a> + + <h2 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"> + <span style="font-size: 144%">Chapter III. The Decrees Of + God.</span></h2> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc323" id="toc323"></a> <a name="pdf324" id= + "pdf324"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">I. Definition of + Decrees.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">By the decrees + of God we mean that eternal plan by which God has rendered + certain all the events of the universe, past, present, and + future. Notice in explanation that:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + The decrees are many only to our finite comprehension; in their + own nature they are but one plan, which embraces not only effects + but also causes, not only the ends to be secured but also the + means needful to secure them.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">In</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + Rom. 8:28—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">called + according to his purpose</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—the many decrees for the salvation of many + individuals are represented as forming but one purpose of + God.</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 1:11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">foreordained according to the purpose of him + who worketh all things after the counsel of his + will</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—notice again the word</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">purpose</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">,</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">in the singular.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 3:11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">according + to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our + Lord.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">This one purpose or plan of God + includes both means and ends, prayer and its answer, labor and + its fruit. Tyrolese proverb:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God has his plan for every + man.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Every man, as well as Jean Paul, is</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">der + Einzige</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—the unique. There is a single plan which + embraces all things;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">we use the word</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">decree</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">when we think of it + partitively</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">(Pepper). See Hodge, Outlines of Theology, 1st + ed., 165; 2d ed., 200—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">In fact, no event is isolated—to determine one + involves determination of the whole concatenation of causes and + effects which constitutes the universe.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The word</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">plan</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">is preferable to the word</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">decrees,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">because</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">plan</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">excludes the ideas of (1) plurality, (2) + short-sightedness, (3) arbitrariness, (4) + compulsion.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + The decrees, as the eternal act of an infinitely perfect will, + though they have logical relations to each other, have no + chronological relation. They are not therefore the result of + deliberation, in any sense that implies short-sightedness or + hesitancy.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Logically, in God's decree the sun precedes the + sunlight, and the decree to bring into being a father precedes + the decree that there shall be a son. God decrees man before he + decrees man's act; he decrees the creation of man before he + decrees man's existence. But there is no chronological + succession.</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Counsel</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">in</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 1:11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + counsel of his will</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—means, not deliberation, but + wisdom.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + Since the will in which the decrees have their origin is a free + will, the decrees are not a merely instinctive or necessary + exercise of the divine intelligence or volition, such as + pantheism supposes.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It belongs to the perfection of God that he have + a plan, and the best possible plan. Here is no necessity, but + only the certainty that infinite wisdom will act wisely. God's + decrees are not God; they are not identical with his essence; + they do not flow from his being in the same necessary way in + which the eternal Son proceeds from the eternal Father. There is + free will in God, which acts with infinite certainty, yet without + necessity. To call even the decree of salvation necessary is to + deny grace, and to make an unfree God. See Dick, Lectures on + Theology, 1:355; lect. 34.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">d</span></span>) + The decrees have reference to things outside of God. God does not + decree to be holy, nor to exist as three persons in one + essence.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Decrees are the preparation for external + events—the embracing of certain things and acts in a plan. They + do not include those processes and operations within the Godhead + which have no reference to the universe.</span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page354">[pg + 354]</span><a name="Pg354" id="Pg354" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">e</span></span>) + The decrees primarily respect the acts of God himself, in + Creation, Providence, and Grace; secondarily, the acts of free + creatures, which he foresees will result therefrom.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">While we deny the assertion of Whedon, + that</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%"> + “</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the divine plan + embraces</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">only</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">divine actions,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">we grant that God's plan has reference</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">primarily</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">to his own actions, and that the + sinful acts of men, in particular, are the objects, not of a + decree that God will efficiently produce them, but of a decree + that God will permit men, in the exercise of their own free + will, to produce them.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">f</span></span>) + The decree to act is not the act. The decrees are an internal + exercise and manifestation of the divine attributes, and are not + to be confounded with Creation, Providence, and Redemption, which + are the execution of the decrees.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The decrees are the first operation of the + attributes, and the first manifestation of personality of which + we have any knowledge within the Godhead. They presuppose those + essential acts or movements within the divine nature which we + call generation and procession. They involve by way of + consequence that execution of the decrees which we call Creation, + Providence, and Redemption, but they are not to be confounded + with either of these.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">g</span></span>) + The decrees are therefore not addressed to creatures; are not of + the nature of statute law; and lay neither compulsion nor + obligation upon the wills of men.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">So ordering + the universe that men <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">will</span></em> pursue a given course of + action is a very different thing from declaring, ordering, or + commanding that they <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">shall</span></em>. <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Our acts are in accordance with the decrees, but not + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">necessarily</span></em> so—we <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-style: italic">can</span></em> + do otherwise and often <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">should</span></em>”</span> (Park). The + Frenchman who fell into the water and cried: <span class= + "tei tei-q">“I will, drown,—no one shall help me!”</span> was + very naturally permitted to drown; if he had said: <span class= + "tei tei-q">“I shall drown,—no one will help me!”</span> he might + perchance have called some friendly person to his aid.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">h</span></span>) + All human acts, whether evil or good, enter into the divine plan + and so are objects of God's decrees, although God's actual agency + with regard to the evil is only a permissive agency.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">No decree of God reads:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">You shall sin.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">For + (1) no decree is addressed to</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + you</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; (2) no decree + with respect to you says</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">shall</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">; + (3) God cannot cause</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">sin</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + or decree to cause it. He simply decrees to create, and himself + to act, in such a way that you will, of your own free choice, + commit sin. God determines upon his own acts, foreseeing what + the results will be in the free acts of his creatures, and so + he determines those results. This permissive decree is the only + decree of God with respect to sin. Man of himself is capable of + producing sin. Of himself he is not capable of producing + holiness. In the production of holiness two powers must concur, + God's will and man's will, and God's will must act first. The + decree of good, therefore, is not simply a permissive decree, + as in the case of evil. God's decree, in the former case, is a + decree to bring to bear positive agencies for its production, + such as circumstances, motives, influences of his Spirit. But, + in the case of evil, God's decrees are simply his arrangement + that man may do as he pleases, God all the while foreseeing the + result.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Permissive agency should not be confounded + with conditional agency, nor permissive decree with conditional + decree. God foreordained sin only indirectly. The machine is + constructed not for the sake of the friction, but in spite of + it. In the parable</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 13:24-30</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, the + question</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Whence then hath it + tares?</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is answered, not by saying,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I decreed + the tares.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">but by saying:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">An enemy hath done + this</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Yet we must take exception to Principal + Fairbairn, Place of Christ in Theology, 456, when he + says:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God did + not</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">permit</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">sin to be; it is, in its essence, + the transgression of his law, and so his only attitude toward + it is one of opposition. It</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">is</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">, because man has contradicted and resisted + his will.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Here the truth of God's opposition + to sin is stated so sharply as almost to deny the decree of sin + in any sense. We maintain that God does decree sin in the sense + of embracing in his plan the foreseen transgressions of men, + while at the same time we maintain that these foreseen + transgressions are chargeable wholly to men and not at all to + God.</span></p> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page355">[pg + 355]</span><a name="Pg355" id="Pg355" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">(<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">i</span></span>) + While God's total plan with regard to creatures is called + predestination, or foreordination, his purpose so to act that + certain will believe and be saved is called election, and his + purpose so to act that certain will refuse to believe and be lost + is called reprobation. We discuss election and reprobation, in a + later chapter, as a part of the Application of Redemption.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">God's decrees may be divided into decrees with + respect to nature, and decrees with respect to moral beings. + These last we call foreordination, or predestination; and of + these decrees with respect to moral beings there are two kinds, + the decree of election, and the decree of reprobation; see our + treatment of the doctrine of Election. George Herbert:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">We all + acknowledge both thy power and love To be exact, transcendent, + and divine; Who dost so strongly and so sweetly move. While all + things have their will—yet none but thine. For either thy</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">command</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">or thy</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + permission</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">Lays hands + on all; they are thy right and left. The first puts on with + speed and expedition; The other curbs sin's stealing pace and + theft. Nothing escapes them both; all must appear And be + disposed and dressed and tuned by thee Who sweetly temperest + all. If we could hear Thy skill and art, what music it would + be!</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On the whole doctrine, see Shedd, + Presb. and Ref. Rev., Jan. 1890:1-25.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc325" id="toc325"></a> <a name="pdf326" id= + "pdf326"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">II. Proof of the Doctrine of + Decrees.</span></h3> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc327" id="toc327"></a> <a name="pdf328" id= + "pdf328"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1. From Scripture.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. The + Scriptures declare that all things are included in the divine + decrees. B. They declare that special things and events are + decreed; as, for example, (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">a</span></span>) + the stability of the physical universe; (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">b</span></span>) + the outward circumstances of nations; (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + the length of human life; (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">d</span></span>) + the mode of our death; (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">e</span></span>) the free acts of men, + both good acts and evil acts. C. They declare that God has + decreed (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) the salvation of + believers; (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) the establishment of + Christ's kingdom; (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) the work of Christ and of + his people in establishing it.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">A.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. 14:26, + 27—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">This is + the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth; and this + is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations; for + Jehovah of hosts hath purposed ... and his hand is stretched + out, and who shall turn it back?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">46:10, + 11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">declaring the end from the beginning, and + from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, + My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure ... + yea, I have spoken, I will also bring it to pass; I have + purposed, I will also do it.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Dan. + 4:35—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">doeth + according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the + inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or say + unto him, What doest thou?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 1:11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of + his will.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">B. (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 119:89-91—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For + ever, O Jehovah, thy word is settled in heaven. Thy + faithfulness is unto all generations: Thou hast established + the earth and it abideth. They abide this day according to + thine ordinances; For all things are thy + servants.