Paul Allen
Excerpt from the Commencement Address of Rhode-Island, 1797
This present is an age of wonders, and an arena of revolutions. The most experienced politician, who has grown grey in the study of mankind, will find in the course of an hour all his expectations destroyed, and predictions overturned. Let us then collect a fortitude of mind equal to the magnitude of the occasion, meet our misfortunes like men, and leave the rest to the disposal of Providence. The force of habit, and strength of education, may enable us to resist this dangerous charm of novelty, which has already produced pictures of horror sufficient to curdle the blood in our veins.
Patriotism, that pride and boast of antiquity, has been vilified and disgraced as inconsistent with that liberal affection which embraces the whole family of man. But self love is one of the strongest principles of action. Proud of these sentiments, we cherish with filial affection, with reverence, the venerable image of our country’s honor. It is not the uncandid sneer of party malevolence, nor the viperous tongue of slander itself, that can damp the energies of a real American. He feels, but he bears his misfortunes like a man.
Americans! while you justly resent the many injuries which you have received from the legislators of France, remember your long and glorious struggle for independence. Great Britain, who now courts your alliance once attempted to destroy your very existence as a nation. America, young in action and unversed in the hoary vices of Europe, has suffered much from believing the world is as generous, and noble, and disinterested as herself. Experience, fatal experience, has yet to teach us many lessons. But whoever reads the address of the President of the United States to the federal Legislature will learn that we meet our misfortunes with the reluctant spirit of a man, not the calm stupidity of an ox. It is a fact too notorious to be denied, and it is with a mixture of pain and astonishment that I speak it, that frivolous debates—tardy and timorous resolutions, have too much marked the character of our government. Europe beholds our situation, and rejoices. This vast continent may be divided into petty republics, destitute of force and energy, dangerous only to themselves, and harmless to their common enemies. But I will drive from my breast such melancholy anticipations—I will indulge the hope that there is spirit, and valor, and fortitude in our citizens, sufficient to resist this greatest of evils. Fathers! Legislators of your country! Reflect for a moment on the perilous situation of America. Is this the time for idle and unimportant debate when the world is at its crisis? Soar above the vulgar prejudices of the moment—remain firm to your posts. Impartial posterity will do justice to your actions.
Methinks I hear the voice of our forefathers from their tombs exclaim, unite, my children, and you may yet be a happy people. Divide, and your glory, honor, and national existence are extinguished forever.
Fate wrote it with an iron pen,
And the loud thunder said Amen.
Yet if God in his wrath has ordained that this country shall fall—if discord like a Colossus must stride over this continent—if all the pleasures of social life must be destroyed—if liberty, that first of Heaven’s blessings, must degenerate into the curse of unrestrained licentiousness; let us unite and rally round the government to a man. Let us march to the fortress of faction, and expire at the mouth of the cannon. Or if driven to the walls of the sanctuary, let us embrace the pillars of the Constitution, and only in its ruins fall. Let this freeborn American hand first dig my grave in liberty and honor; and though I found but one more thus resolved, that honest man and I would die together.
FINIS
Monday, March 23, 2009
Leonard Woods addresses the students at Harvard University, 1799
“A Contrast between the Effects of Religion and the Effects of Atheism”
In the sentiment of a God, harmony and proportion are found. Tired with viewing the obscurities and disorders in the natural and moral world, the friend of God, in humble contemplation, repairs to the divine scheme. There, to his comfort and joy, he discovers the principle of universal light and order. There is a GOD who holds the reins of universal government; whose throne is supported on the everlasting pillars of wisdom, justice, and mercy. Let the humbly great and good endure opposition and persecution, and face storms of adversity. Celestial thrones and splendid crowns await them. Let profane infidels scoff at the friends of truth. Let ambitious heroes wade in rivers of blood. Let tyrants sport with the happiness of man, and insult over the humiliation of those they have enslaved. Our indignation dies away; the tumult of passion subsides in a peaceful calm, and kind pity possesses the breast when we consider and know, that their ambition, pride, and cruelty will one day be turned into shame and endless contempt.
True dignity of character arises from religion. Impressed with the lively perception and grateful love of the infinite Being, the least becom great, the simplest wise, the humblest rise to a glorious elevation. Take our beloved hero, whose honest fame imparts new splendor to the history of America; who raises the honor of human nature. We call him great when he is at the head of our armies, great when seated in the presidential chair, great, when he descends from his exalted height, and seeks the shades of retirement. When, at the call of the discerning and vigilant GUARDIAN OF AMERICA, he comes forward, with the fire of a young hero, devoting his life again to public good—he supports in an eminent degree, the character of greatness. But never does his dignity rise so high; never does his character appear clothed with such lovely splendor, as when, amid the cares and fatigues of war, he piously retires, bows reverently before the God of armies, and acknowledges himself and his country to be pensioners on divine power and mercy. Before we called him a valiant chief, an able statesman, a refined philosopher, a disinterested patriot. Now we give him a much more honorable title, and call him a CHRISTIAN.
We cannot help noticing the pernicious effects of Atheism on the character and felicity of the male sex. It unkindly plunders them of the only substantial principle, by which their conduct can be regulated, and the purity of their minds preserved. The Atheist has no principle or sentiment which moves to the uniform practice of any virtue, or deters any vice. Although the mind of women should escape the contagion; yet the prevalence of Atheism would lower them much in the public opinion, and degrade them far below the station in which Christianity places them. Young men, liberated from the restraints of divine law, base captives to vitiated inclination, would become the fawning enemies of female innocence. Husbands, depraved, unfaithful, and heartless themselves, would doubt, or despise the virtue and fidelity of their companions. No longer would they “love and honor their wives,” regarding them as precious repositories of sentiment, affection and purity; but would look upon them as the meanest of slaves. Having debased the honor, and relaxed the sacred obligations of marriage, Atheism would open such scenes of licentiousness and misery, as will be transferred from France to America, when our government and religion fall.
Do you wish to see the dreadful tragedy, which has drenched Europe in tears and blood, acted over again on these unhappy shores? If you do, let it be done by yourselves, and not by them. Awake, oh Americans! Rouse your courage and might. Perform such a work, as will leave nothing for them to doe. Demolish the whole fabric of your constitution and laws. Shut the mouth of all the teachers of morality and religion. Add imprisonment to their poverty, persecution to calumny. Let all the rich, especially those who have symptoms of virtue, be doomed to confiscation or exile. Kill off your President, your Hero, and all the friends of your country. Set up tyrants and murderers. Multiply your prisons, make them wider, deeper, and darker. Parents, plunge the bloody dagger in the bosoms of your children. Perpetrate crimes so prodigious that the highest eloquence cannot describe them. If you will, Oh Americans, do all this and more—But if your hearts are not hard enough, nor your hands bloody enough to commit such deeds, then call upon the French, and they will help you.
Heavy are the charges we have brought against the Atheists of France. But who, that impartially attends to modern history, will say they are false or illiberal? And who will hazard the assertion that there is anything in the system of atheistical philosophy that forbids or opposes any crime which they have committed? The whole system of modern Atheism tends directly to the subversion of every moral maxim, and “to legalize and methodize crimes.”
In the sentiment of a God, harmony and proportion are found. Tired with viewing the obscurities and disorders in the natural and moral world, the friend of God, in humble contemplation, repairs to the divine scheme. There, to his comfort and joy, he discovers the principle of universal light and order. There is a GOD who holds the reins of universal government; whose throne is supported on the everlasting pillars of wisdom, justice, and mercy. Let the humbly great and good endure opposition and persecution, and face storms of adversity. Celestial thrones and splendid crowns await them. Let profane infidels scoff at the friends of truth. Let ambitious heroes wade in rivers of blood. Let tyrants sport with the happiness of man, and insult over the humiliation of those they have enslaved. Our indignation dies away; the tumult of passion subsides in a peaceful calm, and kind pity possesses the breast when we consider and know, that their ambition, pride, and cruelty will one day be turned into shame and endless contempt.
True dignity of character arises from religion. Impressed with the lively perception and grateful love of the infinite Being, the least becom great, the simplest wise, the humblest rise to a glorious elevation. Take our beloved hero, whose honest fame imparts new splendor to the history of America; who raises the honor of human nature. We call him great when he is at the head of our armies, great when seated in the presidential chair, great, when he descends from his exalted height, and seeks the shades of retirement. When, at the call of the discerning and vigilant GUARDIAN OF AMERICA, he comes forward, with the fire of a young hero, devoting his life again to public good—he supports in an eminent degree, the character of greatness. But never does his dignity rise so high; never does his character appear clothed with such lovely splendor, as when, amid the cares and fatigues of war, he piously retires, bows reverently before the God of armies, and acknowledges himself and his country to be pensioners on divine power and mercy. Before we called him a valiant chief, an able statesman, a refined philosopher, a disinterested patriot. Now we give him a much more honorable title, and call him a CHRISTIAN.
We cannot help noticing the pernicious effects of Atheism on the character and felicity of the male sex. It unkindly plunders them of the only substantial principle, by which their conduct can be regulated, and the purity of their minds preserved. The Atheist has no principle or sentiment which moves to the uniform practice of any virtue, or deters any vice. Although the mind of women should escape the contagion; yet the prevalence of Atheism would lower them much in the public opinion, and degrade them far below the station in which Christianity places them. Young men, liberated from the restraints of divine law, base captives to vitiated inclination, would become the fawning enemies of female innocence. Husbands, depraved, unfaithful, and heartless themselves, would doubt, or despise the virtue and fidelity of their companions. No longer would they “love and honor their wives,” regarding them as precious repositories of sentiment, affection and purity; but would look upon them as the meanest of slaves. Having debased the honor, and relaxed the sacred obligations of marriage, Atheism would open such scenes of licentiousness and misery, as will be transferred from France to America, when our government and religion fall.
Do you wish to see the dreadful tragedy, which has drenched Europe in tears and blood, acted over again on these unhappy shores? If you do, let it be done by yourselves, and not by them. Awake, oh Americans! Rouse your courage and might. Perform such a work, as will leave nothing for them to doe. Demolish the whole fabric of your constitution and laws. Shut the mouth of all the teachers of morality and religion. Add imprisonment to their poverty, persecution to calumny. Let all the rich, especially those who have symptoms of virtue, be doomed to confiscation or exile. Kill off your President, your Hero, and all the friends of your country. Set up tyrants and murderers. Multiply your prisons, make them wider, deeper, and darker. Parents, plunge the bloody dagger in the bosoms of your children. Perpetrate crimes so prodigious that the highest eloquence cannot describe them. If you will, Oh Americans, do all this and more—But if your hearts are not hard enough, nor your hands bloody enough to commit such deeds, then call upon the French, and they will help you.
Heavy are the charges we have brought against the Atheists of France. But who, that impartially attends to modern history, will say they are false or illiberal? And who will hazard the assertion that there is anything in the system of atheistical philosophy that forbids or opposes any crime which they have committed? The whole system of modern Atheism tends directly to the subversion of every moral maxim, and “to legalize and methodize crimes.”
Jonathan Maxcy, 1798
Rhode-Island College: An Excerpt from the Address
You, gentlemen, have the singular fortune to complete the course of your collegiate education at a period the most alarming and interesting the world ever saw. Principles and conduct prevail, which threaten destruction to those institutions of religion and government, to which mankind are indebted for all the blessings of civilized life. In that part of Europe…where passions have been wrought up to such a paroxysm of rage that they have set at defiance the sacred obligations of religion and justice; have proclaimed open war against the Almighty, and covered the earth with blood and murder—there you behold tigers and wolves, in human form, sparing neither age nor sex. To them a Supreme Being is a chimera; immortality is unconscious sleep; and future responsibility, the frightful offspring of superstition. There the hydra of despotism, riding on her iron car, gnashes her bloody jaws, and growls destruction the world. From this horrid spectacle, turn off your eyes to your native country, where laws are regarded, where government is equally administered, where the constituted authorities are respected, where the God of heaven is worshipped, and let your full souls rise with an indignant determination to resist at all events the intruding arm of foreign domination.
When you see the pernicious effects of infidelity, atheism and unbridled ambition, learn to venerate and support those sacred institutions, which alone can render men fit subjects for moral and civil government.
Remember, there is a God.
The belief of this truth is the only security of virtue, and the only barrier against vice. For if we say there is no God, we say there is no standard of morality. We equalize virtue with vice, or rather we say there are no such things as virtue and vice. We at once annihilate all moral obligation, and with it all restraint on the sinful propensities and head-strong passions of man. It is truly astonishing that a rational being, who can endure a moment’s reflection, should be an atheist; and yet there are many who spurn at the idea of a God, and arrogantly tell you that the universe is not an effect, but a cause.
Indeed if you disbelieve the existence of God, you must believe there is not higher principle than matter. Of consequence, you must say matter is eternal, its various modifications, animate and inanimate, are the result of an inherent central and circumstantial power. In this case you will gain nothing, and will lose much; you will still be much at loss to account for this power, as you will be to account for the existence of an eternal, intelligent, uncaused Being. If you admit the latter, you can account for the origin of all things in a consistent manner; if you admit the former, you can never account for the existence of one atom, or for one modification of matter. Atheism is of all doctrines the most uncomfortable and gloomy. It renders all moral and intellectual acquirements useless; levels man to the brutal creation; destroys all order, design, and harmony in the universe. If acted out in its genuine effects, it would convert the world into a theatre of confusion, violence and misery. Never, therefore, forget there is a God. Let every breath you draw, every object you behold, remind you of this truth.
Remember that you have souls; and that these will never cease to exist. A denial of the existence of the soul as a thing distinct from matter, and of its immortality, is a natural and necessary consequence of a denial of the existence of God. In this view the state of man and brutes is the same. Both are matter, and both destroyed by decomposition. In short, the doctrine of a material soul amounts to this, man has no soul.
God has so formed you that you are obliged to rely on the veracity of your sense. If you distrust the evidence of these, or renounce it, you have no standard of certainty left. Your external senses inform you of what exists without; your internal senses, of what exists within. To doubt in either case is to do violence to nature. The soul becomes acquainted with itself and its existence, by internal sense; by the knowledge it gains from without, and by its operations concerning that knowledge. The soul has as a direct perception of itself, as it has of any object whatsoever. To doubt, therefore, whether you have souls, is to doubt whether any thing exists.
The dread which the soul has of annihilation; its dissatisfaction in the present state; its ardent desire after happiness; its capacity of unlimited improvement; the unequal fate of virtue and vice in this world; the consideration that man answers no determinate purpose here; these things render the separate existence of the soul highly probable. Revelation alone assures and confirms immortality to man. In the sacred pages, a distinction is clearly made and kept up between the body and the soul. God is styled “the God of spirit and of flesh.” Paul speaks of “the spirits of the just made perfect.” Job says, “there is a spirit in man.” David says, “into thy hand I commit my spirit.” Christ said to his disciples, “a spirit hath not flesh and bones.” Stephen, when stoned to death, cried “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” The Savior certainly taught there was a difference between spirit and matter, when he said, “fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.” In short, if you examine the scriptures, you will find that the inspired writers uniformly keep up this distinction on which I am insisting. Their faith was that death was not an annihilation of existence, but only a change in the mode of it. It is of the highest importance that you believe this doctrine; for without it, you lose the influence of all those motives with give vigor and worth to human actions.
If you admit the idea that your existence will terminate with the present life, your love of virtue will abate. As you will have nothing to anticipate, the immediate impulses of our feelings, independent of all consequences, will engross your attention.
Hope and fear are the strongest propensities by which man is actuated. If you take away the prospect of immortality, you take away the chief principles on which moral motives operate, or you weaken those principles to such a degree as to render them useless. If you regard your own interest, or that of society, never depart from the doctrine of the soul’s immortality. The consequences of a belief in the opposite doctrine are so manifestly pernicious, that you may rest assured it cannot be founded on truth.
Thirdly. Not only remember that you are immortal, but that you are accountable creatures. It is impossible for God to form a rational being, and not bind that being under moral law, so long as he shall exist. This law flows from the absolute perfection and supremacy of the divine nature. When we say that God is infinitely amiable, it is the same to say that he is to be infinitely loved. Moral obligation, therefore, arises from the nature of God; and, like that, is immutable and eternal. Do not imagine that any change in your state can exempt you from a responsibility for your conduct. The mutability of creatures can make none in God.
A sense of this will lift you above the groveling pursuits of vice, and furnish a perpetual excitement to the cultivation of those virtues which alone can render you worthy and happy. Noting can be more absurd, nothing more pernicious in its consequences, than the sentiment that men are not amenable at the tribunal of God; for if they are at liberty to conduct as they please, without a liability of being called into account; it at once becomes indifferent to them what character their actions assume.
Let me urge upon you the importance of the preceding sentiments, respecting the existence of God, the immortality of the soul, and future responsibility. The world is more indebted to prevalence of these three doctrines for its order and government, than to all other causes. These doctrines, as to their full extent and influence, are peculiar to revelation. If you discard them, you enervate every virtuous sentiment; you undermine the foundations of society, and level the human to the brute creation.
You are now entering on a vast, dangerous and tumultuous theatre. A scene opens for the utmost exertions of all your abilities and talents, in support of religion and liberty. I now give you, gentlemen, my parting benediction, wishing you may live honored, respected and beloved in this world; and in the next, shine, like stars in the firmament, forever.
FINIS
You, gentlemen, have the singular fortune to complete the course of your collegiate education at a period the most alarming and interesting the world ever saw. Principles and conduct prevail, which threaten destruction to those institutions of religion and government, to which mankind are indebted for all the blessings of civilized life. In that part of Europe…where passions have been wrought up to such a paroxysm of rage that they have set at defiance the sacred obligations of religion and justice; have proclaimed open war against the Almighty, and covered the earth with blood and murder—there you behold tigers and wolves, in human form, sparing neither age nor sex. To them a Supreme Being is a chimera; immortality is unconscious sleep; and future responsibility, the frightful offspring of superstition. There the hydra of despotism, riding on her iron car, gnashes her bloody jaws, and growls destruction the world. From this horrid spectacle, turn off your eyes to your native country, where laws are regarded, where government is equally administered, where the constituted authorities are respected, where the God of heaven is worshipped, and let your full souls rise with an indignant determination to resist at all events the intruding arm of foreign domination.
When you see the pernicious effects of infidelity, atheism and unbridled ambition, learn to venerate and support those sacred institutions, which alone can render men fit subjects for moral and civil government.
Remember, there is a God.
The belief of this truth is the only security of virtue, and the only barrier against vice. For if we say there is no God, we say there is no standard of morality. We equalize virtue with vice, or rather we say there are no such things as virtue and vice. We at once annihilate all moral obligation, and with it all restraint on the sinful propensities and head-strong passions of man. It is truly astonishing that a rational being, who can endure a moment’s reflection, should be an atheist; and yet there are many who spurn at the idea of a God, and arrogantly tell you that the universe is not an effect, but a cause.
Indeed if you disbelieve the existence of God, you must believe there is not higher principle than matter. Of consequence, you must say matter is eternal, its various modifications, animate and inanimate, are the result of an inherent central and circumstantial power. In this case you will gain nothing, and will lose much; you will still be much at loss to account for this power, as you will be to account for the existence of an eternal, intelligent, uncaused Being. If you admit the latter, you can account for the origin of all things in a consistent manner; if you admit the former, you can never account for the existence of one atom, or for one modification of matter. Atheism is of all doctrines the most uncomfortable and gloomy. It renders all moral and intellectual acquirements useless; levels man to the brutal creation; destroys all order, design, and harmony in the universe. If acted out in its genuine effects, it would convert the world into a theatre of confusion, violence and misery. Never, therefore, forget there is a God. Let every breath you draw, every object you behold, remind you of this truth.
Remember that you have souls; and that these will never cease to exist. A denial of the existence of the soul as a thing distinct from matter, and of its immortality, is a natural and necessary consequence of a denial of the existence of God. In this view the state of man and brutes is the same. Both are matter, and both destroyed by decomposition. In short, the doctrine of a material soul amounts to this, man has no soul.
God has so formed you that you are obliged to rely on the veracity of your sense. If you distrust the evidence of these, or renounce it, you have no standard of certainty left. Your external senses inform you of what exists without; your internal senses, of what exists within. To doubt in either case is to do violence to nature. The soul becomes acquainted with itself and its existence, by internal sense; by the knowledge it gains from without, and by its operations concerning that knowledge. The soul has as a direct perception of itself, as it has of any object whatsoever. To doubt, therefore, whether you have souls, is to doubt whether any thing exists.
The dread which the soul has of annihilation; its dissatisfaction in the present state; its ardent desire after happiness; its capacity of unlimited improvement; the unequal fate of virtue and vice in this world; the consideration that man answers no determinate purpose here; these things render the separate existence of the soul highly probable. Revelation alone assures and confirms immortality to man. In the sacred pages, a distinction is clearly made and kept up between the body and the soul. God is styled “the God of spirit and of flesh.” Paul speaks of “the spirits of the just made perfect.” Job says, “there is a spirit in man.” David says, “into thy hand I commit my spirit.” Christ said to his disciples, “a spirit hath not flesh and bones.” Stephen, when stoned to death, cried “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” The Savior certainly taught there was a difference between spirit and matter, when he said, “fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.” In short, if you examine the scriptures, you will find that the inspired writers uniformly keep up this distinction on which I am insisting. Their faith was that death was not an annihilation of existence, but only a change in the mode of it. It is of the highest importance that you believe this doctrine; for without it, you lose the influence of all those motives with give vigor and worth to human actions.
If you admit the idea that your existence will terminate with the present life, your love of virtue will abate. As you will have nothing to anticipate, the immediate impulses of our feelings, independent of all consequences, will engross your attention.
Hope and fear are the strongest propensities by which man is actuated. If you take away the prospect of immortality, you take away the chief principles on which moral motives operate, or you weaken those principles to such a degree as to render them useless. If you regard your own interest, or that of society, never depart from the doctrine of the soul’s immortality. The consequences of a belief in the opposite doctrine are so manifestly pernicious, that you may rest assured it cannot be founded on truth.
Thirdly. Not only remember that you are immortal, but that you are accountable creatures. It is impossible for God to form a rational being, and not bind that being under moral law, so long as he shall exist. This law flows from the absolute perfection and supremacy of the divine nature. When we say that God is infinitely amiable, it is the same to say that he is to be infinitely loved. Moral obligation, therefore, arises from the nature of God; and, like that, is immutable and eternal. Do not imagine that any change in your state can exempt you from a responsibility for your conduct. The mutability of creatures can make none in God.
A sense of this will lift you above the groveling pursuits of vice, and furnish a perpetual excitement to the cultivation of those virtues which alone can render you worthy and happy. Noting can be more absurd, nothing more pernicious in its consequences, than the sentiment that men are not amenable at the tribunal of God; for if they are at liberty to conduct as they please, without a liability of being called into account; it at once becomes indifferent to them what character their actions assume.
Let me urge upon you the importance of the preceding sentiments, respecting the existence of God, the immortality of the soul, and future responsibility. The world is more indebted to prevalence of these three doctrines for its order and government, than to all other causes. These doctrines, as to their full extent and influence, are peculiar to revelation. If you discard them, you enervate every virtuous sentiment; you undermine the foundations of society, and level the human to the brute creation.
You are now entering on a vast, dangerous and tumultuous theatre. A scene opens for the utmost exertions of all your abilities and talents, in support of religion and liberty. I now give you, gentlemen, my parting benediction, wishing you may live honored, respected and beloved in this world; and in the next, shine, like stars in the firmament, forever.
FINIS
The Rev. Ebenezer Fitch
President of Williams College
September I, 1799.
Excerpt from “Useful Knowledge and Religion, Recommended to the Pursuit and Improvement of the Young" in A Discourse, Addressed to the Candidates for the Baccalaureate in Williams College.”
“Covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.”
I Corinthians XII. 31.
Useful knowledge is a gift of high importance to the Minister of Christ. In no other business or calling is it so necessary that a man should be a scholar as well as a Christian. God has been, if I may so say, at infinite trouble and expense to rescue us from misery, and procure us happiness in the coming world. We are redeemed, not by corruptible things, as silver and gold; but by the precious blood of the SON of GOD. Had all the angels of heaven died for us it would have availed nothing. Divine justice demanded an infinite ransom. The death of the great EMMANUEL alone could be accepted as an adequate atonement for the guilt of fallen man. Such was the evil of sin, and such the worth of the soul in the view of omniscience! Thro’ Christ’s’ atoning blood, pardon, peace and eternal life are tendered to guilty men. Thus the Ministers of the PRINCE of Peace need all the aids of human learning as well as the teachings of his Spirit to qualify them for their important trust. They must be able by sound doctrine to stop the mouths of gainsayers.
Shall the man, rich in knowledge, hoard his treasure as a miser does his gold? Shameful selfishness! What! Forbid it honor, patriotism, piety! Talents for usefulness should not be buried in a napkin. To whom much is given, of them much is required, both by God and their country. Men of abilities, science, and virtue, easily acquire influence. They can do much for the encouragement of learning, true patriotism and good morals.
In this day especially, when every civil and religious institution is threatened with ruin; when a spirit of Vandalism, hostile to rational liberty and to everything dear to us as men and Christians, has already devastated the fairest parts of Europe…every man of science, every friend to virtue and his country, is called upon to exert every nerve to stem the raging torrent. You cannot innocently remain idle spectators of…the prostration of all good government, and the extirpation of morality and religion from the earth. Stand, then, at your posts and die like men, rather then suffer that liberty for which our fathers bled, that government which they established with so much wisdom, and that religion which they held dearer than life, to be sacrificed at the unhallowed shrine of atheism and [French] philosophy.
While you hold the vile arts of such deceivers in abhorrence, pity even the willing victims of their sophistry and falsehood. For what do wit, genius and learning now avail Hume and Bolinbroke, Shaftsbury and Voltaire? Prostituted as these talents were by them to the infamous cause of infidelity and vice, what purpose do they now answer, but as flaming torches to light them to the lowest pit of their infernal prison, and show them, in tenfold horrors, the regions of eternal darkness? What would they now give for one cheering ray of that heavenly religion which they hooted and despised?—for one drop of His atoning blood, whom, with the rage and malice of fiends, they so often reviled and blasphemed?
God claims your best services. They are justly and unalienably his due. Think often on what you owe to yourselves, to your friends, to your country and your God. Labor more to be virtuous than to be learned—to be good than to be great. Value less the applause of men, than the testimony of a good conscience, and the approbation of your Maker. The period allotted you for active usefulness is short; but the consequences of improving or neglecting it, will run through eternity.
We commend you to the grace, protection and blessing of Almighty God. May he…crown your faithful and benevolent services here, with immortal glory and felicity in the world above!
AMEN.
President of Williams College
September I, 1799.
Excerpt from “Useful Knowledge and Religion, Recommended to the Pursuit and Improvement of the Young" in A Discourse, Addressed to the Candidates for the Baccalaureate in Williams College.”
“Covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.”
I Corinthians XII. 31.
Useful knowledge is a gift of high importance to the Minister of Christ. In no other business or calling is it so necessary that a man should be a scholar as well as a Christian. God has been, if I may so say, at infinite trouble and expense to rescue us from misery, and procure us happiness in the coming world. We are redeemed, not by corruptible things, as silver and gold; but by the precious blood of the SON of GOD. Had all the angels of heaven died for us it would have availed nothing. Divine justice demanded an infinite ransom. The death of the great EMMANUEL alone could be accepted as an adequate atonement for the guilt of fallen man. Such was the evil of sin, and such the worth of the soul in the view of omniscience! Thro’ Christ’s’ atoning blood, pardon, peace and eternal life are tendered to guilty men. Thus the Ministers of the PRINCE of Peace need all the aids of human learning as well as the teachings of his Spirit to qualify them for their important trust. They must be able by sound doctrine to stop the mouths of gainsayers.
Shall the man, rich in knowledge, hoard his treasure as a miser does his gold? Shameful selfishness! What! Forbid it honor, patriotism, piety! Talents for usefulness should not be buried in a napkin. To whom much is given, of them much is required, both by God and their country. Men of abilities, science, and virtue, easily acquire influence. They can do much for the encouragement of learning, true patriotism and good morals.
In this day especially, when every civil and religious institution is threatened with ruin; when a spirit of Vandalism, hostile to rational liberty and to everything dear to us as men and Christians, has already devastated the fairest parts of Europe…every man of science, every friend to virtue and his country, is called upon to exert every nerve to stem the raging torrent. You cannot innocently remain idle spectators of…the prostration of all good government, and the extirpation of morality and religion from the earth. Stand, then, at your posts and die like men, rather then suffer that liberty for which our fathers bled, that government which they established with so much wisdom, and that religion which they held dearer than life, to be sacrificed at the unhallowed shrine of atheism and [French] philosophy.
While you hold the vile arts of such deceivers in abhorrence, pity even the willing victims of their sophistry and falsehood. For what do wit, genius and learning now avail Hume and Bolinbroke, Shaftsbury and Voltaire? Prostituted as these talents were by them to the infamous cause of infidelity and vice, what purpose do they now answer, but as flaming torches to light them to the lowest pit of their infernal prison, and show them, in tenfold horrors, the regions of eternal darkness? What would they now give for one cheering ray of that heavenly religion which they hooted and despised?—for one drop of His atoning blood, whom, with the rage and malice of fiends, they so often reviled and blasphemed?
God claims your best services. They are justly and unalienably his due. Think often on what you owe to yourselves, to your friends, to your country and your God. Labor more to be virtuous than to be learned—to be good than to be great. Value less the applause of men, than the testimony of a good conscience, and the approbation of your Maker. The period allotted you for active usefulness is short; but the consequences of improving or neglecting it, will run through eternity.
We commend you to the grace, protection and blessing of Almighty God. May he…crown your faithful and benevolent services here, with immortal glory and felicity in the world above!
AMEN.
PART II: GRACE FOR ETERNITY/GRACE FOR TODAY
Hebrews 12:28
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.
Still threshing through the grace verses in the NT. In Romans, 1&2 Corinthians, Galatians etc, I’ve gleaned that both salvation grace & specific grace comes from God. He gives to the broken, those who humbly recognize how desperately they need His power to live. We need grace to live. We need grace to see we are no longer slaves to the power of sin. We need grace on every level to bring every part of us under subjection to grace and to act out the faith in every daily trial/thought/action. God’s grace both saves us from eternal hell & the dark hell of blind human pride.
Romans 6:14 “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
SALVATION/FREEDOM GRACE:
Booyah! Through forgiveness & faith, I am not under the law anymore, and Paul says the “new way of the Spirit” has completely transcended the “old way of the written code.” The immovable law has been fulfilled through God’s GRACE in the death & blood of
LAW:
Jesus. Paul uses the laws governing marriage to illustrate how Jesus death has freed us from the Mosaic law (6:2-3). After a husband died, the wife was free from the law that bound her to him for life; through a death she was free to remarry. We died with Christ to the law of works – we are free to belong & give our hearts to him!
Here enters the concept of “cheap grace” (romans 6:15) that shocks the socks off Paul. Keep sinning so that God has “more of an opportunity” to give you grace???!!! Does a married woman commit adultery on her faithful husband because she knows he loves her better than life? NO!
CHEAP GRACE?
How do you combat the get-out-of-Hell-free mentality that comes with the done-deal nature of Jesus’ death & resurrection? Read Scripture. Nowhere in the ENTIRE Bible ever excuses man of his sin or lets him out of accountability with God. Grace isn’t needed on your death bed, it is needed AT ALL times. C.H. Spurgeon said, “Between here and heaven, every minute that the Christian lives will be a minute of grace.”
We must understand that, “Grace is never cheap. It is absolutely free to us, but infinitely expensive to God… Anyone who is prone to use grace as a license for irresponsible, sinful behavior, surely does not appreciate the infinite price God paid to give us His grace.”-Jerry Bridges, Pursuit of Holiness
“Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our church. Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjack's wares. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
HUMILITY & GRACE [logical; essential]: “We abuse grace when, after sinning, we dwell on the compassion and mercy of God to the exclusion of His holiness and hatred of sin.”-Jerry Bridges
Realize what were/are apart from the grace of Christ; remember the pit you came out of; remind yourself that your stone heart is flesh because God wrought a change. Isaiah talks about Israel being covered in open sores, and God healing her & caring for her. The princely King of white-hot holiness touches a leper.
That is grace.
Healing and rescue.
The Holy Spirit indwells us, and we need grace to be sensitive to its reminders—by daily drawing on the riches of Scripture & prayer, we will (thru grace) maintain a proper view of our condition in & apart from the VINE. Back to Jerry Bridges (sooo good!):
“Before we can learn the sufficiency of God’s grace, we must learn the insufficiency of ourselves. The more we see our sinfulness, the more we appreciate grace in its basic meaning of God’s undeserved favor. In a similar manner, the more we see our frailty, weakness, and dependence, the more we appreciate God’s grace in its dimension of His divine assistance. Just as grace shines more brilliantly against the dark background of our sin, so it also shines more brilliantly against the background of our human weakness.”-Transforming Grace
MAKE-THE-DOG-HUNT GRACE: [daily shots of eternity-caliber grace]
In a discussion on humility & service in politics, my journalism prof., John Grano, said “You’ve gotta actually iterate/apply this stuff, with God as your guide, on the everyday level…or the dog doesn’t hunt.” And a lot of the remaining mentions of grace in the Bible are in the context of practical application. (Interruption! my favorite verse in LIFE: “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16)
It’ll probably take me a couple more days (read: years) to chew through and understand the context/meaning of each mention of “grace,” but the first flavors are good ;). Both salvation grace & daily grace come through Jesus Christ, and serving him is a 24/7 lifestyle.
