apostolic age were called the gifts of the Spirit; and the thanksgivings
which were presented for them were always offered immediately to God,
from whom every good and perfect gift was known to come. When this
Spirit was spoken of as an impersonal existence, as an influence, a
power, it could not, of course, be made the object of worship any more
than the gifts it brought. When regarded as a personal existence, _i.
e._ as God, it was, of course, the object of direct worship. But, as
possessing any power of intercession, we may confidently declare it
never was appealed to, till the Christian theology had been mixed up
with the principles of the heathen philosophy. Among all the figurative
illustrations of the offices and powers of the Spirit, among all the
highly wrought personifications and bold metaphors which characterize
the Hebrew style of the apostolic writings, we find no intimation that
homage may be offered, or intercession made, through it or any existence
whatever, personal or impersonal. Even the highly figurative passage
which we meet with Romans viii. 25-28, and which is, we believe, the
chief basis on which rests the practice of false worship in the
Christian world, admits of no such interpretation as is commonly given
to it. It needs only a careful reading of the whole chapter to perceive
that 'the spirit' there spoken of is not the Holy Spirit; not the
immediate divine influence of which we hear so much; but the new life
supposed to be introduced by the Gospel, in opposition to 'the flesh' or
evil principle by which men were liable to condemnation under the old
dispensation. After declaring that the fulness of salvation must be
waited for with Christian hope, the apostle continues, 'Likewise this
spirit, also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought, but the spirit itself maketh intercession for us
with groans which cannot be expressed. But He who searcheth the hearts
knoweth what is the mind of the spirit, that it intercedeth for the
saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, who are called according to his
purpose.' In the weakness of our nature, we know not what most to desire
and pray for, but the spirit of the Gospel informs and aids us;
obtaining for us benefits which we could not otherwise have enjoyed. And
the benefits thus obtained are such as the divine will designed for us;
all things thus tending to our good; the divine purposes, the aids of
the Gospel, and the circumstances amidst which that aid supports us. All
this has a very clear reference, not to any mediation of the Holy
Spirit, to which there is no allusion whatever; but to the agency of the
new dispensation in delivering men 'from the bondage of corruption into
the glorious liberty of the children of God.'--If the intercession of
Christ be needless because the Father himself loveth us, much more
needless must be the mediation of the Spirit, even were there such a
separate personal existence; and yet more needless must be the good
offices of Saints, supposing them capable of rendering such a service to
their mortal brethren.
Those who, like ourselves, derive their religious belief from the Bible
alone, can scarcely meet on the ground of argument those who profess
'most firmly to admit and embrace apostolical and ecclesiastical
traditions,' if the subject of discussion be other than the authority of
such traditions. On this discussion we shall enter hereafter. It only
belongs to the present division of our subject to observe, that, not
admitting the authority of ecclesiastical traditions in matters of
faith, and finding in the Scriptures no intimation of homage being due
to the mother of Christ, or the holy men who glorified the Gospel in
their lives and deaths, we offer no such homage, and that the worship
and invocation of such are a direct infringement of the command, 'Thou
shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shall thou serve.'
It is not difficult to trace the origin and progress of a custom which,
though founded on a natural veneration for holiness sealed by death, is
in our opinion more fatal to the purity, and inimical to the dignity of
the Gospel that any other which its professors have adopted.--It was a
custom in the early times of Christianity, to meet for worship at the
tombs of the Martyrs; not for the sake of paying homage to the departed,
but because the survivors found their devotional feelings more sensibly
excited there. Their imaginations were at the same time possessed by the
poetical fictions of the pagan philosophy, which represented the souls
of the departed as hovering round the place of interment, and conscious
of what was passing near. From this superstition arose the practice of
making offerings annually in the name of the deceased, as an
acknowledgement that they were still considered members of their
respective churches. This practice appears to have been first adopted at
the death of Polycarp, and to have speedily grown into a rite scarcely
distinguishable from the superstitions of heathenism. Tertullian
observes, 'We make oblations for the dead and for their martyrdom,
yearly, on certain days.' At this time it was the general belief that
the usual abode of the dead was in subterraneous places, or at least
'below,' somewhere near the earth, and as long as this belief subsisted,
prayers were offered _for_ the dead,--for their present repose and
joyful future resurrection. The Virgin Mary was thus prayed for. As the
Martyrs were more highly thought of, however, than other deceased
Christians, it began to be imagined, about the middle of the fourth
century, that they were, by peculiar favor, admitted earlier to the
immediate presence of God, and permitted to exert influence even over
his purposes. Then began the solicitations addressed to men doomed to
death, that they would be mindful of the survivors; and the agreements
of companions, that whichever should first depart should petition at the
foot of the heavenly throne for his mortal friend. In a few more years
arose the custom of invoking the spirits supposed to hover near the
tombs; some hesitation being implied in the expression 'if they were
indeed present, and had any influence in things below.' It was yet a
long time before prayer was offered to Saints in general, and in the
public services of the Church. That the practice, if it had been
originated, was not approved by the Fathers of the Church in the third
century, we know on the direct testimony of Origen, who says that men
are not to pray to any derived being (not even to Christ himself), but
to God the Father of all. Austin disapproved of praying _for_ the
Saints, though he believed that the Church might be helped by their
intercession; at the same time acknowledging, 'It is true the Saints do
not themselves hear what passes below, but they hear of it by others who
die and go to them.'
