A LETTER FROM DR. GAUSSEN, GENEVA, the well-known author of a treatise on the Inspiration of the Scriptures, to an unbelieving acquaintance, proving the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ.1
SIR,—Some one from your neighbourhood sent me a short time ago, a paper with your signature, consisting of three or four pages of critical observations on the doctrine of a sermon which I published a few years ago. If your remarks, sir, had been directed against some expressions or thoughts which were peculiar to me, I would have thought it my duty either to acknowledge the justice of your criticisms, or to prove the accuracy of my own statements, but as your statement amounts to no more nor less than a plain setting forth of Arianism, it is not me, but all the Christian churches, you assail. It was, therefore, scarcely incumbent upon me to reply to you, seeing that other more immediate duties require all the time at my disposal. Nevertheless, as I have been led to understand that you expect, at the least, a few lines from me, I should be very sorry to lead you to think, either that I had no interest in you, or that I was indifferent to the truth of the doctrine which you attack. I will not here enter on a full discussion of this important subject, as I lack opportunity, but I would gladly seize any opportunity that might be put in my way of conversing with you over this matter. Here, then, for the present, are a few observations on your paper, and I make them with the greater confidence, because, if you will allow me to say so, I have observed, in perusing your pages, how little familiar you are with the Holy Scriptures, and I would like to think that if you studied them with more attention, you would be brought to submit yourself forthwith to the truth which they proclaim, and to render to the Lord of lords the glory which appertains to Him. I hope that that reflection will not offend you, for I doubt not that many, even of your own way of thinking, would acknowledge the truth of it. You say, in so many words, that you are astonished to hear me declare, that Jesus Christ is God, and you don’t seem to know that even the Arians themselves are compelled to acknowledge that our Lord is oftentimes in the Scriptures called God, although by a subtlety, of
1 One of our ministers has kindly forwarded us this excellent letter, which he has translated from the French.—ED.
which you are happily ignorant, they bring themselves to evade the finality and authority of that expression by saying that Jesus Christ was God, but not The True God. You seem ignorant of the fact that the Lord is in the Bible (as I shall have the honour of showing you in the following pages) called God, The True God, Jehovah, the Eternal, the I Am.
Another thing that encourages me to address to you this letter is that you don’t appear to me to have as yet a correct idea of the doctrine which the Christian churches, and I along with them, teach on this subject. You seem to think that we undertake to explain both the most holy Trinity and the mysterious union of the Trinity with the humanity in the person of Jesus Christ. But it is not so, sir. We don’t pretend to do anything of the kind. We are content to believe these holy truths, because they are declared unto us in the Word of God. We don’t go beyond that. It is thus that we believe in the union of our soul and body, because that we feel it although we cannot fully understand it. We believe it, but we don’t explain it. If, then, the mode of our own existence remains a mystery to us, should we be astonished that there should be mystery in that which the Holy Bible reveals to us concerning the Infinite Being. No: we don’t explain that which is a mystery, but we adoringly believe it, and with the holy Apostle Paul we say, “Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” I proceed then, sir, to indicate what you will find in the Holy Scriptures on the nature of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, since I presume that you would wish to examine them with some attention in this connection.
You will find in them three kinds of declarations. The first will tell you that Jesus Christ is God, for they attribute to Him all the perfection, all the works, all the glory, and all the names of the Supreme God.
The second class of declarations will tell you that Jesus Christ is man, for they attribute to Him all the qualities, all the sinless sorrows, and all the names of the sons of men.
The third class (by declaring the voluntary humiliation and poverty through which the Lord of Lords and King of Kings was pleased to unite Himself to our poor nature) will tell you that Jesus Christ is the God-man, Immanuel, God with us, God manifest in the flesh. In this last category you will meet with passages which are strictly applicable to Him neither as God, nor as man, if regarded exclusively, but as Mediator, as the God-man.
Hence you may see how those who are unwilling to submit themselves to the whole Word of God, that they might meditate upon it and receive it as a whole, but who attach themselves to only one of the three classes of passages which I am about to bring forward, are apt to fall into one or other of three erroneous views.
I. There have been those who wished to have respect only to the first class of declarations alluded to. These have denied that Jesus Christ was truly man. They were unwilling to see in Him anything save His divinity, regarding His body or humanity as a mere phantom. Such were the Sabellians, the Patnpasrians, Tatian, and some Gnostics.
II. Those that attached themselves exclusively to the second class of declarations would acknowledge Him only as a mere man, some great person indeed inspired of God, an illustrious teacher, the greatest of the prophets, yet a mere man. An example of these are the Socinians.
III. Those finally who attached themselves exclusively to the third class of declarations have regarded the Lord neither as the true God, nor as in reality a true man, but as an angel, as an arch-angel, as the first of all creatures. Such were the Arians.
But the Christian Church has in all ages taken the Holy Scriptures in their entirety, and in receiving the whole testimony of God concerning our Saviour has believed that He is the true God, that He is truly man, and that He is the God-man, Immanuel. God with us, the only Mediator between God and men. Such is, sir, the doctrine of all the Reformed Churches. You will find it acknowledged in the 39 articles of the Church of England, in the Confession of Augsburg, in that of France, in that of Switzerland, in that of Holland, in the catechisms of Basle, of Berne, of Vaud, of Neuchatel, as in that of all the Christian kingdoms of Europe and America. And among the almost innumerable societies which in these times are engaged in sending preachers of the gospel to the heathen, whether they be in Holland, or in Germany, or in France, or in England, or in the United States, you will not find one that does not hold as fundamental the doctrine which you assail.
But I have hitherto been offering you mere assertions. It is time that I came to my authorities. I will not now take up time in showing that Jesus Christ is truly man. Nowadays this point, although once assailed, is not contested. I shall confine myself to the proof of the two assertions:
(1) That Jesus Christ is true God.
(2) That divinity and humanity are mysteriously united in His person.
One class of passages in the Holy Scriptures tell us that Jesus Christ is the true God.
To begin with, then, you will, I hope, admit that if our Lord has in the Scriptures ascribed to Him all the attributes, all the glory, all the works, all the worship, and all the names of God Almighty, He is God Almighty. Now, hear what are His attributes:
He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, Rev. xvii. 14. He is rich towards all that call upon Him, Rom. x. 12, ix. 14 compared with ix. 33, Is. xxviii. 16. His dominion is an everlast-
ing dominion, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, Dan. vii. 14. His goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting, Micah v. 2. He has the right to be the supreme object of our love, we ought to love Him more than father or mother, or son or daughter, or wife, Matt. x. 37, Luke xiv. 26 compared with Matt. xxii. 37. He that hath seen Him hath seen the Father, John xiv. 9. During the time that He sojourned on the earth with men He was in heaven: He was in the bosom of the Father, John i. 49, iii. 13. It is He that tries the hearts and the reins, Rev. ii. 23, compared with 1 King viii. 30. He was before Abraham. He says Himself, “Before Abraham was I am,” John viii. 58. He is the Living One who is alive for ever and ever, Rev. i. 18. All that belongs to Him belongs to the Father, and all that belongs to the Father belongs to Him, John xvii. 10. He is with His believing people even to the end of the world, Matt. xxviii. 20. Wheresoever two or three are met together in His name He is there, Matt. xviii. 20. His strength is made perfect in their weakness, 2 Cor. xii. 9. The Holy Spirit receives from Him that which He shows unto believers, John xvi. 13, 14, 15. The Father and He are one (neut.), John x. 30. He has the keys of hell and of death, Rev. i. 18. He knows all things; He knows that which is in man, John ii. 25, xvi. 30, xxi. 17. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, He who is and who was and who is to come, Rev. i. 17, compared with Rev. i. 7, 8, and Rev. xxi. 6. It is He to whom belong throughout all ages glory, and power, and dominion and greatness, Rev. v. 13 and 2 Tim. iv. 18, compared with v. 8-17, Acts xxvi. 15-17. He is the same yesterday, to day, and for ever, Heb. xiii. 8. The heavens will pass away, but He continues always, Heb. i. 8-12, compared with Ps. cii. 26, 27. They will wax old as a garment, but He is the same, and His years fail not. Ibid.
Now, I ask you, sir, Is it possible without the sin of idolatry to say all that of any other being than of the Sovereign God?
Consider, in the next place, the worship which is rendered unto Him.
He is invoked and prayed to by believers, and it is to Him that Paul had recourse in his tribulations, as Stephen also had in his death. Oh! how very happy are all those who put their trust in Him! Whosoever will call upon Him will be saved. Ps. ii. 12, Joel ii. 32, Rom. x. 13, Acts ii. 21. Consider, as examples, in the following passages, some of the prayers which are offered to Him—2 Thess. ii. 16, 17; 1 Cor. i. 2, 3; 2 Cor. xii. 8, 9; 2 Tim. ii. 19; 1 Thess. iii. 11; Acts ix. 14-21; Rom. x. 12, 13; Acts vii. 59, 60; ii. 22 (compared with Rom. x. 9-13); Acts xiv. 23; xxii. 16; Rev. v. 8-14. And not only do all the faithful adore Him on the earth (Matt. ii. 11, compared with iv. 10, and Acts x. 25, 26, and Rev. xxii. 8, 9; xix. 10; Matt. xxviii. 9-17; Matt. viii. 2; xiv. 33), but even the angels adore Him in heaven. “Concerning the Son,” says Paul (Heb. i. 6), “it is written: Let all the angels
of God worship him,” for all must honour the Son even as they honour the Father (John v. 23), at the name of Jesus all that is in heaven and that is on the earth must bow the knee (Phil. i. 10; Isa. xlv. 23). And why must they? Hearken to the Apostle Paul, who will give you three reasons wherefore in the xiv. chapter of Romans. We must, because “whether we live, or whether we die, we are the Lords” (v. 8); we must, because “we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ” (v. 10); we must, because “it is written” (v. 11, compared with Isa. xlv. 14, 15, 18, 21, 22, 23). “As I live, saith the Lord God, there is no God nor Saviour besides me. I have sworn by myself, and the word shall not be recalled, that every knee shall bow unto me, and that every tongue shall confess unto me.” “Every knee shall bow before me” (Rom. xiv. 11).
I ask you again: Think you that men and angels could render such worship to a creature without the most revolting idolatry?
In the next place listen, sir, to what the Bible tells us concerning His works;
He acts with His ministers in order to draw souls to obedience, Rom. xv. 18, compared with Mark xvi. 20, Acts xviii. 10, xi. 21, ix. 34. He baptises those that believe in Him with the Holy Ghost, John i. 33, Luke iii. 16, compared with Acts i. 5. Believers strive by the power of Jesus Christ who worketh mightily in them, Col. i. 29. He opens their mind and understanding; He opens their heart, Luke xxiv. 45, Acts xvi. 14. He comforts their hearts and confirms them in every good word and in every good work, 2 Thess. ii. 17. They are able to do all things through Christ that strengtheneth them, Phil. iv. 13. It is He that confirms them to the end, even to the day of His coming, 1 Cor. i. 3, 7, 8. Grace is given to each according to the measure of the gift of Christ, Eph. iv. 7, compared with Rom. xii. 3. He led the Israelites through the wilderness, 1 Cor. x. 9, compared with Ps. lxxviii. 36. He pardons sins, Col. iii. 13, Matt. ix. 6, Acts vii. 59, 60, Luke v. 24. It is He that wrought from heaven the instances of healing that took place at the word of the apostles, Acts ix. 34, xi. 21, xiv. 3. He accompanied the Apostle Paul in his ministry and kept him from every evil, Acts xviii. 9, 10, xvi. 7, xxvi. 17. It is He that rebukes believers and chasteneth all those whom He loves, Rev. iii. 19. It is He that bestows upon them wisdom in the time of persecution and that inspires them with that wherewith to answer adversaries, Luke xxi. 15. It is He that directs their way, 1 Thess. iii. 11. It is He that raised Himself from the dead, John ii. 19, x. 17, 18. He must dwell in the believer, for without Him we can do nothing, John xv. 1-5. All that the Father doeth that the Son doeth likewise, John v. 19. He worketh continually, even as the Father, John v. 17. He is before all things, and by Him all things subsist, Coloss. i. 17. He giveth life to whomsoever He willeth, John v. 21. He has chosen the elect, Acts ix. 15, John xv. 16. He receives the souls of the faithful at
the moment of their death, Acts vii. 59, 2 Tim. i. 12. His Holy Spirit makes believers understand the Old Testament, 1 Pet. i. 10, 11, compared with Rev. xxii. 6, 16. He has made all things; He has created things visible and invisible; He has created angels, dominions, principalities, and powers, etc., John v. 18, 19, Col. i. 16, 17, Eph. iii. 9. All things then have been created by Him, John i. 3, Col. i. 16. Without Him was not anything made that was made, John i. 13. Nay, more; all things were made not only by Him but for Him, Col. i. 16. To the Son He saith, it is Thou Lord that hast laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thine hands; they shall perish, but Thou remainest, and Thy years fail not, Heb. i. 10, 11.