Jonathan Edwards saw it as a pretty strenuous mode of existence: “In efficacious grace we are not merely passive, nor yet does God do some and we do the rest. But God does all, and we do all. God produces all, we act all. For that is what produces, viz. our own acts. God is the only proper author and fountain; we only are the proper actors. We are in different respects, wholly passive and wholly active.”
Along the same lines, Bran Chapell said, “Resting on God's grace does not relieve us of our holy obligations; rather it should enable us to fulfill them.”- Holiness by Grace
LIVING GRACE:
We need grace to verbalize externally what is internal reality: we are new creations through Christ’s blood. Per James 3:6, we know the human mind-mouth connection is explosive stuff; the tongue is a fire. Ephesians 4:29 reminds us we need speaking grace: “Let no corrupt word proceed from your mouth…but only that which imparts grace to the hearers.” 2 Peter 3:18 says we are to “grow in grace & knowledge” and Colossians 4:6 says we should have vocabularies well salted with God’s gracious words.
Additionally, throughout the NT letters, we are told grace is necessary to:
• Love your spouse (1 Peter 3:7)
• Minister/preach (Ephesians 3:7-8)
• Glorify the name of Jesus (2 Thessalonians 1:12)
• Stand (Romans 5:2, 1 Peter 5:12)
• Do any kind of good work (2 Corinthians 9:8)
• Fellowship with believers (Galatians 2:9)
• Hope (2 Thessalonians 2:16)
• Sing/worship from the heart (Colossians 3:16)
• Be strong (2 Timothy 2:1)
• Submit to authority (1 Peter 5:5)
FINAL THOUGHTS:
My initial question after Sunday’s sermon was: “Do I daily need to pray for salvation grace poured out on me, or do I ask for a DIFFERENT kind of grace? And if the Holy Spirit fully indwells me RIGHT NOW, then why do I need to ask for grace? Doesn't God supply all my needs according to his riches & mercy?”
Dude, I haven’t answered this question, or even significantly clarified the definition of grace in its various forms, BUT I have seen that grace in mouth & mind & heart of a believer IS life & health & peace & hope. It humbles us & exalts Christ, and it causes (2 Cor 4:15) thanksgiving to abound & ultimately glorifies God.
OF COURSE I want to pray for that kind of grace every day, especially because the Holy Spirit indwells me. God sent his Spirit specifically for the purpose of creating a hunger & appreciation & understanding of His ways in our hearts. We must be grateful for the gift of mysterious, inexplicably-undeserved grace EACH time God supplies our needs. The final verse in Revelation 22 that closes the 31,103 preceding verses says, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,” and THAT sums up the Law & the Prophets!
CAN I GET AN AMEN!!!
(and some more caffeine?)
Hebrews 12:28
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.
Still threshing through the grace verses in the NT. In Romans, 1&2 Corinthians, Galatians etc, I’ve gleaned that both salvation grace & specific grace comes from God. He gives to the broken, those who humbly recognize how desperately they need His power to live. We need grace to live. We need grace to see we are no longer slaves to the power of sin. We need grace on every level to bring every part of us under subjection to grace and to act out the faith in every daily trial/thought/action. God’s grace both saves us from eternal hell & the dark hell of blind human pride.
Romans 6:14 “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
SALVATION/FREEDOM GRACE:
Booyah! Through forgiveness & faith, I am not under the law anymore, and Paul says the “new way of the Spirit” has completely transcended the “old way of the written code.” The immovable law has been fulfilled through God’s GRACE in the death & blood of
LAW:
Jesus. Paul uses the laws governing marriage to illustrate how Jesus death has freed us from the Mosaic law (6:2-3). After a husband died, the wife was free from the law that bound her to him for life; through a death she was free to remarry. We died with Christ to the law of works – we are free to belong & give our hearts to him!
Here enters the concept of “cheap grace” (romans 6:15) that shocks the socks off Paul. Keep sinning so that God has “more of an opportunity” to give you grace???!!! Does a married woman commit adultery on her faithful husband because she knows he loves her better than life? NO!
CHEAP GRACE?
How do you combat the get-out-of-Hell-free mentality that comes with the done-deal nature of Jesus’ death & resurrection? Read Scripture. Nowhere in the ENTIRE Bible ever excuses man of his sin or lets him out of accountability with God. Grace isn’t needed on your death bed, it is needed AT ALL times. C.H. Spurgeon said, “Between here and heaven, every minute that the Christian lives will be a minute of grace.”
We must understand that, “Grace is never cheap. It is absolutely free to us, but infinitely expensive to God… Anyone who is prone to use grace as a license for irresponsible, sinful behavior, surely does not appreciate the infinite price God paid to give us His grace.”-Jerry Bridges, Pursuit of Holiness
“Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our church. Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjack's wares. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
HUMILITY & GRACE [logical; essential]: “We abuse grace when, after sinning, we dwell on the compassion and mercy of God to the exclusion of His holiness and hatred of sin.”-Jerry Bridges
Realize what were/are apart from the grace of Christ; remember the pit you came out of; remind yourself that your stone heart is flesh because God wrought a change. Isaiah talks about Israel being covered in open sores, and God healing her & caring for her. The princely King of white-hot holiness touches a leper.
That is grace.
Healing and rescue.
The Holy Spirit indwells us, and we need grace to be sensitive to its reminders—by daily drawing on the riches of Scripture & prayer, we will (thru grace) maintain a proper view of our condition in & apart from the VINE. Back to Jerry Bridges (sooo good!):
“Before we can learn the sufficiency of God’s grace, we must learn the insufficiency of ourselves. The more we see our sinfulness, the more we appreciate grace in its basic meaning of God’s undeserved favor. In a similar manner, the more we see our frailty, weakness, and dependence, the more we appreciate God’s grace in its dimension of His divine assistance. Just as grace shines more brilliantly against the dark background of our sin, so it also shines more brilliantly against the background of our human weakness.”-Transforming Grace
MAKE-THE-DOG-HUNT GRACE: [daily shots of eternity-caliber grace]
In a discussion on humility & service in politics, my journalism prof., John Grano, said “You’ve gotta actually iterate/apply this stuff, with God as your guide, on the everyday level…or the dog doesn’t hunt.” And a lot of the remaining mentions of grace in the Bible are in the context of practical application. (Interruption! my favorite verse in LIFE: “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16)
It’ll probably take me a couple more days (read: years) to chew through and understand the context/meaning of each mention of “grace,” but the first flavors are good ;). Both salvation grace & daily grace come through Jesus Christ, and serving him is a 24/7 lifestyle.
Jonathan Edwards saw it as a pretty strenuous mode of existence: “In efficacious grace we are not merely passive, nor yet does God do some and we do the rest. But God does all, and we do all. God produces all, we act all. For that is what produces, viz. our own acts. God is the only proper author and fountain; we only are the proper actors. We are in different respects, wholly passive and wholly active.”
