PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 Presented by Mr. William A. Wheelock of New York City. 
 
 BX 5455 .W5 v. 8 
 
 Whately, Richard, 1787-1863 
 
 Works ... * I 
 
4, 
 
 1 
 
ESSAYS 
 
 [SECOND SERIES] 
 
 ON SOME OF THE 
 
 DIFFICULTIES 
 
 IN THE 
 
 WRITINGS OF THE APOSTLE PAUL, 
 
 AND IN OTHER PARTS OF THE 
 
 NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 RICHARD WHATELY, D.D. 
 
 ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN; 
 I.A I K PRINCIPAL OF ST. ALBAN's HALL, OXFORD, AND FORMERLY FELLOW 
 OF ORIEL ( OLLEGIC. 
 
 FOURTH EDITION, REVISED. 
 
 LONDON: 
 B. FELLOWES, LUDGATE STREET. 
 1837. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 R. CLAY, PRINTEU, l!KEAD-STREr:T-HILL. 
 
PRINCETOIT 
 .h£0. DE-J ''o<><^ 
 THSOLOGIOAI 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Page 
 
 Connexion of the former series of Essays with the present, 
 p. xiii ; the Scriptures not to be regarded with 
 dread or disgust, on account of the difficulties to 
 be found in them, p. xiv ; outline of the present 
 
 ESSAY I. 
 
 ON THE LOVE OF TRUTH. 
 
 § 1. Christian religion distinguished from Paganism and 
 characterised, by its claim to truth as established 
 by evidence, and its demand of Faith in that 
 Truth 1 
 
 § 2. Liability of Christians to act inconsistently with this 
 
 characteristic, by not steadily following truth . . 14 
 
 § 3. Necessity of self-examination as to this point, p. 18 ; 
 objections to the principle of universally pursuing 
 and propagating truth 20 
 
 a 2 
 
iv 
 
 CONTKN'TS. 
 
 Page 
 
 4. Danger of men's flattering themselves without suf- 
 
 ficient grounds that they are lovers of truth, 
 p. 33 : Maxim of making it not the second but 
 the first question, what is the truth, p. 34 ; ob- 
 stacles to the cultivation of this habit, dislike of 
 doubt, p. 35 ; love of originality, p. 38 ; ex- 
 cessive deference for authority, p. 39 ; views of 
 expediency 44 
 
 5. Cautionary maxims : no unfair argument to be used, 
 
 p. 46 ; nor erroneous notion countenanced, p. 47 ; 
 no revealed truth to be suppressed ; nor dread to 
 be entertained of the progress of science, p. 53 ; 
 human approbation not often bestowed on the 
 lover of truth 55 
 
 ESSAY II. 
 
 ON THE DIFFICULTIES AND THE VALVE OF ST. PAUL'S 
 WRITINGS GENERALLY. 
 
 § 1. Paul more exposed than any of the Apostles to the 
 attacks both of open enemies and false friends, 
 — both personally, p. 57 ; and in his writings . . G3 
 
 § '2. Ambiguity of the word Gospel, p. 65 ; full in- 
 struction in the Christian scheme not to be found 
 in the Four. Evangelists, p. 67 ; but in the apo- 
 stolic Epistles, p. 77 ; especially Paul's, p. 78 ; 
 danger of misinterpretation not to deter us from 
 the study of them 80 
 
 § 3. Study of Paul's writings not to be deferred till a 
 mass of theological learning has been acquired 
 from other sources 85 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 V 
 
 I'age 
 
 Paul's writings dreaded chiefly from tlie unac- 
 ceptableness of some of his doctrines, p. 90 ; tlie 
 vehemence with which his works have been 
 decried, a proof of their importance 92 
 
 ESSAY III. 
 ON ELECTION. 
 Importance of explaining those parts of Scripture 
 especially, from which dangerous consequences 
 have been drawn 9G 
 
 In order to understand the Apostle Paul aright, we 
 should be acquainted with his character and situ- 
 ation, p. 97 ; and with that of his hearers, p. 100; 
 his continual reference to the Mosaic dispensa- 
 tion, p. 103 ; which was the shadow of the Gospel 104 
 
 Disputes relative to Election, p. 107; Election 
 under the old dispensation, and the new, may 
 be expected to correspond 112 
 
 Questions, whether under the former dispensation 
 Election was arbitrary, Tp. 112 ; who were elected, 
 p. 114; to what the Elect were chosen, ibid.; 
 application, by analogy, to the Gospel-scheme, 
 p. 117; confirmed by Paul's express authority, 
 p. 119; and by the analogy of God's general 
 providence, p. 122 ; no technical uniformity of 
 language to be looked for in Scripture, p. 124 ; 
 misinterpretations of Scripture produced by an- 
 tecedent bias, p. 127; errors in reasoning com- 
 mitted on both sides 131 
 
 Metaphysical difficulties, resulting from ambi- 
 guities of language, p. 132; objections connected 
 with the origin of evil, dangerous fur botli parties 137 
 
vi 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 § 5. The chief object of inquiry to be, what truths are 
 revealed, as being relative to man, and practi- 
 cally needful 139 
 
 § 6. The danger of misleading some and disgusting 
 
 others, not to be wantonly incurred 148 
 
 ESSAY IV. 
 
 ON PERSEVERANCE AND ASSURANCE. 
 
 § ] . The same Apostle principally appealed to in sup- 
 port of the doctrines of the final perseverance of 
 the Elect, and their full assurance of salvation . . 152 
 
 § 2. Apprehended danger from these doctrines apt to 
 
 lead to an opposite danger 155 
 
 § 3. Mode in which both dangers are to be avoided . . 160 
 
 § 4. Confirmation of the view here taken, from the 
 example of Paul's conduct, p. 163 ; and from 
 that of men in general 165 
 
 Note A 173 
 
 ESSAY V. 
 
 ON THE ABOLITION OF THE MOSAIC LAW. 
 
 § 1. The Antinomian system supposed to be favoured 
 by Paul's declarations relative to the abolition of 
 the law 176 
 
 § 2. Obligations of conscience not weakened by the 
 
 Christian's freedom from the Levitical law . . . . 181 
 
 § 3, Importance of resting moral obligation on a right 
 
 basis 187 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Vll 
 
 Page 
 
 4 . Speculative less common than practical Antinomians, 
 
 p. 189; liability of men to content themselves 
 with a literal observance of express commands . 190 
 
 5. Principles substituted for Rules, under the Gospel- 
 
 dispensation, p. 193 ; tendency to prefer precise 
 
 injunctions, to watchful self-government 195 
 
 Note A 199 
 
 Note B 201 
 
 ESSAY VI. 
 ON IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS. 
 
 1. Statement of the doctrine of the imputation of 
 
 Adam's transgression, and of the righteousness 
 
 of Christ 214 
 
 2. Scripture authority on which it is made to rest, 
 
 p. 221 ; interpretation of the passage appealed to 222 
 
 3. General drift of the Apostle in the passages which 
 
 treat of the subject 228 
 
 4. Liability of men to be biassed by the love of 
 
 system, p. 233 ; no accurate and technical uni- 
 formity in the employment by the Sacred Writers 
 of the word Justification 236 
 
 5. Evils indirectly resulting from erroneous inter- 
 
 pretation of Scripture 238 
 
 Note A 244 
 
 ESSAY VII. 
 
 ON APPARENT CONTRADICTIONS IN SCRIPTURE. 
 
 1. Difficulties of Scripture a reason for the attentive 
 
 study of it 240 
 
viii 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 § 2. Principles to be kept in mind in this study .... 250 
 § 3. The knowledge revealed, not speculative, but rela- 
 
 tive to man, and practical, p. 254 ; in language 
 not scientific, but popular, p. 256 ; to be inter- 
 preted by comparing one passage with another, 
 p. 257 ; especially those seemingly at variance . 257 
 
 § 4. Apparent contradictions of Scripture, numerous, 
 
 p. 259 ; for what purpose designed 262 
 
 § 5. The knowledge imparted of mysterious truths ana- 
 logical and indistinct 267 
 
 Note A 276 
 
 ESSAY VIII. 
 
 ON THE MODE OF CONVEYING MORAL PRECEPTS IN THE 
 NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 Moral precepts of the New Testament often con- 
 veyed in apparent contradictions 278 
 
 § 1. Reasons for the employment of this and other 
 
 paradoxical forms 281 
 
 § 2. Precepts, a literal compliance with which would 
 be either impossible, or absurd, or unimportant, 
 p. 287 ; instance of the last kind 297 
 
 § 3. The mode of instruction adopted sufficient for the 
 candid and diligent, p. 299 ; for the opposite 
 character none would have been sufficient .... 300 
 
 ESSAY IX. 
 
 ON THE INFLUENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 Indistinct notions entertained, at first, by the 
 disciples of the character of their Master .... 305 
 
CONTENTS. ix 
 
 Page 
 
 § 1. Promise of Jesus to send the Comforter, not li- 
 mited to the first age, p. 308 ; nor relating to an 
 abstract religious principle 310 
 
 § 2. Difference between the Jewish and the Christian 
 
 churches in this respect 313 
 
 § 3. Points of resemblance and of difference between 
 our condition at present and that of Christians 
 in the first age, in respect of spiritual gifts .... 316 
 
 § 4. Miraculous gifts peculiar to the primitive Church, 
 p. 319; for what purpose bestowed, p. 321; 
 when and how withdrawn 32G 
 
 § 5. Extraordinary and ordinary operations of the Spirit, 
 
 compared 327 
 
 § 6. The early Christians compared with those of the 
 present day in respect of the signs of the gifts 
 bestowed on each, p. 334 ; faith required in the 
 indications of power to work miracles 335 
 
 § 7. Equality, in the most important point, between 
 
 the primitive and the present Church 348 
 
 § 8. Sign of the Christian's admission to the privilege 
 of spiritual guidance, p. 357 ; design of the 
 Eucharist (note) p. 360. — See Note A, p. 370. 
 
 § 9. Example of the Apostles to be followed by re- 
 versing in some points their procedure, p. 362 ; 
 complete certainty as to the rectitude of our 
 
 judgments, unattainable 366 
 
 Note A 370 
 
 A Charge delivered at the Visitation of the Clergy of 
 
 the Dioceses of Dublin and Glandelagh 375 
 
 Note A 424 
 
 Note B 429 
 
 Note C 430 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 It was my object in a former series of 
 Essays to set forth the importance of an 
 earnest and studious attention to the 
 Christian revelation. There is a notion, 
 more commonly entertained than acknow- 
 ledged, that the Gospel is a mere authori- 
 tative republication of natural religion; — 
 that consequently it is chiefly, if not solely, 
 to those of unphilosophical and vulgar 
 minds, incapable of perceiving the internal 
 evidence of this natural religion, and the 
 intrinsic beauty of virtue, that such a reve- 
 lation is important or needful, — and that, 
 to the more intelligent and refined, it 
 matters little whether or not they in- 
 quire minutely into the particulars of that 
 
xii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 revelation, — whether they beheve, or dis- 
 beheve, or doubt, its reahty — or whether 
 they even propose to themselves the ques- 
 tion. With a view to counteract this (as 
 it may be called) heresy of indifference, — 
 in my view, the most deadly of all errors, 
 not excepting Atheism, — I pointed out and 
 dwelt on several peculiarities of the Chris- 
 tian religion ; points wherein the Gospel- 
 scheme differs from all other systems of 
 religion, — whether pretended revelations, 
 or avowedly the offspring of human rea- 
 son, — that have ever existed. And the 
 contemplation of these peculiarities must 
 evince, I thought, the importance of care- 
 fully ascertaining whether the Gospel- 
 revelation is real or fictitious ; and if real, 
 of endeavouring to understand as fully as 
 possible its character, and to embrace it 
 heartily as a rule of life. While at the 
 same time the consideration that Chris- 
 tianity differs thus widely from every other 
 religious system, in many important points, 
 and in many wherein they all agree, and. 
 
INTROnUCTION. 
 
 xiii 
 
 in those very points in which a true revela- 
 tion might be expected to differ from any 
 scheme of man's devising, — this considera- 
 tion, I say, presents a phenomenon well 
 deserving the attention of such as are can- 
 didly inquiring for the evidences of this 
 religion. For till unbelievers can propose 
 some solution of this phenomenon, other 
 than the truth of the revelation, (which, in 
 so many centuries, they have never accom- 
 plished, nor, as far as I know, even at- 
 tempted,) it must afford, at the very least, 
 a strong presumption, that the religion is 
 really from God. 
 
 These disquisitions seemed to lead na- 
 turally to some remarks as to the mode in 
 which the Scriptures should be studied. 
 For if it be supposed (and the notion is 
 very prevalent) that great part of them 
 consist of a series of perplexing difficulties, 
 serving only to exercise the ingenuity of 
 theologians in endless controversies, and 
 barren of all edifying application, or even 
 
xiv 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 leading to dangerous practical conse- 
 quences, the result will be, that the stu- 
 dent's attention will be confined to a small 
 portion of the Sacred Records, and to that 
 portion which will, by itself, furnish the 
 most imperfect view of the peculiar doc- 
 trines of Christianity : a result which can- 
 not fail to foster the error above alluded 
 to, of undervaluing the Gospel-revelation, 
 and regarding it as a mere authoritative 
 declaration of certain moral truths. 
 
 The first step then in an examination of 
 the Gospel-scheme, after we have once 
 been convinced, generally, that it is worth 
 examining, is to guard against the bias to 
 which we are liable, either from the appre- 
 hension of perplexing difficulties in it, or 
 from a suspicion of the inutility, or dan- 
 gerous tendency, of its most remarkable 
 doctrines. Such a bias cannot fail to 
 deprave the judgment as to the real cha- 
 racter of the Christian revelation. In 
 the preliminary Essay, accordingly, I have 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XV 
 
 endeavoured not only to inculcate the im- 
 portance of such an earnest pursuit of 
 Truth, and steady adherence to it, as may 
 overcome the seductions of indolence, 
 and of seeming expediency, but I have 
 pointed out also the several modes of self- 
 deceit by which men persuade themselves 
 that they are, when in fact they are not, 
 sincere lovers of Truth ; and the way in 
 which that tendency may be best com- 
 bated; namely, by assigning in every 
 case, not, as is usually done, the second, 
 but the first place, to the inquiry, what 
 is True ? 
 
 In the Second Essay, I have offered 
 some remarks on the neglect or dread, 
 prevalent among many persons, of the 
 Apostle Paul's writings ; — on the causes 
 which have produced this ; — and the con- 
 sequences to which it leads. 
 
 In the succeeding four Essays, I have 
 treated of certain doctrines which have 
 
xvi 
 
 IXTKOnilCTION. 
 
 given rise to much controversy, and par- 
 ticular views of which have mainly con- 
 tributed to the dread many have felt of 
 this Apostle's writings. I have accordingly 
 endeavoured to shew that the doctrines 
 in question, as taught by Paul, afford no 
 just ground of alarm ; and that the ex- 
 travagant representation of them that some 
 have given, has arisen from a hasty and 
 partial view of the works of this Apostle. 
 In these Essays I have especially endea- 
 voured to set forth the importance of 
 referring to the Old Testament as an in- 
 terpreter, by analogy, of the New. 
 
 Some other principles of interpretation, 
 frequently overlooked, and very essential 
 to the right understanding both of Paul's 
 Epistles, and of the other Sacred Writings, 
 I have pointed out in the Seventh and 
 Eighth Essays, as applicable to the doc- 
 trinal and to the moral precepts of the 
 New-Testament-Scriptures. The use to 
 be made of the apparent conhridictions we 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xvii 
 
 so frequently meet with, has been parti- 
 cularly dwelt on ; with a view to shew 
 that they ought not to be regarded, as is 
 commonly done, in the light merely of 
 difficulties to be surmounted, but as a 
 peculiar and most wisely-contrived mode 
 of instruction. 
 
 In the concluding Essay, I have applied 
 the principles before laid down to the 
 ascertainment of the sense of Scripture 
 respecting the doctrine of spiritual influ- 
 ence : — a doctrine not only of the highest 
 practical importance ; and one concerning 
 which the greatest difficulties have been 
 started ; — but also one in respect of which, 
 more perhaps than any other, Paul's au- 
 thority has been confidently appealed to 
 by some in support of the most extra- 
 vagant conclusions, and for that reason, 
 depreciated or disregarded by others. 
 
 In treating of these subjects, it has been 
 my aim, not, to ascertain, on each point, 
 b 
 
xviii 
 
 INTRODUCTION-. 
 
 everything that may be reasonably believed 
 and plausibly maintained ; but, what we 
 are bound to believe and to maintain as a 
 part of the Gospel-revelation ; and this 
 distinction I have more than once adverted 
 to, as being one of the highest importance, 
 and not seldom overlooked. 
 
 In the prosecution of these inquiries, I 
 have freely availed myself of whatever 
 remarks or illustrations I chanced to meet 
 with in various authors, that appeared 
 suitable to my purpose. As therefore 
 there is, I trust, no novelty in the doc- 
 trines inculcated, so there is no pretension 
 to complete originality in the arguments 
 adduced. If I shall have succeeded in 
 selecting such as are at once sound, and 
 generally intelligible, and in arranging 
 and expressing them in a perspicuous and 
 interesting manner, the object proposed 
 will have been accomplished. 
 
 I have only to add, that the design of 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xix 
 
 the present Work being, not so much to 
 refute or to advocate the tenets of any par- 
 ticular person or party, by means of an 
 appeal to Scripture, as to facilitate the 
 interpretation of Scripture to those who 
 are seeking in simplicity for divine truths, 
 I trust it will be received by the candid, 
 even among such as may in some points 
 differ from me, with no feeling of party- 
 prejudice or hostile suspicion. 
 
 To the present edition is subjoined a 
 Charge delivered in 1836, and which was 
 then published at the request of the Arch- 
 deacon and Clergy. It appeared desirable, 
 however, to reprint it in this volume on 
 account of the close connexion of the 
 subject with those of the Fifth and Sixth 
 of these Essays. 
 
) 
 
/ 
 
 ESSAY I. 
 
 ON THE LOVE OF TRUTH. 
 
 § 1. That any one who undertakes to propa- 
 gate or to maintain any religion should represent 
 it as a true one, and should demand reception 
 for it on that ground, seems to us of the present 
 day so natural and unavoidable, that many pro- 
 bably would be ready to take for granted that 
 this must have been the case always ; — that the 
 question of "true or false ?" must always have 
 stood, as it certainly ought to stand, on the very 
 threshold of every inquiry respecting such a sub- 
 ject ; and that all who adhered to an old, or 
 embraced a new religious system, or rejected 
 either, however credulous, or prejudiced, or 
 otherwise bad judges of evidence they might be, 
 yet must have supposed themselves at least to be 
 determined by evidence of some kind or other, 
 
 B 
 
2 On the love of Truth. [essay i. 
 
 to belief or disbelief in the truth of what was 
 proposed to them. And accordingly, there are, 
 probably, many who do not estimate the full 
 force and importance of our Lord's reply to 
 Pilate, " For this cause came I into the world, 
 that I should bear witness of the Truth." 
 
 A moderate acquaintance, however, with the 
 habits and modes of thought which prevailed 
 among the ancient heathen, may convince us 
 that the real state of things was by no means 
 such as the above reasoning would lead us to 
 suppose. Their minds were, on this subject 
 especially, estranged from the love of truth. 
 Many circumstances indeed concurred to render 
 them habitually indifferent to it. Among the 
 learned, philosophical pursuits seem to have 
 been originally introduced as an elegant re- 
 creation (cr;;^o7ii7) : and there can be no doubt 
 that many at least attached themselves to this 
 or that sect, not from any sincere conviction of 
 the truth of its doctrines, but to furnish them- 
 selves with suitable topics for declamations. The 
 Schools of the philosophers were a kind of intel- 
 lectual palaestra ; and there was a close analogy 
 between their disputations, and the prevailing 
 
SECT. 1.] On the love of Truth. 
 
 3 
 
 gymnastic contests : each was a game ; the 
 object of which was victory, without any ulterior 
 end, but only for the display of strength and 
 skill, bodily or intellectual. And the zealous 
 cultivation of rhetoric, to which the majority 
 of eminent men made all other studies subor- 
 dinate, and whose most appropriate object is 
 not the discovery of truth, but the invention of 
 arguments, could not but foster the prevailing 
 disregard of truth. It seems too, to have been 
 the settled conviction of most of those who had 
 the sincerest desire of attaining truth themselves, 
 that to the mass of mankind truth was in many 
 points inexpedient, and unfit to be communi- 
 cated ; — that however desirable it might be for 
 the leading personages in the world to be in- 
 structed in the true nature of things, there were 
 many popular delusions which were essential to 
 the well-being of society. And in the foremost 
 rank of these they placed their popular reli- 
 gions. Their own notions respecting the Deity 
 were totally unconnected with morality ; and 
 they despaired of imbuing the vulgar with the 
 philosophical principles on which they made 
 virtue to rest. They made it a point of duty, 
 B 2 
 
4 Ofi the love of Truth. [essay r. 
 
 therefore, to testify by their example the utmost 
 respect for the estabHshed rehgion ; and to im- 
 press on the multitude that reverence for the 
 gods, and dread of divine judgment on crimes, 
 which they themselves in their own more private 
 writings derided. They did not however seek 
 to effect this object, (and this is a circumstance 
 deserving of especial attention,) by undertaking 
 to prove the truth of the popular religions. He 
 who labours to prove, implies the possibility of 
 doubt, and challenges inquiry ; and they well 
 knew that there was no evidence for the existing 
 superstitions which could satisfy doubts, or stand 
 the test of inquiry. The only thing to be done, 
 therefore, was to forbid all doubts as impious, — 
 to suppress all inquiry ; and, consequently, to 
 forego even the practice of asserting the truth 
 of the established systems, which had, as Paul 
 expresses it, " changed the truth of God into 
 a lie."^ They were maintained as politically 
 expedient, by the civil magistrates; whose ap- 
 propriate instrument is not argument, but coer- 
 cion : and who for the most part utterly 
 disbelieved them, and were sensible that they 
 
 a Rom. i. 25. 
 
SECT. 1.] On the love of Truth. 
 
 5 
 
 could not be established by evidence, yet were 
 convinced that they ought to be established by 
 law. And as it is the nature of legal enact- 
 ments to produce, not belief, but merely out- 
 ward conformity and submission, it was the 
 inevitable result of this state of things that the 
 ideas of religion and of truth, — of pious demea- 
 nour, and of sincere belief, — should come to be 
 completely disjoined in men's minds : and that 
 they should even be somewhat startled at the 
 very pretension to truth as resting on evidence, 
 in any religion, and at the requisition of faith 
 in it, on the ground of its truth. It was what 
 they had never been used to. Philosophers of 
 the most discordant tenets, poets of all descrip- 
 tions, politicians and other men of business, 
 amidst all the variety of their views and conduct, 
 had always concurred in maintaining the popular 
 religions, and in maintaining them on any other 
 ground than that of truth : " The worship of 
 the gods is an institution of our country ; — these 
 rites are venerable from their antiquity — the 
 
 Such was the remark of Tacitus respecting the religion 
 of the Jews : " Hi ritus, quoquo mode inducti, vetustate de- 
 fenduntur;" a description much more suitable to the pagan 
 
6 On the love of Truth. [essay i. 
 
 neglect of them would argue disrespect for our 
 ancestors, and contempt for the laws ; — a respect 
 for religion is useful for maintaining due subordi- 
 nation among the people :" — These, and such as 
 these, were their arguments ; and the conclusion 
 accordingly drawn was, that every man ought to 
 worship the gods according to the established 
 institutions : truth, and belief in the truth, seem, 
 in this matter, to have scarcely entered their minds. 
 
 Pilate accordingly seems to have been per- 
 plexed by our Lord's reply, stating that he had 
 come into the world for the purpose of bearing 
 " witness to the truth." His inquiry, " What is 
 truth?" does not seem (as an eminent writer 
 imagines) to have been made in jest ; the Roman 
 Governor was evidently in no jesting mood, nor 
 at all disposed to treat Jesus with contempt ; but 
 (for whatever reason) was very seriously intent on 
 investigating his case, and procuring liis acquittal. 
 Whether there be sufficient ground or not, for 
 the conjecture of some, that he was in expecta- 
 tion of Jesus assuming the temporal sovereignty, 
 
 religions ; both in respect of the fact, and of the opinions of 
 the respective votaries. It was the boast of the Jews that 
 they had "the form of knowledge and of the truth, in the 
 Law." Rom. ii. 20. 
 
SECT. 1 .] On the love of Truth. 7 
 
 by the employment of those miraculous powers 
 of which no one could have been ignorant, and 
 was disposed from views of personal aggrandize- 
 ment to favour his pretensions ; at any rate it is 
 plain he was endeavouring to learn what his 
 designs and pretensions were ; and hence, eagerly 
 asked, catching, as it were, at his words, " Art 
 thou a king then?" The answer, in which 
 Jesus claims to be a minister of the Truth, seems 
 to have disappointed and perplexed him : 
 *' What is truth ?" he replied ; as much as to say, 
 " what has truth to do with the present business ? 
 I wish for information as to your claims and 
 objects ; — what sovereignty it is that you pretend 
 to, or aim at ; and you tell me about Truth ; 
 what is that to the purpose ? " 
 
 On this and on other occasions, our Lord 
 points out Truth as, in an especial manner, the 
 characteristic of his religion ; " If ye continue in 
 my words, then are ye my disciples indeed, and 
 ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall 
 make you free :" " I am the Way, and the Truth, 
 and the Life." — " They that worship God must 
 worship Him in Spirit and in Truth." — " When 
 He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, he shall 
 
8 On the love of Truth. [essay i. 
 
 guide you into all Truth." — " And for their 
 sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might 
 be sanctified through the Truth." His great 
 Adversary, on the other hand, is designated 
 by Him as "a liar, and the father of lies." 
 And the Apostles of Christ, in like manner, 
 perpetually make use of the words " Truth," 
 and "Faith," to designate the Christian reli- 
 gion : e. g. " God will have all men to be saved, 
 and to come to the knowledge of the Truth." 
 
 1 Tim. ii. 4. " Having your loins girt about 
 with Truth." Ephes. vi. 14. " They received not 
 the love of Truth, that they might be saved." 
 
 2 Thess. ii. 10. " Chosen to salvation, through 
 belief of the Truth." 2 Thess. ii. 13. "After 
 we have received the knowledge of the Truth." 
 Heb. X. 26. " Ye have purified your souls in 
 obeying the Truth." 1 Pet. i. 22. " The way of 
 the Truth shall be evil-spoken of." 2 Pet. ii. 2. 
 " Hereby we know that we are of the Truth." 
 1 John iii. 19, &c. By all which, more, I conceive, 
 was imphed than that the religion is true, and is 
 the only true one, and that faith in it is required ; 
 in the present day this would be implied by the 
 very circumstance of preaching any religion ; 
 
SECT. 1.] On the love of Truth. 9 
 
 but in those days the very pretension to truth, — 
 the very demand of faith, vpere characteristic 
 distinctions of the Gospel : the Heathen mytho- 
 logy not only was not true, but was not even 
 supported as true : it not only deserved no faith, 
 but it demanded none. It was needful, therefore, 
 to inform and remind men not merely of the 
 strength of the Gospel claims, but of the nature 
 of those claims ; — to point out not only the 
 force of the evidence in its favour, but its appeal 
 to evidence. 
 
