A View of the Evidences, Doctrines, Morals, and Institutions of Christianity

《Theological Institutes (Vol. 2)》

A view of the Evidences, Doctrines, Morals, and Institutions of Christianity

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART SECOND - DOCTRINES OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES

Chapter 1

THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.

THE Divine authority of those writings which are received by Christians as a revelation of infallible truth, having been established, our next step is seriously, and with simplicity of mind, to examine their contents, and to collect from them that ample information on religious and moral subjects which they profess to contain, and in which it had become necessary that the world should be supernaturally instructed. Agreeably to a principle which has already been laid down, I shall endeavour, as in the case of any other record, to exhibit their meaning by the application of those plain rules of interpretation which have been established for such purposes by time common agreement of the sober part of mankind. All the assistance within reach from critics, commentators, and divines, shall however be resorted to; for, though the water can only be drawn pure from the sacred fountain itself, we yet owe it to many of these guides, that they have successfully directed us to time openings through which it breaks, and led the way into the depth of the stream.

The doctrine which the first sentence in this Divine revelation unfolds is, that there is a GOD, the CREATOR of heaven and earth; and as this is fundamental to the whole scheme of duty, promise, and hope, which the books of Scripture successively unfold and explain, it demands our earliest consideration.

In three distinct ways do time sacred writers furnish us with information on this great and essential subject, the existence and the character of God ;-from time names by which he is designated; from the actions ascribed to him; and from the attributes with which he is invested in their invocations and praises; and in those lofty descriptions of his nature which, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have recorded for the instruction of the world. These attributes will be afterward particularly considered; but the impression of the general view of the Divine character, as thus revealed, is too important to be omitted.

The names of God as recorded in Scripture, convey at once ideas of Overwhelming greatness and glory, mingled with that awful mysteriousness with which, to all finite minds, and especially to the minds of mortals, the Divine essence and mode of existence must ever be invest ed. Though ONE, he is ELOHIM, GODS, persons adorable. He is hwhy, JEHOVAH, self existing, la, EL, strong, powerful; hyha, EHIEH, Jam, I will be, self existence, independency, all-sufficiency, immutability, eternity; yds, SHADDAI, almighty, all-sufficient; ADON, Supporter, Lord, Judge. These are among the adorable appellatives of God which are scattered throughout the revelation which he has been pleased to make of himself: but on one occasion he was pleased more particularly to declare "his name," that is, such of the qualities and attributes of the Divine nature, as mortals are the most interested in knowing; and to unfold, not only his natural, but those also of his moral attributes by which his conduct toward his creatures is regulated. "And the Lord passed by and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and fourth generation," Exod. xxxiv. This is the most ample and particular description of the character of God, as given by himself in the sacred records; and the import of the several titles by which he has thus in his infinite condescension manifested himself, has been thus exhibited. He is not only Jehovah, self existent, and EL, the strong or mighty God; but "mwhr Rochum, the merciful being, who is full of tenderness and compassion. nwnj, CILANUN, the gracious one, he whose nature is goodness itself-the loving God. mypa EREC APAYIM, long suffering, the being who, because of his tenderness, is not easily irritated, but suffers long and is kind. BR, RAB, the great or mighty one. CHESED, the bountiful Being; he who is exuberant in his beneficence. tma, EMBTH, the truth, or true one, he alone who can neither deceive nor be deceived. dsj rxn, NOTSER CHESED, the preserver of bountifulness, he whose beneficence never ends, keeping mercy for thousands of generations, showing compassion and mercy while the world endures. NOSE avon vapesha vechataah, he who bears away iniquity, transgression and sin; properly the REDEEMER, the PARDONER, the FoRGIvEn, the Being whose prerogative it is to forgive sin, and save the soul. npr NAKEH lo yinnakeh, the righteous Judge, who distributes justice with an impartial hand. And PAKED, avon, &c, he who visits iniquity, he who punishes transgressors, and from whose justice no sinner can escape: the God of retributive and vindictive justice." (Dr. A. Clarke in loc.)

The second means by which the Scriptures convey to us the knowledge of God, is by: the actions which they ascribe to him. They con tam indeed the important record of his dealings with men in every age which is comprehended within the limit of the sacred history; and, by prophetic declaration, they also exhibit the principles on which he will govern the world to the end of time; so that the whole course of the Divine administration may be considered as exhibiting a singularly illustrative comment upon those attributes of his nature, which, in their abstract form, are contained in such declarations as those which have been just quoted. The first act ascribed to God is that of creating the heavens and the earth out of nothing; and by his fiat alone arranging their parts, and peopling them with living creatures. By this were manifested-his eternity and self existence, as he who creates must be before all creatures, and he who gives being to others can himself derive it from none; his almighty power, shown both in the act of creation, and in the number and vastness of the objects so produced: his wisdom, in their arrangement, and in their fitness to their respective ends: and his goodness as the whole tended to the happiness of sentient beings. The foundations of his natural and moral government are also made manifest by his creative acts. In what he made out of nothing be had an absolute right and prerogative of ordering and disposal; so that to alter or destroy his own work, and to prescribe the laws by which the intelligent and rational part of his creatures should be governed, are rights which none can question. Thus on the one hand his character of Lord or Governor is established, and on the other our duty of lowly image and absolute obedience.

