Bible Theology and Human Reason, part 4

From the Presbyterian Magazine, October 1858. Edited by Dr. Van Rensselaer. Pages 452-458.

“Bible Theology Consistent with Human Reason”
Part 4

III. God’s beneficent design and wish to restore man to his original purity, and the difficulty of reconciling the claims of his justice, with the designs of his mercy.

Nature teaches us not only that there is a God, a great, self-existent, omnipotent Creator, but that this God, in his creation, has looked to the comfort, well-being, and happiness of his creatures in the disposition of his Providence. The only fact, in the remotest degree militating against the thousand proofs of his beneficence, is his permission to the existence of sin; and even that seems to be only the consequence of the bestowal upon man of the gifts of free agency. That such a God should not desire the restoration of man to a state of holiness – a state consistent with his own attributes – would be utterly at war with all the manifestations of his Providence.

But if such be the desire of Omnipotence, who shall it be effected? What difficulty lies in the way of an immediate, unconditional restitution of man to his original state of purity? That it is in the power of God to do this is unquestioned. It is true that an essential attribute of the Most High, without which we would not recognize his perfection, is justice. A just retribution to the wrongdoer, is not only demanded by the obedience of the righteous, but enters into all the ideas which human reason can devise of the Ruler of the Universe—such an idea has been universal with mankind from the earliest ages, and is not only consistent with, but demanded by human reason. To that reason, then, a difficulty exists in reconciling the claims of divine justice with the designs of divine mercy. It may be replied, that this is but an apparent difficulty. With Omnipotence all things are possible. Granted, but how does human reason dictate that this apparent difficulty can be avoided? A thousand expedients might be suggested by an all-wise and omnipotent God; but we are inquiring into the consistency of the alleged revealed scheme with human reason—of this reason, then, we must demand a scheme—and this brings us to the consideration of our fourth point, viz.:

IV. The reconciliation of these conflicting attributes by the scheme devised, viz.: the expiation of man’s sin by the vicarious sacrifice of a being combining the infinity of the God with the mortality and finite nature of the man.

What is it to be a Christian?

"What is it to be a Christian?”

In these days when the Spirit of God is searching the hearts of men and convincing them of sin, the inquiry often arises, “Am I a Christian?”

This question is not to be settled by vague impressions, made in some mysterious way upon the mind. Nor is it safe to permit dreams, visions, or voices to settle this question. Nor will the sudden recurrence of the mind to some passage of Scripture—such as, “Son, daughter, be of good cheer, thy sins which are many are forgiven thee”—be a sufficient reason for regarding the person thus cheered as a Christian. Nor will any amount of happy emotions, which may follow conviction of sin, determine that the person is a Christian. Nor will the cherishing of a hope settle the question. What, then, is it to be a Christian? The Christian is:

1. One who believes or trusts in Christ as God’s appointed sacrifice for sin, through whom it may be forgiven, and through whose righteousness and mediation all else needful to salvation may be obtained. His whole expectation of salvation is reposed upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. The Christian has the Spirit of Christ. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”
3. The Christian is the property of Christ. He acknowledges that he is not his own, but that he is under the highest obligations to glorify God in his body and spirit, which are God’s. He aims to be conformed to this obligation; hence, he strives to eat and drink and do whatever he does to the glory of God.
4. He loves the service of Christ. He accounts as more than his meat and his drink to do the will of his Father who is in Heaven. In keeping of the commandments he finds great reward.
5. He loves the kingdom of Christ. The prayer for its full establishment in the earth is prominent in all his supplications at the throne of grace. He seeks it first, as involving all his own highest good, as well as that of others.
6. He loves the friends of Christ. “Hereby,” said our Saviour, “shall ye know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one for another.”
7. He is not ashamed of Christ. He is not ostentatious in the profession of religion. Nor is he careful to conceal his attachment to Christ. He knows that he who is despised and rejected of men, is at the summit of power and glory in the heavens; therefore he accounts it his highest honour to be known as a servant and friend of Christ.
   

Reader, are you a Christian?

From The Presbyterian Magazine, November, 1858. Edited by Dr. Van Rensselaer.

Bible Theology and Human Reason, part 3

From the Presbyterian Magazine, October 1858. Edited by Dr. Van Rensselaer. Pages 452-458.

“Bible Theology Consistent with Human Reason”

Part 3

II. Man’s fall from this original state of purity and holiness, and the consequent corruption and depravity of his entire nature.

We might here appeal again to the sages of antiquity to show that the perverseness of man’s nature, and his tendency to do wrong, was by them all admitted as a fact, differing, as they did, only in the causes assigned in explanation of the fact. With some, the mind was a blank paper, and received from education the perverted, sinful dispositions. With others, as before stated, his nature was pure, but excess indulged in, caused the errors of his life. While with others, his evil passions were held to be his original nature, and education and culture alone transformed him from a beast into a civilized man. But we need not this testimony. We have an unerring witness in the consciousness of each individual, and this witness we propose now to examine. Let every man review his own life, take up one by one every honorable, noble, praiseworthy act which memory has retained—spread open before himself, as if to the All-seeing eye, every hidden motive conspiring upon his will, to produce his action, select the one to this own search, most free from unworthy motives, and then confess to himself whether even his own consciousness cannot discover in the hidden recesses of his heart some trace of selfish love, some taint which bars the claim of perfect purity in all its bearings. If the blurred eye of erring man can thus discern the trace of sin, how polluted must it seem to the undimmed vision of perfect holiness and purity. Strive as we may against it, with shame confess it to ourselves, and straight resolve that in the future we will not again be forced to confess so mortifying a fact, and yet again and again in our own self-communings we discover this underlying stratum of selfishness, tingeing every fountain that breaks forth from the heart.

