The Different Preachers Under These Different Dispensations.

The attentive reader will easily perceive, that the difference between these several dispensations is formed by those different degrees in which the Redeemer is manifested. Under Gentilism and Judaism, or under the general and particular dispensations of the Father, the Redeemer is both announced and expected; he is announced by the Father’s original promise, by tradition, by types, by prophecies; and he is expected as a Saviour who shall sooner or later make his appearance. Under the baptism of John, and under that imperfect Christianity which is received by a baptism of water, the Redeemer is apprehended, in some measure, by sense; or by a faith which merely respects the history of the Gospel: but he is apprehended only as a Saviour manifested in the flesh, to accomplish the external act of redemption. It is otherwise under that perfect Christianity to which we are introduced by the mysterious baptism of the Spirit, in which the Redeemer is manifested after a manner abundantly more glorious. He is now received as coming in the Spirit, after having died for our sins and risen again for our justification. Now he performs the spiritual work of redemption in the soul, delivering his people from the power of sin, by communicating to them the special efficacy of his death, his resurrection, and his triumph. Henceforth he is a Comforter, not only with, but in us; where he spiritually exercises his acknowledged offices, instructing, purifying, and finally subduing all things to himself.

THE DIFFERENT PREACHERS UNDER THESE

DIFFERENT DISPENSATIONS.

PERSUADED that confusion is the source of a thousand errors, the prudent minister endeavours to place the truths of the Gospel in their proper order; and reflecting upon those preachers who have formerly proclaimed them, he is enabled to produce something upon their separate testimonies which may serve to edify the different classes of his hearers. Thus St. Paul, when preaching to the Athenians, judged it convenient to cite one of their own poets rather than Moses; and thus, in addressing those teachers who leave the Gospel in order to set up a vain philosophy, the true minister may find it necessary to produce the description which Epictetus has given of a real philosopher.

Every dispensation has had its peculiar preachers, and the pastor who is led into all truth is anxious to second these preachers, by publishing, in their proper place, those sacred truths which they have respectively delivered according to their different proportions of grace.

The preachers, under the dispensation of the Father, are,

1. The works of creation. “The heavens,” saith David, “declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handy Work,” Psalm 19:1. “That which may be known of God,” adds St. Paul, “is manifest,” even among the heathen. “For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead: so that they are without excuse, because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God,” Romans 1:19-21.

2. Providence. “The living God,” saith the apostle, “who, in times past, suffered all nations to walk in their own ways, left himself not without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness,” Acts 14:15, 17.

3. Those dreadful scourges with which an avenging God is constrained to correct a rebellious world; such as famine, pestilence, war, &c.

4. Reason; which is a ray from that Divine Word, that Eternal Logos, that “true Light which lighteneth every man that cometh into the world.”

5. Conscience. “For the Gentiles,” saith St. Paul, “which have not the law, [written by prophets and apostles,] are a law unto themselves; their conscience beating witness, and their thoughts accusing, or else excusing one another,” Romans 2:14, 15.

6. Enoch, Noah, and all the holy patriarchs who lived before the flood.

7. All those pious persons who have inculcated the fear of God, and published the traditionary promise which was given to our first parents.

8. The prophets and priests among the Jews, together with the sacred poets and true philosophers among the ancient heathens.

9. Those priests who, among Jews, Mohammedans, and modern Pagans, recommend, with sincerity, holiness and the fear of God.

And, lastly, all those preachers of Christendom, who, blind to the dispensations of the Son and the Spirit, fall back into Gentilism, delivering only such moral essays as have been abundantly exceeded by philosophers of old.

As this dispensation has ever had, and still continues to have, its celebrated preachers; so it has frequently had, and may yet continue to have, its confessors and martyrs. If it were possible to come at the history of all those who have been eminently distinguished by their piety under this economy, and who have nobly suffered in the cause of godliness, we might probably discover many an Abel, and many a Zacharias, many an Aristides, and many a Socrates, in every nation under heaven. In company with these amiable and honourable characters, the evangelical pastor is constantly observed, so far as they proceed in the high way of truth; but he advances far beyond them when he would associate with the preachers of the Son’s dispensation.

The heralds of truth, under this dispensation, are,

1. The priest, Zacharias, who announced the accomplishment of the promise which was made to the patriarchs, Luke 1.

2. The angel who first brought down the tidings of the Messiah’s birth, in company with the multitude of the heavenly host, who attended him upon that extraordinary occasion.

3. Those Jewish priests, who directed the Magi from Jerusalem to the city in which Christ was born.

4. Those celestial voices which declared, upon Mount Tabor and on the banks of Jordan, that Jesus was the beloved Son of the Father.

5. John the Baptist, who proclaimed Christ come in the flesh, and endeavoured to prepare the penitent for the dispensation of the Spirit.

6. Those seventy disciples who were commissioned by our Lord to preach the Gospel.

And, lastly, all those teachers of the present day who, like Apollos in the beginning of his ministry, perceive nothing beyond that inferior dispensation, of which an outward baptism is considered as the seal. Under the dispensation of the Spirit, the preachers are,

1. The apostles, who entered upon their excellent ministry after being first miraculously endued with power from on high.

2. All those ministers of the Gospel who, after receiving into their own hearts “the Spirit of adoption,” Romans 8:15, proclaim the coming of that Spirit to those who have already experienced “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ,” Acts 20:21. Such ministers alone may be said to proclaim the spiritual kingdom of God; and these alone can experimentally direct believers to the absolute fulfilment of every Gospel promise. The teachers of this day, instead of proclaiming the grand promise of Christianity, unhappily renounce that promise; imagining that it merely respected the first followers of Jesus, or, at most, that it was confined to the earliest ages of the Christian Church. Far from publishing the Gospel in its abundant plenitude, these unskilful evangelists are not able to preach all that imperfect Gospel which in Scripture language is called “the baptism of John,” Acts 18:25. John publicly announced the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and far from despising such baptism himself, he openly declared that he had “need to be baptized of Christ,” Matthew 3:14. Nevertheless, John was put to death before the promise of the Father was fully accomplished; and on this account our Lord declared that the “least in the kingdom of heaven, [that is, the lowest under the dispensation of the Spirit, should be accounted] greater than he,” Matthew 10:11. Yea, even the soldiers of Cornelius, after the Spirit had descended upon them, were assisted to publish the mysteries of that kingdom with greater clearness, and with a more lively conviction, than the forerunner of Jesus had ever done.

That prophet doubted before his death, as well as all the apostles before the day of pentecost. But under the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, the great truths of the Gospel are demonstrated by the power of an internal evidence, which leaves in the heart no more room for doubt than a mathematical demonstration leaves room for hesitation in the mind. Farther: John the Baptist barely intimated the necessity of a spiritual baptism: but the most illiterate among the centurion’s servants could say, “Christ has baptized me with the Holy Ghost and with fire; and the promise, which he hath already fulfilled to me, who am a poor Gentile, he will as gloriously accomplish in favour of others, since the promise is given ‘to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call,’” Acts 2:39. Thus, under this sublime dispensation, every faithful servant of the Lord is enabled to prophesy out of the fulness of his heart, and to speak the wonderful works of God. Thus also, every zealous minister, persevering in his pursuit after evangelical truth, becomes, at length, of the same society with those who were the first and most effectual preachers of the everlasting Gospel.