 Many, indeed, of our Lord's expressions con- 
 cerning the truth of his religion, have a reference 
 rather to the tijpes and shadows of the Mosaic 
 dispensation, than to the fables of the Heathen 
 mythology. As contrasted with these last, Chris- 
 tianity was Truth as opposed to falsehood; as 
 contrasted with the Jewish system, it was The 
 Truth, in the sense of " Reality," as distinguished 
 from the etnblems, — symbols, — representations — 
 of that reality ; — from the " shadow of good 
 things to come," contained in the Levitical 
 Law."" In this sense it is that the Apostle tells us 
 
 See "Hinds's Catechists' Manual," (p. 264), a book 
 which, in my judgment, no young clergyman or master of a 
 family should be without. 
 
10 On the love of Truth. [essay i. 
 
 " the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth 
 came by Jesus Christ:" and this also was pro- 
 bably the chief import of our Lord's expression, 
 " the truth shall make you free ;" /. e. free from 
 the precise and minute directions, and burden- 
 some ceremonial, of the Mosaic Law, which was 
 instituted for the very purpose of shadowing 
 forth, and preparing the way for, the glorious 
 truths, or realities, of the Gospel. 
 
 This consideration, however, does not lessen 
 the force of what has been said respecting the 
 prominent place assigned to the " truth" of Chris- 
 tianity as characteristic of the religion. Its truth, 
 in the sense of reality contrasted with type, and 
 substance with shadow, implies its truth as op- 
 posed to falsehood also. It was the same quality 
 that distinguished it from the more imperfect 
 revelations of the " Law" on one side, and from 
 the fictions and misconceptions of the Pagans on 
 the other: " the truth as it is in Jesus'"^ was to 
 supersede both the heathen idolatry, by destroy- 
 ing it, and " the Law and the Prophets," not by 
 destroying indeed, but by fulfilling them. 
 
 And it should be carefully borne in mind, that 
 
 '1 Ep. to Eijhes. iv. 21. 
 
SECT. 1.] On the love of Truth. 
 
 11 
 
 though the reiterated allusions to " truth" were 
 in a great degree called forth by the strong 
 contrast which the new religion presented, in 
 this particular, to those at that time opposed to 
 it, the characteristic itself must equally belong 
 to the same religion at all times. The Gospel 
 itself is always and every where the same ; though 
 particular times and places may require that this 
 or that particular feature of it should be espe- 
 cially pointed out and dwelt on. Even so, creeds 
 or sets of articles, employed as a Symbol or test 
 of orthodoxy, may vary, and have varied, accord- 
 ing to the emergencies occasioned by the pre- 
 valence of particular errors ; though the absolute 
 and intrinsic soundness of the articles of faith 
 themselves, must be always the same. Tempo- 
 rary or local circumstances are the cause, not of 
 any Article's being or not being a part of the 
 Christian faith, but of its being a part which it 
 is needful or not needful to set forth prominently, 
 and insist on. 
 
 This distinction, though so obvious, when 
 stated, as to seem scarcely worth mentioning, 
 is often lost sight of in practice. For instance, 
 many even of the early Christian emperors were 
 
12 
 
 On the love of Truth. 
 
 [essay I. 
 
 urged to put down idolatry and heresy by the 
 civil sword.* Jesus had indeed forbidden his 
 disciples to draw the sword in his cause, or to 
 call down fire from heaven on those who rejected 
 Him ; and had declared his kingdom to be " not 
 of this world ;" and his first followers had pro- 
 pagated his religion by gentle persuasion, " not 
 rendering evil for evil," but " in meekness in- 
 structing them that oppose themselves :" but 
 then, it was replied, that such a procedure was 
 suited only to the first beginnings of Christianity ; 
 that the earliest disciples had no power, when as 
 yet magistrates and kings were not arrayed on 
 their side,^ forcibly to suppress idolatry; — and 
 
 ^ " Not more than twenty years after Constantine's entire 
 possession of the empire, Julius Firraicus Maternus calls upon 
 the Emperors Constantius and Constans to extirpate the relics 
 of the ancient religion ; . . . . modicum tantum superest, ut 
 legibus vestris .... extincta idololatriae pereat funesta con- 
 tagio." — Paley's Evidences, Part II. chap. 9. 
 
 ^ " Non invenitur exemplum in evangelicis et apostolicis 
 Uteris, aliquid petitum a regibus terras pro ecclesia, contra 
 inimicos ecclesise : quis negat non inveniri ? Sed nondum 
 implebatur ilia prophetia, et nunc reges intelligite, erudimini, 
 qui judicatis terram ; servite Domino in timore. Adhuc enim 
 illud implebatur quod in eodem psalmo paullo superius dicitur ; 
 Quare fremuerunt gentes, et populi meditati sunt inania? &c." 
 — Augustine Epist. 93, chap. iii. § 9. 
 
 The 
 
SECT. 1.] 
 
 On the love of Truth. 
 
 13 
 
 that our Lord's language to Pilate, and his re- 
 jection of the attempts to make Him a king, 
 had reference to the then prevailing expectations 
 of a temporal Messiah. Now there was un- 
 doubtedly this expectation of an anointed. Son 
 of David, who should reign in bodily person 
 over the Jews, and should bestow on his follow- 
 ers not only the spiritual blessings relating to a 
 future state, but also, worldly power and splen- 
 dour. And, doubtless, his disclaimer had refer- 
 ence to these expectations : but the question is, 
 was this the cause of Christ's kingdom actually 
 heing of such a character as He described it, or, 
 merely of his insisting on this, in those parti- 
 cular expressions, and on those particular occa- 
 sions ? Are his rebukes to his disciples, for 
 offering to call down fire from heaven, and to 
 
 The remainder of the passage is curious, in which this 
 Father goes on to represent the two opposite decrees of 
 King Nebuchadnezzar, as types of the two conditions of the 
 Church ; the sentence of death passed on the three pious 
 Jews who refused to worship the golden idol, being typical 
 of the times of the Apostles and Martyrs ; and the present 
 time (Augustine's) being represented by the decree of the 
 same king, that whosoever should " speak any thing amiss 
 against the God of those Jews, should be cut in pieces." 
 
14 On the love of Truth. [essay i. 
 
 fight in his cause, — rebukes which were evi- 
 dently called forth by their mistaken zeal on 
 each occasiori ; are these to be regarded as 
 having reference to these occasions only, or 
 as descriptive of the character of the religion 
 universally ? ^ 
 
 Now what has been said of the employment 
 of force, may equally be applied to the employ- 
 ment of fraud, in the cause of Christianity. 
 The Romanists and others, who have practised 
 pious frauds in the cause of Christianity, pro- 
 bably committed (unknown to themselves) a 
 similar error to the one just mentioned, in their 
 view of those passages of Scripture which insist 
 on "truth" as a characteristic feature of the reli- 
 gion : those expressions., indeed, were probably 
 called forth in many instances by the peculiar 
 circumstances attending the first promulgation 
 of the Gospel ; but the character of the Gospel 
 itself is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and 
 for ever." 
 
 § 2. But how, it may be said, do these con- 
 siderations affect us Christians of the present 
 
 g See " Origin of Romish Errors," chap. v. § 4. 
 
SECT. 2.] On the love of Truth. 1 5 
 
 day ? We, it is to be hoped, are not chargeable 
 with that culpable carelessness about truth, 
 especially in religious matters, which charac- 
 terised the ancients. We do believe in Jesus 
 as the " Way, and the Truth, and the 
 Life." 
 
 Let it be remembered, however, that, as the 
 ancient heathen are not the standard by which 
 we are to be measured ; so, it is not our superi- 
 ority to them that will at once acquit us. They 
 had many excuses of which we have none, for 
 their disregard of truth : in particular, they 
 knew not (as we do) of any rehgion that did 
 challenge inquiry, and appeal to evidence, and 
 demand well-grounded and firm belief; that 
 taught them to " prove all things, and hold fast 
 that which is right," and to be " ready to give 
 a reason of their hope." Do Christians, then, 
 in this respect show themselves worthy of their 
 peculiar advantages ? Do they speak and act 
 altogether consistently with a religion which is 
 built on Faith in the Truth? The professors 
 of such a rehgion ought not merely to believe 
 it in sincerity, but to adhere scrupulously to 
 Truth in the means employed on every occasion. 
 
16 On the love of Truth. [essay i. 
 
 as well as in the ends proposed ; and to follow 
 fearlessly wherever Truth may lead. 
 
 Now we should recollect that most of the 
 pretended miracles, the " pious frauds," as they 
 are called, perpetrated by many, are, or at least 
 were, in the first instance, the work of men who 
 were sincere believers in the truth of their reli- 
 gion ; it is, indeed, on this ground alone that a 
 pious fraud can be so called : but they were men 
 who knew " not what manner of spirit they 
 were of;" they sought to promote, by means of 
 falsehood, the cause of Him who lived and died 
 for the Truth : they believed the Gospel to have 
 come from God, but wanted faith in his power 
 and care to support and prosper it ; and turned 
 aside from the straight path of sincerity, to 
 seek for the expedient, by the crooked roads 
 of worldly policy. But still, though most un- 
 christian in their spirit, though they had "neither 
 part nor lot in this matter, but were in the gall 
 of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity," their 
 general belief in Christianity was doubtless, in 
 most instances, sincere ; and I have adverted to 
 their case for the very purpose of pointing out 
 the important circumstance, that the fullest 
 
SECT. 2.] 
 
 On the love of Truth. 
 
 17 
 
 conviction of the truth of the cause in xvhich we 
 may he engaged, is no security against our sliding 
 into falsehood, unless we are sedulous in forming 
 and cherishing a habit of loving and reverencing, 
 and strictly adhering to truth. 
 
 Protestants, however, in these times, it may 
 be said, have no pretended miracles — practise 
 no pious frauds. But how far is this to be attri- 
 buted to a genuine detestation of falsehood, as 
 odious in his sight, who lived and died in the 
 cause of Truth, and to a firm reliance on his 
 providence ; and how far, to a conviction fur- 
 nished by experience, that fraud is, in the end, 
 detrimental to the cause it is designed to serve, 
 and that in these days its success would be 
 especially short-lived ? To what degree each 
 man is in each instance actuated by a love of 
 truth, or by considerations of seeming expe- 
 diency, can be fully known only to the Searcher 
 of hearts : it is only by the most rigid self- 
 examination that we can approach to the know- 
 ledge of this in our own case ; and it is so far 
 only as the former motive operates that we are 
 acting on Christian principle. It is undoubtedly 
 a just maxim, that in the long run " honesty is 
 
18 
 
 On the love of Truth. [essay \. 
 
 the best policy ;" but he whose practice is go- 
 verned by that maxim is not an honest man. 
 And it may be added, that a steady and nmform 
 adherence to honesty, never will result from 
 that maxim. He who adheres to what is right, 
 because it is right, will be rewarded by after- 
 wards perceiving that he has taken the wisest 
 course. But to those who seek, in the first 
 instance, for the best pohcy, it is not given to 
 perceive in all cases that honesty is the best 
 policy. The maxim therefore, though true and 
 valuable, is never, to any one, the habitual and 
 constant guide of conduct. He who is honest is 
 always before it ; and he who is not, will often 
 be far behind it. 
 
 § 3. To suggest a few topics for the self- 
 examination I have alluded to, may not be 
 unsuitable with a view to the inquiries we are 
 engaged in. That all, even of the learned and 
 sagacious, have not arrived at true conclusions 
 respecting the doctrines of Scripture, is at once 
 evident from the great diversity of their conclu- 
 sions. It is necessary to consider, therefore, 
 how we may best escape being of the number of 
 
SECT. 3.] Oil the love of Truth. 19 
 
 those who fall into such various errors ; — how 
 we may be best qualified for profiting by the 
 lessons of Him whose " Word is Truth." And 
 this must surely be by a fervent desire and 
 sedulous watchfulness to acquire and preserve a 
 sincere, unbiassed, and candid disposition. With- 
 out this, the highest ability, combined with the 
 most laborious study, will do nothing towards 
 the attainment of that object. 
 
 That we may not, however, be led into too 
 wide a field of discussion, it should be observed, 
 that I do not propose to inculcate the duty of 
 veracity in private life ; or to enter on any 
 metaphysical disquisition on the nature of truth 
 universally, or on what may be regarded as the 
 different species of it; or to treat of the vari- 
 ous kinds of evidence by which it is to be esta- 
 blished ; but simply to speak of the importance, 
 and the difficulty, of cultivating and establishing 
 as a habit, a sincere love of Truth for its own 
 sake, and a steady thorough-going adherence to 
 it in all philosophical, and especially in religious 
 inquiries. 
 
 The first step towards attaining this state of 
 mind, and ascertaining how far we have attained 
 
 c2 
 
20 
 
 On tlie love of Truth. [essay i. 
 
 it, must evidently be, a strong conviction of its 
 value, together with a distrust of ourselves. If 
 we either care not to be lovers of Truth, or take 
 for granted that we are such, without taking 
 any pains to acquire the habit, it is not likely 
 that we ever shall acquire it. I must here, 
 therefore, briefly notice some objections which I 
 have heard urged against the very effort to cul- 
 tivate such a habit as I am recommending ; 
 though, in fact, they arise from misapprehension, 
 and are directed against a mistaken view of the 
 subject. 
 
 (1.) The first is, that we cannot be required 
 to make Truth our main object, but happi- 
 ness; — that our ultimate end is, not the mere 
 knowledge of what is true, but the attainment 
 of what is good, to ourselves and to others. 
 But this, when urged as an objection against 
 the views here taken, is evidently founded on a 
 mistake as to the meaning of the maxim, that 
 Truth should be sought for its own sake. It 
 is evident, in the first place, that I am not 
 speaking of the pursuit of all truth on all sub- 
 jects. It would be ridiculous for a single in- 
 dividual to aim at universal knowledge ; or even 
 
SECT. 3.] Oti the love of Truth. 
 
 21 
 
 at the knowledge of all that is within the reach 
 of the human faculties, and worthy of human 
 study. The question is respecting the pursuit of 
 truth, in each subject, on which each person de- 
 sires to make up his mind and form an opinion. 
 And secondly, the purport of the maxim that, in 
 these points, truth should be our object, is, not 
 that mere barren knowledge without practice, — 
 truth without any ulterior end, should be sought ; 
 but that truth should be sought and followed 
 confidently, not in each instance, only so far as 
 we perceive it to be expedient, and from motives 
 of policy, but with a full conviction both that it 
 is, in the end, always expedient, with a view to 
 the attainment of ulterior objects, (no permanent 
 advantage being attainable by departing from it,) 
 and also, that, even if some end, otherwise advan- 
 tageous, could be promoted by such a departure, 
 that alone would constitute it an evil ; — that truth 
 in short, is in itself, independently of its results, 
 preferable to error ; — that honesty claims a pre- 
 ference to deceit, even without taking into account 
 its being the best policy. 
 
 (2.) Another objection, if it can be so called, 
 is, that a perfectly candid and unbiassed state of 
 
22 
 
 On the love of Truth. [essay i. 
 
 mind, — a habit of judging in each case entirely 
 according to the evidence, is unattainable. But 
 the same may be said of every other virtue : 
 a perfect regulation of any one of the human 
 passions is probably not more attainable than 
 perfect candour ; but we are not, therefore, to 
 give a loose to the passions ; we are not to relax 
 our efforts for the attainment of any virtue, on 
 the ground that, after all, we shall fall short of 
 perfection. 
 
 (3.) Another objection which I have heard is, 
 that it is not even desirable, were it possible, to 
 bring the mind into a state of perfectly unbiassed 
 indifference, so as to weigh the evidence in each 
 case with complete impartiality. The evidence, 
 for instance, for the truth of the Christian 
 religion, it is said, a good man must wish, and 
 ought to wish, to find satisfactory ; one who 
 loves and practises virtue, cannot be, and ought 
 not to be, indifferent as to the question whether 
 there be or be not a God who will reward it. 
 
 This objection arises, I conceive, from an in- 
 distinct and confused notion of the sense of the 
 terms employed.*" A candid and unbiassed state 
 
 h See Logic, Appendix. Article " Indifference." 
 
SECT. 3.] On the love of' Truth. 23 
 
 of mind, which is sometimes called indifference 
 or impartiality, i. e. of the judgment, does not 
 imply an indifference of the will, — an absence 
 of all wish on either side ; but merely an ab- 
 sence of all influence of the wishes in forming 
 our decision,— all leaning of the judgment on the 
 side of inchnation, — all perversion of the evidence 
 in consequence. That we should wish to find 
 truth on one side rather than the other, is in 
 many cases not only unavoidable but commend- 
 able ; but to think that true which we wish, 
 without impartially weighing the evidence on both 
 sides, is undeniably a folly, though a very common 
 one. If a mode of effectual and speedy cure be 
 proposed to a sick man, he cannot but wish that 
 the result of his inquiries concerning it may be 
 a well-grounded conviction of the safety and 
 efficacy of the remedy prescribed ; it would be no 
 mark of wisdom to be indifferent to the restora- 
 tion of health ; but if his wishes should lead him 
 (as is frequently the case) to put implicit confi- 
 dence in the remedy without any just grounds for 
 it, he would deservedly be taxed with folly. Or 
 again, if a scheme be proposed to any one for 
 embarking his capital in some speculation by 
 
24 0)t ike love of Truth. [essay i. 
 
 which he is to gain immense wealth, he will doubt- 
 less wish to find that the expectations held out 
 are well-founded ; but we should call him very 
 imprudent, if (as many do) he should suffer this 
 wish to bias his judgment, and should believe, on 
 insufficient grounds, the fair promises held out to 
 him : his wishes, we should say, were both natural 
 and wise ; but since they could not render the 
 event more probable, it was most unwise to allow 
 them to influence his decision. In like manner, 
 (to take the instance above alluded to,) a good 
 man will indeed wish to find the evidence of the 
 Christian religion satisfactory; but a wise man 
 will not for that reason think it satisfactory, but 
 will weigh the evidence the more carefully, on 
 account of the importance of the question. 
 
 By confounding together these two very dis- 
 tinct things, indifference of the will, and indiffer- 
 ence of the judgment, (or, which amounts to the 
 same, taking for granted that the two are inse- 
 parably conjoined, and must be present or absent, 
 together,) I have known a person maintain, with 
 some plausibility, the inexpediency, with a view 
 to the attainment of Truth, of educating people 
 or appointing teachers to instruct them in any 
 
SECT. 3.] 
 
 On the love of Truth. 
 
 25 
 
 particular systems or theories, of astronomy, 
 medicine, religion, morals, politics, &c., on the 
 ground that a man must wish to beheve and 
 to find good reasons for believing, the system in 
 which he has been trained, and which he has 
 been engaged in teaching ; and that this wish 
 must prejudice his understanding in favour of it, 
 and consequently render him an incompetent 
 judge of truth. 
 
 It would follow from this principle, that no 
 physician should be trusted, who is not utterly 
 indifferent whether his patient recovers or dies ; 
 since, else, he must wish to find reasons for 
 hoping favourably from the mode of treatment 
 pursued : no plan for the benefit of the pubhc, 
 proposed by a philanthropist, should be listened 
 to ; since such a man cannot but wish it may 
 be successful, &c — No doubt the judgment is 
 often biassed by the inclinations ; but it is pos- 
 sible, and it should be our endeavour, to guard 
 against this bias. And, by the way, it is utterly 
 a mistake to suppose that the bias is always in 
 favour of the conclusion wished for ; it is often 
 in the contrary direction. There is in some 
 minds a tendency to unreasonable doubt in cases 
 
26 On tlie love of Truth. [essay i. 
 
 where their wishes are strong ; — a morbid dis- 
 trust of evidence which they are especially 
 anxious to find conclusive : e. g. Groundless 
 fears for the health or safety of an ardently- 
 beloved child, will frequently, on account of their 
 earnest wish for his welfare, distress anxious 
 parents. Different temperaments (sometimes 
 varying with the state of health of each indi- 
 vidual) lead towards these opposite miscalcu- 
 lations. Each of us probably has a natural 
 leaning towards one or the other (often towards 
 both, at different times) of these infirmities ; — 
 the over-estimate, or under-estimate of the rea- 
 sons in favour of a conclusion we earnestly de- 
 sire to find true. Our aim should be, not to fly 
 from one extreme to the other, but to avoid 
 both, and to give a verdict according to the 
 evidence ; preserving the indifference of the 
 Judgment, even when the Will cannot, and 
 indeed should not be indifferent. 
 
 There are persons, again, (though some of my 
 readers will, perhaps, be disposed to doubt the 
 fact,) who, in supposed compliance with the 
 precept, " lean not to thine own understanding," 
 regard it as a duty to suppress all exercise of 
 
SECT. 3.] On the love of Truth. 
 
 27 
 
 the intellectual powers, in every case where the 
 feelings are at variance with the conclusions of 
 reason. They deem it right to consult the heart 
 more than the head : i. e. to surrender themselves, 
 advisedly, to the bias of any prejudice that may 
 chance to be present : thus, dehberately and on 
 principle, burying in the earth the talent en- 
 trusted to them, and hiding under a bushel the 
 candle that God has Hghted up in the mind. 
 But it is not necessary to dwell on such a case, 
 both because it is not, I trust, a common one, 
 and also because those who are thus disposed, 
 are clearly beyond the reach of argument, since 
 they think it wrong to listen to it. 
 
 I am far from recommending presumptuous 
 inquiries into things beyond the reach of our 
 faculties ; — attempts to be " wise above what is 
 written ;" — or groundless confidence in the cer- 
 tainty of our conclusions : but we cannot even 
 exercise the requisite humility in acquiescing in 
 revealed doctrines, unless we employ our reason 
 to ascertain what they are ; and there is surely 
 at least as much presumption in measuring every 
 thing by our own feelings, fancies, and prejudices, 
 as by our own reasonings. 
 
28 
 
 On the love of Truth. 
 
 [essay I. 
 
 (4.) Lastly, another objection sometimes 
 brought, not so much against the pursuit, as 
 against the propagation of truth, is, that the 
 minds of many men are incapable of rightly 
 apprehending it ; that the attempt to teach 
 some truths to such hearers as are not qualified 
 for receiving them, and to remove some errors 
 which they are not ripe for perceiving to be such, 
 would only excite their disgust towards every 
 thing they might hear from such instructors ; or 
 that some might assent to what they heard, 
 while they put the most mischievously false inter- 
 pretation upon it ; or, lastly, that they might 
 misapply even what they had rightly understood : 
 as persons ignorant of medicine often do mischief 
 by administering, without judgment, some power- 
 ful remedy, whose efficacy they have witnessed. 
 Even thus, it may be said, will the unlearned, 
 when they have been taught to reject some long- 
 established error, proceed, when their minds 
 are once unsettled, to reject well-grounded 
 doctrines also ; and will apply the arguments 
 by which they have been convinced in one 
 case, to another, perhaps very different, (though 
 they are incapable of understanding that 
 
SECT. 3.] On the love of Truth. 29 
 
 difference,) so as to produce the most erroneous 
 results. 
 
 Accordingly, it is urged, our Lord himself and 
 his Apostles abstained from teaching every thing 
 at once to their hearers, because they " were not 
 as yet able to bear them:" and even so important 
 a doctrine as the extension of the Gospel to the 
 Gentile world, was not fully made known to the 
 Apostles themselves, for several years after they 
 had received their commission. 
 
 All this is, in a certain sense, true ; and as far 
 as it is true, is no contradiction of the principle 
 I have laid down, but an appUcation of it. For 
 to teach any thing which, though in itself true, 
 will inevitably be misunderstood by the hearers, 
 is in reality to propagate not truth, but error ; 
 and if our teaching has in any case a necessary 
 tendency to lead a certain class of hearers into 
 such mistakes on other points as we have no 
 power to guard against, we are not enlightening, 
 but leading them into darkness. If we were to 
 suppose a case (to resort to an illustration I have 
 elsewhere employed') of our informing a rustic 
 
 ' See Appendix to Archbishop King's Discourse on Pre- 
 destination, No. I. 
 
30 0)1 the love of Truth. [essay i. 
 
 that the sun stands still, while, for some reason 
 or other, we had no means of teaching him that 
 the earth turns round, he would evidently be 
 more perplexed than instructed, and would be 
 more than ever at a loss to understand the alter- 
 nations of day and night. 
 
 To shew that what has here been said is not 
 a statement framed for the occasion, in order to 
 meet objections, I will take the liberty of citing 
 a passage to the same purpose from my Bampton 
 Lectures, pubhshed in 1822. — "Persons of in- 
 ferior powers and attainments may be led, not to 
 knowledge, but to error, by hastily proposing 
 to them such statements and explanations as 
 surpass their capacity : though they may be in- 
 telligible and instructive to the abler and more 
 advanced. No vain clamours, therefore, about 
 deceiving the people, — no groundless charges of 
 keeping the vulgar in ignorance, and preaching 
 a different gospel to different persons, should 
 deter us from following at once the dictates of 
 sound sense, and the example of St. Paul ; or 
 induce us so to perplex and confuse ' those who 
 are weak in the faith,' as really to incur the 
 blame of deceiving them, for the sake of avoiding 
 
SECT. 3.] On the love of Truth. 31 
 
 the appearance of it. For it should be remem- 
 bered that, practically speaking, all truth is 
 relative : that which may be to one man a true 
 statement of any doctrine, may be, in effect, false 
 to another, if it be such as cannot but lead him 
 to form false notions ; and that which gives him, 
 if not a perfectly correct notion of things as they 
 are, yet the nearest to this that he is capable of, 
 may be regarded as, to him, true.'"' 
 
 If then, on these principles, we withhold for 
 a time some part of the Truth from those who are 
 not yet able to bear it, — if we add " line upon 
 line, and precept upon precept ; here a little, and 
 there a little," — striving gradually to qualify the 
 learner for a more full communication ; — if we 
 labour patiently to wear away prejudices by little 
 and little, when the attempt to eradicate them 
 abruptly would be unsuccessful, or pernicious, — 
 we are pursuing that method of inculcating truth 
 which is sanctioned by Christ and his Apostles. 
 But if we make the ignorance, weakness, or pre- 
 judice of men a plea for suppressing or disguising 
 truth, or for conniving at error, without labouring 
 
 Lect. IV. pp. 129, 130. 3d Edit. 
 
32 
 
 On the love of Truth, [essay r. 
 
 at the same time to remove those obstacles ; — 
 if we plead that they are not yet ripe for this 
 or that doctrine, and expect them to become ripe, 
 like the fruits of the earth, by mere waiting ; — 
 if we are content to leave them permanently 
 under the influence of delusion, — to postpone, 
 sine die, as the phrase is, the communication of 
 religious truths, — to wait indefinitely for some un- 
 foreseen favourable conjuncture which we make 
 no exertions to bring about, — we are proceeding 
 in direct contradiction to the spirit of the Gospel, 
 and the example of its Author. " I have yet 
 many things," said He, " to say unto you, but 
 ye cannot bear them now;' but He did, by his 
 Spirit, gradually impart this knowledge to them 
 afterwards ; not to some subsequent generation, 
 but to those very same individuals. " I have fed 
 you with milk and not with meat," says St. Paul, 
 "for ye were not able to bear it ; neither yet are 
 ye able ;" he evidently impHes a hope that they 
 (i. e. not some future generation, but those very 
 individuals) will be able to bear it : nay, he is 
 evidently reproaching them for not being already 
 better qualified for the reception of divine 
 Truth. Indeed the very similitude of babes, of 
 
SECT. 4.] 
 
 Ofi tlie love of Truth. 
 
 33 
 
 itself draws our attention, our hopes, and our 
 endeavours, towards a progressive growth into 
 manhood. 
 
