blood obtained eternal redemption"* for His Church; "mercy and truth meet together" in His expiation; and His death is thus the central point to which the eye of faith is now directed. Hence Paul says-" We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God." +

The doctrine of the Apostolic Church is simple and consistent, as well as spiritual and sublime. The way of redemption it discloses is not an extempore provision of Supreme benevolence called forth by an unforeseen contingency, but a plan devised from eternity, and fitted to display all the divine perfections in most impressive combination. Whilst it recognises the voluntary agency of man, it upholds the sovereignty of God. Jehovah gra

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ciously secures the salvation of every heir of the promises by both contriving and carrying out all the arrangements of the "well ordered covenant." His Spirit quickens the dead soul, and works in us "to will and to do of His good pleasure." + The Father hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love; having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved." §

The theological term Trinity was not in use in the days of the apostles, but it does not follow that the doctrine now so designated was then unknown; for the New Testament clearly indicates that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost exist in the unity of the Godhead.|| Neither can it be inferred from the absence of any fixed formula of doc

* Heb. ix. 12.

§ Eph. i. 4-6.

+ 1 Cor. i. 24.

Phil. ii. 13.

|| Matt. xxviii. 19; John x. 30, xv. 26.

trine that the early followers of our Lord did not all profess the same sentiments, for they had "one Lord, one faith, one baptism." * The document commonly called "the Apostles' Creed" is certainly of very great antiquity, but no part of it proceeded from those to whom it is attributed by its title; † and its rather bald and dry detail of facts and principles obviously betokens a decline from the simple and earnest spirit of primitive Christianity. Though the early converts, before baptism, made a declaration of their faith, there is in the sacred volume no authorised summary of doctrinal belief; and in this fact we have a proof of the far-seeing wisdom by which the New Testament was dictated; as heresy is ever changing its features, and a test of orthodoxy, suited to the wants of one age, would not exclude the errorists of another. It has been left to the existing rulers of the Church to frame such ecclesiastical symbols as circumstances require; and it is a striking evidence of the perfection of the Bible that it has been found capable of furnishing an antidote to every form of heterodoxy which has ever appeared.

It may be added that the doctrine of the Apostolic Church is eminently practical. The great object of the mission of Jesus was to "save His people from their sins;"§ and the tendency of all the teachings of the New Testament is to promote sanctification. But the holiness of the gospel is not a shy asceticism which sits in a cloister in moody melancholy, so that its light never shines before men; but a generous consecration of the heart to God, which leads us to confess Christ in the presence of gainsayers, and which prompts us to delight in works of benevolence. The true Christian should be happy as well as holy; for the knowledge of the highest truth is connected with the purest enjoyment. This "wisdom is better than rubies, and all + See Bingham, iii. 323–327. § Matt. i. 21.

* Eph. iv. 5.

Acts viii. 37; 1 Pet. iii. 21.

the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it." The Apostle Paul, when a prisoner at Rome, had comforts to which Nero was an utter stranger. Even then

he could say " I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound; everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." When all around the believer may be dark and discouraging, there may be sunshine in his soul. There are no joys comparable to the joys of a Christian. They are the gifts of the Spirit of God, and the first-fruits of eternal blessedness; they are serene and heavenly, solid and satisfying.

Prov. viii. 11.

Phil. iv. 11-14.

CHAPTER III.

THE HERESIES OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE.

THE Greek word translated heresy* in our authorised version of the New Testament, did not primarily convey an unfavourable idea. It simply denoted a choice or preference. It was often employed to indicate the adoption of a particular class of philosophical sentiments; and thus it came to signify a sect or denomination. Hence we find ancient writers speaking of the heresy of the Stoics, the heresy of the Epicureans, and the heresy of the Academics. The Jews who used the Greek language did not consider that the word necessarily reflected on the party it was intended to describe; and Josephus, who was himself a Pharisee, accordingly discourses of the three heresies of the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes.† The Apostle Paul, when speaking of his own history prior to his conversion, says, that "after the strictest heresy" of his religion he lived a Pharisee. We learn, too, from the book of the Acts, that the early Christians were known as "the heresy of the Nazarenes." But very soon the word began to be employed to denote something which the gospel could not sanction; and accordingly, in the Epistle to the Galatians, heresies are enumerated among the works of the flesh.|| It

"Aiperis autem Græcé, ab electione dicitur: quòd scilicet eam sibi unusquisque eligat disciplinam, quam putat esse meliorem."-Hieronymus in Epist. ad Galat. c. 5. See also Tertullian, "De Præscrip." c. 6.

+ "Life," § 2; "Antiq." xiii. 5, 9. § Acts xxiv. 5.

+ Acts xxvi. 5.

|| Gal. v. 20.

*

is not difficult to explain why Christian writers at an early date were led to attach such a meaning to a term which had hitherto been understood to imply nothing reprehensible. The New Testament teaches us to regard an erroneous theology as sinful, and traces every deviation from "the one faith" of the gospel to the corruption of a darkened intellect. It declares-" He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God; and this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”+ Thus it was that the most ancient ecclesiastical authors described all classes of unbelievers, sceptics, and innovators, under the general name of heretics. Persons who in matters of religion made a false choice, of whatever kind, were viewed as" vainly puffed up by a fleshly mind," or as under the influence of some species of mental depravity.

It thus appears that heresy, in the first century, denoted every deviation from the Christian faith. Pagans and Jews, as well as professors of apocryphal forms of the gospel, were called heretics. But in the New Testament our attention is directed chiefly to errorists who in some way disturbed the Church, and adulterated the doctrine taught by our Lord and His apostles. Paul refers to such characters when he says "A man that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject;"§ and Peter also alludes to them when he speaks of false teachers who were to appear and "privily bring in damnable heresies." ||

The earliest corrupters of the gospel were unquestionably those who endeavoured to impose the observance of the Mosaic law on the converted Gentiles. Their proceedings were condemned in the Council of Jerusalem, mentioned in * Eph. iv. 17, 18; Col. i. 13. + John iii. 18, 19. Mosheim has overlooked this fact, and has, in consequence, been betrayed into some false criticism when treating on this subject.

§ Titus iii. 10.

|| 2 Pet. ii. 1.