It will be observed that Luther’s first light
and comfort was in the forgiveness of sins; and the last and greatest, in
the full apprehension of Christ as his sanctification. We shall have occasion
to see the same thing in every instance as we go on. How this comes to pass
we shall see very clearly when we come to speak of the philosophy of Christian
experience.
With some, the force of Luther’s example
may be broken by the fact that he was bred in all the superstitions of Rome,
and had a second shell to break through, after he was out of the first. We
will, therefore, take another example: one from the ranks of those bred in
the full blaze of the light of the Protestant day, three centuries after
Luther’s time.
Dr. Cheever, as quoted in the memoirs of R. &
J. A. Haldane, speaks of D’Aubigne’s conviction as
follows:
“At this juncture it was that D’Aubigne
heard of the visit of Mr. Haldane. He heard of him as the English or Scotch
gentleman who spoke so much about the Bible, a thing which seemed very strange
to him and the other students to whom the Bible was a shut book. He afterwards
met Mr. Haldane at a private house, along with some of his friends, and heard
him read from an English Bible, a chapter from the Epistle to the Romans,
concerning the natural corruption of man, a doctrine in regard to which he
had never received any instruction. He was astonished to hear of men being
corrupt by nature, but clearly convinced by the passages read to him, he
said to Mr. Haldane, ‘Now I do indeed see this doctrine in the Bible.’
‘Yes,’ replied the good man, ‘but do you see it in your
heart?’ It was but a simple question, but it came home to his conscience.
It was the sword of the Spirit; and from that time he saw and felt that his
heart was indeed corrupted, and knew from the Word of God that he could be
saved by grace alone in Jesus Christ.”
The conversion of D’Aubigne was decided,
clear and unmistakable. He himself speaks of it in his “Travelling
Recollections in Germany, England and Scotland,” chap. I, § 2.,
in these explicit words, “I had been seized by the Word of God;“
(while at the university in Geneva;) “I had believed in the divinity
of Christ, in original sin, the power of which I had experienced in my own
heart; and in justification by faith. I had experienced the joys of the new
birth.”
Of the later, deeper work he speaks more fully
in the same connexion and just as explicitly. After his conversion he completed
his course at the university at Geneva, was ordained, went to Germany; pursued
study still further, first at Leipsic, then at Berlin, and then spent four
years as a pastor over the French church at Hamburg. Several years had thus
fled before the time came for the Lord to give him the final full knowledge
of Jesus as all in all. It was on this wise. At an inn, in Kiel, he had planned
and entered upon a journey with two of his old Genevan fellow students and
fellow converts, to Copenhagen. They met at Kiel, a remarkable trio: Rev.
Frederick Monod settled at Paris; Rev. Charles Rien, pastor of Fredencia
in Jutland; and D’Aubigne. Steamboats were irregular; they waited at
the hotel. D’Aubigne was then in the midst of a terrible struggle. Kiel
was a university, and Kheuker, an old champion of the word and an experienced
Christian; was Biblical professor there. D’Aubigne says, “I called
upon him and requested him to elucidate several passages of Scripture for
my satisfaction.**** The old doctor would not enter into any detailed solution
of my difficulties. ‘Were I to succeed in ridding you of them,’
he said to me, ‘others would soon arise; there is a shorter, deeper,
more complete way of annihilating them. Let Christ be really to you the Son
of God, the Saviour, the Author of eternal life! Only be firmly settled in
his grace, and then these difficulties of detail will never stop you! The
light which proceeds from Christ will disperse all your darkness.’ The
old divine had shown me the way: I saw it was the right one, but to follow
it was a hard task.”
The Way. Yes, indeed! and the right one. Happy
for D’Aubigne that he saw it! Happy that its hardness did not keep him
back from it! While they waited at Kiel for the steamboat, they devoted part
of the time to reading the Word of God together, a pattern for all detained
Christian travellers. Rieu was chaplain. D’Aubigne says of him that
he had even then far outstripped both himself and M. Monod in the divine
life. Two years after, he finished his brilliant career upon earth by a
triumphant transit to heaven. His converse was very sweet. They all three
communicated their thoughts to each other on the Word of God, but Rieu brought
out the hidden riches of the Book of God most abundantly.
“We were studying the Epistle to the
Ephesians,” says D’Aubigne, “and had got to the end of the
third chapter. When we read the two last verses ‘Now unto him who is
able to do EXCEEDING ABUNDANTLY above all that we ask or think, according
to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory’ &c. This expression
fell upon my soul as a revelation from God. ‘He can do by his power,’
I said to myself, ‘above all we ask, above all even that we think, nay,
EXCEEDING ABUNDANTLY above all! A full trust in Christ for the work to be
done within my poor heart now filled my soul. We all three knelt down, and,
although I had never fully confided my inward struggles to my friends, the
prayer of Rieu was filled with such admirable faith, as he would have uttered
had he known all my wants. When I arose, in that inn-room at Kiel, I felt
as if my ‘wings were renewed as the wings of eagles.’ From that
time forward I comprehended that all my own efforts were of no avail; that
Christ was able to do all by his ‘power that worketh in us;’ and
the habitual attitude of my soul was to lie at the foot of the cross, crying
to Him, ‘Here am I, bound hand and foot, unable to move, unable to do
the least thing to get away from the enemy who oppresses me. Do all thyself.
