The Methodist Quarterly Review
1865
ART. VI.-THE DOCTRINE CONCERNING GOD.
IT will be universally conceded, we suppose, that God defines himself perfectly in his
works and in his word. Where shall we take our stand to contemplate him? From what points
in his works and word shall we essay to lift our eyes to look on him? Our present material
position, wherever it be, is as available as any in this world for the study. No advantage
would be gained by sounding the depths of space, in the center or vast circumferences of
the universe, or in microscopic powers, or in sublimated material, electricity or odic
force. All and each are alike distant from Spirit, and all and each are alike in and
distinct from God. The geologist, with his hand lovingly upon a stone, may dream like
Jacob [Gen. xxviii, 12, 13.] in his sleep, (fit emblem of the men of science,) and behold
in the strata of earth "a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reaching to
heaven, and the LORD standing above it." But it is as a dream; something
projected from the mind itself, "created in the image and likeness of God," from
which all nature appears clothed from a divine and spiritual being. Dreams may be the
soap-bubbles of the soul, which the childish may play with, and the practical man despise,
but in which the Newtons of divine science may analyze the light of heaven, study the laws
of truth's refraction, and contemplate its rainbow beauties. Nature is a perfect mirror in
which the divine is reflected just in proportion as the divine is in us. If a man
is without God in himself, he cannot see God in nature; fill man with God and he sees God
in all things. For when God app ear' before us in nature it is really the
reflection of his image formed in our reason and understanding.
Nor is God's book of Sacred Scripture essentially different from his book of nature. It
is true that the Scripture is a higher plane, a more verbal utterance, yet the mere
intellect will search in vain for God here also.
It is in accordance with true philosophy, not mere theological dogma or conceit of
superior intelligence, that the apostle declares that the "natural man cannot know
the things of the spirit of God." They are only known by the spiritual [inner?] man
who "judgeth all things," because he has "the mind of Christ." [1 cor.
ii, 13-16.]
God reveals himself universally. But like all things which exist, there is a particular
method attached to our apprehension of him. The eye beholds objects in light, the
ear tries sounds, and the intellect arranges, numbers, and orders, according to the
senses, and the soul feels what is right and wrong, and has its , sights of
spiritual truth, and tastes, of goodness and consciousness. of God. From the measure we
have of God in us by doing his will in faith, we must judge of God above us.
Every man is casting his image or shadow on all things around him; but only the
sensitive surface, properly treated by the artist, retains that image, which may be
transferred indefinitely, so that the original would be universally recognized. So God's
image, which is his very substance of goodness and truth, falls on all things, and is in
degree in all beings; but only in souls prepared by truth and love is this image eminent
in such degree as to enable us to know the Original. When man was unfallen, his interior
faculties were all opened, and God flowed into him in life and power. He Saw God directly;
but when sin entered, his faculties were closed, and he had no elements left alive in
himself by which to apprehend God. Then in redemption God gathered all his rays of glory
and goodness into his Son. The Word, which was God in substance, was made flesh. [John i,
14; Rom. ix, 5.] God stood before man's exterior perceptions in the humble person of a
man, and spake unto the world, and glorified himself. [Heb. i, 1-3.] In contemplating
obediently this history of his Word, our understandings are again opened, [Luke xxiv,
44-47.] sin is removed, and God shines again upon our quickened spirits, his image is
formed in us, and we know him. We become the sons of God by adoption; we are gods to whom
the word of God comes; [John x 30-37. ] Christ is in us and we know Him that is true. [2
Cor. xiii, 5; and 1 John v, 20.] We can then truly reason of God, for we have all the
divine elements in degree in ourselves, and can understand the doctrine which affirms
these elements in their infinite and absolute relations in God himself.
We have often inquired in ourself if the doctrine of the wit-ness of the Spirit, such a
distinguished feature of Methodism, were made sufficiently prominent as a basis of
theology among us? Has not the time come to construct theology from the divine word
entirely, in the light of the Christian consciousness ? [We need not define this to any
true Christian, for he knows the term expresses the sum of the experience of the life of
God in the soul. But such writers as henry Thomas Beckle confuse the whole subject. He
tries to conceive of consciousness as a separate faculty, and does not find it. (See his
Introduction to History of Civilization, vol. i, pp. 11-20.) Others do not make anything
or but little of consciousness, or the life of all the faculties, in religion. Their
religion is cold, or a simple intellection. But with Methodists and Freedomists the
consciousness is the ultimate appeal (See Whedon on the Will, pp. 81, 82, 367, 358.) Why
not put the "inward experience, considered as embracing the whole of the objective
Revelation," as the ultimate and perfect method of demonstration in Christianity?
(See Wesley's Sermons, vol. i, Sermons 8, 9, 10; and his Letter to Dr. Middleton, Works,
vol. v, p.757; Bibliotheca Sacra for August, 1846, Article on the Trinity, by Dr. A. D. C.
