FROM

THE

MILLENNIAL HARBINGER:

FOURTH SERIES.

VOL. VII.]	BETHANY, VA. DECEMBER, 1857.	[NO. XII.

      "Beware, lest any man spoil you, through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." Paul to the Colossians.

      IT cannot be too steadily kept in view that the great purpose of the present effort at religious reformation is "to restore pure Primitive Christianity in letter and spirit, in principle and in practice." We need its "letter" in order that we may know what Christianity is, and comprehend its principles. and requirements. We need its "Spirit" in order not only that we may truly and fully understand its teachings, but that we may be enabled to carry it out into practice and bring forth the fruits of "goodness, righteousness and truth." It is hence obvious that a movement which stops with the restoration of the letter and first principles of Christianity merely, is not the reformation which was originally designed, and that they who think it is, and who occupy themselves continually with the mere theory or elements of the gospel, have taken a very inadequate view both of the present reformation and of Christianity itself. It is equally evident that any effort to depreciate the importance of the "letter" or set aside the teachings, commandments, and ordinances of the gospel, is [692] no less inconsistent with the advocacy of the cause we plead, and no less opposed to that divine plan of salvation revealed in the Holy Oracles.

      To say that we desire to have Christianity both in letter and Spirit, is merely to say that we desire to have the whole gospel; for the primitive gospel which we wish to see restored, "came," as we are told, "not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit," and the "word" was received by the apostolic converts "in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit." It is only in thus receiving the fulness of the blessing of the gospel, that men can realize the salvation which it brings--a salvation not to be effected by the word alone, nor by the washing of regeneration alone, but which requires, for its completion, "the renewing of the Holy Spirit" also. It is thus only that we can have a restoration of practical Christianity, whose living waters must flow out from an inward fountain,--"a well of water springing up into everlasting life." Thus only, may we expect to see an exemplification of true Christianity, in "the work of faith, the labor of love, and the patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father," in lives of devotion and self-renunciation and of active enterprize in behalf of sinful and suffering humanity. A profession of Christianity which does not produce a marked change in life, a transformation by the renewing of the mind, and an entire consecration to God; which does not lead the vicious to reform, and the rich to distribute and become truly rich in lively works--which, on the contrary, leaves those who make it, conformed to the world in its fashions and its follies, occupied with worldly speculations and selfish interests, full of arrogance and ambition--is manifestly far from being a genuine profession of the gospel.

      Impressed, then, with the importance of so carrying out the principles and purposes of the present reformation, as to enable all, both friends and foes, to comprehend it aright, and attain to the profession of the gospel in its fulness, I have felt it my duty in this series of essays, to call the attention of the brethren to certain obstacles which impede and threaten to arrest progress in the right direction, and which would induce the churches either to settle down into a spiritual lethargy under a form of godliness, or to abandon the King's highway of holiness, and lose themselves amidst the confused and dangerous paths of mystical speculation. I have been, for a long time, fully convinced that such an exposition as I have attempted to give, has been imperiously demanded. I have witnessed, with regret, a stealthy and persistent effort to mingle human philosophy with the Divine teachings, and I have thought it necessary to expose at least, the latency and tendency of this philosophy, that all may be upon their, [693] guard against it.¹ I have deemed it sufficient thus to point out its existence amongst us, and to refer briefly to some of these important truths which it insidiously subverts, and have by no means proposed in these articles to enter upon the subject at large, or to pursue the ramifications of any particular system of human philosophy, as like a vigorous wild-vine, it twines itself about the fruit-bearing tree of faith, until this has been completely covered with a foliage not its [694] own, which hides the light of heaven from its now unfruitful boughs, and bears it to the earth beneath its weight. The task of disengaging the twining branches and clasping tendrils of this encumbering vine which bears only the sour grapes of contention, I must leave to those who have the leisure and the disposition to undertake it. For myself, I shall be quite content, if I have succeeded, to use our American phrase, in "GIRDLING" it near the ground.