We thus find in human nature these conflicting elements, the one indicating a pure, perfect, and holy origin, the other evidencing a depraved and corrupt principle pervading the entire soul. By the unaided light of human reason, then, we discover in man the relics and evidence of a perfect original, but so marred and defaced by error and sin as to destroy its symmetry, and almost obliterate its proportions.

What disposition will the Creator make of such a creature? This question brings us to the consideration of the third point, viz.:

III. God’s beneficent design and wish to restore man to his original purity, and the difficulty of reconciling the claims of his justice, with the designs of his mercy. (Part 4)

Why am I not a Christian?

“Why am I not a Christian?”

1. Is it because I am afraid of ridicule, and of what others may say of me?
1. “Whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed.”
   
   
2. Is it because of the inconsistencies of professing Christians?
1. “Every man shall give account of himself to God.”
   
   
3. Is it because I am not willing to give up all for Christ?
1. “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”
   
   
4. Is it because I am afraid that I shall not be accepted?
1. “Him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out.”
   
   
5. Is it because I fear that I am too great a sinner?
1. “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin.”
   
   
6. Is it because I am afraid that I shall not “hold out?”
1. “He that hath begun a good work in you, he will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
   
   
7. Is it because I am thinking that I will do as well as I can, and that God out to be satisfied with that?
1. “Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”
   
   
8. Is it because I am postponing the matter without any definite reason?
1. “Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for you know not what a day may bring forth.”
   
   
9. Is it because I am trying to save myself by morality, or in any other way of my own?
1. “There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
   
   
10. Is it because I do not clearly see the way to be saved?
1. “Repent ye, and believe the Gospel. God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
   
   

--Am. Messenger

From the Presbyterian Magazine, October 1858. Pages 479-480. [Language updated]

A Gem from an Old Casket

From the Presbyterian Magazine, September 1858. Rev. C. Van Rensselaer, editor. Pages 405-406. [edited by SML – or shall I say, (lightly) freshened?]

“A Gem From An Old Casket.”

... “The desire of novelty,” says Mr. Hamilton of London, writer of The Mount of Olives, “is not in itself blameworthy; but there is one form of it which we would like to see more frequent. To freshen old truths is nearly as important as to discover new ones; and instead of telling or hearing some new thing, our time would often be as advantageously occupied in thinking over and brightening up some old thing.”...

“One often thinks what a pity that so excellent a work as the “Westminster Shorter Catechism,” greatly as it is prized, should not be prized and used far more than it is. Let us freshen it up. Let us commend it, not only to the young, but to the old too. Let us point out its beauties and dilate upon them. Take for instance the answer to question thirty-six.

“The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end.”

What a cluster of diamonds! What an assemblage of glorious things! Is it possible in any other words of the same compass to set forth so much of the blessedness of the Christian’s portion this side of heaven? Poor, sorrowing, lost, afflicted soul; sometimes you are sorely tempted almost to despair. But cheer up. Think of your portion—not of that unspeakable one in sure reserve, but of that now in hand. No matter what your lot. It may be you are overwhelmed with ills under which mere nature cannot sustain you. But think a moment. You have a title to—nay, you have possession of—priceless blessings. Think over these five benefits.

Assurance of God’s love. –Not his general love, his love of benevolence merely, but of complacency too. He delights in you for what he has wrought in you. Amazing grace! And to be assured of this benefit; to have a warrant to say, I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded he is able to keep what I have committed to him, against that day. Not everyone attains to this blessing; but God has graciously made it accessible to all; and what but the Christian’s own fault hinders his actual possession of it.

Then, Peace of conscience. –Ah, you are somewhat sensible to your ill desert and sinfulness. But the gracious covenant is so ordered as to make full provision for you. God in Christ is not only reconciled to you, but He has in a measure removed your unholy opposition to Him. And since you are reconciled to God, you know the import of the blessed word—peace. John, 14:27.

Your glorious Advocate has so triumphantly interceded for you, that the next benefit in order, Joy in the Holy Ghost, follows as a matter of course. And when it pleases God to grant a large measure of this earnest of heaven, then it does not matter what the outward accidents of the humble soul may be,--lofty or lowly, honoured or despised in the world’s regard, living in a palace, embracing a dunghill, or pining in a dungeon—it is all one. That soul has within itself a fund of life and joy. Who shall harm it? No wonder it joys in God.

But full conformity to the image of Christ will not be attained to in this life. It is therefore a blessed provision that the lineaments of that image shall be growing more and more distinct and symmetrical. Child of God, you will never be satisfied with your attainments here, and if you think you are now perfect, you have not yet learned your first lesson in the school of Christ. Reach forward. Despair not. God will grant thee Increase of grace.

As the outward man perishes, the inward man shall be renewed, day by day. And this by logical sequence involves the next benefit, Perseverance to the end.—Practically considered, this is the culminating point. What would it avail to have the blessedness of heaven in prospect, and desires awakened for its fruition, if, as a matter of fact, the gracious soul may come short of the prize? You know full well, humble child of God, that of yourself you could not persevere. But you shall be held up—kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation—being confident of this very thing, that He that has begun a good work in you will perform it till the day of Jesus Christ. Is not this a most blessed truth?

“The soul that to Jesus hath fled for repose;
He will not, he will not forsake to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavour to shake,
He’ll never, no never, no NEVER forsake.”

