this tendency of our intellectual nature; no other record of antiquity affording to the imagination, either so interesting, so diversified, or so immense a retrospect. With this eminently divine provision, it is most certain, nothing can be, in any view, comparable. It has properties which exalt it inexpressibly above every other similar means of representation. Still, subsequently to the close of the divinely recorded periods, the same substantial work went on. Luminaries of pure, steady, though less brilliant lustre, appeared, successively, in the hemisphere of the church; and, under the same ever-present superintendence, they bore witness to the truth, both in their teaching, and in their lives. The first signs and wonders did not, indeed, accompany their word; because they were commissioned only to elucidate and enforce, what had been thus confirmed already. They were those faithful men, whom St.Paul provides for, and recognizes, in his direction to Timothy (2 Tim. ii. 2.), as successively to occupy the place of stars, in the right hand of the Redeemer. When the work proceeds thus, and when, under Divine Providence, its venerable records have been preserved to us, can we doubt, that we are to make a use of them, analogous, though strictly subordinate, to that which we make of the earlier, infallible memorials? I grant that, to these last, we are to submit our understanding; but are we not to exercise our understanding upon the other? What, however, I wish chiefly to remark is, that, in the continued provision, which the series of writings now referred to implies, (the wonderful preservation of which, we can attribute only to the care of overruling Heaven,) we have exactly that uninterrupted, and yet diversified range for the mind, which equally meets our taste, and accords with the Divine method already pursued. Without this continuance of the retrospect, we should have to contemplate the grand objects of our religion, across a trackless waste of seventeen centuries. Whereas, by valuing and rightly using the intermediate aids, with which Providence has furnished us, we need meet no desert; we may travel upward, through a valley, whose "pools are filled with water," and where, at every stage, we meet with friends and guides, who appear to have been placed at their successive posts, as if for the purpose of affording, to the mental traveller, all possible direction and encouragement. I believe I state nothing, which would not be borne witness to by the feelings of every capable mind, which has wisely availed itself of these assistances. To me, the whole entablature of Christianity appears to be thus filled up, and a satisfaction afforded to the enquiring spirit of man, of which it might be difficult to pronounce, whether it is more certain, or more delightful. To the understanding and judgment, it is experience (or what St. Paul terms íywσis1) on the greatest possible scale; answering to that of the tried and matured individual Christian, as the motion of the earth in its orbit, answers to its rotation on its axis. It is a portion, and to us of later times an essential ingredient, of what St. Paul calls ἡ πληροφορία τῆς συνέσεως. In like manner, it is, to the heart, a portion, and, I should think, to us an essential ingredient, of the πληροφορία πίστεως. The vitality of faith is expressed in that text, μὴ σκοπούντων ἡμῶν τὰ βλεπόμενα, 1 Rom. iii. 20. 2 Col. ii. 2. 3 Heb. x. 22. 3 Col. i. 9. 2 Tim. iii. 7. 2 ἀλλὰ τὰ μὴ βλεπόμενα. But how can the habit, here described, advance toward perfection, except objects of faith come more and more within the mental horizon? If, amid so many visible objects, we have but few invisible objects to turn to, the exercise of faith must be not only morally, but intellectually difficult; but, in proportion as invisible objects open more extensively to our mind's eye, the intellectual difficulty decreases, till, at length, the weight even of natural attraction is on the side of the unseen world. And let not this be deemed an enlargement, rather of fancy, than of faith. What I have quoted from Heb. xii., proves the view in question to come most strictly within the objects of faith; but this is, if possible, still more firmly established, by what St. Paul says to the Ephesians, in the close of the second chapter. The titles of honour which he gives them are, συμπολῖται τῶν ἁγίων, καὶ οἰκεῖοι τοῦ Θεοῦ 2; and, elsewhere, he has said, Ημῶν τὸ πολίτευμα ἐν οὐρανοῖς πάρx. It follows, 1. That the dyio with whom we are συμπολῖται, are peculiarly the invisible ἁγίοι. 2. That to think of these, our fellow-citizens, and cultivate our relation to them, must be a true exercise of faith and, 3. That this very exercise, is a natural, if not essential part, of the Toniteuμa ev οὐρανοῖς. 3 I cannot but observe, that St. Paul's expressions, in the verse immediately following that quoted from the Ephesians, state a still closer connection than that of fellow citizens, between us, and "the spirits of the just made perfect." On those of them who took the 1 2 Cor. iv. 18. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. 2 Eph. ii. 19. s Phil. iii. 20. Fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. 2 lead in both Testaments we are built, as stones in a house are built on their foundation : ἐποικοδομηθέντες ἐπὶ τῷ θεμελίῳ τῶν ἀποστόλων καὶ προφητῶν. But if so, it follows by the strictest analogy, that we are built also, in a certain sense, on all who have come after; that is, as the range of a building, last laid on, is built on all the preceding ranges. This is directly intimated in the next verse, when we are told, that πᾶσα ἡ οἰκοδομὴ, συναρμολογουμένη, αὔξει εἰς ναὸν ἅγιον ἐν Κυρίῳ. All the parts must be fitted to their chief corner stone, which knits the whole; but, that this may be ensured, they must be adjusted also to each other; and, from this adjustment being exactly preserved, arises that unity of effect, which the great design requires. Nothing less than this meaning can be conveyed in the expression, συναρμολογουμένη au: the participle used here, being clearly as strong and full a term, as the most copious of languages could have supplied. It is, therefore, not said in vain. It evidently implies a duty, in each fresh range of "living stones," to harmonize themselves with all the lower ranges; and, consequently, not to take the foundation only for their rule, but to attend strictly to the whole intermediate work; since, by an oversight here, they may at least fail in contributing to the harmonic advancement of the structure. Compare this passage with the corresponding passage, Ephes. iv. 16., and observe, that, in the latter, each part is expressly declared to be contributory to the growth of the whole. This fact is stated with more than usual energy. And though, doubtless, an exhortation was thus given, to the Christians then 2 1 Eph. ii. 20. Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. All the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy 21. living at Ephesus, the truth of the position cannot be confined to a single church, or a single generation, especially considering what had been already said, in the 11th, 12th, and 13th verses: on the contrary, the idea suggested jointly by these passages, is as extensive as it is pregnant; it implies a compacted work, at once συναρμολογούμενον καὶ συμβιβαζόμενον, going on, through successive ages, to a glorious issue; it makes the advancement of this work depend on general co-operation; and it consequently enjoins, on each part, an obligation, both to receive aid from the rest, and contribute its aid to the rest. The general duty is expressed in these words: ἀληθεύοντες ἐν άyά, which I would paraphrase; "pursuing truth, (that truth which must be added to spirit,) both with mind and affection." This falls in with St. Augustine's RATIO; and accords, I conceive, with many of the remarks which I have hazarded. It is remarkable also, that the immediate benefit which St. Paul looks for, is settledness, (verse 14.); with clearest intimation, that incalculable unsettledness will be incident to those, who do not proceed onward, from the simplicity of pious sentiment, to a study of God's great designs, an improvement of all the means of wisdom which God has furnished, and an establishment in that truth, which accords, alike, with God's word, and His providence; and alone, both harmonizes, and cements, the great mystical temple. This subject has led me on, far beyond my intention. I purposed giving but a few hints, and it is growing into an essay. You may possibly now ask, what has all this to do with the use of establishments? My answer would be, that this sameness, 1 Fitly framed together. Eph. ii. 21. Knit together. Col. ii. 19. |