The Prayer Book Explained

by Percival Jackson

CHAPTER XI.

REASON, HISTORY, AND REVELATION.

It may be said with truth that the Bible is a book which reads History, and the perplexities of Man, in the light of one great postulate, viz. that there is a God. The natural sequences, which are now partially explained by scientific discoveries, are in the Bible attributed to God's guidance: and of course there is no contradiction between the two. Science explains something of the ways of God's working: from it we learn something of His principles, and also of His methods: when we are surest of scientific laws, we are then confronted with the assumption that there is, or that there is not, a God. The Bible is the Book of Faith—Faith that there is a God. But, since it interprets History, it plainly recognises History, as one of God's Lesson Books. Also, since it appeals to Reason, and is consistent with Reason, it recognises Reason, as another of the Lesson Books. In the present chapter we indicate some of the Lessons to be learnt in these three Books of God.

Much has been written, especially in recent times, showing the marvellous working of what we call, at one time, the Laws of Nature, and at another time, Laws of God. There is infinite interest, to a thoughtful {101} mind, in the reading of Bell On the Hand, Argyll's Reign of Law, Maury's Physical Geography of the Sea, even when further discovery has improved upon their explanations. It must always be remembered that God has given us Reason and Knowledge, as well as Faith. Reason leads us to the threshold of Heaven, and Faith admits us to the Presence. History assures us that Jesus Christ lived in Judaea, founded Christianity as a Kingdom not of this world, and transformed the Kingdoms of this world: Faith admits us to Personal Communion with Him through the Holy Spirit.

I. (a) What Reason has to say about God.

The Athanasian Creed distinguishes between the teaching of the Catholick Religion and the teaching of the Christian Verity. A moment's thought shows that many who do not hold the Christian Verity, i.e. the Truth as revealed in Christ, do nevertheless hold the Truth as to the Unity of God. For amongst those who believe in The One God are Jews, Turks and many Hereticks, besides those Agnostics whose hesitation, about accepting the Revelation in Christ, is united to a readiness to believe in God. The Belief in One God therefore is more Universal than the Belief in the Holy Trinity. The word Catholick is used within the Church of those who hold the doctrine of the Church. But it may be also used in a more general sense of those who hold the supreme Truth of Godhead.

In order to illustrate the evidence which has been used concerning this prime article of the Christian Faith, we might refer to many interesting books. The {102} following argument is attributed to Socrates by Xenophon (Mem. 1. iv.).

"We admire great poets—great dramatists—great sculptors and painters: which is more worthy of admiration—he who makes images without mind and motion, or he who makes things which live and move and act?

"The latter, if he makes them of purpose. Then purpose is shown by the obvious usefulness of things: men from the beginning have had the benefit of senses suited to their environment—eyes to see what is visible, ears to hear what is audible. Smells are of use because we have noses; things that we eat are sweet or bitter or agreeable in the mouth, because we have palates. Then again the eye is a delicate organ, but is fitted with an eyelid to keep guard over it, eye-lashes to strain off small particles, eyebrows to carry the sweat away from it. Further, the ear receives sounds but is never overfull of them: front teeth are adapted to cutting, back teeth to grinding: the mouth is near the eyes and nose, which watch over what goes in: these and other arrangements indicate a Maker, who adapts the organs to their uses, and has a wise and loving design. Parents love their children naturally, and naturally people want to live, and dislike death. Hence the Maker shows that He has a design, and that His design is that His Creatures shall live.

"Moreover, we have a certain amount of matter, a certain amount of moisture, while there is a vast amount of those things elsewhere: similarly we have a certain amount of intelligence. Why then should we suppose that intelligence is the only thing which {103} is an exception—the only thing of which we have the whole? why suppose that all these adaptations have been made, so wonderfully, without a controlling mind?

"You say you would believe it if you could see the controlling Creator? But you believe in the existence of your own mind without seeing it: on that principle, you ought to say that all you do yourself is done by chance.

"The next question is whether God is too great to require our service? The answer is that God has shown a special kindness to men, as compared with other animals. Their upright walk, their possession of hands, their articulate voices, their superior minds, their powers of self-protection—and the adaptation of these powers and qualities to one another, constituting an altogether higher existence—all these show a special kindness in a wise Creator who has all the qualities and powers in a far higher degree. By serving one another we learn to know our friends; by asking advice we find who are wise: so if we make trial of God, we shall find that He is All-seeing, All-present, and Watchful over all." This argument does not enter upon the question whether there is one God or more; but it deals with the previous question of Godhead; and with all that is implied in 'Maker of Heaven and Earth'.

