MORAL GOVERNMENT.
I. ITS GROUND.--THE CORRELATION BETWEEN GOD AND MAN.
"That they may seek the Lord, and truly feel after Him and find
Him, though He is not far from any one of us, for in Him we live
and move and are; as certain of your own poets have said, '_For we
are his offspring_.'"--ST. PAUL.
"Jove's presence fills all space, upholds this ball;
All need his aid, his power sustains us all--
For we his offspring are."--ARATUS.
"Thou art able to enforce obedience from all frail mortals,
Because we are all thine offspring."--CLEANTHES.
From the fundamental truth that God is the Creator and Conservator of
the universe, and that his providence presides over and directs the
historic development of humanity, Christian doctrine advances, in a
natural and logical order, to the recognition of the more direct and
personal relations between God and each individual human soul. "He is
not far from _any one_ of us, for in Him we live and move and are." God
is intimately near to the human soul. God is the immanent ground of
men's spiritual being. God is the Father of the human spirit. Therefore
God is manifested _in_ man--in the constitution of his moral nature, and
in the susceptibilities, the aspirations, the longings, the hopes and
fears of his spiritual being; and God manifests Himself _to_ man by an
inward illumination--"the true _light_ which lighteth every man that
cometh into the world." Contemplate these relations on the Divine side,
and you have the foundation of all moral government; study them on the
human side, and you have the foundation of all religion, for religion is
a mode of thought, of feeling, and of action determined by the
consciousness of our relations to God.
All Christian teaching proceeds upon the assumption that there exist in
all men the elements of a _religious consciousness_. The recognition of
some relation to an unseen moral Personality is a universal fact of
human nature. The feeling of dependence, the sense of obligation, the
sentiment of reverence, the tendency to worship, the apprehension of a
future reward or punishment--these are the common characteristics of
man. The untutored savage, the half-civilized pagan, the ancient
philosopher, the modern scientist, all alike betray the consciousness of
some mysterious bond which holds them fast to the unseen Power which
controls the destinies of men. With this sentiment of the Divine there
is associated in all human minds an instinctive yearning after the
Invisible, a conscious susceptibility of our spiritual nature to the
influences of the higher world, and a reaching out of the human spirit
toward the Infinite, which prompt man to seek for a fuller knowledge and
a deeper communion. Christianity assures us that this religious
consciousness may, by a loving reception of the truth and a loyal
allegiance to duty, be raised into a living _koinonia_--a living
fellowship with and a conscious participation of the Divine life. Man
may know God, not simply by verbal instruction, not merely through the
symbolism of nature, or the providential unfoldings of human history, or
even the moral attributes of his own spiritual being, but by an exalted
and immediate consciousness. "The pure in heart shall _see_ God" by an
inward vision of wondrous power and glory, in which they shall know
God, and be as fully assured of his personal love and guidance as of the
love and guidance of any human friend.
Now there is a natural order in which the knowledge of God is clearly
differentiated and fully developed in the human mind; and this order is
distinctly recognized and noted in the words of St. Paul--"That they may
_seek_ God, and truly _feel_ God, and actually _find_ God."
1. There is an earnest _inquiry_ (ζητεῖν)--a search after God. This is
the effort of reflective thought to attain a more exact and definite
conception of that Power and Intelligence which the spontaneous
consciousness of man immediately and instinctively affirms as the ground
and cause and law of the created universe.
2. There is a real _feeling_ (ψηλαφᾶν) of God--an awakening
consciousness of some near relation to God, excited by the voice of
conscience and the spiritual affinities and yearnings of the soul. There
is, as it were, a "_touching_" of the living God[491]--the sense of a
living bond which holds man to God, not merely by a consciousness of
dependence and obligation, but a spiritual nexus, a real filiation,
which enables man to articulate the wondrous words, "_We are the
offspring of God_."
3. There is an actual _finding_ (εὑρίσκειν) of God--that higher
religious consciousness in which the pure and earnest soul attains a
personal knowledge, and enters into a beatifying communion with "the
Father of the human spirit." This direct "manifestation of God" in its
highest form is the peculiar glory of that new and divine life of the
soul communicated through Christian faith, for which all antecedent
knowledges and experiences, whether of the individual mind or of
collective humanity, are a preparation and a discipline.
