ELEMENTS OF POPULAR THEOLOGY, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE DOCTRINES OF THE REFORMATION, AS AVOWED BEFORE THE DIET IN AUGSBURG, IN MDXXX. BY S. S. SCHMUCKER, D.D. Professor of Christian Theology in the Theological Seminary of the General Synod of the Lutheran Church, Gettysburg, Pa. Andover: Gould and Newman, Printers and Publishers 1834. CHAPTER II NOTE: This version of this text does not include Schmucker's footnotes to the text or the pagebreaks of the original. A complete version of this text encoded according to the Guidelines of the Text Encoding Initiative is available at the Waterloo Lutheran Seminary Historic Text Archive: http://info.wlu.ca:4904//~wwwsem/wlstext.html Chapter II, Evidences of Christianity. In looking at these evidences, they naturally fall into two classes, original and progressive; those in which the gospel came arrayed to its first hearers, and those additional items of evidence which collected around it, in its progress through the world. I. The original evidences. a) The first thing which struck the primitive hearer of the gospel, was doubtless THE CHARACTER OF THE MEN who published it to them. And who were they? Who ought they to be? Not kings of the earth, or other great men in power; lest their new religion might be suspected of being an engine of state, and its extension be attributed to the arm of civil power:--not the rich, lest pecuniary influence should cast suspicion on it:--not the learned, lest its sacred truths might be regarded as the offspring of their own intellect by men incapable of accurate discrimination. But the persons to whom God would in all probability first make a revelation, and whom he would select to publish it, would be men previously void of much influence, yet possessed of good reputation and sound native intellect. Now precisely of this character were the first preachers of the gospel. They were not indeed "ignorant" men, as the English version of Acts 4:13 erroneously asserts, but common people, not professional men-- persons engaged in private life. In short they were men engaged in mechanical pursuits, among whom we find as much native vigor of mind, as in any other walks of life. These men their hearers knew to be as little capable of fabricating such a religion as they themselves were. Nor could they suspect their motives; for they had renounced all prospect of temporal gain to publish this gospel: nor could they doubt the miraculous facts to which they appealed; for these were attested by hundreds of other witnesses, and repeated in their own presence. How absurd then is the supposition of the prejudiced infidel Volney, that these men were a "combination of artful impostors," who built upon the credulity of mankind, the stupendous fabric of the Christian Church! When, therefore, the apostles declared, that they had not invented their doctrines themselves, their fellow citizens readily did and necessarily must believe them. When they declared, that they were taught by the Lord Jesus, what would be the impression? The populace knew, that the apostles had intercourse with Jesus; but what proof had they that he was not himself an impostor? That they could not regard him in this light, is evident from the manifest sincerity apparent in his whole life, but especially from the fact, that he neither sought nor accepted any advantage or honour from his fellowmen, which be could so easily have obtained by accommodating himself to the Jewish ideas of the Messiah as a temporal prince. On the contrary he knew and himself predicted, that privation, persecution and death would be his reward. Such never had prior to that time, and never since has been the conduct of designing deceivers. Impostors had arisen before and have been known since; but their conduct invariably betrayed them. Mohammed pretended to be a messenger from God, but the licentiousness of the religion which he taught, the sword by which he promulgated it, and the naked views of self- aggrandizement which his conduct betrayed, proved his imposture. But in Jesus is seen nothing that could reflect suspicion on his character. He came indeed to publish a religion, but they knew it was a religion of self-denial; it commanded men to bridle their passions, to cultivate the nobler powers of the soul, to love and practice virtue. He came also to establish a kingdom, but he told them it was a "kingdom not of this world." He paved for himself the way to a throne--but it was a throne in heaven. To establish his kingdom he drew the sword--but it was "the sword of the Spirit." His loins were girt, but with truth; he wore a breastplate, but of righteousness, and a shield, but it was a shield of faith; for his was a religion of peace and good will to men, and forbade "To wade through slaughter to a throne, And shut the gates of mercy on mankind." Nor had the Jews any ground for considering Jesus as an enthusiast. The moderation uniformly evinced by him in the execution of all his designs, and especially the vast comprehensiveness of his plan for a spiritual kingdom, which according to his own declarations was to be executed almost entirely after his death, forbids the idea. b) The character of the first teachers of Christianity was, therefore, in itself calculated to arrest the attention of the primitive hearer and prepossess him in favor of their communications. But