THE SCOTTISH CHRISTIAN HERALD, CONDUCTED UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF MINISTERS AND MEMBERS OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH. THE MYSTERIES OF REVELATION. No. I. BY THE REV. MARCUS DODS, Ir is often objected to Christianity, that it con- PRICE 1d. he has life, simply because he can no more tell what life is, than he can unfold the mysteries of the Gospel? We may safely conclude, therefore, that no man rejects any truth of the Gospel simply because it is mysterious, because there is no man who does not cordially believe, nay, who would not hold it absolute insanity to doubt, many things which are quite as mysterious as any announcement which the Gospel contains. This single remark is a complete reply to the objection; and were its refutation the only object that I have in view, I should not deem it necessary to add another word. But we may go farther, and remark, in the next place, that in a revelation from heaven, mysteries are unavoidable. All truths, at least all moral truths, are insepara The objection is so very easily answered, that it would hardly be necessary to give even a formal statement of the proper reply to it, were it not that, as some are weak enough to put it forth, others may be weak enough to rely upon it. Be-bly linked together. There is no truth of this sides, the objection sometimes acquires a force and an importance which do not naturally belong to it, from the injudicious way in which it is attempted to be set aside. In reply to the objection, it may be remarked, in the first place, that all things are, to a certain extent, mysterious, and that all men believe mysteries. We are surrounded on every hand by objects which effectually baffle every attempt to comprehend them. Yet no man dreams of making this incomprehensibility a reason for denying the existence or the reality of these objects. We are ourselves a mystery to ourselves. How two things of so opposite a nature, as a material body and an immaterial soul, should combine together to form one person, how these are united, and how they operate on one another, are quite as mysterious and incomprehensible as any thing that the Gospel requires us to believe. Yet, who on that account pretends to deny or to doubt the reality of them? Our very existence is a mystery. For what is life? Where does it reside? or, how does it operate? These are questions which no man has ever yet been able to answer, and probably no man ever will be able to answer them,-able to tell us what is that mysterious agent which works within us, and without which we should cease to exist. Yet, was any man ever found so utterly wild as to doubt his own existence, because it is to him utterly incomprehensible, or to deny that VOL. II. kind which stands solitary and unconnected with others. Now, in consequence of this connection, when a clear view of any particular truth is communicated to us, we necessarily obtain a view, more or less distinct, of the truths which stand in the nearest connection with it. But we get only a partial glimpse of these truths, as it is not the object of the revelation to communicate to us a knowledge of them. They appear only incidentally, are seen only so far as their connection with the truth, which it is the design of revelation to communicate, makes them known, but beyond this are left dim and indistinct,-faintly seen and partially comprehended. It may, perhaps, be said, Why should not the truths, thus incidentally and partially brought into view, be fully cleared up, even though the knowledge of them should not be necessary, that thus mystery may be avoided? But then a full elucidation of these truths would bring other truths partially into view, so that we would thus get quit of one set of mysteries only to be introduced into another set of them; unless, indeed, it were possible to go on and exhaust all truth,—that is, unless it were possible for us to become as wise as the Omniscient. Mysteries, therefore, were altogether unavoidable in giving a revelation; and mysteries there must for ever be. The truths necessary for our salvation have been clearly revealed. In the revelation of them, 2 us, is the fact, which we may believe upon competent mystery. But the fact we may believe upon com- other truths have been incidentally brought into view, but have been left in obscurity. It is not because they are of less importance than those which have been revealed, but because they are of less importance to us in our present circumstances. A star which we can hardly see, from which we derive no perceptible advantage, and which, for any concern that we have in it, might be extin-person, in Christ, for example, is doubtless a great guished without apparent loss, may, in reality, be quite as important a body as the earth or the sun. But it is not so to us. So it is with truth. It is allfor in our preimportant; but what is necessary sent state, has been brought near to us; while other truths are seen only like a dim and distant star. Were we at once conveyed to the star that appears smallest to our eye, we would find it to be a body of great magnitude, and we would see other stars as far beyond it. Were we conveyed to these, And we would find just the same appearance. how often soever we might be transported from star to star, that appearance would continue the same, unless it were possible for us to exhaust space, or measure the universe. Of the same exTo whatever extent