IT muſt not be diſſembled that there are many real diffi⯑culties in the Chriſtian ſcriptures; whilſt at the ſame time more, I believe, and greater may juſtly be imputed to certain maxims of interpretation, which have obtained authority without reaſon, and are received without enquiry.—One of theſe, as I apprehend, is the expecting to find in the preſent circumſtances of chriſtianity, a meaning for, or ſomething anſwering to, every appellation and expreſſion which occurs in ſcripture; or in other words, the applying to the perſonal condition of Chriſtians at this day, thoſe titles, phraſes, pro⯑poſitions and arguments, which belong ſolely to the ſituation of chriſtianity at its firſt inſtitution.
[2] I am aware of an objection which weighs much with many ſerious tempers, namely, that to ſuppoſe any part of ſcripture to be inapplicable to us, is to ſuppoſe a part of ſcripture to be uſeleſs; which ſeems to detract from the perfection we attri⯑bute to theſe oracles of our ſalvation.—To this I can only an⯑ſwer, that it would have been one of the ſtrangeſt things in the world, if the writings of the new teſtament had not, like all other books, been compoſed for the apprehenſion, and conſequently adapted to the circumſtances, of the perſons they were addreſſed to; and that it would have been equally ſtrange, if the great, and in many reſpects the inevitable, alterations, which have taken place in thoſe circumſtances, did not vary the application of ſcripture language.
I deſign in the following diſcourſe to propoſe ſome examples of this variation, from which you will judge, as I proceed, of the truth and importance of our general obſervation.
1. At the time the ſcriptures were written, none were bap⯑tized but converts, and none were converted but from con⯑viction, and conviction produced for the moſt part a cor⯑reſponding reformation of life and manners.—Hence Baptiſm was only another name for converſion, and converſion was ſuppoſed to be ſincere—in this ſenſe was our Savior's promiſe, "a he that believeth and is baptized ſhall be ſaved," and in the ſame his command to St. Paul "b ariſe and be baptized and waſh away thy ſins;" this was that baptiſm "for the remiſſion of ſins," to which St. Peterc invited the Jews upon the day of Pentecoſt; that "waſhing of regeneration" by which as St. Pauld writes to Titus "he ſaved us." Now when we come to ſpeak of the baptiſm which obtains in moſt chriſtian churches at preſent, where no converſion is ſuppoſed, or [3] poſſible; it is manifeſt, that if theſe expreſſions be applied at all, they muſt be applied with extreme qualification and reſerve.
2. The community of chriſtians were at firſt a handful of men connected amongſt themſelves by the ſtricteſt union, and divided from the reſt of the world by a real difference of prin⯑ciple and perſuaſion, and what was more obſervable, by many outward peculiarities of worſhip and behavior.—This ſociety conſidered collectively, and as a body, were ſet apart from the reſt of mankind for a more gracious diſpenſation, as well as actually diſtinguiſhed by a ſuperior purity of life and converſation.—In this view, and in oppoſition to the unbe⯑lieving world, they were denominated in ſcripture by titles of great ſeeming dignity and import—they were "a elect," "called," "faints"—they were "b in Chriſt"—they were "c a choſen generation, a royal prieſthood, a holy nation, a "peculiar people."—That is, theſe terms were employed to diſtinguiſh the profeſſors of chriſtianity from the reſt of man⯑kind, in the ſame manner as the names of Greek and Barba⯑rian, Jew and Gentile, diſtinguiſhed the people of Greece and Iſrael from other nations. The application of ſuch phraſes to the whole body of chriſtians is become now obſcure; partly, becauſe it is not eaſy to conceive of chriſtians as a body at all, by reaſon of the extent of their name and numbers, and the little viſible union that ſubſiſts among them; and partly, be⯑cauſe the heathen world with whom they were compared, and to which compariſon theſe phraſes relate, is now ceaſed, or is removed from our obſervation.—Suppoſing therefore theſe expreſſions to have a perpetual meaning, and either forgetting the original uſe of them, or finding that, at this time, in a [4] great meaſure exhauſted and inſignificant, we reſort to a ſenſe and an application of them, eaſier it may be to our compre⯑henſion, but extremely foreign from the deſign of their au⯑thors, namely, to diſtinguiſh individuals amongſt us, the pro⯑feſſors of Chriſtianity from one another—agreeably to which Idea the moſt flattering of theſe names, the "elect," "called," "ſaints," have by bold and unlearned men been appropriated to themſelves and their own party with a preſumption and conceit, injurious to the reputation of our religion amongſt "them that are without," and extremely diſguſting to the ſo⯑ber part of its profeſſors: whereas, that ſuch titles were in⯑tended in a ſenſe common to all chriſtian converts is well argued from many places in which they occur, in which places you may plainly ſubſtitute the terms convert or converted for the ſtrongeſt of theſe phraſes without any alteration of the author's meaning, e. g. "a dare any of you go to Law before the unjuſt and not before the ſaints?" "b is any man called be⯑ing circumciſed, let him not become uncircumciſed?"—"c the church that is at Babylon elected together with you ſaluteth you"—"d ſalute Andronicus and Junia who were in Chriſt before me."