 § 4. When, however, we have made up our 
 minds as to the importance of seeking in every 
 case for truth, with an unprejudiced mind, the 
 greatest difficulty still remains ; which arises 
 from the confidence we are apt to feel that we 
 have already done this, and have sought for 
 truth with success. For every one must of 
 course be convinced of the truth of his own 
 opinion, if it be properly called his opinion ; and 
 yet the variety of men's opinions furnishes a proof 
 how many must be mistaken. If any one then 
 would guard against mistake as far as his intel- 
 lectual faculties will allow, he must make it, not 
 the second, hut the first question in each case, 
 "Is this true?" It is not enough to believe 
 what you maintain ; you must maintain what you 
 believe ; and maintain it because you believe it ; 
 and that, on the most careful and impartial 
 review of the evidence on both sides. For any 
 one may bring himself to believe almost any 
 thing that he is inchned to believe, and thinks it 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 On tlie love of Truth. [essay i. 
 
 becoming or expedient to maintain.' It makes 
 all the difference, therefore, whether we hegin or 
 end with the inquiry as to the truth of our doc- 
 trines. To express the same maxim in other 
 words, it is one thing to wish to have Truth on 
 our side, and another thing to wish sincerely to 
 be on the side of Truth. There is no genuine 
 love of truth implied in the former. Truth is 
 a powerful auxiliary, such as every one wishes to 
 have on his side ; every one is rejoiced to find, 
 and therefore often succeeds in convincing him- 
 self, that the principles he is already disposed to 
 adopt, — the notions he is inclined to defend, may 
 be maintained as true. A determination to 
 " obey the Truth," and to follow wherever she 
 may lead, is not so common. In this consists 
 the genuine love of truth ; and this can be 
 realized in practice only by postponing all other 
 questions to that which ought ever to come fore- 
 most, " What is the Truth 1 " The minds of most 
 
 ' Some persons accordingly who describe themselves — in 
 one sense, correctly — as " following the dictates of con- 
 science," are doing so only in the same sense in which a 
 person who is driving in a carriage may he said to follow 
 his horses, which go in whatever direction he guides them. 
 
SECT. 4.] 
 
 On the love of Truth, 
 
 35 
 
 men are pre-occupied by some feeling or other 
 which influences their judgment, either on the 
 side of truth or of error, as it may happen, 
 and enlists their learning and abihty on the side, 
 whatever it may be, which they are predisposed 
 to adopt. 
 
 (1.) One of the most common of these feel- 
 ings is an aversion to doubt ; — a dislike of having 
 the judgment kept in suspense ; which, com- 
 bined with indolence in investigation, induces 
 the great mass of mankind to make up their 
 minds on a variety of points, almost according 
 to the first suggestion that is offered. As the 
 illustrious Greek historian expresses it, in lan- 
 guage which will hardly admit of an adequate 
 translation, " the generality of mankind are so 
 averse to the labour of investigating truth, 
 that they are willing rather to adopt any state- 
 ment that is ready-prepared for their accept- 
 ance." But he who would cultivate an habitual 
 devotion to Truth, must be solicitous in the first 
 place to avoid error ; and consequently must 
 
 'AraXatVwpog rote iroXXoIc >/ ^//rTjo-ic r^c uXijOeiag, /cat fVi 
 rd troika fiaXXoy TptTrovrai. 
 
 D 2 
 
36 
 
 On the love of Truth. 
 
 [essay I. 
 
 in all cases prefer doubt to the reception of false- 
 hood, or to the admission of any conclusion on 
 insufficient evidence. One who has an aversion 
 to doubt, and is anxious to make up his mind, 
 and to come to some conclusion on every ques- 
 tion that is discussed, must be content to rest 
 many of his opinions on very slight grounds; 
 since no one individual is competent to inves- 
 tigate fully all disputable points. Such a one, 
 therefore, is no lover of truth ; nor is in the 
 right way to attain it on any point. He may 
 more reasonably hope this, who, though he may 
 on many points perceive some (and perhaps a 
 great) preponderance of probability on this or 
 that side, is contented to come to a decisive con- 
 clusion only on those few which he has been 
 enabled thoroughly to investigate." 
 
 The fault I have been speaking of, is one 
 which men are the less likely to detect in them- 
 selves, from this circumstance ; that in many 
 practical cases it is necessary to come to some 
 decision speedily, even though we may not have 
 before us the fullest evidence that we could 
 desire, or even that we might hope, were more 
 " Errors of Romanism, chap. iv. § 8. 
 
 1 
 
SECT. 4.] On tlie love of Truth. 
 
 37 
 
 time allowed us, to obtain. The Physician may 
 be compelled to prescribe, or the General to 
 give his orders, immediately, and without waiting 
 to examine all the reasons on both sides ; because 
 delay would be as pernicious as mistake. In 
 cases of this kind, the utmost we can do is to 
 make up our minds according to the best reasons 
 that occur; and though we are not called on, 
 even then, to come to any certain conclusion in 
 our own minds, if there are no grounds for it ; 
 yet we must act as if we were certain. If, in a 
 journey, we have no means of knowing certainly 
 which of two or three roads will lead us aright, 
 we must yet choose one, because we are certain 
 we cannot reach the journey's end by standing 
 still. So also, if we are in doubt whether thieves 
 will come or not, we bar the door, as if we 
 were certain they would ; because to neglect this, 
 would be to stake all on the event of their not 
 coming. In hke manner, he who has doubts 
 about the truth of Christianity, is bound in pru- 
 dence to endeavour to act as if it were true. 
 For in these, and many other cases of practice, 
 " not to decide, is to decide." And the habit is 
 often in this manner acquired, of forming our 
 
38 On the looe of Truth. [essay i. 
 
 opinions as hastily as our practical decisions ; 
 and that too, even in cases where no immediate 
 step is necessarily to be taken — no danger, equal 
 to the danger of error, to be incurred by remain- 
 ing in suspense." 
 
 (2.) To that dislike of doubt which has been 
 mentioned as an obstacle to the cultivation of an 
 habitual love of Truth, many others may be 
 added which augment the difficulty. In many 
 it is the desire of originality, heightened some- 
 times into the love of paradox, that pre-occupies 
 the mind. They are zealous for Truth, provided 
 it be some truth, brought to light by themselves. 
 There are some accordingly, who have been 
 right where prevailing opinions are erroneous ; 
 and erroneous, where the rest of the world think 
 rightly. And such persons often satisfy them- 
 selves that they are guarded against this excess, 
 by the severity of their judgments on their 
 neighbour's originality, — by unsparing rejection 
 of every paradox, and every novelty, proceeding 
 from another. A crude theory or opinion, means, 
 in their language, one which (being new) has not 
 first occurred to themselves. 
 
 " Essay on the " Omission of Creeds, &c. in Scripture," § 9. 
 
SECT. 4.] On the love of Truth. 
 
 39 
 
 (3.) Others again, and they are more nume- 
 rous, are unduly biassed by an excessive respect 
 for venerated authority; — by an undue regard for 
 any belief that is ancient, — that is established, — 
 that has been maintained by eminent men : they 
 are overpowered in short by the " argumentum 
 ad verecundiam." I mean not, of course, that 
 the judgment of able men, and that of nume- 
 rous independent authorities, furnishes no valid 
 argument ; only, that it should not supersede 
 argument ; — that every other description of evi- 
 dence should be called in ; — and that we should 
 not think ourselves bound to adopt an opinion 
 merely because it has been held by many before 
 us.P And some are so biassed by authority, 
 that they not only admit carelessly as true what 
 they have not examined, but even tolerate a 
 considerable admixture of what they themselves 
 perceive to be untrue : " Errare malo cum 
 Platone, quam cum istis vera sentire," implies 
 no uncommon kind of feeling. And besides, any 
 errors which have long and extensively prevailed, 
 are by many regarded as of no great practical 
 consequence ; because, they think, if they had 
 
 1' Errors of llomanism, chap. iv. § 8. 
 
40 
 
 On the love of Truth. 
 
 [essay I. 
 
 led to any ill result, it would have been long 
 ago manifest. This is indeed by no means uni- 
 versally the case ; for many doctrinal errors do 
 lead to practical evils which are not referred, 
 even by those who perceive them, to the causes 
 whence they sprung. Protestants, for instance, 
 perceive the immoral effects which naturally 
 spring, in popish countries, from the doctrines 
 of purgatory, indulgences, image-worship, &c. ; 
 but a sincere Romanist, though he cannot but 
 perceive the existence of many of these im- 
 moralities, is usually altogether blind to their 
 connexion with those causes. And the Pro- 
 testant who wonders at this blindness, is perhaps 
 himself equally blind in some similar case. But 
 though, as has been said, the alleged harmless- 
 ness of long-established errors is in general very 
 rashly inferred, still it commonly is iifferred ; 
 and there are not a few who have more dread of 
 any thing that savours of novelty, even when 
 they perceive nothing objectionable in it, than 
 of what is generally received, even when they 
 know it to be unsound. And hence, he is the 
 most likely to be, by such persons, accounted a 
 safe man, not whose views are on the whole the 
 
SECT. 4.] On the love of Truth. 4 1 
 
 most reasonable, but who is free from all errors, 
 except vulgar errors. 
 
 The two faults which have just been noticed, 
 that is, a certain degree of each, are not un- 
 frequently combined. The hasty adoption of 
 striking novelties on some occasions, is not 
 incompatible with a blind adherence to the re- 
 ceived doctrine on others. All men have been 
 told that wisdom consists in preserving a middle 
 course between opposite extremes ; and the 
 weak, the uncandid, and the unthinking, often 
 congratulate themselves on having attained this 
 happy medium, by the mimic wisdom of sliding 
 alternately into each extreme. True wisdom 
 would tell us not to receive one opinion because 
 it is old, and another because it is new ; but to 
 receive and reject none on either ground, and to 
 inquire Sedulously, in each case, what is true. 
 
 (4.) I have elsewhere noticed a kind of false 
 humility, by aiming at which some are drawn 
 aside from the pursuit of truth. " The pride of 
 human reason" is a phrase very much in the 
 mouth of some persons, who seem to think they 
 are effectually humbling themselves by an ex- 
 cessive distrust of all exercise of the intellect. 
 
42 
 
 On the love of Truth. 
 
 [essay I. 
 
 while they resign themselves freely to the guid- 
 ance of what they call the heart ; that is, their 
 prejudices, passions, inclinations, and fancies. 
 But the feelings are as much a pai't of man's 
 constitution as his reason ; evei'y part of our 
 nature will equally lead us wrong, if operating 
 uncontrolled. If a man employs his reason, not 
 in ascertaining what God has revealed in Scrip- 
 ture, but in conjecturing what might be, or 
 ought to be, the divine dispensations, he is 
 employing his reason wrongly, and will err ac- 
 cordingly. But this is not the onhj source of 
 error. He who, to avoid this, gives up the use 
 of his reason, and believes or disbelieves, adopts 
 or rejects, according to what suits his feelings, 
 taste, will, and fancy, is no less an idolater of 
 himself than the other ; his feelings, &c. being a 
 part of himself, no less than his reason. We 
 may, if we please, call the one of these a 
 " Rationalist," and the other an " Irrationahst ;" 
 but there is as much of the pride of self-idolatry 
 in the one as in the other. The Greeks and 
 Romans were indeed wretched idolaters, in their 
 adoration of the beautiful statues of Jupiter and 
 Minerva ; but the Egyptians, who adored those 
 
SECT. 4.] On the love of Truth. 
 
 43 
 
 of an ox and a hawk, were not the less idol- 
 aters. The Jews, relying on the decision of 
 learned rabbis, and the Pythagorean, who yielded 
 implicit reverence to the dictates of the sage, 
 did not more exalt man into an oracle, in the 
 place of God, than the Mussulmans, who pay a 
 like reverence to idiots and madmen. Each 
 part of our nature should be duly controlled, 
 and kept within its own proper province ; and 
 the whole " brought into subjection to Christ," 
 and dedicated to Him. But there is no real 
 Christian humility — though there be debase- 
 ment — in renouncing the exercise of human 
 reason, to follow the dictates of human feeling. 
 The apostle's precept is, " in malice be ye chil- 
 dren ; but in understanding be ye men." 
 
 The error I have been adverting to is worthy 
 of notice, only from the plausibility it derives 
 from the authority of some persons who really 
 do possess cultivated intellectual powers ; and 
 therefore, when they declaim on the pride of 
 human reason, are understood not to be dispa- 
 raging an advantage of which they are destitute. 
 They appear voluntarily divesting themselves of 
 what many would feel a pride in ; and thus 
 
44 On the love of Truth. [essay i. 
 
 often conceal from others, as well as from them- 
 selves, the spiritual pride with which they not 
 only venerate their own feelings and prejudices, 
 but even load with anathemas all who presume 
 to dissent from them. It is a prostration, not of 
 man's self before God, but of one part of himself 
 before another. This kind of humiliation is like 
 the idolatry of the Israelites in the wilderness, 
 " The people stripped themselves of their golden 
 ornaments that were upon them, and cast them 
 into the fire ; and there came forth this calf.'"^ 
 We ought to remember that the disciples were 
 led by the dictates of a sound understanding to 
 say, " No man can do these miracles that thou 
 doest, except God be with him :" and thence, 
 to beheve and trust and obey Jesus implicitly : 
 but that Peter was led by his heart (i. e. his in- 
 clinations and prejudices) to say, " Be it far 
 from thee Lord ! there shall no such thing hap- 
 pen unto thee." 
 
 (5.) The greatest, however, of all the obstacles 
 to the habit of following truth, is, the tendency 
 to look in the first instance to the expedient. 
 Expediency does not, in reality, stand opposed 
 
 '1 Note to Charge of 1836. 
 
 I 
 
SECT. 4.] 
 
 On the love of Truth, 
 
 45 
 
 to Truth, except when made its rival for pre- 
 cedence ; but while the genuine lover of truth 
 always regards that as the only sure road to 
 the expedient, the generality of men look out 
 Jirst for what is expedient, and are contented if 
 they can afterwards reconcile that (which, with a 
 biassed mind, they are very likely to accomplish) 
 with a conviction of truth. And this is the sin 
 which most easily besets those who are engaged 
 in the instruction of others ; and it besets them 
 the more easily, inasmuch as the consciousness 
 of falsehood, even if it exist in the outset, will 
 very soon wear away. He who does not begin 
 by preaching what he thoroughly believes, will 
 speedily end by believing what he preaches. 
 His habit of discriminating the true from the 
 false, — the well-established from the doubtful, — 
 will soon decay for want of assiduous exercise ; 
 and thus inured to the practice of dispensing 
 with complete sincerity for the sake of supposed 
 utility, and accustomed to support true conclu- 
 sions by any premises that offer, he will soon 
 lose, through this faulty practice, even the power 
 of distinguishing what conclusions are true.' 
 
 Errors of Romanism, chap. iii. § C. 
 
46 On the love of Truth. [essay i. 
 
 § 5. The temptations to this fault are so great, 
 the occurrence of it so frequent, and the mischief 
 of it so incalculable, that I cannot, perhaps, 
 better close these remarks, than by classing, 
 under a few comprehensive heads, the cautions 
 to be observed in avoiding it. 
 
 (1.) First, then, one who would cherish in 
 himself an attachment to truth, must never allow 
 himself either to advance any argument, or to 
 admit and acquiesce in any when advanced by 
 another, which he knows or suspects to be un- 
 sound or fallacious ; however true the conclusion 
 may be to which it leads, — however convincing 
 the argument may be to those it is addressed to, 
 — and however important it may be that they 
 should be convinced. It springs from, and it 
 will foster and increase a want of veneration for 
 truth ; it is an affront put on " the Spirit of 
 Truth it is a hiring of the idolatrous Syrians 
 to fight the battles of the Lord God of Israel. 
 And it is on this ground that we should adhere 
 to the most scrupulous fairness of statement and 
 argument. He who believes that sophistry will 
 always in the end prove injurious to the cause 
 supported by it, is probably right in that belief ; 
 
 I 
 
SECT. 5.] On the love of Truth. 
 
 47 
 
 but if it be for that reason that he abstains 
 from it, — if he avoid fallacy, wholly, or partly, 
 through fear of detection ; it is plain he is no 
 sincere votary of truth. 
 
 (2.) On the same principle, we are bound 
 never to countenance any erroneous opinion, 
 however seemingly beneficial in its results, — to 
 connive at no salutary delusion (as it may' ap- 
 pear,) but to open the eyes (when opportunity 
 offers, and in proportion as it offers) of those 
 we are instructing, to any mistake they may 
 labour under ; though it may be one which leads 
 them ultimately to a true result, and to one 
 of which apparently they might otherwise fail. 
 The temptation accordingly to depart from this 
 principle is sometimes excessively strong ; be- 
 cause it will often be the case that men will be 
 in some danger, in parting with a long-admitted 
 error, of abandoning, at the same time, some 
 truth they have been accustomed to connect 
 with it. Accordingly, I have heard censure 
 passed on the endeavours to enlighten the Ro- 
 man Cathohcs, on the ground that many of them 
 had become atheists, and many, the wildest of 
 
 ^ See Errors of Romanism, chap. iii. § 3. 
 
48 On the lave of Truth. [essay i. 
 
 fanatics. That this should have been in some 
 instances the case, is highly probable ; it is a 
 natural result of the pernicious effects on the 
 mind, of any system of blind uninquiring ac- 
 quiescence : such a system is an Evil Spirit, 
 which we must expect will cruelly rend and 
 mangle the patient as it comes out of him, and 
 will leave him half-dead at its departure. 
 
 Again : the belief in the plenary inspiration of 
 Scripture, — its being properly and literally the 
 " Word of God," merely uttered, or committed 
 to writing by the sacred penmen, in the very 
 words supernaturally dictated to them, and the 
 consequent behef in its complete and universal 
 infallibility, not only on religious, but also on 
 historical and philosophical points, — these notions 
 which prevail among a large portion of Chris- 
 tians, are probably encouraged or connived at 
 by very many of those who do not, or at least 
 did not originally, in their own hearts, entertain 
 any such belief But they dread " the unsettling 
 of men's minds they fear that they would be 
 unable to distinguish what is, and what is not, 
 matter of inspiration ; and, consequently, that 
 their reverence for Scripture and for religion 
 
SECT. 5.] On the love of Truth. 
 
 49 
 
 altogether would be totally destroyed ; while, on 
 the other hand, the error, they urge, is very 
 harmless ; leading to no practical evil, but rather 
 to piety of hfe. 
 
 On a like principle I have known some pious 
 persons object to any alteration of those passages 
 of our (in general excellent) version of the Bible, 
 in which they admit that our translators have 
 mistaken the sense of the original. It has a 
 tendency, they think, to unsettle the minds of 
 the vulgar ; who had better be left to receive 
 the Bible, i. e. our authorized version of it, as 
 the Word of God, without any suspicion of the 
 possibility of error in any passage they read ; 
 since if once (it is urged) they doubt the infalli- 
 bility of our translators, they may go on to 
 doubt whether this, and that, or any passage 
 of Scripture may not be mistranslated ; till at 
 length the Bible will be, to them, no revelation 
 at all. 
 
 This procedure is of a piece with that of the 
 Church of Rome in pronouncing the infallibility 
 of the Vulgate version : a step which proved a 
 convenience for the moment, and has placed 
 them in a dilemma ever since ; either the 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 On the love of Truth. 
 
 [essay I. 
 
 admission, or the denial, of any error in the 
 Vulgate, being equally dangerous to the Church's 
 claim of infallibility. The inexpediency, in the 
 end, of our proceeding on such a principle in 
 respect of our translation, is to me very clear; 
 but I despair of explaining it to the satisfaction 
 of any one who chooses to try the question on 
 that ground. To any one who is resolved to 
 follow honesty for its own sake, it may easily be 
 made to appear in this case, that it is the best 
 policy also. 
 
 And, doubtless, such feelings as I have been 
 alluding to had a share in inducing the Roman 
 Catholics to retain the Apocrypha in their Bible. 
 Many of the learned among them must surely 
 have known, that these books have no title to be 
 considered as part of the Holy Scriptures ; " but 
 they are on the whole," they may have thought, 
 " rather edifying than hurtful ; and to reject them 
 might shake men's faith in the whole of Scripture." 
 The same reasoning probably operates with many 
 of them, to induce them to maintain the infalli- 
 bility of the Church, — the authority of their 
 Traditions, &c. Indeed, the fault I have been 
 speaking of is of the very essence of a system of 
 
SECT. 5.] On tJie love of Truth. 
 
 51 
 
 " pious frauds." Would that Protestants did not 
 so readily flatter themselves, that their separation 
 from the Church of Rome exempts them from all 
 danger of errors like hers ! 
 
 There is a strong temptation again to foster 
 or connive at the popular error of expecting 
 under the Christian dispensation those temporal 
 rewards and punishments which form no part of 
 the system ; a mistake which no doubt has often 
 produced partial good results, and which there 
 will often be, and oftener appear to be, danger 
 in removing.' Of the same character is the beUef 
 that the moral precepts of the Levitical law are 
 binding on Christians ; and that the observance 
 of the Lord's day is a duty to which they are 
 bound by the fourth commandment.' Though 
 the desired conclusions may in these and similar 
 cases be reached by the paths of truth, there 
 will be an apparent, and sometimes a real 
 
 r See "Discourse on National Blessings and Judgments." 
 
 ^ Of course, I am not at present alluding to those who, 
 after a full and candid examination, are themselves convinced 
 of this ; — whose sincere and deliberate belief is, that the 
 fourth commandment does extend to Christians, but that it 
 is sufficiently obeyed by the observance of the first day of the 
 
 e2 
 
52 
 
 On the love of Truth. 
 
 [essay I. 
 
 danger that those who have been long used to 
 act rightly on erroneous principles, may fail of 
 those conclusions, when undeceived. In such 
 cases it requires a thorough love of truth, and a 
 firm reUance on divine support, to adhere steadily 
 to the straight course. 
 
 (3.) A like danger will often be our appointed 
 trial in the converse case also ; — in firmly re- 
 solving to suppress no clearly-revealed gospel- 
 truth, through apprehension of ill consequences. 
 Then only can we be " pure from the blood of 
 all men," if we " have not shunned to set before 
 them allt\ie counsel of God." He did indeed. 
 Himself, think fit to hide for many ages, under 
 the veil of the Levitical law, the coming of the 
 Messiah's kingdom ; and it is but a small part 
 probably of the great scheme of redemption that 
 He has as yet imparted to us ; but He has not 
 authorized Man to suppress any part of what 
 He has revealed ; and it is an impious pre- 
 
 week instead of the seventh ; or that the precise directions of 
 an express command of Scripture, which is admitted to be 
 binding on us, may allowably be altered by the traditions of 
 the Church. Though I cannot but regard such views as 
 erroneous, the error does not belong to the class now under 
 discussion. See " Thoughts on the Sabbath." 
 
SECT. 5.] On the love of Truth. 53 
 
 sumption even to inquire into the expediency 
 of such a procedure. 
 
 (4.) Lastly, as we must not dare to withhold 
 or disguise revealed religious truth, so, we must 
 dread the progress of no other truth. We must 
 not imitate the bigoted Hierarchy who im- 
 prisoned Galileo ; and step forward, Bible in 
 hand, (like the profane IsraeUtes carrying the 
 Ark of God into the field of battle) to check 
 the inquiries of the Geologist, the Astronomer, 
 or the Political-economist, from an apprehension 
 that the cause of religion can be endangered by 
 them.* Any theory on whatever subject, that is 
 really sound, can never be inimical to a rehgion 
 founded on truth ; and any that is unsound may 
 be refuted by arguments drawn from observation 
 and experiment, without calling in the aid of 
 revelation. If we give way to a dread of danger, 
 from the inculcation of any scriptural doctrine, 
 or from the progress of physical or moral science, 
 we manifest a want of faith in God's power, or 
 in his will, to maintain his own cause. That we 
 shall indeed best further his cause by fearless 
 perseverance in an open and straight course, I 
 
 * See First Lecture on Political Economy. 
 
54 
 
 On the love of Truth. 
 
 [essay I, 
 
 am firmly persuaded ; but it is not only when we 
 perceive the mischiefs of falsehood and disguise, 
 and the beneficial tendency of fairness and can- 
 dour, that we are to be followers of truth : the 
 trial of our faith is, when we cannot perceive 
 this : and the part of a lover of truth is to follow 
 her at all seeming hazards, after the example of 
 Him who " came into the world that He might 
 bear witness to the Truth." 
 
 No one, in fact, is capable of fully appreciating 
 the ultimate expediency of a devoted adherence 
 to truth in all that relates to the Christian 
 religion, except the Divine Author of it ; because 
 He alone comprehends the whole of that vast 
 and imperfectly-revealed scheme of Providence ; 
 and alone can see the inmost recesses of the 
 human heart; and alone can foresee and judge 
 of the remotest consequences of human actions. 
 And much of the good policy of the course I have 
 been recommending, which can be perceived by 
 those of more cultivated minds, is beyond the 
 comprehension of a great majority of mankind. 
 The expediency of truth can be estimated by 
 few ; but its intrinsic loveliness, by all. None 
 are precluded, by want of intellectual power 
 
SECT. 5.] On the love of Truth. 55 
 
 and culture, from that undoubting faith and firm 
 reliance on their great Master, which will lead 
 them to aim at truth, out of veneration to Him ; 
 — to reject disguise, and sophistry, and equivoca- 
 tion, at once, as hateful to Him, without stopping 
 to inquire what further evil they may lead to. 
 
 And it is no more than needful that those 
 who act thus, should have a more than common 
 assurance of his approbation ; for they will often 
 fail of that of their fellow-men. Besides being 
 occasionally censured as rash and mischievous, 
 they will constantly find a want of sympathy in 
 those (and they, I fear, are a great majority) 
 whose character is, in this point, opposite. They 
 may be valued indeed by many persons for other 
 good qualities ; but that zealous thorough-going 
 love of truth which I have been describing, is 
 very seldom admired, or liked, or indeed under- 
 stood, except by those who possess it. Courage, 
 liberality, activity, &c. are often highly prized 
 by those who do not possess them in any great 
 degree ; but the quality I am speaking of, is, 
 by those deficient in it, either not perceived 
 where it exists, or perceived only as an excess 
 and extravagance. 
 
56 On the love of Truth. [essay i. 
 
 " There is nothing covered," however, " that 
 shall not be revealed ; nor hid, that shall not be 
 known." And the genuine and fearless lover of 
 truth, who has sought, not the praise of men, 
 but the praise of God " who seeth in se- 
 cret," shall be " sanctified through his Truth" 
 here, and by Him " be rewarded openly" here- 
 after. 
 
ESSAY 11. 
 
 ON THE DIFFICULTIES AND THE VALUE OF THE 
 WRITINGS OF THE APOSTLE PAUL GENERALLY. 
 
 § 1. There appears to be a very remarkable 
 analogy between the treatment to which Paul 
 was himself exposed during his personal ministry 
 on earth, and that which his works have 
 met with since. In both he stands distin- 
 guished in many points among the preachers 
 of the Gospel ; and it is possible that this dis- 
 tinction may in some way be connected with 
 the peculiar manner in which he became one of 
 that number. 
 