Perseverance to the end! And that end, though it may seem dark, and clouds may gather around it, and for a time terrors may encompass the soul in view of it, yet darkness, and clouds, and terror shall soon vanish. That sad end shall be but the bright beginning of immortal blessedness—the portal of eternal life and joy.

Thus have I worked to freshen one of the beauties of the old Catechism. But in that Casket of Gems there are a hundred and six beside, all rich and polished. True, they are somewhat old-fashioned, but not a whit for the worse for that; nay, the better....”

Bible Theology and Human Reason, part 2

From the Presbyterian Magazine, October 1858. Edited by Dr. Van Rensselaer. Pages 452-458.

"Bible Theology Consistent with Human Reason"

Part 2.

I. Man’s original creation in a state of purity and holiness.

It is a fact well known, that ancient philosophers had arrived at this truth without the revelation of the bible. Aristotle bases his system of ethics upon the assumption that all human passions are pure, and that error lays only in the excess. He carries the doctrine far beyond its legitimate results, but still it effects the purpose for which we use it, viz., to show that human reason discovers in human nature such relics of original purity as to authorize the belief of the existence of such a state. But without invoking the authority of any great name, we may arrive at this truth ourselves. Let us examine the human heart, analyze its passions, explore the deep regions of original motives, and we shall be forced to the same conclusion. As to the better feelings and affections—love, gratitude, pity, &tc.—argument is unnecessary. To the baser passions, then, let us appeal; for example, envy, revenge, hatred, avarice, covetousness. Is there a foundation of good, a corner-stone of purity, upon which such passions as these are reared? A few moments’ reflection will show that there is.

To admire the good, to seek to arrive at its attainments, is laudable. To remove real obstacles in the way is necessary to success. Real or imaginary thwart our purposes, and produce unpleasant reflections. A successful aspirant in the same race becomes in our eyes an obstacle to the attainment of the desired end, and hence Envy.

To love and protect those dependent upon and dear to us, is praiseworthy. To shield them from present harm and future injury, is pleasing and grateful to a generous heart. Every injury unprevented by us, grates harshly on these better feelings, reproaches our self-love for neglect, and demands a reparation, and hence, Revenge.

To love the right must necessarily produce a contrary feeling for the wrong. If both right and wrong make the same impression upon the heart and excite the same feeling, there could be no incitement to the one nor prevention of the other. The existence of real or imaginary wrong gives rise to this repulsive emotion of the heart, and hence, Hatred.

To provide not only for present wants, but to lay up for future necessities, is the prudent foresight of a reasonable being. So great and unexpected are the events which a day brings forth, that the teachings of experience prompt to the accumulation of more than actual necessity requires. This desire for accumulation becomes a master passion, and hence Avarice, and in its train, Covetousness.

The list might be extended until we had exhausted every passion. Sufficient illustration has been given for our purpose, viz.: to demonstrate the traces of a pure fountain for all the dark schemes flowing forth from the human heart.

While we have thus to dig deep into the foundations of the passions to seek for laudable motives, it requires but ordinary observation to arrive at the conclusion, that by some means the waters have become bitter and the streams turbid, and this brings us to our second proposition, viz.:

II. Man’s fall from this original state of purity and holiness, and the consequent corruption and depravity of his entire nature. (Part 3)

Bible Theology and Human Reason, part 1

From the Presbyterian Magazine, October 1858. Edited by Dr. Van Rensselaer. Pages 452-458.

“Bible Theology Consistent with Human Reason”
Part 1

The philosophy of the plan of salvation, as revealed and developed in the sacred Scriptures, has so often been considered, and the consistency of the revealed with the natural law so often shown, that one cannot expect to advance any new views of the one or proofs of the other. Yet so varied is the human mind that the presentation of the same idea clothed in different words, or from a different point of view, will sometimes make an impression, never before following a score of previous repetitions. With this view, we propose to consider the consistency of the theology of the Bible with human reason.

We will not stop with the atheist to argue that there is a God, a great creative, self-existent, omnipotent first cause. Nor will we repeat the conclusive and uncontradicted argument derived from history and observation, to show that man is a religious creature, acknowledging always his dependence upon a Supreme Being or Beings, and thereby evidencing, from the internal consciousness of the entire race, our relation as subjects of a higher power. We are tempted to enter upon the enticing field of god’s external providences, to show how mercy and goodness are exhibited in all his creation, thence to draw the conclusion that this mercy and goodness would not stop short at the provision for our carnal wants, and leave unsupplied that intense thirsting of the soul for the spiritual and eternal. And hence, that it is natural that we shall expect such light upon these great interests as would satisfy the craving of the spirit and make plain and sure the path of rectitude. This light is the true religion. It would be pleasant and easy to examine the many lights which have been exhibited to the world, each claiming to be the true emanation from the Deity, and to show that to the enlightened mind none can claim so high a regard from the intellect as that portrayed in the Christian Bible, and thus demand for it the meed [sic] of being the true light of the world—the true religion—until some purer, more spiritual, more reasonable system disputes with it the palm. All these points however have been so clearly, elaborately, conclusively exhibited and illustrated by others that we propose to take them as granted for our present purpose, and from this stand-point to apply to this best of religious systems the crucible of human reason, and independent of its pre-eminence thus established, to examine its claim to Divine authority and human obedience.

We confine ourselves to internal evidence. We leave out of our consideration all the usual external proof derived from human, and consequently fallible testimony. We propose to take the system as if offered now, for the first time, for our adoption, and without other evidence of its genuineness than its own consistency with our finite reason.