Twesten.)]
These two principles, the letter without us, and the Spirit of God within us, are the
two immutable pillars of theology. We learn what the word is by the life it operates in
our hearts, and we know whether we have obtained the true life by its correspondence with
the letter of the word. ["Now the testimony of our own spirit . . . is a
consciousness of our having . . . the tempers mentioned in the word of God as belonging to
his adopted children; . - . a consciousness that we are inwardly conformed by the Spirit
of God to the image of his Son, and that we walk before him in justice, mercy, and
truth."-Wesley's Sermons, vol. i, p.57.] On one pillar alone, the letter of the word,
theology is converted into a graven image; a statue that cannot move; an iron groove of
the soul; a mere dogmatic. naturalism; a creed more or less irrational that must defend
itself by fagots and falsehood. On the other pillar alone, the religious consciousness,
theology gyrates from the conceited self-consciousness deified, to the cold negations of
Herbert Spencer. [See his Principles of Philosophy.] Unite the two, and theology arises a
living form of beauty, clad in the robes of humility, with the light and love of truth in
the countenance, stooping to guide the wayfarer in the wilderness, giving water to the
thirsty, bread to the hungry, and clothing to the naked, and boldly breaking the bars of
death, demolishing the prison-house of the Soul, and leading triumphantly up the starry
pathway of light, through the opening gates of glory on to immortality.
But this position, so uniformly set forth in Scripture, [The Lord considers the powers
of the human mind entirely reliable: "Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my
servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he .
. . therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am' God." isa. xliii,
10-12. The word and the living presence of God are united. "Judas saith unto
him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto
the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and
my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him."
John xiv, 22, 23. The knowledge of God is progressive: "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
will guide you into all truth," etc. (See John xvi, 12-16.) St. John considered the
"anointing" superseded the necessity of his epistle, while it confirmed it. (1
John ii, 27.) "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye
need not that any man teach you," etc.] and maintained now among Christians more or
less distinctly, reaches to conclusions not usually announced in theology. Our knowledge
of God, growing in such good, part from the life of God in us, will necessarily be
progressive. And there is no theme on which we should be less dogmatic and more open to
new views than that of the doctrine concerning God., It is the command of an apostle
to" grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. [2 Pet.
iii, is. See also Eph. iii, 14-21; Col. ii, 2, 3.]
The next important position to secure in the study of God is the proper stand-point in
the Holy Scriptures. We may correct the human defects and divergences of thought by
properly arranging before us their historic and doctrinal statements. Most theologians
commence their study of God with Genesis, and leave it at the "burning bush,"
and Sinai "wrapped in clouds of fire." They stun with gorgeous images of terror.
The Gospel is in their hands the seeming interposition of another God to soften
these terrors and open heaven to sinners. This method I think defective and misleading.
The mind imposes upon itself the naturalistic ideas of God contained in the law, which
prevent the apprehension of him in Jesus Christ. The doctrine of the Trinity, so important
in revelation, spreads out unconsciously into the heresy of three Gods, or negations and
confusions arise which leave men in the same unbelief that characterizes the Jews, who
"have Moses and the prophets," and who reject the Saviour to this day. Neither
should we take our stand in the Gospel narratives or on the day of Pentecost, when the
Holy Spirit was poured out, important as these points are historically and doctrinally.
But we should take our stand at the close of revelation; on the apex of the pyramid of
truth, and fix our eyes upon the vision of the spirit-world.
The first question is, Who is God .?
And we must look up when the door is opened in heaven, and behold who is in the throne.
Alas, our sight is so dim! but light is descending on our reason, and we can take a
back-sight on revelation and correct by doctrine also the personal equation, [The term
"personal equation" is used in astronomy to denote the equation of the
difference which arises in different individuals in noting instrumentally the time of an
observation. It amounts to less than one half a second, yet it is made an element in nice
calculations. So the surveyor takes a back-sight to assure himself of the
correctness of his course. With how much more caution should we study our methods when we
look to the "High and Lofty One who inhabiteth eternity!" And with what care
should we lay our course to the holy city I The particular feature of progress in science
may be summed up in one Sentence as a philosophy of method in material things, and what
wonders it works I And Revelation may be summed up as a philosophy of method in spiritual
realities. So it should be applied throughout, and it will work untold wonders in the
soul. See John vii, 15-18, 37-39 Luke x, 17-24..] so as to remove the bias of the natural
mind, the errors of education, the false doctrines of an hereditary faith, and the
misleading tendency of natural words used of divine and spiritual things.
The finishing touch of Revelation, its completing principle and point of highest glory,
is in the words, "THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST BE WITH YOU ALL. AMEN."