This inspired statement of the order in which the conception of God as a
determinate mode of thought is evolved in the human mind is exactly
verified by the history of reflective thought as presented in Greek
philosophy. Reflective thought began with Thales in Asia Minor and
Pythagoras in Lower Italy. The Ionian and Italian schools commenced most
naturally with the objective phenomena of nature, and sought for the
ἀρχή--the first principle and cause of all that appears. Their
question was not, _Is_ there a first principle and cause? but _What_ is
the first principle and cause? The orderly phenomena of the universe
presented themselves to their minds as the expression of _power_ and
_thought_ as certainly as they do to ours; and their endeavor was to
construe this intuition in logical form and give it articulate
expression. It is true their method was at first defective, and the
results attained were consequently often erroneous. Still their mental
effort must have been unconsciously governed by those fixed laws of
cognition which constrain all minds to regard all phenomena as the
expression of power, and all orderly arrangement as the utterance of
thought. If in the realm of objective things they fixed upon a single
element as that out of which all things else were evolved, that first
seed of things was either a living, potential energy, or it was
associated with and animated by a living soul.[492] Or if guided by
analogy, they conceived the universe as a living organism,
"Whose body nature is, and God the soul."
The informing principle was still an _intelligent_ Power. So that at the
end of this period of inquiry we find that Anaxagoras distinctly
articulates the word which his countrymen had half unconsciously
recognized, "the ἀρχή, or first principle, is mind, intellect,
νοῦς."
From this point we date a new era in philosophy. The Socratic school
turned from the contemplation of external nature, and commenced the
study of mind. Man finds his rational nature in changeless correlation
to a moral law. There are within his spiritual nature the ideas of
justice, of truth, of purity, and of goodness. These ideas of the human
reason reflect the character of its Author and Source, and we can not
refrain from ascribing these attributes in their most perfect form to
the Maker of the human soul. God is now regarded as the Moral Ruler of
the world. Man becomes conscious of obligation to a personal Lawgiver,
and of accountability to a personal Judge. He feels that he has
spiritual susceptibilities and longings for a Divine inspiration. He
believes that man "may become conscious of the wisdom and the love of
the Deity," and that there are "Divine secrets which may not be
penetrated by man, but which are imparted to those who consult, who
adore, and who obey God."[493] Yielding to these spiritual affinities of
the soul, he seeks God in prayer.[494] He desires to come near to God,
to feel his presence and inspiration, and to become "assimilated to
God," by "becoming holy, just, and wise."[495]
Whether any of the ancient philosophers attained to that high religions
consciousness in which God is actually "found," so that He becomes the
object of a real love and confidence, and a refuge amid the storms and
adversities of life, is a question we may not be competent to answer.
To attempt an answer may be deemed presumptuous. If the Divine
declaration that "_every one_ that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh
findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened," is of universal
application, then it may, at least, be hoped that the prayer of Socrates
was answered, and the desire of Plato was fulfilled, and the aspiration
of Epictetus was satisfied in some degree. Socrates certainly expressed
the belief that "he was moved by a certain Divine and spiritual
impulse."[496] Plato held that the highest form of philosophy is the
love of the Supreme Good--that is, God; and that "a man who is just and
pious and entirely good is loved of God."[497] And Epictetus taught that
"if we always remember that in all we do God stands by as a witness, we
shall not err in our prayers and actions, and _we shall have God
dwelling with us_." Do not these utterances remind us vividly of the
Saviour's promise--"If _a man_ love me, he will keep my words, and my
Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with
him?" Can we doubt that these words express the Divine feeling and the
Divine procedure toward the heathen world? Was not God their Father as
well as ours? Was not Christ their Saviour as well as our Saviour? May
we not hope that the redeeming Word enlightened their minds, and the
sanctifying Spirit touched their hearts?
It will be obvious to the thoughtful reader that this order, in which
the definite knowledge of God is attained, is the reverse of that in
which the idea of God is manifested in the spontaneous consciousness of
the individual and the race. The former is analytical, the latter is
synthetical. The _idea_ of God as the ground and cause and reason of all
existence is immediately given in spontaneous thought.
