CHAPTER XVII.

THE DESIGN AND THE IMPORTANCE OF THE MEANS OF GRACE.

1.--PRAYER.

It has been shown that, constituted as we are, the manifestations made of the character and attributes of God in the Scriptures are adapted to produce the greatest good in the human spirit; and in order that that good may be effected, it is necessary that the truths of the Scripture be brought into contact with the soul, that it may be impressed and influenced by them. The truths and manifestations of revelation are the elements of moral power, which, apprehended by faith, are effective in purifying the fountain of life in the soul, and in rectifying and regulating its exercises; it follows, therefore, that the requirement to bring those truths before the mind in a particular manner would be a duty necessarily connected with the revelation of the doctrines, as directions for taking the medicine are connected with the prescription of a physician into whose hands a patient has submitted himself. Now, prayer, or worship, is one method by which the truths and manifestations of revelation are directly brought before the contemplation of the soul. Prayer brings the mind to the immediate contemplation of God's character, and holds it there, till by comparison and aspiration the believer's soul is properly impressed, and his wants properly felt. The more subtle physical processes and affinities become, the better are the analogies which they furnish of processes in the spiritual world. The influence of believing prayer has a good analogy in the daguerreotype. By means of this process, the features of natural objects are thrown upon a sensitive sheet, through a lens, and leave their impression upon the sheet. So when the character of God is, by means of prayer, brought to bear upon the mind of the believer--that mind being rendered sensitive by the Holy Spirit--it impresses there the Divine image. In this manner the image of Christ is formed in the soul, the existence of which the Scriptures represent as inspiring the believer with the hope of glory.

In the introductory chapter it was shown that the impulse which leads men to worship proves a curse to the soul, where the objects worshipped are unholy, and that the only remedy for the evil was the revelation of a holy object for the supreme homage of the human soul. So soon as a righteous and benevolent God is presented before the mind, then prayer becomes a blessing instead of a curse to the soul. Look at the subject in the form of a syllogism:

Man, by worshipping, becomes assimilated to the moral character of the object that he worships:

The God of the Bible, as manifest in Christ Jesus, is the only perfectly righteous and perfectly benevolent Being ever worshipped by man.

Therefore, man can become righteous and benevolent in no other way but by that worship which will assimilate him to the God of the Bible.

And further, as it has been demonstrated that righteousness and benevolence produce the rectitude and the happiness--the greatest good--of the soul, man can gain the great end of his being only by that worship which assimilates his nature to the moral image of God.

It follows, therefore, that prayer is a necessary and most important means of grace--a duty growing out of the nature of the case, and a duty upon which depends, in a great measure, the well-being of the human spirit. The apostle understood the philosophy of this subject when he said: 'But we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.' Therefore it is that the commandment that men should pray is presented in the Bible in every variety of language; and it is constantly repeated by the inspired writers and by the Son of God himself, who commended, by his precepts and example, private, social, and public prayer; and who taught by a parable that 'men ought always to pray, and not to faint.'

_The importance of strong desire and importunity in prayer._

It is impossible to produce grateful feelings by granting a benefit for which the recipient has no desire. If a child asked for bread when it was not hungry, and if, while the child had no feeling of want, its unfelt request was answered by its father, it could neither appreciate the gift nor be grateful for it. The soul is so constituted, as has been fully shown, that it must really feel the need of the benefit before it can appreciate its importance, or be grateful for the favour received. So it is in the case of the suppliant in prayer: if he has an anxious desire, a spirit of importunate solicitude, for the blessing which he asks, when he receives it, gratitude and praise will, as the consequence of gratified desire, spring up in the heart. Now, mark, if there were not a feeling of importunate desire in the mind of the suppliant, God could not be glorified, nor the creature benefited, by an answer to prayer. God could not be glorified, because his goodness would not be felt and acknowledged in the answer. And the creature could not be benefited, because it is the feeling of gratitude and praise in his own heart which constitutes the spiritual blessing, so far forth as the suppliant himself is concerned; and this exercise is produced only so far as it is preceded by dependent and anxious desire for the blessing sought. When the supplication is for spiritual blessing upon another individual, two minds are blessed by the answer, the individual prayed for and the individual who prays. And if a thousand individuals desired spiritual mercies for that soul, God would be glorified by a thousand hearts, and a thousand hearts would be reciprocally blessed by the answer. The time may come when all the angels in heaven, and all the saints upon earth, will be blessed by mercy bestowed upon a single individual; when the last unregenerated sinner stands in solitary and awful rebellion upon the earth, should tidings be circulated through earth and heaven that he had submitted himself to God, and that his affections began to take hold on Christ, every being in the universe who had strongly desired the conversion of the last sinner would feel the thrill of 'glory to God and good-will to men' arise in his soul. It follows, therefore, that a fervent, importunate state of mind is, from the nature of the case, necessary, in order that God may be glorified, and man blessed, by the duty of prayer. It was in view of these constitutional principles that Jesus constantly taught the necessity of desire and importunity, in order that mercies might be received in answer to the supplication of saints.[40]

[40] Matt. vi. 6; Luke xi. 5-10, and xviii. 1-14.

