11. FIRMNESS is that quality of
the benevolence of God that disposes him to abide by that which he
sees to be wise and good at all events. The love of God seems to
be regarded by some as what we call mere good nature. It is spoken
of as if it were an emotion of fondness, a state of mind that paid
comparatively little regard to moral discriminations and
distinctions, or to moral principle; a disposition to gratify all
classes; and a kind of tenderness that cannot endure to be severe
and firm in the execution of law, even though severity and
firmness be demanded by the public good. We are sometimes asked,
Would a parent execute such wrath upon his children? Could a
parent punish forever? And thus the love of God is supposed to be
parental really in the sense of parental weakness; but it is
perfectly apparent on the face of the universe that God's love is
not a weakness, as that of parents often is. Who does not perceive
on the face of the world's history a succession of events that
show that God is anything but weak, and yielding, and
undiscriminating in his love and dealings with his
creatures?
Skeptics have stumbled at the Bible
because of its representations of the severity with which God
deals with his creatures. There is an aspect of inflexibility,
firmness, and even sternness, sometimes presented in the Bible
representations of God, from which they turn away. They seem
disposed to represent God as all mercy. Indeed, it is plain that
they so understand his love to consist in a disposition rather to
pet and indulge sinners, than in a disposition thoroughly to
administer a moral government for the public good. But how
strikingly is the firmness of God manifested in the administration
of physical government, and in the history of earthquakes, of
pestilences, or shipwrecks, of storms. If physical law is violated
the chariot of his providence is driven axle-deep through the
blood and bones of those who have thus thrown themselves before it
in the violation of the laws of the material universe. What
earthly parent has firmness enough to see a ship freighted with
his own children dash upon the rocks, or go to the bottom in a
storm! What earthly parent could endure to see among his own
offspring, or even among human beings anywhere, what God is
witnessing every day and every hour! And these desolations only
evince his inflexible firmness in the execution of the laws of his
providential government. Skeptics who reject the Bible because of
its representations of the inflexibility and severity of God,
would do well to take lessons of him in the administration of his
physical government. They confounded the parental with the
governmental relation.
It is perfectly plain that it is the
same God who rules in the material universe, that has revealed
himself in the Bible. His love is not a weakness. It can endure
the trial of doing what is necessary to be done to sustain his
government, cost what it may. It required great firmness to
support his own authority by sending his Son to make an atonement
for sin. It required great firmness to destroy the cities of Sodom
and Gomorrah, to destroy Jerusalem, to destroy the old world with
a flood; but his love is equal to it. It is not cruelty in a ruler
to sustain wholesome laws and order, and secure the public good,
if need be, by severe measures. It is an infirmity and a weakness
in a ruler when he cannot endure to take the measures that are
essential to the public weal.
From the very nature of God's
benevolence and omniscience, it must be true that he will not
yield a point where the public good demands action. He is a ruler;
he cannot consult private feelings at the public expense. His
compassion is great; his forbearance is great; he delighteth in
mercy and judgment is his strange work; yet his firmness is equal
to the trial of executing vengeance and carrying out the measures
necessary to secure the good upon which his heart is set at any
cost.
12. SEVERITY. This term is used
sometimes in a bad, and sometimes in a good sense. When in a bad
sense it implies selfishness, when in a good sense it is an
attribute of benevolence. As applied to God, severity is that
quality of his benevolence that causes him to take stringent but
benevolent measures in promoting the public good, where these are
needed. We often see occurrences around us that to us appear to be
severe. They are, however, never so in a bad sense. They are only
strong and decided measures demanded by the exigencies of his
moral government. It should be remembered that God's benevolence
is a righteous benevolence, a holy, sacred benevolence, a
sin-hating benevolence, a law-sustaining benevolence. Severity,
then, in a good sense, must be one of its attributes. There is a
point beyond which forbearance is no virtue in a ruler; there are
occasions on which hesitancy and holding back the bolt of justice
were ruin.