this interest was soon heightened, and this confidence increased by THE NATURE OF THE DOCTRINES WHICH THEY TAUGHT. The truths of the sacred volume relate either to doctrines to be believed, or changes of heart to be experienced, or to duties of life to be performed, and may therefore accurately be divided into doctrinal, experimental and practical. In all these departments of truth the primitive hearer was arrested, as he would naturally expect, by many things new, interesting and of eternal importance, and some things especially relating to God, which seemed to border on mystery. But as the truths concerning the divine being, which he had known and believed before, were of the same kind; as he could no more comprehend the mode of the divine omnipresence, the fact of which he had long believed, than the mode of the incarnation of the Son of God, and the trinity, which these new teachers inculcated, he considered this contiguous mystery as no objection. Each class of these truths, moreover, contained numerous positive evidences of divine origin. The doctrines which they taught, corrected the errors of both Jews and Gentiles, and supplied the deficiences [sic] of their religious systems. Instead of a God whose name was legion, being indeed many, the Christian religion taught the polytheistic heathen the existence of one living and true God-- instead of idols of wood and stone, which their own hands had manufactured, it presented to them God as a spirit, pervading immensity with his presence, and beholding with omniscient eye the thoughts, words and deeds of all his creatures. Instead of the external homage through types and ceremonies at Jerusalem, it taught the Jew and Samaritan that the service of Jehovah is not confined either to mount Gerizim or Jerusalem, but that God is a spirit, and must be worshipped in spirit and in truth, and may every where be found. Instead of the darkness and uncertainty which hung around the future destiny of man, it brought life and immortality to clearest light: it elevated the veil which separated between time and eternity, and spread before them in all their length and breadth, the future mansion of the blessed, as well as the doleful prison-house of the accursed. Above all it taught to every serious inquirer with a degree of clearness not to be misunderstood, and with an amplitude leaving nothing to be desired, a satisfactory answer to the momentous, the thrilling question, "what must I do to be saved?" The serious gentile found these doctrines so strongly commend themselves to his mind, and the reflecting Jew found them moreover so coincident with the doctrines of Moses and the prophets; that they felt the nature of this new religion combine with the character of its publishers, to arrest their attention and command their assent. Nor could the changes of heart which Christianity required, appear unreasonable to the serious mind. That mankind were depraved creatures, prone to do and delight in that which they knew to be wrong, even the heathen had acknowledged. Now Christianity required, that this depraved heart should be so changed by the power of God, as to take delight in those holy occupations, which are best calculated to promote our happiness on earth, and must constitute the source of our felicity in heaven: that we should be transformed into the image of God, and like him love holiness, delight in the prosperity of our fellow-beings, forgive our enemies and place our supreme affections on things above. That such a change must be conducive to happiness, that it was in every respect reasonable, the primitive hearer must have perceived; nor could the tender of its production, by the spirit of God, in all who would attend and obey the instructions of the apostles, be objectionable in his view. The ethical system of Christianity in like manner must have made a favourable impression on the primitive hearer. The Jew found it elevating the standard of virtue far above the requisitions of Moses and the prophets, and saw his duty set forth in a light that could not fail to flash conviction into every serious, inquiring mind. The gentile found many of his imagined virtues blotted out from the catalogue, such as love of fame, self confidence, stoical apathy under suffering, hatred of enemies and suicide; and beheld their place supplied by milder, more humble and benevolent dispositions. The Christian religion inculcated love to enemies; taught its votary to bless those that cursed him, to do good to those that hate him, and pray for them who despitefully used him; to love and do good to all mankind. It taught a path of duty adapted to the constitution of man, harmonizing fully with all his relations in life, requiring him to give unto C‘sar the things that are C‘sar's, and to discharge to God the duties which he owed to the great author of his being. The primitive hearer, therefore, found the truths proposed by the Saviour and his apostles, in themselves so new as to arrest their attention, so important as to excite their hopes and fears, so reasonable and plausible as to invite their belief. But these communications were accompanied by other circumstances, calculated still more to excite an interest in their bosoms and completely to command their belief. c) Those who first preached these doctrines, declared, that God, who sent them, authenticated their mission by