2. Distinct and Decided Views of Christian Doctrine
J C Ryle
1 Chronicles 12:32. Men that had understanding of the times.
The times require from us distinct and decided views of Christian doctrine. I cannot withhold my conviction that the professing Church of the nineteenth century is as much damaged by internal laxity and indistinctness about matters of doctrine as it is by sceptics and unbelievers without. Myriads of professing Christians nowadays seem utterly unable to distinguish things that differ. Like people afflicted with colour-blindness, they are incapable of discerning what is true and what is false, what is sound and what is unsound. If a preacher of religion is clever and eloquent and earnest, they appear to think he is all right, however strange and inconsistent his sermons may be.
These people are clearly destitute of spiritual sense and cannot detect error. Romanism or Protestantism, an atonement or no atonement, a personal Holy Ghost or no Holy Ghost, future punishment or no future punishment, Trinitarianism or Arianism or Unitarianism, nothing comes amiss to them: they can swallow it all even if they cannot digest it! Carried away by a fancied liberality and charity, they seem to think everybody is right and nobody is wrong, every clergyman is sound and none are unsound, everybody is going to be saved and nobody lost. Their religion is made up of negatives, and the only positive thing about them is that they dislike distinctness and think all extreme and decided and positive views are very wrong.
These people live in a kind of mist or fog. They see nothing clearly and do not know what they believe. They have not made up their minds about any great point in the gospel; they seem content to be honorary members of all schools of thought. To save their lives they could not tell you what they think is true about justification, regeneration or sanctification; the Lord’s Supper or baptism; faith, conversion, inspiration or the future state. They are eaten up with a morbid dread of controversy and an ignorant dislike of party spirit; yet they really cannot define what they mean by these phrases. The only point you can make out is that they admire earnestness, cleverness and charity, and cannot believe that any clever, earnest, charitable man can ever be in the wrong. So they live on undecided; and too often they drift down to the grave undecided, without comfort in their religion and, I am afraid, often without hope.
The explanation of this boneless, nerveless, jellyfish condition of soul is not difficult to find. To begin with, the heart of man is naturally in the dark about religion, has no intuitive sense of truth, and really needs instruction and illumination. Besides this, the natural heart in most men hates exertion in religion, and cordially dislikes patient, painstaking inquiry. Above all, the natural heart generally likes the praise of others, shrinks from collision, and loves to be thought charitable and liberal. The whole result is that a kind of broad religious agnosticism just suits an immense number of people, and specially suits young people. They are content to shovel aside all disputed points as rubbish, and if you charge them with indecision, they will tell you: I do not pretend to understand controversy; I decline to examine controverted points; I daresay it is all the same in the long run. Who does not know that such people abound everywhere?
I do beseech all who read this article to beware of this undecided state of mind in religion. It is a “pestilence that walketh in darkness” and a “destruction that wasteth at noonday”. It is a lazy, idle frame of soul which doubtless saves men the trouble of thought and investigation, but it is a frame of soul for which there is no warrant in the Bible. For your own soul’s sake, dare to make up your mind about what you believe and dare to have positive, distinct views of truth and error. Never, never be afraid to hold decided doctrinal opinions and let no fear of man or morbid dread of being thought party-spirited, narrow or controversial make you rest contented with a bloodless, boneless, tasteless, colourless, lukewarm, undogmatic Christianity.
Mark what I say. If you want to do good in these times, you must throw aside indecision and take up a distinct, sharply-cut, doctrinal religion. If you believe little, those to whom you try to do good will believe nothing. The victories of Christianity, wherever they have been won, have been won by distinct doctrinal theology; by telling men emphatically of Christ’s vicarious death and sacrifice; by showing them Christ’s substitution on the cross and His precious blood; by teaching them justification by faith and bidding them believe on a crucified Saviour; by preaching ruin by sin, redemption by Christ, regeneration by the Spirit; by lifting up the brazen serpent; by telling men to look and live – to believe, repent and be converted. This is the only teaching which for eighteen centuries God has honoured with success and is honouring at the present day both at home and abroad.