_The importance of faith and a spirit of dependence upon God, as concomitants of acceptable prayer._

The necessity of faith, as a primary element in all acceptable religious exercises, has already been noticed. A feeling of entire dependence upon God for spiritual mercies is the only right feeling, because it is the only true feeling. As a matter of fact, the soul is entirely dependent upon God for spiritual mercies; truth, therefore, requires that our dependence should be acknowledged and felt.

But further, without faith in God as the immediate bestower of mercies in answer to prayer, he could not be honoured for blessings received. Suppose two individuals desired with equally strong feelings the same blessing, and that both received it: each would rejoice alike in its reception; but suppose there was this difference in their state of mind--one regarded the blessing as coming immediately from God in answer to prayer, the other did not: the result would be that the one who had faith in God would be filled with love to his Maker for the mercy, the other would rejoice in himself, or, at least, he would not rejoice in God. In the one case, God would be honoured and praised for his acts of grace; in the other, he would neither be honoured nor loved for his goodness. We do not present this illustration as applicable in all its bearings--because we do not suppose that the unregenerate ever truly desire spiritual blessing till they are convinced of sin--but it will make the point clear to the reason of everyone, that God cannot be honoured without faith; and, therefore, 'without faith it is impossible to please him.'

It is necessary, according to the foregoing view of the subject, in order to offer acceptable prayer, that men should possess a spirit of faith and dependence upon Christ. The principle upon which Christ acted in relation to this subject, as well as his instruction concerning the duty of prayer, fully confirm the preceding thoughts. He seldom performed an act of mercy, by miracle or otherwise, unless those who received the mercy could see the hand of God in the blessing:--'If thou canst believe, thou mayest be cleansed,' was his habitual sentiment. As if he had said--Your desire for the blessing is manifest by your urgent requests: now, if you can have faith to see God in the blessing, so that he will be honoured and praised for conferring it, I will grant it; but if you have no faith, you can receive no favour.

And, again, in order that the believer might be brought into a state of dependence, and have his faith quickened every time that he presented his supplications to God, Jesus said, looking forward to the time when he would have perfected his ministry and atonement--'In that day ye shall ask me nothing,--whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name'--that is, depending on me, the atoning, interceding Saviour--'he will do it;' and in another place he promised, 'Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do.' Thus does the instruction of the Saviour make the believer entirely dependent upon Christ himself when he approaches the mercy-seat of the Most High. As the Jews were constantly to call to mind the deliverance from Egypt, in order that their feelings might be moved to love, dependence, and faith towards their temporal deliverer, so Christians are to call to mind the deliverance from spiritual bondage by the sacrifice of Christ, in order that they may realize their dependence, and be inspired with a spirit of faith and love towards their spiritual Deliverer. And because believers can thus depend upon Christ, and feel the mercy of God as it is manifested in the atonement, they are constituted priests 'to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.'

2.--PRAISE.

The truth which has been demonstrated in previous chapters is again assumed, that the manifestations of God, in Christ Jesus, would, when brought into efficient contact with the soul, produce that active holiness in the heart which is man's greatest good. And as the end to be accomplished depends, under God, on those truths which are developed in the great plan of mercy being impressed upon the mind and the heart, it follows that those means would be used which, from their nature, are best adapted to give influence and impressiveness to the great truths of revelation.

The influence of music upon the emotions of the soul is well known to every one--

'There is in souls a sympathy with sounds;'

the soul is awakened, and invited by the spirit of the melody to receive the sentiment uttered in the song. Sweet, affecting music--not the tone of the piano, nor the peals of the organ--but a melodious air, sung by strong and well-disciplined voices, and accompanied by the flute and viol--such music reaches the fountains of thought and feeling; and,

'Untwisting all the links that tie The hidden soul of harmony,'

it tinges the emotions with its own hues, whether plaintive or joyous; and it fosters in the heart the sentiment which it conveys, whether it be love of country or of God, admiration of noble achievement, or of devoted and self-sacrificing affection.

The power of music to fix in the memory the sentiment with which it is connected, and to foster it in the heart, has been understood in all ages of the world. Some of the early legislators wrote their laws in verse, and sang them in public places; and many of the earliest sketches of primitive history are in the measures of lyric poetry. In this manner the memory was aided in retaining the facts; the ear was invited to attend to them; imagination threw around them the drapery of beauty, dignity, or power; and then music conveyed the sentiment, and mingled it with the emotions of the soul. It was in view of the power of music, when united with sentiment adapted to affect the heart, that one has said: 'Permit me to write the ballads of a nation, and I care not who makes her laws.'