Jesus Christ is the Lord! Is he the Lord in such a sense that there is no God
"besides him?" In his divine-human person is there the fullness of the Holy
Trinity? Is the Father in him? and is the Holy Spirit or Comforter his Spirit? Let us
answer these inquiries by the history and doctrine contained in the Sacred Scriptures
themselves. Here is the first most significant statement: "I Jesus have sent mine
angel to testify unto you these things in the churches." Rev. xxii, 16. "The
Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants things which must
shortly be done." Rev. v, 6.
Placing these passages together we see that Jesus and the Lord God are equivalent
names, applied to the same person. This is the "revelation of Jesus Christ which God
gave unto him." Rev. i, 1. The revelation was from his own divinity and concerning
his own divine-human person, [?] or from him-self and of himself. Or how was it understood
in heaven as shown to John? The angel which showed these things to John was so exceedingly
glorious with the glory of Jesus that the apostle, mistaking him for his transfigured
master, twice fell at his feet to worship him; but it was said to him, "See thou do
it not," [Rev. xix, 10; xxii, 8, 9.] q. d., thy master is much above me, even
the Lord God. "I am thy fellow-servant and of thy brethren the prophets; worship
God."
But in heaven, where there is such abhorrence of idolatry, all fall down and worship
the Lamb. (Rev. v, 8, 9.) This is the proper name of the divine-human person of Jesus,. as
is evident from the connection and the following history: "Again the next day after
John stood and two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as lie walked lie saith,
Behold the Lamb of God." John i, 35, 36. It cannot then have been a human weakness
which overcame St. Thomas when, with the person of Christ before him, he cried out,
"My Lord and my God; [Mark this whole connection in John xix, 24-28.] nor is it an
error in our Articles of Religion, [art. ii,] which calls him the "Very and Eternal
God." He is the very being called JAH and JEHOVAH in the Psalms and
Prophets: Sing unto God, sing praises to his name; extol him that rideth upon the heavens
by his name JAH, and rejoice before him ; [Psa lxviii, 4; civ, 35; cvi,. 48; cxv,
18; cxvii, 2. Hallelujah is the word.] : for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength
and song; he also is become my salvation. [Isa. xii, 2.] It is he to whom they sing
in heaven ALLELUIA, or praise JAH; [Bengel's Gnomon, on Rev. xix, 1.]
or as extended in the song itself into the words, "Salvation and glory and honor
and power unto the Lord our God." Hence we see that the Divine Father is not another
God Such an idea of the distinctions in the godhead is utterly inadmissible. For this
is the same " I JESUS," who says, " I am alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the end, the first and the last." Rev. xxii, 13. "He that was, and
is, and is to come, the Almighty." "I am he that liveth, and was [became,
Bengel] dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the
keys of hell and of death." Rev. i,. 17, 18. The "I Am that I Am"[or He
who was, is, and will be[See Alex. McWhorter's Yaveh, an excellent and timely
production.]] of Exodus iii, 14; the "name of God for ever and his memorial unto all
generations." Or, as he explains himself, Gen. vi, 3: "And I appeared unto
Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH
was I not known unto them." This is the I Am of John viii, [See Mr. Wesley's
Translation and Notes on verses 24, 28.] and the "Alpha and Omega, saith the Lord; he
that was and is and is to come, the Almighty," of Rev. i and xxii, unless there are
two infinite and eternal beings. [To say that three "Gods created," which
seems really the expression of the argument from the plural Alohim sometimes used,
proves too much. So also to mark strongly that the divine person of Christ is distinct
from the person of the Father makes him less than God, and destroys the doctrine of the
Trinity altogether. I have looked in vain, in a History of All Denominations in
Christendom, for an expression like the following: "Each person of the Trinity is to
be worshiped through the mediation of Jesus Christ; " especially when affirmed
against the statement of St. Paul that "There is ONE GOD and ONE Mediator."
1 Tim. ii, 5. It is an innovation fit to go with the following expressions attributed to
Sartorius:
"God is love, not only as creator and preserver, but in himself from eternity.
Eternal love in person, and surely in more than one person, for love consists in the unity
of (at least) two persons. The subject of love is not conceivable without an object, nor
personal love without a personal object, without which it would be but self-seeking. The I
must have a then; the eternal I must have an eternal Own; eternal love an eternal
object. 'Therefore,' says Bickersteth, 'if the Son were not from everlasting, (as the
Father himself;) the first and last, the beginning and the ending, then before the world
or any worlds through the receding cycles of a past eternity the Divine Mind would have
dwelt in an immense solitariness, without reciprocity of affection, and without communion
of intellectual enjoyment.'"
