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under the name of Theology, as the sister of Philosophy, its teachers, despising the apostolic weapons, as too weak and contemptible to support their cause, and give it a creditable appearance, have borrowed all the arts of the schools to enable them to step forth in a decent figure, on a footing with their cousins the philosophers. Among other arts we may rank this as one, that they have made much the like use of the word mystery, as their kinsmen for a long time made of occult quality. After they have done their best to accommodate the Christian religion to the pride of men, whenever they come to a strait, they shelter themselves in the word mystery. So that the mysteries of our holy religion, or of revealed religion,* has become fixed style, and been used as a solemn phrase of sacred obscurity, to hold at a distance all profane inquirers.But instead of dwelling on the common use, or rather gross abuse of this expression, let us notice how it is used in the Scripture.

Upon a general view of all the passages where this word occurs, it will appear, that it is a relative expression, much resembling interpretation, or the common use of the word antitype, and always refers to some obscure hint that went before, either by word, thing, or action, of which it is the real intent and meaning. Every figurative or emblematical speech or action, contains some secret meaning beside what is first presented to the senses; and that secret meaning is the mystery of it. So that when once the meaning is made known to me, I find the figure, emblem, or parable, to be divested of every idea of secrecy, intricacy, or doubtfulness. When one tells me a mystery, then, he tells me a plain, clear, and intelligible truth, throwing light upon some obscure saying or action that went before. And this method of instruction, as has been often observed, is, of all others, the most satisfying and delightful to the mind, as well as the fittest to awaken attention. A parable may be fitly compared to a shell inclosing a pearl, or a box containing a jewel; when once the cover is opened, I am fully satisfied about the contents. Every one of Esop's fables contains a moral; and that moral is the whole mystery of it. Many sayings, things, and facts in the Old Testament, contain a secondary or secret sense, which the New Testament clearly unfolds, and so enables us

* According to the common use of the word mystery, it is not easy to answer the question sometimes put by free thinkers, What do we mean by revealed mysteries?

to know the mystery of them. And when a mystery is once known, it is no more secret, intricate, or doubtful.

Jesus Christ delivered many parables concerning the kingdom of heaven, and he explained the meaning of them to his disciples; because, said he, it is given unto you to know the In like manner, the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. visions presented to the Apostle John, in the isle Patmos, contained mysteries under them. I shall content myself with producing a specimen, Rev. i, 20. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest, are the seven churches. In Paul's epistles, mystery always refers to some ancient figure. Christ's love to his church was prefigured by the first institution of marriage, so is the mys tery of it. The whole redeemed company out of all nations was prefigured by, so is the mystery of Israel after the flesh. And accordingly, Paul affirms that all Israel shall be saved. That Christ's people, who remain alive at his second coming, shall not sleep, but be changed, was prefigured by the translation of Enoch and Elijah, and is accordingly called a mystery. God made manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, &c.* is the truth, spirit, or ultimate meaning, not only of the Schechinah, but of all the occasional appearances of God to men; so they who worship God as thus manifested, worship him in spirit and in truth. And this manifestation of God is called the great mystery of godliness. Paul often calls the plain simple gospel which he preached, a mystery, as being the true scope and sense of many ancient types and figures; so he calls it the mystery which hath been hid from ages and generations, but now is made manifest.-Were it needful, I might easily show that the Greek fathers used the word mystery in the same sense with the apostles, as referring to some type, symbol, or parable; even as the Latins used in its stead sacramentum, in the same sense also.

From what has been said, then, it will appear, that nothing can be more foolish or absurd, than to join the epithets of incomprehensible, obscure, or unintelligible, to a mystery after it is declared: for the plainest facts recorded in the gospel are

*

Manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit. As the former of these two phrases points to the condition of Christ while under the law, and the latter to his condition as raised from the dead; when I have occasion to make a general reference to this text, I shall content myself for brevity's sake, with saying, God manifest in manhood, or any other general expression including the two-fold view of the Apostle.

the great mysteries manifested by it. The birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, were prefigured by many types, and are therefore mysteries; yet no facts can be better attested than these: and had they not been formerly veiled under types, figures, and parables, they had never been called mysteries in the New Testament. The calling of the Gentiles is a mystery much accounted of in Paul's epistles; yet it was a notorious matter of fact, obvious to the eyes of friends and foes, giving cause of wonder and praise to the former, and provoking the envy of the latter.

Christians, then, have no occasion to beg the peace of reasoners, as to the clearness and certainty of the articles of their creed; far less to use any mean arts to evade their ridicule, which in the issue must only serve to provoke it the more, by giving some just handle for it. Christianity is, indeed, as it pretends to be, a supernatural scheme, so cannot be measured by the line of nature. This is the sum of all that its enemies have to say against it. Yet there is as plain, uniform, and regular a connection, in all the parts of this scheme, as in any branch of the course of nature. And in general, it is incumbered with much fewer, and far less important difficulties, than are daily found in tracing the course of nature. It is true, those who hope to be happy in following nature, find no occasion for the gospel, and therefore must always be objectors against it. And it would ill become us to grudge them this liberty, while the author of nature and of the gospel suffers them.

