|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 52
�Those that are Christ�s (says Paul, Gal. v. 24) have crucified the
flesh, with its passions and desires.� And they are commanded
(Rom. vi. 12 and viii. 13) �to mortify,� or, according to the
original, �put to death or �kill their members;� and Paul himself
uses language upon this subject exceeding strong. He represents (1
Cor. ix. 27) his mind and body as engaged in combat, and says, �I
buffet my body, and subject it.� The word here translated �
subject,� in the original, means �to carry into servitude,� and is a
term taken from the language of the olympic games where the
boxers dragged off the arena, their conquered, disabled, and
helpless antagonists like slaves, in which humbled condition the
Apostle represents his body to be with respect to his mind.
From this notion of the sinfulness of �the flesh,� we are enabled to
apprehend Paul�s reasonings about the sufferings of Jesus �in the
flesh.� �Since the children are partakers of flesh and blood, Christ
himself also in like manner partook of them�--Heb. ii. 14. �For
(says Paul) what the law could not do in that it was weak through
the flesh, God hath done, who by having sent his own son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and on account of sin, hath condemned sin
in the flesh.�--Rom. viii. 3. �But now, through Christ Jesus, ye
who formerly were far off, are brought near by the blood of Christ.
For he is our Peace who hath made both one, and hath broken
down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished by
his flesh the cause of enmity.�--Ephes. ii. 16. �You that were
formerly aliens, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet he
hath now reconciled by his fleshly body, through his death.�--Col.
i. 20.
Though these notions are sufficiently strange, yet they are not so
very remarkable as the one I am about to consider. It is a singular,
and a demonstrable fact, that the fundamental scheme of
Christianity was derived from the religion of the ancient Persians,
The whole of the New Testament scheme is built upon the
hypothesis, that there is a powerful and malignant being, called the
Devil and Satan, the chief of unknown myriads of other evil spirits;
that he is, by the sufferance of God, the Prince of this world, and is
the Author of sin, woe and death; the Tempter, the Tormentor of
men, and the Tyrant of the Earth; that the Son of God, to deliver
mankind from the vassalage of this monster, descended from
heaven, and purchased their ransom of the Tyrant, at the price of
his blood; for observe, my reader, that the idea of the death of
Jesus being an atonement to God for the sins of men, is a modern
notion; for the Primitive Christians, all of them, considered the
death of Jesus as a ransom paid to the Devil, as may be proved
from Origen and other Fathers. That the New Testament represents
this character as the sovereign of this world, may be proved by the
following passages:--�All this power will I give thee, and the
glory of them, (said the Tempter to Jesus, when he showed him all
the kingdoms of the earth,) for it is delivered unto me, and to
whomsoever I will, I give it.� Luke iv., Jesus calls him �the Prince
of this world;� John xii., and elsewhere. In his commission to Paul,
he calls embracing his religion, �turning from darkness unto light,
and from the power of Satan to God.�--. Acts xxvi. 18.
Accordingly we find, that to become a Christian was considered as
being freed from the tyranny of Satan. �God hath given life to
you, (says Paul) who were dead in offences, and sins; in which ye
formerly walked, according to the course (or constitution) of this
world, according to the Prince of the Power of the air.�--
Ephesians ii., 1. And again:--�If our gospel be covered, (or hid)
it is covered among those that are lost, among those unbelievers,
whose minds the God of this world hath blinded, to the end that the
glorious gospel of Christ should not enlighten them.�--2 Cor. iv.
4. John says in his Epistle, that �the whole world lieth in the
power of the wicked one;� and Jesus in the gospels compares him
to �a strong man armed, keeping his goods;� and himself to one
stronger than he, who strippeth him of the arms in which he
trusted, and spoileth his goods. �For this purpose was the Son of
God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the Devil.�--1
John iii. 8. And it is said, �that he came to send forth the captive
into liberty, and to heal those who were oppressed of the Devil.�
Men are also said to have been �taken captive of the Devil, to
fulfil his will.�--2 Timothy ii. 26. And we find that the Christians
attributed all their sufferings to the opposition of this Being. �Put
on (says Paul) the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to
stand against the wiles of the Devil. For we struggle not against
flesh and blood only; but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked
spirits in high places.�--Ephesians vi. 12. Christians are also said
to be delivered by God from the power of darkness, and to be
translated into the kingdom of his dear son. That is, as Christians
were considered as being the subjects of Jesus, and the rest of the
world as being of the kingdom of Satan, when a man became a
Christian he was translated from the kingdom of one, to the
kingdom of the other. Jesus accused the Devil as being the author
of all evil, as a liar, and the father of lies, and a murderer of men,
and of women, too, as appears in the Gospel, from the account of
that one, whose back the Devil had bowed down for eighteen
years--Luke xiii. 10--(on what account it does not appear.) In
short, the New Testament represents to him as being the source of
all evil and mischief, and the promoter of it; and the whole world
as being his subjects, and combined with him against all good.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|