Here is a family of Gods, or "at least two;" two everlasting beings,
individuals, which love each other and hold intellectual feasts together; two infinites,
two eternals, "at least two;" there may he morel And in looking at
this polytheistic picture nothing of ancient mythology is wanting except the goddesses;
the eternal consort of the Father and the Mother of this Eternal Son I What a pitiful
conception of the Eternal and Infinite One; of love itself and wisdom itself I And what.
an idea is that of "immense solitariness " in the ineffable God, who has by
himself declared that he knows no other. "Is there a God besides me? Yea, there is no
God. I know not any." isa. xliv, 8. Of course to such minds the monotheistic trinity
of " Plato and the Hindoos" would be considered too ideal' and Christianity
would be claimed as revealing three "real persons," that is, as distinct
as Pete; James and John.]: But as this cannot be, the distinctions that are made are the
unfoldings of One Infinite and Eternal Being, whose essential divinity is
personified by the Father, whose image is the divine-human person of the Son, and whose
divine "Proceeding" [Articles of Religion, art. iv.] is personified [The term
person is very ambiguous in theology. See Wakeley's Logic, App., on Ambiguous Terms. It is
not scriptural, misleads the mind, and confuses the understanding. As used in our first
Article of Religion, it is not metaphysically definable; for it is said, "There is
but one living and true God, . . . without body or parts, and in the unity of the godhead
there are three persons," etc. Of course they must be each and all without body or
parts. There is therefore no real person taught in our Articles, except (see
art. ii,) the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is declared to be both God and man, in "one
person." I have used the term personified as the best expression of the
sense of the first and fourth articles. This term may be more, yet differs from the
idea of a reel person. Thus Abraham is made to personify the Lord by Paul,
who calls him the father of all that believe. It is not the person Abraham after
the flesh, but God, who is really the Father of all. (Comp. Rom. iv, 11-25; viii, 8-17.)
So of David, P55. ex, compared with Matt xxii, 42A5; Rev. xxii, 16," I am the root
and offspring of David," etc. The kingdom of God is personified by the "throne
of David." Isa. ix, 7. Other instances will be given further on.
Mr. Wesley considered the doctrine of the Trinity inexplicable; but with his
characteristic orthodox catholicity would 'not insist on any one using the term 'trinity'
or 'person.' . . . If any man has any scruple concerning them, who shall constrain him to
use them? I cannot." (Sermons, vol. ii, pp. 20, 21.) He insists on nothing but what
the Scriptures plainly teach. In preparing the Articles or Religion for the Church in
America, Mr. Wesley left out article viii, and thirteen others of the Church of England
Articles. Article viii indorses the Athanasian, Nicene, and Apostles' Creeds.
There is no creed indorsed by our Articles of Religion. (See Dixon's Methodism in America
on this noticeable fact) Mr. Fletcher says, " Were we to divide the Son from the
Father and consider him a separate being, [real, distinct person,] and worship him as
such, then we should worship another God." The danger of the term person is to
lead us to think the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have distinct wills and intellects. (See
Works, vol. iii, p.468.) Dr. Adam Clarke says, "In the ever-blessed Trinity, from the
indivisible unity of the persons, there can be but one will, one purpose, and one infinite
end uncontrollable energy." Com. on Gen. i, 1. This definition destroys while it uses
the term person. So the Athanasian Creed seems to us to affirm both sides of a
contradiction. It is a person, and it is not a person I That creed is not in use in any
Church in America except the Roman Catholic. The Episcopal Church amended article viii in
this particular, and indorses only the Nicene and Apostles' Creeds. The latter is
against the metaphysical explanation of the Trinity in the first part of the Athanasian
Creed. That creed, human and defective as it is, has some excellences, and we will here
insert it from the Church of England Prayer Book. It is not found in the American edition,
and is often referred to by ministers among us who fail to produce it correctly.
THE ATHANASIAN CREED.
(Obtained in Prance A.D. 850, and in Rome 1014.)
"Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the
Catholic Faith. Which Faith, except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt
he shall perish everlastingly. And the Catholic Faith is this: That we worship one God in
Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; neither confounding the Per. sons nor dividing the
Substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the
Holy Ghost But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, is nil one;
the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such
is the Holy Ghost. The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate. The
Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible.