The cardinal fundamental truths taught in the religion of the Bible may be reduced to the following:

1. Man’s original creation in a state of purity and holiness.
2. Man’s fall from this state, and the consequent corruption and depravity of his entire nature.
3. God’s beneficent design to wish to restore man to his original purity, and the difficulty of reconciling the claims of his justice with the designs of his mercy.
4. The reconciliation of these conflicting attributes by the scheme devised, viz., the expiation of man’s sin by the vicarious sacrifice of a Being combining the infinity of the God with the mortality and finite nature of the man.
5. The terms upon which this atonement is made efficacious, viz., Faith in the heart and consistency in the life.

Are these truths consistent with the teachings of human reason?

[I will post this, Lord willing, in 6 parts, including this introduction.]

An old dog CAN learn new tricks

the
Presbyterian Magazine
April, 1858.
edited by Rev. C. Van Rensselaer, D.D.
Published in Philadelphia by Joseph M. Wilson.

From Household Thoughts: “A Woman’s Growth in Beauty,”

If women could only believe it, there is a wonderful beauty even in growing old. The charm of expression arising from softened temper or ripened intellect, often amply atones for the loss of form and colouring; and, consequently, to those who never could boast of either of these latter, years give much more than they take away. A sensitive person often requires half a lifetime to get thoroughly used to this corporeal machine, to attain a wholesome indifference, both to its defects and perfections, and to learn, at last, what nobody would acquire from any teacher but experience, that it is the mind alone which is of any consequence; that with a good temper, sincerity, and a moderate stock of brains—or even the two former only—any sort of body can, in time, be made useful, respectable, and agreeable, as a traveling-dress for the soul. Many a one who was absolutely plain in youth, thus grows pleasant and well-looking in declining years. You will hardly ever find anybody, not ugly in mind, who is repulsively ugly in person after middle life.
So with the character. If a woman is ever to be wise or sensible, the chances are that she will have become so somewhere between thirty and forty. Her natural good qualities will have developed; her evil ones have been either partly subdued, or have outgrown her, like rampant weeds; for however we may talk about people being “not a whit altered –just the same as ever”—not one of us is, or can be, for long together, exactly the same; no more than the body we carry with us is the identical body we were born with, or the one we supposed ours seven years ago. Therein, as in our spiritual self which inhabits it, goes on a perpetual change and renewal; if this ceased, the result would be, not permanence, but corruption. In moral and mental, as well as physical growth, it is impossible to remain stationary; if we do not advance, we retrograde. Talk of “too late to improve”—“too late to learn,” &c. Idle words! A human being should be improving with every day of a lifetime; and will probably have to go on learning through all the ages of immortality.

Little Children

the
Presbyterian Magazine
February, 1858.
edited by Rev. C. Van Rensselaer, D.D.
Published in Philadelphia by Joseph M. Wilson, p87.

From Household Thoughts: “Little Children A Great Help”

I am fond of little children. I think them the poetry of the world; the fresh flowers of our hearths and homes – little conjurors, with their “natural magic,” evoking by their spells what delights and enriches all ranks, and equalizes the different classes of society. Often as they bring with them anxieties and cares, and live to occasion sorrow and grief, we should get on very badly without them. Only think, if there was never anything anywhere to be seen but great grown-up men and women! Every infant comes into the world like a delegated prophet, the harbinger and herald of good tidings, whose office it is “to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,” and to draw “the disobedient to the wisdom of the just.” A child softens and purifies the heart, warming and melting it by its gentle presence; it enriches the soul by new feelings and awakens within it what is favorable to virtue. It is a beam of light, a fountain of love, a teacher whose lessons few can resist. Infants recall us from much that engenders and encourages selfishness, that freezes the affections, roughens the manners, indurates the heart; they brighten the home, deepen love, invigorate exertion, infuse courage, and vivify and sustain the charities of life. It would be a terrible world, I do think, if it was not embellished by little children.—Binney.

Religious Education for the Young

the Presbyterian Magazine
February, 1858.
edited by Rev. C. Van Rensselaer, D.D.
Published in Philadelphia by Joseph M. Wilson, p86.

From Household Thoughts: “Religious Education for the Young.”

“...The true idea of religious education may be stated in general terms as consisting in the proper cultivation and improvement of our moral powers; yet not independent of intellectual culture, but in connection with it. While the mental faculties are developed and improved by science and literature, the understanding and conscience must be enlightened with regard to our relations and duties to God, as our Creator, moral Governor, and Redeemer; and also with regard to our personal and social duties, such as sobriety, integrity, justice, and benevolence. And, inasmuch as all systems of religion are not entitled to equal credit, the true idea of religious education requires a careful discrimination between the genuine and the spurious, the divine and human, the true and false.

In religious education properly conducted, science becomes the handmaid of religion, by employing scientific facts and principles in vindicating and illustrating the claims of Christianity. Such an education is, therefore, not only compatible with a thorough literary course, but is greatly aided by such a course. It might easily be shown that (other things being equal) the most thorough and ripe scholars in secular learning, have been those who, while prosecuting their researches, devoted a portion of time daily to the study of the Bible; and further, that their attention to God’s word facilitated their progress in science and philosophy.

But though the true idea of religious education does not exclude or diminish literary or scientific attainments, its special object requires us, in opposition to Deistical sentiments, to hold and teach the divine origin of the Holy Scriptures; to explain the glorious mystery of redemption, which it is the grand object of the Scriptures to reveal; and to inculcate and to enforce those moral principles and precepts which constitute the essence and glory of practical Christianity.”

