Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

of his will concerning us. The light of nature furnishes us with little or no knowledge of the moral character and government of God. While man was in a state of innocence, indeed he might, by reflecting on his own mind, understand something of the character of that divine Original, after whose image he was created; but having sinned, this image is effaced. It is also true, that the judgments of God against sinners are manifest in all the earth ; and every man's conscience bears witness that what is wrong in another towards him, must be wrong in him towards another; and that, having felt and acted contrary to this equitable principle, in innumerable instances, he is a sinner; but as to the evil nature of sin, as committed against God, and his own lost condition, conscience itself can yield him little or no information. And as to an hereafter, whether there be any, and if there be, what it will prove; whether we shall have to give account of the deeds done in the body; whether there will be any hope of forgiveness; and what we must do to be saved; all is darkness. The light of nature, though sufficient to bear witness for God, and to leave sinners without excuse, was never designed, in any state, to furnish man with all he needed. Even in innocence man was governed by a revealed law. It does not appear that he was left to find out the character or will of his Creator by his reason, though reason, being under the influence of rectitude, would lead him as he understood the mind of God, to love and obey it. But if revelation was necessary in innocence, much more now man's foolish heart is darkened by sin.

The state of the heathens, who are without divine revelation, furnishes awful proof of its necessity. The grossness of their thoughts of God, and of a hereafter, is such, that those who have received the light of revelation can scarcely think it possible for rational beings to entertain them. To say nothing of the uncivilized heathen, even the polished sons of Greece and Rome, though prodigies in science, yet in relation to these things, were the subjects of the most sottish stupidity. Well is it said, The world by wisdom knew not God. That small portion of real light which on these subjects appears in the writings of our modern Deists, is borrowed from those very writings which they mean to depreciate.

They live in the neighbourhood of revelation, and, whether they will own it or not, are enlightened by it. The speculations of those who have had only the light of nature to guide them, are, in respect of God and religion, absurd in the extreme.

Man is said to be wiser than the beasts of the field; but it is principally by means of instruction. We are born, it is true, with an immortal mind, but uninformed, what is it? Knowledge chiefly enters in at the door of the senses. To what do we owe the gift of speech? It seems to be natural to us; but if we look at one who is born deaf, we shall find him dumb also; and if to this be added blindness, there will be but little difference between him and the beasts of the field. But if we need human instruction for the attainment of knowledge in things of this life, is it surprising that we should need a divine instructor for things heavenly and divine? It is true, that God instructs us, as has been said, by his works; but they contain only a few of the rudiments of divine knowledge: like the parables of our Saviour, they were not designed to furnish perfect information on the subject, but merely a general intimation, tending to excite humble inquiry for further instruction; which, when asked, was readily granted, but, when set at nought, it was seeing and not perceiving, hearing and not understanding; lest they should be converted and healed. The Apostle, in his address to the Athenians, represents it as the design of God, in his works of creation and providence, to lead men to seek him: but, though he was not far from every one, seeing all live and move and have their being in him, yet the light of nature could only enable them to fee" after him, if haply they might find him. Though the heavens de clare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handywork; though day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge, and though their voice is heard in every language and in every clime, even to the end of the world; yet it is not by them, but by the word of Jehovah that souls are converted, and the simple made wise. Some of the wisest among the old heathens felt and acknowledged the need there was of a revelation from heaven; and heathens of the present day acknowledge the same thing. A Hindoo Fakeer, who was a brahmun goroo, being lately asked by one of his disciples, who had heard a missionary a

Balasore, whether he could make known to him the living and only God; answered, "We know there is one living God, besides Kreshnoo, Seeb, and Ram; but we do not know his way." The disciple replied, "Come to the Sahib, Fakeer; he will tell you of the God of heaven, whose way he knows."

2. The necessity of divine revelation will farther appear, if we consider its relation to faith.

Supposing mankind to be in a guilty and perishing condition, and that God so loved the world as to give his only begotton Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life; a revelation from heaven was necessary as the ground of faith. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God: without revelation, therefore, there would be no faith, and so no salvation.

Both revelation and faith may, however, exist in widely different degrees. Revelation was first given in obscure intimations, afterwards in types and shadows, in promises and in prophecies; and under each it was the office of faith to keep pace with it. The faith of Abel and that of Paul, though as to their nature and object the same, yet, as to degree, must have been widely different, on account of the difference of the degrees of divine revelation which each possessed. Revelation, like the shining light, shone more and more unto the perfect day, and such was the path of the just, which corresponded with it.

From these remarks, we may see the force of such passages as the following: He showeth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation, und as to his judgments, they have not known them, Praise ye the Lord. What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there in circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.-At that time ye were without Christ, (being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and stran gers from the covenants of promise,) having no hope, and without God in the world: but now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometime ago were far off are made nigh, by the blood of Christ.

We may also learn, from these remarks, to make allowance for the small degrees of faith where the light of revelation has been but

little known. It is not for us to say how small a portion of divine truth may irradiate the mind, nor by what means the Holy Spirit may impart it. According to the ordinary way of the divine proceeding under the gospel, it may be asked, How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher ? and how shall they preach except they be sent? But this has not been the uniform method of the divine proceeding from the beginning. Previously to the time of Moses, there was no written revelation, and till the coming of Christ, no ordinance for preaching the word. No missionaries till then were sent among the heathen. Good men under the Old Testament stood on much lower ground than those under the New Testament. Cornelius, the Roman centurion, being stationed in Judea, learned enough of the God of Israel, to be just and devout, giving much alms to the people, and praying to God alway; and before he had heard of Jesus being the Messiab, his prayers and his alms were approved of God. Yet the words spoken to him by Peter were those by which he was saved: a proof this, not of there being another way of acceptance with God than that which the gospel reveals, nor of its being possible without faith to please God; but that faith may exist while as yet there is no explicit revelation of the Saviour. Finally: It is not for us to say what may be effected in an extraordinary way upon the minds of men. A ray of divine revelation shot athwart the darkness of Paganism, into the minds of the eastern Magi, and led them to worship the new-born Saviour. I am affectionately yours,

A. F.

LETTER VI.

ON THE INSPIRATION OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.

My Dear Brother,

In my last, I endeavoured to show the necessity of a divine revelation. In this, I shall offer evidence of the Bible being written by inspiration of God, so as to answer to this necessity. It is certain, that those who wrote the books which compose the Old and New Testaments profess to have been divinely inspired. The Spirit of God spake by me, and his word was in my tongue: the God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me.-The Lord spake unto Moses saying, &c.—Thus saith the Lord.—All scripture is given by inspiration of God.-Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.—The things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. We must, therefore either admit these writings to be the word of God, or consider them as mere imposture. To pretend to "venerate them as authentic records of the dispensation of God," and yet deny their inspiration is absurd it is believing the writers in what they say of other subjects, and disbelieving them in what they say of themselves. If their writings be not what they profess them to be, they are imposture, and deserve to be rejected. There is no consistent medium between faith and unbelief.

But, though all scripture is given by inspiration of God, it does not follow that it is so in the same sense and degree. It required one degree of inspiration to foretel future events, and another to narrate facts which fell under the writer's knowledge. The one required less exercise of his own judgment, the other more. spiration in the latter case, might be little more than a divine su

In

[blocks in formation]
« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »