 |
|
|
|
THE SOUL OF CHRIST
The doctrine of Garrett refuted
by
WILLIAM HUNTINGTON, S.S.
Minister of the Gospel at Providence Chapel, London
A LETTER TO MR. HUNTINGTON
Rev. And Dear Sir,
I take the liberty to address you in the name of our God, and of His Son Jesus Christ, to point out to me in what part of His Word you can find the word human attached to the soul of Christ; for, after searching and researching, I find nothing of humanity but to His body, and that in conjunction with a divine soul; He suffered the just for the unjust; that He was made under the law, made like unto us in all things, sin only excepted; that He was tempted as we are, but without sin; and as sin was an infinite transgression, He was an infinite sacrifice. But if His soul, which was offered for sin, was only human, the sacrifice was also human. Now this is what Mr. Garrett teaches, and I think you must have been wrong informed, or you would not have said so much on Friday morning. I was a hearer of his four years, before I came into this part of the town, and now I have been two years a hearer of you; and what the Lord taught me by him, He has confirmed by you. Now, I am sorry, that two men, labouring for the Lord, should speak so contrary, as to puzzle the minds of the people, in things not essential, when in all essential points they are the same. O may that God, Who has reconciled us to Himself by the death of His dear Son, make us one in heart, while travelling through this waste-howling wilderness. My soul can truly say, there is nothing here to be desired, but the solid peace, which flows from a good conscience, experienced by a heart renewed by grace, which keeps us above the alarming threats of Satan; although he would so often tempt me, that I know nothing about God, nor His dear Son; but that blessed Spirit Who taught me to cry, Abba, Father, witnesses my spirit, that I am bought with blood divine. Would you wish to see me, or to write, I should esteem it a favour. I am a poor weak woman, but the Lord has chosen the weak things of this world to confound the mighty and strong. I remain,
Yours in the Lord,
ELIZABETH COTTON
To MRS. ELIZABETH COTTON
I am much better employed, woman, than in attending to every packet of scribble that is sent to me. You are altogether in the wrong, and must unlearn all that you have learned, or else you will perish from the way. "There be many devices in man's heart, but the counsel of the Lord that shall stand" (Prov. 19:21).
You are not the first nor the second who has pestered me with these wild and extravagant notions, the very reading of which is shocking to me, and even hurts my feelings; and the time will come when their feelings will be more hurt who invent them. You inform me that Satan often tempts you, that you know nothing about God, nor His dear Son. I am afraid you belie the devil in this; for he certainly is no enemy to false doctrine, but the sole author of it; nor will he disquiet or disturb his own palace when stored with such a treasure of lies as yours is. Satan is not divided against himself; if he was, how should his kingdom stand? What you suspect to be the enemy, I believe is a real friend; and what you call Satan I call conscience. Conscience, I say, your own conscience reproaches you for trusting in a lie. And is conscience become your enemy because it tells you the truth?
I am much obliged to you for your kind offer, but have no particular wish to see you. Neither your presence, nor your counsel, would be of any use to me; and, as to your soul and your profession, I can see both these ten times clearer than you can; for, had you been a person that fears God, this letter had not been sent to me. Besides, I am no great admirer of female clergy; and there is no complaint of God Himself against the same; "As for My people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them" (Isa. 3:12). And this has been too often my case: boyish divines have published instructions for me upon the law, and petticoat priests have done the same upon the gospel; but I am just where I was; for these teachers convince me of nothing but their own ignorance and daring presumption. Take thou the apostle's advice, woman; "Be swift to hear", and "slow to speak" (James 1:19), and usurp no authority over the man, but be in silence (1 Tim. 2:12).
Your strange phrases of divine soul, infinite sacrifice and blood divine, sound very unpleasing in my ears. Although I know that what the apostle asserts is true, when he says, "Take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with His own blood" (Acts 20:28), yet that blood is not divine, for divinity has no blood; "God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth" (John 4:24). Whereas all flesh is made, or created, and all creatures that have blood are made out of one common mass, namely, the earth; "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground" (Gen. 2:7), "And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air" (Gen. 2:19). But surely divinity is not made, nor created; much less created out of the earth. "God is a Spirit," and has no flesh, no blood; which is plain enough from our dear Lord's speech to His apostles after His resurrection; "And as they thus spake, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you". But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And He said unto them, "Why are ye troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself: handle Me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have" (Luke 24:36-39). Here our Lord tells you that a spirit hath not flesh and bones, therefore no blood. And further, observe also, that the phrase "Myself" does not always mean the whole Person of Christ, Godhead and manhood jointly considered; but the human nature only, as He Himself says, "Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me and see." That nature which might be, and was handled, He calls Myself; but the Godhead cannot be handled with such hands; for, as God, He is "the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen nor can see: to Whom be honour and power everlasting, Amen" (1 Tim. 6:15,16). Himself, as man, was heard, seen, and handled; but, as God, he dwells in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see.
The Son of God took a whole human nature into union with His divine person; and this human nature He calls His life; "I lay down My life, that I may take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father" (John 10:17,18).
Observe here, 1st. That Christ, as God, had a life to lay down; but, if He took not on Him a human soul, He had not a life to lay down, because the life of the body is the soul, for "the body without the spirit is dead" (Jms. 2:26).
2nd. The divine nature is here called "myself." "No man taketh it from Me, I lay it down Myself." Myself, here, cannot mean the human nature; for "no man can keep alive his own soul, or deliver it from the hand of the grave" (Psalms 22:29; 89:48).
3rd. And observe, further, that He says, I have power to do this; "I am the Resurrection, and the Life" (John 11:25). Therefore He has power to lay down His life, and to raise it again; and this power is underived; for He does not say, I have received this power, but "this commandment have I received of My Father". He has commanded Me to lay down My life for man's redemption, and to take it again for man's justification; and I Myself, as God, have power to do this. "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19). And of the same purport is that text in John, "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us" (1 John 3:16). Our salvation took its rise from the sovereign love of God, Father, Son, and Spirit, from eternity, and therefore is here justly and truly ascribed to the Godhead. And that which makes this love perceptible to us is the Son of God becoming incarnate, and laying down His life, or sacrificing His whole human nature, for us. And thus I have proved that the phrase "myself" sometimes signifies his Godhead abstractedly considered; "I lay down My life of Myself", and sometimes it signifies His human nature only; "See and handle Me, that it is Myself, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye se Me have". There is an "I Myself" in Christ, that has been seen and handled; and there is a divine "I Myself" that dwells in the light, to which no mortal can approach, whom no eye hath seen or can see.
I shall now take notice of another passage of a similar import, which is in Peter's charge against the Jews; "But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the Prince of life, Whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses" (Acts 3:14,15). In which words the Prince of life was slain; but the God that raised Him from the dead is manifestly distinguished from Him; if by the Prince of life we are to understand, as Isaiah does, the "Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace" (Isa. 9:6). This Prince of life gave life and being to all creatures, angels, men, and beasts; and He gives the life of grace to all in His principality; and surely the Jews could not slay such a Prince as this. So far from it, that I firmly believe that all the apostate angels that fell, in combination with all the human race, let them all join their forces together, and lay their plans never so deep, and exert all their malice and rage to the utmost, all their force could never destroy one single soul, which is but a created spirit at best; and a most feeble one too, most sadly mangled and enfeebled by sin. Yet this poor puff is an overmatch for all the skill and force of devils and men; and our Lord's own words bear me out in this, "Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear: fear Him, which after He hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, fear Him" (Luke 12:4,5). So far are these created pismires from killing the Prince of life, or slaying a divine soul, that they cannot touch one human spirit; to kill the body is all; they have no more that they can do. No, nor even to kill the body without divine permission; "Thou couldest have no power against Me", says Christ to Pilate, "except it were given thee from above" (John 19:11). And, when God, for the trial of Job, suffered the devil to tempt him, and delivered Job into his hands for that purpose, he charged him, "Though not his life" (Job 2:6). Nor could all the infernal rage of Satan exceed the bounds of that command. The same apostle, that tells the Jews that they had "killed the Prince of life" (Acts 3:15), tells us also that it was the human nature that suffered; "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit" (1 Pet. 3:18). In this passage no more than the flesh is mentioned, because to kill the body is all that men can do; and because the body dies when the soul goes from it. Then the body, says Solomon, returns to its dust; but not so the soul, for that returns to God who gave it (Eccl. 12:7), and is by no means extinct; nor does it corrupt or decay, but exists in a separate state, either with the spirits of just men made perfect in heaven (Heb. 12:23), or else with the spirits in the prison of hell (1 Pet. 3:19, Isa. 24:22).
