FROM

THE

MILLENNIAL HARBINGER.

SERIES III.

VOL. VII.]	BETHANY, VA., JUNE, 1850.	[NO. VI.

      IN every rational system of things, there is some ultimate and distinguishing purpose. To this, every other design, however important in itself, must be regarded as subordinate. For this ultimate end, indeed, all other purposes are framed, and, in the system of which they form a part, they can have no relative value or importance, except as they tend to promote or lead to the accomplishment of this final object. If this be not attained, the whole system is an abortion, and its parts become isolated and scattered fragments. The connexions which united them to each other for a common purpose being severed, they have no longer any value, except that which they may intrinsically possess.

      It is a matter of the greatest importance in any system, to discern clearly its ultimate aim, and to keep this constantly before the mind, [314] even when occupied with the necessary preliminary and subordinate objects. This ultimate end, though the last in execution, is always the first in the design of the author of the system. It is the great end, which has first arrested his attention. It is the real or supposed importance of this end that has engaged his efforts, and this leading or master thought has been ever present to his mind, guiding him in the selection of the means best fitted to its accomplishment. The same clear conception of the true design of the system, and the same steady contemplation of this final purpose, are equally necessary in the case of those who would correctly appreciate or use the means to that end, or imbue themselves with the true spirit of the system or institution. It is easy to perceive that, otherwise, there may be a misdirection of those means, and that the object will not be reached. Or, that some one of the means to the great end may be mistaken for that end itself, and the whole system be thus rendered as futile as a pedestal without a statue, or a house without an inhabitant.

      It requires but little observation to discover that such mistakes have been often made in reference to Christianity, The infidel, regarding it as an invention of the priest, imagines its chief aim to be the establishment of a spiritual despotism. The superstitious Roman Catholic thinks it designed to establish and maintain an imposing religious ceremonial. The Protestant sectary believes it instituted in order to exhibit a few particular points of doctrine, the mere reception of which into the mind, is the great and essential object to be accomplished. But, amongst all parties, there are vast multitudes who seem to have no higher conception of the nature of Christianity than to suppose it a mere system of morality. Nay, many of those who even admit the spirituality of the gospel, go so far as to make this subordinate, and regard morality as the true and ultimate object to be attained by all the various provisions of the divine grace. They suppose that faith, penitence, pardon, the presence of the Holy Spirit, the word of God, with all its divine promises and institutions, are simply intended to make men moral, in the common acceptation of the word; that is, to keep them from running into those gross excesses to which unbridled passion leads. So that they conceive the great end of the gospel accomplished, if men are rendered quiet and well-behaved members of civilized society.

      I do not say that all of the latter class do actually state, in words, or even propose to themselves, in their own minds, clearly and distinctly, this, as the ultimate aim of Christianity in this life. It is [315] highly probable, indeed, that they have never formed a very clear conception upon the subject, but it is exceedingly manifest from the whole tenor of their language and proceedings, in reference to religion, that they do certainly entertain no higher views of its real tendencies and purposes. A certain degree of outward conformity to the decencies of life is sufficient, in their view, to secure church membership, and it is only some gross outrage against public morals that will draw down upon the offender the sentence of excommunication. Of fellowship with God, they have no distinct knowledge; the spiritual life is to them one of the unrevealed mysteries of the Bible; and the kingdom of heaven is, in their view, merely a periphrasis for the reign of worldly wisdom and of selfish prudence.

      I am disposed to look upon this as emphatically the great error of that religious world usually denominated Protestant. As to Roman Catholics, they are very far from making morality the essential part of their system. It is in strict conformity to the prescribed formulas of their religious ceremonial that this essentiality consists, and so long as the members of that communion comply with these, the end of that religion is attained. Hence, there is little danger of their ever falling into the error of supposing that morality is the essential point in the gospel of Christ. With Protestants, however, with whom the immorality of the popes, the priests, and the people of the Roman Catholic church, has ever been a fruitful theme of censure, the case is different. Taking higher views of the gospel, they passed beyond its outward observances, and recognised its purpose and its fitness to reform and purify the moral character. And not only so, but they also asserted the spirituality of its doctrines and its principles, and, in a good degree undoubtedly, seemed to realize the spiritual relations which it was designed to establish between man and his Creator. But, unfortunately, as the morality of the gospel was made a more prominent theme than its spirituality, and has ever continued to be the great test of Christian fellowship, and the only one universally acknowledged, (for though one party may exclude, for difference of doctrine, all will concur in doing so for immoral conduct,) it has come to be regarded by the multitude as the true and final object of the Christian institution in the present life.

      Hence it is that nothing more than this decent restraint of the grosser passions is sought for or expected by the great mass of religious professors. Offences, such as covetousness, which are even classed with brutal excesses in the sacred record, are virtually excluded from their ecclesiastical code, which seems constructed upon the [316] most improved principles of the false and fastidious philanthropy of modern times, and which, taking cognizance of few offences, except those which are connected with public scandal, will often pass over individuals who are justly arraigned before the civil magistrate. There can be no better proof than this of that deterioration of the Christian profession of which we speak; for it will be found that the very offences which are every where tolerated in the church, such as avarice, variance, and the eager pursuit of worldly pleasure and amusement, are precisely those which shock the moral sensibilities of society the least, although an infallible classification ranks them with the worst crimes which human nature can commit. Although, as less exposed to observation and capable of being, in a good degree, secretly indulged, they are less noticed by men, they manifest, equally with the grosser crimes, a state of mind wholly incompatible with Christianity; and the neglect with which they are created, can only be explained upon the principle that a current or popular morality is commonly supposed to be the great end of the gospel, and that it is thought unnecessary to go beyond this in order to determine the real condition of the soul.

      It was not, however, by an act of gross immorality that man first lost the divine favor, and it is not by abstaining from gross vices that he will be able to regain it. The sin of our first parents did not consist in an excessive indulgence of the animal appetite. It was not, in their case, a question of excess in eating or drinking, but of simple disobedience to a positive command. The prohibition which they violated was an appropriate test of their love and fealty to God, and from its very simplicity, was incapable of any other interpretation. From those animal excesses, which, as violations of natural laws, entail disease and pain, man might be withheld by the fear of these consequences, and his motive would be then wholly personal and selfish; but it is the purity of the soul itself, and its unshaken principles of loyalty and honor, that will secure the observance of a simple test of fidelity. The violation of the law of Eden, a sufficient and proper evidence of a change of mind on the part of our first parents, occasioned their separation from God, and it is a renovation of heart alone, manifested by its proper tokens, that can secure man's restoration to the divine favor and fellowship.

      It is this, then, which the gospel proposes to accomplish. Its great object is to reunite man to God in a holy spiritual fellowship, which is never to be, for one moment, interrupted. It proposes, not to make men moral merely, but "spiritual;" not to curb merely the excesses of animal passion, but to 'renew the spirit of the mind;' [317] not to prune the exuberant growth of some branches of an evil tree, but to "make the tree good, and his fruit good." The contrasts which it institutes are not between that which is moral and that which is immoral, but between "things spiritual" and things that are "carnal;" between the "works of the spirit" and the "works of the flesh;" between the things that are above "and the things that are upon the earth;" between that which is "of the Father," and that which is "of the world." In the language of the Christian institution, a man is denominated "fleshly," not as given to immorality, but as "not having the spirit;" he is not exhorted to be merely moral or virtuous, but to "walk in the spirit," that he may not "fulfil the lusts of the flesh," and if he be overtaken in a fault, he is to be restored, not by those who are moral, but by those who are "spiritual."

      That multitudes should so readily adopt the notion that Christianity is a simple system of morality, affords additional proof, if any more were needed, of that downward proclivity of human nature by which it tends constantly to inferior aims, and is disposed to acquiesce in a lower position, and in enjoyments more consonant to its fallen state, rather than encounter the toil and self-denial necessary to the attainment of a loftier elevation. The force of gravity does not, with more constancy, impel man's material nature to the earth, than does the power of evil drag down to the lowest possible level the nobler energies of his spiritual being. He tamely suffers grovelling appetites to seize, with rudeness, this celestial nature; to pluck from this bird of Paradise the bright feathers which not only adorned it, but which could alone support its flight. Stripped thus of its plumage, it is fixed to the earth; and is content to remain a stranger to the skies.