What striking instances we sometimes
see in providence. A little neglect on the part of a mother, a
little ignorance or indiscretion in the nursing of her child, and
the result is that it expires in agony in her arms. A slight
carelessness and a habitation is burned with all its inmates. A
ship is sunk freighted with missionaries, or with multitudes of
souls in no way implicated in the carelessness. Nevertheless, they
had committed themselves to the conduct, superintendence and
providence of the captain and the crew, and they must abide the
consequences. No words can adequately describe the apparent
severity of some of the dispensations of providence. Now these are
facts in the universe of God; and they are quite as difficult to
reconcile with our ideas of benevolence and goodness as any
recorded in the Bible. Why, then, should the Bible be rejected,
and yet the existence and government of God in the universe be
admitted?
Cases have occurred in which the
radically orthodox views have been rejected because of the severe
aspect in which they represent the character of God. But logical
necessity forced the same persons to reject the Bible for the same
reason; and then to reject the providence of God for the same
reason; and ultimately of course to reject the very existence of
God. Facts are facts. The world is; these facts are; God is; God
is love; these facts are consistent with his love. They are
accounted for only by the fact that his love is disinterested
benevolence; a law-promulgating, law-sustaining, just, holy, as
well as merciful love. It is often necessary for a parent to
exercise wholesome severity, a benevolent severity, in the
treatment of his children. It is often so with rulers of states
and nations; it must be so in every government; and a good ruler
must have firmness, and sometimes must exercise
severity.
Severity does not imply injustice,
does not imply cruelty, but the reverse. It were unjust to the
public not to execute laws, and to deal sternly and severely when
laws are set at naught and efforts made to upturn the foundations
of society and government, and destroy all good. Sometimes
Universalists appeal to the prejudices and selfishness of men by
inquiring, Would you banish one of your children forever? Would
you be so cruel as that? What earthly parent would do it? And do
you represent God as worse than human beings? I answer, No; but he
is infinitely better. Earthly parents are too weak and often too
wicked to take the needed measures to control their children, even
for their own good. But suppose a parent to have a large family of
children, and suppose his oldest son to be exceedingly profligate,
and to set himself deliberately to debauch and ruin the morals of
the whole family. He persuaded the younger sons to drunkenness,
the daughters to indelicacy and uncleanness, and the whole of them
to rebellion against parental authority. Suppose that no entreaty
or influence that the parent can use can restrain this son. Now it
is no want of benevolence in the parent to banish this son from
his house. It were cruelty to retain him; if he cannot be
restrained he must be banished. The father has no right to indulge
his parental feelings toward him to the injury and ruin of all the
rest of his children. How absurd to appeal to him and ask, Are you
so cruel as to banish this son from your house forever? It is more
pertinent to ask, Are you so cruel as to allow this son to ruin
the whole family?
Just so it is under the government of
God. His government is moral, not physical and a government of
force. It is a government of moral law, moral considerations and
persuasions. Now if moral considerations will not restrain, then
sinners must be destroyed. It is cruelty to the universe at large
to let them go unpunished, when all appropriate means have been
used for their reformation. In such a case, longer forbearance
were a crime and not a virtue. Love that would not punish is a
weakness and an infirmity, and not that which becomes a
ruler.
13. EFFICIENCY. Efficiency is that
quality of the divine benevolence that disposes God to be active,
energetic, and zealous in the promotion of the great interests of
the universe. God's love, remember, is benevolence and not an
emotion. Emotions may have no efficiency; and the same is true of
passive affections and feelings of fondness. They may expend
themselves in feelings, in tears, or smiles, or petting; but such
is not the nature of God's love. It is the infinite will in a
state of committal to the public good. It is infinite energy; and
it is the energizing of this love that hung out the heavens,
created the entire universe, and that rolls the wheels of his
government, both natural and moral, with an almighty power and
energy.
The benevolence of God is an ultimate
choice, or committal to the promotion of good. The attribute of
efficiency gives existence to the executive volitions that create
and govern. The volitions of God that appear in time, that create,
sustain, and govern the entire universe, are nothing but
expressions of the efficiency of his benevolence. He is spoken of
in Scripture as being clothed with zeal in the execution of his
purposes as with a cloak; and when great and wonderful things have
been predicated, it is said that the zeal of the Lord of Hosts
will do this.