I know that thou wilt do it. Thou wilt even do exceeding abundantly above
all that I ask.’
“I was not disappointed; all my doubts were
removed, my anguish quelled, and the Lord ‘extended to me peace as a
river.’ Then I could comprehend with all saints what is the breadth,
and length, and depth, and height; and know the love of Christ which passeth
knowledge. Then was I able to say, ‘Return unto thy rest, 0 my soul:
for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with
thee.’”
To these examples scores upon scores might be
added of the same class; those who have given themselves wholly to Jesus,
and taken Jesus wholly to themselves, and so found the abiding sunshine,
and the serene sky of full salvation, but who yet make no profession of
perfection, but like Luther and D’Aubigne, disclaim it. The memoirs
of the great and good, gone to their reward, abound in such, and the living
witnesses are many. Richard Baxter, Jonathan Edwards, Hewitson, McCheyne,
Mrs. Edwards, Adelaide Newton, and a host of others. In the Life and Times
of Richard Baxter, 2 vols. 8 vo. London, a very circumstantial account is
given of this great man’s experience. Quite as distinct as either
Luther’s or D’Aubigne’s, both as to his final full apprehension
of Christ as all in all, and as to his conversion years before. President
Edwards himself has given to the world a sketch as remarkable as either,
known to be the experience of his own beloved consort; one of the happiest
Christians that ever lived. And in the details he has spread out of his own
inner life, if the moments of the first and the last great transitions are
less distinctly traced, the same fulness of faith at the last, and the same
precious results are as clearly seen.
The memoirs of Hewitson by Baily, and of Adelaide
Newton by the same, furnish each a lovely instance also. Hewitson describes
a long and severe struggle years after his Conversion, terminating finally
in such an apprehension of Christ in his fulness, as his righteousness —
sanctification — as filled him with heavenly consolations, and abode
with him ever after.
But we have no space even for references to each
of the noble many in this bright cloud of witnesses, much less for their
experience in detail. Other classes must be compared with this if we would
gain a clear comprehension of the whole subject. We
Both Wesleyans and Oberlinians differ from Lutherans
in the use of terms, and in the theology of the experience described, but
aside from this, in all that is essential in the experience itself all are
agreed. Of the Wesleyans, the memoirs of Carvasso are clearest and simplest
in the development of the experimental truth. He was a man of God. His faith
was wonderful, and his views clear as the light. Bramwell if less clear was
even more absorbed and ardent. Mrs. Rogers was truly seraphic. Mrs.
Fletcher’s memoirs are very fascinating, as indeed are all these and
many more of this class. They have opened the eyes of thousands to the higher
walks of Christian life, and impelled tens of thousands to press for the
mark. But so far as we can see, there is no essential difference between
the experience they describe, and those of Luther and D’Aubigne, Baxter
and Edwards. All alike begin with a sense of their guilt, and peril, and
come sooner or later to a sense of sins forgiven, blotted out in the blood
of Jesus, and then, again sooner or later, in every case, hungering and thirsting
for true holiness is induced, and after varied strugglings the issue in all
alike, is that of finding in Christ the end of the law for
sanctification.
This unity will be apparent if we place any two
of them side by side. Here for instance are the expressions of Mrs. Rogers,
and of D’Aubigne from their own pens in their own words, descriptive
of their own views and feelings at the moment their struggles were crowned
with the victory that overcometh, viz., full trust in
Jesus.
D’AUBIGNE
I was not disappointed, all my doubts were soon
dispelled, and not only was I delivered from the inward anguish which in
the end would have destroyed me, had not God been faithful; but the Lord
‘extended peace to me like a river.’ Then I could ‘comprehend
with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and
know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge,’” (filled with
all the fullness of God.)
And this, like D’Aubigne she describes, not
merely as the rapture of a favored hour, but as the habitual attitude of
the soul, at the foot of the cross.
And all my heart is love.”
“With every coming hour
I prove
His nature and his name is
Love.”
Like David in his expressions of love to Jonathan
when these dear friends parted in the field, Mrs. Rogers “excelled”
in ardency of feelings and words, but in all that is essential there is not
a single line of difference. Both are self-emptied, both prostrate in the
dust at the foot of the cross; both accept Jesus as all in all, and find
themselves conquerors, and more than conquerors through faith in his
name.