 The same Apostle, who had been originally so 
 bitter a persecutor of the Christians, was ex- 
 posed, after his conversion, to a greater variety 
 of afflictions in the gospel-cause than any of the 
 
58 On the imiiortance of studying [essay ii. 
 
 others. He not only had to endure a greater 
 amount of persecution than any of the rest from 
 unbehevers, but was also peculiarly harassed by 
 vexatious opposition, and mortifications of every 
 kind from his Christian brethren. He was not 
 only " in labours more abundant," — he not only 
 endured a double portion of imprisonments, 
 scourgings, stoning, perils of every kind from 
 the enemies of the Gospel, being specially hated 
 by the Jews on account of his being the Apostle 
 of the Gentiles, the overthrower of the proud 
 distinctions of Israel " after the flesh ;" but he 
 was also troubled by the perversity of his own 
 converts ; especially such of them as were cor- 
 rupted by false teachers, who endeavoured to 
 bring them into subjection to the Mosaic law, 
 and laboured to undervalue his claims as a true 
 Apostle, and to rival him in the estimation of 
 his own churches. 
 
 It is not unlikely that his Lord designed thus 
 to place him foremost in the fight, — thus to 
 assign to him, both the most hazardous, and 
 also the most harassing and distressing oflfices 
 in the Christian ministry, — on account of his 
 having once been a blasphemer and persecutor. 
 
SECT. 1.] the Writings of the Apostle Paul. 59 
 
 Not as a punishment, — or again that he might 
 atone and make compensation for his former sin 
 (which no man can do) ; but that he might have 
 an opportunity of completely retracing his steps, 
 and of feeling that he did so ; — that he might 
 display a zeal, and firmness, and patience, and 
 perseverance, above all the rest, in the cause 
 which he had once oppressed; — that by having 
 his own injurious treatment of Christians con- 
 tinually brought to his mind by what he himself 
 endured, he might the more deeply and deli- 
 berately humble himself before God for it; — 
 that he might find room to exercise, in his 
 dealings with unbelievers, all that full know- 
 ledge of the perverse prejudices of the human 
 mind, with which his own memory would furnish 
 him, by reflecting on his own case ; — and finally, 
 that both he and the other Apostles might feel 
 that he was placed fully on a level with them, 
 notwithstanding his former opposition to the 
 cause ; by enduring and accompUshing in it more 
 than all the rest, by suffering more than he had 
 ever inflicted, — by forwarding the cause of Truth 
 more than he had ever hindered it, — and by 
 bearing with him this pledge that God had fully 
 
60 On tJw importance of studying [essay ii. 
 
 pardoned him — the pledge of his being counted 
 worthy not only to suffer in his Master's cause, 
 but to suffer more than any other, and with 
 greater effect. He who had been accessary to 
 the stoning of Stephen, himself, alone of the 
 Apostles, as far as we know, suffered stoning ; 
 he who had been so zealous in behalf of the law 
 of Moses, was destined to encounter not only 
 unbelieving Jews, but those Christians also who 
 laboured to corrupt Christianity by mixing the 
 law of Moses with it ; he who had been, as he 
 expresses it, " exceedingly mad against the dis- 
 ciples, and persecuted them even unto strange 
 cities," was himself driven from city to city by 
 enemies whose fury knew no bounds, both of his 
 own countrymen, and of the senseless rabble of 
 idolaters, who assailed him Hke " wild beasts, at 
 Ephesus." He who had misinterpreted the 
 ancient prophecies respecting the Messiah, and 
 despised his disciples, had to endure not only 
 the contradiction and derision of unbelievers, 
 but also the wilfulness and perversity of 
 " false brethren," who misrepresented and dis- 
 torted the doctrines he himself taught, and of 
 arrogant rivals who strove to bring him into 
 
SECT. 1.] the Writings of the Apostle Paul. Gl 
 
 disrepute with those who had learnt the faith 
 from him.^ 
 
 In all these struggles he was " more than con- 
 queror, through Christ that strengthened" him. 
 Trusting that his Master would enable him to 
 go through the work to which he had been ap- 
 pointed, and would turn even the malice and 
 perversity of men to " the furtherance of the 
 Gospel/' he " rejoiced that Christ was preached," 
 even when it was " through envy and strife," by 
 those "who thought to add affliction" to the 
 
 " " Here then we have a man of liberal attainments, and in 
 other points of sound judgment, who had addicted his life to 
 the service of the gospel. We see him, in the prosecution of 
 his purpose, travelling from country to country, enduring every 
 species of hardship, encountering every extremity of danger, 
 assaulted by the populace, punished by the magistrates, 
 scourged, beat, stoned, left for dead ; expecting, wherever he 
 came, a renewal of the same treatment, and the same dangers, 
 yet, when driven from one city, preaching in the next ; spending 
 his whole time in the employment, sacrificing to it his pleasures, 
 his ease, his safety : persisting in this course to old age, 
 unaltered by the experience of perverseness, ingratitude, pre- 
 judice, desertion ; unsubdued by anxiety, want, labour, perse- 
 cutions ; unwearied by long confinement, undismayed by the 
 prospect of death. Such was St. Paul. We have his letters 
 in our hands ; we have also a history purporting to be written 
 by one of his fellow-travellers, and appearing, by a comparison 
 
62 On the importance of studying [essay ii. 
 
 Apostle's bonds ; he exulted in that very bondage, 
 because it was made the means of introducing 
 him to the notice of some among the Romans 
 to whom he might not otherwise have gained 
 access (Phil. i. 12 — 18); and at Philippi, when 
 cruelly scourged and imprisoned untried, by 
 the Roman magistrates, he joyfully trusted that 
 Christ would make even this a means of for- 
 warding his cause ; which was done in the 
 consequent conversion of the jailor and his 
 
 with these letters, certainly to have been written by some 
 person well acquainted with the transactions of his life." .... 
 "We also find him positively, and in appropriated terms, 
 asserting that he himself worked miracles, strictly and properly 
 so called, in support of the mission which he executed ; the 
 history, meanwhile, recording various passages of his ministry, 
 which come up to the extent of this assertion. The question 
 is, whether falsehood was ever attested by evidence like this. 
 Falsehoods, we know, have found their way into reports, into 
 tradition, into books ; but is an example to be met with, of 
 a man voluntarily undertaking a life of want and pain, of 
 incessant fatigue, of continual peril ; submitting to the loss 
 of his home and country, to stripes and stoning, to tedious 
 imprisonment, and the constant expectation of a violent death, 
 for the sake of carrying about a story of what was false, and 
 of what, if false, he must have known to be so?" — Paley's 
 Horce PaulincE, pp. 338, 339. 
 
SECT. 1.] the Writings of the Apostle Paul. G3 
 
 family; the germ, probably, of the exemplary 
 church of the Philippians.'' 
 
 A like fate seems to attend the writings also 
 which this blessed apostle and martyr left behind 
 him. No part of the Scriptures of the New 
 Testament has been so unjustly neglected by 
 some Christians, and so much perverted by 
 others ; over and above the especial hatred of 
 them by infidels and by some descriptions of 
 
 ^ The whole narrative of this transaction is particularly 
 affecting from the strong relief in which the incidents are set, 
 by the quiet simplicity of the language : " The magistrates rent 
 off their clothes and commanded to beat them. And when they 
 had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, 
 charging the jailor to keep them safely ; who, having received 
 such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their 
 feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed 
 and sang praises unto God : and the prisoners heard them. And 
 suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations 
 of the prison were shaken : and immediately all the doors were 
 opened, and every one's bands were loosed. And the keeper of 
 the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors 
 open, he drew his sword and would have killed himself, sup- 
 posing that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with 
 a loud voice, saying. Do thyself no harm : for we are all here. 
 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, 
 and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out and 
 said. Sirs, what must I do to be saved ?" — Acts xvi. 22 — 30. 
 
64 On the importance of studying [essay ii. 
 
 heretics. Still may Paul be said to stand, in his 
 works, as he did in person while on earth, in the 
 front of the battle ; to bear the chief brunt of 
 assailants from the enemies' side, and to be 
 treacherously stabbed by false friends on his own ; 
 degraded and vilified by one class of heretics, 
 perverted and misinterpreted by another, and too 
 often most unduly neglected by those who are 
 regarded as orthodox. And still do his works 
 stand, and will ever stand, as a mighty bulwark 
 of the true Christian faith. He, after having 
 himself " fought the good fight, and finished his 
 course," has left behind him a monument in his 
 works, whereby ** he being dead yet speaketh ;" 
 a monument which his Master will guard (even 
 till that day when its author shall receive the 
 " crown of glory laid up for him") from being 
 overthrown by the assaults of enemies, and from 
 mouldering into decay through the negligence 
 of friends. 
 
 § 2. In order to avoid being misunderstood 
 as to the sense in which this Apostle's writings 
 have been spoken of as a principal bulwark of 
 gospel-truth, and as to the censure passed on the 
 
SECT. 2.] the Writings of the Apostle Paul. 65 
 
 comparative neglect they sometimes meet with, 
 I must entreat the reader's attention to some 
 considerations, which, though frequently over- 
 looked in practice, are so obvious when once 
 fairly presented to the mind, that I fear it may 
 be thought trifling to dwell on them. 
 
 Of all the ambiguities of language that have 
 ever confused men's thoughts, and thence led to 
 pernicious results in practice, (and unspeakable 
 is the mischief which has thus been done,) there 
 are few, perhaps, that has ever produced more 
 evil than the ambiguity of the word " Gospel." 
 The word, as is well known, signifies, according 
 to its etymology (as well as the Greek term of 
 which it is a translation), " good tidings ;" and 
 thence is apphed especially to the joyful intelli- 
 gence of salvation for fallen Man through Christ. 
 The same term has come to be applied, natu- 
 rally enough, to each of the Histories which give 
 an account of the life of Him, the Author of that 
 salvation ; and thence men are frequently led to 
 seek exclusively, or principally, in those histories, 
 for an account of the doctrines of the Christian 
 religion : for where should they look, they may 
 say, for " Gos'pel-\xw.\}(\" but in the " Gospels?" 
 
 F 
 
66 On the importance of studying [essay ii. 
 
 And yet it is plain, on a moment's reflection, 
 that whether they are right or wrong in such a 
 practice, this reasoti for it is no more than a play 
 upon words : for no one really supposes that 
 when the Apostles went forth to preach the 
 Gospel, the meaning of that is, that they re- 
 cited the histories composed by Matthew, Mark, 
 Luke, and John, which were not written till long 
 after ; or even that their teaching was confined 
 to the mere narrative of the things there recorded. 
 
 In the primary sense of the word Gospel, — 
 the "good-tidings of great joy to all people," 
 which were first proclaimed [preached] by the 
 Heavenly Messengers to the shepherds, and 
 afterwards by Jesus and his disciples, — in this 
 sense, the writings of the Evangelists do contain 
 nearly the whole of the Gospel ; and (as has 
 been just remarked) derived from this their title. 
 Ours is an historical religion ; not merely con- 
 nected with, but founded on, certain recorded 
 events the Birth, Life, Death, and Resurrection 
 of the Saviour; — the pouring out of his Spirit 
 on the disciples, &c. Strictly speaking, there- 
 fore, the Gospel is the annunciation of what 
 God has done for Man. What man is to do on 
 
SECT. 2.] the Writings of the Apostle Paul. 67 
 
 his part, — the means towards the end, — the 
 Christian faith and practice by which he must 
 attain to a share of the proffered blessings,^ — 
 these are properly Gos^e\-doctrine ; but by a 
 natural transition have come to be frequently 
 called, simply, the Gospel. It is not necessary 
 however to be curious about words any further 
 than is necessary to secure us against being 
 misled by them in respect of things. I am in- 
 different whether the ApostoUc Epistles are 
 called a part of the Gospel or not, provided it be 
 but admitted and carefully kept in mind, that 
 they are necessary to direct us how to attain 
 the blessings of the Gospel. An announcement 
 of the existence, and of the miraculous efficacy 
 of a Tree of Life, would be of no benefit to 
 those who were not instructed how to procure 
 and partake of its fruit. 
 
 But there is yet another and less obvious am- 
 biguity in the same word : our Lord, while on 
 earth, was employed, together with his disciples, 
 we are told, in preaching "the Gospel of the 
 Kingdom ;" i. e. the good tidings that " the 
 kingdom of heaven (as He himself expressed it) 
 was at hand." And good tidings these certainly 
 F 2 
 
68 On the importance of studying [essay ii. 
 
 were, to the Jews and others who looked for the 
 Messiah's promised kingdom, (to whom alone 
 he preached) that this kingdom was just about 
 to be established. And since, therefore, Jesus 
 is spoken of as preaching the Gospel, many are 
 hence led to look to his discourses alone, or prin- 
 cipally, as the storehouse of divine truth, to the 
 neglect of the other Sacred Writings. But the 
 Gospel which Jesus himself preached, was not 
 the same thing with the Gospel which He sent 
 forth his Apostles to preach after his resurrec- 
 tion. This may at the first glance appear a 
 paradox ; but on a moment's consideration it 
 will seem rather a truism, that the preaching of 
 Jesus and that of the Apostles was not, and 
 could not be, the same ; though they were, each 
 the Gospel. I do not mean, of course, that they 
 were two different systems ; much less, at vari- 
 ance with each other ; but the one was a part 
 only, and the other a whole ; or rather I should 
 say, a greater part of that stupendous whole 
 which is not to be entirely revealed to us here 
 on earth, — the stupendous mystery of man's re- 
 demption. How, indeed, could our Lord, during 
 his abode on earth, preach fully that scheme of 
 
SECT. 2.] the Writings of the Apostle Paul. 69 
 
 salvation, of which the key-stone had not been 
 laid, — even his meritorious sacrifice as an atone- 
 ment for sin, — his resurrection from the dead, — 
 and ascension into glory, — when these events 
 had not takfen place ? He did indeed darkly 
 hint at these events, in his discourses to his dis- 
 ciples (and to them alone) by way of prophecy ; 
 but we are told that " the saying was hid from 
 them, and they comprehended it not, till after 
 that Christ was risen from the dead ;" of course, 
 therefore, there was no reason, and no room, 
 for Him to enter into a full discussion of the 
 doctrines dependent on those events. He left 
 them to be enlightened in due time as to the true 
 nature of his kingdom by the gift which He kept 
 in store for them : " I have yet many things 
 to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. 
 Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of Truth is come. 
 He shall guide you into all [the] truth." There 
 would have been no need of this promise, had 
 our Lord's own discourses contained a full ac- 
 count of the Christian faith. But " the Gospel 
 of the Kingdom" which He preached was, that 
 the " kingdom of Heaven was at hand" not 
 that it was actually established ; which xms the 
 
70 On the importance of studying [essay ii. 
 
 Gospel preached by his Apostles, when Christ, 
 " having been made perfect through sufferings," 
 had entered into his kingdom, — had " ascended 
 up on high, and led captive" the oppressor of 
 men, and had "received gifts" to bestow on 
 them. Our Lord's discourses, therefore, while 
 on earth, though they teach, of course, the truth, 
 do not teach, nor could have been meant to 
 teach, the whole truth, as afterwards revealed 
 to his disciples. They could not, indeed, even 
 consistently with truth, have contained the main 
 part of what the Apostles preached ; because 
 that was chiefly founded on events which had 
 not then taken place. What chance then can 
 they have of attaining true Christian knowledge, 
 who shut their eyes to such obvious conclusions 
 as these ? who, under that idle plea, the mis- 
 application of the maxim, that " the disciple is 
 not above his master," confine their attention 
 entirely to the discourses of Christ recorded in 
 the Four Gospels, as containing all necessary 
 truth ; and if any thing in the other parts of the 
 Sacred Writings is forced upon their attention, 
 studiously explain it away, and limit its signi- 
 fication at all hazards, so that it may not go one 
 
SECT. 2.] the Writings of the Apostle Paul. 71 
 
 step beyond what is clearly revealed in the works 
 of the Evangelists? As if a man should, in 
 the culture of a fruit-tree, carefully destroy and 
 reject as a spurious excrescence, every part of 
 the fruit which was not fully developed in the 
 blossom that preceded it. 
 
 Even if Christ had in person pubUcly preached 
 after his resurrection, as well as his Apostles, 
 this plea, that "the disciple is not above his 
 master," would not have excused the insult 
 offered to Him in the person of his messengers : 
 the insult, I mean, of making the authority He 
 gave them go for just nothing at all; which it 
 does, if they are to be believed, just as far as 
 they coincide with what He himself uttered in 
 person, and no further ; since, thus far, any one 
 of us is to be believed. For the Apostles, who 
 were divinely commissioned by Christ himself, 
 either were inspired by Him with his Spirit, 
 which " led them into all [the] truth,'"' or they 
 
 " They were not inspired with a knowledge of all truth ; 
 being in many things left to act on their own judgment ; as 
 they expressly tell us. But what they were inspired with 
 was (as the Greek plainly intimates) " the knowledge of all 
 the truth ;" viz. that truth which they were commissioned 
 
72 On the importance of studying [essay ii. 
 
 were not : if we say that they were not, we make 
 Him a har, for giving them this commission and 
 this promise, as well as them, for preaching what 
 they did : if they were thus divinely authorized, 
 it must follow inevitably that what they said (I 
 mean in the teaching of the Christian religion) 
 was said by Him, and has exactly the same 
 authority as if He had uttered it with his own 
 lips. Even an earthly king expects that a mes- 
 senger, sent by him with satisfactory credentials 
 and full powers, should receive the same credit 
 for what he says as would be given to himself in 
 person ; and would regard it as an unpardonable 
 affront if the message so sent were rejected. 
 "He that heareth you" (said Christ to his 
 Apostles) " heareth me ; and he that despiseth 
 you, despiseth me: and he that despiseth me, 
 despiseth Him that sent me." 
 
 But in truth, not only is the preaching of the 
 Apostles to be regarded as of divine authority, 
 and therefore not requiring confirmation from 
 members, and among the earliest members. In 
 
 to make known the mysteries of the Christian religion, in 
 which Paul declares expressly he was instructed by the Lord 
 himself. 
 
SECT. 2.] the Writings of tlie Apostle Paul. 73 
 
 our Lord's personal discourses, nor submitting to 
 limitation by them, but from the very nature of 
 the case, it is impossible that such a complete 
 coincidence should exist between them. I have 
 just above supposed the case of Jesus himself 
 preaching publicly after his resurrection, con- 
 jointly with his disciples ; but we know that He 
 did not do this : He sent them forth to testify of 
 events, and to teach doctrines founded on events, 
 which had not taken place during his personal 
 ministry on earth. It is commonly supposed 
 indeed by ignorant Christians (ignorant, I mean, 
 of what they might learn from the Bible), that 
 Jesus Christ came into the world to teach a true 
 religion : but in fact. He came, chiefly, for a dif- 
 ferent purpose. He did not come to make a 
 revelation, so much as to be the subject of a reve- 
 lation. He was only so far the revealer and 
 teacher of the great doctrines of Christianity, as 
 you might call the sun and planets the dis- 
 coverers of the Newtonian system of astronomy. 
 He accomplished what He left his Apostles to 
 testify and to explain ; He offered up himself on 
 the cross, that they might teach the atoning 
 virtue of his sacrifice; He rose from the dead 
 
74 
 
 Oji tJw importance of studying [essay ii. 
 
 and ascended into heaven, that they might de- 
 clare the great mystery of his divine and human 
 nature, and preach that faith in Him by which 
 his followers hope to be raised and to reign with 
 Him. The Christian faith is not merely to 
 believe what Christ taught, but to believe in Him. 
 As the promised Messiah, a man might beheve 
 in Him while He was on earth ; but what the 
 Messiah should be, and that He should be a 
 Redeemer by his death, no one did or could 
 understand, till that great work was accom- 
 plished; the true character of the redemption, 
 and of the faith by which we must partake of it, 
 and all the circumstances of the Messiah's spi- 
 ritual kingdom (a kingdom which did not exist 
 during his ministry on earth) his Apostles them- 
 selves could not collect, even after his departure, 
 from all his former discourses, till they had 
 received inspiration from on high, to enable 
 them to preach the true doctrines of the Gospel. 
 And when they did understand this Gospel, they 
 thought it necessary to give an explanation of it 
 in their discourses and in their epistles. Those, 
 therefore, who neglect their inspired preaching, 
 and will learn nothing of Christianity except 
 
SECT. 2.] tJw Writings of the Apostle Paul. 75 
 
 what they find in the discourses of Jesus, confi- 
 dent that these alone contain the whole truth, 
 are wilfully preferring an imperfect to a more 
 complete revelation, and setting their own judg- 
 ment above that of the Apostles. It is fright- 
 ful to think how much they stake on this 
 their supposed superiority ; — what consequences 
 of their blind presumption they may have to 
 abide ; " professing themselves to be wise 
 they become fools ;" and as they despise the 
 teaching of the Holy Ghost who led the Apostles 
 "into all Truth," is it not to be feared that 
 if they persist in this their rejection of Him, 
 He will give them over to their own vain con- 
 ceits ; and leave those who have turned aside 
 from the " living waters of the Spirit," to " hew 
 out for themselves broken cisterns that will hold 
 no water ? " 
 
 The books, then, which we call the Four 
 Gospels, do not, it should always be remem- 
 bered, contain a compendium of the Christian 
 Religion, but, chiefly, memoirs of the life and 
 preparatory teaching of its Founder ; who came 
 into the world not to make a revelation, so much 
 as to be the subject of a revelation ; — to 
 
76 On the importance of studying [essay ii. 
 
 announce the glad tidings (gospel) of salvation 
 through Him, but not to give any full description 
 of the means by which ive are to embrace that 
 salvation ; and who, at the close of his personal 
 ministry, tells his disciples, " I have yet many 
 things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them 
 now" Nor do the Evangelists undertake the 
 task of teaching the Christian faith ; since they 
 wrote for the express use, not of unbelieving 
 Jews and idolaters, but of Christians, who had 
 heard the christian doctrines preached, and then 
 had been regularly instructed (catechised, as the 
 word is in the original) and examined, and, 
 finally, baptized into the faith. Christianity was 
 not (as many are apt to suppose) founded on 
 the Four Gospels, but, on the contrary, the Four 
 Gospels were founded on Christianity ; i. e. they 
 were written to meet the demand of Christians, 
 who were naturally anxious for something of a 
 regular account of the principal events from 
 which their faith was derived. " Forasmuch as 
 many have taken in hand to set forth in order, a 
 declaration of those things which are most cer- 
 tainly believed among us .... it seemed good 
 to me also to write unto thee, in order, most 
 
SECT. 2.] the Writings of the Apostle Paul. 77 
 
 excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know 
 the certainty of those things wherein thou hast 
 been instructed^ 
 
 The book of the Acts of the Apostles contains 
 a history of the progress, but no detail of the 
 preaching, of Christianity. Many of the dis- 
 courses mentioned as having been delivered, are 
 not themselves recorded : the object and design 
 of the work being (as in the case of the Four 
 Gospels) not to teach Christianity to its readers, 
 who were already Christians, but to give them a 
 history of its propagation."^ 
 
 Our chief source, therefore, of instruction, as 
 to the doctrines of the Gospel, must be in the 
 apostolic epistles ; which cannot, indeed, be 
 expected to afford a regular systematic intro- 
 duction to Christianity, — an orderly detail of the 
 first rudiments of faith, calculated for the instruc- 
 tion of beginners entirely ignorant of it, since all 
 of them were written to those who were already 
 converts to Christianity ; but yet, from the va- 
 riety of the occasions on which they were 
 composed, and of the persons to whom they 
 
 See Hinds's " History of the Rise and Early Progress of 
 Christianity." Part II. chap. 2. 
 
78 On the importance of studying [essay n. 
 
 were addressed, and from their being purposely 
 designed to convey admonition, instruction, and 
 exhortation as to christian doctrine and practice, 
 (which is not the case with any other part of the 
 Sacred Writings), the apostohc epistles do con- 
 tain, though scattered irregularly here and there, 
 according to the several occasions, all the great 
 doctrines of the Gospel, as far as it has yet been 
 revealed to men ; explained, enforced, repeated, 
 illustrated, in an infinite variety of forms of ex- 
 pression ; thus furnishing us with the means, by 
 a careful study of those precious remains,* and 
 by a diligent comparison of one passage with 
 another, of attaining sufficient knowledge of all 
 necessary truth, and of becoming " wise unto 
 salvation, through faith, which is in Christ 
 Jesus."^ 
 
 The most precious part of this treasure we 
 have from the pen of the Apostle Paul ; he 
 
 « To the Scriptures therefore was assigned the office of 
 proving, but to the Church, that of systematically teaching, 
 the Christian doctrines. [See Dr. Hawkins's excellent little 
 work on Tradition.] This circumstance seems to me to 
 alFord a powerful evidence of Christianity. See Essay VI. 
 First Series. 
 
SECT. 2.] tlw Writings of the Apostle Paul. 79 
 
 being the author of the far greater part of the 
 Epistles, (about five-sixths of the whole), and 
 also furnishing even a greater variety still of 
 instruction than in proportion to this amount, 
 on account of the variety of the times, and 
 circumstances, and occasions, which produced 
 them, and of the persons to whom they were 
 written : — individuals and entire churches ; Jews 
 and Gentiles ; converts of his own making, and 
 strangers to his person ; European and Asiatic ; 
 sound and zealous Christians, and the negligent 
 or misguided. The same faith is taught to all ; 
 the same duties enforced on all ; but various 
 points of faith and of practice are dwelt on in 
 each, according to the several occasions. This 
 very thing, however, — the variety of the circum- 
 stances, the temporary and local allusions, and, 
 in short, the thorough, earnest, business-like 
 style of his letters, — cannot but increase the 
 difficulty, in some places, of ascertaining the 
 writer's meaning; and those who are too in- 
 dolent to give themselves any trouble on the 
 subject, shelter themselves under the remark 
 of the Apostle Peter, that the Epistles of Paul 
 contain " things hard to be understood, which 
 
80 On tlie impoi'tance of studying [essay ii. 
 
 they that are unlearned wrest to their own 
 destruction." Unlearned, i. e. not in systems of 
 human philosophy, but in the truths revealed in 
 the Bible. No doubt his writings do contain 
 " things hard to be understood," but that is a 
 reason why Christians should take the more 
 pains to understand them, and why those who 
 are commissioned by the chief Shepherd for 
 that purpose, should the more diligently explain 
 them to their flocks. 
 
 Nay, but his doctrines, it seems, are not 
 only difficult, but dangei^ous also, and, there- 
 fore, had better be kept out of sight, lest the 
 unlearned should not only fail to understand 
 them, but should " wrest them to their own 
 destruction." Then let us throw aside the 
 whole Bible at once, and invent a safe religion 
 of our own. For hear but Peter's words : — 
 " which they that are unlearned and unstable 
 wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, to 
 their own destruction." So that if this infer- 
 ence is to be drawn at all, from the danger 
 to the unlearned of wresting doctrines to their 
 own destruction ; — if to avoid the danger of 
 misinterpretation, we are to seal up the book 
 
SECT. 2.] the Writings of the Apostle Paul. 81 
 
 which contains them, the book so sealed up 
 must be the Bible. 
 