The _conception_ of God as pure Spirit, as the eternal Reason, the
righteous Will, the supreme Good, the omnipresent Ruler of the universe,
and the Father of humanity, is gradually developed in reflective
thought. The first is a metaphysical _datum_, standing at the
commencement of all inquiry, the second is a logical _quœsitum_ which
is reached at the end of a process of rational inquiry. Spontaneous
consciousness begins with an indeterminate feeling, a mysterious
presentiment of the Divine; it proceeds through simple intuition, and
ends with affirmative thought. Reflective consciousness begins by
questioning our primitive beliefs, and asking for their logical grounds;
it proceeds by analytic and inductive reasoning, and may result in the
union of logical convictions, with determinate affections--an
intelligent reverence and an appreciating love. Spontaneous thought is
involuntary, and must necessarily result in faith. Reflective thought is
voluntary, and may result in error, doubt, and skepticism. Therefore the
method by which we attain to a clear and determinate knowledge of
God--by which we really _feel_, and actually _find_ God--may be
defeated, interrupted, and marred by sin. Unholy passion and a perverted
will may materially vitiate the process by which the human reason
reaches a logical conviction of the being of a God. The ungodly man may
desire that the First Cause shall have no moral attributes. The sinner
may imagine that the Deity is "altogether such an one as himself." The
fool may say in his heart, "There is no God." While the idea of God
presents itself naturally and necessarily in spontaneous thought, there
may be an "unwillingness to retain God in the knowledge." And even where
God is known, He may not be honored and gratefully recognized; and, as a
consequence, the "understanding may be darkened." Swallowed up of
uncleanness and lust, the abandoned man may "barter the truth of God for
lies," and eventually "worship and serve the creature _more_ than the
Creator." Still man can not utterly relegate himself from all sense of
obligation, and all feeling of dependence upon God. He can not sever the
link which binds him to his Maker. He can not wholly extinguish in his
heart the sense of the Divine, nor eradicate from his reason the ideas
which, in their spontaneous, unimpeded development, reveal to him the
personal Lawgiver and Judge. Where there is any rectitude of purpose,
any sincere love for truth, there will be, in a proportionate measure,
the true knowledge of God. And the pure mind may assuredly rise to that
higher religious consciousness in which doubt and uncertainty are
swallowed up in an inward vision of his glory.
Here, then, we have the rational foundation for moral government, and
the ultimate ground of all religion. The possibility of knowing God, the
obligation to reverence and obey God, the power to do the will of God,
the susceptibility of the human heart for Divine inspiration and Divine
communing, are all grounded upon the _correlations between God and man_.
"God is not far from any one of us, for in Him we live and move and are;
as certain of your own poets have said, '_For we are his offspring_."'
1. _The relation between God and man is a relation of contiguity._ God
is perpetually near to man. "He is not far from any one of us." The
sacred Scriptures not only teach the ubiquity of God, but they emphasize
the immediateness of the Divine presence in relation to man. "Whither
shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there; if I make my bed in hell,
behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in
the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and
thy right hand shall hold me. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and
laid thine hand upon me." No man can escape from God. We may retire to
the remotest parts of the earth, and take up our abode in the most
solitary isle; we may press our way into the deepest recesses of the
primeval forest, to spots where the foot of man has never trod, and on
which the light of heaven has never shone, and where solitude has held
its undisturbed reign ever since the morning of creation, and the
conviction that "God is in this place" will relieve the loneliness, and
hold us fast within the grasp of his government and laws. Let human
thought take to itself the wings of imagination and pierce the heavens,
let it travel on through the immensity of space until it has reached the
confines of the universe, let it alight on one of the outermost stars
which seem to stand as sentinels at the very outposts of creation, and
looking out upon the depths of space, there shall be heard the voice of
God toning on throughout the fathomless abyss, "Can any hide himself in
secret places that I shall not see?" "Do not I fill heaven and earth?
saith the Lord." God is not far from any one of us. He is the "_Ever
Near_." Nearer to us than the air we breathe, nearer than the light
which reveals surrounding objects, nearer than our body, the living
vesture of the soul, is God. In the words of the Persian oracle, "God is
nearer to thee than thou art unto thyself." As the Infinite Mind is
present to all rational beings, so are they all present to Him. God is
omniscient. The thoughts, feelings, and actions of all men are
immediately and directly known by Him. "O Lord, thou hast searched me
and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, Thou
understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying
down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my
tongue, but lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether." The first condition
of a moral government is found in the nearness, the contiguity of God to
every human soul, and the immediate and infallible knowledge which He
consequently must possess of every human thought and act.
