Plain Theology for Plain People

Charles Octavius Boothe

• Publisher: Lexham Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781683590668
• Topic: Theologie & Religion
• Subtopic: Christliche Theologie

Everyday Christians need practical and accessible theology.

In this handbook first published in 1890, Charles Octavius Boothe simply and beautifully lays out the basics of theology for common people. "Before the charge 'know thyself, '" Boothe wrote, "ought to come the far greater charge, 'know thy God.'" He brought the heights of academic theology down to everyday language, and he helps us do the same today.

Plain Theology for Plain People shows that evangelicalism needs the wisdom and experience of African American Christians.

Walter R. Strickland II reintroduces this forgotten masterpiece for today.

Lexham Classics are beautifully typeset new editions of classic works. Each book has been carefully transcribed from the original texts, ensuring an accurate representation of the writing as the author intended it to be read.

CHAPTER

1

Being and Character of God

The knowledge of God and of the divine government is sometimes called the science of theology. If this be so, it is the science of all sciences. God is first, then come his works. Man is made to obtain knowledge; Solomon says:

“Also, that the soul be without knowledge, it is not good” (Proverbs 19:2).

When ignorant, a man is helpless, defenseless; he knows not what to do nor which way to go; and what knowledge can avail more to our security, peace, honor, and prosperity than that knowledge which acquaints us with the character of our Creator, Saviour, Preserver. and Judge, and instructs us in those laws which determine our relations in life and fix our hopes for eternity?

Before the charge “know thyself,” ought to come the far greater charge, “know thy God.” But, though the study of the being and character of God is a duty which we dare not disregard, still, let us not be unmindful of the fact that we vile, short-sighted worms should approach the solemn task of studying God with feelings of humility and awe. God is found of the lowly, but hides himself from the proud and self-sufficient man. When Daniel fasted and prayed and made confession of sin, the secrets of the Lord were unfolded to his view.

Let us consider:

I. WHERE GOD APPEARS TO US

(1) IN THE WORKS OF CREATION

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge” (Psalm 19:1–2).

“The invisible things of him [of God], from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead” (Romans 1:20).

When we look upon the heavens and the earth, fashioned by almighty power, and guided by the excellency of wisdom, we see with our eyes and handle with our hands the evidence of the existence and personality of a superior Being.

Man has met no being greater than himself, and he knows that the starry hosts, the mountains, the seas, and the living creatures around him, are not the workmanship of his skill and power: he knows they did not come from his hands. Then who did make these things? That they came from a Being infinitely greater than man is plain, from the fact that the works of creation infinitely excel anything in the works of man. A human track in a desert would be to me conclusive evidence that a human foot had trodden that desert. Thus Paul argues that the things which are seen and handled are proofs of the unseen things.

We have never seen a thought, nor a purpose, nor an emotion; yet we know that there are thoughts, purposes, and emotions, by what we can see and hear; even the words and deeds which thoughts and purposes create. It is thus that we see God in creation.

(2) IN THE WORKS OF PROVIDENCE (GENESIS 9)

“Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways; nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14:16, 17).

In the fall of 1889, Henry M. Stanley, writing to the New York Herald, says, with reference to his most eventful African expedition: “A veritable divinity seems to have hedged us as we journeyed. I say it with all reverence. It has impelled us whither it would, effected its own will, but nevertheless guided and protected us.… I endeavored to steer my course as direct as possible, but there was an unaccountable influence at the helm.” The vulgar will call it luck, unbelievers will call it chance, but deep down in each heart there remains the feeling that in verity there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in common philosophy. I refer to this experience and confession of Stanley, not because of the novelty or oddity of the experience, but because of the boldness of the confession. For whether we are manly enough to confess it or not, we all, at times, feel with Shakespeare—

“There is a divinity that shapes our ends,

Rough-hew them how we will.”

Let it not be forgotten that I am contending that then. There is such a thing as a general as well as a special providence; there is the supervision of the works of creation, especially of the intelligent creation.