It must also be observed that (assuming the notion of many Gods to be excluded, and that our Belief is to be either in One God, or in no God), the argument of Socrates has gone far towards the Bible conception of God's Being. Cf. Article 1.

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(b) What the Bible Revelation says about God.

Reasoning of the kind which Socrates used comes near to proof. But it can never actually prove the existence of God. The mind of man is so constituted that it dislikes the notion of Laws without a Lawgiver. Evolution is a law which is found to hold in many cases, and is often assumed, with much probability, to hold in other cases. And it is a Law which exhibits the most beautiful adjustments in its working. We naturally are impelled to ask further back for the maker of this Law. The Revelation which is written in the Bible, and which has been held true from distant ages by good men, is a Revelation which appeals to a higher quality in man than even his intellect. It appeals to his faith. The Bible evidence of God's existence is consistent with reason, and grounded on faith.

We should be able to find many texts which state God's existence, His Unity, His Omnipotence, His Omniscience. We prefer however to refer the student to whole Books and long passages: such, for instance, as the training of Israel to worship God—the awe and reverence which appear in all the language about God—the consistent Holiness of His character as presented in all the Books. From the first words of the Bible, In the beginning God created, to its last chapter (Rev. xxi. 5), Behold I make all things new, it is a Revelation of the Creator.

The following may be remembered:

Deut. iv. (35) 39 Know therefore this day, and consider it in thy heart, that the LORD he is God in {105} heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else. 1 Kings viii. (Solomon's Prayer). Isaiah xl. 12-31, xlv. Job xxxviii-xli.

The argument of Socrates pointed to a Creator who loves men. The Bible declares God to be a Loving Father. Deut. xxxii. 6. Is not he thy father that bought thee? Deut. i. 31. The LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went. Acts xvii. 22-31. S. Paul at Athens. vv. 24-28. The God that made the world . . . made of one every nation . . . that they should seek God . . .: for in him we live, and move, and have our being; . . . as certain even of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

Further He is revealed as the Father of Jesus. S. John xx. 17. I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. S. John xiv. 12, 13 . . . I go unto the Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. S. Matth. xi. 27. All things have been delivered unto me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

The Love of the Father towards men is shown by His tenderness towards them. Rom. viii. 39, (nothing) shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. v. 8, God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Psalm ciii. describes this tenderness, showing (v. 6) that God's judgments against oppression are a kindness to the weak. So in {106} many other places. Note also that vice and crime are an injury to the wicked, and a burden to others. Hence God's hatred of sin is a sign of His Love.

Thus the first paragraph of this Creed is an Act of Worship, from children towards their Father, as well as from the creatures of God's hand towards their God.

II. (a) What the outside world said of Christ.

The foundation of Christianity was not laid with outward marks, but in the hearts of those who, by one, and by two, united themselves together to serve the Lord Christ. As He had said, The Kingdom of God came not with observation. Not with notice from the rulers and the mighty of this world, but in the quietness of homes, and the darkness of prisons, the Church became so wide as to take a foremost place, without much record in the chronicles of kingdoms. We must therefore look to Christian books for the history of early Christianity. At the close of the first century after the Saviour's Birth there were living three great writers who were united in close friendship, viz. the younger Pliny, and the historians Tacitus and Suetonius. Suetonius wrote lives of the first twelve Caesars, and, in his history of Nero (A.D. 54-68), mentions the punishment of Christians, "a set of men of a new and mischievous superstition." Tacitus, describing the same reign[1], and the burning of Rome (A.D. 64), {107} shows that Nero tried to throw the blame from himself, by accusing and punishing the Christians. He adds a few words about them. "The founder of that name was Christ, who was put to death, in the reign of Tiberius, under Pontius Pilate: which temporarily crushed the pernicious superstition, but it broke out again, not only in Judaea, where the evil originated, but in Rome also." Tacitus has the idea that Christians were guilty of many crimes: but their tortures and Nero's cruelty caused them to be pitied. Pliny, on the other hand, made careful enquiries; and gives a very different account of their personal character[2].

Thus we see that almost silently—'without observation'—the Christian
Life grew into its great place in outside history.

(b) What the Bible says of Jesus.

S. Matth. i. 21. Thou shalt call his name Jesus. xvi. 16 Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. S. John i. 14 the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, 1 Cor. xvi. 23 our Lord Jesus Christ. S. Matth. i. 18 his mother Mary was found with child of the Holy Ghost. S. Luke i. 35 that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. S. Matth. xxvi. 39 O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. S. Mark xv. 15 Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified. 25 and they crucified him. 37 And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up {108} the ghost. 44 And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead. 45 And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. 46 And he . . . took him down . . . and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre. xvi. 1-6 And when the sabbath was past . . . very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of sun . . . the stone was rolled away . . . entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side . . . And he saith unto them . . . Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here. S. John xx. 20 he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. Acts i. 10, 11 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? 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. 1 Pet. iii. 22 (Jesus Christ) is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. S. Mark viii. 38 when the Son of Man cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels, S. Matth. xxv. 32 before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another. Rom. ii. 16 God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. Acts x. 42 it is he which was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead. Rom. xiv. 10 we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

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Note i. Quick=living. Cf. S. John vi. 63, it is the spirit that quickeneth, A.-S. cwic.