2. _The relation between God and man is a relation of immanency._ "In
Him we live and move and are" (ἐσμέν, = have conscious being).
Our life, our power, our consciousness are _from_ God, _through_ God,
and _in_ God. This relation is manifestly something more immediate than
the relation of contiguity. It is the present, instant, ceaseless
relation of Divine _efficiency_. This is involved in the very idea of
the creature. If man is the creature of God, he has not only his
beginning, but his continuance of existence by a real and immediate
causality. God alone possesses true life--"life in Himself"--He alone is
really self-existent, our life and our being are continually derived
from Him. If we were without God, and entirely isolated from Him, we
could not live or move or even exist. God is every where, not virtually
but actually. He pervades and interpenetrates all existences without
displacing them in space or disturbing their operations. His infinite
essence underlies all the principles and powers of all created
existences; they all move within the range of his presence, and act
within the sphere of his energy. And God is not only present immediately
to man, but his mighty will sustains man in existence every moment,
vitalizing his organism, endowing him with power, illuminating his
reason, and inspiring him with knowledge. God is immanent in man, and
man is immanent in God. "To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom
are all things, and we _in_ Him."[498]--"One God and Father of all, who
is above all, and _through_ all, and _in_ you all."[499]--"The same God
who worketh _all_ in _all_."[500] Our life is from God and in God. Our
power to energize is from God and constantly sustained by God. We
consciously know in and through God, who so illuminates our reason that
we can interpret the symbolism of nature. "God teacheth man knowledge."
"He giveth wisdom to the wise and prudence to men of understanding."
"There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth
him understanding." The reason of man is a beam of the eternal reason.
"The spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord." All good desires, all
noble impulses, all power to resist temptation and perform heroic acts
of endurance and suffering, are from God. "Every good and every perfect
gift cometh down from above, from the Father of Lights."[501]
The constant, ceaseless dependence of all rational existence on God for
vitality, for power, and for consciousness must be maintained, if we
would be faithful to the plain language of Scripture. We are aware that
fears of a pantheistic perversion has led some men, without reason, to
refine upon the language of Scripture. By the expression "_in_ Him"
(ἐν αυτῷ), we are, they say, to understand "_with_ Him." But
ἐν αυτῷ does not mean "_with_ Him" or "_through_ Him." The most
natural grammatical construction is "_in_ Him," and this suits best the
logical connection. The Uncreated is the only self-existent being. All
other existences are derived and dependent, and therefore can not be
self-existent. The Supreme can not communicate the attribute of
self-existence any more than the attribute of infinity. A finite
existence can not be at once dependent and independent. Of mind, as well
as of matter, it is equally true that the sole ground of its continuing
to be, as well as its beginning to be, is in the Almighty will and power
directly and ceaselessly put forth. The direct agency of God sustaining
conscious life is a universal, constant, profound _reality_.[502]
It may be objected that in maintaining these views we are in danger of
sacrificing the personality of man. It may be asked, How can we sustain
the antithesis between the I and Thou of a commandment or of a prayer?
How can we reconcile human self-determination with absolute dependence
upon God? How can we conceive the possibility of sin--the possibility of
a creature dependent every moment on God for power, acting in opposition
to the mind and will of God?
These are questions of profound significance; they are also questions of
extreme difficulty. Our reason staggers under their weight. We tremble
in the presence of the mystery of evil. It is obvious that these
questions involve the deeper question as to the causal connection of God
with his creation, which all men confess is an insoluble and
impenetrable mystery. The feeling of dependence on the one hand, as well
as the sense of personal power and freedom on the other, are primitive
facts of consciousness. That we live and move and have our being in God,
and that we have a real determinate selfhood, a finite personality, a
responsible spirit-life, are both affirmed in Scripture. That a holy God
made the world, and still actually upholds it; and that sin, as
lawlessness (ἀνομία), as a real antagonism to the will and nature of
God, exists in his world, can not be denied by Christian men. These are
equally truths. To our conception, they may appear antithetical, if not
contradictory. But truth is often of a dual character; like the magnet,
it may have opposite poles. And many of the differences which agitate
the world are often to be traced to the exclusiveness with which
different parties affirm one half of the duality in forgetfulness of the
other half. We must accept both aspects of the truth, even though we can
not at present effect their real conciliation in thought, and wait for
further light.
