DR. ADAM CLARKE'S DEFINITION OF WILL-WORSHIP
Extracts from the Writings of the Learned.—No. 1a
[Bro. Smith: I do not send the following extracts because I think they contain new light, but to meet the wants of those who, being partly convinced that the Review is advocating truth, still hesitate to receive it as such, on the plea that, if it were truth, learned theologians of other denominations would have discovered and taught it. I trust they will see by this testimony from the learned A. Clarke that some have discovered light which they failed to walk in; that even Adam Clarke chose the farthing candle's feeble glimmer, while the noontide rays of the sun shone all around him. May the earnest seeker after truth do as he said, but not as he did. See Matt. 23: 3. We may safely follow the example of Him whose sayings and doings were in harmony with each other, and both in harmony with the will of God. See John 15: 10; Rev. 22: 14; Matt. 5: 19.
M. M. Osgood.] DR. ADAM CLARKE'S DEFINITION OF WILL-WORSHIP.
“Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship,” &c. Col. 2: 23. “What is here termed will-worship signifies simply a mode of worship which a man chooses for himself, independently of the revelation which God has given. God will be served in his own way: it is right that he should prescribe to man the truths which he is to believe, and the ordinances which he is to use. To refuse to receive his teaching in order to prefer our own fancies, is to light a farthing candle as a substitute for the noonday sun. From the beginning of the world, God has prescribed the worship which was best pleasing to himself, and never left a matter of such moment to man. The nations which have either not had a revelation or refused to receive that which God has given, show by their diversity of worship, superstition, absurdity, and, in many cases, cruelty, what the state of the whole world would have been had not God in his infinite mercy blessed it with a revelation of his will. God has given directions concerning his worship; and he has appointed the seventh day for the peculiar exercises of spiritual duties.” “Other times he has left to man's convenience; and they abuse the text who say that the appointment of particular times and places for religious service is will-worship. God prescribes the thing, and leaves it to man, except in the case of the Sabbath, to appoint the time and place; nor is it possible to be too frequent in God's worship no more than to be too fervent. Note on Col. 2: 8: “After the tradition of men?”—“Namely, what men, unauthorized by God, have taught as doctrines received from him. Our Lord frequently refers to, and condemns, these traditions.” Note on Col. 2: 16: “Let no man judge you in meat, or in drink,” &c. “The apostle speaks here in reference to some particulars of the handwriting of ordinances which had been taken away, viz., the distinction of meats and drinks, what was clean and what unclean according to the law. And the necessity of observing certain holidays or festivals, such as the new moons and particular sabbaths, or those which should be observed with more than ordinary solemnity. All these had been taken out of the way and nailed to the cross, and were no longer of moral obligation. There is no intimation that the Sabbath was done away, or that its moral use was superseded by the introduction of Christianity. I have shown elsewhere that ‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy’ is a command of perpetual obligation, and can never be superseded but by the final termination of time. Besides, it is not clear that the apostle refers at all to the Sabbath in this place, whether Jewish or Christian. His ton Sabbaton, of sabbaths or weeks, most probably refers to their feasts of weeks.” His notes on Rom. 3: 20, show that the moral law was right as first given, hence needed no alterations, its fourth precept not excepted: “On the score of obedience to this moral law, there shall no flesh, no human being, be justified; none can be accepted in the sight of God. And why? Because, by the law is the knowledge of sin. It is that which ascertains what sin is, shows how men have deviated from its righteous demands, and sentences them to death because they have broken it. Thus the law is properly considered as the rule of right; and unless God had given some such means of discovering what sin is, the darkened heart of man could never have formed an adequate conception of it. “For as an acknowledged straight-edge is the only way in which the straightness or crookedness of a line can be determined. So the moral obliquity of human actions can only be determined by the law of God, that rule of right which proceeds from his own immaculate holiness.” On Rom. 3: 21, he says: “God's method of saving sinners by the gospel, is through his own mere mercy by Jesus Christ; without the law, i. e., without any right or claim which might result from obedience to the law,” &c. Note on Rom. 3: 31: “Do we make void the law?” &c. “2. We may understand the moral law, that which relates to the regulation of the manners or conduct of men. This law was established by the doctrine of salvation by faith—because this faith works by love—and love is the principle of obedience. Whosoever receives salvation through faith in Christ, receives power to live in holy obedience to every moral precept. “For such are God's workmanship, created anew in Christ Jesus unto good works, in which they find it their duty and interest incessantly to live. We must beware of supposing because Christ has been obedient unto death, there is no necessity for our obedience to his righteous commandments. If this were so, the grace of Christ would tend to the destruction of the law, and not to its establishment. He only is saved from his sins who has the law of God written in his heart, and he alone has the law written in his heart who lives an innocent, holy, and useful* life.” Note on Abraham's faith, &c. James 2: 22. “Here is a proof that faith cannot exist without being active in works of righteousness. His faith in God would have been of no avail to him had it not been manifested by works. For, by works, by his obedience to the commands of God, his faith was made perfect. *” “Reader, thou professest to believe; show thy faith both to God and man by a life conformed to the royal law, which ever gives liberty, and confers dignity.”