I ask you, sir, for the third time, is it possible to say all that of a mere creature without being guilty of idolatry and of blasphemy?
IV. Listen now to the names which have been given to Him.
Jesus Christ is called God, 1 Tim. iii. 15, 16; Acts xx. 28, John i. 1, xx. 28, Heb. i. 8, iii. 3, 4. He is called God over all, and blessed for ever, Rom. ix. 5. He is called the true God and eternal life, 1 John v. 20. He is called our great God and Saviour, Titus ii. 13. He is called God the Saviour, God and Christ, God and Lord, 2 Pet. i. 1, 2 Thess. i. 12, Eph. v. 5, James i. 1, 1 Tim. v. 21, 2 Tim. iv. 1, Jude 4. He is called the only begotten of the Father, John i. 14. He is called the Lord of glory, 1 Cor. ii. 8. He is called the Prince of life, the Lord of the living and of the dead, the Lord of all, Acts iii. 15, Rom. x. 12, compared with Acts x. 36. He is called the Highest, Malach. iii. 1, compared with Luke i. 16, 17, 76, 77, Mark i. 2. He is called the only Possessor, God and Lord, Jude 4. He is called the Holy One of Israel, the mighty God, the Prince of peace, the King of glory, the Wonderful, the Father of eternity, Isa. ix. 5, compared with vii. 14, and Luke i. 32, 33, ii. 10, 11. He is called the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, He who is, and was, and who is to come, Rev. i. 17, 18; xxi. 6. He is called the Eternal, the Lord our righteousness, Jehovah, the Lord of hosts.
He is called the Saviour. And it is far from being the case that the Bible authorises the distinction which you desire to make between two Saviours. “Thou shalt not know any other God besides me, saith the Lord, neither is there any other Saviour besides me,” Hosea xiii. 2. “I even I am the Lord, and there is no Saviour besides me,” Isa. xliii. 11. “There is none other besides me, a just God and a Saviour. Look unto me all ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved,” Isa. xlv. 21.
Once more I ask you, could all these titles be given to any mere creature whatsoever without the most manifest idolatry? Now, sir, I beseech you by these things take good heed to the way in which you speak of such a subject. In a few years you will infallibly be judged not by the writings of —— but by the
holy Bible, by the Eternal Word, and according to the usage you will have given to those.
The language of those who call Him, who saved us on the Cross, God, you consider, you say, unworthy of philosophers. I will straightway justify the phraseology, but just hear those words of an apostle, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in men dwelleth all the fulness of the godhead bodily,” Col. ii. 8, 9.
Hitherto, sir, I have set forth only Scriptures belonging to the first order of declarations, that is, those that assure us that Jesus Christ is God. I think it superfluous to cite, in the second place, those which show us Him as truly man, like unto us in all things, sin excepted. I will therefore merely indicate the place which such passages would occupy in an exhaustive treatment of the subject, and I shall without delay proceed to bring forward the third class of passages, I mean those which are occupied with the setting forth of Jesus Christ as the God-man, as Mediator, as Immanuel in that condition into which the Second Person of the adorable Trinity has been pleased to enter in order to save sinners.
The second class of passages of the Holy Scriptures tell us that Jesus Christ is truly A MAN.
A third class of passages of the Holy Scriptures tell us that Jesus Christ is MEDIATOR, IMMANUEL, GOD, AND MAN.