A profound faith in the unity of all truth will inspire the hope that
reason may yet attain to ultimate principles in which shall be found the
harmony of facts and subordinate principles that to-day seem
irreconcilable. Underlying the above apparently antithetical truths we
can even now dimly discern still more fundamental principles which
prophesy a solution. If Divine Love will that there shall be other
existences who shall resemble God, and be capable of fellowship with Him
in knowledge and in love--in other words, shall be _perfect_ so far as
is consistent with the notion of dependent existence--these beings must
have a real selfhood, a conscious personality, a conditioned freedom.
For impersonal being, even though it may by its absolute dependence
reveal the eternal power, and in some degree reflect the thought of God,
can not in any sense be the _image_ of God, who is absolute Personality.
Above all, that which can not know itself, can not know God, and can not
love God. That which can not freely determine itself, can not obey God
or resemble God. The highest form of spirit-life "is the conscious
return, by a free identification, of every delegated power into harmony
with its source." Real being and real life in God must therefore
involve, not only a consciousness of dependence and obligation, but also
self-consciousness and self-determination. Resemblance to God and
fellowship with God are possible only through these fundamental elements
of personality. Moral union requires dynamical separation. And because
God wills this highest unity, He creates the highest individuality, and
gives being to a will under concessions of freedom.
We conceive of the Divine conservation of the world and man as "the
simple, universal, uniform efficiency of God which sustains the created
powers in every moment of their activity, and thereby keeps them bound
to Himself. As such it makes itself the basis of all individual
efficiencies in the life and movement of the world, _without indeed
itself, as such, giving to the efficiency of creaturely powers any
particular direction_." The conserving activity of God moves in
prearranged lines, and according to laws and measures determined by the
infinite wisdom of God, and conserves, therefore, all individual
existence only within the boundaries which are fixed by these
arrangements, and through the relations of the powers of the world. Thus
as the world-conserving activity of God leaves all creatures just as it
finds them, and equally embraces irrational as well as rational beings,
"the evil as well as the good" (Matt. v. 45), it can in nowise remove
the answerableness of man for his sins, or in any way taking part in the
same. The world-conserving efficiency of God sustains man every moment
in being, and conditions the activity of his moral powers even when they
are exerted in an evil choice, just as it sustains the universe
according to a predetermined plan and in harmony with fixed laws; but it
does not thereby give to the activity of the moral creature any
determinate direction whatever, either good or evil. The general power
to will and do is received immediately and constantly from God, but it
is a delegation of power under concessions of freedom and conditions of
accountability. The specific determinations of that power are from man
himself. He may give an evil direction to his derived and dependent
activities, and thus commit sin. The responsibility for that evil
determination rests upon himself alone, even though he is every moment
pervaded and sustained by the conserving efficiency of God. Alternative
power is a talent loaned out by God to man. But it is a talent which
still belongs to God, for the proper or improper use of which man is
accountable.
It has been urged by the captious critic, who would fain cast upon God
all responsibility for the presence of evil in the world, that "if God
does not actually determine the evil, He delegates to man the power to
actualize evil; let Him only refuse his conserving efficiency to the
will of man, and thus prevent the evil!" The reckless objector knoweth
not what he saith. In order to render evil impossible, it is demanded
that God shall rob man of his personality, and degrade him to the level
of impersonal nature; for the possibility of evil is inseparable from
the notion of free, self-determined existence. "The momentary
withdrawment of the conserving activity of God from the moral creature
were the immediate annihilation of its existence."[503] Liberty is not
only a good, but it is the necessary condition of all goodness. It is
the sphere of all great virtues, noble deeds, and heroic acts. There can
be no virtue, no praiseworthiness, no godlikeness, no real felicity,
where there is no freedom. Shall we reproach God for having made us free
personalities? Shall we complain because God has honored us by
committing to us a sacred trust, and placed our happiness and well-being
largely under our own control? Who would surrender his conscious power
and freedom, and sacrifice the infinite possibilities of good which lie
before him, to escape the possibility of failure and suffering and
defeat? Will any rational man exchange his position for that of the ant
or the beaver? "What," exclaims Rousseau, "to render man incapable of
evil, would we have him lowered to mere brute instinct? No! God of my
soul, I will not reproach Thee for having made me in thine image, so
that I might be good and free and happy like Thyself."