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 17:26—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he made + of one every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the + earth, having determined their appointed seasons, and the + bounds of their habitation</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Zach. + 5:1—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">came + four chariots out from between two mountains; and the + mountains were mountains of brass</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—the fixed decrees from which proceed God's + providential dealings? (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Job + 14:5—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Seeing + his days are determined, The number of his months is with + thee, And thou hast determined his bounds that he cannot + pass.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">d</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 21:19—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">this he + spake, signifying by what manner of death he should glorify + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">e</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + Good acts:</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 44:28—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">that + saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd and shall perform all my + pleasure, even saying of Jerusalem, She shall be built; and + of the temple, Thy foundation shall be + laid</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 2:10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For we + are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, + which God afore prepared that we should walk in + them.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Evil acts:</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 50:20—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">as for + you, ye meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to + bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people + alive</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 K. + 12:15—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">So the + king hearkened not unto the people, for it was a thing + brought about of Jehovah</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">24—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">for this thing is of me</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Luke + 22:23—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For the + Son of man indeed goeth, as it hath been determined: but woe + unto that man through whom he is betrayed</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts + 2:23—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">him, + being delivered up by the determinate counsel and + foreknowledge of God, ye by the hand of lawless men did + crucify and slay</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">4:27, + 28—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">of a + truth in this city against thy holy Servant Jesus, who thou + didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the + Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together, to + do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel foreordained to come + to pass</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rom. + 9:17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For the + scripture saith unto Pharaoh, For this very purpose did I + raise thee up, that I might show in thee my + power</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Pet + 2:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">They + stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they + were appointed</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rev. + 17:17—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">For God + did put in their hearts to do his mind, and to come to one + mind, and to give their kingdom unto the beast, until the + words of God should be accomplished.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em></p><span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page356">[pg 356]</span><a name="Pg356" id= + "Pg356" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">C. (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">)</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 2:7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + wisdom which hath been hidden, which God foreordained before + the worlds unto our glory</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph 3:10, + 11—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">manifold wisdom of God, according to the + eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our + lord.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ephesians 1</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">is a pæan in praise of God's + decrees. (</span><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">b</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + The greatest decree of all is the decree to give the world to + Christ.</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. 2:7, + 8—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I will + tell of the decree:... I will give thee the nations for thine + inheritance</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cf.</span></span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">verse + 6—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I have + set my king Upon my holy hill of Zion</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">1 Cor. + 15:25—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he must + reign, till he hath put all his enemies under his + feet.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">(</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">c</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">) + This decree we are to convert into our decree; God's will is + to be executed through our wills.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Phil. 2:12, + 13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">work + out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God + who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good + pleasure.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Rev. 5:1, + 7—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I saw + in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book + written within and on the back, close sealed with seven + seals.... And he</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">[the Lamb]</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">came, and he taketh it out of the right hand + of him that sat on the throne</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">verse + 9—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Worthy + art thou to take the book, and to open the seals + thereof</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—Christ alone has the omniscience to know, + and the omnipotence to execute, the divine decrees. When John + weeps because there is none in heaven or earth to loose the + seals and to read the book of God's decrees, the Lion of the + tribe of Judah prevails to open it. Only Christ conducts the + course of history to its appointed end. See A. H. Strong, + Christ in Creation, 268-283, on The Decree of God as the + Great Encouragement to Missions.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc329" id="toc329"></a> <a name="pdf330" id= + "pdf330"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 2. From Reason.</h4> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc331" id="toc331"></a> <a name="pdf332" id= + "pdf332"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + A. From the Divine Foreknowledge.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + Foreknowledge implies fixity, and fixity implies decree.—From + eternity God foresaw all the events of the universe as fixed + and certain. This fixity and certainty could not have had its + ground either in blind fate or in the variable wills of men, + since neither of these had an existence. It could have had + its ground in nothing outside the divine mind, for in + eternity nothing existed besides the divine mind. But for + this fixity there must have been a cause; if anything in the + future was fixed, something must have fixed it. This fixity + could have had its ground only in the plan and purpose of + God. In fine, if God foresaw the future as certain, it must + have been because there was something in himself which made + it certain; or, in other words, because he had decreed + it.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We object therefore to the + statement of E. G. Robinson, Christian Theology, + 74—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God's + knowledge and God's purposes both being eternal, one cannot + be conceived as the ground of the other, nor can either be + predicated to the exclusion of the other as the cause of + things, but, correlative and eternal, they must be coequal + quantities in thought.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We reply that while decree does not + chronologically precede, it does logically precede, + foreknowledge. Foreknowledge is not of possible events, but + of what is certain to be. The certainty of future events + which God foreknew could have had its ground only in his + decree, since he alone existed to be the ground and + explanation of this certainty. Events were fixed only because + God had fixed them. Shedd, Dogm. Theol., + 1:397—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">An + event must be</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">made</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">certain, before it can be</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">known</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">as a certain + event.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Turretin, Inst. Theol., loc. 3, + quaes. 12, 18—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Præcipuum fundamentum scientiæ divinæ circa + futura contingentia est deoretum solum.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Decreeing + creation implies decreeing the foreseen results of + creation.—To meet the objection that God might have foreseen + the events of the universe, not because he had decreed each + one, but only because he had decreed to create the universe + and institute its laws, we may put the argument in another + form. In eternity there could have been no cause of the + future existence of the universe, outside of God himself, + since no being existed but God himself. In eternity God + foresaw that the creation of the world and the institution of + its laws would make certain its actual history even to the + most insignificant details. But God decreed to create and to + institute these laws. In so decreeing he necessarily decreed + all that was to come. In fine, God foresaw the future events + of the universe as certain, because he had decreed to create; + but this determination to create involved also a + determination of all the actual results of that creation; or, + in other words, God decreed those results.</p><span class= + "tei tei-pb" id="page357">[pg 357]</span><a name="Pg357" id= + "Pg357" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">E. G. Robinson, Christian + Theology, 84—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + existence of divine decrees may be inferred from the + existence of natural law.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Law = certainty = God's will. Positivists + express great contempt for the doctrine of the eternal + purpose of God, yet they consign us to the iron necessity of + physical forces and natural laws. Dr. Robinson also points + out that decrees are</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">implied + in the prophecies. We cannot conceive that all events + should have converged toward the one great event—the death + of Christ—without the intervention of an eternal + purpose.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">E. H. Johnson, Outline Syst. + Theol., 2d ed., 251, note—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Reason is confronted by the paradox that + the divine decrees are at once absolute and conditional; + the resolution of the paradox is that God absolutely + decreed a conditional system—a system, however, the + workings of which he thoroughly + foreknows.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The rough unhewn stone and the statue into + which it will be transformed are both and equally included + in the plan of the sculptor.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">No + undecreed event can be foreseen.—We grant that God decrees + primarily and directly his own acts of creation, providence, + and grace; but we claim that this involves also a secondary + and indirect decreeing of the acts of free creatures which he + foresees will result therefrom. There is therefore no such + thing in God as <span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style="font-style: italic">scientia + media</span></span>, or knowledge of an event that is to be, + though it does not enter into the divine plan; for to say + that God foresees an undecreed event, is to say that he views + as future an event that is merely possible; or, in other + words, that he views an event not as it is.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We recognize only two kinds of + knowledge: (1) Knowledge of undecreed possibles, and (2) + foreknowledge of decreed actuals.</span> <span lang="la" + class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Scientia + media</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">is a + supposed intermediate knowledge between these two, namely (3) + foreknowledge of undecreed actuals. See further explanations + below. We deny the existence of this third sort of knowledge. + We hold that sin is decreed in the sense of being</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">rendered + certain</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">by God's + determining upon a system in which it was foreseen that sin + would exist. The sin of man can be foreknown, while yet God + is not the immediate cause of it. God knows possibilities, + without having decreed them at all. But God cannot foreknow + actualities unless he has by his decree made them to be + certainties of the future. He cannot foreknow that which is + not there to be foreknown. Royce, World and Individual, + 2:374, maintains that God has, not</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">fore</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">knowledge, + but only</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">eternal</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">knowledge, of temporal things. + But we reply that to foreknow how a moral being</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">will</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">act is no more impossible than + to know how a moral being in given circumstances</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">would</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">act.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Only + knowledge of that which is decreed is + foreknowledge.—Knowledge of a plan as ideal or possible may + precede decree; but knowledge of a plan as actual or fixed + must follow decree. Only the latter knowledge is properly + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">fore</span></em>knowledge. God therefore + foresees creation, causes, laws, events, consequences, + because he has decreed creation, causes, laws, events, + consequences; that is, because he has embraced all these in + his plan. The denial of decrees logically involves the denial + of God's foreknowledge of free human actions; and to this + Socinians, and some Arminians, are actually led.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">An Arminian example of this + denial is found in McCabe, Foreknowledge of God, and Divine + Nescience of Future Contingencies a Necessity.</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Per + contra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, see notes + on God's foreknowledge, in this Compendium, pages 283-286. + Pepper:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Divine + volition stands logically between two divisions and kinds of + divine knowledge.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">God knew free human actions as</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">possible</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">,</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">before</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">he decreed them; he knew them + as</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">future</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">,</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">because</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">he + decreed them. Logically, though not chronologically, decree + comes before foreknowledge. When I say,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + know what I will do,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">it is evident that I have determined + already, and that my knowledge does not precede + determination, but follows it and is based upon it. It is + therefore not correct to say that God foreknows his + decrees. It is more true to say that he decrees his + foreknowledge. He foreknows the future which he has + decreed, and he foreknows it because he has decreed it. His + decrees are eternal, and nothing that is eternal can be the + object of foreknowledge. G. F. Wright, in Bib.