      There are, however, certain relations of faith to the Divine wisdom, upon which, before concluding, it may be expedient to say a few words, the more especially as the attempt has been made to create unfavorable impressions by improperly mixing them up with the matters under discussion--an error against which I had specially guarded the reader in my article for May. It was there remarked that "since the philosophy of any thing is its reason, there is a philosophy in religion, else there would be no reason in it." This, it was stated, is not a human but a divine philosophy or wisdom, and between this philosophy and faith there can, of course, be no antagonism. In relation to this divine wisdom, indeed, faith may be truly regarded as the very perfection of reason and of philosophy.

      This matter, however, may be looked at from two different points of view, and it is from not attending to this, that there is so much confusion of thought both on the part of some who uphold "philosophy," and of some who declaim against it. The distinction in question, which I regard as an important one, but which I regret I have not now space to elaborate, I must, at least, endeavor briefly to vindicate.

      Let me remark, then, that in looking at Christianity from what we might term the Divine point of view, faith is all that I have said. But in looking at it from what we may term the stand-point of the world, faith is not recognized, nor is it intended to be recognized as founded in philosophy--much less as a system of philosophy. On the contrary, Christianity presents itself as a matter of faith and of authority. It is not with philosophy, either human or divine, but with the proposition that "Jesus is the Christ," that God first meets the sinner, and it is through obedience to the authority of Christ that He proposes to sanctify and save him. In presenting these means of renovation, the philosophy which underlies the whole is never distinctly elaborated, much less is it directly and formally taught. Yet as a Divine philosophy or wisdom necessarily inheres in every thing pertaining to Christianity, and is often plainly implied in Scripture [695] declarations, ² and, in its practical development, the intelligent believer, as he progresses, cannot help clearly perceiving it, while its existence is, to some extent, realized, even though unconsciously (so to speak), by the least discerning among those who follow Christ.

      Hence it is that, as the Christian grows in knowledge--as he becomes filled with a "knowledge of the will of God in all wisdom and spiritual understanding," he gains a clearer perception and a more enlarged comprehension of the plan of redemption and of the Divine philosophy or wisdom which pervades it--in other words, of the reasons of things, the relations of causes and effects, the adaptation of means to ends, and of the excellency of those purposes [696] of Infinite Love which are to be accomplished in them that believe. It is in thus becoming better and better acquainted with "the things of Christ;" it is in thus "increasing in the knowledge of God" that the intelligent Christian begins to "know the breadth and length and depth and height," and, in fact, to approach the Divine stand-point, so as to discover more and more the wisdom, and perfection of the plan of salvation. He is sensible, indeed, that there are depths yet unfathomed, and heights yet unexplored, but, while his soul is absorbed in wonder, and he is ready to exclaim with the Apostle, "O, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out!" yet he rejoices in the prospect of discovering ever something new in the Sacred Treasury of truth, and of making still further advances in Divine knowledge, when the Lord himself shall be his teacher and eternity shall prolong the charming lesson.

