The Different Dispensations Are Produced By That Lovely Variety With Which the Almighty Is Pleased to Distribute His Favours.
the different conditions and capacities of all his hearers, if he would happily accommodate spiritual things to spiritual men. Without this knowledge, he will, under every dispensation, run the hazard of refusing to advanced Christians the solid nourishment they need, and of presenting to the natural man that celestial manna which his very soul abhors.
THE DIFFERENT DISPENSATIONS ARE PRODUCED BY
THAT LOVELY VARIETY WITH WHICH THE ALMIGHTY
IS PLEASED TO DISTRIBUTE HIS FAVOURS.
IF the light of the Gospel had been due from God to every individual sinner; if he had not been left entirely free, in every sense of the word, to impart it to whom, at what time, and in what degree soever was most pleasing to himself; his impartial justice would then have engaged him equally to illuminate all mankind, and he must have caused the Sun of righteousness, immediately after the fall, to have shone out in its meridian brightness. In such case, there would have been but one dispensation of grace; and the light of the Gospel would not have proceeded to its highest glory by such just gradations as are observable in all the productions of nature.
But the Almighty has proceeded in the work of our redemption, according to the dictates of his own unerring wisdom, and not upon the plans of our pretended sages. The day of the Gospel, whether it be considered as enlightening the world in general, or the heart in particular, rises, like the natural day, from one degree of brightness to another, till all its glories are fully manifested.
The confusion which many divines have spread over this part of theology, makes it necessary to go into particulars, that we may place in a just point of view, both the gradations and the harmony of these three dispensations, which collectively form the glorious Gospel of God.
If some naturalists were determined to confine their observations upon the rainbow, to those lines in it that are manifestly red: if naturalists of another class were as obstinate in contemplating those of an orange hue; and if others were as resolutely bent in singling out those of a blue colour, they would contradict and dispute with each other in as ridiculous a manner as many ignorant worshippers of the triune God are observed to do at this day. Thus Deists dispute for the honour of God the Creator; and while some Christians pay all their homage to God the Redeemer, others are as wholly taken up with God the Sanctifier. Amid all the confusion of these jarring sentiments, the prudent pastor admits, in their proper place, the various dispensations of evangelical light, conducting his followers from faith to faith, till he beholds them illuminated with all the truths, and experiencing all the power of the Christian religion.
We acknowledge that God is just, though the light of the natural sun approaches us only in a gradual manner, producing a constant variety both in our days and seasons. We do not accuse the Supreme Being of injustice, because he is not pleased to bring the fruits of the earth, in an instant, to their highest maturity; or because the same species of fruit, which is esteemed for its delicious flavour in one climate, is found worthless and insipid in another. And if the Sovereign of the world is not expected to ripen, on a sudden, either the reason of individuals or the knowledge of nations, it should not be matter of surprise to observe him acting in his usual manner, with respect to things of a spiritual nature. His plans are all equally wise: but it is impossible for man to form a perfect judgment of them, unless the creature could stand for a moment in the place of the Creator, and take one comprehensive view of earth and heaven, time and eternity. If “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years,” when he is pleased, in an unexpected manner, to fulfil his grand designs; “and a thousand years as one day,” 2 Peter 3:8, when he sees good to accomplish his purposes in a more gradual way; why should it so strangely afflict and amaze us, that he has left the human race in a state of suspense, with regard to his unsearchable counsels, for near six thousand years? The time is coming when he will discover to us that stupendous plan, which, in our present circumstances, we contemplate with every disadvantage; and just as an animalcule, whose life is limited to six hours, would contemplate the plan of an immense palace, which a skilful architect had promised to complete in as many years. Supposing such an insect, endued with reason, and coming into existence during the night, should blindly crawl among the loose materials of which the intended edifice was to be constructed; what opinion could it form either of the architect or his plan? Would not this insignificant creature be led to judge of these matters as the pretended philosopher inconsiderately judges of that mysterious plan upon which the Almighty is erecting the temple of truth, and creating an incorruptible world? If the Creator thought it necessary to employ six days in completing the beauties of the material world; and if the Redeemer judges it expedient progressively to perfect the more lasting beauties of a spiritual world, during six of his more ample days; how little reason have we to despise the comprehensive design; especially when we consider six thousand years are far more inconsiderable in comparison with eternity, than six atoms in comparison with this terrestrial globe!
Now, if such a plan is not only reasonable, but has been evidently adopted by Him who “giveth not account of any of his matters,” Job 33:13; it is undoubtedly true, that those who have lived in different periods of time, have not been permitted to enjoy all the various truths which God has successively revealed to man. Nevertheless, it is equally certain that every man, in what period of time, and in what peculiar circumstances soever he found himself placed, has received sufficient light to discover, as well as sufficient power to perform, what God has been pleased to require at his hands.