</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page358">[pg + 358]</span><a name="Pg358" id="Pg358" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">Sac., + 1877:723—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">knowledge</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of God comprehended the + details and incidents of every possible plan. The</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">choice</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of a plan made his knowledge + determinate as</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">fore</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">knowledge.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">There are therefore two kinds + of divine knowledge: (1) knowledge of what may be—of the + possible (</span><span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">scientia simplicis + intelligentiæ</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">); + and (2) knowledge of what is, and is to be, because God has + decreed it (</span><span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" + xml:lang="la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">scientia + visionis</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">). + Between these two Molina, the Spanish Jesuit, wrongly + conceived that there was (3) a middle knowledge of things + which were to be, although God had not decreed them + (</span><span lang="la" class="tei tei-foreign" xml:lang= + "la"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">scientia + media</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">). This + would of course be a knowledge which God derived, not from + himself, but from his creatures! See Dick, Theology, 1:351. + A. S. Carman:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It is + difficult to see how God's knowledge can be caused from + eternity by something that has no existence until a + definite point of time.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">If it be said that what is to be will + be</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">in + the nature of things,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">we reply that there is no</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">nature of things</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">apart from God, and that the ground of the + objective certainty, as well as of the subjective certitude + corresponding to it, is to be found only in God + himself.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">But God's decreeing to create, + when he foresees that certain free acts of men will follow, + is a decreeing of those free acts, in the only sense in + which we use the word decreeing,</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">viz.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, + a rendering certain, or embracing in his plan. No Arminian + who believes in God's foreknowledge of free human acts has + good reason for denying God's decrees as thus explained. + Surely God did not foreknow that Adam would exist and sin, + whether God determined to create him or not. Omniscience, + then, becomes</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">fore</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">knowledge + only on condition of God's decree. That God's foreknowledge + of free acts is intuitive does not affect this conclusion. + We grant that, while man can predict free action only so + far as it is rational (</span><span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, in the line + of previously dominant motive), God can predict free action + whether it is rational or not. But even God cannot predict + what is not certain to be. God can have intuitive + foreknowledge of free human acts only upon condition of his + own decree to create; and this decree to create, in + foresight of all that will follow, is a decree of what + follows. For the Arminian view, see Watson, Institutes, + 2:375-398, 422-448.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Per + contra</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, see + Hill, Divinity, 512-582; Fiske, in Bib. Sac., April, 1862; + Bennett Tyler, Memoir and Lectures, 214-254; Edwards the + younger, 1:398-420; A. H. Strong, Philosophy and Religion, + 98-101.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc333" id="toc333"></a> <a name="pdf334" id= + "pdf334"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + B. From the Divine Wisdom.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It is the + part of wisdom to proceed in every undertaking according to a + plan. The greater the undertaking, the more needful a plan. + Wisdom, moreover, shows itself in a careful provision for all + possible circumstances and emergencies that can arise in the + execution of its plan. That many such circumstances and + emergencies are uncontemplated and unprovided for in the + plans of men, is due only to the limitations of human wisdom. + It belongs to infinite wisdom, therefore, not only to have a + plan, but to embrace all, even the minutest details, in the + plan of the universe.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">No architect would attempt to + build a Cologne cathedral without a plan; he would rather, if + possible, have a design for every stone. The great painter + does not study out his picture as he goes along; the plan is + in his mind from the start; preparations for the last effects + have to be made from the beginning. So in God's work every + detail is foreseen and provided for; sin and Christ entered + into the original plan of the universe. Raymond, Syst. + Theol., 2:156, says this implies that God cannot govern the + world unless all things be reduced to the condition of + machinery; and that it cannot be true, for the reason that + God's government is a government of persons and not of + things. But we reply that the wise statesman governs persons + and not things, yet just in proportion to his wisdom he + conducts his administration according to a preconceived plan. + God's power might, but God's wisdom would not, govern the + universe without embracing all things, even the least human + action, in his plan.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc335" id="toc335"></a> <a name="pdf336" id= + "pdf336"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + C. From the Divine Immutability.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">What God + does, he always purposed to do. Since with him there is no + increase of knowledge or power, such as characterizes finite + beings, it follows that what under any given circumstances he + permits or does, he must <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page359">[pg 359]</span><a name="Pg359" id="Pg359" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> have eternally decreed to permit or do. + To suppose that God has a multitude of plans, and that he + changes his plan with the exigencies of the situation, is to + make him infinitely dependent upon the varying wills of his + creatures, and to deny to him one necessary element of + perfection, namely, immutability.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">God has been very unworthily + compared to a chess-player, who will checkmate his opponent + whatever moves he may make (George Harris). So Napoleon is + said to have had a number of plans before each battle, and to + have betaken himself from one to another as fortune demanded. + Not so with God.</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + Job 23:13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">he is + in one mind, and who can turn him?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">James + 1:17-</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither + shadow that is cast by turning.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Contrast with this Scripture McCabe's + statement in his Foreknowledge of God, + 62—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">This + new factor, the godlike liberty of the human will, is + capable of thwarting, and in uncounted instances does + thwart, the divine will, and compel the great</span> + <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-variant: small-caps">I + Am</span></span> <span style="font-size: 90%">to modify his + actions, his purposes, and his plans, in the treatment of + individuals and of communities.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc337" id="toc337"></a> <a name="pdf338" id= + "pdf338"></a> + + <h5 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + D. From the Divine Benevolence.</h5> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The events + of the universe, if not determined by the divine decrees, + must be determined either by chance or by the wills of + creatures. It is contrary to any proper conception of the + divine benevolence to suppose that God permits the course of + nature and of history, and the ends to which both these are + moving, to be determined for myriads of sentient beings by + any other force or will than his own. Both reason and + revelation, therefore, compel us to accept the doctrine of + the Westminster Confession, that <span class="tei tei-q">“God + did from all eternity, by the most just and holy counsel of + his own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes + to pass.”</span></p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It would not be benevolent for + God to put out of his own power that which was so essential + to the happiness of the universe. Tyler, Memoir and Lectures, + 231-243—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + denial of decrees involves denial of the essential attributes + of God, such as omnipotence, omniscience, benevolence; + exhibits him as a disappointed and unhappy being; implies + denial of his universal providence; leads to a denial of the + greater part of our own duty of submission; weakens the + obligations of gratitude.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">We give thanks to God for blessings which + come to us through the free acts of others; but unless God + has purposed these blessings, we owe our thanks to these + others and not to God. Dr. A. J. Gordon said well that a + universe without decrees would be as irrational and appalling + as would be an express-train driving on in the darkness + without headlight or engineer, and with no certainty that the + next moment it might not plunge into the abyss. And even + Martineau, Study, 2:108, in spite of his denial of God's + foreknowledge of man's free acts, is compelled to say:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">It + cannot be left to mere created natures to play + unconditionally with the helm of even a single world and + steer it uncontrolled into the haven or on to the reefs; and + some security must be taken for keeping the deflections + within tolerable bounds.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See also Emmons, Works, 4:273-401: and + Princeton Essays, 1:57-73.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc339" id="toc339"></a> <a name="pdf340" id= + "pdf340"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">III. Objections to the Doctrine of + Decrees.</span></h3> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc341" id="toc341"></a> <a name="pdf342" id= + "pdf342"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1. That they are inconsistent with the free agency of man.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">To this we + reply that:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">A. The + objection confounds the decrees with the execution of the + decrees. The decrees are, like foreknowledge, an act eternal to + the divine nature, and are no more inconsistent with free + agency than foreknowledge is. Even foreknowledge of events + implies that those events are fixed. If this absolute fixity + and foreknowledge is not inconsistent with free agency, much + less can that which is more remote from man's action, namely, + the <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page360">[pg + 360]</span><a name="Pg360" id="Pg360" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> hidden cause of this fixity and + foreknowledge—God's decrees—be inconsistent with free agency. + If anything be inconsistent with man's free agency, it must be, + not the decrees themselves, but the execution of the decrees in + creation and providence.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On this objection, see Tyler, + Memoir and Lectures, 244-249; Forbes, Predestination and Free + Will, 3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">All + things are</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">predestinated</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">by God, both good and evil, but + not</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">prenecessitated</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + that is, causally preördained by him—unless we would make God + the author of sin. Predestination is thus an indifferent + word, in so far as the originating author of anything is + concerned; God being the originator of good, but the + creature, of evil. Predestination therefore means that God + included in his plan of the world every act of every + creature, good or bad. Some acts he predestined causally, + others permissively. The certainty of the fulfilment of all + God's purposes ought to be distinguished from their + necessity.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">This means simply that God's + decree is not the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + cause</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">of any act or + event. God's decrees may be executed by the causal efficiency + of his creatures, or they may be executed by his own + efficiency. In either case it is, if anything, the execution, + and not the decree, that is inconsistent with human + freedom.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">B. The + objection rests upon a false theory of free agency—namely, that + free agency implies indeterminateness or uncertainty; in other + words, that free agency cannot coëxist with certainty as to the + results of its exercise. But it is necessity, not certainty, + with which free agency is inconsistent. Free agency is the + power of self-determination in view of motives, or man's power + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) to chose between motives, + and (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) to direct his subsequent + activity according to the motive thus chosen. Motives are never + a cause, but only an occasion; they influence, but never + compel; the man is the cause, and herein is his freedom. But it + is also true that man is never in a state of indeterminateness; + never acts without motive, or contrary to all motives; there is + always a reason why he acts, and herein is his rationality. + Now, so far as man acts according to previously dominant + motive—see (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) above—we may by knowing + his motive predict his action, and our certainty what that + action will be in no way affects his freedom. We may even bring + motives to bear upon others, the influence of which we foresee, + yet those who act upon them may act in perfect freedom. But if + man, influenced by man, may still be free, then man, influenced + by divinely foreseen motives, may still be free, and the divine + decrees, which simply render certain man's actions, may also be + perfectly consistent with man's freedom.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We must not assume that decreed + ends can be secured only by compulsion. Eternal purposes do + not necessitate efficient causation on the part of the + purposer. Freedom may be the very means of fulfilling the + purpose. E. G. Robinson, Christian Theology, + 74—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Absolute certainty of events, which is all + that omniscience determines respecting them, is not identical + with their necessitation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">John Milton, Christian Doctrine:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Future + events which God has foreseen will happen certainly, but not + of necessity. They will happen certainly, because the divine + prescience will not be deceived; but they will not happen + necessarily, because prescience can have no influence on the + object foreknown, inasmuch as it is only an intransitive + action.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">There is, + however, a smaller class of human actions by which character is + changed, rather than expressed, and in which the man acts + according to a motive different from that which has previously + been dominant—see (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) above. These actions also + are foreknown by God, although they cannot be predicted by man. + Man's freedom in them would be inconsistent with God's decrees, + if the previous certainty of their occurrence were, not + certainty, but necessity; or, in other words, if God's decrees + were in all cases decrees efficiently to produce the acts of + his creatures. But this is not the <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page361">[pg 361]</span><a name="Pg361" id="Pg361" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> case. God's decrees may be executed by + man's free causation, as easily as by God's; and God's + decreeing this free causation, in decreeing to create a + universe of which he foresees that this causation will be a + part, in no way interferes with the freedom of such causation, + but rather secures and establishes it. Both consciousness and + conscience witness that God's decrees are not executed by + laying compulsion upon the free wills of men.