science, without arresting its progress and weakening the impression of truth; and in the moral sciences above all, a distinction most needful to be strictly observed. Thus too, after the truth has been completely extricated, and clearly stated in its elemental forms, the further distinction becomes perfectly obvious, namely, that between truth, and the effects of truth; and the neglect of it is as fatal as the neglect of the preceding distinction. It took seven centuries for Theologians to settle, in scientific form, the great elements of their science-the doctrines of God-of the Godman, and of man-though during all these seven centuries, not a single child of God erred fatally touching either doctrine. It took the Theologians eight centuries more to obtain the grand position of the Reformers, namely, that the sum of the whole Knowledge of God attainable by man, of which the sacred Scriptures are the only infallible rule and guide, is that which is to be cast into a scientific form, as Christian Theology. I have pointed out both the failure, and the causes of it, of the scientific progress of the Reformed Theology beyond the position won for it in the sixteenth century. Distinctions inseparable from the complete conception of any system of truth whatever, cannot be overlooked with impunity; nor can the denial of the existence of such distinctions produce any effect so immediate, as the exclusion of the supposed truths to which those distinctions do not apply, from the pale of the sciences. In Theology, to neglect the former distinction is to deprive divine truth, as far as an evil method can, of whatever power it has by reason of its own inherent force and glorious light; and to neglect the latter distinction is to confound the efficacy, which the Holy Spirit gives to truth by his superadded work in man, with the truth itself after it has first had its selfevidencing light obscured.

On the other hand the clear recognition of the distinctions I have pointed out, unavoidably presents the Knowledge of God unto salvation, under three distinct aspects: one of them objective-the mere truth; one of them subjective—the effects of truth in us, and on us; one of them relative-truth and its effects confronted with untruth. Whether or not the Knowledge of God is a science of positive truth, does not depend on us, but on God. I maintain that it is, and that the just acquisition, statement, and teaching of it, require in us an adequate conception of it as such. Whether or not being such a science, it must be treated by a method responsive to its own nature, does not depend upon our caprice; but on the very nature of knowledge, and of our own mental and moral constitution. I maintain that the slow, irregular, and imperfect progress of scientific Theology in all ages, is to be attributed in a great degree, to the inadequate conception of the science itself, and to the vicious. methods of treating it which necessarily resulted from that inadequate conception; and I have suggested and used what I conceive to be a

method naturally responsive to an adequate conception of the science itself; starting from the great elements settled in the seventh century, and the great position reached in the sixteenth-since which period, in my opinion, little true progress has been made in the systematic statement of divine truth considered as a great science. Whether or not a particular attempt to vindicate this science in its adequate conception, and by a true method responsive to its nature, restate it in its own simple, coherent, and august power, is worthy of the consideration of the people of God; depends essentially on the ability, the insight, the attainments, and the patient toil of him who makes the attempt. As to the value of my own attempt, they to whom I have dedicated this and the preceding Treatise, shall judge. If the penitent and believing followers of the Saviour of sinners-if they who fervently desire life after death-find light and consolation in what I have written-that which I have done will live. Otherwise no oblivion can await my labours, more remorseless than that which covers those of the bulk of my predecessors.

Concerning the present Treatise, I think I may say with confidence, that no one who will patiently consider it can misunderstand the general view it presents of the saving grace of God, or the general argument sustained throughout, concerning the whole method and effects of that Grace. I accept the Scriptures as the Word of God; I understand them to relate to the salvation of fallen men, to disclose the precise nature of that salvation, the exact manner in which it is achieved in man, and the whole effects and consequences, personal and general, present and eternal, which are wrought out in us, through the truth contained in them, by the Holy Ghost. What I attempt is to follow rigidly the course of the divine thought, to illustrate faithfully the progress of the divine work, and to demonstrate both throughout. Upon my conception of the subject, no other course is possible: upon the method responsive to that conception, this direct and concatenated treatment is unavoidable. It ought to follow, according to the measure of grace given to me, that herein is a compact and continuous exhibition of the life of God in the soul of. man, responsive to the revealed way of life eternal; everything hetoregeneous being excluded, and everything admitted being a part of the uninterrupted demonstration. Besides this complete personal exhibition of salvation, the organization by God of his covenant people into a visible kingdom, gives to salvation an organic and social aspect, precisely commensurate with the relation of the Church of Christ to the work of divine grace in salvation. There ought, therefore, to be found herein, according as God has enabled me, a precise and complete demonstration and exposition of the Church of the living God, in its nature, and end—and very especially in its Gospel state. The Christian and the Church of God ought to be demonstrated on the divine word, in developing the Knowledge of God

Subjectively considered. This illustrates what I mean by teaching Theology, as distinguished from a compend of Theology. This is what my conception and method exact. In so far as I may have done anything approaching what I have just stated, it is through God's grace. My shortcomings are, I think, justly to be attributed, not to my conception of the subject, nor to my method of treating it, but to my personal incapacity to work out so great a result, in a fitting manner.

