PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Systematic Theology — Volume 2
Hodge, Charles, 1797–1878 · 339,329 words · 411 reading sections
§ 2.] ASCENSION OF CHRIST. 638
consequens ut quod in Deo est, ita sit ubique, ut Deus ^ . . . Nam spatia locorum tolle corporibus, nusquam erunt, et quia nusquam erunt, nee erunt. Tolle ipsa corpora qualitatibus corporum, non erit ubi sint, et ideo necesse est ut non sint ^ . . . Christum autern Dominuni nostrum unigenitum Dei filium aequalem Patri,…
968 wordsSECTION 362§3.] CHRIST'S SESSION AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD. 685
Priest of our profession to do in the temple made without hands, eternal in the heavens. This is set forth with all clearness in the Epistle to the Hebrews. 3. It was expedient, our Lord said, that He should go away ; " for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you ; but if I depart, I will send him unto …
967 wordsSECTION 363§ 2.] CHRIST'S SESSION AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD. 637
know that such acts are neither exclusively mental nor exclusively corporeal ; but how the two elements are combined, passes our comprehension. It is most unreasonable, therefore, and presumptu- ous, for us to endeavour to make intelligible to our feeble under- standings, how the divine and human in the person of our L…
829 wordsSECTION 364VOCATION.
§ 1. Scriptural Usage of the Word. The Scriptures clearly teach that the several persons of the adorable Trinity sustain an economical relation to the work of man's redemption. To the Father is referred the plan itself, the selection of its objects, and the mission of the Son to carry the gracious purpose into effect.…
865 wordsSECTION 365§ 2.J THE EXTERNAL CALL. 641
are. ' All effects of his power are produced by a word. As in the external world He created all things by the word of his power ; so all effects in the moral or spiritual world are accomplished by a volition or a command. To call, therefore, in Scriptural language, is to effect, to cause to be, or to occur. There are t…
994 wordsSECTION 366§2.] THE EXTERNAL CALL. 643
offer of salvation through Jesus to every human being on the face of the earth. We have no right to exclude any man ; and no man has any right to exclude himself. God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Hitn miglit not perish but have everlasting life. The prediction and …
942 wordsSECTION 367§2.] THE EXTERNAL CALL. 645
mation, or with our obligation and privilege as sinners in accepting his proffered grace. If it is not inconsistent with the sincerity of God to command all men to love Him, it is not inconsistent with his sincerity to command them to repent and believe the gospel. The Lutheran Doctrine. The Lutherans from their anxi…
952 wordsSECTION 368§ 2.] THE EXTERNAL CALL. 6 17
ranee. They are declared by tlie ancient prophets to be afar off from God ; to be the worshippers of idols, to be sunk in sin. The people of Israel were separated from other nations for the express purpose of preserving the knowledge of the ti'ue religion. To them were committed the oracles of God. In the New Testament…
971 wordsSECTION 369§ 2] THE EXTERNAL CALL. 649
providence, is to prompt us to greatly increased exertion to send the gospel to those who are perishing for lack of knowledo-e. Why is the Gospel addressed to all Men? As all men are not saved, the question arises, Why should the call be addressed to all ? or, What is the design of God in making the call of the gospe…
883 wordsSECTION 370§2.] THE EXTERNAL CALL. 651
5. It assumes that the only power which God exercises in the conversion of sinners is that inherent in the Word, whereas the Scriptures abound with prayers for the gift of tlie Spirit to attend the Word and render it effectual ; and such prayers are constantly offered, and ever have been offered, by the people of God. …
981 wordsSECTION 371§2.] THE EXTERNAL CALL. 653
versal, or indiscriminate, because it is the intention of God that all should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, is con- trary to Scripture, the question remains, Why are those called whom it is not the intention of God to save ? Wliy are all called, if God has a fixed purpose of rendering that call elFec…
925 wordsSECTION 372§3.] COMMON GRACE. 655
state of mind due to his abiding presence and power. Such is the estabhshed theological and Christian usage of this word. B} grace, therefore, in this connection is meant the influence of the Spirit of God on the minds of men. This is an influence of the Holy Spirit distinct from, and acces- sary to the influence of t…
912 wordsSECTION 373§3.] COMMON GRACE. 657
vero, reali, divino et ineffabili influxu potentiae suae gratiosae, ita ut effiraciter et vere convertat, illuminet, salvet in illo, cum illo et per illud operante Spiritu Sancto ; in hoc enim consistit verbi divini et luimani differentia." So Hollaz says,i " Verbum Dei, qua tale, non potest fiugi sine divina virtute a…
908 wordsSECTION 374§8.] COMMON GRACE. 659
tion to the material world. And in the same sense, and for the same reason that He is said to give a plentiful harvest, He is said to make men fruitful in good feelings and in good works. Conver- sion, according to this view, is just as much a natural process as intellectual culture, or the growth of vegetables or anim…
1,552 wordsSECTION 375Part 375
When our Lord says (Luke xi. 13), that our Father in heaven is more willing to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him, than parents are to give good gifts unto their children, He certainly means something more by the gift of the Spirit, than the knowl- edge of his Word. Thousands hear and do not understand or believ…
1,268 wordsSECTION 376§3.] COMISION GRACE. 666
are, under all ordinary circumstances, the necessary means of sali- vation. The Reformed, while they teach that, so far as adults ai'e con- cerned, the knowledge of the Gospel is necessary to salvation, yet hold that the operations of the Holy Spirit are confined neither to the Word nor to the sacraments. He works whe…
922 wordsSECTION 3775 3.] COMMON GRACE. 667
siis to take heed to tlie flock, over which the Holy Ghost had jDnde thfin overseers. (Acts xx. 28.) 4. To the Spirit are also referred conviction of sin, rii2;hteous- ness, and judgment ; the resistance and rebuke of evil in the heart; strivings and warnings; illumination of the conscience ; conviction of the truth ;…
906 wordsSECTION 378§3.] COMMON GRACE. 669
their impiety. As they " changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator .... God gave them up unto vile affections .... As they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a repro- bate mind." (Rom. i. 25-28.) " My people would not hearken to m…
1,552 wordsSECTION 379Part 379
In the second place, with this conviction of the truths of religion is connected an experience of their power. They produce to a greater or less degree an effect upon the feelings a[)pro{)riate to their nature ; a conviction of sin, the clear perception that what the Bible and the conscience teach of our guilt and poll…
284 wordsSECTION 380§3.] COMMON GRACE. 673
ened conscience, should often appear not only as true but as suited to the condition of the awakened sinner. Hence he receives the Word with joy. He believes with a faith founded on tiiis moral evidence of the truth. This faith continues as long as the state of mind by which it is produced continues. When that changes,…
450 wordsSECTION 381VOL. IL 43
674 PART m. ch. xiy.— vocation. As to the nature of the Spirit's work, which He exei'cises, in a greater or less degree, on the minds of all men, the words of our Lord admonish us to speak with caution. "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest tlie sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and wh…
492 wordsSECTION 382§4.] EFFICACIOUS GRACE. . 675
resistance, by indulgence in sin, and especially, by denying liis agency and speaking evil of his work. " Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man it shall be forgiven him : but who- soever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." (Matt…
1,015 wordsSECTION 383§4.] EFFICACIOUS GRACE. 677
peiutence and unbelief. This Paul says even of the light of nature. The lieathen are without excuse for their idolatry, because the eternal power and Godhead of the divine Being are revealed to them in his works. Knowing God, they glorified Him not as God. (Rom. i. 20, 21.) So common grace is sufficient to convince men…
949 wordsSECTION 384§4.] EFFICACIOUS GRACE. 679
of the difference between the believer and the unbeliever, to the purpose of God ; as it is He Avho foresees and intends the issue and adapts the means for the attainment of the end. But really the cause of the difference is in tlie man himself. One man is sus- ceptible and yielding ; another is hard and obstinate. Bes…
842 wordsSECTION 385§ 4 ] EFFICACIOUS GRACE. 681
quain centurlo liabet de omnipotentia Dei et Jesu Chn'sti in sanan- tiis corporibus solo motu suae voluntatis, est imago ideae, quae haberi debet de omnipotentia suas gratiae in sanandis animabus a cupiditate. Luc. vii. 7." ^ It is not a matter of doubt or dispute that the Reformed Church adopted the Augustinian doctr…
791 wordsSECTION 386§4] EFFICACIOUS GRACE. 683
ment, tluit efficacious grace is tlie almio;hty power of God. Tlieie are, as has been before remarked, three classes into which all events of which we have any knowledge may be arranged. First, those wliich are j)roduced by the ordinary operations of second causes as guided and controlled by the providential agency of …
870 wordsSECTION 387§4.] EFFICACIOUS GRACE. 685
aspects, an essential part in the work. In most cases conviction of the truth, and of sin, a sense of shame, of remorse, of sorrow, and of anxiety, and longing desires after peace and security, pre- cede the work of regeneration ; and faith, joy, love, hope, grati- tude, zeal, and other exercises follow it, in a greate…
894 wordsSECTION 388§4.] EFFICACIOUS GRACE. 687
state of sin and death which we have described ; which among others may be proved by the ensuing arguments. The principal arguments in this case will ensue in our proofs from the Scriptures, that there is a real, pliysical work of the Spirit on the souls of men in their regeneration. That all He doth, consisteth not in…
896 wordsSECTION 389§5.] PROOF OF DOCTRINE OF EFFICACIOUS GRACE. 689
siglit of anything good in the subjects of this saving change. None of those whom Clirist healed, pretended to seek the exercise of his almighty power in their behalf on the ground of their peculiar goodness, much less did they dream of referring the restoration of their sight or health to any cooperation of their own …
445 wordsSECTION 390VOL. II. 44
890 PART in. Cu. XIV. — VOCATION. help the matter. A place outside of the faith of the universal Church is a very unpleasant position. It is, moreover, unsafe and untenable. The whole Church, led and taught by the Spirit of Truth, cannot be wroncr, and the metaphysicians and theorists alone right. The error of the Pap…
467 wordsSECTION 391§ 5.] PROOF OF DOCTRINE OF EFFICACIOUS GRACE. G91
depend on the clearness or fulness of its presentation. Every mind will apprehend it for itself. It is founded on tiiat analogy between the external and spiritual world, between matter and mind, which pervades all our forms of thought and language, and which is as- sumed and sanctioned in the Word of God. We borrow fro…
992 wordsSECTION 392§5.] PROOF OF DOCTRINE OF EFFICACIOUS GRACE. 093
intelligence. In tlie exercise of this potentia ordinata God acts uniformly according to tlie laws which He has ordained. But the Scriptures teach that God has not limited Himself to this ordered action. He is ovei', as well as in all thiniis. He controls the operations of the laws of nature so as to produce given resu…
953 wordsSECTION 393§5.] PROOF OF DOCTRINE OF EFFICACIOUS GRACE. 695
the soul by the omnipotence of God, that it is in analogy with the whole teacliing of the Bible as to the relation between the outwai'd and spiritual world, and as to the relation in which God stands to the one and to the other. This doctrine assumes nothing beyond what is recognized as true in every other department o…
1,447 wordsSECTION 394Part 394
more than abiding in the profession and beUef of the truth. Christ is the head of the Church not merely as its ruler, but as the source of its life. It is not I, says the Apostle, that live, " but Christ liveth in me." (Gal. ii. 20.) " Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobate…
524 wordsSECTION 395§.0.] PROOF OF DOCTRINE OF EFFICACIOUS C.RACE. 699
God and tlie Spirit of Christ. But in the next verse it is said, '• If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin ; " and then ill verse 11, " But if the Spirit of In'm that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in jou, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that…
971 wordsSECTION 396§5.] PROOF OF DOCTRINE OF EFFICACIOUS GRACE. 701
nuurisliment and growth in grace. The Scriptures, therefore, in teaciiing tliat regeneration is a quickening, do thex'eby reveal to us its nature as a work not of man, or of moral suasion, or of divine efficiency operating through second causes, but of the immediate, and therefore the almighty power of God. The Bible …
986 wordsSECTION 397§5.] PROOF OF DOCTRINE OF EFFICACIOUS GRACE. 703
chansje, including a1] that takes place in the consciousness, and all that occurs in the soul itself (so to speak), below the conscious- ness, and subsequently in the state and relation of the soul to God. In this change the Word of God is eminently instrumental. It is by the Word that the sinner is convinced, aroiised…
1,006 wordsSECTION 398§5.] PROOF OF DOCTRINE OF EFFICACIOUS GRACE. 705
with otlier Scriptural doctrines. If the latter be true, the former must be true also. If the Bible teaches that men since the Fall have not lost all ability to what is spiritually good ; that they are not dead in trespasses and sins ; that they still have the power to turn themselves unto God, or, at least, the power …
483 wordsSECTION 399VUL. II. 45
706 PART in. Cii. XIV. — VOCATION. the immediate exercise of God's almighty power. It is in refer- ence to both classes of the dead that our Lord said, "As the Fa- ther raisetli up the dead, and quickeneth them ; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Tiie liour is coming, and now is,…
473 wordsSECTION 400§6.] PROOF OF DOCTRINE OF EFFICACIOUS GRACE. 707
Augustinian doctrine of efficacious grace. No believer ever as- cribes his regeneration to himself. He does not recognize him- self as the author of the work, or his own relative goodness, his greater susceptibility to good impression, or his greater readiness of persuasion, as the reason why he rather than others, is …
1,425 wordsSECTION 401Part 401
3. It is objected that a doctrine which supposes the intervention of the immediate agency of the Great First Cause in the develop- ment of history, or regular series of events, is contrary to all true philosophy, and inconsistent with the relation of God to the world. This is a point, however, as to which philosophy an…
416 wordsSECTION 402§ 7.] HISTORY OF THE DOCTRINE. 711
as bom need regeneration and redemption. The practice of infant baptism was a constant profession of faith in the doctrines of origi- nal sin and of regeneration by the immediate agency of the Holy Spirit. (5.) It is no doubt true that many declarations may be cited from the early writers, especially of the Greek Churc…
905 wordsSECTION 403§ 7.] HISTORY OF THE DOCTRINE. 713
on the sinner whether it be yielded to or rejected. But this yield- ing to the grace of God, is something right and good, and some- thing leading to salvation. Fallen men therefore are not utterly disabled to all good. And if not thus powerless for spiritual good, they are not spiritually dead. Original sin consequentl…
1,527 wordsSECTION 404Part 404
3. To this succeeds the constant " gratia cooperans." " Gratia," he says, " dupliciter potest intelligi. Uno modo divinum auxiliun quo nos movet ad bene volendum et agendum. Alio modo hab<- uale donum." Again, " Gratia dividitur in operantem et coop^r- antem, secundum diversos effectus, ita etiam in prasvenienten et su…
1,164 wordsSECTION 405§7.] HISTORY OF THE DOCTRINE. 719
invoking, or procuring it; but the subject must allow himself to be aroused and must freely follow. God offers his help to deliver from the fall, but the sinner must consent to be helped and em- brace the offered aid ; if he accepts, he is taken by the divine Spirit, and gradually, although in this life never perfectly…
890 wordsSECTION 406§ 7,] HISTORY OF THE DOCTRINE. 721
constrained to interfere. Under their auspices, Andreas and Chemnitz, assisted by other theologians, drew up what is known as the " Form of Concord," in which with great clearness and skill thev reviewed all the matters in dispute, and endeavoured to adopt a mode of statement which should secure genei'al assent. In thi…
903 wordsSECTION 407§ 7.] HISTORY OF THE DOCTRINE. 723
de aeterna et salvifica electorum filiorum Dei prsedestinatioiie Deo gloria sua omnis solids tribuitui', quod videlicet raera et gratuita niisericordia in Christo (absque omnibus nostris mentis aut bonis operibus) salvos nos faciat, secundum voluntatis suae propositum. Eph. i. 5 sq Falsuni igitur est et cum verbo Dei …
871 wordsSECTION 4085 7.] HISTORY OF THE DOCTRINE.
"■7.^ hols of that Church, the Synod decided, (1.) Tliat " all mankind sinned in Adam and became exposed to the curse and eternal death. That God would have done no injustice to any one, if He had determined to leave the whole human race under sin and the curse." ^ (2.) " That God out (jf the human race, fallen by the…
952 wordsSECTION 409§ 7.] HISTORY OF THE DOCTRINE. 727
aiifi Switzerland. The professors of the University of Leyden, Andreas Rivet and Frederick Spanheim, were especially prominent among the opposers of the innovations of the French theologians. The clergy of Geneva drew up a protest in the form of a Consen- sus of the Helvetic Churches which received symbolical author- i…
1,441 wordsSECTION 410Part 410
J. L. Z. Junkheim ^ taught that the work of God in conversion IS supernatural, not because He acts immediately, but because the means through which He works, his Word as a divine revelation, and the effect are supernatural. The modus agendi is purely nat- ural, and the reformation only so far exceeds the natural power …
378 wordsSECTION 411§7.] HISTORY OF THE DOCTRIXE. 731
regeneration of theology." The leading principle of this philoso- phy, in ail its phases, is Monism, the denial of all real {Juaiism hr- tween God and man. If man is only the modus existendi of God, then of course there is an end of all questions about sin and grace. Sin can only be imperfect development, and man's act…
953 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical edition (1876). Text from OCR of an original Internet Archive scan; OCR may contain recognition errors.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.