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The farmer who, after hearing a + sermon on God's decrees, took the break-neck road instead of + the safe one to his home and broke his wagon in consequence, + concluded before the end of his journey that he at any rate + had been predestinated to be a fool, and that he had made his + calling and election sure. Ladd, Philosophy of Conduct, 146, + 187, shows that the will is free, first, by man's + consciousness of ability, and, secondly, by man's + consciousness of imputability. By nature, he is</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">potentially</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">self-determining; as matter of + fact, he often</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">becomes</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">self-determining.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Allen, Religious Progress, + 110—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + coming church must embrace the sovereignty of God and the + freedom of the will; total depravity and the divinity of + human nature; the unity of God and the triune distinctions in + the Godhead; gnosticism and agnosticism; the humanity of + Christ and his incarnate deity; the freedom of the Christian + man and the authority of the church; individualism and + solidarity; reason and faith; science and theology; miracle + and uniformity of law; culture and piety; the authority of + the Bible as the word of God with absolute freedom of + Biblical criticism; the gift of administration as in the + historic episcopate and the gift of prophecy as the highest + sanction of the ministerial commission; the apostolic + succession but also the direct and immediate call which knows + only the succession of the Holy Ghost.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Without assenting to these latter clauses we + may commend the comprehensive spirit of this utterance, + especially with reference to the vexed question of the + relation of divine sovereignty to human freedom.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">It may aid + us, in estimating the force of this objection, to note the four + senses in which the term <span class= + "tei tei-q">“freedom”</span> may be used. It may be used as + equivalent to (1) <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">physical</span></em> freedom, or absence + of outward constraint; (2) <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-style: italic">formal</span></em> + freedom, or a state of moral indeterminateness; (3) <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">moral</span></em> freedom, or + self-determinateness in view of motives; (4) <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">real</span></em> freedom, or ability to + conform to the divine standard. With the first of these we are + not now concerned, since all agree that the decrees lay no + outward constraint upon men. Freedom in the second sense has no + existence, since all men have character. Free agency, or + freedom in the third sense, has just been shown to be + consistent with the decrees. Freedom in the fourth sense, or + real freedom, is the special gift of God, and is not to be + confounded with free agency. The objection mentioned above + rests wholly upon the second of these definitions of free + agency. This we have shown to be false, and with this the + objection itself falls to the ground.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Ritschl, Justification and + Reconciliation, 133-188, gives a good definition of this + fourth kind of freedom:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Freedom is self-determination by universal + ideals. Limiting our ends to those of family or country is a + refined or idealized selfishness. Freedom is + self-determination by universal love for man or by the + kingdom of God. But the free man must then be dependent on + God in everything, because the kingdom of God is a revelation + of God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">John Caird, Fundamental Ideas of + Christianity, 1:133—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">In being determined by God we are + self-determined;</span> <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">i. + e.</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">, determined by + nothing alien to us, but by our noblest, truest self. The + universal life lives in us. The eternal consciousness becomes + our own; for</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">he that abideth in love abideth in God and + God abideth in him</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(1 John + 4:16)</span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Moberly, Atonement and + Personality, 226—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Free + will is not the independence of the creature, but is rather + his self-realization in perfect dependence. Freedom is + self-identity with goodness. Both goodness and freedom are, + in their perfectness, in God. Goodness in a creature is not + distinction from, but correspondence with, the goodness of + God. Freedom in a creature is correspondence with God's own + self-identity with goodness. It is to realize and to + find</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">himself</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, + his</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">true</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">self, in Christ, so that + God's</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page362">[pg + 362]</span><a name="Pg362" id="Pg362" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">love in us + has become a divine response, adequate to, because truly + mirroring, God.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">G. S. Lee, The Shadow Christ, + 32—.</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The ten + commandments could not be chanted. The Israelites sang about + Jehovah and what he had done, but they did not sing about + what he told them to do, and that is why they never did it. + The conception of duty that cannot sing must weep until it + learns to sing. This is Hebrew history.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There + is a liberty, unsung By poets and by senators unpraised, + Which monarchs cannot grant nor all the powers Of earth and + hell confederate take away; A liberty which persecution, + fraud, Oppressions, prisons, have no power to bind; Which + whoso tastes can be enslaved no more. 'T is liberty of heart, + derived from heaven, Bought with his blood who gave it to + mankind, And sealed with the same token.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Robert Herrick:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron + bars a cage; Minds innocent and quiet take That for a + hermitage. If I have freedom in my love, And in my soul am + free, Angels alone that soar above Enjoy such + liberty.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">A more full discussion of the + doctrine of the Will is given under Anthropology, Vol. II. It + is sufficient here to say that the Arminian objections to the + decrees arise almost wholly from erroneously conceiving of + freedom as the will's power to decide, in any given case, + against its own character and all the motives brought to bear + upon it. As we shall hereafter see, this is practically to + deny that man has character, or that the will by its right or + wrong moral action gives to itself, as well as to the + intellect and affections, a permanent bent or predisposition + to good or evil. It is to extend the power of contrary + choice, a power which belongs to the sphere of transient + volition, over all those permanent states of intellect, + affection, and will which we call the moral character, and to + say that we can change directly by a single volition that + which, as a matter of fact, we can change only indirectly + through process and means. Yet even this exaggerated view of + freedom would seem not to exclude God's decrees, or prevent a + practical reconciliation of the Arminian and Calvinistic + views, so long as the Arminian grants God's foreknowledge of + free human acts, and the Calvinist grants that God's decree + of these acts is not necessarily a decree that God will + efficiently produce them. For a close approximation of the + two views, see articles by Raymond and by A. A. Hodge, + respectively, on the Arminian and the Calvinistic Doctrines + of the Will, in McClintock and Strong's Cyclopædia, 10:989, + 992.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We therefore hold to the + certainty of human action, and so part company with the + Arminian. We cannot with Whedon (On the Will), and Hazard + (Man a Creative First Cause), attribute to the will the + freedom of indifference, or the power to act without motive. + We hold with Calderwood, Moral Philosophy, 188, that action + without motive, or an act of pure will, is unknown in + consciousness (see, however, an inconsistent statement of + Calderwood on page 188 of the same work). Every future human + act will not only be performed with a motive, but will + certainly be one thing rather than another; and God knows + what it will be. Whatever may be the method of God's + foreknowledge, and whether it be derived from motives or be + intuitive, that foreknowledge presupposes God's decree to + create, and so presupposes the making certain of the free + acts that follow creation.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">But this certainty is not + necessity. In reconciling God's decrees with human freedom, + we must not go to the other extreme, and reduce human freedom + to mere determinism, or the power of the agent to act out his + character in the circumstances which environ him. Human + action is not simply the expression of previously dominant + affections; else Neither Satan nor Adam could have fallen, + nor could the Christian ever sin. We therefore part company + with Jonathan Edwards and his Treatise on the Freedom of the + Will, as well as with the younger Edwards (Works, 1:420), + Alexander (Moral Science, 107), and Charles Hodge (Syst. + Theology, 2:278), all of whom follow Jonathan Edwards in + identifying sensibility with the will, in regarding + affections as the causes of volitions, and in speaking of the + connection between motive and action as a necessary one. We + hold, on the contrary, that sensibility and will are two + distinct powers, that affections are occasions but never + causes of volitions, and that, while motives may infallibly + persuade, they never compel the will. The power to make the + decision other than it is resides in the will, though it may + never be exercised. With Charnock, the Puritan (Attributes, + 1:448-450), we say that</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">man hath a power to do otherwise than that + which God foreknows he will do.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Since, then, God's decrees are not executed + by laying compulsion upon human wills, they are not + inconsistent with man's freedom. See Martineau, Study, 2:237, + 249, 258, 261; also article by A. H. Strong, on Modified + Calvinism, or Remainders of Freedom in Man, in Baptist + Review, 1883:219-243; reprinted in the author's Philosophy + and Religion, 114-128.</span></p> + </div> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page363">[pg + 363]</span><a name="Pg363" id="Pg363" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc343" id="toc343"></a> <a name="pdf344" id= + "pdf344"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 2. That they take away all motive for human exertion.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">To this we + reply that:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) They cannot thus + influence men, since they are not addressed to men, are not the + rule of human action, and become known only after the event. + This objection is therefore the mere excuse of indolence and + disobedience.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Men rarely make this excuse in + any enterprise in which their hopes and their interests are + enlisted. It is mainly in matters of religion that men use + the divine decrees as an apology for their sloth and + inaction. The passengers on an ocean steamer do not deny + their ability to walk to starboard or to larboard, upon the + plea that they are being carried to their destination by + forces beyond their control. Such a plea would be still more + irrational in a case where the passengers' inaction, as in + case of fire, might result in destruction to the + ship.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) The objection confounds + the decrees of God with fate. But it is to be observed that + fate is unintelligent, while the decrees are framed by a + personal God in infinite wisdom; fate is indistinguishable from + material causation and leaves no room for human freedom, while + the decrees exclude all notion of physical necessity; fate + embraces no moral ideas or ends, while the decrees make these + controlling in the universe.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">North British Rev., April, + 1870—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Determinism and predestination spring from + premises which lie in quite separate regions of thought. The + predestinarian is obliged by his theology to admit the + existence of a free will in God, and, as a matter of fact, he + does admit it in the devil. But the final consideration which + puts a great gulf between the determinist and the + predestinarian is this, that the latter asserts the reality + of the vulgar notion of moral desert. Even if he were not + obliged by his interpretation of Scripture to assert this, he + would be obliged to assert it in order to help out his + doctrine of eternal reprobation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Hawthorne expressed his belief + in human freedom when be said that destiny itself had often + been worsted in the attempt to get him out to dinner. + Benjamin Franklin, in his Autobiography, quotes the Indian's + excuse for getting drunk:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Great Spirit made all things for some + use, and whatsoever use they were made for, to that use they + must be put. The Great Spirit made rum for Indians to get + drunk with, and so it must be.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Martha, in Isabel Carnaby, excuses her + breaking of dishes by saying:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">It seems as if it was to be. It is the thin + edge of the wedge that in time will turn again and rend + you.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Seminary professor:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Did a + man ever die before his time?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Seminary student:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">I never knew of such a + case.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The decrees of God, considered + as God's all-embracing plan, leave room for human + freedom.</span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) The objection ignores the + logical relation between the decree of the end and the decree + of the means to secure it. The decrees of God not only ensure + the end to be obtained, but they ensure free human action as + logically prior thereto. All conflict between the decrees and + human exertion must therefore be apparent and not real. Since + consciousness and Scripture assure us that free agency exists, + it must exist by divine decree; and though we may be ignorant + of the method in which the decrees are executed, we have no + right to doubt either the decrees or the freedom. They must be + held to be consistent, until one of them is proved to be a + delusion.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">The man who carries a vase of + gold-fish does not prevent the fish from moving + unrestrainedly within the vase. The double track of a railway + enables a formidable approaching train to slip by without + colliding with our own. Our globe takes us with it, as it + rushes around the sun, yet we do our ordinary work without + interruption. The two movements which at first sight seem + inconsistent with each other are really parts of one whole. + God's plan and man's effort are equally in harmony. Myers, + Human Personality, 2:272, speaks of</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">molecular motion amid molar + calm.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p><span class="tei tei-pb" + id="page364">[pg 364]</span><a name="Pg364" id="Pg364" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Dr. Duryea:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The way of life has two fences. There is an + Arminian fence to keep us out of Fatalism; and there is a + Calvinistic fence to keep us out of Pelagianism. Some good + brethren like to walk on the fences. But it is hard in that + way to keep one's balance. And it is needless, for there is + plenty of room between the fences. For my part I prefer to + walk in the road.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Archibald Alexander's statement is yet + better:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Calvinism is the broadest of systems. It + regards the divine sovereignty and the freedom of the human + will as the two sides of a roof which come together at a + ridgepole above the clouds. Calvinism accepts both truths. A + system which denies either one of the two has only half a + roof over its head.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Spurgeon, Autobiography, 1:176, + and The Best Bread, 109—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The system of truth revealed in the + Scriptures is not simply one straight line but two, and no + man will ever get a right view of the gospel until he knows + how to look at the two lines at once.... These two facts [of + divine sovereignty and of human freedom] are parallel lines; + I cannot make them unite, but you cannot make them cross each + other.