The time when the custom of invoking the Saints was first countenanced
by the Church may be fixed about the end of the fourth century. In the
fifth, all opposition to it had ceased, and the images of Martyrs began
to be regarded with peculiar honor; it being imagined by many that the
homage paid to the image drew down into it the propitious presence of
the celestial being whom it represented; in the same manner as the
statues of Jupiter and other pagan gods were believed by heathen
worshipers to become instinct with divine life. The temples of the
Martyrs were now, as Theodoret informs us, ornamented with little
figures, of gold and silver, representing eyes, feet, hands, &c.,
deposited for the acceptance of the lords of the temples, as memorials
of cures wrought by them on these several members: these memorials
proclaiming the power of the dead; whose power, again, demonstrates
their God to be the true God. How changed was this Christianity from
that given by him who forbade his followers to ask anything even of him,
because the Father himself loved them!
Concerning Mary, the mother of Jesus, those who have not vowed to admit
ecclesiastical traditions as matters of faith, pretend to little
knowledge from the time of the death of Christ. Her name is mentioned
but once in the Book of Acts, when she is enumerated among the disciples
who were collected after the ascension of Jesus; and how and where she
lived and died, we have no means of ascertaining. The first act of
respect to her memory which is on record is censured by Epiphanius, as
'a heresy of the women.' It consisted of an offering of cakes, prepared
and offered by women only, and generally disapproved of, (though
oblations on tombs were then very common,) because it was not known
where she was interred. It may be inferred, however, from the account
given by Epiphanius, that prayers were by some persons offered to the
Virgin, though he rebukes the new superstition. The first person of
authority who is known to have introduced and countenanced the worship
of Mary, is Peter Gnapheus, bishop of Antioch, who in the fifth century
appointed her name to be invoked in the prayers of the Church. If such
homage were her due, how came the Apostles and the apostolic Fathers to
withhold it from her? Why was her claim disallowed so long?
We can fully enter into, and are far from disapproving of, the natural
curiosity which prompts an inquiry into the fate of one whom all
generations unite in calling blessed. When we ponder, as we cannot but
do, her privileges above all womanhood besides; when we imagine the
intentness of soul with which she must have watched the course of her
holy Son; perceiving perhaps before all others the manifestations of
divine grace in him; becoming more and more elated in her hopes, as the
presence of God in him became more evident; trembling at the malignity
of the rulers and the madness of the people; and finally sinking in
desolation of heart when every vital hope appeared extinguished; we
cannot but search for an authentic record of what befell her after the
day when the beloved disciple took her to his own home. But being
convinced, as we are, that no such record exists, we dare not fill up
the history with conjectures of our own; much less admit the claims
founded on fable and supported by superstition, which are advanced in
her favor by writers who possessed no more knowledge of her state than
ourselves, and who were much less impressed by experience with the
importance of keeping religion pure, simple, and undefiled. We regard
Mary as one of the most interesting persons presented by history, but as
in no respect connected with the Gospel we receive. Christianity was not
revealed till Christ became a man; and as Mary had no act or part in its
diffusion, she bears no other relation to us than as a being whose lot
engages our sympathies, and whose tender nature and pious character
should excite our affection and emulation. For the same reasons, however
largely we may share the universal curiosity respecting the state of the
dead, however rationally our philosophy may conceive, or however
vividly our imaginations may represent them as living, as observing the
course of events, as participating in our emotions, as enjoying the
manifest presence of God, we dare not found any religious belief or
practice on such speculations. If our religious observances had been in
any way connected with the dead, we should have known something of their
state and offices; but as no such knowledge is imparted, as there was no
pretension to it in the earliest ages, and especially as Christianity
clearly points to God as the sole object of religious worship, we invoke
the departed for no other purpose than to satisfy our speculative
doubts, we attribute to them no other office than that of endearing the
past and hallowing the future, and offer no other oblations than those
of the memory and the affections. Even if we believed them permitted to
intercede for us with our Father, we should be slow to seek their aid;
for if there be one privilege more precious than another, it is that of
direct, intimate communion with Him who knoweth our weakness and our
strength; if there be one provision more sacred than another in the
charter of our 'glorious liberty,' it is that by which they who are far
off and they who are near have equal access unto the Father; not through
the ministrations of inferior spirits, but face to face in the sanctuary
of his presence. He is not only our sure, but our near refuge; not only
our unfailing, but our very present help; not only our hope, but our
perpetual joy. The deepest of our joys and griefs, those which it is
most necessary to confide to Him who caused them, are absolutely
incommunicable to all besides; and what is emphatically true of our
self-communings, that 'the heart knoweth its own bitterness,' is yet
more true of spirit worship, 'no stranger intermeddling with its joy.'