Men have agreed to consider that as the surest and most valuable knowledge, which is gathered from often repeated facts and experiments; yet great mistakes have often been made in drawing wrong inferences from the plainest facts. Here the Christian creed has the advantage of all other knowledge, that it rests upon the surest facts, without the hazard of the mistakes committed by inattentive or ignorant observers.

ALL Divine revelation rests on supernatural facts. The general method by which God has chosen to make himself known to men, has been that which is most suited to their frame. He hath awakened attention by some supernatural appearance, so as to produce in the mind of the observers, the question of surprise, What meaneth this? Hereupon he hath always provided, by means equally above the power of nature, a clear and satisfying account of that which occasioned surprise, so as the result should be the joint appearance of Divine wisdom and Divine power to the mind of the ob

servers. And this result has, in the leading instances, been contrary to the general expectations and reasonings of mankind. We may add, it was necessary this should be the case, if any revelation from God was necessary to men; for if the result had been according to the previous reasonings of men, it could not have been manifest that any interposition was made by the author and controller of nature.

But the truth is, those accounted the wiser part of mankind, who lead the rest, see no necessity at bottom of any Divine revelation; and, therefore, it may well be expected they will rather choose to continue reasoning against the clearest facts, than to admit the doctrine built upon them, which displays the glory of God, and promotes the happiness of men, at the rate of abasing human pride. Some, indeed, of our modern wise men have thought it prudent to profess a regard to revelation, considering it as a confirmation of their own conjectures about virtue and happiness; or, which is the same thing, the sayings of the ancient philosophers; for whatever honour they pay to their predecessors, returns back again to themselves. But it is easy to see through the disguise of these moderns, while they thus pay their public compliments to revelation, to avoid being marked with the name of Infidel, which happens to be odious among the populace, and which in former times would have exposed them to great inconveniencies from the resentment of the Christian teachers. But to proceed:

Whereas, it is often difficult to state the connection or analogy of a number of facts or appearances, upon which some principle or point of knowledge is to be established; revelation has this advantage, that as the facts on which it proceeds are very numerous, so the connection of them, or the unity of design, is well established. There is one capital or central fact, which collects the evidence of all that went before, and is supported by all that follow, even the resurrection of Jesus. Here all the lines of Divine revelation are united. So the the Apostle Peter sums up to us the evidence of revelation thus: We have not followed cunningly-devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of his majesty. For he received from God, the Father, honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. And we have the prophetic word more firm, or more confirmed, &c.

This Apostle, in his first epistle, chap. i, 11, tells us, that the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that followed upon them, were the scope of all the prophets; even as Jesus had said before, Luke xxiv, 25, 27.

On the holy mount, Peter, and two other Apostles, beheld the glory that was to follow on the sufferings of Christ, when they were eye-witnesses of his majesty. What the prophets had spoken concerning his resurrection, could not be completely fulfilled, without his being received up into glory. The three Apostles there, had a view of him beforehand, in the condition he was to appear in after his resurrection; they saw him in his glorified state. So Matthew tells us, chap. xvii, 9, Jesus charged them, saying, tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead. And Luke says, chap. ix, 36, They kept it close, and told no man in those days any one of those things which they had seen. And indeed they could not make the proper use of it, while Mark tells us, chap. ix, 10, they questioned one with another what the resurrection from the dead should mean.

The intent of this vision was illustrated to them, when Jesus, after his resurrection, was taken up, and a cloud* received him out of their sight.-It would now appear, that on the holy mount, they had seen within the cloud that which on the day of ascension the cloud removed from their sight.

The bright cloud, or the excellent glory, from whence the three Apostles heard the Father's voice, was the well known ancient symbol of Divine presence. This cloud attended on Jesus appearing in majesty, his face shining as the sun, and his raiment white as the light. So the Apostles beheld the same glory of the Lord that had been so often seen by Moses and the ancient prophets; or we may rather say, they beheld the ultimate end and perfection of all the ancient appearances of the divine glory. Moses beheld the similitude of the Lord when he conversed with him face to face. And Ezekiel, in the close of his first chapter, describing to us the likeness of the glory of the Lord, calls it the likeness as the appearance of a man, having brightness round about. The apostles, then, saw more than all the ancient prophets, when they beheld the real man Jesus appearing in that same glory,

* It is said concerning the second coming of Christ, Rev. i, 7, Behold he cometh with clouds. This corresponds with what the angels said at the ascension of Jesus, Acts i, 11, This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, in like manner, as ye have seen him go into heaven.

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