haustless nature is truth. our knowledge of it may be carried, we shall still see other portions of it showing themselves dim and indistinctly from afar. While, therefore, it will be readily admitted that we are well employed when endeavouring to enlarge the extent of our knowledge, we ought at the same time to be grateful that the knowledge necessary for our salvation is confined within narrow limits, and to guard against the spirit that would urge us on to be "wise above what is written," in the vain hope of advancing to a degree of knowledge where there will be no mysteries; since it is very certain, that as we advance in the path of knowledge, mysteries will multiply around us. An observation ought to be made here, though there can be no occasion to dwell upon it, namely, that God has an undoubted right to demand our belief of what is mysterious. This I think will not be doubted by any man who reflects that we are actually surrounded by mysteries, which no man ever dreams of calling in question; and, moreover, that, as far as we can see, it is impossible to communicate to man any moral truth whatever, without, at the same time, suggesting others, which will be partially seen and imperfectly understood, and consequently, to some extent mysterious. If, in the works of nature, we are called upon to believe mysteries, and find no difficulty in believing them, it is utterly absurd to say that we ought not to be called upon to believe them in the work of redemption,-a work of a higher character than the works of nature, and lying much more beyond our reach fully to explore. If it be said, that in reality nature does not demand our belief in mysteries, since that which is mysterious in any thing forms no part of our knowledge or belief; the very same thing may be said of Scripture mysteries. If it be said, for example, that the union of the soul and body is indeed mysterious, but then what we are required to believe But then we cannot be required to believe contradictions; and some of the Scripture mysteries, it is alleged, involve contradictions. Now, in the first place, I deny the proposition, that we cannot be called upon to believe contradictions; for, though it be true in the abstract, that contradictions cannot both be true, yet it is equally true, that we do often believe what to us are irreconcileable contradictions. What can be more mysterious, more incapable of being reconciled by us, than the omniscience and providence of God and the free agency of man? Yet every man feels that he is a free agent, on the one hand, and on the other, few have gone so far as to deny the omniscience of God, in order to get quit of the difficulty. We have ample evidence for both, and we therefore believe both; and we feel satisfied, that the apparent contradiction arises simply from our ignorance, and that when we come to a state of higher knowledge, we shall see how these apparently irreconcileable truths harmonise with one another. It is, therefore, no solid objection to any doctrine whatever, that it involves what appear to us to be irreconcileable contradictions. Least of all can such an objection be urged PARISHIONERS. BY THE REV. ROBERT JAMIESON, "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be IT is an old and established practice, at seasons like the present, when we have completed one portion of our allotted pilgrimage, and are about to enter on another, for one friend to express towards another the mutual demonstra tion of cordiality and good will. The practice is good in itself, and one, too, that is perfectly in unison with the benevolent spirit of the religion of Christ; and therefore, my friend, whoever you are into whose hands this paper may come, I beg you to accept my best and warmest wishes for your welfare. I pray to God (and may the Father of the spirits of all flesh realize the fervent prayer) that this year may be to you the commencement of many happy years to come; that during this and many successive seasons, your bread may be given you, and your water may be sure; that yourself and all that are near and dear to you may be shielded from every biting blast, and the numerous ills that humanity is heir to; and that yon bright luminary, who is now rejoicing like a bridegroom to resume his race, and to measure out to your observant eye the progress of your days, and weeks, and months, may not reach the goal of his annual journey, without finding you in the full and unalloyed possession of all the temporal blessings which a friend and a pastor can desire for you. But while I am happy, my friend, to have an opportunity of expressing my cordial and affectionate desires for your health and prosperity during the year that has just begun, I mean that the full fervour of my wishes, and the full strength of your solicitude should extend beyond these, should be directed towards, and fixed upon, an object immeasurably more important to you than either the establishment of your bodily health, or the promotion of your temporal prosperity. Doubtless, the enjoyment of health, and the possession of a competent portion of the comforts of the world, are so needful to our present existence, so conducive to the welfare and preservation of the body that has been given to us, and so indispensable to render life a pleasant and desirable possession, that as soon would your heart cease to beat and to hold any sympathy with the world around you, as that you would cease to make these the