Part 6

The catholic may use the term _mystery_ as a cover for absurdity and contempt of reason, or in support of a contradiction, and as an excuse for idolatry; but surely God's Bible contains nothing but truth, and that revealed in a manner adapted to the human understanding. But what says archbishop Fenelon in defending transubstantiation or the imagined change of the bread in the sacrament into the body of Christ? He says of the doctrine――"in believing its mysteries one immolates his ideas [or sacrifices his common sense] out of respect to eternal truth." Thus his blunder, his misunderstanding of Christ's words, "this is my body," he represents as "eternal truth." So Bourdaloue says――"I make to God a sacrifice of the most noble part of myself, which is my reason:" and he professes to believe a mystery "although it seems to be directly repugnant to my reason;"――or one "which shocks reason itself and contradicts all its lights," referring to the received doctrine concerning God's nature. Massillon thinks it is "necessary to believe certain apparent contradictions:" he says, "it is faith and not reason, which makes us Christians." All this in my view is a pernicious error: for _reason_ is the intellectual power, which discerns truth. God himself is perfect reason, pure intellect, infinite understanding. To him the universe is all light. But our reason is restricted: man may grow in knowledge forever; yet he never will know an absurdity or contradiction to be true. To us one great source of truth is God's testimony or revelation. _Faith_ is the belief of God's testimony. As to the word _mystery_, the common meaning of it in scripture, is not something unintelligible, but a _doctrine, once hidden or secret, which is now revealed and intelligible_. Thus in teaching the resurrection Paul says, "Behold, I _shew_ you a mystery; we shall not all sleep," &c. 1 Cor. 15:51. See also Rom. 16:25.

It is clear beyond a question, that there cannot be two contradictory truths; for truth is one; it is but an expression of the reality of things. But some metaphysicians have lent their aid to the catholic theologians by asserting that, there are contradictory truths in philosophy; but the instances adduced are all fallacious, as Achilles walking 20 times as fast as the turtle, but never able to overtake him.

A lately deceased philosopher of Scotland, Sir W. Hamilton, seems to concur in the catholic notion of the contradiction of faith and reason. He lays down a certain new, strange, unproved, incredible principle, called "the law of the conditioned," that "the conceivable always lies between two contradictory extremes;" and then concludes as "the one true and only orthodox inference" that we must believe in the infinity of God, which by us cannot be comprehended or conceived. "Faith,――Belief,――is the organ, by which we apprehend what is beyond our knowledge." But how can this be correct? When we exercise _faith_ in God's testimony,――when we exercise _belief_ in his word,――when we receive the very truth, which he presents to our understanding or reason and brings to our knowledge,――do we not _know_ it? Do we thus apprehend any thing "beyond our knowledge?" When Christ prayed――"sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth;"――did he not refer to truth _known_? What God reveals must be revealed to our belief, to our reason. Although we pretend not to comprehend perfectly the attributes and ways of the infinite God; yet what he has disclosed we may know; and we may know the meaning of right and wrong, of truth and falsehood, of faith and unbelief, of reason and contradiction or absurdity. It cannot then be a right inference――if the author had such a meaning――that any doctrine concerning the nature of God may be true, although not _conceivable_, because God is _infinite_.

God's scheme of mercy towards sinful man is accomplished by the wide-spread power and triumphs of Truth. But what are the Truths, that bear intimately on human welfare? Surely it is not a matter of indifference what is received for truth; men are not safe, because they think they are so. No bigoted despotism; no boasted liberalism; no banded relationships of interest or honor; no infidel companionship or self-applauses can convert error into truth or render it harmless. Whatever monstrous or astounding notions, whatever wild, fanatical, profligate, misleading doctrine may be sent forth, no glozing words can render it otherwise, than that error and falsehood are God's abhorrence and a delusion of the devil.

As I have in other notes dwelt upon the character and offices of the Son of God, the Mediator and Redeemer, I desire now to advert to the all-important divine teaching concerning God's Spirit, grace, and power in renewing and sanctifying the depraved and lost soul of man. "God hath mercy on whom he will have mercy." Rom. 9th. Christ taught, John 3d, the necessity of being "born of the Spirit" in order to salvation. John the Baptist predicted of Christ, that he should baptize men "with the Holy Spirit;" and thus his coming was signalized by "the Spirit like a dove descending upon him," and God's voice from heaven said, "Thou art my beloved Son." All the powers therefore, prophetical, miraculous, renovating, and sanctifying, implied in the full endowment of the Holy Spirit, were possessed by Christ.