performing diverse miracles; and the primitive hearer actually witnessed such works with his own eyes. The miracles of the Saviour himself, who professed to be the Son of God, were not only first in order, but also most numerous, stupendous and important. But were they of such a nature, and performed under such circumstances, as to be clear of all suspicion? How could the sincere inquirer doubt when even his enemies confessed, This man doth many miracles; when be knew that they were of the most various nature. He healed all kinds of sickness. He miraculously changed water into wine. He provided for Peter the piece of tribute money in the fish's mouth: and procured for him a miraculous draught of fishes. He walked upon the sea.5 He commanded the wind and waves and they obeyed. He miraculously fed at one time above four thousand, and at another five thousand persons, beside women and children. He displayed divine foreknowledge. He raised the dead on several occasions, and finally he himself arose from the dead. It was also notorious, that these exhibitions of miraculous power, were not confined to one place, where Jesus might have enjoyed facilities for deception. Of some the theatre was Jerusalem, others were performed in the temple, others in Galilee, others in different towns and villages, and some the Saviour healed, whom he even did not see! Nor were his friends the only spectators of his miracles. Enemies of learning, ingenuity and virulence were often present; especially Judas, who had every possible opportunity to detect the supposed fraud, as well as every inducement to divulge it. And could any reflecting Jew for a moment indulge the supposition, that if the traitor had entertained the least suspicion, that Jesus was an impostor, he would have felt any compunction at having brought him to merited punishment; much less have brought back the money, acknowledged that he had betrayed innocent blood, and gone and hanged himself? Nor could it have appeared possible, by any ingenuity whatever, to effect an imposition on his disciples and his enemies, with regard to the principal and most striking of all his miracles, his own resurrection from the dead. For, that he was truly dead was confessed by his most inveterate foes. When Joseph of Arimathea desired of Pilate the body of Jesus, Pilate would not grant his request, until, having inquired of the centurion, he found that Jesus had been dead some time. And the soldiers, who had been sent to break the legs of all three, brake the legs of the two malefactors, but coming to Jesus (we are told) "they brake not his legs, because he was dead already." And now when the Saviour had been committed to the tomb, what could any prudent inquirer, what could an enemy of the gospel wish, to make the evidence absolutely conclusive? Why that some cautious, discerning person, or better still some such enemy of Christ, could be there, and watch the grave during the eventful three days. Now all this, the first hearers of the apostles well knew, had actually been done. "The chief priests and pharisees came to Pilate saying, sir, we remember the deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command, therefore, that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, he is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first." How natural these suspicions! How exactly like what many at the present day would feel! We may then rest assured, these were the very persons who would not suffer an imposture to be practiced so much to their injury by which they would stand condemned as murderers of innocent blood. "Then said Pilate unto them, ye have a watch, go your way, make the grave as sure as ye can. So they went and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch." That the Saviour, however, notwithstanding all this precaution, actually arose from the dead, was a matter of absolute certainty to those whom the apostles first addressed; for he had frequently appeared to different persons, at one time to more than five hundred brethren, and during forty days after his resurrection he instructed his apostles in the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, after which as he was conversing with his disciples at Bethany, "whilst they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight." Hundreds were yet living, who had been eyewitnesses of these stupendous miracles, and in any ordinary collection of hearers in or near Jerusalem, one or more of these persons would usually be embraced. d) It was moreover known, that this Jesus had himself commissioned his apostles, Judas excepted, to publish his doctrines to all nations; hence their divine authority could not be disputed, and they were authorized to teach. And Jesus told them that the Holy Ghost, whose special influences should be poured out on them at pentecost, would bring to their recollection, and further teach them all things necessary for their official duties. There could be no doubt therefore of the infallible accuracy of their instructions. The hearers of the apostles, moreover, knew, that Jesus had conferred on them the power of working miracles in his name; for they indisputably exercised it. When Peter healed the lame man, even the Jewish sanhedrim [sic] was compelled to exclaim, "For that indeed a notable miracle hath been wrought by them, is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it." No, we