[Jan. 6th, 1867.]
The promise is, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”
I. To whom is this promise addressed, and what is its purport?
Both the points are embraced in the Romish theory, which assumes, 1. That the promise was to the apostles and to their successors in the apostolic office. 2. That it was a promise to be with them as apostles. a. To impart to them the necessary gifts, first, for teaching, and secondly, for ruling. b. To render them infallible in their official acts. c. To enforce their decisions and sustain their authority.
This is a beautiful theory. It would to human view be a blessed thing to have a succession of apostles, i.e., of holy men, infallible in their judgments, to settle all points of doctrine, to remove all doubts, to solve all questions of conscience, and to rule with undeviating righteousness over the whole Church.
And when to this is added, on the assumed primacy of Peter, and of his successor, the Bishop of Rome, as the representative of Christ, we have the beau ideal of a theocracy for the Church and ultimately for the world.
But in proportion as this theory is good if true, it is destructive if false. If the prelates are not apostles, have not their gifts, their infallibility or authority, then for sinful, erring, wicked men to claim their prerogatives is ruinous. To be under the guidance of a good angel is a blessing; but to be under the guidance of Satan, in the guise of an angel of light, is destructive.
That this view is not true is plain, 1. Because the promise is not addressed to the apostles exclusively. 2. Because the apostleship was not perpetual. 3. Because the Romish prelates do not claim individually but only collectively those endowments. 4. They do not show the signs of apostles. 5. History proves them to be false apostles.
II. The promise was not made to the apostles as ministers of Christ and to their successors in the ministerial office, but to the whole Church.
This is plain, 1. Because others than ministers were present when the promise was made. 2. Because the same commands and the same promise are elsewhere given to believers. 3. Because the presence of Christ, as realized, is with all his people.
III. The sense in which Christ is present with his Church.
The Speaker is not God, not the Spirit, but Christ. The thing promised is therefore specifically his presence and not merely the presence of his Father, or of the Holy Ghost. It is true that where the one is, there are the others; and therefore the forms of expression interchange.
The presence promised is, 1. Not a corporeal presence. 2. It is not a mere dynamical presence, as though a new energy, power, or life had been infused into humanity, which was to develop itself by its own forces. A certain school teaches that in every organism, such as the Church is assumed to be, there is, a. An underlying substance, principle, life, or force. In this case, it is the life of Christ. b. This principle contains in itself all that is evolved from it. c. The evolution is according to a law peculiar in itself. d. The evolution is constant and progressive. e. The whole is one, the underlying potential basis and all that is evolved from it, as in the germ and they that spring from it. This is a mere philosophical theory, without support from Scripture, and contrary to its facts. It takes Christ from us. It gives us nothing of him but what we have in ourselves.
- The presence of Christ is not merely a presence to the thoughts and feelings as in the case of an absent friend. 4. It is a personal presence. It is not merely God, or the Spirit, or the Eternal Logos, but Christ, who is ever present with his people. And this presence of Christ is not merely or exclusively as to his divine nature, but as to his whole person. That is, Christ, as God-man, is a. Near to us so that we can speak to him, praise him, confess to him, avow our love to him, pray to him with the assurance that he hears us. b. He is near to us in the sense that he always sees us. Knows our temptations, trials, our inward state, our outward circumstances, our weakness and wants. c. He is present in that he can and does hold intercourse with us, revealing to us his glory, assuring us of his love, and guiding us in the way in which we should go. d. He is present with us not only thus to instruct and comfort us, but to strengthen for duty, to support us under trial, to console us and to render our efforts in his service successful. e. He is with us as he was with the apostles, not only in their inward spiritual life, but in their work, guiding them; giving them words which their adversaries could not gainsay or resist; rendering their preaching effectual, confirming its truth and vindicating its authority. And thus he will be with his church to the end of the world.
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