The order of the general demonstration may be made intelligible, by a brief statement. In the First Book, I attempt to trace and to prove the manner in which the Knowledge of God unto salvation passes over from being merely objective, and becomes subjective. In the Second Book, I endeavour to disclose and to demonstrate the whole work of God in man, unto his personal salvation. In the Third Book, the personal effects and results of this divine subjective work, are sought to be explicated. This seems to me to exhaust the subject, in its subjective personal aspect. But these individual Christians, by means of their union with Christ, and their consequent communion with each other, are organized by God into a visible Kingdom; which has a direct and precise relation to the subjective consideration of the Knowledge of God. From this point, therefore, the social and organic aspect of the subject arises; and the Fourth Book is occupied with what is designed to be a demonstration of the Church of the living God. But just as the work of grace in individual men, is necessarily followed by the Christian offices, and so the subject of the Third Book necessarily followed the subject of the Second: in like manner, the consideration of the gifts of God to his Church, and of all the effects of those gifts, follows the organization and progress of the visible Church in a peculiar manner. And thus the subject of the Fourth Book leads directly to the subject of the Fifth, in which the life, action and organism of the Church are discussed, with reference to the special gifts bestowed on it by God. And here the organic aspect of the Knowledge of God unto salvation, subjectively considered, seems to terminate. What remains is the General Conclusion of the whole subject, in a very brief attempt to estimate the progress and result of these divine realities, and to disclose the revealed consummation of God's Works of Creation, Providence and Grace.

A true Christian Theology ought to be just in its scientific conception, exact in its method of development, natural in the order of its topics, clear in its continual expositions, adequate in its great generalizations, carefully observant of the divine proportion of its parts, pervaded by the unity which belongs to a high and continuous demonstration, and guided by a spiritual insight and a sense of the presence of the living God in all and through all. For, after all, it is the Knowledge of God unto salvation which is the substance: Scientific Theology, at the best, is only the form

under which that divine substance is presented. Its glory and its triumph would be, to obtain, at length, that form which accords perfectly with that heavenly substance. Whoever will attempt to exhibit in a scientific manner, the chief parts of that Knowledge so far as he possesses it; will have occasion when his task is even worthily accomplished, to bewail the poverty of the exhibition he has made, compared-I need not say—with the grandeur of his theme, but even with his own conception of it.

In the Preliminary Words prefixed to the First Part of Theology, I made certain statements and explanations upon such topics as seemed to me to require it; some of which had more particular reference to that Treatise, and others more particular reference to the whole work, of which that was the first of three parts. Without repeating here any of those statements,—I refer to them and adopt them all, as applicable with the same emphasis, and in the same sense, to this Treatise as to that. They were never capable of being misunderstood; unless, perhaps, to authorize the supposition that my use of the labours of others, both in that Treatise and in this, was far more extensive than in fact it was; and that my contributions to the true progress of Christian Theology were less distinct, than they might turn out to be. Claiming nothing, except a patient consideration by the people of God, of a sincere endeavour to restate with perfect simplicity, and according to its own sublime nature, and in its own glorious proportion, the Knowledge of God unto salvation; I confidently ask, who are they amongst the living,-how many are there amongst the dead,-on whose behalf it can be truly asserted, that such a claim is unjust to them, or unbecoming in me?

The preceding volume was a complete Treatise; the present volume is also a complete Treatise: the two united contain all I propose to advance on what is sometimes called Systematic Theology, sometimes Dogmatic Theology, sometimes merely Theology. The former volume contains the objective, the present one the subjective consideration of saving truth: saving truth in itself-saving truth in its working. It will complete my original design, if the Lord spares me and enables me to compose and publish one more volume, devoted to what is commonly called Polemic or controversial Theology, embracing Apologetics; that is, to what I contemplate as the Knowledge of God considered relatively to all untruth incompatible with salvation.

BRADALBANE, near Lexington, Ky., April, 1859.

THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD,

SUBJECTIVELY CONSIDERED.

ARGUMENT OF THE FIRST BOOK.

I HAVE attempted in a former Treatise, to demonstrate and to classify the whole knowledge of God attainable by man unto salvation, considered as mere Knowledge; and thus to exhibit Theology in the purely objective-as in every other aspect of it, as a science of Positive Truth, both inductive and deductive. This volume, devoted to the thorough treatment of the knowledge of God subjectively considered in the actual salvation of fallen men, occupies this First Book of it in pointing out the whole aspect and method, both universal and particular, of the transition of that knowledge from the Objective into the Subjective. It concerns itself in explicating the divine Plan, Economy, and Method, whereby, what has been hitherto treated as mere knowledge, attainable by man, passes over and becomes an infinite force upon man and in man; and in demonstrating the certainty of salvation in this way, and its utter impossibility in any other. The First Chapter, therefore, of this First Book, discusses the condition in which the created universe was placed by the Sentence of God and his Promise of a Saviour, upon the Fall of Man; and, in particular, it attempts to settle the actual condition of the human race as determined by the creation, the trial, the fall, the sentence, and the promise; and to solve all the great problems involved in that attempt. The Second Chapter is devoted to a discussion of the Covenant of Redemption, of whose existence the promise of the Seed of the woman, so decisive upon the fate of the universe and especially of man, was the first intimation; wherein the nature and reality of that Covenant, together with its relation to the nature and grace of God, and to the Persons of the Godhead, and to the salvation of man, are exhibited; and the chief principles and truths on which it rests, with the chief cavils against it, and the method and efficacy of its operation, are considered. The Third Chapter discloses in a special manner the relation of this Eternal Covenant to the intimate nature, inner life, and fundamental convictions of man; the nature and rule of Duty,-the sovereignty of God and the dependence of man, the relation of divine Grace to such conditions, and the efficacy of personal redemption—are discussed; and the whole question of personal salvation and the failure of it, is traced to its ultimate ground, and the true nature of Redeeming Love is exhibited in its method and in its results. The Fourth Chapter is occupied with an exposition of the special obligations laid on man, as the special conditions of his participation in the benefits of the Covenant of Redemption; wherein the ultimate truths concerning human nature are examined, with reference to the divine means of human restoration, and as the result it is shown that Repentance towards God, and Faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ, both of which are summarily explained, are the unavoidable and the universal, as they are the revealed and effectual conditions