The Presbyterian Magazine: Individuality in the Church (Part 1)

The Presbyterian Magazine
January, 1850
Miscellaneous Articles.

Individuality in the Church

It was a custom of the Apostles to send their Christian salutations to individual believers in the churches to which their epistles were written, but in no other epistle is it done so largely as in that to the Church at Rome.

In the last chapter there are not fewer than twenty-eight persons mentioned by name, besides two families, the heads of which are named, and other little circles of friends, called “the Church that is in their house,” or, “the brethren which are with them,” or “all the saints which are with them.” Of the number distinctly designated, seventeen or eighteen were men and ten were women.

The epithets, or descriptive expressions, applied to many of the individuals, are not without interest, as well as meaning. One is called “out sister, who is a servant of the Church ... a succourer of many and of myself also.” Others are named “my helpers in Christ Jesus,” “my work-fellow,” “well-beloved,” “beloved in the Lord,” “approved in Christ,” “in Christ before me,” “who bestowed much labour on us,” “my fellow-prisoners,” “who labour in the Lord,” “salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.”

It is further to be noticed that other Christians joined the Apostle in these particular messages. Eight persons, including the amanuensis, are named as taking the opportunity of sending their Christian greeting; most probably from their residence in Corinth to their friends in Rome.
The object of these apostolic messages was principally that of friendly remembrance of Christians, whom Paul had found to be distinguished by their piety and zeal in the little Church at Rome, who had given him their assistance in promoting his Gospel errand, or who were remembered from some other interesting association with his evangelical visits. Some of them had been ready to lay down their own necks to protect the Apostle from persecutors. Some were, in his mind, as “the first fruits of Achaia;” and one purpose was to commend to their attention a member of the Cenchrean Church, then about to go among them, probably the bearer of this introduction, on some concern of religious benevolence.

The chapter into which these paragraphs are thrown, furnishes traits of the early Church that may suggest some useful patterns for the imitation of our own day.

1. One of these traits is the social fellowship of these primitive believers. They were duly organized churches with their officers, ordinances, and discipline; they had ministers of apostolic dugnity to serve them, and to be over them in the Lord. But the community was more than that of a corporate body, or an ecclesiastical estate, or a hierarchy. The mode of address used by this Apostle is more like that of an absent member of a family writing home, than that of a dignitary issuing an authoritative document. Yet it was more than an ordinary domestic letter he had been dictating. It was as a postscript to one of the most important theological and church papers ever transmitted through the instrumentality of man, that these holy greetings were inserted. But when the doctrines had been fully recorded, when the messages of the Holy Ghost had been first reduced to manuscript, with what honest simplicity does the pen of the writer set forth, in the incidental forms of the last page of a letter, the brotherly intimacy and affection that subsisted between himself and his correspondents. He calls them by name. He knows their families. He does not forget what individual members of the Church had done, nor their several characteristics.
   
   This very mention of names shows that these disciples were on terms of intimate fellowship among themselves; otherwise, they could not comply with the writer’s request to communicate his messages one to another. And they were not only the twenty-eight individuals named that were thus known as one circle or class out of the whole Church; but such expressions are used as show the mutual acquaintance and fellowship to have been as wide as “all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints.” Naming five persons, he adds, “and the brethren that are with them.” Naming five others, he adds, “and all the saints who are with them.” “Salute one another,” he says again. Paul himself must have felt this interest in them individually, and when he says, “without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers” (Rom. i), it is most probable that he prayed not only distinctly for the Church at Rome, as he did also for that at Corinth, and that at Galatia (1 Cor. I, Gal. i), and for others (Eph. I, Phil, i, Col. I, 1 Thess i, 2 Thess. i), but that he prayed for them by name as individuals. The frequent messages and references to particular persons indicate this specific knowledge and regard on the part of the Apostle. He would not only say “greet them that love us in the faith,” “grace be with you all,” “salute every saint in Christ Jesus,” but, as John did, “greet the friends by name.” It is likely, therefore, that he prayed for them by name, and the more so, as he so often wrote “pray for me.” He remembered that Marcus was sister’s son to Barnabas; that Andronicus and Junias were converts before himself; that he had baptized Crispus and Gaius, and the household of Stephanas. In Rome, he remmeber that Euodias and Syntyche, of Philippi, were not of the same mind in the Lord. He did not forget that Onesiphorus visited him in prison; he prescribed for the ailments of Timothy; he provided for the personal comforts of Zenas and Apollos on their journey; he exerted himself for the slave Onesimus. He knew that the churches felt an interest in him personally, and could refer to such as Tychicus “that ye may know my affairs and who I do.” He thought that the Church of Philippi would be pleased to hear that Epaphroditus was recovering from illness, and he was glad at the arrival of Stephanas, and Fortunatus, and Achaicus. What fervent fellowship must have prevailed in the Church.
   
   
2. Another fact is evident from this chapter, and others like it; it was common to see active co-operation in the whole body of believers.
   
   To be continued...
   

Fearless Conservatism: the Spirit of Power, of Love, and of a Sound Mind (from the Presbyterian Magazine), part 2

The Presbyterian Magazine.
January, 1860.
Edited by Rev. C. Van Rensselaer, D.D.
Chestnut St, Philadelphia.
pages 8-11

“Fearless Conservatism, or the Spirit of Power, of Love, and of a sound Mind.”

II. The gift of this “spirit of power” is accompanied by the gift of the “spirit of LOVE,” love to God and to the souls of men.

