ESSAYS ON THE DIVINE POWER ; AS MANIFESTED IN THE OUTWARD SYMBOL, AND REALIZED IN THE INWARD LIFE. BY JOSEPH EDWARDS. 66 GOD HATH SPOKEN ONCE; TWICE HAVE I HEARD THIS; THAT POWER BELONGETH UNTO GOD." Ps. lxii. 11. BIBLIC LONDON: CHARLES GILPIN, BISHOPSGATE WITHOUT. 1851. 144.2.39. INTRODUCTION. TRUE faith stands not in word only, but in power. We preach not a God who dwells in musty parchments, and moss grown catacombs; but that universal, sentient Spirit, who pervades all nature, and makes himself manifest in his works. The God of the living, is a living God, not a traditional one only. Hence our religion is not so much that imported from Palestine, and conserved in ecclesiastical archives, as the witness of an internal law, the outspeaking of that divine word, which is the power of our being. : Our mission is not to destroy the Christian religion, but to fulfil. If we snap off the dried branch, it is only to make room for the green and vigorous shoot. Jesus Christ is the same to-day, as he was yesterday and will be the same for ever. He is not the dry tree, but the green; his bough abides in its pristine strength-his leaf also is not withered : wherefore we preach not a dead Christ, but a living Sonship; not a God who exists only in the dusty records of history; but a God still speaking in his spiritual essence, and Christ-generating power; still manifest in the flesh, and seen of sublunary angels. The divine power which is universal in existence, is also universal in effect. By the same, kings rule, and princes decree justice. Whatever is, is of God: and in the multi farious working of his Spirit there is no confusion. Confusion exists only in diseased imaginations, and in imperfectly developed perceptions. Truth subsists, not in the fleeting form, but in the universal life and the knowledge which rests upon symbols is that which shall vanish away. The Divine Spirit teaches more fully by the in-grafted, than by the written word: and we can only understand the one, as it is unfolded and realized by the other. To preach Christ, is to live Christ; to elaborate his sufferings in our inward life; and to work out his testimony in our outspoken being. To be saved by Christ, is to be begotten inwardly in his likeness; and to be identified with his person. To trust in Christ, is, to rely upon the divine power put forth in our heart, and to have no confidence in the power of the flesh. Wherefore we write no new thing: propose no new creed: set aside no established plan of salvation. Our God is Abraham's God: our Lord is David's Lord: our Father is Christ's Father. He is the God of the living principle; not of the dead individual. We believe him with Abraham's faith; serve him with David's zeal; and worship him with Christ's spirit. It is only in so far as these principles are developed in our spiritual being, that we possess the true religion. The Christian religion is not a traditional myth, but a present reality. Men may believe in the Bible, without believing in God. Devils believe and tremble; so as long as our belief is based upon a carnal apprehension, it is accompanied with fear, uncertainty, and torment. Abraham believed in God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness. In Abraham's day there was no Bible; conse We quently his belief must have been engendered and maintained by the inward light, without the aid of the outward symbol. True belief may exist in us, independent of the written word, without being contrary to it. that believe, do enter into rest. Our natural powers are laid in a state of quiescence; every thought, imagination, and desire, are brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Rightly to believe in God, is the perfection of religion, and the ultimatum of philosophy. To believe in God, is not only to assent to his being, but to yield our being unto his. The world is filled with involuntary atheists, who, verbally acknowledging the wisdom and power of the supreme spirit, by their deeds and creeds actually deny his existence. That is none the less atheism, which using the christian symbol as a cloak, lays the burden of salvation upon the individual. The ocean, irresistible in aggregate, is powerless in detail; so man, impotent by himself, carries everything before him, by sinking his own power in God's power. If you cannot submit to God, it is a proof you do not believe that he is; but whether you believe in him or not, you cannot prevent him from working in you to will and to do his pleasure; and thus present necessity, becomes future virtue. Our testimony is not our own, it is the light of the sun glittered back by the wave, the voice of the wave speaking the language of his thousand brethren-the stone crying out to the sculptor-the breathing, speaking proportions of his handy work. According to Geology, time was when the normal Tribolite, or obsolete Iguanodon were the chief organized vehicles of the eternal spirit, and the highest visible manifestations of the Divine power. The glories of the |