cannot deny it, we who have heretofore possessed the confidence of the people, we whose interest so strongly demands it, we whose honour and power depend on it; we cannot deny it. And why? Because the lame man was for many years known to thousands, who all now see him restored. We cannot deny it, because we and hundreds beside us, know it with as much certainty, as we do the existence of Jerusalem, the city in which we dwell; for we see it with our own eyes! e) The reflecting Jew would moreover remember, that about that time the expectation of the coming of Messiah prevailed in Israel. And if he knew the predictions which had been given to his people, or if he inquired of Moses and the prophets, how surprizingly clear and striking would he find their applicability to Jesus! Had it been indefinitely predicted, that at some future time, a distinguished personage should arise and establish an extensive empire, it might have been Cyrus or Philip of Macedon, or Alexander the Great, or C‘sar, as well as Christ. Or, had the prophecies only determined, that this personage should arise from among the Jews; it might have been fulfilled in Judas Maccabeus, or Jonathan, or John Hircanus or Aristobulus, as well as by Jesus of Nazareth. But when he finds the prophets determining the very time of his appearance, namely before the sceptre or civil power should depart from the Jews; whilst the sacred temple was yet standing; and at the expiration of the seventy prophetic weeks of Daniel, which ended in the year of his death; when he heard them specify the very tribe (that of Judah) from which he should descend--yea, the very family of David in that tribe-- and the very town, Bethlehem, in which he should be born; and, as there were two towns of that name, adding that it was Bethlehem in Judea and not in Galilee;--when on investigation, the sincere, and inquiring Jew found these, and many other particulars, distinctly predicted by one or other of the prophets, and knew that all these things were so perfectly fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth; how was it possible for him to doubt? Who that could weigh the force of evidence, and was anxious to learn the truth, would not have been convinced? Who that was not blinded by prejudice, or enslaved to lust, would not, under such circumstances, have been constrained to exclaim, Lord, it is enough, I believe that thou art the Christ, the son of the living God, to whom else shall we go, thou hast the words of eternal life! f) Such were the primitive evidences which Christianity presented to those to whom it was first preached. And if they attended to its doctrines and endeavored to obey its prescriptions, they soon experienced within their souls another, a still more impressive and convincing evidence of its divine origin. They found these sacred truths penetrating the inmost recesses of their hearts, shedding abroad their rendered infallible by the guidance of telings in the cause of God, and urging them to return to the love and obedience of their forsaken heavenly Father, and find happiness in the paths of his commandments. In short they found, as every inquiring sinner will now find by happy experience, the truth of the Saviour's declaration, If any man will do my will, he shall know of my doctrine whether it be of God. II. And what is the light in which Christianity presents itself to succeeding generations, to us at the present day? Has any certain record of its doctrines and duties and facts reached us? Can its primitive evidences exert any influence on our minds, and has the stream of evidence, as it rolled on through successive centuries, been scattered and lost, or has it accumulated greater volume and force? That we have as certain knowledge on the subject of Christianity, as the primitive hearers of the apostles, is indisputable, since in the kind Providence of our God, the very men whom Christ himself appointed as oral teachers of his religion, also reduced their instructions to writing for the benefit of distant Christians and of after ages. Those instructions are found in the books of the New Testament, which we have hitherto, in the progress of ous to us arrayed in the full force of all its primitive or original evidences. But the stream of evidence has received new accessions in the course of its progress, and the believer of after ages can find his faith confirmed by additional facts, not accessible to the primitive hearers of the apostles. Among these progressive or cumulative evidences (which we can take time merely to enumerate, but not discuss,) we may specify, a) The astonishing harmony of the books of the Old and New Testamentshe Spirit. Hence, as it would be absurd to suppose, that those who were infallible when they spoke, would instantly cease to be so when they undertook to communicate the same truths to distant Christians or future generations by writing; it inevitably follows, that the writings of the apostles have the same kind and same degree of divine authority and inspiration, which belonged to their oral communications. The call of the apostle Paul was miraculous, but his divine mission and inspiration are established by evidence of the same kind and degree which sustains the others. The writings of Luke and Mark receive a similar character from the fact, that those of the former