subjects of your frequent thoughts and your anxious desire; and all the ardour you discover in the pursuit of them, all the time, and labour, and expense you bestow in securing them, only shew that you prize them as you ought to do, that you are determined not to hold in trivial estimation, or to waste and endanger what has been given you for use, and what, like all your other possessions, are the gifts of a munificent Providence. In making the body, then, and its concomitant interests, the objects of your solicitude and care, you are justified by every consideration that can sway the conduct of reasonable creatures; and among all the various motives which the Gospel suggests, there is not one, that does not enlist all the strongest principles of our nature to press on you the duty of providing for the wants, and increasing the comforts of the life that now is. So far the maxims of the world harmonize with the spirit and precepts of religion. Between both there is observable, to a certain extent, a congeniality of sentiment and a similarity of advice. But beyond this the harmony does not extend; and the maxims of the world, and the anxieties and pursuits of the generality of men, terminate at the very point where all that is interesting and momentous in religion begins. Were we assured that there is no object to engage our solicitude beyond the material mechanism which we call the body, and were we satisfied that our nature was furnished with all its variety of powers exclusively for the sphere in which we at present move, then there could not be the shadow of a doubt existing in the mind of any thinking person, on what all the energies of his thought and labours should be exerted. But seeing that we have not merely a presumptive, but a demonstrative, proof that there is a scene beyond the present, where we are destined to exist; seeing that it is written, as with a sunbeam, on every province of nature, that this world is but preparatory to another; seeing that the voice of reason, above all, the book of revelation, proclaim aloud, and in language which all feel and can appreciate, that this is but the infancy of our being, that the body which we carry about with us, and for which we are so much concerned, is but the fragile, transitory, ephemeral habitation of the soul, which is infinitely superior in value, and which is destined to reach its full maturity only when it shall have left the scenes of time, it can require no great discernment to perceive, that the one object which should take precedence of every other, is that of providing for the welfare of the immortal part of our nature; and that if, on the other hand, we harbour no fervent wish, and make no serious effort to provide for the welfare of the soul in futurity, we are acting contrary to the principles which govern us in the ordinary concerns of the world, and by which we are led to proportion the degree of our anxiety and pursuit to the relative value of the objects around us. Taking it for granted, my friend, that you admit the truth, and feel the weight of these considerations, that you are convinced of the fact that you have a soul, whose future welfare is dependent on your conduct now, and of the reasonableness of bestowing all possible attention and care in securing the welfare of that which you own to be so much nobler in nature, and superior in value, and more durable in existence than the body, I proceed to the main design of this paper, which is to direct you in the right use of those means which God has appointed, and promised to bless, for producing the rise, progress, and establishment of religion in the soul. In the first place, you must read the Scriptures. You profess, I trust, to receive them as the Word of God; and you cannot, therefore, without impiety and dishonour to the divine perfections, treat with neglect, or remain in ignorance of a book that has descended from him. You are commanded by your Saviour to search the Scriptures; and there cannot be a greater abuse of language, or a greater outrage upon consistency, than for a person to assume the name and make the profession of one of his followers, and yet to be heedless of the Bible,-to have no desire, and take no pains to acquire a knowledge of its contents, though it be the book from which he professes to draw his principles and his practice. The truth is, that the reading of the Bible is a duty which goes before, and takes precedence of, all other duties, inasmuch as it is the source whence the knowledge of all duties must be derived; so that if you desire to know, and knowing, to be able to perform, all that the Lord requires of you, you must read the Bible, and make yourself acquainted with its peculiar doctrines and requirements, otherwise, from a partial or a total ignorance of it, you may fall into many dangerous errors, both of sentiment and action. In reading the Bible, you must, in order to profit by it, have a regard to its principal, its sole design. There | taking its object and design, you will continue a stranger to is a great deal in the Scriptures to interest and instruct the mind of a reader; for that sacred book contains, in its simple and primitive annals, an account of the origin of society, and government, and the arts; is enriched with many poetical effusions, which no efforts of uninspired genius have ever surpassed; abounds with traits of men and manners different altogether from any thing observable in our western