 Dangerous indeed ! yes ; most good things 
 are dangerous ; and the more, in proportion to 
 their excellence ; to those " who are unlearned, 
 and unstable i. e. who will not learn how to use 
 them aright, and who are unstable, — unsteady 
 in giving their attention to gain right know- 
 ledge, and to apply it in practice. Meat and 
 drink are dangerous ; for what multitudes fall 
 a sacrifice to intemperance ! Shall we then re- 
 solve to perish with famine, and let our children 
 starve around us, lest we and they should thus 
 wrest to our destruction the good gifts of God ? 
 Shall the pastors, who are commissioned to feed 
 Christ's flock, shut them out from the principal 
 pasture designed for their use, lest they should 
 stray beyond its bounds, or come to some harm 
 there ? What are Christian ministers appointed 
 for, but to instruct the people in the Scrip- 
 tures, — to explain to them those Scriptures, — 
 and to warn them against the errors arising from 
 the wresting and perverting of God's word ? Ill 
 would they perform their office should they 
 dare to mutilate God's word, by leaving out 
 
 G 
 
82 On the importance of studying [kssay ii. 
 
 every thing that is " hard to be understood," to 
 save themselves the trouble of interpreting it ; — 
 should they seek to preserve their hearers from 
 the danger attendant on the Gospel truths, by 
 omitting to " declare to them all the counsel 
 of God." 
 
 And, after all, no such security as is sought 
 can ever be found ; where there is true coin, 
 there will always be counterfeit in circulation : — 
 there is no truth in the world that has not some 
 error very much resembling it : there is no 
 virtue but there is a corresponding vice that 
 apes its appearance : there is no right principle, 
 in Scripture or any where else, that may not 
 by the unlearned be " wrested to their own 
 destruction." Some will do this with the truths 
 of Scripture, in spite of all our care ; but there 
 is this difference ; that he who studies and leads 
 others to study the whole word of God, as his 
 inspired servants have left it, have at least good 
 reason to hope, that he and they, may, through 
 God's Spirit, attain truth without error ; whereas 
 he who confines himself to a part of the Scrip- 
 tures, and that too, a part which (it is plain 
 from what has been just said) cannot contain 
 
SECT. 2.] the Writings of the Apostle Paul. 83 
 
 the whole truth of the Gospel, and who wilfully 
 disregards the teaching of him whose " Gospel 
 was not after man ; neither received of man, 
 nor taught, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ ;" 
 such an one is sure to be wrong, and to lead 
 others wrong if they are guided by him : and he 
 is fully answerable both for his own errors and 
 for theirs : he makes the experiment at his own 
 peril ; and on his own head must be the in- 
 evitable consequence of rejecting an acknow- 
 ledged revelation of Jesus Christ. 
 
 And he must also bear the blame even of the 
 errors into which others may lead his hearers. 
 If they chance to listen to some wild antinomian 
 fanatic, who cites perpetually texts from Paul, 
 which they have never heard differently ex- 
 plained, how can it be expected that they should 
 perceive and avoid the error ? They know that 
 Paul's writings are admitted as canonical and 
 inspired ; and they have not been taught that 
 his language will bear any other interpretation 
 than what they hear given ; and the silence of 
 their own pastor on the subject will have afforded 
 them a presumption that he can suggest no 
 other interpretation. And thus the wolf will 
 g2 
 
84 On the irnportance of studying [essay ii. 
 
 scatter and devour the flock which their shep- 
 herd has forsaken. 
 
 It is not, however, on the dafigers to be 
 apprehended from such a procedure, and the 
 expediency of an opposite course, that I wish 
 principally to dwell. I would rather advert to 
 the principles laid down in the preceding Essay. 
 Supposing we were in any case quite sure*^ that 
 no fanatical sectaries would arise to take advan- 
 tage of our omission or neglect of this Apostle's 
 writings, should we then be justified in thus 
 guarding against apprehended evils by keeping 
 out of sight the instructions he was commis- 
 sioned by his Master to deliver ? — in taking 
 such liberties with the Gospel as to modify and 
 fashion it according to our views, and virtually 
 to expunge from the record of God's revelations 
 what we chance to think unnecessary ? Have 
 we a right, in short, even to entertain the ques- 
 tion concerning expediency, instead of consider- 
 ing simply what is the Truth as declared by 
 
 ^ This is the remark, almost verbatim, of an eminent 
 divine (now occupying a high station in the church) in a 
 conversation with the author, on the subject of the present 
 Essay. 
 
SECT. 3.] the Writings of the Apostle Paul. 85 
 
 divine inspiration, and resolving, at all events, 
 to follow the truth ? 
 
 § 3. It is necessary to observe, however, that 
 there is a way of evading the force of all that has 
 been hitherto urged : — a plan which certainly 
 may be, and I fear in some instances has been, 
 resorted to, for nullifying in effect, without pro- 
 fessing to oppose, every argument that has been 
 adduced. And it is this : to extol Paul's writings, 
 and exhort men to the diligent study of them ; 
 urging at the same time (what no one can deny) 
 the importance of interpreting them rightly ; and 
 insisting on a preliminary course of study, without 
 which no one is even to enter on the perusal of 
 them ; and then to make this preparation con- 
 sist in a thorough acquaintance with such a list 
 of books, as even those professionally devoted to 
 theological pursuits cannot be expected to master 
 without the assiduous labour of several years. 
 No plan could be devised more effectual (were it 
 generally adopted) for making Paul's epistles a 
 sealed book to all but about one in ten thousand 
 of the Christian world. For supposing even all 
 the Clergy, nay, even all candidates for ordina- 
 
86 On the importance of studying [essay ii. 
 
 tion, to have gone through this preparatory 
 course of study, the same could not be expected 
 of the laity, except a small portion of the educated 
 classes. And the benefits, whatever they might 
 be, of this preparation, would, after all, be confined 
 to those few who had gone through it. They 
 indeed, if they were careful not even to open 
 these epistles till their minds were sufficiently 
 biassed by a great mass of human commentaries 
 and disquisitions, would doubtless be prepared to 
 understand them very differently from what they 
 would have done on another system ; (whether 
 better or worse is not now the question) but they 
 would not after all be qualified to expound this 
 writer to their flocks, nor authorized to recom- 
 mend the perusal of him ; for these would be, 
 by the hypothesis, unfit to enter on the study 
 of his epistles, or to comprehend any exposition 
 of them. And if the principle were consistently 
 followed up, it would soon be remarked that 
 the mass of unlearned Christians are not duly 
 prepared for the thorough comprehension even 
 of the rest of Scripture; so that we should 
 speedily arrive at the very point so earnestly 
 contended for by the Romanists against the 
 
SECT. 3.] the Writings of the Apostle Paul. 87 
 
 Reformers ; viz. the inexpediency of putting 
 the Bible into the hands of the people, and the 
 necessity of leaving them to be instructed by 
 their pastors in whatever things these should 
 judge most profitable for them, and level to 
 their capacities. 
 
 If these principles be correct, then, it is false 
 to say that the Christian Religion vs^as designed, 
 or at least, is adapted, to be that of the mass of 
 mankind. Some, who say that it is so, (while 
 they ridicule the idea of instructing the lower 
 orders in the Evidences, and in the peculiar 
 Doctrines of the Gospel,) mean no more than 
 this ; that it is possible for a clown to practise 
 honesty, temperance, and other virtues which 
 Christianity inculcates. But it would be thought 
 strange to attribute an acquaintance with mecha- 
 nics to savages, and to brutes, on the ground 
 that they employ the lever, — keep the centre of 
 gravity in the right situation, and accommodate 
 their movements to mechanical principles, of 
 which principles they know nothing. If Chris- 
 tianity were designed for the People, it must 
 have been designed that their motives should be 
 Christian faith and Christian hope, and that they 
 
88 On the importance of studying [essay ii. 
 
 should be able " to give a reason of the hope 
 that is in them." 
 
 Am I then contending, or did the Reformers 
 mean to contend, that either Paul's epistles, or 
 the rest of the Scriptures, can be as well under- 
 stood by a clown or a child as by the most 
 learned theologian ? Surely not. The highest 
 abilities improved by the most laborious study, 
 are not more than sufficient for the full com- 
 prehension of the Sacred Books ; but, if on this 
 ground they are not to be opened by any who 
 are not so qualified, who will ever become thus 
 qualified ? If a number of books be pointed 
 out, without a knowledge of which the apostolic 
 epistles cannot be fully understood, it may pro- 
 bably be added with equal truth, that these 
 books cannot be rightly understood without a 
 knowledge of those epistles. If we are to begin 
 at all, we must begin somewhere ; and we must, 
 of course, begin in imperfection. Else it might 
 be said, that since veteran soldiers are alone 
 well fitted to perform their part, therefore none 
 but veterans should be brought into the field. 
 The obvious and honest way of proceeding is, 
 not to postpone altogether the study of any 
 
SECT. 3.] the Writings of the Apostle Paul. 89 
 
 part of Scripture till we are qualified for the full 
 comprehension of it ; which, on such a plan, 
 we never should be, since our minds would be 
 pre-occupied with human expositions ; but to 
 study both the Scriptures, and the best helps 
 towards their explanation we can obtain, simul- 
 taneously ; at the same time carefully guarding 
 ourselves against arrogantly supposing that we 
 do perfectly understand any thing at the first 
 glance. It is to this arrogant disposition that the 
 Scriptures are dangerous. "A little learning" 
 is the utmost that the generahty can attain ; — 
 it is what all must attain before they can arrive 
 at great learning ; — it is the utmost acquisition 
 of those who know the most, in comparison of 
 what they do not know. " A little learning" 
 is then only (and then always) " a dangerous 
 thing," when we overrate it, and are not aware 
 of its littleness. 
 
 On the sources of some of the principal errors 
 which have sprung from the misinterpretation of 
 this Apostle's writings, and the means of guard- 
 ing even ordinary Christians against them, I 
 propose to offer some more particular remarks 
 in some of the following Essays. 
 
90 On the importance of studying [essay ii. 
 
 For all that has been here urged I should be 
 glad to think that there is little occasion. To 
 offer proofs of the existence of the error in 
 question, — such proofs as might be offered, is 
 what could not be done with propriety. Some 
 of my readers may, perhaps, regard me as com- 
 bating a shadow, from having themselves never 
 met with that depreciation of Paul's epistles, 
 which I have been deprecating. I have only to 
 hope they never may : but I fear that on in- 
 quiry they will find it but too prevalent ; — that 
 they will even meet with some who have gone 
 the length of proposing that no part of the 
 Scriptures should be printed for circulation 
 among the mass of the people, except the Four 
 Gospels : on the ground that they contain all 
 things needful, and that the " things hard to be 
 understood" in the Epistles would serve only to 
 perplex and mislead them. A man who gives utter- 
 ance to such an opinion, we may be sure, enter- 
 tains it ; but how can we be sure that all those 
 who do not give it utterance are strangers to it ? 
 
 § 4. There is good reason, however, to believe 
 that the chief objection to Paul's writings is not 
 
SECT. 4.] the Writings of the Apostle Paul. 91 
 
 from the things hard to be understood which 
 they contain, but from the things easy to be 
 understood ; — the doctrines so plainly taught by 
 him, that " by grace we are saved," — " that the 
 wages of sin is death," — "but eternal life is the 
 gift of God through Jesus Christ;" — that our 
 most perfect righteousness can never entitle us 
 to claim reward at the hands of God, nor our 
 own unaided strength enable us to practise that 
 righteousness ; but that the meritorious sacrifice 
 of Christ is the only foundation of the Christian s 
 hope, and the aid of his Spirit the only support 
 of the Christian's virtue. These are doctrines 
 humbling to the pride of the human heart, and 
 unacceptable to the natural man ; and therefore 
 they are rejected by many, as leading to im- 
 moral life, and as favouring the notion that we 
 may " continue in sin that grace may abound ; " 
 though the moral precepts of this very Apostle in 
 every page, and his enforcement of a conformity 
 to them, as indispensable to the Christian's 
 acceptance with God, fly in the face of every 
 one who dares thus to wrest these Scriptures to 
 his own destruction. 
 
 But the dishke shewn to the Apostle's writings 
 
92 On the importance of studying [essay ii. 
 
 by those, who on these grounds decry him, is 
 a proof, if he was inspired, and they uninspired, 
 not that he is wrong, but that they are. If the 
 Gospel is against a man, he will be against the 
 Gospel. And the more any work is depreciated 
 by those who are resolved to believe only just 
 what they please, the higher ought its value to 
 rise in the estimation of those who are willing 
 to " obey the truth." Now there is no one 
 of the Sacred Writers whose expressions have 
 been so tortured, whose authority has been so 
 much set at nought, as Paul's, by those who 
 reject many of the most characteristic doctrines 
 of the Gospel ; which is a plain proof that they 
 find him a formidable opponent;^ and which 
 should lead those who prize the purity of the 
 Gospel, to value his writings the more. I am 
 far from insinuating that the great truths of 
 Christianity, — the doctrines of the divinity of 
 our blessed Lord, — of his atoning sacrifice, — and 
 of salvation through Him, — rest on this Apostle's 
 authority alone ; but a presumption is afforded, 
 
 B The Mahometans, who acknowledge the authority of the 
 four Gospels, though they pretend the Christians have inter- 
 polated them, hold the name of Paul in detestation. 
 
SECT. 4.] the Writings of the Apostle Paul. 93 
 
 by the very hostility shewn towards him by the 
 opponents of those doctrines, that he is particu- 
 larly full and clear in enforcing them, and that 
 he adds great confirmation to the testimony in 
 their favour of the other Sacred Writers. 
 
 It is perhaps to be wished, accordingly, that 
 those who, without professing to reject Chris- 
 tianity, have avowedly laboured to disparage this 
 Apostle, and to represent him as at variance 
 with his Master, had written with more ability, 
 and had attracted more notice ; in order that 
 they might have directed men's attention more 
 strongly, not only to Paul's claims to a divine 
 commission, but also to his importance as a 
 bulwark of the christian faith. And I wish also 
 that some of them had set forth more strongly 
 the alleged discrepancy between Paul's doctrines 
 and those of the discourses of Jesus. This 
 certainly might have been done ; since (as 
 was above remarked), though there is nothing 
 contrary in the one to the other, there is much 
 that is different, as the nature of the case 
 required ; the same doctrines which were but 
 obscurely hinted at by the one, being fully de- 
 veloped, (the fit time being come) and earnestly 
 
94 On the importance of studying [essay ii. 
 
 dwelt on, by the other. The doctrines which 
 Jesus preached were suited to the period where 
 the kingdom of Heaven was only at hand, and 
 were preparatory to the fuller manifestation of 
 Gospel-truth which He revealed to the Apostle 
 Paul when his kingdom was established. The 
 attention which a powerful opponent would thus 
 have called to a most important subject, too 
 often neglected by the advocates of our faith, 
 and the light which would in consequence have 
 been thrown on the subject, would have been 
 no small benefit to the cause of truth. Opposi- 
 tion excites discussion ; and discussion leads to 
 inquiries which may end in not only bringing 
 truth to light, but impressing it forcibly on 
 minds which had been sunk in heedless apathy. 
 Next, after an able, and full, and interesting 
 vindication and explanation of Paul's writings, 
 the sort of work whose appearance ought most 
 to be hailed, is a plausible attack on them : 
 which, indeed, is the most likely to call forth 
 the other. His labours can never be effectually 
 frustrated except by being kept out of sight. 
 Whatever brings him into notice will, ultimately, 
 bring him into triumph. All the malignity and 
 
SECT. 4.] the Writings of the Apostle Paul. 95 
 
 the sophistry of his adversaries will not only 
 assail him in vain, but will lead in the end to 
 the perfecting of his glory, and the extension 
 of his Gospel. They may scourge him uncon- 
 demned, like the Roman magistrates at Philippi ; 
 — they may inflict on him the lashes of calum- 
 nious censure, — but they cannot silence him : 
 they may thrust him as it were into a dungeon, 
 and fetter him with their strained interpreta- 
 tions ; but his voice will be raised, even at the 
 midnight of unchristian darkness, and will be 
 heard effectually ; his prison doors will burst 
 open as with an earthquake, and the fetters 
 will fall from his hands ; and even strangers to 
 Gospel-truth will fall down at the feet of him, 
 even Paul, to make that momentous inquiry, 
 "What shall I do to be saved?" 
 
 May God " grant (as the prayer of our Church 
 expresses it) that as the light of the Gospel has 
 been caused to shine through the preaching of 
 that blessed Apostle, we, having his wonderful 
 conversion in remembrance, may shew forth our 
 thankfulness for the same, by following the holy 
 doctrines which he taught, through Jesus Christ 
 our Lord." 
 
ESSAY III. 
 
 ON ELECTION. 
 
 We learn, from the most undeniable autho- 
 rity, that the writings of the blessed Apostle 
 Paul contain some " things hard to be under- 
 stood, which they that are unlearned and un- 
 stable wrest, as well as the other Scriptures, to 
 their own destruction." Now as it is evidently 
 of the highest importance to guard against such 
 a danger, so it is not less evident (as has been 
 formerly remarked) that this is not to be done 
 by keeping in the back-ground these Epistles, 
 and withdrawing, or encouraging Christians to 
 withhold, attention from them ; not only because 
 it is neither wise nor pious to neglect the in- 
 structions of one who " received not his doctrine 
 from men, but by inspiration of Jesus Christ 
 but also, because the very errors in question 
 will be the more easily propagated by such as 
 appeal to him in support of them, in proportion 
 
SECT. 1.] On Election. 
 
 97 
 
 as they are allowed to make this appeal uncon- 
 tradicted ; if, while we admit the divine authority 
 of these works, we leave them chiefly in the 
 hands of extravagant fanatics, to put their own 
 interpretation on passages, of which their hearers 
 shall have been taught no better explanation. 
 The christian instruction, in short, to be derived 
 from a right interpretation of this Apostle's works, 
 and the mischief resulting from a misinterpre- 
 tation of them, furnish, each, a most powerful 
 reason for the attentive study of them. 
 
 I propose, accordingly, to suggest some prin- 
 ciples which should be kept in mind by one who 
 would rightly understand this portion of Scrip- 
 ture ; principles, the neglect of which has given 
 occasion to most of the errors into which " the 
 unlearned and unstable" have fallen. 
 
 § 1. It is evident that, in order to understand 
 any author thoroughly, it is highly desirable, 
 if not absolutely necessary, to be acquainted, in 
 some degree, with his character; the circum- 
 stances in which he was placed ; and his habitual 
 modes of thought thence resulting. Nor will this 
 be sufficient, unless we have something of the 
 
 H 
 
98 
 
 On Election. [essay hi. 
 
 same knowledge respecting the persons to whom 
 he wrote. And the more remote any work is, 
 in point of time or of place, from ourselves, the 
 more diligent attention will be required in the 
 reader, not only to ascertain these circumstances, 
 but to keep them steadily and constantly in view. 
 Many things have an obvious reference to parti- 
 cular persons, times, and places, and cannot 
 be at all understood without taking these into 
 consideration. When Moses, for instance, or 
 the other sacred writers, speak of places " be- 
 yond Jordan," or " on this side of Jordan," every 
 one perceives the necessity of considering the 
 local situation of the author; but many other 
 circumstances, not at all less essential to the 
 right understanding of what is said, are apt to 
 escape the notice of one whose attention is not 
 steadily directed to the application of the prin- 
 ciple laid down. 
 
 Now no one is ignorant that Paul was not 
 only a Jew, but one strictly educated in the 
 principles of the most learned and most rigid 
 sect among the Jews ; but this circumstance is 
 not always practically kept in mind so much as 
 it ought to be. No one who reads his works 
 
SECT. 1.] On Election. 
 
 99 
 
 ought to lose sight of it for a moment, but con- 
 stantly to bear in mind what habits of thought 
 and modes of expression would be natural to a 
 Jew, and to a Jew of that description. 
 
 Inspired, indeed, he was, with the knowledge 
 of the Gospel ; Jewish errors and prejudices were 
 corrected in him by the Spirit of Truth ; but we 
 have no reason to suppose that this inspiration 
 would go any further than was requisite to qua- 
 lify him for his ministry ; that any thing besides 
 errors and prejudices would be altered. 
 
 If any one should imagine, that because one 
 and the same Spirit taught one and the same 
 Gospel to all its appointed Ministers, therefore 
 every distinction between them was done away, 
 all traces of individual character necessarily 
 swallowed up in one common revelation, an at- 
 tentive study of the Sacred Writers will soon 
 convince him of his mistake. Even of the 
 Apostles, who were all of them Jews, no two 
 write precisely alike ; the variations of individual 
 character are perceptible, even when in national 
 character they all agree.^ 
 
 * On this point I have treated more at large in the 
 Bampton Lectures. Lect. IV. pp. 124 — 128. 
 
 H 2 
 
100 
 
 On Election. 
 
 [kSSAY III. 
 
 The Apostle Paul's writings, then, must be 
 studied as those of a man, not only acquainted 
 with the Scriptures of the Old Testament, but 
 familiar with them from childhood: full of an 
 early-implanted and habitual reverence for them; 
 and disposed to refer to them for argument and 
 for illustration, on every possible occasion. He 
 was likely, in short, to write as a learned and 
 zealous Jew, in every point except those in 
 which the teaching of the Spirit led him to cor- 
 rect his former notions. And this divine moni- 
 tor, it should be recollected, was so far from 
 instructing Christian ministers to keep the Old 
 Testament out of sight, that there is no point 
 more strenuously and uniformly insisted on, than 
 the connexion of the old and new dispensations. 
 Christianity is invariably represented, not as a 
 new religion, but as the completion of a scheme 
 long before begun ; it was plainly meant to be 
 engrafted, not on natural religion, but on Ju- 
 daism. If this circumstance had been duly 
 attended to, many of the heresies which have 
 corrupted our religion would have been avoided. 
 
 But what were the character and situation of 
 this Apostle's hearers^ He was, indeed, more 
 
SECT. I.] 
 
 On Election. 
 
 101 
 
 especially the Apostle of the Gentiles ; but he 
 appears, wherever he went, to have addressed 
 himself first to his own countrymen ; his natural 
 feelings of warm attachment and partiality to- 
 wards them, being by no means forbidden by his 
 heavenly Guide, who, on the contrary, designed 
 that the Jews should have this precedence. The 
 promises and threats of the Gospel were to be 
 declared " to the Jew first, and also to the 
 Greek." " It was necessary," says he, " that the 
 word of God should first have been spoken to 
 you ; but seeing ye put it from you, lo ! we 
 turn to the Gentiles." It is probable, indeed, 
 that the number of Paul's converts among his 
 own brethren was, in most places, but a small 
 proportion ; though in some of the churches it 
 appears, from several circumstances, that their 
 amount was not inconsiderable ; and in every 
 church, it is probable that Jews and "devout 
 Greeks" {i. e. such as had before renounced 
 idolatry, and acknowledged the divine origin of 
 the Jewish religion) were to be found among the 
 members, and among the earliest members. In 
 those places, however, in which the great ma- 
 jority of the Christian brethren were converted 
 
102 
 
 On Election. [essay hi. 
 
 Gentiles, it might have been supposed that the 
 Old Testament would have been but Uttle stu- 
 died or thought of : so far however was this 
 from being the case — so far was Paul from allow- 
 ing the Jewish Scriptures, those Holy Scriptures 
 which he represents as " able to make us wise 
 unto salvation," to be depreciated, or the Chris- 
 tian revelation to be regarded as any other than 
 a completion of the Mosaic, that he seems to 
 have expected in all his converts, an intimate 
 acquaintance with the Old Testament; and to 
 have earnestly, and not unsuccessfully, incul- 
 cated the necessity of interpreting the one 
 scheme by the other, as two parts of the same 
 great whole, and of considering, " whatsoever 
 things were written afore-time," as "written for 
 their learning." On the Corinthian Church, for 
 instance, he impresses this principle as of high 
 importance ; and though but a small proportion 
 of them probably were Jews, he evidently im- 
 plies that they were not on that account the 
 less interested in all the concerns of the Jewish 
 Church, whose successor was the Christian : — 
 " I would not have you ignorant," says he, " how 
 that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all 
 
SECT. 1.] 
 
 On Electioji. 
 
 103 
 
 passed through the sea; and were all baptized 
 
 unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea 
 
 But with many of them God was not well 
 pleased; for they were overthrown in the wil- 
 derness." And after touching on several points 
 in the history of the Church of Israel, he assures 
 the Corinthians that "these things happened 
 unto them for ensamples ; and they are written 
 for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the 
 world are come;" L e. who Uve under the last 
 dispensation of God ; which is not, like the 
 Mosaic, to be succeeded by any other, but will 
 last to the end of the world. 
 
 The passage just mentioned is only one out 
 of many in which the Apostle adverts to the 
 Scriptures of the Old Testament, as of high 
 importance to be studied by Christians. And 
 the frequent allusions he makes to them as fami- 
 liar to his hearers, and of acknowledged value in 
 their eyes, convey his judgment on the subject 
 far more strongly than so many direct admo- 
 nitions on the subject ; they indicate what was 
 the early, the habitual, and the universal mode 
 of instruction employed by himself and all the 
 Christian teachers. No Christian, therefore, who 
 
104 
 
 On Election. [essay hi. 
 
 would copy the pattern of the divine teacher, 
 will leave the Old Testament out of sight ; but 
 will learn from him that the former dispensation 
 must be carefully attended to by one who would 
 rightly understand the Gospel. And attention 
 to the same pattern may also serve to guard us 
 against another error, in some respects the op- 
 posite of that just alluded to ; the confounding 
 together of the two systems in one confused 
 medley, and blending the Law which had " a 
 shadow of good things to come," with the Gospel, 
 which is the fulfilment of it : an error not un- 
 common with those who unthinkingly study the 
 Bible as one book, without taking pains to dis- 
 criminate the several parts of the great scheme 
 of Providence it relates to. The two dispen- 
 sations correspond in almost every point, but 
 coincide in very few. Like the Flower and the 
 Fruit of any plant, the one is a preparation for 
 the other; and each of its parts bears some 
 relation to the other, though they have but a 
 very faint resemblance ; the parts which are the 
 most prominent and striking in each, respec- 
 tively, being least so in the other ; so that if any 
 one were to give a representation in which the 
 
SECT. 1.] 
 
 On Election. 
 
 105 
 
 parts of the blossom and of the perfect fruit 
 were confusedly combined and intermingled, it 
 would be an unnatural anomaly, very unlike 
 either the one or the other. The example of 
 the Apostle's teaching furnishes, as I have said, 
 a safeguard against this error ; he all along re- 
 presents the Law as connected with the Gospel, 
 as the shadow with the substance ; — as " our 
 schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ ;" and the 
 condition of the Israehtes as analogous to that 
 of Christians, but in many points dissimilar. 
 
 In several instances indeed, this correspond- 
 ence and this difference are pretty generally 
 perceived and acknowledged. That the paschal 
 lamb, for instance, and the other Jewish sacri- 
 fices, were typical of the atoning sacrifice of the 
 true Lamb of God, — the sin-offerings and other 
 outward rites of purification having the same 
 relation to ceremonial offences, and external 
 legal justification from them, that the offering of 
 our Lord has, to the wiping away of moral guilt, 
 and the inward sanctification of the heart, — 
 this is a point on which few professed Christians 
 are ignorant or doubtful ; the correspo?idence, 
 and, at the same time, dissimilarity, having been 
 
106 
 
 On Election. [essay hi. 
 
 explicitly stated, in the Epistle to the Hebrews : 
 " if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the 
 ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanc- 
 tifieth to the purifying of the flesh ; how much 
 more shall the blood of Christ, who, through 
 the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot 
 to God, purge your conscience from dead works 
 to serve the living God ?" That the promised 
 land of Canaan, again, the place of rest to 
 which Jesus (Joshua) conducted the Israelites, 
 is a type of the heavenly rest to which our 
 Jesus is ready to lead his followers, is under- 
 stood and admitted by most Christians. That 
 the sanction of extraordinary temporal blessings 
 and judgments, both national and individual, 
 under which the Jews lived, is withdrawn, and 
 succeeded by "the bringing in of a better hope" 
 than that of the Law, is a truth not so well un- 
 derstood by many Christians ; there is a leaning 
 in the minds of not a few, to an expectation of 
 that inevitable vengeance in this world on the 
 wicked, which was denounced under the Mosaic 
 law ; and of that temporal prosperity, as the 
 reward of obedience, which forms no part of 
 the promises of a religion whose Founder was 
 
SECT. 2.] On Election. 
 