The day of evangelical truth is graciously allowed to all mankind, that they may thereby be assisted to discover, to love, and to obey their celestial Parent: and, finally, that they may reach the mark of their high destination, which is the enjoyment of those different degrees of blessedness which are reserved for the different classes of the faithful. Let us consider the morning of this sacred day. When the first man had extinguished in his heart the light of truth and the fire of charity—when he became sufficiently stupid to think of concealing himself from his God among the trees of the garden, and sufficiently impious to throw the blame of his offence upon his companion in transgression, instead of confessing his disobedience with all its aggravations—it is evident, that man was then without Christ, that is, without a Saviour, without “hope, and without God in the world,” Ephesians 2:12. In that night of error and confusion, and probably of despair, the promise of a powerful Redeemer was given to our first parents, whence certain beams of hope were produced, which formed the earliest twilight of the Gospel day.
The tradition of this gracious promise, which was made to Adam and confirmed to Noah; the natural law, which is nothing less than the remains of the Creator’s image in the human heart; and the secret grace of the Redeemer, which is more or less operative in every man; these collectively formed that evangelical dawn, which was for a long time universally experienced in the world, and which may with propriety be termed, either Gentilism, the religion of the first patriarch, the Gospel of the heathen, or the dispensation of the Father. In this low dispensation, and under these faint glimmerings of truth, the generality of mankind are still unhappily observed to live. And though clouds of prejudice, together with vain tradition, deprive Pagan nations, in part, of this inestimable light, yet sufficient remains among them for the direction of those who are seeking after the light of a less obscure dispensation.
When mankind had become almost universally unfaithful to the grace of Gentilism, and unmindful of the past vengeance of God in destroying the world: when they had plunged themselves into the most impious excesses, and were wholly given up to the greatest idolatry; at that time the Almighty resolved to separate from the corrupted nations a single people, who should preserve among them the Divine worship in its purity; a people, among whom the Messiah should be born, and who should spread around them both the expectation and the promise of so wonderful a Deliverer. Moses, Aaron, and Joshua, were the representatives of this extraordinary Person. Moses, as a prophet and legislator; Aaron, as a high priest appointed of God; and Joshua, as an illustrious conqueror, dividing the kingdoms of Canaan among those who had followed him through the dangers of a tedious warfare. Thus the Jews became a preaching people to the rest of the world, preserving in it the light of the Father’s dispensation, and preparing it for the farther dispensation of the Son: insomuch, that the expectation of a Divine Restorer was spread over many parts of the earth, as we learn from two Pagan historians,f5 whose testimony deserves credit. Nay, the Sibyls, and even Virgil himself, took occasion, from this general expectation, of applying to Augustus the predictions of a sublime conqueror, who was to issue from the east, renewing the face of things. Judaism, then, seems to have been nothing more than the dispensation of the Father, though undoubtedly more luminous than it had formerly appeared before the calling of Abraham. The moral law, given by Moses, was but a new edition of the natural law, which had been given long before, and the ceremonial law was added thereto, as a farther confirmation of the original promise. This was, however, a remarkable advance toward the dispensation of the Son and that of the Holy Ghost, since the mysteries of both were shadowed forth by the interior parts of the temple, by sacrifices, by ablutions, by anointings, by perfumes, by burning lamps, and sacred fires.
The universal creed, under this ancient dispensation, still forms a part of that which is received among Christians. And there is no true worshipper under this economy but who can say, with sincerity, “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Creator and Preserver of heaven and earth, the Avenger of sin, and the Rewarder of those who faithfully serve him. And I trust the time is coming when some Divine instructer will enable me more fully to know and obey this incomprehensible Father of the universe.” May such an instructer soon appear! was the united prayers of Socrates and Plato. “Let him hasten his coming,” says the true Jew, and the pious Theist, “under whatever appellation he may choose to appear. Let him be called the Seed of the woman, the Seed of Abraham, or the Son of David; let his name be the Messiah, the Son of God, the Logos, Emmanuel, Joshua, Jesus, Saviour; or only the Prophet, the Angel of the Covenant, or the Messenger of God; it is of little consequence. If he bring but life and immortality to light, I will receive him with gratitude and joy.” Such is the faith by which those Jews, Mohammedans, and Pagans, whose hearts are principled with humility, candour, and the fear of God, have been, and still continue to be, saved in every part of the world. For the Father of mercies, who knoweth whereof we are made, will no more absolutely condemn such worshippers, on account of the extraordinary respect they have discovered for Moses, Mohammed, and Confucius, than he will finally reject some pious Christians, for the sake of that excessive veneration which they manifest for particular saints and reformers. Nor will he punish either because their guides have mingled prejudice with truth, and legendary fables with the doctrines of theology.
As a prudent physician proportions his medicines to the different ages and habits of his patients, so the enlightened pastor, who feels himself concerned for the spiritual health of his flock, sees it necessary to act with equal care and discretion. He preaches the dispensation of the Son to those who, like Socrates and Plato, are longing for a Divine instructer, as well as to those who, like Simeon, Nicodemus, and Cornelius, are waiting for the consolation of Israel. He leads them either from the law of Moses, or from the law of nature, to the Gospel of Christ; explaining, with precision, those parts of the New Testament, which exhibit the commencement of the Son’s dispensation, together with all he taught and suffered, while he continued upon earth.
Lastly, to such as have devoutly embraced this part of the Gospel, he publishes the glorious economy of the Holy Spirit, which was not fully opened till after the bodily appearance of the Redeemer was withdrawn from the world. Then it was that he descended in the fulness of the Spirit, directing and supporting his disciples, animating and sanctifying his members, and manifesting that kingdom of God, that dispensation of righteousness, peace, and joy, which is so largely treated of in the Acts and Epistles of the Apostles.
These three dispensations have one common end. They mutually tend to manifest the different perfections of the Supreme Being, to raise man from his present low estate, and to perfect his nature. This three-fold design is apparent under the dispensation of the Father; it unfolds itself more clearly under that of the Son; and shines out with increasing lustre under that of the Holy Spirit. As it is one and the same sun that animates every thing in the natural world, so it is one and the same God who operates every thing in the kingdom of grace. He, whom we address as our heavenly Father, in that sacred form of prayer which is common among Christians, is the very God in whose name the ancient patriarchs were accustomed to bless their children. The Word, through which we address him, is no other than that “Light of the world,” by which the antediluvian fathers were illuminated in their several generations: and the Holy Ghost, by which the souls of the faithful are divinely regenerated, is the same Spirit that primarily “moved upon the face of the waters,” Genesis 1:2; of which also it was said in the days of Noah,” My Spirit shall not always strive with man,” Genesis 6:3.
There never was a time in which the Son and the Spirit were not occupied in completing the salvation of believers. But there was a time when the Son became manifest upon the earth, making a visible display of his astonishing labours; and then it was that his particular dispensation had its commencement. So likewise there was a time when the Holy Ghost, more abundantly shed forth by the Father and the Son, began to work his mysterious operations in a more sensible manner, and at that time commenced the particular dispensation of the Spirit, which serves to perfect the dispensation of the Son, as that of the Son was given to perfect the dispensation of the Father.
These distinctions are founded upon reason, upon revelation, and upon the apostles’ creed.
1. Reason suggests, that mankind must for ever remain under the sovereignty of their omnipotent Creator, and accountable to him for the use they make of his innumerable favours. Reason farther discovers, that if man should admit the darkness of error into his understanding, and the fatal influence of sin into his will, he cannot possibly recover his pristine state, except through the manifestation of a new light, and the exertions of a stronger influence. But who shall produce the former, except that Saviour who is “the Light of the world,” John 8:12, or who shall supply the latter, except that energetic Spirit which “helpeth our infirmities?” Romans 8:26.
2. These distinctions are founded upon revelation. The volume of truth informs us, that the Creator foretold the coming of a Redeemer, and that the Redeemer, during his outward manifestation, proclaimed the near approach of “another Comforter,” John 14:16, 17. It is undoubtedly true, that some earnests of redeeming grace, together with the first fruits of the Spirit, were experienced even by the most ancient inhabitants of the earth. It is true, also, that by means of those earnests and first fruits, many myriads of mankind have been saved in every age of the world. But it is no less true, that the plenitude of these sacred girls was reserved to a very distant period of time; since, after the first promise of a Redeemer was given, near four thousand years elapsed before he made his public appearance; and while he continued upon earth it is expressly said, that “the Holy Ghost was not yet given, [in its full measure,] because that Jesus was not yet glorified,” John 7:39.
3. Christians are taught to distinguish these different degrees of evangelical grace, and to rejoice in all the advantages of these three dispensations, when they are solemnly baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And this they publicly profess to do, so often as they repeat the three principal articles of the apostles’ creed. Happy would it be, if, through the demonstration of that Holy Spirit, in which they affect to believe, they were enabled experimentally to confess their almighty Father and his redeeming Son. Every one of them might then thankfully add, “I experience the communion of saints and the forgiveness of sins: I joyfully and confidently expect the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.” It is presumed, that no doctrines can come more strongly recommended to the consideration of professing Christians, than those which are undeniably founded upon reason and revelation, upon that outward form of baptism and that primitive creed, which are universally received in the Christian world.