This love is reciprocal. “We love Him because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19.) “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 16:3), and this “life” is the love of God shed abroad in the soul; “if any man love God the same is known of him.” This gracious affection, delighting in God, sweetly inclining 3ever to his will and word, and joyous in His favor and communion as the highest happiness, disposes its blessed subjects to do good to all. “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and his love is perfected in us.... If a man says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar.” (1 John 4^th.) “By this shall all know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another.” (John 13:35.) Our Lord said: “You have heard that is has been said, You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy; but I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them which despitefully use you and persecute you.” (Matthew 5:43.) In this love there is a conservative power; yea! And power of progress, which, springing from the heart of God, and animating the disciples of Christ, has “the whole family in heaven and earth” for its objects, and eternity only for its bounds. Its paean ever is, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men.”

The tendency of this affection is to wither up and to root out all the sources of fearfulness. “The Lord delivered me from all my fears.” (Psalm 34:4.) The love of country, and wife, and children, and home, makes the most timid bold, when they are assailed. “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has torment. He that fears is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18.) Inspired with this holy courage of sacred love, we may boldly say, “the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.” (Hebrews 13:4.) “Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.” (Psalm 46:2.) For grace in the heart makes the mind bold and constant. Nothing, indeed, will or can do more to endow the whole man with courage, to make him fearless of danger, or ready to endure privation and persecution, than this gracious principle of love, wrought in his soul by God’s spirit. Examine all the past, and you will find that the soul has been nerved to the greatest enterprises, and sustained in its deepest sorrows, by love for Christ and for a dying world.

S.F.C

Part 1.
Part 3.

Fearless Conservatism: the Spirit of Power, of Love, and of a Sound Mind (from the Presbyterian Magazine), part 3

The Presbyterian Magazine.
January, 1860.
Edited by Rev. C. Van Rensselaer, D.D.
Chestnut St, Philadelphia.
pages 8-11

“Fearless Conservatism, or the Spirit of Power, of Love, and of a sound Mind.”

III. The power and love of this heavenly temper is joined to “A SOUND MIND.” The Greek word signifies “a sober mind;” one pervaded by prudence and discretion, well-balanced, and under right influences; in which it sees things in its just proportions and relations; and consequently, is not feverish and excited, but persistently holds everything in its proper place. It is not careless of the trifle or appalled by the momentous. Nor does it conceive the mountains to be a molehill; nor does it view gnats as giants. It involves self-control. “Is not puffed up, does not behave itself unseemly.” We find a parallel passage in Proverbs 18:27,--“A man of understanding is of an excellent spirit,” rendered in the marginal reading “of a cool spirit.” And there is peculiar force in our English expression, cool and coolness, as applied to temper, and it is equivalent to both the Hebrew and the Greek words for an “excellent spirit,” “a sound mind.” This coolness of feeling and thought, is not insensibility nor dullness, but it is the opposite of passion, irritability, impatience, restlessness, and the fuss and hurry, the flurry and the flutter of agitation. Coolness of temper bespeaks one collected and calm, and begotten of quiet sobriety is closely akin to meekness, mildness, and gentleness, and its result is fortitude. A sound mind is dispassionate; with the clear ideas of a cool head it is calm in the equilibrium of its judgments, and serene in its own true balance of feeling. In this happy adjustment and self-control there is power patiently to toil, and hopefully to wait long.

Serious difficulties now disturb the public mind, leaving the wisest and best uncertain as to what these things may grow. There is a pressure of existing agitation, and fear of still worse agitation to come. It is a frailty of human nature to run into extremes. Like the pendulum of a clock, we swing from side to side. It is important to find that mental equipoise which will prevent these too frequent changes which mark the torrid zone of thought and feeling. Here you find it. The religion of the Gospel, bringing life and immortality to light, inculcates and bestows this happy temperament.

Oh! What but the grace of God can deliver us from the storms which lower over the individual or national life? For God has not given us “the spirit of fear; but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

S.F.C.

Part 1.

Part 2.

Fearless Conservatism: the Spirit of Power, of Love, and of a Sound Mind (from the Presbyterian Magazine), part 1

The Presbyterian Magazine.
January, 1860.
Edited by Rev. C. Van Rensselaer, D.D.
Chestnut St, Philadelphia.
pages 8-11

“Fearless Conservatism, or the Spirit of Power, of Love, and of a sound Mind.”

In times of perplexity, we should endeavor to act upon the principle of fearless conservatism.

God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. “The spirit of fear,” which is not God’s gift, is, on the one hand, that unrestrained lust of power, which, riding on the whirlwind of passion, and spreading its bolts of destruction, presages woe to man; and on the other hand, “the spirit of fear” is that servile, timorous spirit which cringes before arrogance, trembles in the face of opposition, heartlessly yields principle, and ignominiously shrinks from all danger and struggle. These are both alike foreign to the Gospel temper, for “God has not given us the spirit of fear” either to produce dread in others, or to be the subjects of terror ourselves.

I. The Gospel and civilization were detained, tarrying at Jerusalem, until the disciples were “endued with POWER from on high.” (Luke 24:49.) From that baptism of power the hosts of God have gone forth under “the banner of love,” evangelizing and elevating the nations. Then and now, the temper of Christian progress has been “from on high,” a power to encounter foes and dangers; a power to bear up under trials; to triumph in persecutions. In the Epistle to the Ephesians, the Apostle (6:10) exhorts children and parents, servants and masters: “My brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.” The nature of the Gospel is to inspire its possessors with holy courage.

