Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

1

and declares that "the Spirit searcheth"* them: The Spirit of God alone knoweth the deep things of God. The same Apostle, speaking of Holy Scripture, saith, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God;" which St. Peter expresses thus: "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost:"+" Inspiration of God," and "moved by the Holy Ghost," signify, therefore, one and the same thing. The words which our Saviour used, "If I, with the finger of God, -cast out devils," are also expressed, “If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God," and at once confirm this important truth: and in the 139th Psalm, the divine and incommunicable nattribute of Omnipresence is expressly ascribsed to the Holy Spirit: "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence!" Thus, and in many other passages of Holy Writ, either expressly, or by plain inference, are divine and personal actions and attributes ascribed to the Holy Ghost, and prove that He is very and eternal ¡God.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

The sacred doctrine of the plurality of persons in the Godhead, without respect to -the separate attributes, is also capable of easy proof both from the Old and the New Testa

* 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11.
+ 2 Pet. i. 21.

+ 2 Tim. iii. 16.

1

ment. In the original language of the Old Testament a plurality of persons in unity of action and character is continually met with, and no one can read the literal construction of the original Scripture language, without perceiving it.

In the New Testament, this is more plainly and positively taught in the last commandment of our Lord, that every one, to be admitted into the Christian covenant, should be admitted in the joint name of "the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost."* It is also taught in the Apostolic form of blessing the whole community of Christians: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost."+

These things are, undoubtedly, "the deep things of God," and therefore incomprehensible to us. They are far beyond, but by no means contrary to human reason; and must, therefore, inasmuch as they are revealed for our faith only, be received with humility. They are revealed for us to believe, and not to understand; to profit by in things spiritual, and not to cause us to profane or stumble at them, through intellectual pride, and “an evil heart of unbelief."

We come to the second proposition from the text: That there is dreadful danger in + 2 Cor. xiii. 14.

* St. Matt. xxviii. 19.

refusing to receive this Scripture doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

Any unwillingness on the part of those, who, nevertheless, call themselves believers, to receive this Scripture truth, may too often be found to proceed from one or other of these three causes.

Some are at all times determined to oppose, as matter of faith, whatever, in the things of religion, they do not comprehend. Now nothing can be more unreasonable and perverse, than such a determination. It is in the very face of what every man living is forced to do every hour of his life. In earthly, equally as in heavenly things, we all must and do live by faith. Were we to use no means of temporal support, save those only which we understood, we should speedily perish. Were we, in all human intercourse and relative duties, to do only that which might be known apart from faith, the hand of industry would be stopped, and every human occupation would soon come to an end.

But, in many of the things of this world, other evidence, than the evidence of faith, men never seek after; and every man, therefore, who refuses his faith to a divinely revealed truth, because it is above his understanding, condemns himself in all his ordinary principles and actions with respect to this

present world: and let him well consider, that this very thing will be an answer against him, which he will not be able to resist on a future day.

There is another cause of unbelief of the deep mysteries of the Christian faith. Men are too apt to judge of heavenly things and things spiritual by the things of this present world, and fall thereby into many errors. Though there be a strong resemblance and analogy held up in Holy Scripture between them as accommodated to our present modes of perception, there can be no such resemblance as to admit the same inferences. We now "see" only "in part, and know but in part." If mere human argument and human thoughts therefore be brought to prove, to our understanding, "the deep things of God," which were never revealed to us but as matters of faith, no wonder that there arise error, doubt, and overwhelming difficulty. It is quite impossible that a being so low in the order of spiritual creation as we are, should comprehend the mode of existence, the nature and essence even of angels, much less of the uncreated and eternal God.

But, after all, the most frequent cause of unbelief is the want of Christian humility, a real spiritual seeking after spiritual things. The mind must become teachable as the mind

66

of a little child, before we can enter, with profitable thought upon the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Let no man,' saith the holy apostle, "deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God,

Even with regard to earthly knowledge, none are so ignorant as those who are unwilling to learn; and if, in the consideration of the revealed word of God, there be not humility and teachableness of disposition, a mind disposed for spiritual wisdom, it will not profit it will make no impression upon the heart; and though to a certain degree the general truths of the Gospel may be coldly acknowledged, under the unanswerable force of evidence, the spiritual good will not be made apparent where only it can be known and seen; in the will, in the affections, in the habits of life. It is the weighty, solemn question of Scripture; "Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit ?" It is the awful answer of Scripture, "There is more hope of a fool than of him."+

To those who are unwilling to receive the mysterious truths of revealed religion, and that especially which the day's solemn service

1 Cor. iii. 18, 19.

+ Prov. xxvi. 21

« AnteriorContinuar »