When the effects of music and poetry upon the soul are considered, we can perceive their importance as means of fostering the Christian virtues in the soul of the believer. They should be used to convey to the mind sublime and elevating conceptions of the attributes of Jehovah; to impress the memory with the most affecting truths of revelation, and especially to cherish in the heart tender and vivid emotions of love to Christ, in view of the manifestations of Divine justice and mercy exhibited in his ministry, his passion, and his sacrifice.[41]

[41] 'The proper drapery for music is truth. It is its only apparel, whether as applied to God, or as used for the cultivation of man.'--_Erasmus._

There cannot be found, in all the resources of thought, material which would furnish sentiment for music so subduing and overpowering as the history of redemption. There is the life of Jesus--a series of acts Godlike in their benevolence, connected at times with exhibitions of Divine power and of human character, in their most affecting aspects. And as the scenes of Christ's eventful ministry converge to the catastrophe, there is the tenderness of his love for the disciples, the last supper, the scene in Gethsemane; the Mediator in the hall of judgment, exhibiting the dignity of truth and conscious virtue amidst the tempest of human passion by which he is surrounded. Then the awful moral and elemental grandeur of the crucifixion; the Saviour, nailed to the cross by his own creatures, crying, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do;' and then, while darkness shrouds the sun, and 'nature through all her works gives signs of woe,' he cries, 'It is finished, and gave up the ghost.' Thus did the dark stream of human depravity roll,

'Till a rainbow broke upon its gloom, Which spanned the portals of the Saviour's tomb.'

Such exhibitions of sublimity and power, when clothed with the influence of music, and impressed upon a heart rendered sensitive by Divine influence, are adapted to make the most abiding and blessed impressions.

'My heart, awake!--to feel is to be fired; And to believe, Lorenzo, is to feel.'

It follows, from the preceding views, that in selecting the means to impress the mind with religious truth, and the heart with pious sentiment, music and poetry could not be neglected. There is not in nature another means which would compensate for the loss of their influence. We do not mean to say that their influence is as great as some other means in impressing the truths of revelation upon the soul; but their influence is peculiar and delightful, and without it the system of means would not be perfect.

We see, therefore, the reasons why music and poetry were introduced as a means of impressing revealed truth, both under the old and the new dispensations. Moses not only made the laws, but he made, likewise, the songs of the nation. These songs, in some instances, all the people were required to learn, in order that their memory might retain, and their heart feel, the influence of the events recorded in their national anthems.

Music held a conspicuous place in the worship of the temple; and under the new dispensation, it is sanctioned by the express example of Jesus, and specifically commanded by the apostles; the example is given in connection with the institution of the eucharist, which was to commemorate the most affecting scene in the history of God's love; and the command is in such words as indicate the effects of music upon the heart: 'Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.' Upon this subject, as upon some others, the apostolic churches fell into some abuses; yet the high praises of God and the Lamb have always been celebrated in poetry and music by the church of Christ. One of the first notices of the Christians by pagan writers speaks of them as 'singing a hymn to Christ, as to a God;' thus showing that the principles established in the preceding views were recognised by the early disciples, who used music as a means of fostering in their hearts love to the Saviour.

As in the case of the primitive Christians, so every regenerated heart delights in such spiritual songs as speak of Christ as an atoning Saviour. And those only are qualified to write hymns for the church whose hearts are affected by the love of Jesus. On this account some of the hymns of Cowper, Charles Wesley, Watts, and Newton, will last while the church on earth lasts, _and perhaps longer_. Thousands of Christian hearts have glowed with emotion, while they sang,

'There is a fountain fill'd with blood, Drawn from Immanuel's veins; And sinners plunged beneath that flood Lose all their guilty stains.'

Or,

'Rock of ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in thee.'

Thousands have been awakened to duty and to prayer, by that solemn hymn,

'Lo, on a narrow neck of land, 'Twixt two unbounded seas I stand, Yet how insensible!'

And it would not have been possible for any but a Christian poet to have written the lines,

'Her noblest life my spirit draws From his dear wounds and bleeding side.'

3.--PREACHING.

It has been said that the truths and manifestations of revelation are the elements of moral power, which, being brought into efficient contact with the soul, are effective in rectifying and regulating its exercises. A medicine may be prepared in which are inherent qualities adapted to remove a particular disease; but in order to the accomplishment of its appropriate effect, it must be brought to act upon the body of the patient. And if the disease has rendered the patient not only unconscious of his danger, but has induced upon him a deep lethargy of mind, it would be necessary that the physician should arouse his dormant faculties, in order that he might receive the medicine which would restore him to health. So with the moral diseases of the soul; the attention and sensibilities of men must be awakened, in order that the truth may affect their understanding, their conscience, and their heart. Whatever, therefore, is adapted to attract the attention and move the sensibilities, at the same time that it conveys truth to the mind, would be a means peculiarly efficient to impress the gospel upon the soul.