3. In oppoſition to the Jews who were ſo much offended by the preaching of the Goſpel to the Gentiles, St. Paul main⯑tains with great induſtry, that it was God Almighty's inten⯑tion from the firſt to ſubſtitute at a fit ſeaſon into the place of the rejected Iſraelites a ſociety of men, taken indifferently out of all nations under heaven, and admitted to be the people of God upon eaſier and more comprehenſive terms—this is ex⯑preſſed in the Epiſtle to the Epheſians, as follows;"e having [5] made known to us the myſtery of his will, according to his good pleaſure which he hath purpoſed in himſelf, that in the diſpenſation of the fulneſs of times, he might gather together in one all things in Chriſt."—The ſcheme of collecting ſuch a ſociety was what God foreknow before the foundation of the world; was what he did predeſtinate; was the eternal purpoſe which he purpoſed in Chriſt Jeſus: and by conſequence this ſociety in their collective capacity were the objects of this fore⯑knowledge, predeſtination, and purpoſe; that is, in the language of the apoſtles, they were they "a whom he did foreknow," they "whom he did predeſtinate"—they were "b choſen in Chriſt before the foundation of the world"—they were "c elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father." This doc⯑trine has nothing in it harſh or obſcure.—But what have we made of it?—The rejection of the Jews, and the adopting an⯑other community into their place, compoſed, whilſt it was carrying on, an object of great magnitude in the attention of the inſpired writers who underſtood and obſerved it.—This event, which engaged ſo much the thoughts of the Apoſtle, is now only read of, and hardly that—the reality and the import⯑ance of it are little known or attended to.—Loſing ſight there⯑fore of the proper occaſion of theſe expreſſions, yet willing after our faſhion to adapt them to ourſelves, and finding no⯑thing elſe in our circumſtances that ſuited with them, we have learnt at length to apply them to the final deſtiny of indivi⯑duals at the day of judgement; and upon this foundation has been erected a doctrine which lays the ax at once to the root of all religion, that of an abſolute appointment to ſalvation or perdition, independent of ourſelves or any thing we can do: and, what is extraordinary, thoſe very arguments and ex⯑preſſions, [6] (Rom. Chap. ix. x. xi.) which the Apoſtle employed to vindicate the impartial mercies of God, againſt the narrow and excluding claims of Jewiſh prejudice, have been inter⯑preted to eſtabliſh a diſpenſation the moſt arbitrary and par⯑tial that could be deviſed.
4. The converſion of a grown perſon from heatheniſm to chriſtianity, which is the caſe of converſion commonly in⯑tended in the epiſtles, was a change of which we have now no juſt conception—it was a new name, a new language, a new ſociety; a new faith, a new hope; a new object of worſhip, a new rule of life; a hiſtory was diſcloſed full of diſcovery and ſurpriſe; a proſpect of futurity was unfolded, beyond imagi⯑nation awful and auguſt; the ſame deſcription applies in a great part though not entirely to the converſion of a Jew.— This, accompanied as it was with the pardon of every former ſin, (Romans iii. 25.) was ſuch an aera in a man's life, ſo remarkable a period in his recollection, ſuch a revolution of every thing that was moſt important to him, as might well admit of thoſe ſtrong figures and ſignificant alluſions by which it is deſcribed in ſcripture—it was a "a regeneration," or a new birth—it was to be "b born again of God and of the ſpirit"—it was to be "c dead to ſin," and" alive from the dead"—it was to be "d buried with Chriſt in baptiſm, and raiſed together with him"—it was "e a new creature" and "f a new creation"—it was a tranſlation from the condition of "g ſlaves to that of ſons"—from "h ſtrangers and foreign⯑ers to be fellow citizens with the ſaints and of the houſhold of God." It is manifeſt that no change equal or ſimilar to the converſion of a heathen can be experienced by us, or by any [7] one educated in a chriſtian country, and to whom the facts, precepts and hopes of chriſtianity have been from his infancy familiar—yet we will retain the ſame language—and what has been the conſequence? One ſort of men, obſerving nothing in the lives of chriſtians, correſponding to the magnificence, if I may ſo ſay, of theſe expreſſions, have been tempted to conclude, that the expreſſions themſelves had no foundation in truth and nature, or in any thing but the enthuſiaſm of their authors.—Others again underſtand theſe phraſes to ſig⯑nify nothing more, than that gradual amendment of life and converſation, which reaſon and religion ſometimes produce in particular chriſtians—of which interpretation it is truly ſaid, that it degrades too much the proper force of language, to ap⯑ply expreſſions of ſuch energy and import to an event, ſo or⯑dinary in its own nature, and which is common to chriſtianity with every other moral inſtitution. Laſtly, a third ſort, in order to ſatisfy theſe expreſſions to their full extent, have imagined to themſelves certain perceptible impulſes of the Holy Ghoſt, by which, in an inſtant, and in a manner, no doubt, ſufficiently extraordinary, they are "regenerate and born of the ſpirit"—they become "new creatures"—they are made the "ſons of God" who were before the "children of wrath"— they are "freed, from ſin," and "from death"—they are choſen, that is, and ſealed, without a poſſibility of fall, unto final ſalvation.—Whilſt the patrons of a more ſober expo⯑ſition have been often challenged, and ſometimes confounded with the queſtion—if ſuch expreſſions of ſcripture do not mean this, what do they mean? To which we anſwer—no⯑thing —nothing, that is, to us—nothing to be found, or ſought for, in the preſent circumſtances of chriſtianity.
[8] More examples might be produced, in which the unwary uſe of ſcripture language has been the occaſion of difficulties and miſtakes—but I forbear—the preſent are ſufficient to ſhow, that it behoves every one, who undertakes to explain the ſcriptures, before he determine to whom or what an ex⯑preſſion is now a days to be applied, to conſider diligently whether it admit of any ſuch application at all; or whether it is not rather to be reſtrained to the preciſe circumſtances and occaſion for which it was originally compoſed.
I make no apology for addreſſing this ſubject to this audi⯑ence; becauſe whatever relates to the interpretation of ſcrip⯑ture, relates, as I conceive, to us; for, if, by any light we may caſt upon theſe ancient books, we can enable and invite the people to read the Bible for themſelves, we diſcharge in my judgement the firſt duty of our function—ever bearing in mind that we are the miniſters not of our own ſame or fan⯑cies, but of the ſincere Goſpel of Jeſus Chriſt.