Jesus=God the Saviour; or God is my Saviour: the same word as Joshua.
S. Matth. i. 21.

Christ=Anointed. Ps. ii. 2; cf. Acts iv. 26.

Note ii. Death is the separation of soul and body: the body returns to earth as it was (Eccl. xii. 7), and the spirit, or soul, returns to God who gave it. Resurrection is when the soul and body are reunited. While we are alive there is a continual change of particles which form the body; yet it is the same body. Similarly after death the particles decay, but the body of the Resurrection will be in that sense the same body (1 Cor. xv. 38). When we say that Christ was buried, we mean that His Body was buried, and in this Creed we add that He descended into hell: and we mean that His Soul went to the place of departed spirits, which are waiting for the Judgment. The word, Hell, has no meaning here of punishment. In Anglo-Saxon, helan=to cover, and hell=a covered place. In some parts of England we still hele (=cover) over roots to keep off the frost. Thus hell is used to translate Gehenna in S. Matt. v. 22, and also Hades in Acts ii. 27, 31, which last is the meaning here. This Creed should be compared in parallel lines with the Nicene Creed, in order to see what phrases are here which are omitted there. We shall notice the following: conceived, born, dead. He descended into hell, from the dead. It is clear that the Nicene Creed was framed to express more clearly the Godhead of Jesus, which had been denied {110} by Arius. The Apostles' Creed, on the other hand, expresses more clearly the true human nature of our Lord: His Birth and Death are more definitely stated—either because His Resurrection from the dead had been doubted, or because the verity of His human nature was not well understood. The words, He descended into hell, complete the statement that he died as truly and completely as other men die.

The passage, 1 Peter iii. 19, 20 has often been quoted as indicating that, in His death, He had a work to do amongst those who had died before He came on earth—viz. to carry to the blessed dead the glad tidings of His Conquest of Sin, whereby they, as well as others after them, are saved.

Note iii. Among early heretics were some who thought that Jesus, being truly God, could not have died except by a substitute—that he seemed to die. They were thence called Docetae (from dokein to appear). In like manner, many people have since attributed His Perfect Holiness to His Godhead only, and not to His human victory over real temptations. This Creed sets forth the Bible doctrine of His Manhood more particularly. But it also declares His Godhead—partly because the words, I believe in God, belong to all three paragraphs of it; and partly by the words, his only Son. See S. John i. 1-4, 14, 18; 1 S. John i. 3; S. Matth. xvi. 16. The Nicene Creed was prepared at a time when His Perfect Manhood was universally believed, but some thought that He was not God. It is therefore much fuller in the statement of His Godhead.

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III. What the Bible says of the Holy Ghost.

The third paragraph of this Creed is a summary of the teaching of the Bible concerning Him whom we often call the third Person of the Godhead—whom Jesus described as the Comforter (S. John xiv.-xvi.). He there promised to His disciples the presence with them of One, who should be closer to them than He had Himself been, xvi. 7: xiv. 16, 17: who should unite them more closely to Himself, xiv. 18, 23: who should teach them, and help them to remember His words, xiv. 26: who should testify of Him, xv. 26: and guide them into all truth, xvi. 13: when they should be accused and persecuted, the Holy Ghost would guide their speech, S. Matth. x. 19, 20: S. Mark xiii. 11: S. Luke xii. 11, 12: xxi. 14, 15.

Consistently with these promises we find all good impulses, thoughts, and actions, in man, ascribed to the Holy Ghost—Comfort, Acts ix. 31: Joy, Rom. xiv. 17: Baptism, S. Matth. iii. 11: 1 Cor. xii. 13: Fellowship, Phil. ii. 1: Power, Acts i. 8: Sanctification, Rom. xv. 16: Teaching, 1 Cor. ii. 13: xii. 3: Resolution, S. Luke iv. 1: Acts xv. 28: Vocation, xiii. 2, 4: xx. 28: He is ranked with the Father and the Son, S. Matth. xxviii. 19: Eph. iv. 4-6: 2 Cor. xiii. 14.

His Presence is imparted through the Laying on of Hands, Acts viii. 15, 17: xix. 6: ix. 17: and before it, x. 44, in the exceptional case of Cornelius. Thus, individually we are temples of the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. vi. 19.