      Thus it is, with the Christian, as with the child who learns a language. Both begin with the alphabet or mere elements of things.--It is long before either learns to read, and still longer before they comprehend the reasons of the things which they have been taught. The child does not learn language through the philosophy of language. On the contrary, he learns the philosophy of language through language. In like manner, the Christian has not learned his religion through philosophy, but he has learned whatever he knows of the Divine wisdom or philosophy through religion. In respect to God, this wisdom or philosophy, which divised the whole plan of salvation is, (so to speak,) first. In regard to man, it is last. Hence it is, that, while contemplating Christianity from the Divine stand-point, or from [697] that of the advanced Christian, it is most correct to say that "faith is the perfection of reason and philosophy," but when we view it from the merely human stand-point, it seems to me that we must reverse the terms of the proposition, and say, that reason and philosophy constitute the perfection of faith, since it is faith alone that can introduce us to this loftiest reason and philosophy in the universe, the possession of which is at once the fruit and the confirmation of our faith.--The Divine wisdom, so to speak, proceeding from ends to means, terminates in faith; but it is there that man's acquaintance with that wisdom only commences. As man cannot, by any possibility, comprehend the Divine wisdom beforehand, so it is impossible that he should attain to faith through any philosophy, even the true one, ³ much less by any system of mere human philosophy ever propounded. No human intelligence could possibly have originated--no human sagacity could have developed a plan of salvation, such as is presented in the gospel. The thoughts and reasonings of the greatest intellects among the ancients in relation to the knowledge of God, left the minds of men pretty much as they found them--"in wand'ring mazes lost." "The world, by wisdom, knew not God," the result of the profoundest investigations of the wisest nation of antiquity having been in the days of Paul, the erection of an altar, to the "UNKNOWN God." Not that they did not possess the idea of God, nor that "his invisible things, even his eternal power and divinity had not been clearly seen ever since the creation of the world by the things that are made," as some ignorantly maintain, but that human wisdom could devise no plan by which man could approach God and "know" him in the Paulinian or Christian sense of the expression. God could not thus be known by any mortal. No human wisdom could evolve a method by which God in justifying the ungodly would be just, or by which man could know God as his Redeemer. It was precisely in this condition of things, when the world, with all its philosophy, had failed thus to know God, that it pleased God to save men through faith--not by presenting a system of philosophy to man's higher reason for its acceptance and its contemplation, but by sending a Divine Redeemer, in whom the heart could trust; not by the development of any profound theory or speculation, mystic or sensuistic, [698] but by that which was the very opposite, as regarded from the human stand-point, viz, the simplicity of the gospel--"the foolishness of preaching."

      The preaching of Christ crucified, was, indeed, to those filled with conceit of superior wisdom, "foolishness," but in reality, and, in view of superior intelligence, it was the "wisdom" and the "power of God." He who obeys the gospel, will also, after a time, begin to realize this, and, as the Saviour says, shall "know of the doctrine" that it is divine. He will perceive that this is God's plan of working--even in nature, bringing forth that which is most complex from that which is apparently most simple--the grandest results from the most insignificant beginnings, as when he brings from the acorn, buried and seemingly decaying in the earth, the majestic oak; or from the bare grain, scattered, as though in waste, over the field, the rich and golden harvest. He will thus learn to appreciate the appositeness and beauty of the figure used by our Lord when he represents the gospel as the "good seed of the kingdom," sown in the "field" of the "world," and will, by his methods of working, recognize in his religion, the Author of Nature.

      From the position which we have now reached, it will be very easy to perceive, how very inconsistent with the Divine plan, are the methods usually adopted by men. They begin by laying down some scheme or system of what they call "doctrines," which, in reality, embraces for the most part, a complete system of philosophy. Certain tenets are propounded, determining what were the counsels of God in the past ages of eternity, and what will be his decrees hereafter; setting forth, likewise, in dogmatic terms, a theory of the divine nature, and presenting, also, a philosophical view of human nature, as being, for instance, "totally depraved," or again, as having "no innate ideas," or any power to "evolve truth from his inward spiritual nature;" or, on the other hand, as having this power "to discover truth by the light of reason," and "to derive an all-sufficient and reliable revelation from his own spiritual being."

      Now, this is precisely the course pursued by the chief religious parties, as their various creeds unequivocally demonstrate. These present the mind, not (as does the gospel,) with the great proposition that "Jesus is the Christ," but with a skeleton more or less complete, of some system of philosophy, over which the Scriptures must now be stretched and pinned, to give to it some proportion and appearance of authority. The Bible must now be construed and its plainest passages strained to fit this human model of perfection. Whatever is superabundant must be conveniently disposed of, and where there are any [699] deficiencies these must be supplied by human traditions, or by appropriate decrees of Councils or General Assemblies. Each sect is, therefore, like an automaton, artificial and not natural; moving stiffly upon its wires, without life, without beauty, and without spiritual power. The true sectarian has his philosophy stereotyped for him in advance, and there is little prospect that his views will ever be enlarged, amended or improved.

      But the evil is by no means confined to those who have written creeds. It is one to which poor erring humanity is continually subject, under all circumstances. Hence the propriety of the Apostle's warning to Primitive Christians, who had no written creed, to "Beware, lest any one should spoil them through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." Hence, too, the propriety of bringing to the special notice of those engaged in the present reformation, this admonition, which the circumstances of the case and the "signs of the times" seemed to me to render peculiarly appropriate.