The ceaseless dependence of man on the conserving efficiency of God
imposes upon him the obligation to determine himself, and to regulate
his action in conformity with the will of God. Here, then, we have found
a still deeper ground for moral government.
3. _The relation of God to man is a relation of paternity; the relation
of man to God is a relation of childship._ "We are his offspring;" and
as the offspring of God we must have a kindred nature, and, in some
sense, "resemble God."
God is "the Father of the human spirit" by no mere figure of speech, but
by a Divine reality; and man, in virtue of that rational and spiritual
nature inbreathed and, as it were, begotten within him by the "Eternal
Word of God," is "the likeness and image of God." It is one of the
changeless laws of all derived and dependent existence that the
offspring shall resemble the parent. And just as every seed must produce
its own kind, just as every offspring must be of the same species as its
parent, so must man bear the image of God.[504] This image of God can
have no reference to the body of man, nor to any qualities or attributes
which belong to matter. Spirit is the only thing which does bear or is
capable of bearing any resemblance to God. The all-pervading personality
of God is mirrored in the finite personality of man. The four grand
elements of personality are _intelligence_, _will_, _affection_, and
_conscience_, and these in man reflect the character of God. Elevated to
absolute perfection, they become the august attributes of Omniscience,
Omnipotence, All-lovingness, and All-holiness. "One God," says Cousin,
"is doubtless the author of the world, and as his workmanship it must
reflect, in some measure, his perfections. But He is especially the
Father of humanity. His intelligence and his personality are therefore
of the same kind with our intelligence and our personality, to which we
add infinity by a necessary law of thought." So that our knowledge, our
freedom, our charity, our justice, give us the idea of Divine wisdom,
Divine freedom, Divine justice, and Divine charity.[505] These
conclusions of philosophy are in striking harmony with the positive
statements of Scripture. Here we are taught that the image of God in man
consists in _power_, _knowledge_, _righteousness_, and _benevolence_
(ὁσιότης)[506]--ὅσιος, from חֶסִיד = kind, merciful, benevolent.
Inasmuch, then, as man is the "offspring of God," he may know _that_ God
is, and he may, in some measure at least, know _what_ God is, and what
are the duties which he owes to God. Selfhood or personality in man is
the primordial germ of the idea of God. The self-consciousness, the
intelligence, the free activity, the potential righteousness and charity
of man must have their origin in a cause which is itself a full and
adequate explanation. We accept the ancient philosophic maxim "_ex
nihilo nihil_," and apply it rigorously to the case in hand. "That which
is can not have arisen out of that which is not." "Out of nothing
nothing can arise." Consciousness can not arise out of unconsciousness.
Reason can not arise out of unreason. Self-activity can not arise out of
absolute passivity and eternal rest. Justice, righteousness, charity,
can not be generated from brute matter, or born in the abyss of
nothingness. The Creator of man, of the reason that is in man, of the
moral liberty of man, of the ideas of justice and benevolence which
dwell in the conscience of man, must Himself be intelligent, free, just,
and good. Such is the logic of Scripture and of common-sense. "He that
planted the ear, shall He not hear? He that formed the eye, shall He not
see? He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not He correct? He that
teacheth man knowledge, shall not He know?" He that made man a sentient,
percipient, self-conscious personality, shall not He be percipient and
self-conscious? He that hath given man reason, is He not the Eternal
Reason? He that hath planted in the hearts of men the principles of
justice, must not He be a righteous Being? He that inspires man with
compassion, must not his nature be Love? "If the First Cause be
destitute of these qualities, then for us, at least, He is as though He
were not." He is a thousand times inferior to us--inferior even in his
infinity and his eternity to one hour of our finite existence, if during
that fugitive hour we can _know_ and _think_ and _love_. A finite moral
personality, even though it be the most perfect form of _dependent_
existence, points, with an infallible logic, to a being beyond and above
itself, and suggests an Infinite Personality who is absolute
perfection--that is, a Being of perfect knowledge, perfect freedom,
perfect righteousness, and perfect love.
