Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

moral precepts, by obeying which they might obtain the Divine favour, with the enjoyment of heaven as their just desert? or, because he died in their stead, to atone for their sins and procure for them every blessing, &c.? If Jesus be termed a Saviour merely because he instructed men, he has this honour in common with Moses, and Elijah, and John the Baptist, neither of whom, however, assumed the title of Saviour." We find the title "Saviour" applied frequently in the divine writings to those persons who had been endued with the power of saving people, either by inculcating doctrines, or affording protection to them, although none of them atoned for the sins of mankind by their death. Obadiah, ver. 21: “And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lord's." Nehemiah, ch. ix. ver. 27: "And according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies." 2 Kings, ch. xiii. ver. 5: "The Lord gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians." How could, therefore, the Editor, a diligent student of the Bible, lay such a stress upon the application of the term "Saviour" to Jesus, as to adduce it as a proof of the doctrine of the atonement; especially when Jesus himself declares frequently, that he saved the people solely through the inculcation of the word of God? John, ch. xv. ver. 3: "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." Ch. v. ver. 24: "He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me, hath ever

lasting life." Ch. vi. ver. 63: "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life:"wherein Jesus represents himself as a Saviour, or a distributor of eternal life, in his capacity of divine teacher.

Jesus is of course justly 'termed and esteemed a Saviour, for having instructed men in the Divine will and law, never before so fully revealed. Would it degrade Jesus to revere him as a Divine Teacher, because Moses and the Prophets before him delivered to the people divine instructions? Or would it depreciate the dignity of Jesus, to believe that he, in common with several other prophets, underwent afflictions and death? Such an idea is indeed unscriptural, for God represents the Christ as a Prophet equal to Moses, Deut. ch. xviii. ver. 18. Jesus declares himself to have come to fulfil the law taught by Moses: (Matthew, ch. v. ver. 7:) Think not that I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets, I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil;" and strictly commands his disciples and the people at large to obey whatever Moses had taught. Ch. xxiii. vers. 2, 3: "Saying, the Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not."

I am sorry that I cannot, without offending my conscience, agree with the Reverend Editor in the opinion, that "If Jesus be esteemed merely a teacher, the greater degree of honour must be given to Moses, for it was in reality his law that Jesus explained and established."

It is true that Moses began to erect the everlasting edifice of true religion, consisting of a knowledge of the unity of God, and obedience to his will and commandments; but Jesus of Nazareth has completed the structure, and rendered his law perfect. To convince the Editor of this fact, I beg to call his attention to the following instances, found even in a single chapter, as exhibiting the perfection to which Jesus brought the Law given by Moses and other Prophets. Matthew, ch. v. vers. 21, 22: "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: but I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judg ment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, .shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." Vers. 27, 28: "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: but I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery." Vers. 31, 32: “It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: but I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery." Verses 38, 39: "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth; but I say unto you that ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." Vers.

hate you,

43-45: "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy: but I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." Now I hope I may be justified in expressing my belief, (though it varies from the declaration made by the Editor,) that no greater honour can be justly given to any teacher of the will of God, than what is due to the author of the doctrines just quoted, which, with a power no less than standing miracles could produce, carry with them proofs of their divine origin to the conviction of the high and low, the learned and unlearned.

The Editor, in page 101,* lays much stress on circumstances, the very minuteness of which, he thinks, "serves to enhance their value as testimonies." He alludes to the epithet "Lamb of God" having been twice applied to Jesus by John the Baptist, two of whose disciples were thereby induced to become followers of Jesus. This is considered by the Editor as implying an admission on the part of Christ, that as a lamb, particularly the Paschal Lamb, was used in sacrifice as an atonement for sins, he also came into the world to sacrifice his life as an atonement for sin. We find,

* London Edition, p. 37.

however, the term "lamb," as well as " sheep," applied in other places, where no allusion to the sacrificial lamb can be well imagined, and from which we infer that these were epithets generally applied to innocence subjected to persecution; a meaning which sufficiently accords with the use of the word lamb in the instance in question. We have those terms applied by Jesus to his disciples in John, ch. xxi. vers. 15-17, where he commands Simon Peter "to feed his lambs," "to feed his sheep;" and in ch. x. vers. 26, 27, "Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep."-" My sheep hear my voice." Now, many of the apostles suffered death in consequence of their endeavours to withdraw men from sin: but the Editor will not thence, I presume, maintain, though it follow from his argument, that the term "lamb" was applied to them, to shew that, by their death, they also atoned for the sins of mankind. The Reverend Editor might have spared the arguments he has adduced to prove, that Jesus was sent into this world as the long-expected Messiah, intended to suffer death and difficulties like other prophets who went before him; as the Editor may find in the compilation in question, as well as in its defence, Jesus of Nazareth represented as "The Son of God," a term synonymous with that of Messiah, the highest of all the prophets; and his life declares him to have been, as represented in the Scriptures, pure as light, innocent as a lamb, necessary for eternal life as bread for a temporal one, and great as the angels of God, or rather greater than they. He also might

« AnteriorContinuar »