      For the introduction of human philosophy into religion is never open and avowed. It is always covertly and slily instilled into the mind, and the Christian may be 'spoiled' before he is aware of it. Even that beautiful simplicity, of which I have been speaking, so characteristic of the gospel as it presents itself to the world, is adroitly made the entering wedge for one of the forms of that sensuistic philosophy which is so congenial to superficial minds. Thus it is urged that the gospel was designed to be understood by all, and "that the work now to be done is to simplify, render everything clear and make it tangible to the capacity of all who hear." And this is certainly all very true and proper so far as the presentation of the gospel to the world is concerned. But now, losing sight entirely of the difference between preaching and teaching Christ--making no distinction between the simple elements of the gospel as they are to be presented to sinners, and those "deep things of God" into which saints "desire to look," the "brethren" are admonished to have "nothing to do with teaching which they cannot understand." They are warned against doctrines that are "unfathomable," and urged to receive nothing that is not "tangible, intelligible, and substantial."--Now, if such language were confined to the mere preaching of the gospel to the world for its conversion, it might, with a certain necessary rebate, be admitted as somewhat pertinent and proper, but in the loose declamatory way in which these things are said, the impression is made upon the unthinking, that Christianity as a whole is to be perfectly comprehensible to the most ordinary understanding; that it can have no heights, no depths, no mysteries, and that the belief of a [700] few facts and the observance of a few forms are quite sufficient to constitute a Christian. This, it will be admitted, is a most fatal error, which cannot be too carefully avoided, and men should be cautious how they run on in a style of remark upon teachers and things taught, that would condemn even our Lord himself and the apostles, who certainly were not, and are not to this day, fully and properly comprehended in all, their teachings even by the most devoted disciples.⁴ [701] Persons who thus mistake the simplicity of the gospel as it presents itself to the world, for the whole of Christianity, have no disposition to seek the "deep things of God" which "the Spirit searcheth," for the joy and growth of saints. They confine themselves exclusively to the first principles of the gospel, and make no religious progress. They continue in a sort of spiritual babyhood; or, if they advance in years, they are so stunted by the constant compression of their narrow philosophy, that they continue mere pigmies, as to spiritual development, and never attain to the stature of men. A natural fluency of speech and the constant attention they devote to these elementary matters, will give to such of them as are public advocates a surprising facility and perspicuity in presenting what they know, but, in their case, this very clearness becomes an evidence of their shallowness, as it is from its very want of depth that the rippling stream reveals, so distinctly, its pebbly bed; where, amidst its shoals, it maintains a restless agitation not less symbolic; and while, like the vain babbling of such men, with its incessant movement and its murmuring sound it invites us to repose:

But it is in such shallows that minnows alone are found, and it is there that only very little vessels can float with very little cargo in them; and when such individuals become so enamored of their own shallowness as to wish to reduce all to the same standard of depth, it is time [702] to enter a protest, and to prefer that the Lord, our shepherds shall lead us, through the green pastures where he feeds his flock, to those deep and "still" waters, on whose peaceful surface we can see the heavens shine and in whose depths we may discover the treasures of Divine truth.

      Let no Christian, then, be deterred either from examining himself, or from examining the Scriptures. Let no idle clamor about "mysteries" and things "unfathomable" prevent him from endeavoring to "know the breadth, and length, and depth, and height," and "the love of God that passeth knowledge;" or, to enjoy the "peace of God that passeth all understanding," or "the joy that is unspeakable and full of glory." For the Divine mystery of the kingdom of heaven is "within," as our Lord informs us, and an Apostle teaches that it consists "in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." The Christian is to have within himself, fed by a secret and eternal source, "a well of water springing up unto everlasting life," and, throughout his course on earth, spreading around him fruitfulness and beauty--like that fair river, ⁵ bright and clear, which issues from the dark and deep fountain of Vaucluse.

R. R.

[The Millennial Harbinger 28 (December 1857): 692-703.]