There are but two avenues through which moral truth reaches the soul. And there are but two methods by which it can be conveyed through those avenues. By the living voice, truth is communicated through the ear; and by the signs of language it is communicated through the eye. The first of these methods--the living voice--has many advantages over all other means, in conveying and impressing truth. It is necessary that an individual should read with ease in order to be benefited by what he reads. The efforts which a bad reader has to make, both disincline him to the task of reading, and hinder his appreciation of truth. Besides, a large proportion of the human family cannot read, but all can understand their own language when spoken. In order, therefore, that the whole human family might be instructed, the living speaker would be the first, and best, and natural method.

The living speaker has power to arrest attention, to adapt his language and illustrations to the character and occupation of his audience, and to accompany his communications with those emotions and gestures which are adapted to arouse and impress his hearers.

It is evident, from these considerations, that among the means which God would appoint to disseminate his truth through the world, the living teacher would hold a first and important place. This result is in conformity with the arrangements of Jesus. He appointed a living ministry, endowed them with the ability to speak the languages of other nations, and commissioned them to go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

In connection with this subject, there is one other inquiry of importance. It concerns not only the harmony of the gospel system with the nature of things, but likewise the harmony of apostolic practice with what has been shown to be necessary in order that the truths of the gospel might produce their legitimate effect upon the mind.

It has been demonstrated that a sense of man's guilt and danger must exist in the mind before there can be gratitude and love to the being who removes the guilt and rescues from the danger. It has likewise been noticed, as a self-evident principle, that before repentance there must be conviction of sin. A sense of guilt and error must necessarily precede reformation of life. A man cannot conscientiously turn from a course of life, and repent of past conduct, unless he sees and feels the error and the evil of that course from which he turns. To suppose that a man would turn from a course of life which he neither thought nor felt to be wrong or dangerous, is to suppose an absurdity; it follows, therefore, that the preacher's first duty, in endeavouring to reclaim men to holiness and to God, would be, in all cases, to present such truths as were adapted to convict their hearers of their spiritual guilt and danger. As God has constituted the mind, repentance from sin and attainment to holiness would for ever be impossible on any other conditions.

But the same truths would not convict all men of sin. In order to convict any particular man, or class of men, of sin, those facts must be fastened upon with which they have associated the idea of moral good and evil, and concerning which they are particularly guilty. Thus, in the days of the apostles, the Gentiles could not be convicted of sin for rejecting and crucifying Christ; but, it being a fact in the case of the Jews that all their ideas of good and evil, both temporal and spiritual, were associated with the Messiah, nothing in all the catalogue of guilt would be adapted to convict them of sin so powerfully as the thought that they had despised and crucified the Messiah of God.

On the other hand, the heathen, upon whom the charge of rejecting Christ would have no influence, could be convicted of sin only by showing them the falsehood and folly of their idolatry; the holy character of the true God, and the righteous and spiritual nature of the law which they were bound to obey, and by which they would finally be judged. The first preachers of the Gospel, therefore, in conformity with these principles, would aim first, and directly, to convince their hearers of their sins, and in accomplishing this end, they would fasten upon those facts in which the guilt of their hearers more particularly consisted. And then, when men were thus convicted of their guilt, the salvation through Christ from sin, and its penalty, would be pressed upon their anxious souls; and they would be taught to exercise faith in Jesus, as the meritorious cause of life, pardon, and happiness.

Now, the apostolical histories fully confirm the fact that this course--the only one consistent with truth, philosophy, and the nature of man--was the course pursued by the primitive preachers.

The first movement, after they were endowed with the gift of tongues and filled with the Holy Ghost, was the sermon by Peter, on the day of Pentecost, in which he directly charged the Jews with the murder of the Messiah, and produced in thousands of minds convictions of the most pungent and overwhelming description. At Athens, Paul, in preaching to the Gentiles, pursued a different course. He exposed the folly of their idolatry, by appealing to their reason and their own acknowledged authorities. He spoke to them of the guilt which they would incur if they refused, under the light of the Gospel, to forsake the errors which God, on account of past ignorance, had overlooked. He then closed by turning their attention to the righteous retributions of the eternal world, and to the appointed day when man would be judged by Jesus Christ, according to his gospel.

The manner in which the apostles presented Christ crucified to the penitent and convicted sinner, as the object of faith, and the means of pardon, and the hope of glory, is abundantly exhibited in the Acts of the Apostles, and in their several epistles to the Churches.

Thus did God, by the appointment of the living preacher as a means of spreading the Gospel, adapt himself to the constitution of his creatures; and the apostles, moved by Divine guidance, likewise adapted the truth which they preached to the peculiar necessities and circumstances of men.