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">John A. Broadus:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">You can + see only two sides of a building at once; if you go around + it, you see two different sides, but the first two are + hidden. This is true if you are on the ground. But if you get + up upon the roof or in a balloon, you can see that there are + four sides, and you can see them all together. So our finite + minds can take in sovereignty and freedom alternately, but + not simultaneously. God from above can see them both, and + from heaven we too may be able to look down and + see.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) Since the decrees connect + means and ends together, and ends are decreed only as the + result of means, they encourage effort instead of discouraging + it. Belief in God's plan that success shall reward toil, + incites to courageous and persevering effort. Upon the very + ground of God's decree, the Scripture urges us to the diligent + use of means.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">God has decreed the harvest only + as the result of man's labor in sowing and reaping; God + decrees wealth to the man who works and saves; so answers are + decreed to prayer, and salvation to faith. Compare Paul's + declaration of God's purpose (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Acts 27:22, + 24—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">there + shall be no loss of life among you.... God hath granted thee + all them that sail with thee</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">) with his warning to the centurion and + sailors to use the means of safety (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">verse + 31—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Except + these abide in the ship, ye cannot be + saved</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). + See also</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Phil. 2:12, + 13—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">work + out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God + who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good + pleasure</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Eph. + 2:10—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">we are + his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, + which God afore prepared that we should walk in + them</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Deut. + 29:29—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">the + secret things belong unto Jehovah our God: but the things + that are revealed belong unto us and to our children for + ever, that we may do all the words of this + law.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">See Bennet Tyler, Memoir and + Lectures, 252-354.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. 59:10 (A. + V.)—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The God + of my mercy shall prevent me</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">—shall anticipate, or go before, me;</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Is. + 65:24—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">before + they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I + will hear</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 23:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He + leadeth me</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">;</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">John + 10:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">calleth + his own sheep by name, and leadeth them + out.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">These texts describe prevenient + grace in prayer, in conversion, and in Christian work. Plato + called reason and sensibility a mismatched pair, one of which + was always getting ahead of the other. Decrees and + freedom</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">seem</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">to be mismatched, but they are + not so. Even Jonathan Edwards, with his deterministic theory + of the will, could, in his sermon on Pressing into the + Kingdom, insist on the use of means, and could appeal to men + as if they had the power to choose between the motives of + self and of God. God's sovereignty and human freedom are like + the positive and the negative poles of the magnet,—they are + inseparable from one another, and are both indispensable + elements in the attraction of the gospel.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Peter Damiani, the great + monk-cardinal, said that the sin he found it hardest to + uproot was his disposition to laughter. The homage paid to + asceticism is the homage paid to the conqueror. But not all + conquests are worthy of homage. Better the words of + Luther:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If our + God may make excellent large pike and good Rhenish wine, I + may very well venture to eat and drink. Thou mayest enjoy + every pleasure in the world that is not sinful; thy God + forbids thee not, but rather wills it. And it is pleasing to + the dear God whenever thou rejoicest or laughest from the + bottom of thy heart.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">But our freedom has its limits. Martha Baker + Dunn:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A man + fishing for pickerel baits his hook with a live minnow and + throws him into the water. The little minnow seems to be + swimming gaily at his own free will, but just the moment he + attempts to move out of his appointed course he begins to + realize that there is a hook in his back. That is what we + find out when we try to swim against the stream of God's + decrees.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page365">[pg + 365]</span><a name="Pg365" id="Pg365" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc345" id="toc345"></a> <a name="pdf346" id= + "pdf346"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 3. That they make God the author of sin.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">To this we + reply:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) They make God, not the + author of sin, but the author of free beings who are themselves + the authors of sin. God does not decree efficiently to work + evil desires or choices in men. He decrees sin only in the + sense of decreeing to create and preserve those who will sin; + in other words, he decrees to create and preserve human wills + which, in their own self-chosen courses, will be and do evil. + In all this, man attributes sin to himself and not to God, and + God hates, denounces, and punishes sin.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Joseph's brethren were none the + less wicked for the fact that God meant their conduct to + result in good (</span><em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 50:20</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">). Pope Leo X + and his indulgences brought on the Reformation, but he was + none the less guilty. Slaveholders would have been no more + excusable, even if they had been able to prove that the negro + race was cursed in the curse of Canaan (</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Gen. + 9:25—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Cursed + be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his + brethren</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em><span style= + "font-size: 90%">). Fitch, in Christian Spectator, + 3:601—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There + can be and is a purpose of God which is not an</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">efficient</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">purpose. It embraces the + voluntary acts of moral beings, without creating those acts + by divine efficiency.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Martineau, Study, 2:107, 136.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Mat. + 26:24—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The Son + of man goeth even as it is written of him: but woe unto that + man through whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for + that man if he had not been born.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">It was appointed that Christ should suffer, + but that did not make men less free agents, nor diminish the + guilt of their treachery and injustice. Robert G. Ingersoll + asked:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Why did + God create the devil?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">We reply that God did not create the + devil,—it was the devil who made the devil. God made a holy + and free spirit who abused his liberty, himself created sin, + and so made himself a devil.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Pfleiderer, Philos. Religion, + 1:299—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Evil + has been referred to 1. an extra-divine principle—to one or + many evil spirits, or to fate, or to matter—at all events to + a principle limiting the divine power; 2. a want or defect in + the Deity himself, either his imperfect wisdom or his + imperfect goodness; 3. human culpability, either a universal + imperfection of human nature, or particular transgressions of + the first men.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">The third of these explanations is the true + one: the first is irrational; the second is blasphemous. Yet + this second is the explanation of Omar Khayyám, Rubáiyat, + stanzas 80, 81—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Oh + Thou, who didst with pitfall and with gin Beset the road I + was to wander in, Thou wilt not with predestined evil round + Enmesh, and then impute my fall to sin. Oh Thou, who man of + baser earth didst make, And ev'n with Paradise devise the + snake: For all the sin wherewith the face of man Is + blackened—man's forgiveness give—and take!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">And David Harum similarly says:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If I've + done anything to be sorry for, I'm willing to be + forgiven.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) The decree to permit sin + is therefore not an efficient but a permissive decree, or a + decree to permit, in distinction from a decree to produce by + his own efficiency. No difficulty attaches to such a decree to + permit sin, which does not attach to the actual permission of + it. But God does actually permit sin, and it must be right for + him to permit it. It must therefore be right for him to decree + to permit it. If God's holiness and wisdom and power are not + impugned by the actual existence of moral evil, they are not + impugned by the original decree that it should exist.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Jonathan Edwards, Works, + 2:100—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The sun + is not the</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">cause</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">of the darkness that follows its + setting, but only the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">occasion</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style="font-size: 90%">; + 254—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">If by + the author of sin be meant the sinner, the agent, or the + actor of sin, or the doer of a wicked thing—so it would be a + reproach and blasphemy to suppose God to be the author of + sin.... But if by author of sin is meant the permitter or + non-hinderer of sin, and at the same time a disposer of the + state of events in such a manner, for wise, holy, and most + excellent ends and purposes,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">that + sin</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, if it be + permitted and not hindered,</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">will most certainly + follow</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">, I do not + deny that God is the author of sin: it is no reproach to the + Most High to be</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">thus</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">the author of + sin.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On the objection that the + doctrine of decrees imputes to God two wills, and that he has + foreordained what he has forbidden, see Bennet Tyler, Memoir + and Lectures, 250-252—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">A ruler may forbid treason; but his command + does not oblige him to</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page366">[pg 366]</span><a name="Pg366" id="Pg366" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">do all in + his power to prevent disobedience to it. It may promote the + good of his kingdom to suffer the treason to be committed, + and the traitor to be punished according to law. That in view + of this resulting good he chooses not to prevent the treason, + does not imply any contradiction or opposition of will in the + monarch.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">An ungodly editor excused his + vicious journalism by saying that he was not ashamed to + describe anything which Providence had permitted to happen. + But</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">permitted</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">here had an implication of causation. He + laid the blame of the evil upon Providence. He was ashamed to + describe many things that were good and which God actually + caused, while he was not ashamed to describe the immoral + things which God did not cause, but only permitted men to + cause. In this sense we may assent to Jonathan Edwards's + words:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + divine Being is not the author of sin, but only disposes + things in such a manner that sin will certainly + ensue.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">These words are found in his + treatise on Original Sin. In his Essay on Freedom of the + Will, he adds a doctrine of causation which we must + repudiate:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + essence of virtue and vice, as they exist in the disposition + of the heart, and are manifested in the acts of the will, + lies not in their</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + Cause</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">but in + their</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Nature</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We reply that sin could not be + condemnable in its nature, if God and not man were its + cause.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Robert Browning, Mihrab + Shah:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Wherefore should any evil hap to man—From + ache of flesh to agony of soul—Since God's All-mercy mates + All-potency? Nay, why permits he evil to himself—man's sin, + accounted such? Suppose a world purged of all pain, with fit + inhabitant—Man pure of evil in thought, word and deed—were it + not well? Then, wherefore otherwise?</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Fairbairn answers the question, as follows, + in his Christ in Modern Theology, 456—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Evil once intended may be vanquished by + being allowed; but were it hindered by an act of + annihilation, then the victory would rest with the evil which + had compelled the Creator to retrace his steps. And, to carry + the prevention backward another stage, if the possibility of + evil had hindered the creative action of God, then he would + have been, as it were, overcome by its very shadow. But why + did he create a being capable of sinning? Only so could he + create a being capable of obeying. The ability to do good + implies the capability of doing evil. The engine can neither + obey nor disobey, and the creature who was without this + double ability might be a machine, but could be no child. + Moral perfection can be attained, but cannot be created; God + can make a being capable of moral action, but not a being + with all the fruits of moral action garnered within + him.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) The difficulty is + therefore one which in substance clings to all theistic systems + alike—the question why moral evil is permitted under the + government of a God infinitely holy, wise, powerful, and good. + This problem is, to our finite powers, incapable of full + solution, and must remain to a great degree shrouded in + mystery. With regard to it we can only say:</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + Negatively,—that God does not permit moral evil because he is + not unalterably opposed to sin; nor because moral evil was + unforeseen and independent of his will; nor because he could + not have prevented it in a moral system. Both observation and + experience, which testify to multiplied instances of + deliverance from sin without violation of the laws of man's + being, forbid as to limit the power of God.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + Positively,—we seem constrained to say that God permits moral + evil because moral evil, though in itself abhorrent to his + nature, is yet the incident of a system adapted to his purpose + of self-revelation; and further, because it is his wise and + sovereign will to institute and maintain this system of which + moral evil is an incident, rather than to withhold his + self-revelation or to reveal himself through another system in + which moral evil should be continually prevented by the + exercise of divine power.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">There are four questions which + neither Scripture nor reason enables us completely to solve + and to which we may safely say that only the higher knowledge + of the future state will furnish the answers. These questions + are, first, how can a holy God permit moral evil? secondly, + how could a being created pure ever fall? thirdly, how can we + be responsible for inborn depravity? fourthly, how could + Christ justly suffer? The</span> <span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page367">[pg 367]</span><a name="Pg367" id="Pg367" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-size: 90%">first of + these questions now confronts us. A complete theodicy (Θεός, + God, and δική, justice) would be a vindication of the justice + of God in permitting the natural and moral evil that exists + under his government. While a complete theodicy is beyond our + powers, we throw some light upon God's permission of moral + evil by considering (1) that freedom of will is necessary to + virtue; (2) that God suffers from sin more than does the + sinner; (3) that, with the permission of sin, God provided a + redemption; and, (4) that God will eventually overrule all + evil for good.