      That the Christian religion inculcates the highest morality, is not to be doubted, any more than that it reveals doctrines to be believed and institutions to be obeyed. These, truly, are important objects. They are ends to be gained, yet, at the same time, they are but means to an end higher than them all. To this great end of spiritual renovation they are indispensable, since it cannot be reached without them. Still they are but the steps of the ladder by which man is enabled to pluck the twelve-times varied fruit of the tree of life. He who has not attained the morality of the gospel, is manifestly far below its spirituality, and equally distant from the salvation which it is designed to secure. And this gospel-morality, if we may employ a term foreign to the scriptures, is a far-reaching morality, very different from the defective systems to which men award this [318] title. It is not a system of philosophic rules, based upon individual selfishness. It is not an arbitrary code of laws, to be engraved on stone, or written on parchment, or committed even to memory. It is not an outward conformity to the proprieties of civilized society, or a partial restraint of the grosser animal desires. On the contrary, it is a fixed principle of action, emanating from self-renouncing love. It is an ever-present statute enscrolled upon the human heart--a talisman, whose magic power is felt in every pulse of life. It is an inward purity; which pervades the secret thoughts; a holy charm, which subdues the wayward feelings; an ever-active energy, which controls the action of every faculty of human nature. So different is this morality from that which usually usurps its place in religious society, that it has little in common with it but the name. The latter is earth-born, hypocritical and false; the former is heavenly, sincere and true. Allied to that spirituality to which it introduces the renewed soul, it derives, by a reflex influence, a divine beauty from that holy fellowship, as the bright orient glows with the splendor of the rising sun. Indispensable to the enjoyment of the spiritual life, and affording the only basis for that life, it is so intimately connected with it as to be separable, indeed, in the mind, but perhaps not at all in fact. Associated with each other, their dependence is mutual, so that if it be true that "without holiness" no one can enjoy the fellowship of God, it is also true that holiness is perfected "in the fear of the Lord;" and that if it be necessary that the heart should be pure and undefiled, in order to be a fit temple for the Holy Spirit, it is also requisite that the enlightening, sanctifying, and renovating influences of the spirit shall co-operate in creating and maintaining that condition.

      Hence it may be affirmed, that unless an individual attain to the spirituality of the gospel, it is impossible for him to practice fully its morality. Whatever influence may be exerted upon a warm imagination by the example of Christ, or whatever homage may be rendered to the moral precepts of the gospel, by an approving judgment, the practical virtue that results will be but a cold and meagre philosophy, compared with that purity of soul, and those labors of love and works of righteousness, which result from a true connexion with the spiritual system. Unless, indeed, this great end is reached there is no part of the Christian institution that is of any avail, or that can properly fulfil the purpose for which it was designed. Its ordinances are empty forms; its promises are cancelled; its hopes are illusory; its faith is vain; its salvation is a mockery. As Christianity is a perfect system, it has nothing superfluous, so that [319] there is no part of it that can be dispensed with, and certainly, least of all, its great and final purpose in this life--the spiritual renovation of the soul, in reference to which great end alone, its various parts are possessed of any efficacy or utility.

      We may truly say, indeed, that no part of Christianity, not even its most simple element, can be duly comprehended, without spiritual discernment, and that no one of its commandments, not even the very least, can be acceptably obeyed without spiritual relation to God. Considered in itself, the gospel is spiritual in its whole nature, and in all its purposes and institutions. Faith, without which it is impossible either to please God or to make the first movement towards the religion of the gospel, and which must attend and illuminate, with heavenly light, every step of the Christian's subsequent progress, is, itself, the great medium of spiritual communication, the far-seeing spiritual eye which rests forever its earnest gaze upon the invisible things of the unseen eternal world. Every thing, in short, belonging to the gospel, is spiritual and divine, and it is wholly impossible for any one really to embrace Christianity unless he receive it in its proper character. It is not, however, the nature of the gospel itself which we have been considering, so much as the effect which it was designed to accomplish upon all who do thus truly receive it. Being itself spiritual, it is intended to produce spirituality in those who embrace it, and it is to this great primary, as well as ultimate purpose of true religion, we have desired to direct the attention of the readers.

      If this great object be attained; every thing is accomplished. He who enjoys habitual fellowship with God; whose heart, full of pure thoughts and holy aspirations, is the residence of the Divine Spirit; whose soul dwells amid the righteousness, peace and joy of the kingdom of heaven, and whose hopes and desires are fixed upon the unseen and eternal realities of the spiritual system, has reached the blissful purpose of the gospel, and has secured all subordinate and associated ends. How different is this high purpose from those inferior aims which the greater number of Christian professors seem to propose to themselves! And how different would be the state of the religious world if all would seek this true and worthy object, and realize that human salvation is not a question of ordinances; of religious profession; of connexion with a church; or of mere morality; but a question of a life of faith, and hope, and love; of a renewing of the Holy Spirit; of the enjoyment of the earnest of an eternal inheritance, and of habitual intercourse of the soul with God!

R. R. [320]      

[The Millennial Harbinger, Third Series, 7 (June 1850): 314-320.]

      Robert Richardson's "Spirituality of the Gospel" was first published in The Millennial Harbinger, Third Series, Vol. 7, No. 6, June 1850. The electronic version of this essay has been produced from the College Press reprint (1976) of The Millennial Harbinger, ed. Alexander Campbell (Bethany, VA: A. Campbell, 1850), pp. 314-320. The electronic version has been produced from text scanned by Colvil Smith and formatted by Ernie Stefanik.

      Pagination in the electronic version has been represented by placing the page number in brackets following the last complete word on the printed page. Inconsistencies in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and typography have been retained.

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Created 1 July 2000.