By efficiency, then, as an attribute
of the divine benevolence I mean, that it is the quality of his
benevolence to be infinitely active and persevering in the
accomplishment of his great designs. He does not say, Be ye warmed
and clothed, and make no efforts; he does not pity, and exhaust
himself in feeling that produces no good; but his executive
volitions flash with infinite power over the entire universe; and
the forked lightings are only the faintest glimmerings and
expressions of the infinite energy with which he pursues his
course.
14. SIMPLICITY. Simplicity is the
quality of unity. There is no mixture in the benevolence of God.
He is said to be love. He has but one end to which he is devoted;
his ultimate choice and purpose are a unit, always one, always the
same.
All the forms of virtue of which we
speak resolve themselves, in their last analysis, into qualities
or attributes of benevolence, as we have seen in these lectures on
the moral attributes of God. Virtue, then is one. It consists in
benevolence; and its various expressions and manifestations are
but expressions and manifestations of one state of mind, to wit,
goodwill. That God's benevolence is unmixed, we know by an
irresistible conviction. We cannot conceive of God as being
otherwise than perfect.
15. IMMUTABILITY is one of the moral
attributes. Choice is conditioned upon some object of choice. When
the will has made its election and committed itself, it cannot
change its position except upon the condition of some motive, or
at least apparent reason for doing so; or perhaps it is more
correct to say, that the will receives all the considerations and
influences which are conditions of its action, either through the
intellect or the sensibility. When the will has chosen, either the
intellectual views must be changed, or the feelings must be
changed, as a condition of the will's changing; otherwise the will
would change its purpose, choice, or preference, without any
conceivable or possible object. Now while it is true that no
feeling, no desire, no thought, no intellectual discovery or
consideration can force the will; yet some feeling, desire,
thought, or intellectual apprehension or consideration is a
condition of choice. In other words, the will's actions are
conditioned upon some consideration presented through the
sensibility or intellect as an inducement to choose. If it be a
feeling, the will may act to gratify it; if it be a thought or
intellectual perception, an object then is presented as a reason
for its action. All creatures are finite. The intellectual
perceptions and the feelings of finite beings are subject to
continual change; so that immutability can be no attribute of
their goodness or of their sinfulness. But it is not so with God.
God, as we have seen and shall soon farther observe, is infinite
in all his natural attributes and in all his moral perfections. He
is naturally omniscient; and no new thought or intellectual view
can ever be present as a condition of his change of choice. Being
omniscient, all the considerations that make him feel are
eternally present necessarily considered, and are seen with all
the force with which they ever can be seen. Hence, there is
infinite fulness, stability, and immutability in all his feelings.
His consciousness is one.
Now, if God be absolutely infinite,
his mind has from eternity been made up, his choice settled, his
whole being committed to one end, and that too in view of every
possible or conceivable consideration presented either through his
intelligence or his sensibility, that can be conditions of his
change of mind. Now as his whole being is a unit and a present,
his whole experience and consciousness an infinite and present
fulness, change with him is a contradiction. Nor is this
inconsistent with his eternal goodness. If in view of every
conceivable reason for choice, he has chosen once for all, and his
choice is forever immutable, his virtue is all the greater for
that. He has committed himself without any variableness or shadow
of turning, with a certain knowledge that he never should change,
and with a solemn intention never to change.
Now to speak after the manner of men
and say, that his continuing in this state is no virtue if change
is impossible to him, is absurd. For the only reason why change is
impossible to him is because every conceivable reason for action
has been taken into the account, and his mind unalterably settled.
The stability, therefore, and immutability of his goodness is one
of its infinite excellencies, for the reason that it actually
embraces and acts in accordance with every possible consideration
that ought to influence mind.
But strictly and properly speaking,
God does not live on as we do through successive periods of his
own existence without change. Change in us is change of
consciousness. We are aware of change only by the changes in our
consciousness. Did not our consciousness change we should have no
conception of the passage of time. Time to us would be only
present, did our consciousness always remain the same. But for
changes in consciousness, time past, present, and future would
have no signification. It should be understood that the absolute
omniscience of God renders it certain that his consciousness is
invariable. The conception is of course beyond our comprehension,
as the infinity of all his attributes is. We know that so it must
be, but when we attempt to grasp it, it is higher than heaven; we
cannot attain unto it. We know it must be true, and yet we cannot
conceive how it can be true.