were written in the company of Paul and sanctioned by him, and those of the latter dictated by Peter. And here it may in passing be remarked, that the divine authority of the books of the Old Testament, is also proved by the circumstance of their being so frequently quoted as such, by the infallible Saviour and his inspired apostles. From the above argument we derive the important inference, that having the genuine, unadulterated written instructions of those very persons, who by divine authority first taught the Christian religion, that religion now comes to us arrayed in the full force of all its primitive or original evidences. But the stream of evidence has received new accessions in the course of its progress, and the believer of after ages can find his faith confirmed by additional facts, not accessible to the primitive hearers of the apostles. Among these progressive or cumulative evidences (which we can take time merely to enumerate, but not discuss,) we may specify, a) The astonishing harmony of the books of the Old and New Testaments, written in different countries, by different persons, and hundreds of years apart; yet all constituting one connected, progressive revelation. This unexampled coincidence of persons many of whom never even saw each other, in forming one harmonious work, and in communicating such successive and connected degrees of revealed truth, is explicable on no other supposition than that it was the same Spirit who guided the pen from Genesis to Revelation. b) The fulfilment [sic] of prophecy in the destruction of Jerusalem is another progressive evidence. A few years only elapsed after the departure of our Lord, until his disciples witnessed with their own eyes another fearful evidence of the divine origin of their religion. The Saviour had predicted in clear and unequivocal terms, the sad catastrophe, which awaited the devoted city of Jerusalem. He informed the Jews that "there should be great distress in the land and wrath upon the people;" "that they should fall by the edge of the sword;" "that there should not one stone of the magnificent temple be left on another;" and that there should be great tribulation in the city such as was not since the beginning of the world, nor ever shall be, and that many of those who heard him should live to see it. How fearfully all this was accomplished in A. D. 70, when the city was taken and reduced to a heap of ruins by the Roman general Titus, is well known. c) The dispersion of the Jews was also clearly foretold. "They shall be led away captive into all nations," said the Saviour, and who has not been impressed with the singular spectacle presented by the descendants of this devoted people until the present day? For seventeen centuries have they literally been scattered among all nations, never amalgamating with them, yet never succeeding in the formation of a people or government of their own! d) Since "Shilo, the Messiah, has come" "the sceptre has actually and finally departed from Judah." More than seventeen hundred years before the Saviour actually appeared, the Patriarch Jacob having "gathered his sons together that he might tell them what should befall them in the last days," told them that the Messiah, or Shilo, should appear before the civil power or sceptre had finally departed from the Jews, implying that after the advent of the Messiah, that power should not long be retained by them. Now we cannot fail to see a strong confirmation of our faith and cumulative evidence of the divinity of the bible in the fact, that although the civil power was never finally wrested from the Jews during all the vicissitudes which they had experienced as a nation before the birth of Christ, it was soon after actually taken from them and never has been restored till this day! e) The Messiah or "desire of nations" was also to come, whilst the second temple was yet standing; implying that after his advent, it would be destroyed; and its entire demolition was clearly predicted by the Saviour himself.? verily [sic] I say unto you there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. Now in A. D. 70, about forty years after the Saviour's appearance, the temple actually was destroyed and has never since been rebuilt! We have therefore in the destruction of the temple another progressive evidence, which the first Christians had not, that Jesus was the Messiah, was sent from God, and therefore his instructions divine. f) The Revelation of St. John, contains a prophetic history of the Christian church, and is a standing miracle for all ages. It was not designed, that all its portions should be intelligible prior to their completion. Hence this book of prophecy always has been enveloped in some mystery. But the progress of completion in every successive century, has reflected increasing light on this interesting portion of sacred writ, and in the last three centuries, the vicissitudes of the Papal "beast," the glorious Reformation, and the more recent efforts to spread the gospel of Christ over every nation of the earth, have placed in strong relief the prominent features of that prophetic exhibition of futurity, and tended greatly to confirm the believer's hope. g) Another progressive evidence of the divine origin of Christianity we behold in its extension and preservation under the circumstances of the case. The nature of this religion