This is the Christian revelation, which, while it shows us our lost and sinful nature, our utter unworthiness, and the insufficiency of good works for salvation—whilst it humbles our pride, and self-sufficiency, and teaches that our place before God is in the dust, yet it speaks of joy and peace, for it points out what is all-important, the mode of redemption, the forgiveness of our sins, our adoption as heirs of the kingdom of heaven. "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him."[24] God reveals himself in his works as a God of wisdom and power; but here he discovers himself as a God of truth, justice, and mercy. He reveals himself as the triune Jehovah, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, one God for evermore; and he gives us a revelation of the plan of salvation. And what is this plan? it is one by which justice and mercy are reconciled. "Without shedding of blood is no remission" of sins. The Son of God, according to the Divine promise, took upon himself our human nature, dwelt upon earth, sinless, and offered himself up as a sacrifice for sin on Calvary. He "who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."[25]
[24] 1 John iv. 9.
[25] Philippians ii. 6-11.
Of the sacrifice of Christ, the crowning sacrifice, those of the Mosaic ritual were types or emblems. By his sacrifice the claims of the law were satisfied. What is required of us? Belief in the atonement. "Jesus said unto Martha, I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die."[26] A true, living, justifying faith is the gift of the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies and renews the heart of the genuine believer. "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be;" but when the mind is enlightened by grace Divine, the awfulness of sin is perceived and deeply felt, true repentance is awakened, love and gratitude to God for every mercy are excited, and the soul is warmed with adoration. Then does the converted man become prayerful and watchful; then is he zealous in God's cause, and anxious for the conversion of those that live in the darkness of ignorance, and travel along the broad road that leadeth to destruction. Then will he be patient and trustful under trials and affliction, and justify God's dealings with man.
[26] John xi. 25, 26.
Such are the truths revealed by God himself, which through nothing but direct revelation could have enlightened, cheered, animated, and guided the human affections and will. Man, as an immortal being, has not been left to himself. True it is, that there are many nations still in darkness, and some in the most degraded ignorance. To ask why this is so, is to ask the reasons which determine God in his purposes; we see as in a glass darkly, and the deep things of God are hidden from our eyes; but we are assured that the time will come when all nations shall know the Lord, and Christ shall reign in fulness of glory. Let us be thankful if our trust is in Christ, if he is in us the hope of glory, for "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."
We have sufficiently shown the necessity of a revelation to man relative to things essential to his eternal interest, but of which he could gain no knowledge by his own mental exertions. We know by internal conviction that we are immortal beings; but unguided by revelation, we shall look forward to the future with anxiety, with a sort of vague apprehension, but revelation dispels anxiety, and fills us with all "joy and peace in believing."
Dr. Abercrombie, in his work on the Intellectual Powers, says: "There is thus, in the consciousness of every man, a deep impression of continued existence. The casuist may reason against it till he bewilder himself in his own sophistries; but a voice within gives the lie to his vain speculations, and pleads with authority for a life which is to come. The sincere and humble inquirer cherishes the impression while he seeks for further light on a subject so momentous; and he thus receives with absolute conviction the truth which beams upon him from the revelation of God, that the mysterious part of his being, which thinks, and wills, and reasons, shall, indeed, survive the wreck of its mortal tenement, and is destined for immortality."
How mysterious is the union between mind and matter! how little we know of ourselves! how shallow is our deepest philosophy! We know that the mind is that part of our being which thinks and wills, reasons and remembers, but we know nothing of it except from these functions. "By means of the corporeal senses it holds intercourse with the things of the external world, and receives impressions from them, but of this connexion also we know nothing but the facts; when we attempt to speculate upon its nature and cause, we wander at once from the path of philosophical inquiry into conjectures, which are as far beyond the proper sphere as they are beyond the reach of human faculties. The object of true science on such a subject, therefore, is simply to investigate the facts or relations of phenomena, respecting the operations of mind itself, and the intercourse which it carries on with the external world."
In a philosophic point of view, all our knowledge of the world around us is referable to the operations of the mind on the impressions conveyed to it through the senses, that is, perception. Nevertheless, in point of fact, the knowledge which is acquired by an individual through perception and mental agency, as reflection, memory, etc., is but a small part of what he possesses; it is to the perception and mental labour of others that he owes the great mass of knowledge he is gifted with. Generation after generation has contributed to accumulate a store of facts, a treasury of thoughts and reflections, to which succeeding generations have added, leaving them as a legacy to generations yet to come, who will contribute in their turn to the stock, and bequeath the treasure to their successors. Thus are we enriched by the labour of others, and not altogether by our own experience.