This Christian boldness is the very opposite of that reckless audacity, whose frenzied zeal overrides all caution, tramples under foot principles of eternal truth, justice and mercy; and whose fell sport is “as a madman who casts firebrands, arrows, and death.” Blind to time and fitting season, and defiant of natural causes, relations, and results, this mad audacity inflames peaceful communities to fratricidal war, and claims, forsooth, to be doing service to God and humanity.

These tempers are as diverse as light and darkness. “And I turned myself to behold wisdom and madness and folly.... Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as far as light excels darkness.” (Ecclesiastes, 2:13.)

S.F.C.

Part 2.
Part 3.

Prayer: The Spirit's Intercessions

the
Presbyterian Magazine
February, 1854.
edited by Rev. C. Van Rensselaer, D.D.
Philadelphia, C. Sherman, printer. pp95-96.
[mildly modernized - SML]

“The Spirit’s Intercessions”

“Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Rom. 8:26.

This passage contains a very important thought on prayer. We will inquire into the meaning of some of the words and phrases used here.

1. Helps. “Heaves with us,” or lifts with us. This is the idea expressed by this word. For instance, I have a burden to raise, and while I am lifting at one end or side, a friend takes hold of the other, and we raise it together.
2. Infirmities. This word embraces those weaknesses of our nature which are a hindrance to prayer—such as ignorance of the subjects and manner of prayer—lack of spiritual discernment and devotional fire. Left to himself, the most perfect Christian is dull, ignorant, weak, and altogether powerless in prayer. The universal prevalence of depravity is painfully felt in the infirmities which encompass the most devout through every period of life.
3. Intercession. We must distinguish between intercession and mediation. Christ is the Mediator, and there is but one mediator. The Spirit is not a mediator. But he enters into the Christian’s heart, and prays in the Christian’s prayer. He excites, illuminates, and stirs up deep fountains of feeling and desire, but he does not mediate.
4. "Groanings which cannot be uttered.” By this phrase we understand that the Spirit begets emotions and desires which cannot find expression in human language, and are only poured fourth into the ear of God.

The important thought in this passage is this: The Holy Spirit is an indispensable helper in acceptable and effectual prayer. He incites the spirit of prayer, awakens the slumbering energies of the soul, quickens the dormant graces, sharpens spiritual discernment, breaths fervour into zeal, ardor into love, strength into faith, and burdens the heart with petitions, some of which can find utterance only in the ear of God. The Spirit is an indispensable helper in prayer. His inward intercession makes prayer fervent and effectual—gives it power almost irresistible. Sinners tremble when they hear it, infidelity feels its force and turns pale. The mourner is carried by such prayer right into the presence of the bleeding Lamb.

He who is helped by the Spirit in prayer realizes that help. O how his heart is enlarged and drawn out for his fellow men in every direction; how numerous are the subjects of prayer—the world is on his heart—he rests, and yet he cannot rest; he is always praying. Prayer is his “vital breath,” his “native air.” Where the Spirit helps in prayer there must be revival. Nothing can withstand it. But the Spirit cannot help those who grieve him every day.—Religious Telescope.

Physical Benefit of Sunday

The Presbyterian Magazine, October 1855.

Physical Benefit of Sunday.

The Sabbath is God's special present to the working man, and one of its chief objects is to prolong his life, and preserve efficient his working tone. In the vital system it acts like a compensation pool; it replenishes the spirits, the elasticity, and vigour, which the six have drained away, and supplies the force which is to fill the six days succeeding; and in the economy of existence, it answers the same purpose as, in the economy of income, is answered by a savings bank.

The prudent man who puts aside a pound today, and another pound next month, and who, in a quiet way, is always putting by his stated pound, from time to time, when he grows old and frail, gets not only the same pounds back again, but a good many more beside. And the conscientious man who husbands one day of existence every week, who, instead of allowing the Sabbath to be trampled on, and torn, in the hurry and scramble of life, treasures it devoutly up--the Lord of the Sabbath keeps it for him, and length of days and a hale old age give it back with usury. The Savings Bank of human existence is the weekly Sabbath.--- North British Review.

Seasons of Life

a 'Brevity' from
The Presbyterian Magazine
February, 1858.
edited by Rev. C. Van Rensselaer, D.D.
Published in Philadelphia by Joseph M. Wilson.

"Trials"

It is not in the light and sunny places of the wilderness that the traveler most sweetly reposes. It is under the shadow of a great rock, or in the depth of a sequestered valley; and so it is with a Christian. The sun of prosperity withers our joys, and changes the green leaves into the sickly colors of autumn. Adversity is like the winter, which prepares the ground for the reception of the seed, and for the rich and glowing luxuriance of spring-time.

Sleeping in Church

the
Presbyterian Magazine
February, 1854.
edited by Rev. C. Van Rensselaer, D.D.
Philadelphia, C. Sherman, printer.

“On Sleeping in Church,” p62.

1. Do not sleep too long and late Sabbath mornings. Nothing is gained by it but additional drowsiness. The Scripture holds good emphatically here, as it respects extra sleep, “to him that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance,” even in church.
2. Spend a few moments, before going to church, in serious meditation on the case of Eutychus, mentioned in Acts 20.9, and remember if any accident should occur to you, you have not Paul for your minister to remedy it.
3. Bear in mind that if you fall asleep, the preacher may treat you merely as the furniture of the pew, much as an old minister in Norwich, Conn., did his sleeping hearers, many years ago. “I come now,” said he, “to the third head of my discourse, to which I ask the serious and candid attention of all who are not asleep,” giving a marked and peculiar emphasis to the last word.
4. Remember, if the sermon is peculiarly dull, that you meet with a double loss.
   “If all want sense,
   God takes a text and preaches patience.”
5. Bethink yourself that it may be the last time in this world that you will have the opportunity of struggling against drowsiness under a sermon.
6. Last of all, resolve that when you make your pew your lodgings, you will pay for the privilege of the nap, and put into the plate or into the Lord’s treasury its cash value at the best hotels.—N.Y. Evangelist.