is such, that it presented no inducements to its adoption to any other than those who sincerely believed its doctrines and promises. Present difficulties, persecution and often death, were the reward of its profession. Nothing but the belief of a rest remaining for the people of God hereafter, could enable men to believe that godliness is profitable unto all things; nothing but the belief that God was with them, and that he required such sacrifices, could have fortified the breasts of the primitive martyrs amid the horrors of the rack and stake. Moreover, no other religion was ever propagated by mere instruction. The different forms of paganism had been transmitted by tradition from the earliest ages, and were so incorporated with the civil governments as to be mere machines of state. They were therefore supported by the governments for political purposes, and not, like Christianity, extended by the intrinlasses of society, and given rise to various enterpritions of those who derived their subsistence from the services of the established system, hence the cruel, the inhuman persecutions which raged with almost uninterrupted fury for several centuries, and in which frequently all the energies, pecuniary, military, and intellectual were exerted to exterminate Christianity from the earth. Yet amid all these difficulties the religion of the despised Nazarene, by the sword of the Spirit and the aid of its divine Author, fought its way against the pride of power, the pomp of opulence, and the sensuality of lust; until in the short space of a few centuries, the vast and powerful empire of the Romans, bowed her neck to the crucified Galilean, and the banners of Christianity, which were first unfurled in the valleys of Judea, waved triumphant over the palace of the C‘sars! Was any other religion thus extended? Could any other be, especially such a religion as the Saviour taught? h) The salutary influence which Christianity has exerted on those nations which have embraced it in any tolerable degree of purity, presents another item of progressive evidence. An influence so salutary could proceed from no other than a good source; an influence so far transcending all that men ever exerted by their own ability, proves that another power beyond that of man was concerned in its propagation. It inculcates those principles, by which alone the faithful administration of civil governments can he in the highest degree secured. It has mitigated the horrors of war; abolished human sacrifices; it has elevated the female sex to their proper station in society; it has almost throughout the whole extent of its influence abolished domestic slavery; it has improved the situation of the poorer classes of society, and given rise to various enterprizes of benevolence, almost as numerous as the forms of misery and want met with on earth. And if the influence of this religion were more generally felt in nations nominally Christian, and its precepts faithfully obeyed; it would still farther mitigate every form of suffering, and banish from the face of the earth that prolific mother of evils, war. i) The peculiar structure of Christianity by which it accomplishes the benign effects above enumerated, and which adapt it to universal adoption under every form of civil government, and every state of social society, demonstrate that it is based on a more perfect view of all the complicated relations of human society and all the principles of human nature than ever fell to the lot of any uninspired teacher of religion. Similar evidences are found in j) the mythologies of the Asiatic nations, which confirm many of the prominent facts of the Old Testament: k) in the discoveries of modern geologists, who find in the bowels of the earth conclusive proof of a universal deluge, of antediluvian animals, &c. &c. In view of this overwhelming mass of concurrent evidence, to which might be added the corroborative testimony of profane writers, of coins, of geology, &c., it is impossible for the impartial and persevering inquirer to doubt the divinity of the Christian religion. To suppose all these evidences to have originated in chance, is to admit a far greater miracle than any contended for by the Christian, and to believe it performed without any design, performed too without any beneficial effect, yea performed in circumstances calculated inevitably to involve the human family in a stupendous system of unqualified error! The different objections against Christianity are either mere misapprehensions of the objector, or they can be, as they often have been, satisfactorily answered. How truly may it, then, be said of the Christian, "on argument his faith is built." How just the declaration, A Christian dwells, like Uriel, in the sun, Meridian evidence puts doubt to flight; And ardent hope anticipates the skies. ______________________________________________________________ This text was converted to ascii format for Project Wittenberg by Robert A. Kelly and is in the public domain. You may freely distribute, copy or print this text. Please direct any comments or suggestions to: Rev. Robert E. Smith of the Walther Library at Concordia Theological Seminary. E-mail: cosmithb@ash.palni.edu Surface Mail: 6600 N. Clinton St., Ft. Wayne, IN 46825 USA Phone: (219) 452-2123 Fax: (219) 452-2126 ______________________________________________________________