The All-Sufficiency of Christ. Miscellaneous Writings of C. H. Mackintosh, vol. IMackintosh, Charles Henry
Religion
The All-Sufficiency of Christ. Miscellaneous Writings of C. H. Mackintosh, vol. I
Mackintosh, Charles Henry
Theology
It is the deepest joy of the Christian's heart to retire from the
conflicting traditions and doctrines of men into the calm light of
holy Scripture; and when encountered by the impudent reasonings of the
infidel, the rationalist, and the skeptic, to bow down his whole moral
being to the authority and power of holy Scripture. He thankfully
recognizes in the Word of God the only perfect standard for doctrine,
for morals, for every thing. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be _perfect_
[αρτιος], _throughly furnished unto all good works_."
What more can we need? Nothing. If Scripture can make a child "wise
unto salvation," and if it can make a man "perfect," and furnish him
"throughly to all good works," what do we want of human tradition or
human reasonings? If God has written a volume for us, if He has
graciously condescended to give us a revelation of His mind, as to all
we ought to know and think and feel and believe and do, shall we turn
to a poor fellow-mortal--be he ritualist or rationalist--to help us?
Far away be the thought! As well might we turn to our fellow-man to
add something to the finished work of Christ, in order to render it
sufficient for our conscience, or to supply some deficiency in the
Person of Christ, in order to render Him a sufficient object for the
heart, as to betake ourselves to human tradition or human reason to
supply some deficiency in divine revelation.
All praise and thanks to our God, it is not so. He has given us in His
own beloved Son all we want for the conscience, for the heart, for the
path--for time, with all its changing scenes--for eternity, with its
countless ages. We can say,--
"Thou, O Christ, art all we want;
More than all in Thee we find."
There is, there could be, no lack in the Christ of God. His atonement
and advocacy must satisfy all the cravings of the most deeply
exercised conscience. The moral glories--the powerful attractions of
His divine Person must satisfy the most intense aspirations and
longings of the heart. And His peerless revelation--that priceless
volume--contains within its covers all we can possibly need, from the
starting-post to the goal of our Christian career.
Christian reader, are not these things so? Dost thou not, from the
very centre of thy renewed moral being, own the truth of them? If so,
art thou resting, in calm repose, on Christ's work? art thou
delighting in His Person? art thou submitting, in all things, to the
authority of His Word? God grant it may be so with thee, and with all
who profess His name! May there be a fuller, clearer, and more
decided testimony to "the all-sufficiency of Christ," till "that day."
_C. H. M._
Job and his Friends
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