 107 
 
 crucified, and whose Apostles were, " if in this 
 life only they had hope in Christ, of all men 
 most miserable." 
 
 The better-instructed part, however, of the 
 Christian world perceive the distinction in this 
 point between the old and the new dispensa- 
 tions ; and understand that the promises and 
 threats of the one are applicable, figuratively 
 only, to the other; the rewards and punishments 
 of a future hfe being substituted for those of the 
 present. There are many other points, how- 
 ever, which are frequently overlooked, in which 
 the correspondence between the two systems is 
 such as to make the former a most useful inter- 
 preter of the latter : and when we consider what 
 a familiar acquaintance with the Law, and with 
 the history of the Jews, Paul had himself, and 
 expected in his hearers, we cannot doubt that 
 this interpreter must be perpetually consulted, if 
 we would rightly understand his epistles. 
 
 § 2. One only of the cases to which this 
 principle may be applied will be noticed in the 
 present Essay. A question, which is one of the 
 most momentous ever agitated among Christians, 
 
108 On Electio7i. [essay hi. 
 
 may be, I think, completely set at rest by such 
 a mode of consulting the Old Testament as has 
 been recommended. The question I allude to, 
 is that relating to such as are called by this 
 Apostle and by the rest, the " Elect " or " chosen 
 people " of God, " called, out of the world, to 
 be Saints," and inheritors of eternal life, by 
 God's favour (or grace) through Christ. It is 
 known that differences of no trifling moment 
 exist among Christians in their opinions on this 
 subject. Some maintain, as is well known, that 
 there are among the members of Christ's visible 
 Church, two classes of persons, the Elect and 
 the Non-elect, who are both fixed upon arbi- 
 trarily by God's eternal, immutable, unconditional 
 decree; — that those who are the Elect, the 
 " called to be Saints," are regenerate, and made 
 sons of God by his Spirit, — are justified in his 
 sight through the merits of Christ, — are sancti- 
 fied and led in the paths of Christian holiness by 
 the influence of divine grace, and are infallibly 
 conducted to eternal happiness in heaven : and 
 that others on the contrary, i. e. all others, 
 though baptized into the faith, and though they 
 have heard the offers of the Gospel, are never- 
 
SECT. 2.] On Election. 
 
 109 
 
 thekss non-elect, passed by, and rejected by 
 God; and consequently, are no less certainly 
 doomed to everlasting perdition. 
 
 This account of the Gospel-scheme is utterly 
 displeasing to others ; who maintain that the 
 election in question is not arhitrary, but has 
 respect to men's foreseen faith mid obedience;^ 
 
 ^ " Elect, according to the foreknowledge of God," is an 
 expression sometimes appealed to in support of this view, but 
 (as will plainly appear to any one who studies the context) 
 not correctly. The Apostle's design in employing it will be 
 found, on attentive inquiry, to be this: it was a stumbling- 
 block to the Jews, even to those who acknowledged Jesus as 
 the Messiah, that the Gentiles should be admitted to equal 
 privileges with themselves : the Israelites, they pleaded, had 
 been declared to be God's peculiar and highly-favoured people ; 
 was it to be supposed that He would alter his plans ? No, 
 said Paul ; there is no change in his plans ; but He all along 
 designed (and he cites the prophets to prove his assertion) to 
 admit, at a future time, such of the Gentiles as would hear his 
 call, into the number of his people : this, indeed, was formerly 
 a secret, not understood by our forefathers, and now for the 
 first time "made manifest" to men; but the design always 
 existed " that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs ;" the 
 mystery {i. e. the doctrine first hidden, and afterwards re- 
 vealed ; which is the usual sense of the word mystery) of 
 their election, was, of course, always known to God himself, 
 though but lately revealed to us : they are " Elect according 
 to the foreknowledge of God." 
 
110 On Election. [rssay nr. 
 
 i. e. that God decrees to elect such as He fore- 
 sees will be obedient to his commands, and 
 passes by those whose disobedience he foresees. 
 
 No candid and well informed student of Scrip- 
 ture, can, I think, deny, that arguments, in sup- 
 port of each of these opposite doctrines have 
 been alleged, which have at least some degree 
 of plausibility at first sight. 
 
 In support of the latter system, are urged the 
 declarations in Scripture that " Christ died for 
 all," that " He willeth all men to be saved," &c. 
 as well as the general tenour of the Gospel-offers 
 of salvation, which seem to leave all that heard 
 them at full liberty to accept or reject them. 
 On the other hand, the expressions of Paul espe- 
 cially are urged, where he speaks of men as 
 " clay in the hands of the potter," who has power 
 to make " of the same lump, vessels to honour, 
 and to dishonour" {i. e. to humbler and meaner 
 uses) and who speaks of the call to salvation as 
 originating entirely in the free bounty of God, 
 without reference to good works of ours either 
 previous or subsequent : God hath chosen us, 
 says Calvin, " non quia eramus, sed ut essemus 
 sancti," — not because we were, nor because He 
 
SECT. 2.] 
 
 On Election. 
 
 Ill 
 
 foresaw that we should he, but (according to 
 Paul) in order that we might be holy in all good 
 works. 
 
 It would be tedious and unnecessary to cite 
 all the texts that have been appealed to by both 
 parties on this question, and the arguments 
 grounded on them. Suffice it to observe, that 
 they are generally opposed by other arguments 
 and other texts ; and that each party has gene- 
 rally succeeded better in this, than in refuting 
 and explaining those adduced by their oppo- 
 nents. In particular, the explanations given by 
 the opponents of the Calvinistic scheme, of the 
 passages urged in favour of it, appear to some 
 even of themselves, (I will not say unsatisfactory, 
 but) so far incapable of being satisfactorily laid 
 before the mass of ordinary Christians, that they 
 are often disposed to apprehend danger from the 
 study of Paul's epistles, and rather to draw the 
 attention of their flocks to other parts of Scrip- 
 ture in preference. 
 
 I cannot but think that an attentive examina- 
 tion of the Old Testament will go far towards 
 furnishing a key to the true meaning of Paul's 
 and the other Apostohc epistles ; and will furnish 
 
112 
 
 On Election. [essay hi. 
 
 an answer not only satisfactory, but capable of 
 being made clear to the unlearned, of the three 
 great questions on which the whole discussion 
 turns ; viz. 1st, Whether the divine election is 
 arbitrary, or has respect to men's foreseen con- 
 duct ; 2dly, Who are to be regarded as the 
 Elect ; and, 3dly, In what does that Election 
 consist ? 
 
 In treating of these questions, it should be 
 premised that I design, in the first instance, to 
 look exclusively to the testimony of Scripture ; 
 waiving wholly, at present, the abstract questions 
 respecting Fate and Free-will, which belong 
 more properly to the province of natural-reli- 
 gion, or of metaphysics ; and also, that my 
 examination of Scripture will be confined to the 
 light thrown generally on the Gospel-scheme 
 by the books of Moses. The Christian Church 
 being confessedly the successor of the Jewish, 
 and the Christian dispensation of the Mosaic, 
 nothing can be more reasonable than to aid our 
 judgment respecting the one by contemplating 
 the other. 
 
 § 3. Now, with respect to the first question 
 
SECT. 3.] On Election. 113 
 
 before us, were the Israelites, who were evidently 
 God's Called, Elect, or Chosen, Holy and Pecu- 
 har people, were they, I say, thus chosen, arbi- 
 trarily, or not ? This question seems to admit 
 of a speedy and complete decision. Moses 
 clearly and repeatedly states that this selection 
 of them was arbitrary. He often reminds them 
 that they were not thus singled out from the 
 midst of other nations for their own righteous- 
 ness, since they were a stiff-necked people, but 
 of God's free goodness, " who will have mercy 
 on whom he will have mercy, and will be 
 gracious to whom he will be gracious ;" and 
 "because He had a favour unto them." And 
 with respect to their fathers, though Abraham 
 indeed was tried and found faithful and obedient, 
 there was certainly an arbitrary choice made of 
 Jacob in preference to his elder brother Esau ; 
 which, indeed, is one of the cases referred to by 
 the Apostle, who remarks, that, " while the 
 children were yet in the womb, and had done 
 neither good nor evil," it was declared by the 
 oracle of God, that " the elder should serve the 
 younger." Nor again (it should be observed) 
 could that selection of the children of Jacob 
 I 
 
114 
 
 On Election. [essay hi. 
 
 have been decreed with reference to their fore- 
 seen faith and obedience; since we know how 
 eminently deficient they were in those quahfi- 
 cations : stubborn and rebelHous, — continually 
 falling into idolatry and other sins, — forgetting 
 what great things God had wrought for them, 
 and undervaluing their high privilege. 
 
 The divine election then under the old dis- 
 pensation was, it is manifest, entirely arbitrary ; 
 but, in the second place, who were the objects 
 of it ? Evidently, the whole nation without any 
 exception. They were all brought out of Egypt 
 by a mighty hand, and miraculously delivered 
 from their enemies, and received the divine 
 commandments through Moses, who uniformly 
 addressed them, — not some, but all, — as God's 
 chosen, holy, and pecuUar people. 
 
 But, lastly, what was the nature of this elec- 
 tion of the Israehtes ? To what were they thus 
 chosen by their Almighty Ruler 1 Were they 
 elected absolutely and infallibly to enter the 
 promised land, and to triumph over their ene- 
 mies, and to live in security, wealth, and en- 
 joyment ? Manifestly not. They were elected 
 to the privilege of having these blessings placed 
 
SECT. 3.] 
 
 On Election. 
 
 115 
 
 within their reach, on the condition of their 
 obeying the law which God had given them ; 
 but those who refused this obedience, were not 
 only excluded from the promised blessings, but 
 were the objects of God's especial judgments, 
 far beyond those inflicted on the heathen na- 
 tions, who had not been so highly favoured ; 
 whose idolatry and wickedness was, generally 
 speaking, far less uniformly and severely visited : 
 " With a mighty hand, and with a stretched- 
 out arm, and with fury poured out will I rule 
 over you," was the threat denounced against 
 the disobedient Israelites ; of the fulfilment of 
 which, numerous instances are recorded in 
 Scripture ; and one most striking one is before 
 our eyes ; the forlorn and ruined condition, as 
 a nation,'^ at the present day, of those who 
 rejected the long-promised Messiah, and invoked 
 his blood upon " themselves and on their chil- 
 dren." Still, however, whether obedient or re- 
 bellious, they were all of them the peculiar and 
 elect people of God ; because on all of them, — 
 on every individual without exception, — of that 
 
 "= I have enlarged on this subject in the discourse on " Na- 
 tional Blessings and Judgments." 
 
 1 2 
 
116 
 
 On Election. [essay iiu 
 
 people, the privileges were bestowed ; and to 
 every one of them the offer made, of God's 
 especial blessing and protection, on condition of 
 their conforming to the commands He had con- 
 descended to give them. But whether they 
 would thus conform or not, was all along stu- 
 diously represented by Moses as a matter en- 
 tirely dependent on themselves ; " Behold," says 
 he, " I have set before you this day good and 
 evil, blessing and cursing ; now, therefore, choose 
 blessing." 
 
 The election then of the Jews was arbi- 
 trary indeed ; but it was an election, not to 
 blessing, absolutely, but to a privilege and 
 advantage; — to the offer and opportunity of ob- 
 taining a peculiar blessing, such as was not placed 
 within the reach of other nations. Whether they 
 would accept the offer, or draw down God's curse 
 on them by their disobedience, rested with them- 
 selves. And that they were left at liberty to 
 pursue this latter course is plain, from this most 
 remarkable circumstance ; that of all the adult 
 individuals of them who came out of Egypt, and 
 heard the law delivered from Mount Sinai, two 
 only reached the promised land. Of the rest, 
 
SECT. 3. J 
 
 On Election. 
 
 117 
 
 the whole generation were cut off in the wilder- 
 ness for their disobedience. 
 
 Now to apply these observations to the Gospel- 
 dispensation : it is plain, as has been said, that 
 the Christian church stands in the place of the 
 Jewish ; — that it succeeds it in the divine favour, 
 and enjoys, not the same indeed, but correspond- 
 ing benefits and privileges ; it is reasonable, 
 therefore, to suppose, that since both dispensa- 
 tions are parts of the one plan of the one heavenly 
 Author, those benefits and privileges should be 
 bestowed according to a similar system in each. 
 The Christian rehgion, however, is not, like the 
 Jewish, confined to one nation, nor the Christian 
 worship to one jo/ace, like the temple at Jerusalem : 
 the Church of Christ is open to all to whom the 
 Gospel has been announced, and comprehends 
 all who acknowledge it : the invitations of that 
 Gospel are general ; all members of that Church 
 are "Called and Elected" by God, and are as 
 truly his people, and under his especial govern- 
 ment, as the Israehtes ever were. And though 
 they do not consist of any one nation in particular, 
 they are arbitrarily selected and called to this 
 privilege, out of the rest of the world, and in 
 
118 
 
 On Election. [essay hi. 
 
 contradistinction from their unenlightened an- 
 cestors, according to God's unsearchable will, for 
 reasons known to Him alone, no less than the 
 Israehtes were of old. Some nations, we know, 
 had the Gospel preached to them long before 
 others : the Apostles were directed by the Holy 
 Ghost what countries they should first visit and 
 enlighten by their ministry ; and many there are, 
 that remain in ignorance of Christianity to this 
 day. We can give no account of this distinction, 
 but that such is God's pleasure. No reason can 
 be assigned why we ourselves, for instance, in 
 this country, should have received the light of 
 the Gospel, while many other regions of the 
 earth remain in the darkness of idolatry. The 
 Calling and selection of us and of other Chris- 
 tisms to the knowledge of the true God, seems 
 as arbitrary as that of the Israelites. And as 
 this promise belonged not to some only, but to 
 every one, of that nation, whether he chose to 
 avail himself of it, or to convert it into a heavy 
 curse by his neglect of it ; so we may conclude 
 that every Christian is called and elected to the 
 Christian privileges, just as every Jew was to 
 his; but that it rests with us to use or abuse 
 
SECT. 3.] 
 
 On Election. 
 
 119 
 
 the advantage. The Jews were not chosen to 
 enjoy God's favour and to enter into the promised 
 land, absolutely; but to have the offer of that 
 favour, and the promise of that land, on con- 
 dition of their obedience ; and as many as were 
 rebeUious, perished in the wilderness. So also, 
 we may conclude, no Christian is elected to 
 eternal salvation, absolutely ; but only to the 
 knowledge of the Gospel, — to the privileges of 
 the Christian Church, — to the offer of God's 
 Holy Spirit — and to the promise of final sal- 
 vation, on condition of being a faithful follower 
 of Christ. 
 
 Such, I say, we might antecedently conjecture, 
 must be the right interpretation of the Apostle's 
 language, considering how constantly and how 
 clearly all the circumstances of the old dispen- 
 sation must be supposed to have been before 
 his mind. But in the instance now before us 
 we are not left to conjecture : he himself draws 
 the parallel for us, and strongly directs our 
 attention to it ; reminding us, in the most 
 distinct manner, of the principles by which we 
 are to be guided in our examination of the 
 Gospel-scheme. He not only always addresses 
 
120 
 
 On Election. 
 
 [essay III. 
 
 his converts (the very persons whom he all 
 along congratulates as the Called, and Favoured, 
 and Elect of God) as if it depended on them- 
 selves to avail themselves, or not, of these 
 oflfers, — to " lay hold on eternal life," or to 
 forfeit it by their own neglect, — but he also 
 warns them, from the very example of the 
 Israehtes, against the error of misunderstanding 
 what it was to which they were elected. For 
 some of them, it is probable, having been always 
 addressed as the "Chosen" of God, were dis- 
 posed to indulge in careless security, relying on 
 their baptismal privileges, and confident of final 
 salvation independent of such exertions as can 
 alone justify that confidence ; even as the Jews 
 " thought to say within themselves, We are 
 Abraham's children." The Apostle, accordingly, 
 himself expressly points out the correspondence 
 between their case and that of the children of 
 Israel; exhorting them to take warning from 
 the backslidings and punishment of their pre- 
 decessors, God's favoured people of old. He 
 observes to the Corinthians, first, that it was 
 not a part only, but the whole of the Israelites 
 who were thus favoured : " all our fathers were 
 
SECT. 3.] 
 
 On Election. 
 
 121 
 
 under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 
 and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud 
 and in the sea." But, notwithstanding this, (as 
 he proceeds to point out) " with many of them 
 God was not well-pleased ; for they were over- 
 thrown in the wilderness. Now these things 
 were our examples, to the intent we should not 
 lust after evil things as they also lusted ; neither 
 be ye idolaters, as were some of them ; . . . . 
 neither let us commit fornication, as some of 
 them committed, and fell in one day three-and- 
 twenty thousand; neither let us tempt Christ, as 
 some of them also tempted, and were destroyed 
 of serpents; neither murmur ye, as some of 
 them also murmured, and were destroyed of 
 the destroyer. Now all these things (he adds) 
 happened unto them for ensamples : and they 
 are written for our admonition, upon whom 
 the ends of the world are come ; " and thence he 
 deduces the great general conclusion, " Where- 
 fore, let him that thinketh he standeth, take 
 heed lest he fall." Let not the Christian, that 
 is, though he is one of God's peculiar and 
 favoured people, as the Israelites were of old, 
 flatter himself that he is chosen, any more than 
 
122 
 
 On Election. [essay hi. 
 
 they were, to the absolute attainment of a final 
 blessing, but only to the offer of it, together 
 with the privileges and advantages which will 
 enable him to attain it : let him not doubt that 
 the option is left to him, as it was to them, of 
 securing or forfeiting his ultimate reward : let 
 him learn from the example of the Israelites, 
 that neither his promised inheritance is infallibly 
 secured to him without obedience, nor he himself 
 absolutely secured in the requisite obedience, 
 without any watchfulness on his part ; since the 
 far greater portion of those whom God brought 
 out of Egypt never reached the promised land.*^ 
 It is worth remembering, that the system just 
 described is the same with that pursued in the 
 ordinary course of God's providence also : a 
 man's being born, for instance, heir to great 
 wealth; — to high rank, — or to a kingdom, — of 
 a healthy constitution, — or of superior abilities, 
 does not depend on himself ; but it does depend 
 on himself whether such advantages as these 
 
 " I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye 
 once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people 
 out of the land of Egypt, afterwards destroyed them that 
 believed not." — Jude 5. 
 
SECT. 3.] 
 
 On Election. 
 
 123 
 
 shall prove a blessing to him, by his making 
 a right use of them, or shall aggravate his 
 condemnation, through his ill-employment or 
 neglect of them. 
 
 He then who diligently looks to the analogy 
 both of God's ordinary dealings v^^ith man, and 
 of his former dispensation to the Jews, and who 
 carefully interprets the New Testament by the 
 Old, will be enabled, I think, to clear up the 
 greater part of a difficulty which has furnished 
 matter of dispute among Christians for many 
 centuries. By contemplating the correspondence 
 between the Jewish and the Gospel-schemes, he 
 will clearly perceive that there is no such dis- 
 tinction among Christians as the " Called" and 
 the uncalled, — the " Elect" and the non-elect ; — 
 that the Gospel itself is a call to all who have 
 heard it ; and that those who, instead of obey- 
 ing it, wait for any further call, are deluded by 
 the father of lies, who is watching for their 
 destruction. — He will perceive, that though all 
 born in a Christian country, and initiated into 
 Christ's Church, are arbitrarily elected to this 
 invaluable privilege, their salvation is not arbi- 
 trary, but will depend on the use they make 
 
124 
 
 On Election. 
 
 [essay III. 
 
 of their privileges ; those, namely, to which all 
 Christians are called, — the knowledge of the 
 Gospel, the aids of the Holy Spirit, and the 
 offer of eternal life ; privileges of which all are 
 exhorted, but none compelled, to make a right 
 use ; and which will prove ultimately either a 
 blessing or a curse to each, according to the use 
 he makes of them. 
 
 When it is contended, however, that the term 
 " Elect," or that any other scriptural expression, 
 is to be interpreted in this or in that sense, this 
 must be understood, in reference to the parti- 
 cular passages in question, or to the generality ; 
 — not, as implying that no other sense is any 
 where admissible, and that if the explanation 
 given be correct, it must hold good in every 
 passage where the word occurs. For instance, 
 when the Apostles address their converts uni- 
 versally as the " Elect," or " Chosen " of God, 
 (even as the whole nation of Israel were of old 
 his Chosen) this must be understood of their 
 being chosen out of the whole mass of the 
 Gentiles, to certain pecuhar privileges, unknown 
 to successive generations of their ancestors, but 
 of which they were called and invited to avail 
 
SECT. 3.] 
 
 On Election. 
 
 125 
 
 themselves. But our Lord applies the word 
 differently in the parables of the labourers of 
 the vineyard, and of the marriage-feast. The 
 wedding, He tells us, was furnished with guests 
 by an indiscriminate collection of all that could 
 be found in the highways ; but the guest who 
 refused to put on the wedding garment, was 
 " cast into the outer-darkness ;" " for many," he 
 adds, " are called, but few chosen ;" many, that 
 is, are "called" to the enjoyment of high privi- 
 leges, but few make such a use of the advantage 
 as to be finally " chosen ;" not, in this instance, 
 (as the word is more commonly employed) 
 chosen to a privilege merely, but to ultimate 
 reward ; — chosen as having rightly availed them- 
 selves of that privilege ; — selected from among 
 the faithless and disobedient to " enter into the 
 joy of their Lord." Not that in these cases the 
 word "chosen" is used in different meanings, 
 but that its application is different ; both parties 
 are, in the same sense, " chosen ;" but the things 
 to which they are chosen are different ; and there 
 is a corresponding difference in the principles on 
 which the choice is conducted.* 
 
 « See " Elements of Logic." Fallacies, Ch. iii. § 10. 
 
126 
 
 On Election. [essay hi. 
 
 There is, indeed, no more fruitful source of 
 error in this, and in many other points, than the 
 practice of interpreting Scripture on the principles 
 of a scientific system, and endeavouring to make 
 out, as in mathematics, a complete technical 
 vocabulary, with precise definitions of all the 
 terms employed, such as may be applied in 
 every case where they occur/ Nothing, mani- 
 festly, was further from the design of the Sacred 
 Writers, than to frame any such system : their 
 writings were popular, not scientific ; they ex- 
 pressed their meaning, on each occasion, in the 
 terms which, on each occasion, suggested them- 
 selves as best fitted to convey it ; and he who 
 would interpret rightly each of these terms, must 
 interpret it in each passage according to the 
 context of the place where it is found. And 
 wherever the term " Elect" relates (as it does 
 in most instances) to an arbitrary, irrespective, 
 unconditional decree, it will, I think, be found 
 invariably to bear the sense in which I have 
 explained it. 
 
 That a doctrine, therefore, so opposite to the 
 one here laid down, should have been deduced 
 
 f See Essay VI. § 4. and VII. § 2. 
 
SECT. 3.] On Election. 
 
 127 
 
 from the Scriptures by many ingenious and dili- 
 gent students of them, one can hardly avoid 
 attributing, in some degree, to their entering on 
 the study with a strong antecedent bias in favour 
 of the conclusion they draw ; in consequence of 
 their regarding it as a truth abstractedly de- 
 monstrable by reason. But for such a bias, we 
 should hardly find so many passages of Scripture 
 interpreted so hastily, and often so much wrested 
 from their obvious sense, to make them afford 
 confirmation of the favourite hypothesis. 
 
 For instance, the scriptural similitude of the 
 Potter and the Clay is often triumphantly 
 appealed to, as a proof that God has from eter- 
 nity decreed, and, what is more, has revealed to 
 us that He has so decreed, the salvation or per- 
 dition of each individual, without any other 
 reason assigned than that such is his will and 
 pleasure. " We are in his hands," say these 
 predestinarians, "as clay in the potter's, who 
 hath power, of the same lump, to make one 
 vessel to honour and another to dishonour;" 
 not observing, in their hasty eagerness to seize 
 on every apparent confirmation of their system, 
 that this similitude, as far as it goes, rather 
 
128 
 
 On Election. [essay ni. 
 
 makes against them ; since the potter never 
 makes any vessel for the express purpose of being 
 broken and destroyed. This comparison accord- 
 ingly agrees much better with the view here 
 taken : the potter, according to his own arbitrary 
 choice, makes " of the same lump, one vessel to 
 honour and another to dishonour ;" i. e. some to 
 nobler, and some to meaner uses ; but all, for 
 some use ; none with design that it should be 
 cast away, and dashed to pieces : even so, the 
 Almighty, of his own arbitrary choice, causes 
 some to be born to wealth or rank, others to 
 poverty and obscurity ; — some in a heathen, and 
 others in a Christian country ; the advantages 
 and privileges bestowed on each, are various, 
 and, as far as we can see, arbitrarily dispensed ; 
 the final rewards or punishments depend, as we 
 are plainly taught, on the use or abuse of those 
 advantages. Wealth and power, and christian 
 knowledge, and all other advantages, may be 
 made either a blessing or a curse to the pos- 
 sessor ; since they plainly answer to the talents 
 in our Lord's parable : why one servant had 
 five talents intrusted to him, another two, and 
 another one, — in what consisted " their several 
 
SECT. 3,] On Election. 
 
 129 
 
 abilities," — we are not told ; though we are 
 clearly taught that the distribution was not made 
 on the ground of the fore-seen use they would make 
 of the talents ; else, he who received the one, and 
 kept it laid up in a napkin, would not have been 
 intrusted with any. But we are plainly told on 
 what principles all these servants were ultimately 
 judged by their Master ; those who had received 
 the five, and the two talents, were rewarded, 
 not from arbitrary choice, but because they had 
 rightly employed the deposit ; and the unprofit- 
 able servant was punished, not because he had 
 received only one, but because he had let it 
 lie idle. 
 
 The "hardening of Pharaoh's heart" again, 
 which is mentioned in Scripture, is often tri- 
 umphantly appealed to, as a recorded instance 
 in which (according to the hasty interpretation 
 sometimes adopted) God made the King of 
 Egypt, what we call hard-hearted ; that is, cruel 
 and remorseless ; on purpose to display his 
 almighty power upon him : whereas a very mo- 
 derate attention to the context would plainly 
 evince that this (whether true or false) is very 
 far from being revealed in Scripture ; but, that on 
 
 K 
 
130 
 
 On Election. 
 
 [essay III. 
 
 the contrary, the hardening (or as some trans- 
 late, the strengthening) of Pharaoh's heart,^ must 
 mean a judicial blindness of intellect as to his 
 own interest, and a vain and absurd self-confi- 
 dence, which induced him to hold out against 
 Omnipotence. For it is remarkable that the 
 cruelties he had practised, had all of them taken 
 place before any mention is made of God's har- 
 dening his heart. The tyrant who had subjected 
 to grievous slavery and attempted to extirpate 
 the Israelites, could scarcely, after that, be made 
 cruel ; but the most unrelenting miscreant would 
 have let them go, through mere selfish prudence, 
 had he not been supernaturally infatuated, when 
 he saw that they were " a snare unto him," and 
 that " Egypt was destroyed" through the mighty 
 plagues inflicted on their account.** 
 
 g The " heart " is continually employed by the Sacred 
 Writers to denote the understanding ; as when our Lord is 
 said to " upbraid the disciples for their unbelief and hardness- 
 of-heart," &c. They never, I believe, employ oKK-qpoKaplia, to 
 signify cruelty. The same appears to have been anciently the 
 usage of our own language also ; of which we retain a rem- 
 nant, in the expression of " learning any thing by heart." 
 