The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal And yet there are not.
three eternals, but one eternal. As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three
uncreated, but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible. So likewise the Father is
almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Ghost almighty, and yet there are not three
almighties, but one almighty. So the Father is God the Son is God, and rite Holy Ghost is
God. And yet there are not three Gods bat one God. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son
Lord, and the Holy Ghost Lord, and yet not three Lords hut one Lord. For like as we are
compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every person by himself to be God and
Lord, so are we forbidden by the Catholic Religion to say there be three Gods and three
Lords. The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten. The Son is of the Father
alone; not made nor created, but begotten. The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son,
neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding. So there is one Father, not three
Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts. And in this
trinity none is afore or after other. None is greater or less than another; but the whole
three persons are co-eternal together, and co-equal. So that in all things, as is
aforesaid, rite unity in trinity and the trinity in unity is to be worshiped. He therefore
that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity. Furthermore, it is necessary to
everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus
Christ; for the right Faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Chris; the
Son of God is both God and man; God of the substance of the Father, begotten before all
worlds, and man of the substance of the mother, born in the world; perfect God, and
perfect man. of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting. Equal to the Father as
touching his godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching his manhood; who, although he
be God and man, is not two but one Christ; one not by the conversion of
the godhead into flesh, tat by taking the manhood into God; one altogether,
not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person. For as the reasonable sod end flesh
is one man, so God and man is one Christ; who suffered for our salvation,
descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead. Ho ascended into heaven, he
sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty; from whence he shall come to judge
the quick and the dead. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies, and
shall give account for their works. And they that have done good shall go into life
everlasting, and they that have done evil into everlasting fire. This is the Catholic
Faith, which except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved."
Here the idea of person is a "somewhat!" as Archbishop Whateley would
say.] in the Holy Spirit.
The Father is an ocean of eternal love itself; a boundless love-being, "above all
height;" the Son or Word is Infinite Wisdom itself; which rays around the Father
"brighter than the light of the sun ;" [Paul Acts xxvi, '13.] the Holy
Spirit is life itself" proceeding "[Art iv of Articles of Religion.]
from the Father by the Word to infinity, filling all receptive souls
"With comfort, life, and fire of love."
All these in inconceivable degree, yet known realities, are embodied in the Lord Jesus
Christ. "For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead bodily." ["For
in him dwelleth," inhabiteth, continually abideth, "all the fullness of the
godhead." Believers "are filled" with "all the fulness of God."
Eph. iii, 19. But in Christ dwelleth "all the fullness of the godhead;" not only
divine powers but the divine nature, (chap. i, 19,) bodily, personally, really,
substantially: the very substance of God, if one might so speak, dwells in Christ in the
most full sense."-Wesley's Note, following Bengel, on Col. ii, 9. See also his Sermon
on 1 John v, 20, Sermons, vol. ii, pp. 177, 184. Dr. Jenk's Comprehensive Commentary
quotes Barkwell (BL) as Baying the body of Christ was "deified" Bengel says ????
does not always denote the body, properly so called but the bread from heaven is said to
be his flesh, (John vi, 51, 5'1, 58,) a more gross term. See Phil. ii, 6-11. What
comes down from heaven must be spirit, however clothed on earth. It is living bread
indeed.] These degrees in himself he showeth to the Churches.
The first degree is thus expressed, (Rev. i, 4,)" Grace be unto you, and peace
from Him which is, and which was, and which is to come." Here is the profound axiom
of the Infinite and Eternal One; the perfect expression of God by God him-self in supreme
degree.
The second degree is grace and peace from the seven spirits of God. This is placed next
to the first, and is distinct from it. For we must not think any of these expressions
carelessly given. God is revealing himself here in all his complex being. He is not
revealing himself as more than One God, but in all his essential nature. "God
is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." John
iv. The seven spirits are the All-Perfect Spirit, or all in all of the Holy Spirit;
all the fullness of heavenly powers; a certain necessary degree of that "which
is and was and is to come."
The third or last degree is "grace and peace from Jesus Christ, the faithful and
true witness, the first begotten from the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth,
(chap. i, ver. 5. This completes the degrees of the Holy Trine. And since Jesus was "
lifted up" from the dead, glorified, so that he receives into his divine-human person
all the glory of the [FOURTH SERIES, VOL. XVII.-27] Father, and thus is able to save all
men, and gives the Spirit, therefore to him the song begins, "Unto Him that
loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests
unto God, even (or to-wit:) his Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.
Amen." Rev. v, 6. In Jesus Christ is the fullness of divine manifestation. Here is
the whole doctrine of God stated in its essence and substance. The trine appears more than
"real persons," not certainly two or three clods, but more than all
possible human ideas of persons can be; even states of divinity itself into the view and
service of which Christ brings his redeemed ones. [We do not pretend to be wise above what
is written, but to adhere with our whole Soul to the very letter of the word, and strive
to realize it simply in expository statements which shall express in some degree our
spiritual sight and reason. Personalities are sometimes used in the Scriptures for principles
more universal than person can be. Thus Paul, Rom. vii, 11, personifies sin,
saying that it deceived him and slew him, and as a "body of death," (ver. 24.)
In 1 Cor. xv, he personifies death as the last enemy, with his weapon or
sting, sin, in his hand. It is not a person, but it is a principle
more than a real person.] Hence the state is described as that of kings and
priests unto God, even the Father. And the worship is given to Jesus Christ, not
another God, but that divine unfolding of God which lifts men up unto the highest glories
of the divine itself.
