"Thy co-eternal Son display, "For all the plenitude Divine, "He spake the word and it was done, His word is his eternal Son, And Christ the whole creation made." "From thee through an eternal now, As everlasting God." "Thy wond'rous love the Godhead show'd, Contracted to a span: The co-eternal Son of God, The mortal son of man." To transcribe all the verses which are on that important subject is unnecessary, for the same sound doctrine runs through the whole. When we turn to the Sacred Writings, we find a variety of passages, which can bear no other construction than that, which has been uniformly given to them by the orthodox part of the Christian church. Our Lord is repeatedly spoken of as the only begotten of the Father, perfectly distinct from all created beings. In the conversation which our Lord had with the Jews, he said, "My Father worketh hitherto and I work." The Jews immediately sought to kill him, because he said that "God was his Father, making himself equal with God." If the Jews had mistaken the meaning of our Lord, why did he not correct their error; but so far was he from informing them that they had mistaken his meaning, that he even confirmed it by saying, "That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father." St. John says, "No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath de clared him." Surely he could not speak of the human nature of our Lord, being in the bosom of the Father; of its having seen God, and having declared him; the passage applies to him who was one with the Father, before his incarnation. Our Lord says, "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again I leave the world, and go to the Father." Of the human nature of our Lord, it could not be said, "I came forth from the Father," in the same sense in which it is immediately added, "Again, I leave the world, and go to the Father." In our Lord's address to his heavenly Father, as recorded by St. John, in the 17th chapter, there are many expressions which cannot be applied to the human nature of Christ: "And now, O Father, glorify thou me, with thine ownself, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." St. Paul, in his epistle to the Romans, says, "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son, (his own proper Son,) in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh." As also in his epistle to the Galatians, "When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, (his proper Son,) made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law." Both passages evidently implying, that Jesus was the Son of God prior to his incarnation. The author of the epistle to the Hebrews uses clear and decisive language also on that important subject, in that sublime passage, "But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom." He also ascribes the work of creation to Jesus Christ as the Son: "Whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds ;" and as the Son, he is the brightness of his Father's glory and the express image of his person. Such, Sir, are the express testimonies of the ancient fathers; of the venerable Reformers who were the compilers of the Liturgy; of the Rev. Mr. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism ; and, above all, of the Sacred Writers. Shall we leave those testimonies, and enter on the doubtful field of theory? Or leave the old way-marks, and enter into the trackless desert? Certainly not; millions of Christians have followed the ancient guides, and have entered the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem; and I trust that, through the power of Divine grace, we shall walk in the same plain and beaten track, neither deviating to the right hand nor to the left. We must be careful not to anathematize those persons who do not think with us; to their own master they stand or fall; but we, as a body of people, whom the Lord has graciously raised up as out of the dust, and whom he has honoured with almost unexampled prosperity in the revival of his work, must be careful to "walk by the same rule, and mind the same things." Of Methodism, as to purity of doctrine, soundness of discipline, and true Christian experience, I would ever say, "Esto perpetua."— I am, your's, &c. Nov. 17, 1817. G. MARSDEN. BIOGRAPHY. From the London Methodist Magazine. An Account of the Life, and Conversion from Heathenism to Christianity, of GEORGE NADORIS DE SILVA, SAMARA MAHA NAYEKA, late a Budhist Priest in the Island of Ceylon. (Continued from page 225.) OUR manner of proceeding with him, was this: when it was announced the Rajegooroo was come, one of us, whose turn it was, went to meet him in the parlour. As we had undertaken. to assist him in reading and writing English, our first business was to inspect his copy, and hear him read a chapter in the New Testament. We then desired our usher to write out a fresh copy; and in the mean time, by the help of an interpreter, proceeded to discourse with him on the subject of Christianity. These discourses, or debates, for he uniformly took part against Revelation, would sometimes last for several hours together; and often, on his part, with an excessive degree of warmth, and impatience of controversion. As for ourselves, we knew we were on solid ground, and hence endeavoured to show him that we relied more on the unanswerable evidences of Christianity for the triumph of our argument, than on any undue warmth of temper in the defence of it. Our principal reliance, however, was on the enlightening and converting influences of the Holy Spirit. Never did we behold a fitter object for these influences than was Rajegooroo; and hence, in addition to our own ardent prayers for his moral conversion, we did not fail to remind him, that as Christianity was a religion sent from God, and hence might be supposed to include more difficulties in it than those systems which were merely of a human origin, so he must not expect fully to understand its sacred discoveries without frequently praying for the inward illumination of its Divine Author. We likewise gave him to understand that our religion revealed to us blessings to be experienced, as well as doctrines to be believed: and, as in common life, experience was considered a superior kind of evidence to that of the best theory, so in religion it was super-eminently the case; and that the grand glory and boast of our religion was, that in all those persons who had the deepest acquaintance with it, the experience of their hearts united with the conviction of their understandings to prove that it is of God. While dwelling on this subject we generally found great liberty of soul. Sometimes, I could scarcely forbear weeping over him; for I was convinced that in his case the moral change was the thing principally necessary; and it was remarkable, what a powerful effect these appeals would have upon him, and how suddenly they would appear to subdue his opposition to Christianity. We would then urge upon him the necessity of prayer; and he would frequently surprise us by assuring us, it was a duty which he did not omit, and scarcely ever parted with us, after the conversation had taken that experimental turn, without begging of us to continue our prayers for his real conversion. It is for the reader to decide, how far we were warranted with these appearances, in looking upon him from this period, as a sincere inquirer after truth. It will be easily supposed we were encouraged to expect the desired result, and that we continued to feel the most tender concern for his salvation in all our interviews with him. In this manner he was in the habit of attending at our house, almost daily, for about three months; during which time he had the benefit of frequent conversations with all whom he thought capable of affording him any instruction, especially with the Rev. Mr. Bisset, and the Honourable and Rev. T. J. Twistleton. From the latter he obtained some useful information on the subject of geography, which is a science with which the Cingalese in general are completely unacquainted. I think we may safely say, that there never was a theological battle harder won in this island before, or which excited the feelings of all parties concerned, more than this contest between the disciple of Budhu and the advocates of Christianity. Our first object was to state to him, as concisely and fully as possible, the historical and doctrinal truths of our Divine Revelation; but this being done, we found him still to retain the strongest possible prejudice in favour of his own system. We then changed our mode of proceeding, and began by a candid, and particular investigation of his Budhist faith. He repeated to us a number of excellent moral precepts which were contained in their sacred book; and expatiated largely on the merits and virtues of Budhu, insisting that the religion which he taught was every way equal to the necessities and happiness of mankind. We readily allowed the excellence of the moral code to which he referred; but dwelled pointedly on the fact, that Budhu positively denied the existence of a great Supreme Creator and Preserver, and attributed the original commencement, and present continuance of all things to mere chance. We entered at large into the folly of such a creed, and the difficulties and contradictions which it involved, and which it is not necessary to repeat in this narrative; and observed, that the omission of the Supreme Deity, the Creator and Preserver of mankind, from the Budhist creed, must have proceeded either from depravity or ignorance in Budhu who had formed it. That if it proceeded from the depravity of their celebrated founder, there could be no room for any question as to what steps he should take with his present views and that if it arose from the ignorance of Budhu, the plain path of duty for him to pursue was to forsake the darkness of heathenism, and to embrace the light of the Gospel; which he would discover to be a religion which contained a complete and becoming revelation of that, as well as every other important truth which it was necessary for man to know. Here we kept our ground, and resolved to enter on no other position but this, till we prevailed. If he ever started any other |