Along the same lines, Bran Chapell said, “Resting on God's grace does not relieve us of our holy obligations; rather it should enable us to fulfill them.”- Holiness by Grace
LIVING GRACE:
We need grace to verbalize externally what is internal reality: we are new creations through Christ’s blood. Per James 3:6, we know the human mind-mouth connection is explosive stuff; the tongue is a fire. Ephesians 4:29 reminds us we need speaking grace: “Let no corrupt word proceed from your mouth…but only that which imparts grace to the hearers.” 2 Peter 3:18 says we are to “grow in grace & knowledge” and Colossians 4:6 says we should have vocabularies well salted with God’s gracious words.
Additionally, throughout the NT letters, we are told grace is necessary to:
• Love your spouse (1 Peter 3:7)
• Minister/preach (Ephesians 3:7-8)
• Glorify the name of Jesus (2 Thessalonians 1:12)
• Stand (Romans 5:2, 1 Peter 5:12)
• Do any kind of good work (2 Corinthians 9:8)
• Fellowship with believers (Galatians 2:9)
• Hope (2 Thessalonians 2:16)
• Sing/worship from the heart (Colossians 3:16)
• Be strong (2 Timothy 2:1)
• Submit to authority (1 Peter 5:5)
FINAL THOUGHTS:
My initial question after Sunday’s sermon was: “Do I daily need to pray for salvation grace poured out on me, or do I ask for a DIFFERENT kind of grace? And if the Holy Spirit fully indwells me RIGHT NOW, then why do I need to ask for grace? Doesn't God supply all my needs according to his riches & mercy?”
Dude, I haven’t answered this question, or even significantly clarified the definition of grace in its various forms, BUT I have seen that grace in mouth & mind & heart of a believer IS life & health & peace & hope. It humbles us & exalts Christ, and it causes (2 Cor 4:15) thanksgiving to abound & ultimately glorifies God.
OF COURSE I want to pray for that kind of grace every day, especially because the Holy Spirit indwells me. God sent his Spirit specifically for the purpose of creating a hunger & appreciation & understanding of His ways in our hearts. We must be grateful for the gift of mysterious, inexplicably-undeserved grace EACH time God supplies our needs. The final verse in Revelation 22 that closes the 31,103 preceding verses says, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,” and THAT sums up the Law & the Prophets!
CAN I GET AN AMEN!!!
(and some more caffeine?)
Grace, Part I
Hey my homies!
Sunday showed me that though I’m grateful for God’s grace, I’m pretty foggy on specifics, which is a pretty sad state of affairs for a not-baby Christian.
We MUST establish in our hearts WHAT God’s grace through Christ REALLy is to us EVERY DAY, or else we won’t be able to combat ick philosophies & “christian liberals. “Certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” (jude 1:4)
What does the Bible say about this concept, embodied in a five-letter word, that saves us from a just hell & adopts us into a merciful heaven? Here's the first part of my quest for insight into grace, mostly dealing with the actual word "grace.
I guess my thoughts are: Christ was revealed once & as a consequence, I am saved through his blood. Grace did a mighty work. Now, do I daily need to pray for that same sin-damning grace poured out on me to walk with God in various & specific situations, or do I ask for a DIFFERENT kind of grace? And if (indeed!) the Holy Spirit fully indwells me RIGHT NOW, then why do I need to ask for grace? Doesn't God supply all my needs according to his riches & mercy?
Here’s what I came up with last night:
In the NIV, “grace” is used 127 times. Only 11 of those are in the Old Testament.
In the NKJ, “grace” or “graceful” occurs 145 times, with 21 of those in the OT.
In the OT, “grace” most usually appears to mean “favor in the sight of,” as in Esther finds grace in the eyes of the King, both Noah and Moses find grace in God’s sight.
(Exodus 33:17 the LORD said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found gracein My sight, and I know you by name.”) There is also “graceful ornaments” “grace poured out on your lips” “graceful proportions” “grace in the wilderness to rest” and “a graceful doe.”
The first OT reference where I found the words “grace” and “given” specifically put together in God’s hands in an act of out-giving is Psalm 84:11. David writes “The LORD God is a sun and shield;The LORD will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly.”
Proverbs 3: 34 is the next OT reference (which I think is quoted in James). It says “Surely He scorns the scornful, But gives grace to the humble.”
So far, if we’re ignoring the stories of applied grace ALL through the OT, the word itself (NKJ version) is infrequent & still mysterious. That all changes when the prophecy in Zechariah 12:10 is fulfilled.
Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.
COOL NOTE!: Zech 12:10 is the LAST mention of grace in the OT. The next time “grace” appears is in Luke 2, talking about the child Jesus! Whoever said the devil was into details?
Now movin' on to the good stuff:
JESUS CHRIST = GRACE
(and since i'm addicted to quotes...)
"Thou Son of the Blessed, what grace was manifest in Thy condescension! Grace brought Thee down from heaven; Grace stripped Thee of Thy glory; Grace made Thee poor and despicable; Grace made Thee bear such burdens of sin, such burdens of sorrow, such burdens of God’s curse as are unspeakable.” - John Bunyan
Bunyan's passion makes understanding God's grace a priority, as does the NT. In the New Testament, grace hits the lexical jackpot & starts cropping up EVERYWHERE in relation to Jesus, God, and Christians.
Interestingly, “grace” is only used 4 times in the Gospels (I’m searching NKJ on biblegateway); once in Luke 2, and then 3 times in John chapter 1.
NT Grace References: Jesus: As a strong-spirited child, the grace of God was upon him (luke 2), the WORD dwelt among us full of grace and truth; we have received Christ’s fullness, grace for grace and though we got the law from Moses, we get GRACE through Jesus Christ (john 1).
Pause. Better define “grace” before I look into the remaining 120 times its used. Oh goody, I get to dive into Louis Berkhof’s Systematic Theology.
He says Grace:
- “May be defined as “the unmerited favor of God toward all men displayed in His general care for them” (Ryrie).
-
- “Common grace is “(a) those general operations of the Holy Spirit whereby He, without renewing the heart, exercises such a moral influence on man through His general or special revelation, that sin is restrained, order is maintained in social life, and civil righteousness is promoted; or,
- (b) those general blessings, such as rain and sunshine, food and drink, clothing and shelter, which God imparts to all men indiscriminately where and in what measure it seems good to Him.”
(Banner of Truth, p. 436.)
I’m not so concerned with “common” grace at present. At issue is the operational definition/purpose/need/extent of SAVING/SANCTIFYING GRACE. (and this is NOT a research paper, so formatting be darned).
