Works of the Right Rev. Bishop Hay of Edinburgh/Volume 1/Introduction
THE
SINCERE CHRISTIAN
INSTRUCTED IN
THE FAITH OF CHRIST FROM THE WRITTEN WORD.
INTRODUCTION.
JESUS CHRIST, the eternal wisdom of God, who is Himself " the way, the truth, and the life" addressing His heavenly Father, pronounces this sacred oracle: " This is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou has sent," John xvii. 3.
The securing to ourselves eternal life is the great end for which we were created; it is the " one thing necessary" without which we are lost for ever; it is an affair of all others the most important, or rather, it is the only important affair we have to think of: " For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Mark viii. 36. Seeing, then, that the knowledge of God the Father, and of Jesus Christ, His Son, in such a manner as we are capable of knowing Them in this world, is declared by Christ Himself to be the eternal life of our souls — that is, to be the necessary and undoubted means of acquiring that eternal life, and of bringing us to the full knowledge and possession of God in the world to come — how much ought we to esteem that Divine knowledge! How assiduous and careful ought we to be to get ourselves fully instructed in it!
What will it profit a man to know all things else, if he be ignorant of his God and of his Saviour? What though he understand the motions of the stars, the measure of the earth, and the whole circle of human sciences, if he be ignorant of that important science, the science of the saints, which alone will conduct him to eternal bliss? " If any man consents not," says St Paul, " to the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to that doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but sick about questions and strifes of words," I Tim. vi. 3. To promote this heavenly wisdom among men, to instruct the ignorant in the knowledge of the great truths of God and of eternity, has at all times been esteemed by the Christian world as a most sublime employment: and God Himself has promised a most ample reward to those who practise it, saying, by His holy prophet Daniel, " They that are learned shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that instruct many to justice, as stars for all eternity," Dan. xii. 3. Hence it is, that, in every age, we find men of the greatest genius and learning, who have employed themselves with great zeal in instructing the ignorant in the truths of salvation, both by their apostolical labours during their lifetime, and by the pious monuments of their charity and zeal which they have left behind them in their valuable writings, for the benefit of future ages. ' To contribute my mite towards so laudable a purpose is the design of the present publication; to which I have been induced by several considerations.
I have often thought that the great truths of Christianity, if digested in a regular orderly method, so that the establishing one point should be a prelude and preparation to the next, would show that Divine religion in a more amiable point of view, and be a great ease and help both to those who are to instruct others, and to those who are learners: this idea has been confirmed by frequent experience, and I hope that the method which I have found so useful may prove equally beneficial to others. There are many excellent works published in our language upon different parts of religion; but I am afraid they too often suppose the generality of their readers better instructed in these matters than they commonly are, and are written more for the learned than the ignorant. The view I have had in this present work is to assist the most unlearned, and beginning with the first rudiments of Christianity, to conduct the reader, step by step, through the whole body of the principal truths of revelation, so that the knowledge of one truth may serve as an introduction to those which follow.
The sacred Scriptures are an inexhaustible fountain of heavenly knowledge, but are commonly less used than they might be in illustrating and establishing the truths of religion. A text or two hinted at now and then seem lost in the multitude of other reflections and reasons which surround them; but, when the principal stress both of the explanation and proof is laid upon these Divine oracles, and a number of texts are placed in the proper order for illustrating the point in question, they give an incredible force to what is proposed, show that it is God Himself who speaks, and cut off all occasion for human sophistry to enter. This I have had in a particular manner in view in these instructions, and have endeavoured to collect together the several testimonies of the Word of God where the point in question is explained, illustrated, or established; that, showing the constant uniform doctrine of the Holy Scripture, I might bring full and complete conviction to the mind. Some may perhaps think I have crowded too many texts together on some occasions; but I have had in view the benefit of those who are to instruct others, that they may have a proper variety out of which to choose what they may find, by experience, to be most adapted to the various capacities of their pupils.
After this brief explanation of the plan and design of the work, I have only two things to recommend to my readers. The first is, to make themselves masters of one chapter before they proceed to another — to consider it well, to comprehend it, to penetrate the force of the reasons used in it. This will render the understanding of what follows easier, and, at the same time, more satisfactory and convincing. The second thing is, when examining the proofs from Scripture brought for any controverted point, not to consider so much how far the ingenuity of man could wrest the meaning of any particular text to a sense different from what it is brought to prove; but to consider what is the plain, natural, obvious meaning of all the various texts brought together in proof of the point proposed; for this surely must be presumed to be the sense intended by the Holy Ghost.