 ^ I have been informed that some of the hearers of the 
 discourse of which this Essay contains the substance, under- 
 
SECT. 3.] 
 
 On Electron. 
 
 131 
 
 To sum up, then, in a single sentence, the 
 error which appears to me to have originated 
 from a neglect of the lesson which the Old 
 Testament may supply : the doctrine that final 
 salvation is represented in Scripture as resting 
 solely on the arbitrary appointment of God, is 
 deduced from two premises ; 1st, that Election 
 infallibly implies salvation ; and, 2dly, that Elec- 
 tion is entirely arbitrary ; whence it follows, 
 certainly, that final salvation is arbitrary. Now 
 many of the opponents of this conclusion are 
 accustomed to deny the true premise, and admit 
 the false one ; acknowledging that Election 
 
 stood the foregoing argument to be merely a repetition of 
 Bishop Sumner's, in his valuable work on " Apostolical 
 Preaching." Such a misapprehension is, I trust, less likely to 
 take place in the closet ; but to guard against the possibility 
 of it, it may be worth while here to remark, that though I 
 coincide with Bishop S. in his conclusion, the arguments by 
 which we, respectively, arrive at it, are different. The dis- 
 tinction which he dwells on, is that, between national, and 
 individual election ; that on which I have insisted, is, the 
 distinction between election to certain privileges, and to final 
 reward ; he, in short, considers principally the parties chosen ; 
 whether Bodies of men, or particular persons : I, the things to 
 which they are chosen ; whether to a blessing, absolutely, or 
 to the offer of one, conditionally. 
 
 k2 
 
132 
 
 On Election. 
 
 [essay hi. 
 
 necessarily implies ultimate salvation, but con- 
 tending that it is not arbitrary, but depends on 
 foreseen faith and obedience ; a position which 
 gives their opponents a decided advantage over 
 them, and which the analogy of the old dispen- 
 sation to the new may convince us is untenable ; 
 whereas, in denying that Election does neces- 
 sarily imply salvation they would find the whole 
 analogy of the Old Testament, and the general 
 tenour of the Apostle Paul's admonitions, so 
 completely in their favour, that the offensive 
 conclusions would be, as far as Scripture testi- 
 mony goes, irrecoverably overthrown : and it 
 would be seen that the abstract metaphysical 
 questions respecting Fate and Free-will, are left 
 by the Bible exactly where it finds them, un- 
 decided and untouched. 
 
 § 4. Without entering at large on the meta- 
 physical questions just alluded to, one remark 
 respecting them will not be irrelevant, as it 
 may throw light on the subject more particu- 
 larly before us. I mean that the difficulty and 
 confusion in which such questions have been 
 involved, have, in a great degree, arisen from 
 
 ) 
 
SECT. 4.] On Election. 
 
 133 
 
 inattention to the ambiguity of one particular 
 class of words — "possible"* and "impossible," 
 "necessary/' "certain," "contingent," and many 
 others of corresponding significations to these ; 
 which have, by their undetected ambiguity, be- 
 wildered in a maze of fruitless logomachy most 
 of those who have treated of the subject. " Cer- 
 tainty," for instance, and " uncertainty," which 
 in the primary sense, denote the state of our 
 own mind, have thence been transferred to the 
 facts and events respecting which we are certain 
 or uncertain ; and ultimately, have come to be 
 considered as indicating an intrinsic quality in 
 the events themselves, and not merely the re- 
 lation in which they stand to our knowledge 
 or ignorance of them ; and " necessity," as well 
 as other words allied to it, whose signification 
 sometimes refers to coercion, or absence of power, 
 sometimes again merely to undoubting and com- 
 plete knowledge, have led to endless fallacies 
 and perplexities, when this distinction has been 
 overlooked. 
 
 » See "Logic," Appendix, article "Possible." See also 
 Appendix, No. I. to Archbp. King's Discourse on Predesti- 
 nation. 
 
134 
 
 On Election. [essay hi. 
 
 Thus, the " necessity " {i. e. the absence of 
 freedom) of human actions, has by many been 
 inferred from God's certain foreknowledge of 
 them. And to this it is not, I think, altogether 
 a satisfactory reply (which is often made), that 
 the divine prescience does not fetter or control 
 men's actions, nor in any way operate upon 
 them, any more than our knowledge of any fact 
 is the cause of its being such ; for though this is 
 undeniably true, it hardly meets the difficulty ; 
 since it is not meant, I apprehend, that the 
 divine foreknowledge makes actions necessary, but 
 that it implies that they are so ; just as any one's 
 seeing some object before him, implies the real 
 present existence of that object ; though no one 
 supposes that his seeing it is, in any respect, the 
 cause of its existence. 
 
 But the chief source of this perplexity is the 
 equivocal employment of the word " necessity ;" 
 which, in one sense, relates to knowledge alone, 
 and, therefore, is, of course, implied by pre- 
 science ; but in another sense, relates to com- 
 pulsion, or want of power, which prescience 
 does by no means imply.*" When we speak, 
 
 ^ See Tucker's Light of Nature, Chap. 26. 
 
SECT. 4.] On Election. 135 
 
 for instance, of the " necessity " of mathema- 
 tical truths, we mean merely that they admit 
 of no doubt. And again, when we say that a 
 man pining in captivity cannot but eagerly em- 
 brace the offer of freedom, and restoration to 
 his country, we mean not that he is thus placed 
 under compulsion, but that we are well-assured 
 and have no doubt he will do so. On the other 
 hand, when we say that, while in captivity, he 
 cannot but submit to the will of his master, we 
 mean that he wants power to resist, and liberty 
 to escape ; and when we speak of the necessity 
 of death, we mean that mortals are unable to 
 avoid it. If this distinction had been duly at- 
 tended to, it would hardly, I think, have been 
 contended that that necessity of our actions, 
 which the divine prescience implies, is at all 
 incompatible with our freedom and power to act 
 otherwise. Whether our conduct be, in fact, 
 under any restraint or not, at least no restraint 
 is implied by the mere foreknowledge of it. 
 Let it be supposed (and the case is at least 
 conceivable) that you were fully and accurately 
 acquainted with all the inclinations of some man 
 who was left at perfect liberty to follow them ; 
 
136 On Election. [essay hi. 
 
 you could then as distinctly know and as ex- 
 actly describe his future conduct, as any past 
 event ; and the very ground of your thus fore- 
 seeing and foretelling it would be, not his being 
 under restraint, but his entire freedom from 
 it ; for the knowledge of his inclination, if he 
 were not free to follow it, would not enable you 
 to foresee the event. 
 
 The divine foreknowledge, again, of " con- 
 tingent" or "uncertain" events, would not have 
 been made a matter of such mysterious difficulty, 
 if it had been remembered that the same thing 
 may be contingent and uncertain to one person, 
 which is not so to another ; since those terms 
 denote no quality in the events themselves ; any 
 more than the terms " visible " and " invisible " 
 when applied to echpses ; inasmuch as that 
 which is visible in one part of the world is in- 
 visible in another. For the same event may, in 
 like manner, be both a contingency and a cer- 
 tainty ; though not to the same person. Any 
 event, for instance, which occurred yesterday in 
 some distant part of the world, is, to us, uncer- 
 tain and contingent ; and one who calculates on 
 its having taken place in this way or that, would 
 
SECT. 4.] 
 
 On Election. 
 
 137 
 
 be said to run the risk of fortune ; though to 
 those on the spot there is no contingency in 
 the case. 
 
 Before I dismiss the consideration of this sub- 
 ject, I would suggest one caution relative to a 
 class of objections frequently urged against the 
 Calvinistic scheme — those drawn from the con- 
 clusions of what is called natural religion, re- 
 specting the moral attributes of the Deity ; 
 which, it is contended, rendered the reprobation 
 of a large portion of mankind an absolute im- 
 possibility. That such objections do reduce the 
 predestinarian to a great strait, is undeniable; 
 and not seldom are they urged with exulting 
 scorn, with bitter invective, and almost with 
 anathema. But we should be very cautious 
 how we employ such weapons as may recoil 
 upon ourselves. Arguments of this description 
 have often been adduced, such as, I fear, will 
 crush beneath the ruins of the hostile structure 
 the blind assailant who has overthrown it. It 
 is a frightful, but an undeniable truth, that mul- 
 titudes, even in christian countries, are born and 
 brought up under such circumstances as afford 
 them no probable, often no possible, chance of 
 
138 
 
 On Election. [essay hi. 
 
 obtaining a knowledge of religious truths, or a 
 habit of moral conduct, but are even trained from 
 infancy in superstitious error and gross depravity. 
 Why this should be permitted, neither Calvinist 
 nor Arminian can explain ; nay, why the Al- 
 mighty does not cause to die in the cradle every 
 infant whose future wickedness and misery, if 
 suffered to grow up, He foresees, is what no 
 system of religion, natural or revealed, will 
 enable us satisfactorily to account for. 
 
 In truth, these are merely branches of the 
 one great difficulty, the existence of evil, which 
 may almost be called the only difficulty in theo- 
 logy. It assumes indeed various shapes ; — it is, 
 by many, hardly recognized as a difficulty ; and 
 not a few have professed and beheved themselves 
 to have solved it ; but it still meets them, though 
 in some new and disguised form, at every turn ; 
 like a resistless stream, which, when one chan- 
 nel is dammed up, immediately forces its way 
 through another. And as the difficulty is one 
 not peculiar to any one hypothesis, but bears 
 equally on all ahke, whether of revealed or of 
 natural religion, it is better in point of prudence 
 as well as of fairness, that the consequences of 
 
SECT. 5,] 
 
 On Election. 
 
 139 
 
 it should not be pressed as an objection against 
 any. The Scriptures do not pretend (as some 
 have rashly imagined) to clear up this awful 
 mystery : they give us no explanation of the 
 original cause of the evil that exists ; but they 
 teach us hov? to avoid its effects : and since they 
 leave this great and perplexing question just 
 where they find it, it is better for us to leave it 
 among "the secret things which belong unto 
 the Lord our God," and to occupy ourselves with 
 " the things which are revealed," and which 
 concern us practically, — which " belong unto us 
 and to our children," that we may " do all the 
 words of God's law." 
 
 § 5. It is on these principles, viz. that the 
 first point of inquiry at least ought to be what 
 doctrines are revealed in God's word, — and that 
 we ought to expect that the doctrines so revealed 
 should be, not matters of speculative curiosity 
 but of practical importance — such as "belong 
 to us that we may do them ;" — it is in conformity, 
 I say, with these principles, that I have waived 
 the question as to the truth or falsity of the 
 Calvinistic doctrine of Election ; inquiring only 
 
140 
 
 On Election. [essay hi. 
 
 whether it is revealed. And one of the reasons 
 for deciding that question in the negative, is the 
 very circumstance that the doctrine is, if rightly 
 viewed, of a purely speculative character, not 
 "belonging to us" practically, — and which 
 ought not at least, in any way, to influence our 
 conduct. 
 
 It has indeed been frequently objected to the 
 Calvinistic doctrines, that they lead, if consistently 
 acted upon, to a sinful, or to a careless, or to an 
 inactive life; and the inference deduced from 
 this alleged tendency, has been that they are 
 not true. But this is a totally distinct hue of 
 argument, both in premises and conclusion, from 
 that now adverted to ; and I mention it, not for 
 the purpose either of maintaining or impugning 
 it, but merely of pointing out the distinction. 
 Whatever may be, in fact, the practical ill ten- 
 dency of the Calvinistic scheme, it is undeniable 
 that many pious and active Christians, who have 
 adopted it, have denied any such tendency, — have 
 attributed the mischievous consequences drawn, 
 not to their doctrines rightly understood, but to 
 the perversion and abuse of them ; — and have so 
 explained them, to their own satisfaction, as to 
 
SECT. 5.] 
 
 On Election. 
 
 141 
 
 be compatible and consistent with active virtue. 
 Now if, instead of objecting to, we admit, the 
 explanations of this system, which the soundest 
 and most approved of its advocates have given, 
 we shall find that, when understood as they 
 would have it, it can lead to no practical result 
 whatever. Some Christians, according to them, 
 are eternally enrolled in the book of life, and 
 infallibly ordained to salvation, while others are 
 reprobate and absolutely excluded : but as the 
 preacher, (they add) has no means of knowing, 
 in the first instance at least, which persons belong 
 to which class ; and since those who are thus 
 ordained, are to be saved through the means 
 God has appointed ; the offers, and promises, and 
 threatenings of the Gospel are to be addressed 
 to all alike, as if no such distinction existed. 
 The preacher, in short, is to act in all respects, 
 as if the system were not true. Each individual 
 Christian again, according to them, though he is 
 to believe that he either is, or is not, absolutely 
 destined to eternal salvation, yet is also to beHeve, 
 that if his salvation is decreed, his holiness of 
 life is also decreed : — he is to judge of his own 
 state by " the fruits of the Spirit" which he 
 
142 
 
 On Election. [essay hi. 
 
 brings forth : to live in sin, or to relax his 
 virtuous exertions, would be an indication of his 
 not being really (though he may flatter himself 
 he is) one of the elect. And it may be admitted 
 that one who does practically adopt and con- 
 form to this explanation of the doctrine will 
 not be led into any evil by it ; since his con- 
 duct will not be in any respect influenced by 
 it. When thus explained, it is reduced to a 
 purely speculative dogma, barren of all practical 
 results. 
 
 Taking the system in question then, as ex- 
 pounded by its soundest advocates, it is im- 
 possible to show any one point in which a 
 person is called upon either to act or to feel, 
 in any respect differently, in consequence of his 
 adopting it. And this conclusion indeed may 
 be considered as virtually admitted by the 
 maintainers of the predestinarian scheme ; since 
 whenever they are engaged in setting forth the 
 beneficial results of their doctrines, they in- 
 variably dwell on such as are not pecuhar to 
 them ; such as, faith in the atonement, — self- 
 abasement and renunciation of all rehance on 
 our own merits, — gratitude for Christ's redeeming 
 
SECT. 5,] On Election. 
 
 143 
 
 mercy, — and reliance on the promised guidance 
 of the Holy Spirit ; and other such doctrines, 
 which are indeed both true and of inestimable 
 practical value, but which have no necessary, 
 or natural connexion with the peculiar notions 
 of Calvin respecting Election ; and which, in 
 fact, are sincerely and heartily embraced by 
 numbers who reject those notions. 
 
 Were I as much inclined to enter into con- 
 troversy as I am averse to it, on this point at 
 least, I should have no temptation to do so ; 
 since I cannot devise or even conceive any more 
 decisive proofs of what has been just remarked, 
 than the very objections adduced by those who 
 wish to disprove it. Let any one try the ex- 
 periment of proposing to predestinarians the 
 assertion just made, of the purely-speculative 
 character of the doctrines in question ; and he 
 will find the grounds on which it is denied, 
 sufficient to satisfy an unbiassed mind of its 
 truth. They will allege the cheering stimulant 
 of love and gratitude which a man feels who is 
 convinced that his sins are forgiven, and that 
 a crown of glory is laid up for him after he 
 shall have fought the good fight, and finished his 
 
144 
 
 On Election. 
 
 [essay III. 
 
 course : but they will admit that this confidence 
 is false and dangerous, unless he shall have 
 ascertained by careful and candid self-examina- 
 tion that he is practically imbued with Christian 
 hope, faith, and charity, and is earnestly striving 
 to " increase more and more," and to " grow in 
 grace" to his life's end. Now all this may be 
 the case with one who does not hold the absolute 
 election to salvation of some, and the reproba- 
 tion of others : while on the other hand, the 
 fullest conviction of the final perseverance and 
 acceptance of God's elect, affords no satisfaction 
 to one who may doubt whether he himself is one 
 of the elect. The cheering prospect is supplied, 
 not by the general doctrine of divine decrees, 
 but by each man's view of his own christian 
 state of hohness. And a confidence founded on 
 good grounds, I for one at least, should never 
 think of repressing.' They will enumerate, 
 again, the many zealous and active Christians 
 who have been strict predestinarians ; — they will 
 speak of the Reformers, forward in testifying 
 against Romish errors, who have held the 
 same tenet ; — and of the attachment of many 
 
 ' See the next Essay. 
 
SECT. 5.] 
 
 On Election. 
 
 145 
 
 bigoted Romanists to the doctrine of free-will ; 
 (though, by the way, Augustine, the strenuous 
 advocate of predestination, is, among the Fathers, 
 rather the favourite saint of the Romish church), 
 as well as the immoral lives of many who reject 
 predestination, &c. But if any one keeps close 
 to the original question, and persists in asking, 
 How do you trace those good effects to a belief 
 in your absolute decrees ? How do you show 
 that your peculiar doctrines are, not merely 
 compatible with Christian virtue, (for that is 
 admitted) but conducive to it ? How do you 
 trace these other ill effects to a rejection of 
 those pecuhar doctrines ? How is it proved that 
 the parties respectively act as they do, properly 
 in consequence of their belief or disbelief of this 
 tenet ? — if, I say, these questions are persisted 
 in, and all irrelevant matter set aside, I am 
 much mistaken if any satisfactory answer will 
 be obtained. 
 
 The fact is that several of the most important 
 and truly-practical doctrines of Christianity have 
 been, in the minds of some men, so intimately 
 blended, from their childhood, with other tenets 
 which are not practical, that they themselves, 
 
 L 
 
146 
 
 On Election. [essay hi. 
 
 unless possessed of unusual clearness of thought, 
 are utterly unable to conceive them disunited; 
 and might even be in some danger of abandon- 
 ing what is essential, were they induced to give 
 up some other point, in reahty totally uncon- 
 nected with it. Their whole system of faith 
 may be compared to some of the ancient com- 
 pound medicines, of great efficacy and value, 
 though cumbered with several drugs that are 
 utterly inert. Many practitioners unskilled in 
 analysis, cannot conceive but that the success 
 with which the compound is often administered 
 is a proof of the efficacy of each ingredient, 
 and of the absurdity of thinking to separate 
 them. 
 
 It is common in cases of this kind, to appeal 
 to the testimony of Experience; though but a 
 small proportion of even the most experienced 
 men are fit judges of what it is that their 
 experience does testify. He who has long 
 been accustomed to administer a certain com- 
 pound medicine, or to teach a certain system 
 of doctrines, and who has found his patients 
 recover, or his hearers improve, will often be- 
 lieve, not only that every part of this compound 
 
SECT. 5.] On Election. 147 
 
 is essential, but that this is established by ex- 
 perience."" 
 
 I am far from thinking harshly of predes- 
 tinarians, or of deciding that their peculiar 
 doctrines are altogether untrue ; though to me 
 they do not appear, at least, to be either prac- 
 tical, or revealed truths. I do not call on them 
 to renounce their opinions as heretical, but 
 merely to abstain from imposing on others as 
 a necessary part of the Christian faith, a doctrine 
 which cannot be clearly deduced from Scripture ; 
 and which there is this additional reason for 
 supposing not to be revealed in Scripture, that it 
 cannot be shown to have any practical tendency. 
 For since it is plainly the object of the Scriptures 
 to declare to us such truths as it concerns us 
 to know, with a view to the regulation of our 
 lives, not, such as are, to us, mere matters of 
 speculative curiosity ; and since the doctrines in 
 question, when so explained as to lead to no 
 evil results, lead to no practical results at all, 
 the natural inference must be (even independent 
 of the arguments formerly urged) that these 
 doctrines are not such as we can reasonably 
 
 See Elements of Rhetoric, Part II. chap. iii. § 5. 
 
 l2 
 
148 
 
 On Election. [essay hi. 
 
 expect at least, to find revealed in Scripture; 
 and if not so revealed, be they true or false, they 
 can constitute no part of the Christian faith.'' 
 It is not contended that the doctrines in ques- 
 tion have a hurtful influence on human conduct, 
 and consequently are untrue ; but that they have, 
 according to the soundest exposition of them, 
 no influence on our conduct whatever ; and, 
 consequently, that they are not to be taught as 
 revealed truths. 
 
 § 6. Let it not be said, however, that, being 
 at least harmless, it is unimportant whether they 
 are inculcated or not ; they are harmless, to those 
 who adopt them in the sense, and with the 
 qualifications just mentioned; but it does not 
 follow that they are harmless to others. On the 
 one hand, that " the doctrines of predestination 
 and our election in Christ" may be so held as to 
 prove (according to the language of our article) a 
 " dangerous downfall," will hardly be denied by 
 any ; and, on the other hand, they may prove 
 a stumbling-block to those who do not hold 
 
 " See Essay IV. First Series. 
 
SECT. 6.] 
 
 On Election. 
 
 149 
 
 them, by raising a prejudice against other doc- 
 trines — some of the most important of Chris- 
 tianity, — when taught in conjunction with these, 
 and represented as connected with them. Now 
 it is to be admitted, indeed, that there may 
 be dangers of this nature attendant on every 
 gospel-^rM^7^ ; since there is none that may not 
 be perverted by some, or that may not give 
 offence to others ; but in the case of any thing 
 which plainly appears to be gospel-truth, this 
 danger must be braved ; we must preach God's 
 word as we have received it, and trust in Him 
 to prosper and defend it. But it is not so, in 
 the case of doctrines which (whether true or 
 not) are not plainly declared in Scripture. The 
 dangers to which any such doctrines may lead, 
 are needlessly and wantonly incurred ; and those 
 who preach them are answerable for the re- 
 sults. If the speculations of human ingenuity 
 be mingled with the revealed word of God, even 
 though the opinions maintained be true, some 
 may be misled, and others unnecessarily dis- 
 gusted ; Christianity may be loaded (as Dr. Paley 
 expresses himself respecting transubstantiation) 
 with a weight that sinks it ; and the mischiefs 
 
150 
 
 On Election. [essay hi. 
 
 ensuing will be justly imputable to the rashness 
 of those who give occasion to them. 
 
 Let Christians, then, be taught to rejoice in- 
 deed in their high privileges, as the " Called," 
 and "Elect," and "Peculiar people of God;" 
 but let them be taught also, while they offer up 
 their thanks for his unmerited mercies, to con- 
 sider their own diligence and care as indispen- 
 sable, not only to their attainment of the offered 
 blessings, but also to their escape from an 
 aggravated condemnation, — for " provoking and 
 grieving Him, who has done so great things for 
 them," " as in the provocation, and as in the 
 day of temptation in the wilderness." Let them 
 be told to trust indeed firmly in the aid and 
 guidance of God's Holy Spirit, which will con- 
 duct those who earnestly seek it, and walk 
 according to it, through the perils of the Wil- 
 derness of this world, to the glories of their 
 promised inheritance ; but let them learn from 
 the rebellious Israelites, that He will not force 
 them to enter into that good land, but will even 
 exclude from it those who refuse to hearken to 
 Him. Wherefore, "let him that thinketh he 
 standeth take heed lest he fall." God is indeed 
 
SECT. 6.3 On Election. 151 
 
 " faithful who hath promised ;" but He requires 
 us also to be faithful to ourselves ; and He has 
 taught us, both by direct precepts and by ex- 
 amples, that if we harden our hearts, and will 
 not hear his voice, we shall not " enter into his 
 rest." 
 
ESSAY IV. 
 
 ON PERSEVERANCE AND ASSURANCE. 
 
 § 1. There are many passages in the Apostle 
 Paul's writings in which he expresses his assured 
 expectation of the final success of his converts 
 in attaining the gospel-promises : for instance, 
 " Being confident of this very thing, that He who 
 hath begun a good work in you will perform it 
 until the day of Jesus Christ i. e. that at his 
 last coming to judge the world, they will be 
 numbered among the inheritors of immortal 
 happiness with Him. It is in a similar tone 
 that he addresses the Corinthians in the begin- 
 ning of his first Epistle to them : " Waiting 
 for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who 
 shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye 
 may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ." Indeed there is hardly any one of his 
 
SECT. 1.] Perseverance and Assurance. 153 
 
 Epistles in which he does not express the same 
 exulting anticipation of eternal life awaiting his 
 beloved on earth : the gratitude and joy which 
 he consequently feels on their behalf, are scarcely 
 ever left unmentioned. 
 
 Passages of this description are appealed to as 
 establishing the doctrine of " final Perseverance" 
 and " Assurance ;" that is, of the impossibility of 
 ultimate failure, to those who are once truly 
 elected of God; and the complete conviction 
 which such persons may (or must) attain on 
 earth of their own safety. The dangerous con- 
 sequences again, apprehended by many, from 
 these as well as other doctrines maintained on 
 this Apostle's authority, have accordingly but too 
 often led them to depreciate his writings, or to 
 regard them with suspicion and dread, and to 
 keep them in a great degree out of sight. 
 
 That such opinions as those alluded to (as far, 
 that is, as they are erroneous and mischievous) 
 have been grounded on a misunderstanding of 
 these writings, and may be the most effectually 
 refuted by a fair and correct exposition of the 
 Author's meaning, I have endeavoured to show 
 in the preceding Essay, as far us relates to the 
 
154 Perseverance mid Assurance, [essay iv. 
 
 doctrine of Christian Election. Closely con- 
 nected with this, and next in natural order to 
 it, are the other doctrines just mentioned ; on 
 which, accordingly, I now propose to offer some 
 remarks. But it will be the less necessary to 
 dwell on them, on account of that closeness of 
 connexion ; the one question being a kind of 
 offshoot from the other. Absolute predestination 
 to eternal life evidently implies the physical im- 
 possibiUty of ultimate failure, — in short, the 
 infallible perseverance of the Elect ; and if any 
 one have arrived at the knowledge that he is 
 one of the Elect, he cannot but have the most 
 complete Assurance of his own safety. And these 
 notions are, not without some probable grounds 
 at least, regarded by many as pernicious in the 
 extreme; — as naturally leading to careless and 
 arrogant confidence , — spiritual pride, — relaxation 
 of virtuous efforts, — and indulgence of vicious 
 propensities. They have accordingly laboured 
 to repel this danger by dwelhng much and se- 
 dulously on the uncertainty, even to the last, 
 of the state of even the best Christian ; and of 
 the possibility of his falling even from the most 
 confirmed state of grace and holiness. 
 