Should it be asked, since God is a
moral agent and therefore free, is not change possible to him? I
answer, that the freedom of the will does not imply power to
change a choice without any possible or conceivable object or
reason for the choice, existing either in the feelings or in the
intellect. Choice is preference. The choice of a single object is
preferring its existence to its non-existence. The choice of one
of many things is the preference of that one to others. Choice
being preference always implies comparison; the existence of a
thing is compared with its non-existence, or one thing is compared
with another. Now, the will's action is always conditioned upon
there being some reason for preference, or change of will. And
this reason may be an impulse of the sensibility, or a thought in
the intellect. But where no objects are brought into comparison;
where the existence of one object cannot be compared with its
non-existence; where the intellectual views cannot by possibility
change, as in the case of absolute omniscience; where feelings
cannot by possibility change, as is also the case with absolute
omniscience -- in such cases freedom of will does not imply power
to change when the will is committed in view of all the
considerations possible or conceivable that might be the
conditions of change.
I have spoken of the immutability of
God as consisting in the impossibility of change. This inability
to change is found in this, that there can be no conceivable
reason for change. The most capricious being cannot change his
choice except upon condition of some change of thought or feeling.
So that the certainty that God will not change is owing to the
fact that he is committed with infinite strength; and there is no
conceivable or possible reason ever existing in the intellect or
sensibility that can be conditions of change. Strictly speaking,
God is immutably good because he fills eternity and has no time to
change.
16. INFINITY. By infinity is intended
that there is absolutely no limit to his benevolence. It is not
partial, it is universal; it is not merely to finite creatures but
to himself as the infinite; it is goodwill to universal being; it
is eternal; it is the choice of his whole mind; it is the devotion
of all his attributes, by the act of his will, to this end. It is
therefore an ocean, having neither shore nor bound; it is as
illimitable as his nature. We know that infinity, immutability,
and all these attributes, must be attributes of the divine
benevolence, because he is infinite. We intuitively affirm that as
his natural attributes are infinite, so his moral attributes must
be infinite.
17. The last attribute that I shall
name is HOLINESS. Holiness is that quality of benevolence which is
often represented as moral purity; the infinite opposite of all
blemish, impropriety, or inconsistency. Holiness is sometimes
spoken of as if it comprised the whole character of God; and it
must be a quality of all and each of his other attributes. It
seems to me that, strictly speaking, it is the quality of symmetry
or harmony in his attributes; that quality that adjusts them to
each other. For example, God's character is that of perfect moral
excellence. We are so constituted that we could not recognize a
character as perfect that was all justice or all mercy, all
forbearance or all severity, all meekness or all firmness. Indeed,
all these qualities of benevolence must be adjusted one to the
other; and there must be a law of adjustment, of harmony, of
proportion and symmetry pervading the whole of them, else the
character would be out of balance. There would be a want; it could
not to us realize our ideal of moral beauty and perfection. Should
we see a man who was all justice and sternness, we might call him
a just man, but should not conceive of him as a perfect character
as a holy man. Should we see a man all compassion, we should feel
that he was not a perfect man. Were he all meekness, or all mercy
-- or take any one of the moral attributes of goodness, it would
make a moral monster rather than a symmetrical goodness. We
conceive of that character as holy that is symmetrical; and we can
conceive of no other character as perfect in holiness except that
of symmetry.
Some writer has compared holiness in
character to the law of harmony in music. Musical sounds to make
harmony need to be adjusted to the subjective laws of harmony that
belong to our nature. These sounds must sustain certain relations
to each other to be agreeable to us, and to make harmony. Throw
them out of this relation, and they produce discord, dissonance,
and not harmony. But when these relations are perfect in respect
to their distances, and their volume and quality of sound, then
the harmony is perfect; our ideal of perfect music is realized,
and there is nothing left to desire. So in regard to moral
character; there must be harmony; there must be a law of
adjustment, proportion, and symmetry in all the moral elements or
attributes that make up the character. These must be adjusted to
our subjective ideal of perfect goodness. When this symmetry is
seen, when this perfect adjustment of moral perfections stands
revealed to the mind, our ideal of moral perfection and beauty is
realized; and there is no greater joy than results from standing
in the presence of unlimited holiness. In the descriptions of
heaven given in the Bible, it is remarkable that it is the
holiness of God that excites their enthusiasm, that inspires their
awe, that inspires their praises; and the cry of "Holy, holy,
holy," while they veil their faces, thunders throughout the upper
sanctuary.