Jesus Christ is the word "which was God and was with God," made flesh. He
came to the lowest human condition. He assumed humanity lower than we can detect its first
principles, even in the womb of the virgin, and passed through all its stages, anointed
more and more by the Holy Spirit, till he accomplished his earthly mission. In him the
highest divine degree was brought down to be in man. Jesus glorified raises the human thus
assumed to the highest divine degree, even up where he was before; "One with the
Father." When shall we learn to sing the "songs of degrees," [See
Hengstenberg on Psalms cxxii to cxxxvii inclusive, commonly called the "Psalms of.
Degrees," which were supposed to be sung by the tribes on entering the gates of
Jerusalem, as they went up to the worship of God, or as they ascended the fifteen steps to
the Temple, or as some say to Solomon's house. Quoted by Bonar on the Psalms.] and ascend
the ladder of the word from earth to heaven?
That it may be seen that these degrees are all in Christ, mark his address describing
himself to the Seven Churches severally: "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear
what the Spirit saith to the Churches: To the angel of the Church of Ephesus write; These
things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst
of the seven golden candle-sticks. To the angel of the Church in Smyrna write; These
things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive. To the angel of the
Church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges.
To the angel of the Church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath
his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass. To the angel of the
Church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God, and the
seven stars. To the angel of the Church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that
is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man
shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth. And unto the angel of the Church of the
Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the
beginning of the creation of God," (or the creator from the beginning.) Thus in his
manifold degrees Christ addresses his Church.
We see, then, what a lofty pinnacle of blessed revelation is the text, "The grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all." Here once more we take our stand and look
up again into the heavens. Rise, my soul, rise on these rays of grace; drop thy dull sense
and load of clay; cease thy feeble gropings in time and space break thy fetters, open
thine eyes, come out of thy prison-house, spread thy wings, and as an eagle rise and soar,
and soaring rise! "Behold a door is opened in heaven," and light is pouring from
the throne. The mystery of redemption is held as a book[The law was a pattern of things in
heaven. The great book of God is up there, of which the law, the prophets, and Psalms was
a shadowy transcript. Christ fulfilled them because they are the counsels of eternity.
"Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering for sin thou wouldest not, but a body
hast thou prepared me," "Then, said I' Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it
is written of me," etc. Psalm xi, 7; Hebrews I, 7-9. "I have not hid thy
righteousness within my heart." Hence it appears that this opening of the book is the
opening the heart of God, the disclosure of his love and truth] written before the world
began, in the hand of Him that sitteth upon the throne. The prophet is weeping that none
is found to open the book and the understandings of men. But soon it is said "the
Lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seals
thereof." The Lamb is seen in the throne with all the symbols of his infinity; he
takes the book that had been in the hand of Him that sat on the throne, and the coronation
song commences, all falling before the Lamb, saying, "Thou art worthy! . . . for thou
wast slain and hast' redeemed us to God by thy blood, and hast made us kings and priests
unto our God." This is the revelation of Jesus coming into the glory of the Father,
or into his own highest or supreme state which he had with the Father before the world
began. ["And now, O Father, glorify ma with thine own self, with the glory I had -
with thee before the world was." John xvii, 5. "If God be glorified in him we
shall also glorify him in himself and shall straight-way glorify him" John xiii, 32.]
He receives the kingdom before he comes the second time, or "in the clouds of
heaven." Daniel beholds the "Ancient of Days" on his throne of flame and
wheels of burning fire, before whom "issued and came forth the fiery stream."
"The judgment was set, and the books were opened," parallel With Rev. xx, 11,
12. And in the "night visions" he saw one like the Son of Man "come with
the clouds of heaven." "And there was given him dominion and glory and a
kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an
everlasting dominion, . . . and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." Dan.
vii, 9, 10, 13,14. But John sees him entering that glory and taking the book to open it,
and records the song inauguration.
"I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four living ones, and in
the midst of the four and twenty elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven
horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. .
. . And they sang a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the
seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood." Rev.
v, 6-9.
Now whose faith and reason cannot apprehend the Ancient of Days as the eternal Word (in
whom is the Father) in the throne of flame, and the incarnate Word coming as the Lamb
slain to unite his divine-human person inseparably [See article ii of the Articles of
Religion.] in the glory which he had with the Father before the world began?
And who does not see that that stream of fire and flame, and the blood which redeemed,
are symbols of that same life of love and truth of God that flows forever from him: the
joy, the song, the life of heaven ? [ompare Isaiah vi, 6,7; John xvii, 17; and Rev. vii,
14,15.] We see that God and the Lamb are one. "The last is first and the first is
last." All the attributes of Deity are ascribed to him. He is omniscient, omnipotent,
omnipresent, holy and true. He is "worthy to receive power, and riches, and wisdom,
and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing, for ever and ever."