I have heard, from various quarters, that Mr. Garrett's converts deny that the Saviour had a human soul. If this be true, I wonder what part of the Saviour it was against which God orders his sword to awake; "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered" (Zech. 13:7). Now God's flaming sword (Gen. 3:24) is not a temporal one; nor is the flame that attends it a material fire; it is the spiritual sword of justice, attended with divine wrath. It wounds the soul, and is not wanted to kill the body; because men can kill that, if God gives them leave. If our Lord had no human soul, there was nothing for the sword of justice to wound; for infinite divinity can never be wounded. All such low, gross, fleshly conceptions as these, which are so dishonourable to the divine being, must be removed far from him.
You cannot find the word human in all the Bible: true. But we read of a child born, and a Son given; we read that a woman compassed a man; we read of the Saviour's body, and of His soul; and we read of one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus; and these things amount to all that we mean by human nature. Now all this is true or false; that is, Christ is either really and properly man, or he is not. If He is truly man, He must have a soul as well as a body; for Adam's body, when formed of the ground, was no more than a lifeless lump of earth until God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life: then man became a living soul. The infant that comes into the world without a soul is dead born, for "the body without the spirit is dead" (Jms. 2:26). If Christ did not take on him the whole of man's nature, that of a real soul as well as a human body, I insist upon it, in the name of God, that Christ is not truly and properly man: for man's body without the soul is no more than a corpse, the soul being the life of the body.
Again, man's deplorable state under the law is such as requires a whole sacrifice. The law is spiritual, and reaches to the soul; "the soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezek. 18:4), and the body also shall and must be raised again, that man may give an account of the deeds done in the body. The soul is condemned by the law to wrath and endless death, and the body to eternal flames; and he that redeems must sacrifice body for body, soul for soul, and life for life: and so Christ did. He "bore our sins in His own body on the tree" (1 Pet. 2:24). He gave His flesh for the life of the world; His soul was made an offering for sin (Isa. 53:10). "I lay down my life for the sheep" (John 10:15). Souls are created spirits, made or created by God Himself; for God calls them the souls that He has made (Isa. 57:16), and God Himself claims them all; "All souls are Mine" (Ezek. 18:4). And these souls, at their departure out of this world, go by three different names, such as spirit, soul, and ghost. 1st. They are called spirits; "Lord Jesus," says Stephen, "receive my spirit" (Acts 7:59). 2nd. We read of Rachel's soul departing, (Gen. 35:18). 3rd. We read that Jacob yielded up the ghost (Gen. 49:33). Now the soul of Christ, at His departure, goes by these three names. 1st. That of spirit; "Father, into thy hands I commend My spirit" (Luke 23:46). 2nd. "His soul was made an offering for sin" (Isa. 53:10). 3rd. "Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost" (Matt. 27:50). If He has no human soul these things cannot be true. Again, as all men's souls are created spirits, I address you, as you do me, that is, in the name of my God, and of His Son Jesus Christ, to point out to me in what part of His Word you can find the words divine soul, for, after all searching and researching, I find nothing like it, nor can you, nor shall you as long as the world stands. All souls are made, but uncreated divinity is the maker of souls; a divine soul is a glaring contradiction in terms. Christ says, "I am the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty" (Rev. 1:8). He is a just God and a Saviour (Isa. 45:21), "For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him, and for Him, and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist" (Col. 1:16, 17). Now if Christ, in His divine person, be the Almighty, the just God, and the Creator of all things in heaven and earth, then in Him must dwell "all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Col. 2:9). And do you not debase this Lord of life and glory, by calling Him no more than a divine soul?
You tell me that Christ was made under the law, made like unto us, in all things, sin only excepted. And, just before this assertion, you tell me you can find nothing of His humanity but His body. Now, as you are one of the weak ones, raised up to confound the wise, I must get you to explain this; for, if Christ took no more on Him than a human body, you must except our souls also, as well as our sins; for God has not made us corpses, but living souls. And, if His soul be a divine soul, you must except His divinity also; because our souls are made, and therefore cannot be divine. If these things be true, He is so far from being made like unto His brethren in all things, that there is not the least resemblance between Him and them.
It is true, there is one text of Scripture where iniquities are said to be infinite, but not in themselves, but as they are committed against an infinite Being. And you tell me that Christ was an infinite sacrifice. I wish you would point out the place where that account stands, for an infinite sacrifice is as contradictory as a divine soul.
But you are a confounder of the wise, and therefore I wish you to solve another difficulty. All sacrifices under the law were types, figures, and shadows of Christ and his sacrifice; and as such He is the real truth of all those types, and the substance of all those shadows. And, according to Christ's account, the sanctity, consecration, or sanctification of all the sacrifices, was derived from the altar; "(Ye say) Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty: Ye fools and blind: for whether is greather, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?" (Matt. 23:18,19). According to this account of our Lord the altar was greater than all the gifts, offerings, or sacrifices, that ever were offered upon it. And, further, He declares that it was the altar that sanctified the gift. Now I would wish to know what was the altar of our high priest, as we most certainly have one; for the apostle says, "We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle" (Heb. 13:10). Let this confounder of the wise tell me what that altar is which sanctifies the gift, and gives it all its sanctification and its worth; for we have no account of any infinite sacrifice, nor is it possible that infinity itself could ever be slain.
Whatever this altar is, it is for us to eat at; and Christ says, "My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed" (John 6:55). But yet He tells us that, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63). The flesh, our Lord says, profiteth nothing, if He took no more of our nature than that; nor will the offering up of the flesh, abstractedly considered, be profitable to feed our souls; for that which quickens is the spirit, and that which feeds the soul, Christ says, is spirit, and it is life. The bride-children's banquet is Christ's presence; not as He is man, but as God-man. And indeed nothing can fully feed and fully satisfy the boundless desires of an immortal soul, but a full answer to Paul's prayer, "God grant, according to His riches in glory, that ye might know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, and be filled with all the fulness of God" (cf. Eph. 3:16-19). And, if in Christ Jesus dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, this, and this only, is the altar where sinners may feast, and find an eternal fulness, and no where else. "I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward" (Gen. 15:1). And no altar can eternally feed us with all fulness but this. Nor did the inestimable worth of Christ's sacrifice spring from a divine soul, but from His eternal power and Godhead. In all those passages of Scripture which speak of Christ giving Himself, and of offering up Himself, as in Gal. 1:4; 2:20, Eph. 5:2, 1 Tim. 2:6, the whole human nature is meant, and no more; for, as to offering a divine soul, or offering a divine nature, or an infinite sacrifice, no such thing is ever meant, mentioned, or once hinted at, in all the book of God. For instance, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works" (Heb. 9:14). The law required a whole burnt-offering, and here is a whole human nature, expressly called himself, and most carefully distinguished from the eternal spirit, through which he offered himself. By the eternal spirit here I do not understand the third divine person, for he was his anointing to his offices, and the seal upon him, to assure mankind of his divine appointment; "Him hath God the Father sealed" (John 6:27). But by the eternal spirit here I understand His own proper deity; called by Paul a quickening spirit, and the Lord from heaven. And through the eternal spirit He offered Himself. But talking of a divine soul, of infinity being sacrificed, and of a divine Person bearing sin, suffering wrath and punishment, being made a curse, and dying upon a cross, is shocking to the last degree. Not deity, but devils and vile sinners, are the only subjects of all these things.
What I told you on Christmas day is true: and I tell you now again that the contents of your letter are none of God's teaching; that they are not answers to humble prayer; nor did the Holy Ghost ever lead your mind into any such things. And this you may depend upon, that all the wisdom which cometh not from above will most assuredly perish for ever; for God "will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent" (1 Cor. 1:19).
"I am," says Christ, "the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25). I am that power that will raise all that ever slept in the dust of the earth; and that power that will keep them in existence when raised; and that life which my saints shall live and enjoy in Me to all eternity, Further, that same "I am" says, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19). And the same divine power says also, "for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth" (John 17:19). That great "I am" is the altar that sanctified the sacrifice, and that gave it all its sanctity, its consecration, its glorious merit, and it inestimable worth.