**I can't say which of them I appreciate the most, but it's probably either comparing myself to Eutycus or paying to the church a rate set by an 1854 NY hotel!

Chalmers on what Life is

the
Presbyterian Magazine
February, 1858.
edited by Rev. C. Van Rensselaer, D.D.
Published in Philadelphia by Joseph M. Wilson.

Brevities.

“Life,” p94-95.

The mere lapse of years is not life. To eat, drink, and sleep; to be exposed to darkness and light; to pace around in the mill of habits, and turn the mill of wealth; to make reason our bookkeeper, and thought an implement of trade—this is not life. In all this but a poor fraction of the unconsciousness of humanity is awakened; and the sanctities still slumber which make it worth while to be. Knowledge, truth, love, beauty, goodness, faith, alone can give vitality to the mechanism of existence; the laugh of mirth which vibrates through the heart, the tear which freshens the dry wastes within, the music that brings childhood back, the prayer that calls the future near, the death which startles us with mystery, the hardship which forces us to struggle, the anxiety that ends in being.—Chalmers.

the Presbyterian Magazine: Religious Lessons

the
Presbyterian Magazine
May, 1858.
edited by Rev. C. Van Rensselaer, D.D.
Published in Philadelphia by Joseph M. Wilson, pp 239-240.

This copy was owned and signed by Rev. Charles Hodge.

------

To Those Commencing A Religious Life

1. Do not expect so sudden and remarkable a change as to leave no doubt of its reality. Did religion enter the soul in perfection, and to the entire exclusion of sin, the change would be so marked and obvious as to leave no room for doubt. But usually, there is, in the Christian heart, a perpetual struggle between good and evil, and thus a continual competition of evidence for and against, according as the good or evil prevails.
2. Evidence of piety is not so much to be sought in high emotions of any kind, as in real humility, self-distrust, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, sorrow for sin, and a continual effort, in every-day life, to the nature, and not the degree of our affections which is to be regarded in the examination of our evidences.
3. Do not expect to find, in your own case, everything you have heard or read of in the experience of others. For it may be, that many things we hear and read of are not correct feelings, and do not afford just grounds of confidence for any one; and if they are correct experience, it may be the experience of a mature Christian, and not to be expected in the beginning of a religious life.
4. Do not suppose that religion is a principle of such self-preserving energy, that when once implanted in the soul, it will continue to thrive and increase without effort. God will not sustain and bring to maturity the work of grace, without your own voluntary concurrence in the diligent use of means, more than he will cause the harvest to whiten in the field of the sluggard.
5. Do not expect to be made happy by religion unless you become eminent Christians. A half-way Christian can neither enjoy the pleasures of the world nor the pleasures of religion, for his conscience will not let him seek the one, and he is too indolent to obtain the other. The Christian may be the happiest man on earth, but he must be a faithful, active, and devoted Christian.
6. Do not make the practice and example of other Christians the standard of piety at which you aim. By this means, a more disastrous influence has been exerted on the Church and on the world, than perhaps by all other causes that could be named. But look into your Bible and see how Christians ought to live. See how the Bible says those who are Christians must live, and then if you find your Christian friends living in a different way, instead of having cause for feeling that you may do so too, you have only cause to fear that they are deceiving themselves with the belief that they are Christians when they are not.
7. Remember that your evidence of possessing ceases when anything else has the first place in your thoughts and interests. Religion should not lessen our love for our friends, or our enjoyment of rational pleasures; but the desire to please God, in all our ways, should be the prevailing feeling of the mind. Our Saviour says, we cannot have two masters; God and his service must first be in our thoughts and affections, or else the world and its pleasures are first. If, then, we would find whose servants we are, we must find who has the first place in our thoughts and affections.
8. Never for one day omit to read the Bible, with prayer. This is a most important direction. It is of the utmost importance that you should never, for once, break through this habit. Prayer and the Bible are your anchor and your shield; they will hold you firmly in the path of duty, and protect you from temptation.
9. Attempt, by your efforts and example to raise the standard of piety and activity. If all who are now commencing the Christian life should make this an object, and not fall into the temptation which professed Christians so often set before the lambs of the flock, the Church would indeed soon rise before the world, "fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners."
10. Be active in promoting all benevolent objects. Make it an object to prepare to lead with propriety, when necessary, in all social devotional duties. At this period, when prayer and effort must unite in hastening the great day of the Lord, let every Christian learn to guide the devotions of others, as well as to lift up his own private supplications.
11. Remember that the principal duty of a Christian, as it respects others, is to excite them to the immediate performance of their religious duty. There is no Christian but can find some one mind, at least, over which he can have some influence, and if we can do anything to save others from eternal death, nothing should for a moment prevent our attempting it.
12. Lastly, do not be discouraged because you find that you are very deficient in every one of the particulars specified. Remember, that the Christian life is a warfare, and that it is only and the end that we are to come off conquerors, and more than conquerors. When you feel your own strength and resolution failing, go to Him who hath said, "My grace is sufficient for thee, and My strength shall be made perfect in weakness," Call upon Him, "and He will be very gracious unto the voice of thy cry when he shall hear it, He will answer thee." Remember, also, that the conflict is short; the race will speedily be accomplished.