The primitive meaning of the word Spirit is air or breath. Some of its meanings in scripture are wind; the living soul in man and animals; the mind, or man's intelligent part and also its various faculties and powers; an intelligent spirit, simple, superior to man's, not allied to matter; it is applied to angels good and evil; and also to God, as we read, "God is a spirit." It means also the divine power, given to Christ, by which he wrought miracles and fulfilled God's purposes on the earth, as Matt. 12:28, "if I cast out devils by the spirit of God," compared with Luke 11:20, "if I with the finger of God cast out devils." In the same sense is "holy spirit," with which Jesus was filled used, Luke 4:1.――"The holy spirit" and "spirit" alone relating to the same matter are found in Mark 12:36, and Matt. 22:43: "doth David _in spirit_ call him Lord;" that is, David was under divine _inspiration_ is the one meaning of the two expressions.

In our inquiry concerning the import of the phrase, "the holy spirit," in scripture it may be of some consequence to bear in mind, that there is one peculiarity in our English Bible, which distinguishes it from other modern European translations; that while the Greek testament has but one word for Spirit, which is translated by one word,――in German by Geist, in Dutch by Geest, in French by Esprit,――the same is rendered by our translators into English by two words at their option, namely, _Spirit_ and _Ghost_. And in what cases did they choose the latter word? It would seem that they translated by Holy Ghost and not by holy spirit whenever they supposed the phrase had reference to an intelligent, divine Being and not to a gift, endowment, or power received from God. Thus it is, that the phrase has got an established meaning; which shows indeed the judgment of our old translators 250 years ago, but proves nothing as to the true meaning. It might then be well, if the old word Ghost were laid aside. Indeed they have not chosen to say, Gala. 4:6, "the Ghost of his Son," nor in v. 27, "born after the Ghost," but have used the word "Spirit." If one should take up his New Testament and read in English in Matthew's first chapter concerning Mary,――"she was found with child of the _Holy Ghost_," and then again, "that which is conceived of her is of the _Holy Ghost_," he would be likely to attach a meaning to the scripture, which he reads, different from the truth. For as the Testament was written in Greek, we may learn from that language, the translation should not have been "the Holy Ghost," and not even "_the_ Holy Spirit," but "_a_ holy spirit," for here the word for spirit has no article before it in the Greek, as would be requisite if "_the_ Spirit" were meant; and the meaning is, as learned critics have showed, simply, "a divine energy or power." Just so in Mark 1:8 and Luke 1:35, the same Greek phrase has no article; and the apostles do not allude to a great personage or supposed well known, mighty Being, called "_the_ Holy Ghost," but refer only to God's miraculous power in respect to the birth of Christ. The verse in Luke 1, proves this――"a holy spirit shall come upon thee and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee,"――both phrases referring to the same energy of almighty God.

The English translators, although they have employed the phrase, "the Holy Ghost" about 90 times in scripture, have not once in the Old Testament, although they have three times there used "the holy spirit" relating to God's gift, or endowment, or power bestowed: Ps. 51:1. Isa. 63:10, 11. The same phrase, meaning God's gift to believers, is in the New Testament: Luke 11:13. Eph. 1:13-4:30. 1st Thess. 4:8. God gave "his spirit without measure" to Christ; John 3:34; and he also gave "the spirit of his Son," "the holy spirit," to believers: Gal. 4:6. The "gifts of the Holy Ghost," in Heb. 2:4, should have been, "distributions of _a_ holy spirit or divine power;" for the phrase has no article in the Greek, so that the verse might properly read, "God bearing them witness both with signs, and wonders, and with divers miracles, and distributions of a divine power." In like manner there is no article in Acts 11:16, and 24, and other passages, translated "the Holy Ghost." The meaning is plain, v. 24, "a good man, and full of a divine power and of faith,"――Yet for the purpose of emphasis the article is often used.

The importance of the doctrine concerning the spirit or the holy spirit in the gospel scheme, importing God's holy influence on the soul, is evident by the injunction of Christ as to baptism in the faith of it: "teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, &c."