There is, good woman, "no lie of the truth" (1 John 2:21) and of this you may be assured, that truth and liberty always go together; receive the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32). And, as truth and freedom go together, so do lies and bondage; "A deceived heart hath turned him aside, so that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?" (Isa. 44:20). But of this I am fully persuaded, that all who hold fast deceit, shall one day find their deceit to hold tem, for into the heavenly Jerusalem shall nothing enter that "loveth and maketh a lie" (Rev. 22:15). I will not say that you made these lies, but it is plain by your letter that you love them, and this you will find to be sufficient to keep you without the walls among the dogs, the sorcerors, the whore-mongers, murderers, idolators, and all liars (Rev. 22:15).
That which seems to confirm you in your lies is, that you cannot find that the Saviour took on Him any more of the human nature than the body. He certainly took no more of his mother than His flesh, which was made of the substance of her body; He was "made of a woman" (Gal. 4:4). And I tell you the truth when I tell that you yourself took no more of your parents than flesh, excepting sin; "That which is born of the flesh is flesh" (John 3:6). One soul is not generated of another; created spirits do not propagate spirits; our earthly fathers are fathers of our flesh, and no more; for God is "the Father of spirits" (Heb. 12:9). His body was made of the woman's substance, His soul was made by God; His flesh was of the virgin, His human spirit of the Almighty; and, if this be not true, the following Scripture must be false; "Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest" (Heb. 2:17).
Furthermore, it is plain that our Lord Himself often speaks of His soul, and of such sorrows and sufferings as are peculiar to souls, and which divinity is not, cannot be capable of; "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father save Me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour" (John 12:27). Again, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here and watch with Me" (Matt. 26:38). Again, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; nor suffer thine Holy One to see corruption" (cf. Psalm 16:10). Again, "(David) seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption" (Acts 2:31). "When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, etc." (Isa. 53:10). Again, "He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death" (Isa. 53:12). Again, "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied, etc." (Isa. 53:11). From all which it is plain that the second Adam, the quickening spirit, the Lord from heaven, took on him the whole of man's nature, consisting of a human body and a reasonable soul; which is further demonstrable if we consider:
1st. Because He grew. He grew as all other young children do; "Jesus increased in wisdom, and stature, and in favour with God and man" (Luke 2:52). His soul increased, or grew in wisdom, and His body grew in stature; which shows that He was young and capable of growing, as other children are. But, if His soul was divine, it must be eternal, and therefore cannot be young; and, if divine, it must be perfect, for divinity is perfection itself, and therefore can neither grow, ripen, increase or improve.
2nd. If His soul is divine, divinity needs no teaching, as Christ's soul did. "The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning: he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious" (Isa. 50:4,5). Men that want their ears opened, in order to have their instruction sealed, and who want the tongue of the learned given to them, to speak seasonable instruction to weary souls, must be human, for none but human souls stand in need of divine learning. Divinity needs no instruction, for who shall "teach God knowledge?" (Job 21:22).
3rd. The subjects of all divine inspiration, or divine anointing, are the souls of men, for there are no other subjects of it, that we know of.
If Christ had no human soul He needed no anointing. But He was anointed. "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because He hath anointed Me to preach good tidings to the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, etc." (cf. Isa. 61:1). Again, "The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; and shall make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord" (Isa. 11:2,3).
If Christ had not a human soul as we have, and endowed with the same faculties or powers as ours are (I mean those of judgment, will, mind and understanding) He could never want this divine anointing, and this teaching from the Holy Spirit, which is called wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, and knowledge, to make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. For a divine soul must be divinity itself; and to talk of a Divine Being wanting spiritual wisdom, counsel, might, and knowledge, to influence Him with the fear of the Lord, and to make Him of quick understanding in it, is such an absurdity as none but a devil could invent, none but a minister of Satan could advance, and is such as none but fools could ever embrace and admire.
4th. The proper subjects of divine grace are the souls of men; and Christ's soul was the subject of that grace that was poured into His lips when God blessed Him for ever (Psalm 45:2); for He was full of grace and truth; and in the days of His flesh He exercised every grace. He exercised patience at His apprehension, when He was led as a lamb to the slaughter; He exercised love in dying for us, "Greater love hath no man than this" (John 15:13); He exercised faith upon the cross, when he said, "My God, My God" (Matt. 27:46); He exercised hope in His death, leaving His flesh to rest in hope; and He exercised meekness and humility to all that laboured and were heavy laden, saying, "Come unto Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls" (Matt. 11:28,29).
(continued on the next page)
|
|
|
|
|
|