WhenTatian, about A. D. 165 speaks of "a god, who was born in the form of man" and of "the suffering God," he certainly did not mean, that Christ was the Supreme God, incapable of suffering. It was the doctrine of Apollinaris, two hundred years later, that Christ assumed a human body with a sentient soul like that of the inferior animals, but not assuming an intelligent or rational human spirit. He could see no reason why Christ should have two intelligent natures and two free wills. In his judgment the Son of God, who came down from heaven, was the only rational tenant of his human body, and the only rational sufferer on the cross, making a real atonement for sin. For scriptural proof he rested on John 1:14, "the Word was made flesh." His doctrine was doubtless this,—that the Son of God in his high spiritual nature, in which he came down from heaven in order to suffer, was the real sufferer on the cross: not that he was God incapable of suffering, and incapable of making any atonement.
On the distinction between Almighty God and his Son, derived from him before the creation, the Creed of the Church of England is very explicit:—"I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible: and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, &c."—"Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, &c."
The doctrine of the New England Synod at Boston in 1680 was the same: "The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father." If many of our American theologians at the present day reject the doctrine of the derivation of the Son from God, they are not responsible to the Synod's Confession or Creed, but certainly they are to holy Scripture and to Reason.
Sonnet 84.In a sonnet Milton speaks of the popish massacre in Piedmont:
"Their moansThe vales redoubled to the hills, and theyTo Heav'n. Their martyr'd blood and ashes sowO'er all th' Italian fields, where still doth swayThe triple tyrant; that from these may growA hundred fold, who having learned the wayEarly may fly the Babylonian woe."
"Their moansThe vales redoubled to the hills, and theyTo Heav'n. Their martyr'd blood and ashes sowO'er all th' Italian fields, where still doth swayThe triple tyrant; that from these may growA hundred fold, who having learned the wayEarly may fly the Babylonian woe."
"Their moans
The vales redoubled to the hills, and they
To Heav'n. Their martyr'd blood and ashes sow
O'er all th' Italian fields, where still doth sway
The triple tyrant; that from these may grow
A hundred fold, who having learned the way
Early may fly the Babylonian woe."
Sonnet 86.Occom was a distinguished Indian preacher, the first who visited England. Born at Mohegan near Norwich, Conn., he was educated 4 years in Wheelock's Indian School at Lebanon, and was himself a school teacher of the Montauk Indians 10 or 12 years. In 1759, at the age of 36, he was ordained by a presbytery. He preached in Great Britain in 1766, 1767, and 1768, between 300 and 400 sermons, employed by Mr. Wheelock. For the remaining 24 years of his life he continued to preach; and he died at New Stockbridge, near Utica, in July 1792, aged 69. The author has prepared for the press a Memoir of Occom, drawn from the papers of Dr. Wheelock which are in his hands and from Occom's own manuscript journals.
Sonnet 93.As an old medal had on it for a device a bullock standing between a plough and an altar, with the inscription,Ready for Either, the device was thought very appropriate to express the disposition of the true Christian missionary, ready for toil and ready also to be a sacrifice, if called to die in his master's service, "not holding his life dear unto himself."
Sonnet 96.Sickness prevented me from visiting my nephew and meeting with his guests on an interesting occasion. The old house, the home of my childhood and my dwelling for seven years of my ministry,—the house built by my father, the first minister of Pittsfield, in the wilderness,—was superseded by an elegant mansion, built by his grandson bearing his own name, Thomas Allen. The event was commemorated by a select and happy company of aged men.
Sonnet 98.I first visited Niagara Falls 56 years ago. Having just been licensed by the ministers of Berkshire county to preach the gospel, I mounted my horse in Aug. 1804 and rode out more than 400 miles through the western wilderness of New York as faras Lake Erie and Niagara river, preaching in various places to little assemblies in log cabins. Buffalo, now a great city, was then a village of 19 houses. Three miles below there was the ferry at Black Rock; and there I saw the famous Indian chief, Red Jacket, attending his little grand-daughter as from a rock she threw her hook into the great stream. Thence I rode down on the Canada side 15 miles to the wondrous Falls.
Besides the lesson of solemn warning and terror another of a character acceptable and gladdening was offered to my thoughts, as I stood on the river's bank at the Falls; for I beheld a rainbow of a full semi-circle or more, the ends almost under my feet, stretching over the awful chasm, deepest in color low down at each extremity, where the turmoil of mist was the thickest. This lesson I here put in rhyme, and with it, in accordance with the sentiment of the hundredth sonnet which a few days ago passed through the press, I now close this little book.
If the reader will consider, that my threatening illness has now had a continuance of many months and that to-day closes seventy-six years of my life, he will find reason to conclude, that my thoughts here expressed, although in verse, are utterances in the sincerity of faith and the honesty of truth: and so I bid him farewell, wishing him "a happy New Year" and a blessed Eternity!
Jan. 1, 1860.
NEW YEAR'S DAY, 1860.I praise thee, God of love! for this Day's light,Which leads the train of days in this new year,—For months not seeming destin'd to me here,But ah instead thereof a darksome nightIn the low grave, of all earth's joys the blight.—I live! And in my thoughts old scenes appear.The mighty Falls, where gazing I stood nearIn happy youth, rise up in splendor bright,When, as I gaz'd, there met my wond'ring eyeAmid the wat'ry strife the beauteous Bow,As if brought down from its high place, the sky,And planted deep in the thick mist below;—God's bow of promise to the earth beneath,—Symbol of Peace 'mid Sin and War and Death!
NEW YEAR'S DAY, 1860.
I praise thee, God of love! for this Day's light,Which leads the train of days in this new year,—For months not seeming destin'd to me here,But ah instead thereof a darksome nightIn the low grave, of all earth's joys the blight.—I live! And in my thoughts old scenes appear.The mighty Falls, where gazing I stood nearIn happy youth, rise up in splendor bright,When, as I gaz'd, there met my wond'ring eyeAmid the wat'ry strife the beauteous Bow,As if brought down from its high place, the sky,And planted deep in the thick mist below;—God's bow of promise to the earth beneath,—Symbol of Peace 'mid Sin and War and Death!
I praise thee, God of love! for this Day's light,
Which leads the train of days in this new year,—
For months not seeming destin'd to me here,
But ah instead thereof a darksome night
In the low grave, of all earth's joys the blight.—
I live! And in my thoughts old scenes appear.
The mighty Falls, where gazing I stood near
In happy youth, rise up in splendor bright,
When, as I gaz'd, there met my wond'ring eye
Amid the wat'ry strife the beauteous Bow,
As if brought down from its high place, the sky,
And planted deep in the thick mist below;—
God's bow of promise to the earth beneath,—
Symbol of Peace 'mid Sin and War and Death!