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.