Having thus stated the grounds of our dissent from that clause of the
symbol of Pius IV. which declares that 'the Saints reigning together
with Christ are to be honored and invocated, and that they offer prayers
to God for us,' it is needless to notice what follows; viz. that their
relics are to be venerated; 'that the images of Christ and the Mother of
God, ever Virgin, and also of the other saints, are to be had and
retained; and that due honor and veneration are to be given to them.'
Such practices we hold to be utterly inconsistent with the principle
that God is the sole object of religious worship; which principle is
derived from what we have laid down as the first essential doctrine of
Revelation,--the Unity of Jehovah.
The next essential doctrine is,
II. The unlimited extent of the Redemption by Christ.
A large proportion of the differences which have arisen in the Christian
world respecting the doctrine of redemption, proceed from the variety of
meanings which is attached to the term _salvation_. While one party
understands by it an admission to the privileges of the Gospel, and a
consequent emancipation from the penalties of the old dispensation;
another, the state of virtue and peace which will prevail when
Christianity has compassed the globe; and a third, a future state of
perfect bliss in contrast to one of eternal torment; there is little
hope of a mutual understanding respecting the doctrine of Justification.
Our part now is to state our own views, and not to enter on any
discussion of those of others.
We believe that by _salvation_ the Scripture writers commonly signified
the state of privilege into which Christian believers were brought by
their adoption of the principles of holiness and peace which the Gospel
affords. Thus, according to its original meaning, the term was
appropriated to a state of comparative blessedness in this world; but as
the principles of the Gospel exert the most powerful influence over our
spiritual state, over our capacity for happiness in a future world, the
term Salvation has naturally and not improperly been accommodated to
signify a state of future safety and bliss. That it did not always mean
this, however, is evident to all attentive readers of the Scriptures; as
there is not one of Paul's epistles or discourses which would be
intelligible, if he were supposed to declare his converts saved from the
pains of hell, instead of from the dominion of the evils of heathenism,
or the condemnation of the Jewish law. By _redemption_, we understand a
release from the same evils and penalties effected by a sacrifice on the
part of a benevolent mediator. By _remission of sins_, we understand the
forgiveness and consequent remission of punishment which are promised in
the Gospel on condition of repentance and newness of life. By
_justification_, we believe the sacred writers sometimes to signify the
process by which believers are released from all obligations incurred
towards the old law, and brought into a state of spiritual freedom; and
sometimes that free state itself. We conceive that this interpretation
of terms--not new and arbitrary, but only divested of the false
associations which have been long gathering round them--will clear up
most of the mysteries which obscure a very important Christian doctrine,
and enable us, in comparing scripture with scripture, to discern a
consistency of views and a depth of truth which afford an irresistible
evidence of their divine authority.
The whole scheme of revelation we conceive to be the method designed by
the divine wisdom, and adopted by the divine benevolence, for bringing
the human race into a state of purity and peace more rapidly than could
be effected by the religion of nature. The welfare of the whole race was
no less the object of the Jewish than of the Christian dispensation,
though its apparent privileges were confined to the peculiar people.