To begin with, it is positively asserted in the Bible, “That God has been manifest in the flesh, and that it is a great mystery,” 1 Tim. iii. 16. “That the Word which was in the beginning, who was God, who made all things, and without whom was not anything made that was made—that that Word was made flesh,” John i. 1, 2, 3, 14. “That God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself,” 2 Cor. v. 19. “That while Christ was according to the flesh the Son of David, he was according to the Spirit the Son of God and God over all, blessed for evermore,” Rom. i. 3, 4, and ix. 5. “That in becoming thus incarnate, Jehovah came into his temple, into the temple of his body,” Mal. iii. 1, compared with John ii. 21. “That thus all the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily, and that all fulness behoved to dwell in him in order to reconcile all things with himself, having made peace by the blood of his cross,” Col. i. 19, 20. “That the Lord, being in the form of God, and counting it not robbery to be equal with God, took upon him the form of a servant,” Phil. ii. 6, 7. “And it is added that the Lord when he thus was found in fashion as a man, so humbled himself as to have made himself of no reputation,” Phil. i. 7, 8.
That is, sir, what the Lord, the God of love, has done in order to draw His elect from eternal condemnation, and in order to deliver them from the wrath to come He took on Him their infirmities! He carried their griefs! He for their sakes clothed
Himself with the form of a servant! He was even made a curse for them! Can you then, in order to set them in array against against His eternal divinity, use the very declarations which He has given us of that adorable humiliation whereby His pity towards us moved Him to make Himself of no reputation!
As He is the Eternal Word, He could say: “I and the Father are one. He could say that He was equal with God, that He was God, but as the Mediator, as the God-man, the Son abased, and made of no reputation He said: “The Father is greater than I; He prayed, He suffered, He died.
As God He is called “the Lord of David,” as man He is “his son,” but as Mediator He is the Son of God. As God He is present with His believing people even to the end of the world, but as man he is in heaven, and the heavens must receive Him until the times of the restitution of all things.
As God He had Himself power to raise again the temple of His body. He had power to lay it down and He had power to take it up again, and as Mediator it was not possible that He should be holden of the pains of death, but as Man He died, while His soul was not left in hell, and God raised Him up on the third day.
As God He is the same yesterday and to-day and for ever, He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, He who was and who is and who is to come, the Almighty, but as Mediator, “When all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him.”
As God He has power of Himself to subdue all things to Himself, but as Mediator, and as he made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was obedient unto death, “God put all things under his feet.” In a word, it is as one who is at once God and Mediator that He says (Zech. ii. 10, 11), “Rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith Jehovah, and thou shalt know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me to thee.” To pretend to set these passages the one against the other would be comparable to the presumption of a supposed inhabitant of Saturn or Uranus, who, because he had learned that man is dust, and returns to the dust, would deny the immortality of the soul, or, having learned of the immortality of the soul, would deny that man is mortal.
Now, sir, permit me in a few words to reply to the taunt offered by you on the third page of your notes. You there find fault with words which are the words of the Bible. “God has not suffered,” you say. Without doubt He could not as such suffer, but because of the union of the two natures in the Person of Christ, the Bible oftentimes attributes to Him what is true of only one of His natures; yea, it sometimes attributes to one of the natures that which is strictly applicable only to the other. It is thus that Paul says to the Corinthians, “that the Lord of glory was crucified for us,” 1 Cor. xii. 8; and to the pastors of Ephesus “that God had
redeemed the church with his own blood,” Acts xx. 28. It is thus that Jehovah hath Himself said, by the mouth of His prophet Zechariah, “I will pour upon my people the Spirit of grace and of supplication, and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced,” Zech. ii. 10, compared with John xix. 37 and Rev. i. 7. “They have prized me at a sum of money, saith Jehovah.” I might give many more citations of the same kind, but let these suffice.
Touching the importance of this doctrine as it affects the heart, and even for salvation, I should have much to say, but this letter has extended beyond the length which I at the outstart purposed. In this connection, I shall then allude to one consideration. Its importance is such that the Spirit was pleased that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all four, should proclaim on the very first page of their gospel the divinity of our Lord Jesus. They have all felt the need of commencing with a clear declaration of this fundamental truth.
Open the first chapter of the New Testament and you will there find that the evangelist Matthew (or rather the Holy Spirit by whom the Apostle spoke) hastens to ground our faith on its true foundations by declaring to us that that Immanuel who was to save His people from their sins is He who was announced in the Old Testament as the Mighty God, the Wonderful, the Father of Eternity, the Prince of Peace. And in order to prove it he appeals to the testimonies which the Prophet Isaiah had rendered to the Messiah so many years before His actual coming. “Behold,” he had said, “a virgin shall conceive and shall bring forth a son, who shall be called (this is to say, who shall be) Immanuel, God-with-us.” God was clothed with our poor nature. And again, says the prophet, speaking of that event which was to take yet 800 years ere it was accomplished, but of which he speaks as if he were already seeing its accomplishment with his eyes: “Behold unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders, and he shall be called the Wonderful, the Mighty God.”