Where is the philosopher who can declare and explain the laws by which the winds and clouds are forced to beat to the fields and springs a full and regular supply of dew and rain? They seem to be subject to freaks, and yet for thousands of years they have been held to the line as with bit and bridle, and so have been the carriers of life, beauty, and gladness to plant, to beast, to man. The following paragraph is taken from an article by Dr. Townsend, published in a number of the “Golden Rule,” in the year 1889, and is worthy of note, because it shows that the masses of mankind perceive in nature that God is there: in other words, it shows that the human mind is possessed of the idea of the presence of God in the works of nature:

“The leading thought to which we call attention is this, that the human mind is in possession of the idea that there is something in the universe that properly may be called a Supreme Being. The proof of this is beyond reasonable question. The testimony, for instance, of Aristotle, is of weight. ‘By the primitive and very ancient men,’ he says, ‘it has been handed down in the form of myths, and thus left to later generations, that it is the Divine which holds together all nature.’

“The words too of Plutarch are equally weighty: ‘If we traverse the world, it is possible to find cities without walls, without letters, without kings, without wealth, without coin, without schools and theatres; but a city without a temple, or that practiceth not worship, prayer, and the like, no one ever saw.’ And says Dr. Livingstone, speaking of the then newly discovered tribes of the interior of Africa, ‘They have clear ideas of the Supreme God.’ Different names have been used, but all peoples have had the idea of some kind of a God or Supreme Being. The early Chinese called this Being the ‘One God’; the Northmen called him the ‘Invisible Odin’; the North American Indians called him the ‘Great Spirit’; the ancient Peruvians called him the ‘Sun God’; the Persians called him the ‘Source of Light’; the people of India called him ‘Brahm’; Plato called him the ‘All’; the Greeks called him ‘Zeus’; the Romans called him ‘Jupiter’; the Mussulmans called him ‘Allah’; the Jews called him Jehovah, and most civilized nations of the present time call him God.

“It always has been and it is now difficult to find any person who is an out and out atheist [or a no-God man]. It is admitted that now and then a man is met who says, ‘I don’t believe in a God.’ But such a man is usually very superstitious, and when exposed to danger or death he will be found praying for help. Professor Tyndall, in his Belfast address, speaking of the strength of this God idea, says:

“ ‘No atheistic reasoning can, I hold, dislodge religion from the heart of man; logic cannot deprive us of life, and religion is life to the religious; as an experience of the consciousness, it is perfectly beyond the assaults of logic.’

“ ‘Faith in a God,’ says Lichtenberg, ‘is instinct. It is natural to men, just as going on two legs is natural. With many it is modified, and with many it is stifled; yet it exists, and is indispensable to the (internal) symmetry of consciousness.’

“ ‘Naturally as the new-born draws nourishment from its mother’s breast,’ says Jacobi, ‘so the heart of man takes hold on God in surrounding nature.’

“Renan seemed for a while to be drifting into Atheism: but his words of late represent the feelings of many person who belong to his class of thinking, and at least imply a personal God.

“ ‘One thing only is certain,’ he says: ‘it is that the fatherly smile at certain hours shines across nature, and assures us that there is an eye looking at us, and a heart which follows us.’

“Such are the facts in support of the statement that the human mind is possessed with the idea of a Supreme Being.”

See Nehemiah 9:6; Psalms 36:6; 2 Chronicles 16:9; 2 Corinthians 4:17.

(3) IN THE HOLY SCRIPTURES

(a) In the harmony of the records with the voice of nature.

Of the works of creation they simply say:

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

Speaking of the providence to which I have alluded, they say:

“While the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22).

Agreeing with the experience of Stanley and all other men who have lived with their eyes open, it is written:

“O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jeremiah 10:23; see Proverbs 16:1, 9; 19:21).

“Man’s goings are of the Lord” (Proverbs 20:24; see Daniel 2:20–23; 1 and 2 Kings).

(b) In its moral law in Exodus 20:1–17, and Deuteronomy 5:1–21. The head and socket at the knee joint, and the tongue and groove in the ceiling do not fit each other so closely and so neatly as this law fits the needs of the human heart. And the world could have day without the light of the sun as easily as man could have life and blessedness without the observance of these commandments. This law demands that men shall worship God and love one another, neither of which principles have origin in the depraved nature of man. Hence the source of ...