hemisphere; and, in short, comprehends a treasure of the most varied and valuable matter, far greater than can be found any where else in so small a compass. But although the Bible contains these and many other things of equal or superior interest, it is not on this account you must regard it as the best and most precious book the world ever saw. Its great excellence, and that which should stamp it, in your estimation, with supreme importance, and incomparable value, is, that it is addressed to sinners that it discovers the guilt and misery of you and all men by nature and at the same time points out the only efficient remedy for that condition. All the other matter it contains is subordinate to this design-has been introduced merely from being connected in some way or other with its progress and extension in the world, or from being calculated to illustrate and enforce its provisions. So that, in order to reap the benefit of the Bible, you must keep ever in mind the peculiar design for which it was written; and just as in perusing a work of any human author, you would direct your mind, amid the occasional notices of other things you may meet with in the volume, to the principal subject on which it professes to give information; as in taking up a medical book, for instance, you are prepared, from its character, to obtain from it chiefly an account of the symptoms and treatment of disease; or in reading a history of Scotland, you expect to find, amid incidental allusions to foreign powers with whom it may have been in amicable relations, that the main stream of the narrative will be directed towards the affairs and institutions of your native country; so, in reading that book, which was dictated by the Spirit, and which preeminently claims to be "the Word of reconciliation," you should always carry along with you the impression that its predominating object is to disclose the method of God's dealing with sinners, and that consequently, in order to understand its doctrine, and appreciate its value, you must go to it as a sinner. It is not enough, however, that you go to the Bible with the general and often unmeaning admission of many, that they are sinners-an admission which is often nothing more than a mere verbal acknowledgment, or at least which consists often with a very vague and imperfect view of the nature and demerit of sin. Before you can be freed from the influence of sin, you must be aware that this malignant disease is preying upon the vitals of your spiritual constitution; and before you can enjoy the benefit of that remedy which the Bible provides, you must be really and deeply convinced that you are in the cor.dition of those for whom that divine Word was given, otherwise you will never enter, if I may say so, into the spirit of the book; and you may study it from beginning to end, you may make it the subject of your frequent and daily perusal, you may expend upon it the energies of the longest life and the most accomplished mind, but, entirely mis the spiritual blessings for which it was given, and which says, The circumstance of the Bible providing the only remedy for your condition as a sinner, which is the character you bear in the sight of God, should determine you to devote your chief attention to its perusal, and to draw all the principles and hopes you entertain from that only source of divine truth. I do not mean that you are to abstain from the reading of all other books. If you possess the inestimable talent of being able to read, which, from its being the almost universal privilege of Scotsmen, I trust, and presume you do, you ought, by all means, to cultivate it; and it is your duty, and will tend to your advantage, to avail yourself, as far as your means and situation will allow, of all the instruction you can obtain from the perusal of useful historical, moral, and especially, religious publications. And blessed be God! that facilities for the cultivation of this talent are afforded, to the greatest extent, and on the cheapest terms, in our age and country, where, in consequence of the very laudable exertions that are now being made to disseminate the knowledge of religion among all, especially the humbler classes of society, innumerable works are daily issuing from the press, and circulated in all quarters, so that there is scarcely a single article of Christian doctrine or duty, that has not been selected as the subject of a separate treatise or a iengthened illustration; and these being, for the most part, compiled by the diligence, and sent forth with the prayers, of many excellent and pious men, it cannot fail but that the blessing of heaven will accompany, or follow, their circulation. So far from discouraging you in the reading of these, I should think that every mimister, who is anxious for the improvement of his people, would rejoice to see them so well and profitably employed. But, how excellent and useful soever these may be, you must beware of the degree of estimation in which you hold them, and the influence you allow them to acquire over you, and, let me warn you, that to content yourself, as many do, with reading commentaries, sermons, or religious magazines, while you neglect to have recourse to the Word of God itself, is as foolish, and far more pernicious, than would be the conduct of the man who should quench his thirst in a pool of polluted and stagnant water, when he has it in his power to enjoy the precious fluid, in all its