CHRISTIANITY
CHRISTIANITY. It is proposed in the present article to give a very brief outline of the system of the Christian religion, and of the evidences by which its truth is established. The principal parts, both of the system and evidences of C., will be found noticed under separate heads.
C. comes to us with a claim to be received as of divine origin. It is no product of the human mind, but has for its author the Being whom it sets before us as the object of worship. It is consequently altogether exclusive; it claims to be deemed the only true religion�’ the truth ‘�and admits of no compromise or alliance with any other system.
C. cannot be viewed as distinct from the religion of the Jews and of the patriarchs; it is the same religion accommodated to new circumstances; there has been a change of dispensation only. In studying either the system or the evidences of C., we are compelled continually to revert from the New Testament to the Old, and must in some measure trace the history of the true or revealed religion through the previous and preparatory dispensations.
The whole system of C. may be regarded as having its foundation in the doctrine of the Existence of one God. See god. Next to this maybe placed the doctrine of the Fall (q. v.) of Man. Man is represented as involved in misery by sin (q. v.)�original and actual�and every individual of the human race as incapacitated for the service and fellowship of God, obnoxious to the displeasure of God, and liable to punishment in the future and eternal state of being. See punishment, future. And here we may regard the doctrine of the atonement (q. v.) as next claiming our attention�a doctrine taught in all the sacrifices (see sacrifice) of the patriarchal and Jewish dispensations, as well as by the words of inspired teachers. Man being utterly incapable of effecting his own deliverance from sin and misery, God sent his Son to save sinners, to deliver them from hell, to make them holy, and partakers of the eternal joy and glory of heaven.
By those who regard Christ as a mere creature, atonement or reconciliation with God is made to depend on the repentance of man as its immediate cause; whilst the life and death of Christ are represented as merely an example to us of obedience, virtue, and piety in the most trying circumstances; the doctrines of a propitiatory sacrifice, a substitutionary obedience, and an imputed righteousness, with all that form part of the same system, falling completely and even necessarily to the ground. These doctrines, however, are all consistently maintained in connection with the doctrine of the Trinity and the generally received doctrine as to the person of Christ. See christ and trinity. The very incarnation (q. v.) of the Son of God is regarded as a glorious display of the divine condescension, and a wonderful exaltation of human nature : whilst a personal enjoyment of the highest dignity and bliss of which humanity is capable in favor and fellowship of God for ever, is to be attained by faith in Jesus Christ. See faith and justification.
The indissoluble connection between faith and salvation arises from the divine appointment, but secures a moral harmony, as it provides for bringing into operation�in accordance with the intellectual and moral nature of man�of most powerful and excellent motives for all that is morally good, the partakers of salvation being thus fitted for the fellowship of Him into whose favor they are received; and as it prevents the possibility of any of them taking to themselves, or giving to others, the glory of that salvation which they really owe to Christ, and which they must therefore ascribe to Christ, as God is a God of truth, and truth must reign in the kingdom of heaven.
Salvation is ascribed by all Christians to the grace of God. The mission of Christ was an act of supreme grace; and all must be ascribed to grace for which we are indebted to Christ. The doctrine of grace, however, is a part of the system of C. on which important differences subsist, especially as to the relation of the grace of God to individual men.
Such are tte differences concerning election (q. v.), and concerning the origin of faith, and man’s ability or inability to believe of himself. But by Christians generally, the personal relation of the believer to Christ, and his faith in Christ, are ascribed to the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God, the third person of the God-head, and so to the grace of God. See arminius, calvinism.
Ir. the view of all who hold the doctrine of the Trinity, the doctrines concerning the Spirit of God form a very important part of the Christian system. To the agency of this person of the Godhead, besides all that is ascribed to Him concerning the human nature of Christ, we are indebted for all that is spiritually good in man; He, in the economy of grace, being sent by God, on the intercession of Christ, to communicate the blessings purchased by Christ, in his obedience and death. See holy ghost.