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But further, the Holy Ghost unites us in one Body—the Church, Eph. iv. 2-4: wherein the work of each is allotted by Him who in 1 Cor. xii. 28 is called God, and in vv. 4-11 is called the Spirit, and in v. 3, the Holy Ghost. By virtue of this, the Church is Holy, 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17, even though individual members are unworthy. And this Church was to be One for all the world, Acts i. 8, S. Matth. xxviii. 19, 20: 1 Cor. i. 2: Eph. i. 22, 23: iii. 9, 10: S. John xvii. 20, 21. Thus it is the Holy Catholick Church. Catholick=Universal, for-the-whole. Also the Holy Catholick Church is the Society of Saints, the Communion or Fellowship of Saints. S. Paul writing to the Corinthians (1 Cor. i. 2) addresses them as the Church, called to be Saints, and (after referring to the distribution of various duties amongst the members by the Holy Spirit) he says (xii. 25-27) that there should be no schism in the body, but all the members should care for one another, suffer with one another, and rejoice with one another: indeed his argument is that the Church is a body, and that this sharing of joy and sorrow is an existing fact. So in 2 Cor. i. his whole argument turns upon this thought of a society, wherein the comfort of one is the comforting of the rest, and the prayers of the rest a help to the one, the gift bestowed upon one, a cause of the others' thankfulness; and all stablished together by God. In Heb. xii. 22 mount Zion is taken as the symbol of Christ's Church; and the readers are addressed as members thereof, together with the spirits of just men made perfect, who are enrolled in heaven as the general assembly and church of the firstborn. Thus the {113} Church, or Society of Saints includes the imperfect, and those who are made perfect; those who are alive there, and those who are alive here. The condition of membership is briefly described in Acts ii. 38, 42 Repentant, Baptized, having the Gift of the Holy Ghost, Apostolic Doctrine and Fellowship, Communicant, Stedfast in Prayers.

Since then, Repentance and Baptism, Acts ii. 38: iii. 19 "for the Remission of sins," "that our sins may be blotted out," are thus associated with the gift of the Holy Ghost—see also S. John xx. 22, 23—this second great privilege of Christians is stated in the Creed; we believe in the Forgiveness of Sins. It is preached unto us through Christ, Acts xiii. 38: it is granted to us for His Name's sake, 1 S. John ii. 12: the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins, S. Mark ii. 10: it is especially associated with the Presence of Christ in the assembly of the Church, S. Matth. xviii. 17-20: 1 Cor. v. 4: S. John xx. 22, 23. The union of the Faithful with Him in whom they have Faith brings, through Jesus, Rom. iii. 25, remission of their sins, through the forbearance of God.

The third great privilege, which comes to members of Christ through the Holy Ghost, is the Resurrection of the Body, a most prominent doctrine of the Gospel: as in the case of other articles of the Creeds, so here, we only give representative verses. Acts xvii. 18 S. Paul is stated to have been misunderstood, because he preached at Athens Jesus and the Resurrection, and in vv. 31, 32 it is shown that he preached the Resurrection of men to be judged. So those who {114} knew Jesus best (S. John xi. 1-3) believed, as of course, in the Resurrection of all men vv. 23, 24: in S. John v. 25-29 the Lord states the doctrine: 1 Cor. xv. shows how S. Paul taught it, and, vv. 37, 38, declares that the body of the Resurrection will be a nobler and higher body, as the plant is nobler and higher than the seed—see Phil. iii. 21: 1 Cor. xv. 43, 48, 49. Further, it is likened to the gift of Life in Baptism, Rom. vi. 3-5, which is the work of the Holy Spirit, 1 Cor. xii. 13: hence it is expressly stated to be His work, Rom. viii. 10, 11. The fourth great privilege is Life everlasting. S. John i. 12 to those who received Jesus, He gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name: S. John xvii. 2, 3 and this is life eternal: S. John v. 24 which begins here on earth: but, S. Mark x. 30, is, in a higher sense, the promise of the world to come, where, Rev. xxi. 4, 1 Cor. xv. 26, 54, there shall be no more death.

In connection with this Creed we should read the Nicene Creed, the first Four Commandments, Articles I. to V., XI. and XV., Gloria in excelsis in the Communion Service, and the Proper Prefaces in the Holy Communion for Christmas, Easter, Ascensiontide and Whitsuntide. Also, note that Gloria Patri, and The grace of our Lord, are founded upon the Faith which is expressed in the Creed: and that the Collects not unfrequently have endings similarly founded.

[1] Annals xv. 44.

[2] See Appendix D.

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