But it may not be deemed by some satisfactory to rest theology on the rhapsodies of
vision; howbeit theology should be as warm as it is bright. And we must confirm the view
given, by doctrine literally expressed in the Scriptures.
I. The union of Christ and the Father is specifically declared. ." I and my Father
are one." John x, 30. See this whole connection. "Philip saith unto him, Lord,
show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time
with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the
Father; and how sayest thou then, S how us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the
Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself: but
the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I-am in the Father,
and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake." John xiv, 8-11.
Thus what we saw accomplished by symbols in the Apocalypse is plainly declared by the
Saviour. How can any man pretend to draw his doctrine from the Divine Word and set this
aside? How can he profess to reverence the name of Jesus, and not credit the exposition-
of the Trinity, which the faithful and true Witness gives? Here, and in verse 26 and chap.
xv, 26 compared, it is emphatically declared to be not a trinity of Gods, but a trinity of
One God; a trinity of eternal divine interexistence; the same, perhaps, we may say,
not altogether without Scripture warrant, as is in man in finite degree. For, as in man,
soul and body and spirit make one, so allowing for the difference in nature, it may be in
God in infinite degree. He may be personified in each of the three essential names-Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit-but have one will, one intellect, one energy-is, indeed, one and only
one absolute, personal, and holy being-JEHOVAH OF HOSTS, even the Lord
Jesus. Christ. "And this is life eternal, to know thee [Father] the only true God
(???,) even Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." John xvii, 3. There is only one. true
God, and to know Jesus Christ is to know him. For he comes out from God, and returns to
God. He is the manifestation of God, his name, his nature, his person. "This is the
true God and eternal life." 1 John v, 20. "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is
one Lord." Deut. vi, 4; Exod. xx, 3; Mark xii, 29.
II. The attributes of God are set forth as fully in doctrinal statement as, in the glow
of Revelation, as belonging to Christ.
1. Re is Omnipresent. "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there
am I in the midst." Matt. xviii, 20. The Lord is present with every man. "That
was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world."
"Behold," saith he, "I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my
voice, and open the door, I will come in and sup with him, and he with me." Rev. iii,
20. It is our faith that apprehends this omnipresence of Christ. "Say not in thine
heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? that is, to bring Christ down, or, Who shall descend
into the deep? that is, to bring up Christ,. . . but what saith it? The word is nigh thee,
even in thy mouth and heart; that is, the word of faith, which we preach."
Rom. x, 6-8. [For we preach Christ.] Let all rejoice, "For thus saith the high and
lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy, with
him also of a contrite and humble spirit." Isa. lvii, 15. And "Lo," he
saith, "I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Matt. xxviii, 20.
2,. He is Omnipotent. "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth."
"What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him ?", Matt.
viii, 27. He raiseth the dead, (John xi, 25-44,) createth all things, (John i, 3,)
upholdeth all things, (Heb. i, 3,) and executeth all judgment. (Psa. 1, 6; Acts xvii, 31.)
The humble faith which discerns Christ's real inward divineness, always finds the
"God of Power." "Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the son of the living
God. Jesus answered, Blessed art thou, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto
thee," etc. (See Matt. xvi, 16-19.) Here Peter receives just what every one receives
who acknowledges Christ from an inward light and conviction. Re is a rock on the rock,
whether his name be Peter or not, or a branch in the vine, and is built up for a
habitation of God. Re has the "keys of the kingdom of heaven." Re has the
beginnings of true knowledge. Re has faith as a grain of mustard seed, which groweth, if
not uprooted, to a great tree.
But great faith was not found ill Israel, not even among the Apostles, till after the
resurrection. His true omnipotence is illustrated in the case of the centurion, Matt.
viii, 6-12: "I am not worthy." That, then, is the occasion of complete divine
power. "Speak the word, and my servant shall be healed."
This is the second. Christ, he sees, is not only the word made flesh-not merely the Son of
the living God, but the Father is in him-and he can speak the word, and save at any
human distance, without the intervention of time. "Jesus marveled and said, I have
not found so great faith; no, not in Israel." "If ye shall ask anything in my
name, I will do it." John xiv,
3. Re is Omniscient. "Jesus knew their thoughts." Matt. xii, 25 Luke vi, 8.
"Re knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man, for he knew what was
in man." John ii, 24, 25. In former quotations it has been shown that he was the Lord
God of the holy prophets, and therefore all the passages which speak of the omniscience of
God are applicable to him. But he says: "Of that day and hour knoweth no man; no, not
the Son, but my Father only." Mark xiii, 32. flow is this to be explained in harmony
with what is proved above? Most beautifully, for we have said the Trinity is divine
interexistences in one being. A man’s personal consciousness discloses to
himself three great essentials of his being: his affections, his intellect, and his
sensibilities. He does not confound sensations with his thoughts, or either. of these with
his affection. So the Lord, in his personal consciousness, does not confound the
essentials of his infinite being. The Father, his own inward affection, knows what his
word or intellect cannot know. No word can reveal the truths of the last day. They are
intellectually unknown. Only when the word comes in the glory of the Father will they be
known. "It is not for you to know the times and the seasons which the Father hath put
in his own power." So often the human heart knows things true, which the mind cannot
understand only from it, and cannot then express.