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It is possible that the elect + angels belong to a moral system in which sin is prevented by + constraining motives. We cannot deny that God could prevent + sin in a moral system. But it is very doubtful whether God + could prevent sin in the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">best</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">moral system. The most perfect + freedom is indispensable to the attainment of the highest + virtue. Spurgeon:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">There + could have been no moral government without permission to + sin. God could have created blameless puppets, but they could + have had no virtue.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Behrends:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">If moral beings were incapable of + perversion, man would have had all the virtue of a + planet,—that is, no virtue at all.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Sin was permitted, then, only because it + could be overruled for the greatest good. This greatest good, + we may add, is not simply the highest nobility and virtue of + the creature, but also the revelation of the Creator. But for + sin, God's justice and God's mercy alike would have been + unintelligible to the universe. E. G. Robinson:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">God + could not have revealed his character so well without moral + evil as with moral evil.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Robert Browning, Christmas Eve, + tells us that it was God's plan to make man in his own + image:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">To + create man, and then leave him Able, his own word saith, to + grieve him; But able to glorify him too, As a mere machine + could never do, That prayed or praised, all unaware Of its + fitness for aught but praise or prayer, Made perfect as a + thing of course.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Upton, Hibbert Lectures, 268-270, 324, holds + that sin and wickedness is an absolute evil, but an evil + permitted to exist because the effacement of it would mean + the effacement at the same time both for God and man, of the + possibility of reaching the highest spiritual good. See also + Martineau, Study of Religion, 2:108; Momerie, Origin of Evil; + St. Clair, Evil Physical and Moral; Voysey, Mystery of Pain, + Death and Sin.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">C. G. Finney, Skeletons of a + Course of Theological Studies, 26, 27—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Infinite goodness, knowledge and power imply + only that, if a universe were made, it would be the best that + was naturally possible.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">To say that God could not be the author of a + universe in which there is so much of evil, he says,</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">assumes + that a better universe, upon the whole, was a natural + possibility. It assumes that a universe of moral beings + could, under a moral government administered in the wisest + and best manner, be wholly restrained from sin; but this + needs proof, and never can be proved.... The best possible + universe may not be the best conceivable universe. Apply the + legal maxim,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + defendant is to have the benefit of the doubt, and that in + proportion to the established character of his + reputation.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">There is so much clearly indicating the + benevolence of God, that we may</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">believe</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">in his benevolence, where we + cannot</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">see</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">it.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">For advocacy of the view that + God cannot prevent evil in a moral system, see Birks, + Difficulties of Belief, 17; Young, The Mystery, or Evil not + from God; Bledsoe, Theodicy; N. W. Taylor, Moral Government, + 1:288-349; 2:327-356. According to Dr. Taylor's view, God has + not a complete control over the moral universe; moral agents + can do wrong under every possible influence to prevent it; + God prefers, all things considered, that all his creatures + should be holy and happy, and does all in his power to make + them so; the existence of sin is not on the whole for the + best; sin exists because God cannot prevent it in a moral + system; the blessedness of God is actually impaired by the + disobedience of his creatures. For criticism of these views, + see Tyler, Letters on the New Haven Theology, 129, 219. Tyler + argues that election and non-election imply power in God to + prevent sin; that</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic"> + permitting</span></em> <span style="font-size: 90%">is not + mere</span> <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">submitting</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">to something which he could not + possibly prevent. We would add that as a matter of fact God + has preserved holy angels, and that there are</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">just + men</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">who have been</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">made + perfect</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">(</span><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Heb. + 12:23</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">) without + violating the laws of moral agency. We infer that God could + have so preserved Adam. The history of the church leads us to + believe that there is no sinner so stubborn that God cannot + renew his heart,—even a Saul can be turned into a Paul. We + hesitate therefore to ascribe limits to God's power. While + Dr. Taylor held that God could not prevent sin in</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">a</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">moral system, that is, in</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">any</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">moral system, Dr. Park is + understood to hold the greatly preferable view that God + cannot prevent sin in the</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">best</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">moral system. Flint, Christ's + Kingdom upon Earth, 59—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The alternative is, not evil or no evil, but + evil or the miraculous prevention of evil.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">See Shedd, Dogm. Theol., + 1:406-422.</span></p><span class="tei tei-pb" id= + "page368">[pg 368]</span><a name="Pg368" id="Pg368" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">But even granting that the + present is the best moral system, and that in such a system + evil cannot be prevented consistently with God's wisdom and + goodness, the question still remains how the decree to + initiate such a system can consist with God's fundamental + attribute of holiness. Of this insoluble mystery we must say + as Dr. John Brown, in Spare Hours, 273, says of Arthur H. + Hallam's Theodicæa Novissima:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">As was to be expected, the tremendous + subject remains where he found it. His glowing love and + genius cast a gleam here and there across its gloom, but it + is as brief as the lightning in the collied night—the jaws of + darkness do devour it up—this secret belongs to God. Across + its deep and dazzling darkness, and from out its abyss of + thick cloud,</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">all + dark, dark, irrecoverably dark,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">no steady ray has ever or will ever come; + over its face its own darkness must brood, till he to whom + alone the darkness and the light are both alike, to whom the + night shineth as the day, says</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Let there be light!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">We must remember, however, that + the decree of redemption is as old as the decree of the + apostasy. The provision of salvation in Christ shows at how + great a cost to God was permitted the fall of the race in + Adam. He who ordained sin ordained also an atonement for sin + and a way of escape from it. Shedd, Dogm. Theol., + 1:388—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + permission of sin has cost God more than it has man. No + sacrifice and suffering on account of sin has been undergone + by any man, equal to that which has been endured by an + incarnate God. This shows that God is not acting selfishly in + permitting it.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">On the permission of moral evil, see Butler, + Analogy, Bohn's ed., 177, 232—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">The Government of God, and Christianity, as + Schemes imperfectly Comprehended</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; Hill, System of Divinity, 528-559; Ulrici, + art.: Theodicée, in Herzog's Encyclopädie; Cunningham, + Historical Theology, 2:416-489; Patton, on Retribution and + the Divine Purpose, in Princeton Rev., 1878:16-23; Bib. Sac, + 20:471-488; Wood, The Witness of Sin.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="toc347" id="toc347"></a> <a name="pdf348" id= + "pdf348"></a> + + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">IV. Concluding Remarks.</span></h3> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc349" id="toc349"></a> <a name="pdf350" id= + "pdf350"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1. Practical uses of the doctrine of decrees.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) It inspires humility by + its representation of God's unsearchable counsels and absolute + sovereignty. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) It teaches confidence in + him who has wisely ordered our birth, our death, and our + surroundings, even to the minutest particulars, and has made + all things work together for the triumph of his kingdom and the + good of those who love him; (<span class= + "tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">c</span></span>) + It shows the enemies of God that, as their sins have been + foreseen and provided for in God's plan, so they can never, + while remaining in their sins, hope to escape their decreed and + threatened penalty. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) It urges the sinner to + avail himself of the appointed means of grace, if he would be + counted among the number of those for whom God has decreed + salvation.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">This doctrine is one of those + advanced teachings of Scripture which requires for its + understanding a matured mind and a deep experience. The + beginner in the Christian life may not see its value or even + its truth, but with increasing years it will become a staff + to lean upon. In times of affliction, obloquy, and + persecution, the church has found in the decrees of God, and + in the prophecies in which these decrees are published, her + strong consolation. It is only upon the basis of the decrees + that we can believe that</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">all + things work together for good</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Rom. 8:28)</span></em> + <span style="font-size: 90%">or pray</span> <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Thy + will be done</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">(Mat. + 6:10)</span></em><span style="font-size: 90%">.</span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">It is a striking evidence of the + truth of the doctrine that even Arminians pray and sing like + Calvinists. Charles Wesley, the Arminian, can write:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He + wills that I should holy be—What can withstand his will? The + counsel of his grace in me He surely will + fulfill.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">On the Arminian theory, prayer + that God will soften hard hearts is out of place,—the prayer + should be offered to the sinner; for it is his will, not + God's, that is in the way of his salvation. And yet this + doctrine of Decrees, which at first sight might seem to + discourage effort, is the greatest, in fact is the only + effectual, incentive to effort. For this reason Calvinists + have been the most strenuous advocates of civil liberty. + Those who submit themselves most unreservedly to the + sovereignty of God are most delivered from the fear of man. + Whitefield the Calvinist, and not Wesley the Arminian, + originated the great religious movement in which the + Methodist church was born (see McFetridge, Calvinism in + History, 153), and Spurgeon's ministry has been as fruitful + in conversions as Finney's. See Froude, Essay on Calvinism; + Andrew Fuller, Calvinism and Socinianism compared in their + Practical Effects; Atwater, Calvinism in Doctrine and Life, + in Princeton Review, 1876:73; J. A. Smith, Historical + Lectures.</span></p><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page369">[pg + 369]</span><a name="Pg369" id="Pg369" class= + "tei tei-anchor"></a> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Calvinism logically requires the + separation of Church and State: though Calvin did not see + this, the Calvinist Roger Williams did. Calvinism logically + requires a republican form of government: Calvin introduced + laymen into the government of the church, and the same + principle requires civil liberty as its correlate. Calvinism + holds to individualism and the direct responsibility of the + individual to God. In the Netherlands, in Scotland, in + England, in America, Calvinism has powerfully influenced the + development of civil liberty. Ranke:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">John Calvin was virtually the founder of + America.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Motley:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">To the Calvinists more than to any other + class of men, the political liberties of Holland, England and + America are due.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">John Fiske, The Beginnings of New + England:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Perhaps + not one of the mediæval popes was more despotic than Calvin; + but it is not the less true that the promulgation of his + theology was one of the longest steps that mankind have taken + towards personal freedom.... It was a religion fit to inspire + men who were to be called to fight for freedom, whether in + the marshes of the Netherlands or on the moors of + Scotland.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Æsop, when asked what was the + occupation of Zeus, replied:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">To humble the exalted and to exalt the + humble.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">I + accept the universe,</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">said Margaret Fuller. Some one reported this + remark to Thomas Carlyle.</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Gad! she'd better!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">he replied. Dr. John Watson (Ian + McLaren):</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">The + greatest reinforcement religion could have in our time would + be a return to the ancient belief in the sovereignty of + God.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Whittier:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">All is of God that is and is to be, And God + is good. Let this suffice us still Resting in childlike trust + upon his will Who moves to his great ends unthwarted by the + ill.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Every true minister preaches + Arminianism and prays Calvinism. This means simply that there + is more, in God's love and in God's purposes, than man can + state or comprehend. Beecher called Spurgeon a camel with one + hump—Calvinism. Spurgeon called Beecher a camel without any + hump:</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">He does + not know what he believes, and you never know where to find + him.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Arminians sing:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Other + refuge have I none; Hangs my helpless soul on + thee</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">; yet John Wesley wrote to the Calvinist + Toplady, the author of the hymn:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Your God is my devil.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Calvinists replied that it was better to + have the throne of the universe vacant than to have it filled + by such a pitiful nonentity as the Arminians worshiped. It + was said of Lord Byron that all his life he believed in + Calvinism, and hated it. Oliver Wendell Holmes similarly, in + all his novels except Elsie Venner, makes the orthodox + thinblooded and weakkneed, while his heretics are all strong + in body. Dale, Ephesians, 52—</span><span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Of the two extremes, the suppression of man + which was the offense of Calvinism, and the suppression of + God which was the offense against which Calvinism so fiercely + protested, the fault and error of Calvinism was the nobler + and grander.... The most heroic forms of human courage, + strength and righteousness have been found in men who in + their theology seemed to deny the possibility of human virtue + and made the will of God the only real force in the + universe.