purity and freshness, at the fountain-head; or, who should be satisfied with the secondhand intelligence, that he had been promised a rich and valuable inheritance, while he denies himself the assurance and satisfaction of seeing the promise itself in the deed that gives him a title to the inheritance. Besides, the Henrys, the Newtons, the Herveys, the Bostons, and the other men, who with such eloquence, and piety, and zeal, have favoured the world with expositions of Christian doctrine and duty, never meant that their works should supersede the Bible, or cast it into the shade. All they designed, and all they wished for, was that their efforts should be subservient to the grand object of explaining the import, and enforcing the principles of the sacred volume; and that they should serve only as humble pioneers, to pave the way for your being more casily and safely conducted to the temple of truth itself; and were these holy men now to revisit the world, and to see the undue influence which their works exert over the mind of many a professing Christian, they would be the first themselves to notice and deplore the perverted purposes to which their labours are misapplied. | Bible of all its characteristic peculiarities as a revelation from heaven? From what, in short, but the same fatal propensity to follow the speculations, and submit to the authority of men in religion, has it arisen, that the tide of opinion has at all times been ready to flow in the way of error; that, in our own day, so many crude and false opinions have been so eagerly taught and received as the true and unquestionable doctrines of Scripture, and that multitudes take all their ideas from the works of some favourite author, whose name is ever on their lips, and whose authority, in all matters of religion, they deem so paramount and decisive a law, that they are resolved to believe and approve, and condemn nothing but what is believed, and approved, and condemned by the idol before whom they have prostrated their judgment and their faith, and by whose oracular response they are determined to abide? No wonder, that persons of this description are so liable to fall away from the form of sound words, and make shipwreck of the faith, as it cannot otherwise be, when, instead of guiding their way by the clear and steady rays of divine truth, they follow " lights that shine but to bewilder, and dazzle but to blind;" and no wonder that the system of opinion they adopt, should be as fragile and short-lived as the image of Nebuchadnezzar, which consisted of iron and clay, seeing it is formed of equally frail and incongruous materials. Beware, then, of the light in which you regard the opinions and expositions of men on the subject of religion. Look to them as helps, but as no more than helps, to the better understanding of the Word of God. Apply to them to aid you in illustrating obscurities, in solving difficulties, in explaining allusions to ancient manners and customs, or in assisting you to practical and devout reflections. But never let your admiration of them carry you beyond the limits I have now specified. Never allow them to exercise an undue influence in regulating your judgment or your practice. Once allow them to lead when they should only suggest, and to dictate when they should only advise, and they will become as objectionable and pernicious as they are otherwise useful. "As the rule to attain our chief end," says Sir Matthew Hale, “must come from God; and as the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God, so we say, that these Scriptures are the rule, and the only rule, to attain our chief end; good books of other men, such as sermons and commentaries, are good helps, but there is no other rule but this. It is by this rule that we must try other men's books and sermons; yea, the very Church itself. Thus, the Bereans tried the doctrine of Say not that this is a practice unentitled to the no- the apostles themselves by the Scriptures which they tice we are taking of it, either from its prevalence, or then had, and are commended for it. Peter prefers the from the magnitude of the evils to which it has given evidence of the Scriptures before a voice from heaven; rise. It is a practice that prevails to a lamentable and Christ himself appeals to the Scriptures to justify extent, and which has been the prolific source of some himself and his doctrine." To the same purport, Herof the greatest corruptions that have crept into the vey says, in his own expressive style, as a wise man Church of Christ. To what was it owing, that the will not build a palace on the stalk of a tulip, nor venabsurd and unmeaning superstitions which emanated ture on a long voyage in a crazy vessel, so no man who from the Papal Chair long obtained such easy credit knows the value of the soul, will venture it into any and such general currency, but to the circumstance of hands but those of the Divine Saviour, or trust to any men gradually neglecting, and finally losing all know-inferior guide to conduct him thither but the Word itledge of the Scriptures? To what but the same cause is it owing, that the Socinian heresy has arisen,—a heresy which, constituting the reason of man a proud and infallible judge in matters of religion, has stripped the self of the living God." The Word of God, then, being thus entitled to your supreme attention, you should read it with diligence. The whole analogy of nature, and the whole course of |