Salvation begins on earth; and whenever a man believes in Christ, he is a partaker of it�is in a state of salvation. It forms an essential part of the Calvinistic system, that he who is in a state of salvation always remains so, and that the salvation begun on earth is in every case made perfect in heaven. See persever of saints. Thus salvation is viewed as beginning in regeneration (q. v.), and as carried on in SANCTIFICATION (q. v.), and all its joys as connected with the progress of sanctification. Faith in Jesus Christ cannot be unaccompanied with repentance, and repentance is always renewed when the exercise of faith is renewed. For although all believers are saints or holy, as set apart to God, and in contrast to what they previously were, yet there is none in this life free from temptation and sin; the successful tempter of our first parents, who assailed our Saviour with temptation and was defeated, being still the active enemy of men, against whom believers in Jesus Christ are called to contend, to watch, and to pray. See devil. The sense of responsibility belongs to human nature; and the doctrine of a Judgment (q. v.) to come may be considered as to a certain extent a doctrine of natural religion, as may also that of the Immortality (q. v.) of the Soul; but the clear and.distinct enunciation of these doctrines belongs to the Christian revelation, to which belongs entirely the doctrine of the Resurrection (q. v.) of the Dead.
Of the moral part of C., which has already been referred to, it may be sufficient here to state, that it is as harmonious with the doctrinal as it is inseparable from it; that it is founded upon the attributes of God, and is perfectly illustrated in the character of Jesus Christ; and that it is divisible into two great parts�one, of the love of God, and the other, of the love of man, or of ourselves and our neighbors. See law, moral
The means of grace, or of the attainment of the blessings of salvation, form an important part of the Christian system. Of these the word of god�or divine revelation contained in the Bible (q. v.)�first claims attention, as the means of conversion to Christ, and of edification in Christ, the instrument by which salvation is both begun and carried on in men. The ordinances of God’s worship are among the means of grace. Thus Prayer (q. v.) is one of the chief means of grace. The Sacraments (q. v.) are means of grace, concerning the precise use of which, and their relative importance as compared with the other means, considerable difference of opinion prevails among Christians. The same remark applies also to the combination of Christians into an organized body or community, the Church (q, v.), with its own laws or system of church-government (q. v.) and church-discipline (q. v.).
We have endeavored to sketch the outline of the system of C., as much as possible according to the general belief of Christians, merely indicating the points on which the chief differences of opinion exist. Some of the principal controversies will be found noticed under separate heads.
The truth of C. is established by many different Evidences , distinct and independent, but mutually corroborative. It appeals to reason, and demands to have its claims examined and admitted. Nor is there any faith where there is not a mental conviction arrived at by a process of sound reasoning.
The evidences of C. are very generally divided into two great classes, internal &\^(\ external�the former consisting of those which are found in the nature of the Christian system itself, and in its adaptation to the nature and wants of man; the latter, of those which are derived from other sources. The boundary between the two classes, however, is by no means so distinct in reality as it appears in the definition of the terms. Of the multitude of books which have been written on the subject of the evidences of C., some are devoted mainly to one of these classes, and some to the other; whilst some are occupied with the development of particular evidences or arguments, and some with the refutation of objections, and in particular of what may be called a preliminary objection�that a divine revelation can never be established by sufficient evidence at all. See Revelation.
The evidence of Miracles (q. v.) and the evidence of Prophecy (q. v.), two of the principal branches, of the external evidences of C., will be found noticed in separate articles. Another argument, which has been much elaborated�for example, in Paley’s Evidences�is derived from the character and sufferings of the apostles and other first preachers of C.; their high moral worth, considered along with their great earnestness and devotedness; the absence of all possibility/’ of selfish or base motives; and at the same time, their perfect/opportunity of knowing the truth of the facts which they proclaimed. A subsidiary argument is found in the admission of�tbregreat facts regarding Jesus of Nazareth, by the early opponents of Christianity.
A most important and valuable argument is found in the perfect coherence of all the parts of the Christian system, and in the agreement, as to the religion which they teach, of all the books of Scripture, notwithstanding the widely different dates of their composition, and their very different nature in other respects. See bible. The relation of the Jewish ceremonies to the doctrines of C. supplies another argument of this kind, capable of being developed in a multitude of particulars. The minor coincidences between the different books of Scripture have been pointed out with happy effect in the Horce Paulina of Paley, and in other works. The character of our Saviour supplies an argument of great power : the impossibility of the invention of such a character, and of the history in which it is exhibited, by any effort of human genius, is. also urged as corroborative; and the inconsistency of the morality displayed, with the supposition of imposture, has been dwelt upon with the same view. The excellency, both of the doctrinal and moral part of the system of C., its elevating and purifying tendency, the agreement of its doctrine with the tact of man’s sinfulness and misery, and the suitable provision which it makes for his most deeply felt wants, are principal branches of the internal evidence of its truth. The effects of C., where it has prevailed, supply a confirmatory argument in its favor, which has formed the subject of works of great learning and interest.