James Morison, the Scottish Finney. III
In the United Secession Theological Hall, James Morison applied himself more fully to the Bible. He gave great attention to his teachers, especially professors Brown and Balmer. Morison's class essay on 'Emmanuel' was published in the Secession Magazine in 1838. He was a popular and successful student.
But he also began to become controversial. Professor Balmer set an essay on 'The Sonship of Christ'. The question of the eternal generation presented itself to Morison as a challenge. Morison plunged into the subject with characteristic energy. In an action that must be a challenge to many seminary students (such as the present writer), Morison consulted the Latin and Greek Fathers, and the great theologians of all ages, as well as the Bible. He was interested in the relation of these to a rational conception of the Godhead.
Morison concluded that the idea of eternal sonship was irrational, therefore untrue. Christ was the Son by virtue of the incarnation, and not eternally. Christ's sonship was a temporal and economical relationship, not an eternal one. While Christ, he taught, was the eternal Second Person of the Trinity, but He was not eternally the Son of God.
That was not the teaching of the Secession Church or the Westminster Confession. Professor Balmer was worried, but he did not think that Morison was heretical. He worried that he had given his brilliant student an essay that had brought forth a false and permature conclusion.
Morison never changed his mind about the sonship of Christ. Indeed, in later life he claimed that the doctrines of the eternal sonship and the eternal procession of the Spirt were "the double-yolked egg out of which Arianism in ancient times and Unitarianism in modern times have been hatched."
In 1838, Morison finished his studies, and he was licensed to preach the Gospel in May 1839 by the Edinburgh Presbytery of the Secession Church. Immediately afterwards he preached for Dr. John Brown in the Broughton Place Church. James Morison chose a text that would be the motto of his ministry, Galatians vi.14: "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucifed unto me, and I unto the world."
Next time, God willing, we shall look at the start of James Morison's ministry.
But he also began to become controversial. Professor Balmer set an essay on 'The Sonship of Christ'. The question of the eternal generation presented itself to Morison as a challenge. Morison plunged into the subject with characteristic energy. In an action that must be a challenge to many seminary students (such as the present writer), Morison consulted the Latin and Greek Fathers, and the great theologians of all ages, as well as the Bible. He was interested in the relation of these to a rational conception of the Godhead.
Morison concluded that the idea of eternal sonship was irrational, therefore untrue. Christ was the Son by virtue of the incarnation, and not eternally. Christ's sonship was a temporal and economical relationship, not an eternal one. While Christ, he taught, was the eternal Second Person of the Trinity, but He was not eternally the Son of God.
That was not the teaching of the Secession Church or the Westminster Confession. Professor Balmer was worried, but he did not think that Morison was heretical. He worried that he had given his brilliant student an essay that had brought forth a false and permature conclusion.
Morison never changed his mind about the sonship of Christ. Indeed, in later life he claimed that the doctrines of the eternal sonship and the eternal procession of the Spirt were "the double-yolked egg out of which Arianism in ancient times and Unitarianism in modern times have been hatched."
In 1838, Morison finished his studies, and he was licensed to preach the Gospel in May 1839 by the Edinburgh Presbytery of the Secession Church. Immediately afterwards he preached for Dr. John Brown in the Broughton Place Church. James Morison chose a text that would be the motto of his ministry, Galatians vi.14: "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucifed unto me, and I unto the world."
Next time, God willing, we shall look at the start of James Morison's ministry.
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