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <a name="toc351" id="toc351"></a> <a name="pdf352" id= + "pdf352"></a> + + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 2. True method of preaching the doctrine.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">a</span></span>) We should most carefully + avoid exaggeration or unnecessarily obnoxious statement. + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">b</span></span>) We should emphasize the + fact that the decrees are not grounded in arbitrary will, but + in infinite wisdom. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">c</span></span>) We should make it plain + that whatever God does or will do, he must from eternity have + purposed to do. (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">d</span></span>) We should illustrate the + doctrine so far as possible by instances of completeness and + far-sightedness in human plans of great enterprises. + (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style= + "font-style: italic">e</span></span>) We may then make extended + application of the truth to the encouragement of the Christian + and the admonition of the unbeliever.</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-quote" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">For illustrations of foresight, + instance Louis Napoleon's planning the Suez Canal, and + declaring his policy as Emperor, long before he ascended the + throne of France. For instances of practical treatment of the + theme in preaching, see Bushnell, Sermon on Every Man's Life + a Plan of God, in Sermons for the New Life; Nehemiah Adams, + Evenings with the Doctrines, 243; Spurgeon's Sermon on</span> + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">Ps. + 44:3—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Because + thou hadst a favor unto them.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></em> <span style= + "font-size: 90%">Robert Browning, Rabbi Ben Ezra:</span> + <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Grow + old along with me! The best is yet to be, The last of life, + for which the first was made: Our times are in his hand Who + saith</span> <span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">‘</span><span style="font-size: 90%">A whole + I planned, Youth shows but half; trust God: See all nor be + afraid!</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">’</span></span><span style= + "font-size: 90%"> ”</span></span></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Shakespeare, King Lear, + 1:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">This is + the excellent foppery of the world that when we are sick in + fortune (often the surfeit of our own behavior) we make + guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon and the stars, as + if we were villains by necessity, fools by</span> + <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page370">[pg 370]</span><a name= + "Pg370" id="Pg370" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style= + "font-size: 90%">heavenly compulsion, and all that we are + evil in by a divine thrusting on; an admirable evasion of man + to lay his disposition to the charge of a + star!</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">All's Well:</span> <span class= + "tei tei-q"><span style="font-size: 90%">“</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie Which + we ascribe to heaven: the fated sky Gives us free scope; only + doth backward pull Our slow designs, when we ourselves are + dull.</span><span style="font-size: 90%">”</span></span> + <span style="font-size: 90%">Julius Cæsar, + 1:2—</span><span class="tei tei-q"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">“</span><span style="font-size: 90%">Men at + some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, + is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are + underlings.</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">”</span></span></p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + <hr class="doublepage" /> + + <div class="tei tei-back" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 6.00em"> + <hr class="doublepage" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> + <div id="pgfooter" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em"> + <pre class="pre tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY (VOLUME 1 OF 3)*** +</pre> + <hr class="doublepage" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="rightpageheader353" id="rightpageheader353"></a><a name= + "pgtoc354" id="pgtoc354"></a><a name="pdf355" id="pdf355"></a> + + <h1 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"> + <span style="font-size: 173%">Credits</span></h1> + + <table summary="This is a list." class="tei tei-list" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> + <tbody> + <tr> + <th class="tei tei-label tei-label-gloss">October 25, + 2013 </th> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tei tei-item tei-item-gloss"> + <table summary="This is a list." class="tei tei-list" + style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> + <tbody> + <tr class="tei tei-labelitem"> + <th class="tei tei-label"></th> + + <td class="tei tei-item">Project Gutenberg TEI + edition 1</td> + </tr> + + <tr class="tei tei-labelitem"> + <th class="tei tei-label"></th> + + <td class="tei tei-item"><span class= + "tei tei-respStmt"><span class= + "tei tei-name">Produced by Colin Bell, CCEL, David + King, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + at <http://www.pgdp.net/>.</span></span></td> + </tr> + </tbody> + </table> + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> + </table> + </div> + <hr class="doublepage" /> + + <div class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="rightpageheader356" id="rightpageheader356"></a><a name= + "pgtoc357" id="pgtoc357"></a><a name="pdf358" id="pdf358"></a> + + <h1 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"> + <span style="font-size: 173%">A Word from Project + Gutenberg</span></h1> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This file + should be named 44035-h.html or 44035-h.zip.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This and all + associated files of various formats will be found in: <a href= + "http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/4/4/0/3/44035/" class= + "block tei tei-xref" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <span style= + "font-size: 90%">http://www.gutenberg.org</span><span style= + "font-size: 90%">/dirs/4/4/0/3/44035/</span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Updated + editions will replace the previous one — the old editions will be + renamed.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Creating the + works from public domain print editions means that no one owns a + United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and + you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without + permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, + set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply + to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works + to protect the Project Gutenberg™ concept and trademark. Project + Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you + charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If + you do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying + with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly + any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, + performances and research. They may be modified and printed and + given away — you may do practically <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">anything</span></em> with public domain + eBooks. Redistribution is subject to the trademark license, + especially commercial redistribution.</p> + </div> + <hr class="page" /> + + <div id="pglicense" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"> + <a name="rightpageheader359" id="rightpageheader359"></a><a name= + "pgtoc360" id="pgtoc360"></a><a name="pdf361" id="pdf361"></a> + + <h1 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"> + <span style="font-size: 173%">The Full Project Gutenberg + License</span></h1> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style="font-style: italic">Please read this + before you distribute or use this work.</span></em></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">To protect the + Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free distribution of + electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or any + other work associated in any way with the phrase <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Project Gutenberg”</span>), you agree to comply with + all the terms of the Full Project Gutenberg™ License (<a href= + "#pglicense" class="tei tei-ref">available with this file</a> or + online at <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/license" class= + "tei tei-xref">http://www.gutenberg.org/license</a>).</p> + + <div id="pglicense1" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <h2 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"> + <span style="font-size: 144%">Section 1.</span></h2> + + <h2 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">General Terms of Use & + Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works</span></h2> + + <div id="pglicense1A" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">1.A.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">By reading + or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ electronic work, + you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to and + accept all the terms of this license and intellectual + property (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree + to abide by all the terms of this agreement, you must cease + using and return or destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ + electronic works in your possession. If you paid a fee for + obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Gutenberg™ + electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the terms + of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or + entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph + <a href="#pglicense1E8" class="tei tei-ref">1.E.8.</a></p> + </div> + + <div id="pglicense1B" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">1.B.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + <span class="tei tei-q">“Project Gutenberg”</span> is a + registered trademark. It may only be used on or associated in + any way with an electronic work by people who agree to be + bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few things + that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works + even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. + See paragraph <a href="#pglicense1C" class= + "tei tei-ref">1.C</a> below. There are a lot of things you + can do with Project Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow + the terms of this agreement and help preserve free future + access to Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. See paragraph + <a href="#pglicense1E" class="tei tei-ref">1.E</a> below.</p> + </div> + + <div id="pglicense1C" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">1.C.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (<span class= + "tei tei-q">“the Foundation”</span> or PGLAF), owns a + compilation copyright in the collection of Project Gutenberg™ + electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the + collection are in the public domain in the United States. If + an individual work is in the public domain in the United + States and you are located in the United States, we do not + claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, + performing, displaying or creating derivative works based on + the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg are + removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project + Gutenberg™ mission of promoting free access to electronic + works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ works in + compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the + Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can + easily comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping + this work in the same format with its attached full Project + Gutenberg™ License when you share it without charge with + others.</p> + </div> + + <div id="pglicense1D" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">1.D.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The + copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern + what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most + countries are in a constant state of change. If you are + outside the United States, check the laws of your country in + addition to the terms of this agreement before downloading, + copying, displaying, performing, distributing or creating + derivative works based on this work or any other Project + Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no representations + concerning the copyright status of any work in any country + outside the United States.</p> + </div> + + <div id="pglicense1E" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">1.E.</span></h3> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Unless you + have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:</p> + + <div id="pglicense1E1" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1.E.1.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The + following sentence, with active links to, or other + immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License + must appear prominently whenever any copy of a Project + Gutenberg™ work (any work on which the phrase <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Project Gutenberg”</span> appears, or with + which the phrase <span class="tei tei-q">“Project + Gutenberg”</span> is associated) is accessed, displayed, + performed, viewed, copied or distributed:</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-q" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 0.90em"> + <span style="font-size: 90%">This eBook is for the use of + anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions + whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it + under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included + with this eBook or online at</span> <a href= + "http://www.gutenberg.org" class= + "tei tei-xref"><span style="font-size: 90%">http://www.gutenberg.org</span></a></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div id="pglicense1E2" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1.E.2.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">If an + individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is derived + from the public domain (does not contain a notice + indicating that it is posted with permission of the + copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed + to anyone in the United States without paying any fees or + charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a + work with the phrase <span class="tei tei-q">“Project + Gutenberg”</span> associated with or appearing on the work, + you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs + <a href="#pglicense1E1" class="tei tei-ref">1.E.1</a> + through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work + and the Project Gutenberg™ trademark as set forth in + paragraphs <a href="#pglicense1E8" class= + "tei tei-ref">1.E.8</a> or 1.E.9.</p> + </div> + + <div id="pglicense1E3" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1.E.3.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">If an + individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted + with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and + distribution must comply with both paragraphs <a href= + "#pglicense1E1" class="tei tei-ref">1.E.1</a> through 1.E.7 + and any additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. + Additional terms will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ + License for all works posted with the permission of the + copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.</p> + </div> + + <div id="pglicense1E4" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1.E.4.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Do not + unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ + License terms from this work, or any files containing a + part of this work or any other work associated with Project + Gutenberg™.</p> + </div> + + <div id="pglicense1E5" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1.E.5.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Do not + copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this + electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, + without prominently displaying the sentence set forth in + paragraph <a href="#pglicense1E1" class= + "tei tei-ref">1.E.1</a> with active links or immediate + access to the full terms of the Project Gutenberg™ + License.</p> + </div> + + <div id="pglicense1E6" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1.E.6.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">You may + convert to and distribute this work in any binary, + compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, + including any word processing or hypertext form. However, + if you provide access to or distribute copies of a Project + Gutenberg™ work in a format other than <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Plain Vanilla ASCII”</span> or other format + used in the official version posted on the official Project + Gutenberg™ web site (http://www.gutenberg.org), you must, + at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide + a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of + obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original + <span class="tei tei-q">“Plain Vanilla ASCII”</span> or + other form. Any alternate format must include the full + Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph + <a href="#pglicense1E1" class="tei tei-ref">1.E.1.