Matt. 28:19, does not indeed present a form of words to be used, nor does it relate to the authority, by which baptism is to be administered, for the Greek preposition is not _en_, "_in_ the name," but _eis_, _into_; which is the same as "to baptize _into_ Christ," Rom. 6:3, i.e. into a profession of faith in Christ, as taught by bishop Pearce. That he had himself all authority was first asserted by Christ; then he enjoined baptism under a profession of belief in the three great points of his teaching,――as to the one God of Israel,――as to himself, God's Son from heaven,――and as to the Spirit, which "God gave to him without measure,"――giving it also to his disciples,――making him indeed the great teacher and Savior of the world. He finally commanded his apostles, not only thus to baptize, but also to teach all nations to observe whatever he had enjoined. A passage of similar import is at the close of II Corinth., where Paul wishes his brethren may experience the grace of Christ, and the love of God, and might have a common participation of the holy spirit, of the miraculous and sanctifying divine power.

It is worthy of remark, that while Paul begins each of his Epistles, written to brethren of very different nations on the earth, with asserting, that his authority as an apostle was derived from God and from his Son, or with wishing his brethren grace, mercy and peace from God the Father, and from his Son, by whom he created, and governs, and will judge the world; yet he never in this manner connects "the holy spirit" with the name of God and of his Son our Lord Jesus Christ: no prayer is thus addressed to a holy spirit or to the holy spirit, or Holy Ghost, although we find the translation "the Holy Ghost," nearly 100 times. This is called a gift of God, and God is prayed to for it; and it is declared, that God anointed Jesus with the holy spirit, that is, with the wonderful powers expressed by the phrase. A multitude of passages speak of the Spirit as a divine power and a divine gift: the following are some of the expressions used――"the Spirit of your Father;"――"the Spirit of God;"――"God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts;"――"how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him;"――"he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever;"――"renewing of the Holy Ghost (or of a holy spirit or the divine power) which he shed on us abundantly;"――"how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power;"――"upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost: John 1:33." Therefore one plain meaning of the holy spirit is a miraculous and wonderful power, communicated by God from heaven to Jesus Christ when he appeared on the earth in the form of a man, designating him to be the promised Messiah.

Concerning the Holy Spirit the creed of the ancient Council of Nice, A. D. 325, says nothing except "we believe in the Holy Spirit." Of Christ it declares, that he was "the Son of God, the only begotten of the Father, God of God,――begotten, not made, &c." Soon after that council a learned father, _Eunomius_, who was made bishop of Cyzicum A. D. 360, advanced the doctrine, that after God had created his Son before the universe was formed, giving him divine dignity and creative power, he next created the Holy Spirit, the first and greatest of all spirits, by his own power indeed but by the immediate agency also of his Son, giving him power to sanctify and teach. Afterwards he created all things in heaven and earth. More modern creeds, which adopt much the same faith with Eunomius, use the word "proceed" instead of "create," as the New England Confession of Faith of 1680, which says, "the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son." But Milton, in his learned Treatise on the Christian doctrine, has shewn that "proceedeth" in John 15:26, relates to the mission,――the sending from God to the earth, not to the nature, of the Spirit: yet his own faith was, that "the Holy Spirit, inasmuch as he is a minister of God, and therefore a creature, was created or produced of the substance of God, not by a natural necessity, but by the free will of the agent, probably before the foundations of the world were laid, but later than the Son, and far inferior to him." Dr. Samuel Clarke of England has taught the same doctrine.――But the reader is requested to form his opinion on the chief subject of this note, not from any human creed or learned man's teaching, but from his own study of the Bible with his own endowment of reason. The practical application of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit has claims to our earnest attention.

In the judgment of Dr. Cotton Mather it is through the Spirit of God, that Christians find such affections as the following working in their minds:――a flaming love towards God and men; a lively faith in God and in the Savior, the Mediator; a longing desire and hope of spiritual blessings; a mighty hatred of sin; a bitter sorrow for sin and its miseries; a noble courage; a total despair of help in creatures; a fear of the judgments of wickedness; a triumphant joy in God and in his Christ; a rapturous admiration of the Maker and Ruler of the world and of his glories. "All true piety," he says, "is begun by the enkindling of these affections in the soul:" and the Spirit, enkindling them, should be sought from God in the constancy of prayer.

_Sonnet 68._ The monument to the pilgrim forefathers, whose corner was laid Aug. 2d, is designed to consist of a pedestal 80 feet high, supporting a colossal female figure of Faith; her feet rest on Plymouth rock, her left hand is to hold an open Bible, and her right points to heaven. On the pedestal are to be Morality, Education, Law, and Liberty.