These privileges, immediately and positively advantageous to the chosen
people, were remotely and relatively so to others, by establishing
before their eyes evidences of a divine moral government; and as a moral
government implies consistency of authority, it affords a strong
presumption of the unity of the Governor. The Jews were led on from the
fundamental principle of the Divine Unity to the apprehension of a
divine moral government; while observant heathens, perceiving the moral
results of the national vicissitudes of the Hebrew people, deduced
thence the truth of the Unity of the Deity. Meanwhile, both were
advancing to a state of fitness for a fuller revelation; the Jews more
rapidly than the heathens, as being specially placed under the
schoolmaster who was to bring them unto Christ; but still, dispensing
spiritual benefits towards the heathen, for whose sake as well as for
their own they were placed in a state of privilege. The old
dispensation, though a condition of light and privilege compared with
that of nature, was a state of darkness and bondage when contrasted with
Christianity. Though the Hebrews had more elevated conceptions of God
and clearer notions of duty than the Gentiles, they yet could not
appreciate the riches of divine grace, or the extent of divine and human
relations, or the full beauty of holiness. They were burdened by a heavy
yoke of ritual observances; an escape from the penalties of the law was
impossible; and especially, they had no certain knowledge of a future
life. The blessings therefore which Christianity offered,--the
_redemption_ from the bondage of the law, the _remission_ of the
penalties of sin on repentance, the _justification_ by which they were
placed in a condition of spiritual power and freedom,--were worthy of
all the exultation experienced and all the thanksgivings expressed by
those who were thus redeemed, forgiven, and justified. These blessings
were yet more valuable to the Gentiles, in proportion to the more
rigorous bondage and deeper moral darkness to which they had been
subjected. Instead of the strict but salutary discipline of the law,
they had sustained the tyranny of lawless appetites and passions, had
lived without other restraints than those of nature; and had no hope in
death, but the glimmering and uncertain presages which their own
faculties or long-corrupted traditions supplied.
The mode of preparation for the introduction of the Gospel affords a
strong presumption that its benefits were intended for the whole race.
The Jews had been led on to the point when their spiritual development
absolutely required a more expansive revelation; and the Gentiles were
prepared, by their observation of the Hebrew people, and by their own
wants, sins, and sorrows, to receive with joy happier tidings than their
fondest hopes could anticipate, and richer benefits than their desires
could previously have comprehended. The benefits of the Gospel, after
being offered to the Jews and partially accepted by them, were freely
held out to the whole human race, and received by all who were conscious
of the need of them: so that the Gospel was truly what the aged Simeon
declared it, 'the salvation which God had prepared before all people; a
light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of his people Israel.'
Yet there were many among the people of Israel who were blind to this
glory, and many of the Gentiles who rejected this guiding light. This
rejection was not caused by any restrictive quality in the revelation,
any provision in the Gospel itself for the limitation of its privileges:
nor was it caused by any previous arbitrary decree of the ordainer of
salvation, that on account of some very ancient event, totally
unconnected with the present dispensation, a large majority of the human
race should be rendered absolutely incapable of participating in the
blessings of redemption. It was occasioned by the prejudices of narrow
minds, by the ignorance of darkened minds, by the spiritual pride of
presumptuous minds, by the petty hopes and fears of selfish
minds,--prejudices, ignorance and selfishness naturally arising in the
then state of the world, and not to be immediately or speedily got rid
of but by miracle: a mode of agency which the Divine Being has
frequently made use of to sanction his revelations, but never to prepare
the human mind for their reception. Thus spiritual ignorance and moral
blindness are, we apprehend, the only obstacles to universal redemption;
and we firmly believe that these obstacles are only temporary. The
Gospel itself bears such an indisputable character of permanence and
universality (as we shall hereafter show), and so evident a provision is
made for the gradual dissipation of darkness and error, that we may
confidently anticipate the time when the hope of the Gospel shall be the
rich possession of every individual of every nation.
That it will be so we conclude, not from the persuasion of our own
hopes, or at the bidding of our reason in opposition to the declarations
of Scripture; but because every principle derived from the Gospel
sanctions the commands of our reason and affords a warrant of our hope.
There is in no Gospel, History, or Epistle, a hint of any restriction or
limitation of the blessings of redemption. Christ is ever spoken of as
having died for all; there are thanksgivings in the name of all,
invitations embracing all, and anticipations of the ultimate bliss of
all. Those who are mourned over, reproached, entreated, compassionated,
because they will not accept freedom and peace, are spoken of as
excluded by their own unfitness for grace, arising from natural causes,
and not by any sin of any ancestor, or by any arbitrary decree of God,
or by any repellant and exclusive character in the dispensation of grace
itself. Its most distinguishing character, on the contrary, was its
boundlessness. Its first work was to throw down the wall of partition
which had separated the favored people from others, to abolish arbitrary
distinctions, to exchange the multifarious conditions of the old law for
the few, simple and universal requisites of salvation declared in the
new. If other distinctions have since been instituted, other conditions
imposed, other requisites insisted on, they are no part of Christianity,
and shall no more impede its ultimate prevalence than the cloud which
shrouds the lightning can prevent its shining from one part of the
heaven unto the other.
It may be objected, and with justice, that this method of considering
the scheme of justification makes out the gift of grace to be only
ultimately and not strictly universal; unlimited in its tendencies, but
hitherto very limited in the diffusion of its blessings: and hence may
arise an inquiry concerning the fate of those who have died without the
hope of the Gospel.