</a></p> + </div> + + <div id="pglicense1E7" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1.E.7.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Do not + charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, + performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ + works unless you comply with paragraph <a href= + "#pglicense1E8" class="tei tei-ref">1.E.8</a> or 1.E.9.</p> + </div> + + <div id="pglicense1E8" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1.E.8.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">You may + charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing access + to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works + provided that</p> + + <table summary="This is a list." class="tei tei-list" + style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> + <tbody> + <tr class="tei tei-labelitem"> + <th class="tei tei-label">• </th> + + <td class="tei tei-item"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits + you derive from the use of Project Gutenberg™ works + calculated using the method you already use to + calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed to + the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but + he has agreed to donate royalties under this + paragraph to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive + Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid within 60 + days following each date on which you prepare (or + are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked + as such and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary + Archive Foundation at the address specified in + <a href="#pglicense4" class="tei tei-ref">Section + 4, <span class="tei tei-q">“Information about + donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive + Foundation.”</span></a></p> + </td> + </tr> + + <tr class="tei tei-labelitem"> + <th class="tei tei-label">• </th> + + <td class="tei tei-item"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + You provide a full refund of any money paid by a + user who notifies you in writing (or by e-mail) + within 30 days of receipt that s/he does not agree + to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a + physical medium and discontinue all use of and all + access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ + works.</p> + </td> + </tr> + + <tr class="tei tei-labelitem"> + <th class="tei tei-label">• </th> + + <td class="tei tei-item"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + You provide, in accordance with paragraph <a href= + "#pglicense1F3" class="tei tei-ref">1.F.3</a>, a + full refund of any money paid for a work or a + replacement copy, if a defect in the electronic + work is discovered and reported to you within 90 + days of receipt of the work.</p> + </td> + </tr> + + <tr class="tei tei-labelitem"> + <th class="tei tei-label">• </th> + + <td class="tei tei-item"> + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + You comply with all other terms of this agreement + for free distribution of Project Gutenberg™ + works.</p> + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> + </table> + </div> + + <div id="pglicense1E9" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1.E.9.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">If you + wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg™ + electronic work or group of works on different terms than + are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission + in writing from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive + Foundation and Michael Hart, the owner of the Project + Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth + in <a href="#pglicense3" class="tei tei-ref">Section 3</a> + below.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div id="pglicense1F" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <h3 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">1.F.</span></h3> + + <div id="pglicense1F1" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1.F.1.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Project + Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable + effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe + and proofread public domain works in creating the Project + Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project + Gutenberg™ electronic works, and the medium on which they + may be stored, may contain <span class= + "tei tei-q">“Defects,”</span> such as, but not limited to, + incomplete, inaccurate or corrupt data, transcription + errors, a copyright or other intellectual property + infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, + a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot + be read by your equipment.</p> + </div> + + <div id="pglicense1F2" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1.F.2.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">LIMITED + WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES — Except for the + <span class="tei tei-q">“Right of Replacement or + Refund”</span> described in <a href="#pglicense1F3" class= + "tei tei-ref">paragraph 1.F.3</a>, the Project Gutenberg + Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project + Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a + Project Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, + disclaim all liability to you for damages, costs and + expenses, including legal fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO + REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, BREACH OF + WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE PROVIDED IN + PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE TRADEMARK + OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE + LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, + PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF + THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.</p> + </div> + + <div id="pglicense1F3" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1.F.3.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">LIMITED + RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND — If you discover a defect + in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you + can receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it + by sending a written explanation to the person you received + the work from. If you received the work on a physical + medium, you must return the medium with your written + explanation. The person or entity that provided you with + the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy + in lieu of a refund. If you received the work + electronically, the person or entity providing it to you + may choose to give you a second opportunity to receive the + work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy + is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing + without further opportunities to fix the problem.</p> + </div> + + <div id="pglicense1F4" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1.F.4.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Except + for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth in + <a href="#pglicense1F3" class="tei tei-ref">paragraph + 1.F.3</a>, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS,' WITH NO + OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING + BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS + FOR ANY PURPOSE.</p> + </div> + + <div id="pglicense1F5" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1.F.5.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Some + states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied + warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types + of damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in + this agreement violates the law of the state applicable to + this agreement, the agreement shall be interpreted to make + the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by the + applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of + any provision of this agreement shall not void the + remaining provisions.</p> + </div> + + <div id="pglicense1F6" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <h4 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + 1.F.6.</h4> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + INDEMNITY — You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, + the trademark owner, any agent or employee of the + Foundation, anyone providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ + electronic works in accordance with this agreement, and any + volunteers associated with the production, promotion and + distribution of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works, + harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including + legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of + the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) + distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) + alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any + Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any Defect you cause.</p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + + <div id="pglicense2" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <h2 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"> + <span style="font-size: 144%">Section 2.</span></h2> + + <h2 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">Information about the Mission of + Project Gutenberg™</span></h2> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Project + Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of + electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of + computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new + computers. It exists because of the efforts of hundreds of + volunteers and donations from people in all walks of life.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Volunteers + and financial support to provide volunteers with the assistance + they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™'s goals + and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will remain + freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a + secure and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future + generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary + Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, + see Sections <a href="#pglicense3" class="tei tei-ref">3</a> + and <a href="#pglicense4" class="tei tei-ref">4</a> and the + Foundation web page at <a href="http://www.pglaf.org" class= + "tei tei-xref">http://www.pglaf.org</a>.</p> + </div> + + <div id="pglicense3" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <h2 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"> + <span style="font-size: 144%">Section 3.</span></h2> + + <h2 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">Information about the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation</span></h2> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit 501(c)(3) + educational corporation organized under the laws of the state + of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal + Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax + identification number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is + posted at <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf" + class= + "tei tei-xref">http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf</a>. + Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive + Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by + U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The + Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. + S. Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees + are scattered throughout numerous locations. Its business + office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT + 84116, (801) 596-1887, email business@pglaf.org. Email contact + links and up to date contact information can be found at the + Foundation's web site and official page at <a href= + "http://www.pglaf.org" class= + "tei tei-xref">http://www.pglaf.org</a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">For + additional contact information:</p> + + <div class="block tei tei-address" style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <span class="tei tei-addrLine"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Dr. Gregory + B. Newby</span></span><br /> + <span class="tei tei-addrLine"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">Chief Executive and + Director</span></span><br /> + <span class="tei tei-addrLine"><span style= + "font-size: 90%">gbnewby@pglaf.org</span></span><br /> + </div> + </div> + + <div id="pglicense4" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <h2 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"> + <span style="font-size: 144%">Section 4.</span></h2> + + <h2 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">Information about Donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation</span></h2> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Project + Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without wide spread + public support and donations to carry out its mission of + increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that + can be freely distributed in machine readable form accessible + by the widest array of equipment including outdated equipment. + Many small donations ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important + to maintaining tax exempt status with the IRS.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The + Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating + charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the + United States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it + takes a considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to + meet and keep up with these requirements. We do not solicit + donations in locations where we have not received written + confirmation of compliance. To SEND DONATIONS or determine the + status of compliance for any particular state visit <a href= + "http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate" class= + "tei tei-xref">http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate</a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">While we + cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we + have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no + prohibition against accepting unsolicited donations from donors + in such states who approach us with offers to donate.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> + International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot + make any statements concerning tax treatment of donations + received from outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp + our small staff.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Please check + the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation methods + and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other ways + including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To + donate, please visit: <a href= + "http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate" class= + "tei tei-xref">http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate</a></p> + </div> + + <div id="pglicense5" class="tei tei-div" style= + "margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 2.00em"> + <h2 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"> + <span style="font-size: 144%">Section 5.</span></h2> + + <h2 class="tei tei-head" style= + "text-align: center; margin-bottom: 2.40em; margin-top: 2.40em"> + <span style="font-size: 120%">General Information About Project + Gutenberg™ electronic works.</span></h2> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class= + "tei tei-name">Professor Michael S. Hart</span> is the + originator of the Project Gutenberg™ concept of a library of + electronic works that could be freely shared with anyone. For + thirty years, he produced and distributed Project Gutenberg™ + eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Project + Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed + editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the + U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not + necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper + edition.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Each eBook + is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's eBook + number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, + compressed (zipped), HTML and others.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Corrected + <em class="tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">editions</span></em> of our eBooks replace + the old file and take over the old filename and etext number. + The replaced older file is renamed. <em class= + "tei tei-emph"><span style= + "font-style: italic">Versions</span></em> based on separate + sources are treated as new eBooks receiving new filenames and + etext numbers.</p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">Most people + start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org" class="block tei tei-xref" + style= + "margin-bottom: 1.80em; margin-left: 3.60em; margin-top: 1.80em; margin-right: 3.60em"> + <span style= + "font-size: 90%">http://www.gutenberg.org</span></a></p> + + <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This Web + site includes information about Project Gutenberg™, including + how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive + Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to + subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.</p> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div> +</body> +</html> |