But how do we know that God is holy? I
reply, we cannot conceive of God as being other than infinite in
moral goodness, and we cannot conceive of infinite moral goodness
as other than perfectly symmetrical; hence, we cannot conceive of
God as other than infinitely holy. We therefore, by the very laws
of our nature, irresistibly assume the holiness of God. Our
consciences ever recognize him as the perfection of moral purity;
hence we are shocked at the suspicion of his being otherwise than
perfectly and infinitely holy. We revolt at the conception, and
cannot for a moment admit the possibility.
REMARKS--The foregoing are some of the
moral attributes of God. These qualities of benevolence are most
of them indicated either in his moral or providential government.
They are clearly revealed to us in our irresistible convictions of
what he must be. The progress of his kingdom will no doubt reveal
to his creatures many moral attributes or qualities of his
benevolence never yet suggested to finite beings. Neither his
justice nor his mercy, as they are now understood, may have been
so much as thought of in their appropriate signification, until
the occasion of their manifestation existed in the universe. So in
the progress of his dispensations occasions may arise that may
develop in the thought of his intelligences qualities inherent in
his benevolence never yet suggested to the mind of a finite being.
Of this we may rest assure, that nothing can ever occur in the
eternity to come that shall not find in the benevolence of God
some quality that will cause it to meet the emergency, and adapt
the dispensations to the occasions.
Thus there are many forms of beauty,
yet undeveloped in action, before the minds of creatures; and
there may be no end absolutely in the eternal future to the new
and striking revelation of the moral attributes of God. In these
consist his true glory. When Moses prayed, "Show me thy glory," he
passes by and proclaimed the name of the Lord, and suggested to
Moses several of his moral attributes as constituting his peculiar
glory: "The Lord, the Lord God, gracious and merciful,
long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for
thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and that
will by no means clear the guilty." Exod. 34:6.
From this short view taken of the
natural and moral attributes of God, it is clear that his eternity
and infinity are devoted to the promotion of the highest possible
good. As he requires us to do, so he does. If he requires us to
will and do good, he wills and does good himself; if he requires
us to be self-denying, he is so himself. He leads the way in every
virtue by his own example. And what inconceivable results are yet
to be seen by the universe of creatures! What an infinite
privilege to be under such a government! To have such a Father,
possessing infinite natural attributes, with a heart unalterable
to wield them for the highest good of his creatures, and the
highest interests of the whole universe!
Again, it is plain that the government
of the entire universe is safe in his hands. Nothing can surprize,
nothing can defeat him. He will do all his pleasure, in the sense
that he will accomplish all the good that he has proposed to
himself, and will not be defeated. There is ground of infinite
security for the righteous, and of infinite terror on the part of
the ungodly who persist in wickedness.
The study of theology is the study of
God and his attributes; of his laws, dealings, providential
arrangements -- indeed, all truth that can be known to us is but a
part of theological truth, or truth respecting God and his
affairs, either moral or material. A theological student will make
but little progress unless he views everything in a theological
light. All truth is symmetrical; all truth emanates from our
common center; its relations, proportions, and beauty cannot be
seen out of adjustment with the system of truth.
Our finite capacities cannot take in
the whole field of truth in its symmetrical adjustment; and yet it
will be the study of ages upon ages to all eternity. Its unity,
simplicity, symmetry, will be more and more felt, as it is more
and more perceived by the progress we shall make in study to all
eternity. God the infinite and perfect, the First Cause, the
Supreme Ruler, the great natural and spiritual Centre of all
being, is the object of our study. Every truth has a sacredness
about it, every question a solemnity and meaning; every line of
theological instruction has an importance and a sacredness to awe,
and stimulate, and sanctify.