Let the clever advocates of a broad and undogmatic theology – the preachers of the gospel of earnestness, sincerity and cold morality – let them, I say, show us at this day any English village, parish, city, or town which has been evangelised without dogma, by their principles. They cannot do it, and they never will. Christianity without distinct doctrine is a powerless thing. It may be beautiful to some minds, but it is childless and barren. There is no getting over facts. The good that is done in the earth may be comparatively small. Evil may abound, and ignorant impatience may murmur and cry out that Christianity has failed. But, depend on it, if we want to do good and shake the world, we must fight with the old apostolic weapons and stick to dogma. No dogma, no fruits! No positive Evangelical doctrine, no evangelisation!
Mark once more what I say. The men who have done most for the Church of England, and made the deepest mark on their day and generation, have always been men of most decided and distinct doctrinal views. It is the bold, decided, outspoken man who makes a deep impression, sets people thinking and “turns the world upside down”. It was dogma in the apostolic ages which emptied the heathen temples and shook Greece and Rome. It was dogma which awoke Christendom from its slumbers at the time of the Reformation, so that the Pope lost one third of his subjects. It was dogma which 100 years ago revived the Church of England in the days of Whitefield, Venn and Romaine and blew on our dying Christianity so that it became a burning flame. It is dogma at this moment which gives power to every successful mission, whether at home or abroad. It is doctrine – clear, ringing doctrine – which, like the ram’s horns at Jericho, casts down the opposition of the devil and sin. Let us cling to decided doctrinal views, whatever some may please to say in these times, and we shall do well for ourselves, well for others and well for Christ’s cause in the world.
1A further section, as edited, from a chapter in Ryle’s book Holiness (1879). The first part, last month, emphasised the need to maintain God’s authority in the Bible and in Christian truth.
The Spirit’s Help in Prayer1
Thomas Boston
By whose assistance is acceptable prayer performed? By the help of the Holy Spirit (Gal 4:6, Rom 8:26). There are two sorts of prayers. (1.) A prayer wrought out by virtue of a gift of knowledge and speech. This is bestowed on many who are reprobates, and that gift may be useful to others and to the Church. But as it is merely of that sort, the prayer is not accepted, nor does Christ put it in before the Father for acceptance. (2.) There is a prayer wrought in men by virtue of the Holy Spirit: “I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplications” (Zec 12:10), and that is the only acceptable prayer to God; it is “effectual” (Jas 5:16). Right praying is praying in the Spirit. It is a gale blowing from heaven, the breathing of the Spirit in the saints, that carries them out in a prayer which comes as far as the throne.
Now the Spirit helps to pray:
(1.) As an instructing Spirit
affording proper matter for prayer, causing us to know what we pray for (Rom 8:26); enlightening the mind in the knowledge of our needs, and those of others; bringing us to remember these things, suggesting them to us according to the Word, together with the promises of God, on which prayer is grounded. “The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost . . . shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (Jn 14:26). Hence saints are sometimes carried out in prayer for things which they had no view of before, and carried by some things they had.
(2.) As an enlivening Spirit
(Rom 8:26), qualifying the soul with praying graces and affections, working in the praying person a sense of needs, faith, fervency, humility etc: “Thou wilt prepare their heart” (Ps 10:17). The man may go to his knees in a frame very unprepared for prayer, yet through the Spirit blowing, he is helped. It is for this reason the Spirit is said to make intercession for us, namely, in so far as He teaches and quickens, puts us in a praying frame, and draws out our petitions, as it were, which the Mediator presents.
This praying with the help of the Spirit belongs only to the saints (Jas 5:16); yet they do not have that help at all times, nor always in the same measure; for sometimes the Spirit, being provoked, departs, and they are left in a withered condition. So there is great need to look for a breathing of the Spirit and to pant for it, when we are to go to duty, for if there is no gale, we will tug at the oars but heartlessly.
Let no man think that a readiness and volubility of expression in prayer is always the effect of the Spirit’s assistance. For that may be the product of a gift, and of the common operations of the Spirit, removing the impediment to exercising it. It is evident that one may have few words and have groans instead of them, while the Spirit helps him to pray (Rom 8:26). Neither is every flood of affections in prayer the effect of the Spirit of prayer. There are those which puff up a man but make him no more holy or tender in his walk. But the influences of the Spirit are always humbling and sanctifying. Hence David says, “Who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee” (1 Chr 29:14); and Paul says, “We . . . have no confidence in the flesh” (Phil 3:3).