Agreeably to this, as soon as man was created, he was placed under a rule of conduct. Obedience was to be followed with the continuance of the Divine favour; transgression, with death. The event called forth mew manifestations of the character of God. His tender MERCY, in the compassion showed to the fallen pair; his JUSTICE, in forgiving them only in the view of a satisfaction to be hereafter offered to his justice by an innocent representative of tile sinning race; his LOVE to that race, in giving his own Son to become this Redeemer, and in the fulness of time to die for the sins of the whole world; and his HOLINESS, in connecting with this provision for the pardon of man the means of restoring him to a sinless state, and to the obliterated image of God in which he had been created. Exemplifications of the Divine MERCY are traced from age to age, in his establishing his own worship among men, and remitting the punishment of individual and national offences in answer to prayer offered from penitent hearts, and in dependence upon the typified or actually offered universal sacrifice :-of his CONDESCENSION, in stooping to the cases of individuals; in his dispensations both of providence and grace, by showing respect to the poor and humble; and, principally, by the incarnation of God in the form of a servant, admitting men into familiar and friendly intercourse with himself, and then entering into heaven to be their patron and advocate, until they should he received unto the same glory, "and so be for ever with the Lord :"- of his strictly RIGHTEOUS GOVERNMENT, in the destruction of the old world, the cities of the plain, the nations of Canaan, and all ancient states, upon their "filling u the measure of their iniquities ;" amid, to show that "he will by no m ns clear the guilty ;" in time numerous and severe punishments inflicted even upon the chosen seed of Abraham, because of their transgressions :-of his LONG SUFFERING, in frequent warnings, delays, and corrective judgments, inflicted upon individuals and nations, before sentence of utter excision and destruction :-or FAITHFULNESS and TRUTH, in the fulfilment of promises, often many ages after they were given, as in the promises to Abraham respecting the possession of the land of Cahaan by his seed; and in all the "promises made to the fathers" respecting the advent, vicarious death, and illustrious offices of the Christ, the Saviour of time world :-of his IMMUTABILITY, In the constant and unchanging laws and principles of his government, which remain to this day precisely the same, in every tiling universal, as when first promulgated, and have been the rule of his conduct in all places as well as through all time :-of his PRESCIENCE of future events, manifested by the predictions of Scripture; and of the depth and stability of his COUNSEL, as illustrated in that plan amid purpose of bringing back a revolted world to obedience and felicity, which we find steadily kept in view in the Scriptural history of the acts of God in former ages; which is still the end toward which all his dispensations bend, however wide and mysterious their sweep; and which they will finally accomplish, as we learn from the prophetic history of the future, contained in the Old and New Testaments.

Thus the course of Divine operation in the world has from age to age been a manifestation of time Divine character, continually receiving new and stronger illustrations to the completion of the Christian revelation by the ministry of Christ and his inspired followers, and still placing itself in brighter light and more impressive aspects as the scheme of human redemption runs on to its consummation. From all the acts of God as recorded in tile Scriptures, we are taught that he alone is God; that he is present every where to sustain and govern all things; that his wisdom is infinite, his counsel settled, and his power irresistible; that he is holy, just, and good; tile Lord and the Judge, but the Father and the Friend of man.

More at large do we learn what God is, from the declarations of the inspired writings.

As to his SUBSTANCE, that "God is a spirit." As to his DURATION, that "from everlasting to everlasting he is God ;" "the King, eternal, immortal, invisible." That, after all the manifestations he has made of himself, lie is from the infinite perfection and glory of his nature, INCOMPREHENSIBLE; "Lo, these are but parts of his ways, and how little a portion is heard of him!" "Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out." That he is UNCHANGEABLE, "the Father of Lights with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." That "he is the fountain of LIFE," and the only independent Being in the universe, "who only hath immortality." That every other being, however exalted, has its existence from him; "for by him were all things created, which are in heaven and in earth, whether they are visible or invisible." That the existence of every thing is upheld by him, no creature being for a moment independent of his support; "by him all things consist," "upholding all things by the word of his power." That he is OMNIPRESENT: "Do not I fill heaven and earth with my presence, saith the Lord ?" That he is OMNISCIENT: "All things are naked and open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do." That he is the absolute LORD and owner of all things: "The heavens, even the heaven of heavens, are thine, and all the parts of them." " The earth is thine, and the fulness thereof, the world and them that dwell therein." "He doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth." That his PROVIDENCE extends to the minutest objects: "The hairs of your h end are all numbered." "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? rind one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father." That he is a being of unspotted PURITY and perfect RECTITUDE: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts !" "A God of truth, and in whom is no iniquity." "of purer eyes than to behold iniquity." That lie is JUST In the administration of his government: "Shall not the Judge of the whole earth do right ?" "Clouds and darkness are round about hint; judgment and jus(ice are the habitation of his throne." That his wisdom is unsearchable: