On the overthrow of the Jewish church, theology, so far as it was purely Mosaic, lost its efficacy. To bring the church to a higher condition of spiritual privilege, the Son of God appeared, and theology, so far as it is strictly evangelical, was declared by him. Two expressions in sacred Scripture mark the character of the age in which Christ appeared: — 1. It was " the fulness of time;" and this fulness had respect first to the state of the world, inasmuch as idolatry had reached its height, the insufficiency of philosophy to restore the true knowledge of God had been proved, the utmost dignity of earthly dominion and extent of human power had been attained, and an expectation pre vailed throughout the world that some divine interposition, by means of an illustrious prince, was about to take place for the deliverance of man ; and secondly, to the divine purpose, 1 Pet. i. 20. 2. It was the "last days," the Jewish church being on the eve of dissolution, as may be gathered from different parts of Scripture, Gen. xlix. 1. — Chap. I. Christ, from his relation to the Father, possessing perfect knowledge of the divine will, reveals to us evangelical theology, of which the following are six leading principles: — 1. The inability of the natural man to discern this knowledge; 2. The need of regenerating grace for this purpose ; 3. Regeneration obtained solely through the Holy Spirit ; 4. The office of the Spirit in giving us a saving acquaintance with evangelical doctrine ; 5. The spirituality of the worship to be offered up under the influence of this doctrine ; 6. The separation of all true worshippers of God in Christ from the world. — Chap. II. Some knowledge of God may be acquired by the natural understanding, without the special assistance of the Holy Spirit, through the reading of Scripture and the study of systematic theology : but those who know nothing more than these external helps supply may be Christian philosophers, but are not evangeli cal divines ; for the knowledge which they possess is not such as God requires, does not imply spiritual and saving illumination, and attains none of the ends of true evangelical theology. — Chap. III. Regenerate men alone are capable of enjoying evan gelical knowledge. Evidence in support of this proposition is found in the autho rity of the apostle Paul, 1 Cor. ii. 14, 15, and of Christ himself, John iii. 3; in the spiritual inability of the unregenerate ; and from a consideration of the ends which theology, when really and savingly apprehended, promotes, and which are, — 1. Con formity to God ; 2. Communion with God ; and, 3. The enjoyment of God. — Chap. IV. It is necessary to define exactly who are meant by " the regenerate." Some there are who consider all who are baptized as regenerate. Papists contend for the absolute necessity of outward baptism. The fathers used ambiguous language, ascribing to such as appeared to be regenerate what belonged only to those truly regenerate, — an ambiguity which Augustine removes, when he teaches that many are called sons of God, from the sacrament of regeneration, who are not really born of God. All who are baptized, however, are not to be held, simply on account of their baptism, as re generate, unless they have experienced the efficacious grace of the Spirit. The Spirit operates for our regeneration by enlightening us into a knowledge of our miserable condition by nature; — by awakening the conscience to a sense of guilt,; — by touching the heart with legal grief and fear ; — by administering relief to the sinner when he is brought to this extremity, through the proclamations of the gospel, Isa. Iv. 1, John vii. 37; its declarations, John iii. 16; its exhortations, Acts ii. 38; its invitations, Matt. xi. 28, 29 ; and its promises ; — by the exhibition of Christ ;— and by implanting a new spiritual life; — till the sinner, softened and subdued under the impressions of grace, consecrates himself entirely to the obedience of the faith. — Chap. V. Theology is a spiritual gift, or rather the combination of spiritual gifts. Christ is the author of all spiritual gifts ; and the unction by which he imparts them to us is from the Holy One, 1 John ii. 20. The fundamental and radical principle, therefore, of all evangelical
ANALYSIS OF THE FOLLOWING WORK. 13
theology is the necessity of that saving light by which the inind of the sinner is dis posed and enabled spiritually to understand the things of the Spirit of God. Evange lical theology is defined to be " A spiritual gift imparted by the Holy Spirit, in the name of Christ, to the minds of the regenerate, by which they are made wise in the knowledge of the mystery of godliness, conformed to the truth, and directed in the performance of the obedience and the worship due to God in Christ." The object of this knowkdge is all truth pertaining to the kingdom of Christ ; the mode of its com munication is supernatural and by the Spirit ; Us foundation is laid in a spiritual un derstanding; its primary effect is conformity to the image of God in Christ. — Chap. VI. According to the principles of evangelical theology, as made known to us by Christ, a new church has been instituted, to continue to the end of the world. The first prin ciple in its constitution is, that it consist of regenerate persons. While the holiness of the Jewish church was, to a large extent, a typical prefiguratioii of what was to come, genuine holiness of life is requisite in the members of the church under the gospel dispensation ; although hypocrites may find admittance into it, to stain its purity and disturb it by their apostasy. Secondly, The church, under the gospel dispensa tion, is catholic, — confined and restricted to no particular land or nation ; no city, mountain, or temple, neither Jerusalem, nor Rome, nor Constantinople, nor London, nor Oxford, has any pre-eminence in the sight or favour of God. Where two or three are met in the name of Christ, he is in the midst of them. Thirdly, The wor ship of God is everywhere to be openly and solemnly performed, in particular churches instituted for the purpose Fourthly, This worship must be entirely spiritual, all external and carnal ornament being expressly forbidden. Fifthly, The divine word is the only pattern and rule of faith, worship, and obedience. Sixthly, The pre sence of Christ by his Spirit is promised to the assemblies of his people to the end of the world. — Chap. VII. The apostasy of the gospel church took place by the neglect and violation of all these fundamental principles. By the admission of the impure and worldly, purity of communion was lost ; regeneration dwindled into the external rite of baptism ; a government of worldly pomp was erected. Instead of true catholi city, the Papacy, with its claims to universal dominion, arose. Instead of particular assemblies of the faithful, empires, kingdoms, commonwealths, were regarded as churches. Instead of the spiritual beauty of holiness in the worship of God, histrionic mummeries and abominable idolatries were introduced. Instead of implicit deference to the word of God, traditions and the authority of the church became the established creed. To all this there was added an utter contempt of the promised presence of Christ by his Spirit in the churches.