In this distinction we can see how the words, "My Father is greater than I,"
(John xiv, 28,) may be literally and absolutely true, as the words are "I and my
Father are one." For the heart is greater than the intellect, the will is in higher
order than the understanding, and love is greater than wisdom; and yet may be co-eternals,
and a unity. They cannot, it is true, be two individuals without being two Gods, one of
which only is truly supreme, and the other a less God, which is Arianism in spite of all
glosses.
Another passage may, by this method, be harmonized with true doctrine. St. Paul Bays:
"Then shall the Son also be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God
may be all in all." 1 Cor. xv, 28. Now observe what John says: "God is
love," (1 John iv, 16,) and what Christ says: "I am the way, the truth, and the
life; no man cometh to the Father but by me." John xiv, 6. Then, under the progress
of truth, in the judgment power that destroys death, there comes a time-blessed state!
happy hour !-When the truths shall be so clear that we shall see the fullness of God
through them. Before this, the mediation of Christ, like smoked glass used to look at the
sun, obstructed, while it aided our vision; hut then all will be clear as the crown
crystal. Christ will appear as he did to John in Patmos, the divine glory itself will
flood the human with its ineffable light, or Christ will be so formed in us that we can
look on God.
But whether we have given a satisfactory exposition of these passages or not, it is
certain that all in heaven ascribe to Jesus Christ the sum of all the divine attributes.
There is the place to look to get our theology warmed. A theology not warmed from heaven
cannot lead to heaven. Whose heart is not fired with the song," Worthy is the Lamb
that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and
glory, and blessing?" And every creature which is in heaven, and on earth, and under
the earth, John heard as they joined in the song of universal redemption.
Here our theology, in fairly striking the note of redemption, reaches out through all
the vast fields of creation, and brings into view the spiritual world, which interlies all
these outposts of suns and systems. The Lord, in appearing in human nature, becomes
visible to the angels. The lower the nature lie took, the more clear his perfect holiness
became to all finite intelligences, and therefore the real love, goodness, and wisdom of
God glow in the upper worlds with a brighter luster, and break out from the Immanuel
through all the universe, shine in every ray of light, envelop every circling orb, breathe
in all the air, live in all attractive force, and blossom in every flower. The love and
the life, the wisdom and the power, the glory and the truth, are all of God.
Thus we see, to sum up the doctrine concerning God, that the Father is not the creator,
nor was made flesh, but the word created and was made flesh in whom is the Father. The
Father is never seen only in the glory of the word. The Father is not therefore another
God, but is the invisible essence, or soul of the word; which is only known by the
word, and revealed by the light and love of himself, as a man's person reveals the light
and love of his soul and the power of his spirit. Therefore in heaven, when they sing of
the Lord God Almighty 'and the Lamb, it is not two persons, but one person, in whom is
'the' Father in each instance. Hence we read: "The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are
the temple [not temples,] of 'it;" "throne of God and the Lamb," not
thrones;' and "the glory of God did lighten it, (???) even the Lamb is the
light thereof." The Father is not one being and the son another; but it is one being
who is manifest, in whom is the eternal essence called the' Father. Hence he is always in
the Son, as we read in Isa. ix' 6, "Unto us a child is born, a Son is given,. . . and
his name shall be Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting' Father, and the
Prince of 'Peace;" and hence we have, among many others, the following most blessed
parallel expressions:
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not I am the good shepherd. The good
want. Psa. xxiii, 1. Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
John x, 11.
Yea, though I walk through the val- My sheep hear my voice, and I know
ley and shadow of death, I will fear no them and they follow me. And I give
evil, for thou art with me. Ib., ver. 4. Unto them eternal life, and they shall
never perish. Ib., ver. 27, 28.
And he will destroy in this mountain Martha saith unto him, I know that
The face of the covering cast over all he shall rise again in the resurrection at
People, and the vail that is spread over the last day.
He will swallow up death in victory. Jesus saith unto her, I am the resur-
. . . And in that day if shall be said, Lo, in me, though he were dead, yet shall
this is our God; we have waited for him, he live, and whosoever liveth and be-
and he will save us. Isa. xxv, 7, 9. lieveth in me, shall never die. John xi,
24-26.
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