This community of nature between man and God is not only the ground and
condition of our knowing God, but it is also the living, everlasting
bond which holds man to God, even in his sins. It involves much more
than obligation--obligation to an omnipotent Master, and submission to
an omnipresent Lord. Such sense of obligation may be developed within
the sphere of instinctive and unreasoning life. But the kinship of souls
to God brings man within the sphere of _moral_ life, with its eternal
and immutable laws. It endows man with the power and imposes upon him
the duty to reverence, adore, and love the heavenly Father. Wonderful
and awful, this idea of the paternity of God and the childship of human
souls! This paternity of God is suggestive at once of the highest form
of authority and the most sacred form of duty that can be conceived by
the human mind. "The power of a sovereign, however extensive it may be,
is, after all, only conventional; it admits of being circumscribed or
suspended.... All earthly forms of authority, which belong to the
political, civil, or social relation of men, are accidental and
official, created by men for their own purposes, and may be modified or
abolished by the power that created them. But the authority of a father
over his child is founded in nature and established by God. This is not
a voluntary arrangement among men themselves, which they are at liberty
to continue or to terminate as they please; but, on the contrary, it is
a Divine constitution. Such authority as a father possesses over his
child--so natural, so real, so Divine--no human being besides can
possess over another. This, accordingly, is the selected type of the
supreme rights of God, and of the essential sovereignty which belongs to
the Father of minds. No other explains, as this does, the _foundation_
and _nature_ of Divine authority. There are, indeed, other terms which
indicate the mere fact of sovereignty in God, and do so more pointedly
and directly than this. For example: He is compared to a _king_--a name
which belongs to the highest secular office and the highest secular
authority on earth. 'The Lord is king forever.' His creatures are his
subjects; He gives them wise and righteous laws, and they must answer to
Him for obedience and disobedience. The comparison is obviously just up
to a certain limit; but it is obvious that in many essential respects it
entirely fails. The king and his people are connected together only by
one bond--that of authority and corresponding subjection." The relation
is purely a contingent relation, and may be maintained by arbitrary
power. But the relation between God and his rational creatures is a
natural and a necessary relation. All that is denoted by the word
_king_--authority, power, law--is really contained in the word _father_;
but there is much more conveyed in the word _father_ than can be
possibly expressed by the word _king_. God is a king, but He is a
Father-king; his subjects are his own children, and his government of
them--in its origin, its spirit, its laws, and even its penalties--is
strictly paternal. God's kingship is a _figure_, his fatherhood is the
profoundest _reality_.[507]
This correlation between the spirit of man and the spirit of God is the
living indissoluble bond which has ever held, and shall forever hold
the hearts of men to the living God. Humanity has not been enchained to
the throne of God by servile fear, and held in subjection to his
government by the dread of future punishment. Fear never made men
virtuous, never can insure virtue. Man has been held to God by spiritual
affinities and a conscious kinship. Men have always felt that the Ruler
of the world is merciful and just, and that his claim upon their
allegiance and loyal obedience is reasonable and right. Therefore they
have in all ages hoped in his mercy, and confided in the righteousness
of his administration. This has been the consolation of the wise and
good in seasons of danger and adversity. To this Being innocence and
weakness under oppression and wrong have made their proud appeal, like
that of Prometheus to the elements, to the witnessing world, to coming
ages, to the just ear of Heaven. When, therefore, Paul at Athens
announced that "God is not far from any one of us, for in Him we live
and move and are," he touched a chord which vibrated in every heart. For
in every age men have had a presentiment of some nearer relation to God
than the rest of creation--a relation not of dependence only, but of
kinship and sonship. In moments of deep feeling the poets, who are the
best interpreters of nature, have given oracular utterance to the native
feeling of the human heart:
"We are all thine offspring,
The image and the echo of thy eternal voice."--CLEANTHES.
"All need his aid, his power sustains us all--
For we his offspring are."--ARATUS.
Finally, as the spiritual nature of man is derived from and correlated
to God, he may become inwardly conscious of the Divine favor, or may be
sensible of the Divine displeasure. These are the sanctions of the moral
law--the reward and the penalty awarded to men. The smile of God is
heaven, the frown of God is hell. Here we have found the deepest ground
of a Divine government--the paternity of God.