1An edited extract from Boston’s Works, vol 2.
Christ’s Intercession1
William Symington
The authoritative character of the Lord’s intercession
The authoritative character of the Lord’s intercession should not be overlooked. It is not enough that an advocate be a person of skill, integrity, compassion and zeal; he must also be authorised; he must bear a commission; he must be regularly licensed to practise at the bar. There must be a legal, as well as an intellectual and moral, qualification. In the case of Christ, this is undoubted. He does not of Himself assume the office of intercessor, nor does He derive His commission from His people, but from God. “I will cause Him to draw near, and He shall approach unto Me, saith the Lord.”
His intercession is a part of His priestly function; and we know “Christ glorified not Himself to be made an high priest, but He that said unto Him, Thou art My Son, today have I begotten Thee”. His general suretyship implies such a special commission, for it supposes a right to see all the stipulations of the covenant fulfilled, all the debts of the covenant children discharged, and payment made of every purchased benefit. The very manner in which He conducts His intercession carries this much in it. He sues for the new covenant blessings more as a matter of right than of favour; He demands rather than petitions; He claims rather than begs. There is a tone about His request, “Father, I will”, that bespeaks the authority under which He acts. They savour of the throne not less than of the altar. He is a Priest upon His throne.
The exclusive nature of Christ’s intercession
Between the intercession of Christ and advocacy among men, there are, as we have seen, many points of resemblance, but in other respects, Christ’s intercession is altogether unique. It possesses a character of utter exclusiveness; neither man nor angel may invade it; indeed it is so absolute as to exclude even the other persons of the Godhead. This peculiarity was set forth in the type. No man, not even the king himself, might intrude into the functions of the priesthood in general; nor was anyone but the high priest permitted to carry incense, on the day of expiation, into the holy of holies. There is no one else in heaven or in earth either qualified, or authorised, or required to make intercession. “No man”, He says, “cometh unto the Father but by Me.” “Through Him we have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” “There is . . . one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
The saints may indeed lawfully intercede for one another, but in a way very different from Christ. He intercedes in heaven, they on earth; He intercedes on the footing of His own merit, they are altogether denied to everything like personal worth as the ground on which they trust to be heard. Angels may not intrude on this high function of the Lord of angels. They are often said to praise, but never, that we are aware of, to pray. Nor can they have any personal disposable merit to form the foundation of vicarious intercessions. To represent either angels or men as joint intercessors with Christ, as is done by the Church of Rome, is to be guilty of a daring invasion of a high and exclusive prerogative of the one Mediator.
To the entrance into the holy place not made with hands, in the sense in which we are now speaking of it, the language of the prophet may be fitly accommodated: “This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut. It is for the Prince.” Yes, Messiah the Prince, the Prince of peace, claims the work of intercession as His special prerogative. It is indeed a prerogative which He claims as His to the exclusion, as we have said, even of the other persons of the Godhead. The Father, as the representative of Deity, who is the judicial sovereign with whom the intercession must be transacted, cannot be supposed to act in the capacity of intercessor.
The prevailing nature of Christ’s intercession
The prevailing nature, or efficacy, of Christ’s intercession is a feature on which we might speak at great length. It is an inviting theme, so full is it of comfort and encouragement. It often happens, among men, that the most urgent petitions, the most touching appeals on behalf of the oppressed, the wretched and the needy remain unheard. But not one request of the divine Advocate can possibly share this fate. Him the Father hears always. This view admits of ample confirmation and illustration.
It was typified indeed under the law, by the success which attended the entrance of the high priest into the holy of holies on the day of atonement. Had he not been accepted, the fire would have been extinguished on the golden altar, the censer of incense would have dropped from his hand, and he would never have been permitted to return to bless the people. In Psalm 21, which, from the lofty terms in which it is written, must refer to a higher than the literal David, we read, “Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips”. Nor did Christ ever intercede in vain while on earth. “Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me,” is His own testimony on one particular occasion, to which He subjoins the general affirmation, “I knew that Thou hearest Me always”. The Apostle assures us that “in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears”, He “was heard in that He feared”.
One request only was He ever denied: “Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from Me.” But this was no part of His intercession; it was the natural shrinking of His holy human nature from the awful scene that was before Him. Instead of militating against our position, it gives it support, inasmuch as His drinking the bitter cup of mingled woe, which could not possibly pass from Him, laid a meritorious foundation for the success of His advocacy. If that one prayer had been heard on His own behalf, no other could have been heard on ours.
When the character of the Intercessor is considered, there can be no reason to dread that He will ever be unheard. The dignity of His Person must give weight and influence to His petitions; the relation in which He stands to God as a Son, must have its effect; nor are His personal and official qualifications to be forgotten here. That one who is infinitely wise, holy and compassionate – whose diligence, zeal and affection are boundless; who acts moreover under the high authority of a divine commission – should fail in His suit is utterly impossible. If He was only man, or even angel, failure was possible; but being the Son of God, Jehovah’s fellow, He as a Prince must have power with God and shall prevail. The foundation on which His intercession rests affords further security. It proceeds on the footing of His atonement. He asks nothing for which He has not paid the full price of His precious blood. What He seeks is what He has merited, and He who has accepted His sacrifice cannot but grant “Him His heart’s desire”, cannot withhold from Him “the request of His lips”.
Nor in the matter of His intercession, as before delineated, is there anything but what is good in itself, agreeable to the will of God, and fitted to advance the glories of the Godhead. Those too for whom He pleads are all the chosen of God – the children, the friends of Him with whom He pleads – dear to the Father’s heart as to His own, alike the objects of His affection and esteem. “The Father Himself loveth” them. Add to all these considerations the security which arises from the results of Christ’s intercession that have already been secured. How many souls have been converted, how many sins pardoned, how many temptations repelled, how many acts of holy obedience performed and accepted, how many sons brought to full, eternal glory! In all of them, the efficacy of Christ’s intercession has been proved by the best of all evidence – its actual effects. So abundant is the evidence of its prevalence that the timid can have no reason for distrust, the unbeliever no excuse for neglect.
The constancy of Christ’s intercession
All that remains is to observe the constancy of Christ’s intercession. He is continually employed in this work. His redemption was the work of a comparatively short period, but His intercession never ceases. Human benevolence may become sluggish, may be interrupted for a time, or may finally die away altogether. But not so the benevolence which prompts the petitions of this Advocate. He can never become sluggish from ignorance of His people’s needs, for He is omniscient; nor from lack of affection, for His love is abiding; nor from lack of merit, for His sacrifice is of unfailing virtue; nor from fatigue, for He is the almighty and immutable God. Nothing can ever suspend His intercession. A moment’s intermission would prove fatal to the eternal interests of all the elect.
But while attending to the case of one, He has no need to suspend His attention to that of another. Innumerable as are His applicants, He attends to the needs of each as if there were no other that needed His care. Multiplicity cannot bewilder, variety cannot divide, importance cannot oppress His thoughts. To Him the care of millions is no burden. Ten thousand claims meet with the same attention as if there were but one. His understanding, His love, His merit, His power are all infinite; and we must beware of measuring Him by the low standard of our limited capacities.
Nor can His intercession ever come to an end. There will always be need for it. So long as His people sin, He will plead for pardon; so long as they are tempted, He will procure for them strength to resist; so long as they continue to perform services, He will continue to accept them; so long as they are in the wilderness, He will procure them guidance and safety; so long as the blessings of heaven are enjoyed, He will plead His merits as the ground on which they are bestowed. Through eternity He will continue to plead on behalf of His people. Never shall they cease to be the objects of His care; never shall their names be erased from His breast; never shall their cause be taken from His lips; never shall the censer drop from His hand; nor shall His blessed merits ever cease to rise up in a cloud of fragrant incense before the Lord. “He ever liveth to make intercession for them.”
1Symington (1795-1862) was a Reformed Presbyterian minister in Stranraer and Glasgow and latterly his Church’s professor of theology. This article is an edited extract from Symington’s The Atonement and Intercession of Jesus Christ.