_Sonnet 72._ Since this sonnet has passed through the press, I have been glad to read a description of Donati's comet and to see a telescopic view of it in the Family Christian Almanac for 1860. The comet is named after Donati, the discoverer, who first saw it at Florence, June 2, 1858. It was seen several months in great splendor in our country until about Oct. 20th, when it disappeared. When first observed, it was 200 millions of miles distant from the sun. Its curved train extended 60 degrees or 51 millions of miles. When nearest the earth it was 52 millions of miles distant, moving at the rate of 123 thousand miles an hour. Its greatest distance from the sun is supposed to be 143 thousand millions of miles; and astronomers have calculated its period of revolution at nearly 2,000 years, so that its last previous visit to the earth was before the Christian era. Yet from the extreme point of its journey to the nearest fixed star who can measure the distance? Who will not say, "Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty?"

It is worthy of remark, that in respect to the inhabitants of the various worlds, with which our skies are filled, the revealed word of God, communicated to man upon the earth, gives us no information. If beyond a doubt the sun, the moon, the stars, and the comets are inhabited by intelligent beings; yet of what rank and in what condition we know nothing. But as we are taught, that there is a world of "fire," prepared "for the devil and his angels," it may be that comets are the destined abodes of the wicked and lost.

_Sonnet 73._ It is a false and pernicious charity, of which some men boast, that for no crime would they touch the life of man. But God is smiting every day the life of guilty man by a thousand diseases; and in his revealed word he has commanded, that the murderer shall be put to death in the administration of public law. In this way not only the divine justice but the divine wisdom is manifested by this protecting shield of terror spread over man's life.

_Sonnet 77._ The name of John Hooper will ever be held in the highest honor in England. Born in 1495, and educated at Oxford, he was appointed bishop of Gloucester; but was a martyr to the truth under the popish reign of queen Mary in 1555 at the age of 60. With most wonderful fortitude he endured the flames at the stake for three-quarters of an hour.

_Sonnet 78._ To an old man the recollection of a youthful brother preacher in the far-back period of fifty or more years, who still preaches the gospel, is replete with interest. It is attended with the memory of men, who at that period were the fathers in the ministry,――as Rogers, Livingston, Mason, and Miller of New York; Dwight of New Haven; and S. Spring, Morse, Eckley, and Griffin of Massachusetts.

_Sonnet 80._ The leading truth of the gospel, dear to my heart since I first began to preach it 56 years ago, is that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, by whom God made the worlds, and who came down from heaven and in human flesh was himself the sufferer on the cross for the sins of men. I use language as men of reason should use it. I dare not, on the peril of my soul, explain it away by saying, that the Son of God from heaven united himself to another spirit or intelligent being, which latter spirit or mind bore the suffering, ascribed to the Son from heaven. That Christ had two spirits is the teaching of human theory but not of divine scripture.

Every man is conscious, that he is one,――one existence, one intelligent being, one human being, or an intellect or mind now dwelling in a human body; and he acknowledges every other man to be a similar being. He also regards every angel, that comes to his knowledge by revelation, as one being. God, the Creator of the universe, we view necessarily as one being. The idea of a duplicate intellectual being is beyond our thought; it is inconceivable, an absurdity, a contradiction. Jesus Christ then was either man or the one Son of God in the form of a man.

That there is "one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" is Paul's teaching. The reason of calling Christ _man_ is, that "God sent his son in the _likeness_ of sinful flesh," Rom. 8:3. The Son's intelligent spirit was enough to be the tenant of one human body without a co-tenancy with a human spirit, and enough to suffer for the sins of the world.

When Paul speaks of Christ as being once "in the form of God," he did not mean, that he was God himself, in whose form or likeness he was, Phil. 2:6. Then in the next verses, by his being "in the form of a servant," "in the likeness of men," "in fashion as a man," he could not mean, that Christ was a real, perfect man. But did he first live in heaven, and thence come to the earth to tabernacle in human flesh and to offer himself as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the race of men?

In the first chapter of John's gospel we are taught, that Christ or the Son of God, called the Word, existed in the beginning with God and that all things were made by him. At the very commencement of all created existences in the universe, he existed with God, and by him all created things in the universe were created. Here then was a high and glorious dignity in heaven, the Son of God, before he dwelt in human flesh.