It is in a similar way that Mark begins his gospel. “Jesus,” says he in the very first verse, “is the very Son of God, according to that which is written in the prophets: Behold I send my messenger before thee to prepare the way before thee; and he shall cry in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord (in Isaiah it is of Jehovah), make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Behold the Lord God; he shall feed his flock as a shepherd.” Isa. xl. 3-12.
And pay attention, sir, to the manner in which the Holy Ghost, in order to make us the better grasp the meaning of the words spoken by Malachi 400 years before, comments on these words in Mark, while the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, says in Malachi: “Behold I send my messenger before me.” He says in the gospel, in order to our better understanding his mind: “Behold I send my messenger before thee.”
It is also by the exposition of the same truth that Luke begins his gospel, since that, at the outset, he declares to us that it is to Jesus Christ that these words of the prophet must be applied: John the Baptist shall be great before the Lord, and many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God, and he shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias . . . and thou child sha’l be called the prophet of the Highest, for Thou shalt go before the Lord (Jehovah of Hosts according to Mal. iii. 1) to prepare his ways. To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the forgiveness of their sins.”
It is thus also that John begins his gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and that Word was made flesh.”
It is in the same way that Paul begins the two most important of his epistles—I mean the largest systematic doctrinal treatises—that to the Romans and that to the Hebrews.
If the Old Testament were more thoroughly studied by you, sir, it could not be but that you would fully acknowledge this truth. The usage which the apostles made of its (i.e., of the Old Testament) utterances does not leave room for doubt on the part of those that study the Word of God, and receive it in its entirety.
My letter is already too long that I should now proceed to illustrate this on a large scale. I will give in extenso only one instance, but I would, by the way, ask you to study in the light of their contexts the following comparisons between passages from the Old and the New Testaments. They are only specimens of many others:—Isa. xxxv. 4, 5, 6, compared with Matt. xi. 5, and Isa. xxv. 9; Isa. xlv. 6, compared with Rev. xxii. 3, i. 18; Isa. lxi. 1, compared with Luke iv. 17-21; Isa. xxviii. 16, compared with 1 Pet. ii. 7, 8; Ps. cxviii. 22, compared with Matt. xxi. 42; Ps. xcv. 7, 8, 9, compared with Heb. iii. 6-9; Ps. cii. 26-28, compared with Heb. i. 8-12; Zech. xi. 13, compared with Matt. xxvii. 7, 9, 10; Zech. xii. 10, compared with John xix. 37, Rev. i. 7.
But as an illustrative instance, please, sir, give all your attention to the following quotation which, if it were alone, seems to me enough to positively convince anyone who in all sincerity searches the Bible for the truth of God—”In the year in which Uzziah died,” says Isaiah in chapter vi., “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up. Above it stood the seraphim . . . they covered their faces with wings, and they cried unto one another, and said: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. . . . Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I, send me. And he said unto me, Go and say to this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not, and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat,” etc. Next, sir, listen to that which the Apostle John says in the 12th chapter of his gospel—”Though Jesus had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him. That the saying of
Isaiah, the prophet, might be fulfilled, which he spake: Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed.” Therefore, they would not believe, because that Isaiah saith again: He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts, that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said Isaiah when he saw his glory and spake of him. Nevertheless, among the chief rulers many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue. For they loved the praise of man more than the praise of God.
Permit me, sir, before finishing to remind you, as before God, that such a question as now occupies our attention ought to be examined not only with the Bible in our hand but upon our knees in the spirit of prayer, and with the thought that we are on the verge of eternity. If you see Jesus Christ as yet only according to the flesh, in His abasement, and as in His cradle, approach Him at the least in His cradle as the wise men of the East, approach Him adoringly. Unhappy we if we enter on such a search as this with thoughts altogether human, without meditation, without submission, without prayer!
Please to see in all this letter only a testimony of my regard for you, and of my sincere wishes for your real well-being.