So I turned to Jerry Bridges, author of the Pursuit of Holiness and Transforming Grace. Bridges says “God saves us by His grace and transforms us more and more into the likeness of His Son by His grace. In all our trials and afflictions, He sustains and strengthens us by His grace. He calls us by grace to perform our own unique function within the Body of Christ. Then, again by grace, He gives to each of us the spiritual gifts necessary to fulfill our calling. As we serve Him, He makes that service acceptable to Himself by grace, and then rewards us a hundredfold by grace.” -Transforming Grace
Alistair Begg says “As a result of grace, we have been saved from sin’s penalty. One day we will be saved from sin’s presence. In the meantime we are being saved from sin’s power.” - Made For His Pleasure
Basically, grace’s muscles have become visible muscles since the OT days, in that now it is the sustaining/strengthening everyday transformer through which God saves us in Christ and calls & enables us to serve him. Grace has been embodied in Christ, and it is impossible to be IN Christ without a hunger for grace in ALL things. (As usual, dead guys say it best:
“Is it possible to be a Christian and yet destitute of this desire to grow in grace? No, it is not! I tell you, it is not! If you have no concern to grow in grace – there is no grace in you! You are a piece of dead wood – and not a living branch! You are a spiritual corpse – and not a living man! In this state there can be no growth – for dead things never grow!” -John Angell James, Christian Progress, 1853).
DEAD THINGS NEVER GROW. AND I AM DEFINITELY NOT DEAD, so 1 pete 1:13 applies – “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
I know God gives wisdom to those who ask, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask you if you have any further thoughts/resources/insight into "What is the role of grace in the daily life of a Christian?"
TO BE CONTINUED….after i sleep ;)
Sunday showed me that though I’m grateful for God’s grace, I’m pretty foggy on specifics, which is a pretty sad state of affairs for a not-baby Christian.
We MUST establish in our hearts WHAT God’s grace through Christ REALLy is to us EVERY DAY, or else we won’t be able to combat ick philosophies & “christian liberals. “Certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” (jude 1:4)
What does the Bible say about this concept, embodied in a five-letter word, that saves us from a just hell & adopts us into a merciful heaven? Here's the first part of my quest for insight into grace, mostly dealing with the actual word "grace.
I guess my thoughts are: Christ was revealed once & as a consequence, I am saved through his blood. Grace did a mighty work. Now, do I daily need to pray for that same sin-damning grace poured out on me to walk with God in various & specific situations, or do I ask for a DIFFERENT kind of grace? And if (indeed!) the Holy Spirit fully indwells me RIGHT NOW, then why do I need to ask for grace? Doesn't God supply all my needs according to his riches & mercy?
Here’s what I came up with last night:
In the NIV, “grace” is used 127 times. Only 11 of those are in the Old Testament.
In the NKJ, “grace” or “graceful” occurs 145 times, with 21 of those in the OT.
In the OT, “grace” most usually appears to mean “favor in the sight of,” as in Esther finds grace in the eyes of the King, both Noah and Moses find grace in God’s sight.
(Exodus 33:17 the LORD said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found gracein My sight, and I know you by name.”) There is also “graceful ornaments” “grace poured out on your lips” “graceful proportions” “grace in the wilderness to rest” and “a graceful doe.”
The first OT reference where I found the words “grace” and “given” specifically put together in God’s hands in an act of out-giving is Psalm 84:11. David writes “The LORD God is a sun and shield;The LORD will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly.”
Proverbs 3: 34 is the next OT reference (which I think is quoted in James). It says “Surely He scorns the scornful, But gives grace to the humble.”
So far, if we’re ignoring the stories of applied grace ALL through the OT, the word itself (NKJ version) is infrequent & still mysterious. That all changes when the prophecy in Zechariah 12:10 is fulfilled.
Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.
COOL NOTE!: Zech 12:10 is the LAST mention of grace in the OT. The next time “grace” appears is in Luke 2, talking about the child Jesus! Whoever said the devil was into details?
Now movin' on to the good stuff:
JESUS CHRIST = GRACE
(and since i'm addicted to quotes...)
"Thou Son of the Blessed, what grace was manifest in Thy condescension! Grace brought Thee down from heaven; Grace stripped Thee of Thy glory; Grace made Thee poor and despicable; Grace made Thee bear such burdens of sin, such burdens of sorrow, such burdens of God’s curse as are unspeakable.” - John Bunyan
Bunyan's passion makes understanding God's grace a priority, as does the NT. In the New Testament, grace hits the lexical jackpot & starts cropping up EVERYWHERE in relation to Jesus, God, and Christians.
Interestingly, “grace” is only used 4 times in the Gospels (I’m searching NKJ on biblegateway); once in Luke 2, and then 3 times in John chapter 1.
NT Grace References: Jesus: As a strong-spirited child, the grace of God was upon him (luke 2), the WORD dwelt among us full of grace and truth; we have received Christ’s fullness, grace for grace and though we got the law from Moses, we get GRACE through Jesus Christ (john 1).
Pause. Better define “grace” before I look into the remaining 120 times its used. Oh goody, I get to dive into Louis Berkhof’s Systematic Theology.
He says Grace:
- “May be defined as “the unmerited favor of God toward all men displayed in His general care for them” (Ryrie).
-
- “Common grace is “(a) those general operations of the Holy Spirit whereby He, without renewing the heart, exercises such a moral influence on man through His general or special revelation, that sin is restrained, order is maintained in social life, and civil righteousness is promoted; or,
- (b) those general blessings, such as rain and sunshine, food and drink, clothing and shelter, which God imparts to all men indiscriminately where and in what measure it seems good to Him.”
(Banner of Truth, p. 436.)
I’m not so concerned with “common” grace at present. At issue is the operational definition/purpose/need/extent of SAVING/SANCTIFYING GRACE. (and this is NOT a research paper, so formatting be darned).
So I turned to Jerry Bridges, author of the Pursuit of Holiness and Transforming Grace. Bridges says “God saves us by His grace and transforms us more and more into the likeness of His Son by His grace. In all our trials and afflictions, He sustains and strengthens us by His grace. He calls us by grace to perform our own unique function within the Body of Christ. Then, again by grace, He gives to each of us the spiritual gifts necessary to fulfill our calling. As we serve Him, He makes that service acceptable to Himself by grace, and then rewards us a hundredfold by grace.” -Transforming Grace
Alistair Begg says “As a result of grace, we have been saved from sin’s penalty. One day we will be saved from sin’s presence. In the meantime we are being saved from sin’s power.” - Made For His Pleasure
Basically, grace’s muscles have become visible muscles since the OT days, in that now it is the sustaining/strengthening everyday transformer through which God saves us in Christ and calls & enables us to serve him. Grace has been embodied in Christ, and it is impossible to be IN Christ without a hunger for grace in ALL things. (As usual, dead guys say it best:
“Is it possible to be a Christian and yet destitute of this desire to grow in grace? No, it is not! I tell you, it is not! If you have no concern to grow in grace – there is no grace in you! You are a piece of dead wood – and not a living branch! You are a spiritual corpse – and not a living man! In this state there can be no growth – for dead things never grow!” -John Angell James, Christian Progress, 1853).
DEAD THINGS NEVER GROW. AND I AM DEFINITELY NOT DEAD, so 1 pete 1:13 applies – “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
I know God gives wisdom to those who ask, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask you if you have any further thoughts/resources/insight into "What is the role of grace in the daily life of a Christian?"
TO BE CONTINUED….after i sleep ;)
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