SECT. 2.] Perseverance and Assurance. 155 
 
 § 2. It should be remembered, however, that 
 we may, in our extreme caution against one 
 danger, fall into the opposite. Presumptuous 
 confidence, and careless security, are indeed 
 evils to be carefully guarded against; but they 
 are not the only evils to be apprehended : de- 
 spondency, and, what is more hkely to occur, a 
 deadness of the affections in all that relates to 
 religion, and a total aversion of the mind to- 
 wards it, may be generated, in some persons at 
 least, by dwelhng too much and too earnestly 
 on the chances of ultimate failure. It should 
 be remembered, too, that the doctrines of Per- 
 severance in godliness, and of Assurance of sal- 
 vation, in some sense or other, have received 
 the full sanction of the Apostle Paul ; nor would 
 he so often and so strongly have expressed his 
 grateful exultation in the spiritual state of his 
 converts, and his full confidence that the good 
 work begun in them would ultimately be com- 
 pleted, had he not considered the exhibition of 
 these cheering and encouraging prospects, as 
 highly edifying, and conducive to their Christian 
 progress. And I cannot but think that his 
 example in this point has been too little attended 
 
156 Perseverance and Assurance, [essay iv. 
 
 to by some writers ; who overlook the dangers 
 on one side, while they overrate those on the 
 other ; which at the same time they do not take 
 the most effectual way to obviate. It is not 
 enough that they express the fullest confidence 
 in God's fulfilment of his promises, to all who 
 are not wanting on their part. To one whose 
 mind is disposed to serious thoughtfulness, all 
 doubts respecting his final salvation (however 
 well convinced he may be that if he fail of it, the 
 fault will be his own) — doubts which must imply 
 the apprehension of the unspeakably horrible 
 alternative, — cannot but suggest (in proportion 
 as they prevail) the wish that Christianity were 
 untrue : — that this life were the whole of his 
 existence, rather than that the remotest risk of 
 such an alternative should be incurred.^ And a 
 
 * It is to be observed, that when I speak of the horror of 
 being in any doubt, or of apprehending any risk — contem- 
 plating any chance , of this or that evil, &c., I mean, absolute, 
 not hypothetical or conditional risk, — possibility — probability, 
 &c., for this latter does not occasion any uneasiness. A man 
 is shocked, for instance, at the idea of the remotest risk of 
 being overwhelmed in the sea, or of perishing with hunger ; 
 but he knows that when walking on the sea-shore, he would 
 be probably overwhelmed, if he should stay there till the tide 
 
SECT. 2. J Perseverance and Assurance. 151 
 
 wish of this kind is utterly at variance with such 
 a state of mind, as, according to Paul, the 
 Christian's ought to be. For it must not be 
 imagined that a wish relative to something which 
 (as in the present case) does not at all depend on 
 our choice, must, therefore, be wholly inopera- 
 tive and unimportant. No man's wishes can 
 indeed make a religion false ; they may even not 
 cause him to disbelieve it ; but they may yet 
 very easily lead him (without any dehberate 
 design) habitually to withdraw his thoughts from 
 a painfully alarming subject. There is a pro- 
 pensity in the human mind, (which, however 
 unreasonable and absurd, is instinctive, and 
 almost unavoidable) to turn away, insensibly 
 more and more, from the contemplation of that 
 which is unpleasant. Nor will such feelings of 
 dread, distaste, and aversion, as have been alluded 
 to, be necessarily confined (as at first sight one 
 might suppose) to men who are knowingly lead- 
 ing such a life as can afford them little or no 
 just ground of hope in the gospel-promises. For 
 
 came up ; and that he would be starved if he should refuse to 
 take the food that is before him : but this (as it may be called) 
 hypothetical danger, gives him no uneasiness at all. 
 
158 Perseverance and Assurance, [essay iv. 
 
 it should be remembered, that the apprehension 
 of suffering is so incomparably more keen than 
 the anticipation of gratification, — so faint and 
 feeble are our conceptions of happiness, com- 
 pared with those of misery, that the least admix- 
 ture of a dread of any very terrible evil, will 
 (when really impressed on the mind) more than 
 counterbalance a far greater amount of favour- 
 able hopes ; and, consequently, to a thoughtful 
 mind, the idea of certain annihilation would 
 appear far preferable to the remotest chance of 
 endless misery." 
 
 Now it is with those of a thoughtful turn that 
 we are concerned in the present question. As 
 for the great mass of the careless and worldly, 
 they are, indeed, for the most part, far too con- 
 fident of salvation : but their confidence, com- 
 monly results from a vague, general, unweighed 
 notion of God's mercy ; not, from any predesti- 
 narian persuasion of their being selected from 
 the rest of mankind, and ordained to persevere 
 in holiness, under the constant guidance of the 
 Divine Spirit. They need, indeed, to be, if pos- 
 sible, alarmed and filled with apprehension : but 
 
 *> See the last Note. 
 
SECT. 2.] Perseverance and Assurance. 159 
 
 it is a far different kind of alarm ihei/ need, from 
 that of which we have been speaking. They 
 need to be warned of the dangers attendant on a 
 careless, not on an active and zealous Christian 
 life ; of the danger, not of falling /row a state of 
 grace, but of never striving to be in such a 
 state ; of the danger of losing heaven, not by 
 turning from the service of God, but by not turn- 
 ing from the service of sin. Their false security 
 arises, not from their dwelling, with too con- 
 fident expectation, on the glories of a better 
 world, but from their thinking too little, or not 
 at all, of any world but this. Let such be 
 alarmed, by all means possible, into a just sense 
 of the ruin to which they are hastening by taking 
 no pains to lead a Christian life ; and to urge suck 
 a ground of alarm will have no tendency to dis- 
 hearten those who are conscious of an earnest 
 desire, and endeavour to live to God. And the 
 more confidence is expressed of the final success 
 of those who will come to Christ, and set them- 
 selves to work out their own salvation, the more 
 will the sinner be encouraged to begin in earnest^ 
 and pursue with vigour, the great work of refor- 
 mation. 
 
160 Perseverance and Assurance, [essay iv. 
 
 § 3. But is there, then, it may be asked, no 
 " fear and trembling" to be felt by all men in 
 working out their salvation ? Can any man be 
 exempt from all danger of excessive and pre- 
 sumptuous confidence ? Undoubtedly such a 
 danger is always, and by every one, to be sedu- 
 lously guarded against ; but it will be best 
 guarded against, not by seeking to lower the 
 Christian's hopes, but by connecting his confi- 
 dence with his own unremitting efforts; by 
 striving to establish in his thoughts an insepa- 
 rable combination between the idea of the hap- 
 piness he looks forward to, and that of the 
 requisite exertions on his part. The fullest 
 confidence of attaining any object, if the attain- 
 ment of it be still regarded as dependent on 
 our own endeavours, and if that confidence be 
 grounded on a firm resolution to me those en- 
 deavours, can never lead to negligence and 
 inactivity.'' 
 
 The Christian who is earnestly striving to be 
 led by the Holy Spirit, and to " grow in grace" 
 daily, must not be told indeed that he cannot 
 
 ' See Note (A) at the end of this Essay. 
 
SECT. 3.] Perseverance and Assurance. 161 
 
 turn aside from the right path if he would; that 
 it is out of his power to fall into a life of sin : but 
 that fear and trembling which I conceive Paul to 
 have intended, the conviction, namely, that our 
 care and diligence are never to be laid aside 
 even to the end, will not lessen such confidence 
 as proceeds on the full determination to retain 
 that dihgent care ; nor will it dash with any 
 mixture of gloomy apprehensions the joyful an- 
 ticipations with which such a Christian looks 
 forward to a future hfe. 
 
 And since this inspiriting confidence is evi- 
 dently calculated to produce a good practical 
 effect, hence it is perhaps that some who hold 
 those notions relative to predestination and 
 election which were adverted to in the last 
 Essay, are led to suppose, (contrary to what I 
 have there maintained, § 5,) that these peculiar 
 doctrines are practical. For men who are not 
 much accustomed to attentive and accurate re- 
 flection, are easily led to confound together two 
 things perfectly distinct ; viz.: 1st, a man's prac- 
 tical confidence, personally, as to his oxen final 
 salvation ; and 2dly, the beUef that a decree has 
 gone forth respecting every man, placing each in 
 
 M 
 
162 Perseverance and Assurance, [essay iv. 
 
 the list either of the elect who cannot fail of 
 salvation, or of the reprobate who cannot attain 
 it. Now these two persuasions are in no wise 
 necessarily connected. A man may hold either 
 of them without the other. On the one hand 
 any one's joyful anticipations in respect of his 
 own case, (which have a practical tendency) are 
 not, as I have above shown, any thing peculiar 
 to the views of the Calvinistic school respecting 
 election ; on the other hand, these views have, 
 as has also been shown, whether true or false, 
 no practical tendency ; and do not even neces- 
 sarily imply any thing cheering and consolatory. 
 For a man's conviction that evei-y one's destiny 
 is fixed for good or for evil, can aflford him no 
 comfort, unless he is assured that his own is the 
 favourable destiny. Many indeed do combine 
 these two persuasions; but still they are two, 
 and distinct, and may be disunited. Nor is the 
 number small of those who are naturally of a 
 temper over-timid, anxious, and unreasonably 
 desponding; such as need encouragement; but 
 are too often denied, both by Calvinists and 
 Arminians, such encouragement as their case 
 calls for. 
 
SECT. 4.] Perseverance and Assurance. 163 
 
 § 4. We may learn, not only from the Apostle's 
 precepts relative to Christian trust and "joy in 
 the Holy Ghost," but also from his example, as 
 recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, in concerns 
 of a different nature, that he at least did not con- 
 sider the active and circumspect employment of 
 means, inconsistent with the most undoubting 
 certainty as to the event; even a certainty 
 founded on immediate precise revelation from 
 heaven. Let any one read the account of vv^hat 
 befell him while imprisoned at Jerusalem, and he 
 will find him assured, by a supernatural vision, 
 of his deliverance from the then present danger ; 
 " Be of good cheer, Paul, for thou must bear 
 witness of me also at Rome." Yet when the 
 designs of the conspirators to murder him came 
 to his knowledge, he took every precaution (by 
 sending to warn the chief captain) that prudent 
 apprehension could suggest.'' Again was he 
 favoured, on the occasion of the shipwreck, with 
 a like supernatural assurance, that he, being 
 destined by his Master to arrive at Rome, should 
 be saved from the peril of the sea ; and moreover, 
 that his companions should be spared also for 
 
 Acts xxiii. 17. 
 
 m2 
 
164 Perseverance and Assurance, [essay iv. 
 
 his sake/ and should come safe to land : yet 
 immediately after, we find him using and sug- 
 gesting every precautionary means that could 
 have occurred to the most doubting and fear- 
 ful : it vv^as through Paul's presence of mind 
 that the mariners were withheld from deserting 
 the ship, and depriving the passengers of their 
 needful aid : Then said Paul, Except these 
 abide in the ship, ye cannot he saved Was it 
 then that he doubted, in this or in the former 
 case, the supernatural assurance he had re- 
 ceived ? Surely not : but he regarded that very 
 assurance as grounded on the supposition that 
 he himself should employ all those regular 
 means which he on his part was ready and fully 
 resolved to employ: his exertions (which he 
 was conscious of being determined to use) formed 
 the hypothesis (if I may so speak) on which the 
 divine promise proceeded ; and he evidently 
 judged it possible that he might, in one sense of 
 the phrase, lose his life at Jerusalem, or in the 
 shipwreck ; i. e. it was in his power to cast away 
 his hfe if he chose not to use the requisite 
 
 * Acts xxvii. 22. 
 
 Acts xxvii. 31. 
 
SECT. 4.] Perseverance and Assurance. 165 
 
 exertions ; but such a possibility as this, could 
 not lead to any doubt or apprehension.^ 
 
 Nor is this a distinction too refined for any 
 but the highest and most perfect order of minds ; 
 on the contrary, experience shows that it is 
 within the reach of the most ordinary capacity. 
 Nothing indeed is more common than the ex- 
 pression of a full conviction as to what some 
 person's conduct will be on some particular 
 occasion ; that conviction being grounded on 
 the supposition that his disposition as to the 
 point in question is fully ascertained, and that it 
 is a matter depending on his own free choice. 
 " Such a one is sure," it is said, " to act in this 
 manner ;" " he is incapable of doing so and so." 
 And when we thus prophesy another's conduct, 
 we are evidently exempt from all danger of 
 mistake, supposing we are originally correct in 
 our judgment as to the other's inclination, and 
 as to his being free to follow that inclination ; 
 and yet, though it is in a certain sense " im- 
 possible " that he should act otherwise, so far is 
 this anticipation of his conduct from implying 
 that he is powerless, or under restraint, that it 
 
 s See Note p. 156, § 2. 
 
166 Perseverance and Assurance, [essay iv. 
 
 proceeds on the very supposition of his being 
 left perfectly free. 
 
 And again, with respect to one's own conduct, 
 that confidence of success necessarily diminishes 
 exertion, is notoriously the reverse of truth. 
 Every general seeks to inspire his soldiers with 
 the firmest confidence of victory ; which ex- 
 perience proves to be the best incentive to those 
 exertions that are requisite to ensure it. Many 
 a man, from having been persuaded by omens, 
 or by the predictions of astrologers, that he is 
 fated to attain some great object, has, in conse- 
 quence, instead of being lulled into carelessness 
 by this belief, been excited to the most laborious 
 and unwearied efforts, such as perhaps he would 
 not otherwise have thought of making, for the 
 attainment of his object.** And the common 
 
 h The Macbeth of Shakspeare may be appealed to as an 
 example even more convincing than that of any single in- 
 dividual of real history ; if at least it be admitted that 
 Shakspeare in his delineations of character is true to nature. 
 For if so, they must be conformable to general nature ; and 
 each character must be a representative, if not of Man uni- 
 versally, at least of some class of men. A real individual, 
 on the contrary, may chance to be an exception to all general 
 rules ; but such a person could not be introduced in a drama 
 
SECT. 4.] Perseverance and Assurance. 1 67 
 
 sense, even of the simple and unlearned Chris- 
 tian, will be sufficient to show him, and show 
 him practically, the distinction between that 
 vain confidence which leads to inactivity, and 
 a rational confidence connected with exertion ; 
 
 without bringing censure on the poet as guilty of a departure 
 from nature. Now Macbeth is evidently both prompted in 
 the first instance to aim at the crown, and fortified to go 
 through with his attempt, by the prediction of the witches. 
 We might abstractedly have supposed that he would even 
 have been withheld, had he previously had the design, from 
 the perpetration of a crime he abhorred, by the consideration 
 that it must be needless, since it was infallibly decreed that 
 he should be king. Once, and only once, the thought occurs 
 to him, " If Chance will have me king, why Chance may 
 crown me without my stir ;" but far from acting on this view, 
 rational as it appears, his conduct is throughout in direct 
 opposition to it. It has been said, though not, I think, 
 correctly, that, in cases of this kind, the reason why belief in 
 Fate does not lead to inactivity, is because it is inoperative. 
 It does not indeed operate in the same way in which it would 
 in some persons : there are many who would be deterred from 
 incurring guilt or danger or toil for the sake of a kingdom by 
 their being fully convinced of being fated to attain it. But 
 others are led by this very belief to use efforts which they 
 otherwise would not have used. Now, surely it is not cor- 
 rect to call that belief inoperative, which does palpably lead 
 to results, merely because it seems to us strange that such 
 should be the result. 
 
168 Perseverance and Assurance, [essay iv. 
 
 provided a due attention is but paid to those 
 ambiguities of language which have been already 
 noticed. In fact, he may be easily taught that 
 the distinction is one which he acts upon con- 
 tinually in the ordinary affairs of life. When 
 returning, for instance, from his daily labour to 
 his home, he feels a perfect certainty (supposing 
 his life and limbs to be spared) that he shall 
 reach his home ; it is an event of which, practi- 
 cally, he feels no more doubt than of the setting 
 of the sun ; but he does not therefore stand still, 
 and neglect to use the means, because he is con- 
 fident of the event; on the contrary, the very 
 ground of his confidence is the full determination 
 he feels to press forward towards his object. 
 
 In like manner, (it may be explained to him) 
 it was in one sense possible, though in another 
 sense impossible, that Paul should, even at 
 his last trial, have deserted and renounced his 
 Saviour ; i. e. it was completely in his power ; it 
 depended on himself whether he would forsake 
 his Lord, and forfeit his rich inheritance, or " lay 
 hold on eternal life" which was just before him : 
 so that in one sense it was true that he might 
 fall and perish eternally ; but he was conscious 
 
SECT. 4.] Perseverance and Assurance. 169 
 
 that though he had the power, he had not the 
 will thus to apostatize ; and, therefore, fully 
 trusting in his Saviour's promises, and in a reso- 
 lution supported by divine aid, he pours forth 
 (in his second Epistle to Timothy) his exulting 
 confidence of persevering even to the end. 
 " The time of my departure is at hand ; I have 
 fought a good fight ; I have finished my course ; 
 henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of 
 righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous 
 Judge, shall give me at that day !" 
 
 It cannot be denied however that there is 
 practical danger in the tone in which some 
 preachers dwell on such topics as the " final 
 perseverance of God's people — the " triumph 
 of faith ;" which, they say, is sure, if it be a 
 true saving faith, to prevail in the end, though 
 God suffers his saints to fall into grievous sins, 
 &c. All this may be, and certainly has been in 
 some cases (whether the recorded one of Oliver 
 Cromwell be authentic or not') interpreted to 
 
 ' O. Cromwell is said to have anxiously asked, when on 
 his death-bed, whether it were possible for the elect to fall 
 finally ; and being answered in the negative, replied, " then I 
 am safe ; for 1 am certain that I was once in a state of grace." 
 
170 Perseverance and Assurance, [essay iv. 
 
 mean that if a man has been at any time satis- 
 fied, from his own feehngs of being in a state 
 of grace, he will be infallibly saved, and is not 
 to regard any sin, or course of sin, he may 
 subsequently fall into, as endangering his final 
 acceptance. 
 
 That this is not the meaning of many who 
 preach in the manner I have described, I am 
 well aware. But then, they are bound distinctly 
 to warn " him that thinketh he standeth, to take 
 heed lest he fall." They should explain that a 
 saving faith can only be known to he such, either 
 by the possessor of it, or by others, from its 
 bringing forth fruits ; — and that, by asserting the 
 perseverance, or repentance and return to God, 
 (in case of falling into sin) of all God's People, 
 they mean, that those who fall away and do 
 not return, were deceived in supposing them- 
 selves to have ever been, in this sense, God's 
 People ; — and that no man's state can be pro- 
 perly judged of but by his leading a christian 
 or an unchristian life, or can be perfectly known 
 except at the last day. 
 
 All this, it may be said, would be but a 
 circuitous way of stating, in the form of its 
 
SECT. 4.] Perseverance and Assurance. 171 
 
 converse, the proposition, that " He that endureth 
 unto the end, the same shall be saved." But 
 this, it is evident, must be the real meaning of 
 those who use the above-mentioned expressions 
 without intending to teach Antinomian doctrines. 
 
 But, as was observed in the preceding Essay, 
 (§ 5.) it is not from dwelHng on general decrees, 
 but from the application to each individual or 
 each description of individuals, of such admo- 
 nitions or encouragements as suit the actual 
 apparent condition of each, — it is from this alone 
 that practical good results are to be hoped. 
 
 Let the careless Christian then be roused and 
 alarmed ; — let the presumptuous be warned and 
 repressed ; — but let no distressing and disheart- 
 ening doubts be implanted in the breast of the 
 zealous though humble and timid follower of 
 Christ : only let his confidence be always made 
 to rest on the supposition of his own unremitting 
 care and earnest endeavour ; while, at the same 
 time, it is also made to rest not on his own unaided 
 strength, but on the promised support of Him 
 who "worketh in us both to will and to do." 
 Let him be encouraged to rejoice at the bright 
 prospect set before him ; but to rejoice in 
 
172 Perseverance and Assurance, [essay iv. 
 
 the spiritual strength insured to him by the 
 Lord, who ** never faileth them that seek Him." 
 *' Rejoice," (says the Apostle, to such a Chris- 
 tian,) "rejoice in the Lord alway, and again 
 I say, rejoice .... being confident of this very 
 thing, that He which hath begun a good work in 
 you, will perform it until the day of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ." 
 
NOTE. 
 
 Note A, page 160. 
 
 There is a term applied in Scripture to persons wlio 
 embraced the Christian faith, for which our language 
 affords no adequate translation. We have not in 
 English, as there is in Greek, a present participle pas- 
 sive ; and this deficiency often drives us into awkward 
 and sometimes obscure circumlocution : thus, if tutt- 
 TOfitvoQ is rendered " one who is beaten," this might be 
 understood to relate to what is past, and complete (which 
 would be TSTUju/xlvoc) ; but it signifies properly, though 
 in uncouth English, " one who is being beaten." The 
 particular term I am now alluding to is <Tw^o/xEvot ; 
 " the Lord added to the Church daily stick as should he 
 saved rovg awZofievovg : (Acts ii. 47) the word ren- 
 dered "such as should be saved," (a rendering which 
 has perhaps led some readers who cannot, or do not, 
 study the original, to suppose that absolute predestina- 
 tion is implied in this passage,) signifies merely " persons 
 coming into the way of salvation," namely, by embracing 
 Christianity. 
 
174 
 
 Note. 
 
 It is to be observed, however, by the way, that there 
 are many expressions in Scripture, which do not even 
 imply any full conviction in the writer's mind that a par- 
 ticular event will take place, or has taken place, though 
 taken strictly, they might seem to imply this, and have, 
 probably, been often so understood. Instances may be 
 found, probably, in all languages, but I think they are 
 particularly common in Greek, of the same terms being 
 used in speaking of an object proposed, and of an object 
 attained ; a full desitjin and attempt to do any thing, is 
 often expressed in the same manner as if it had been 
 actually done. Thus in the Ajax of Sophocles (to take 
 an instance from a profane writer), Agamemnon charges 
 Ajax with having murdered him ; i. e. having done all 
 that in him lay to accomplish that purpose, though his 
 design was frustrated by extraneous impediments. And, 
 indeed, nothing is more common in most of the ancient 
 writers, than to speak of a person's having done this or 
 that, i. e. having been doing it — having formed the design, 
 and actually set about it, — though the attempt was 
 stopped. In this sense the Lord is repeatedly said to 
 have delivered the Israelites out of Egypt, to bring them 
 into the land of Canaan, which he had promised to their 
 forefathers ; and yet the whole generation perished in 
 the wilderness, through their own refusal when sum- 
 moned, to take possession of the promised land ; and a 
 considerable portion of the promised land was never 
 occupied even by their posterity, through their own 
 neglect to drive out the nations whose territory had been 
 allotted to them. In this case, the positive and un- 
 
Note. 
 
 175 
 
 qualified declarations of Scripture, not only do not imply 
 any compulsion exercised on the Israelites, but do not 
 even imply a foreknowledge that the events would take 
 place ; but merely that the Lord had performed his part, 
 and had left it completely in their power to bring about 
 the events in question. 
 
 So also, many of the expressions of the Sacred 
 Writers, in which they speak of the holiness of life 
 here, and eternal life hereafter, provided by the grace 
 of God for those whom they are addressing, not only do 
 not relate to any absolute predestination to reward, or 
 irresistible control of the will; but do not necessarily 
 imply, according to a fair construction of the language, 
 even so much as a perfect confidence in the writers, that 
 these objects will, in fact, be attained ; but merely that 
 such is the design and tendency of the gospel dispensa- 
 tion ; — that God had placed these things within their 
 reach. 
 
 I am not contending, be it observed, that this absolute 
 predestination and irresistible grace may not, in fact, be 
 a part of the gospel-scheme in the Divine Mind; but 
 only that no inference to that effect can be fairly drawn 
 from the words of the Apostles. They may be truths, 
 but they are not revealed truths ; they may belong to the 
 gospel-5c/*me, but not to the gospel-rm/a^^o^^. 
 
ESSAY V. 
 
 ON THE ABOLITION OF THE LAW. 
 
 There are very many passages relative to the 
 Mosaic Law occurring in the writings of the 
 Apostle Paul, (especially in the Epistle to the 
 Romans, and in those to the Galatians and to 
 the Hebrews), whose most obvious and simple 
 interpretations, at least, would seem to imply 
 the entire abolition of that law, by the establish- 
 ment of the Gospel. For instance, Rom. vii. 6. 
 " But now we are delivered from the law, that 
 being dead wherein we were held ;" — or, accord- 
 ing to another, and perhaps better reading, 
 which makes no material difference, " being 
 dead to that law wherein we were held." And 
 these passages constitute one class of those 
 from which such pernicious consequences have 
 been sometimes deduced, and oftener, perhaps. 
 
SECT. 1.] On the Abolition of the Law. 177 
 
 apprehended, as have occasioned the writings 
 of this Apostle to be regarded by some persons 
 with suspicion and alarm. A few, and but a 
 few, have openly inferred, — a greater number 
 probably have incautiously led their hearers to 
 infer, — from Paul's declarations relative to our 
 justification " by faith without the deeds of the 
 law," that the Christian is under no obligation to 
 the practice of virtue, — nor incurs, if he be one of 
 the Elect, any spiritual danger from the commis- 
 sion of sin ; and the dread of this Antinomian 
 system has occasioned others, as I have before 
 remarked, to withdraw their own and their hearers' 
 attention, either from the writings of this Apostle 
 altogether, or from those parts of them which 
 are thought to countenance such a doctrine. 
 
 § 1. That the virtuous or vicious conduct of 
 a Christian have nothing to do with his final 
 salvation, and are indifferent in God's sight, has 
 been inferred from the total abrogation, under 
 the gospel-scheme, of the Mosaic law; which 
 abrogation, it is contended, the Apostle plainly 
 declares, without any limitation or exception — 
 any distinction between moral, and ceremonial or 
 
 N 
 
178 On the Abolitioii of the Law. [essay v. 
 
 civil precepts. On the other side is urged the 
 strenuous and repeated inculcation of moral 
 duties, not only by the other Sacred Writers, 
 but by Paul himself as much as any ; together 
 with his earnest and express denial of the licen- 
 tious consequences which some might be dis- 
 posed to infer from his doctrines : for instance, 
 " What shall we say, then ? Shall we continue 
 in sin that grace may abound ? God forbid." 
 And again, "Shall we sin because we are not 
 under the law, but under grace ? God forbid." 
 And hence it is concluded that that abolition of 
 the law which is spoken of, relates only to the 
 ceremonial and civil precepts ; and that the moral 
 law remains binding on all men for ever. 
 
 But this mode of stating the case, though sub- 
 stantially correct, leaves a considerable difficulty 
 unsolved : it points out indeed the inconsistency 
 of the Antinomian scheme with one portion of 
 the Apostle's writings ; but it leaves unex- 
 plained, and, consequently, open to unfavour- 
 able suspicion, the other portion before alluded 
 to : it fails, in short, to reconcile the Writer 
 with himself. For it cannot be denied that he 
 does speak, frequently and strongly, of the 
 
SECT. 1.] On the Abolition of the Law. 179 
 
 termination of the Mosaic law, and of the ex- 
 emption of Christians from its obligations, with- 
 out ever limiting and qualifying the assertion, — 
 without even hinting at a distinction between 
 one part which is abrogated, and another which 
 remains in full force. It cannot be said that 
 he had in his mind the Ceremonial law alone,'' 
 and was alluding merely to the abolition of that ; 
 for in the very passages in question, he makes 
 such allusions to sin, as evidently show that he 
 had the moral law in his mind ; as, for instance, 
 where he says, " The law was added because of 
 transgressions :" — " by the law was the know- 
 ledge of sin ;" with many other such expressions. 
 And it is remarkable, that even when he seems 
 to feel himself pressed with the mischievous 
 practical consequences which either had been, 
 or he is sensible might be, drawn from his doc- 
 trines, he never attempts to guard against these 
 by limiting his original assertion ; — by declaring 
 that though part of the law was at an end, still, 
 part continued to be binding; but he always 
 inculcates the necessity of moral conduct on 
 
 * See Note A, at the end of this Essay. 
 N 2 
 
180 
 
 On tlw Abolition of tJw Law. [essay v. 
 
 some different ground : For instance, " What 
 shall we say, then ? Shall we continue in sin 
 that grace may abound ? God forbid ! " He 
 does not then add, that a part of the Mosaic 
 law remains in force ; but urges this considera- 
 tion, ** How shall we, who are dead to sin, live 
 any longer therein ? Know ye not that so many 
 of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were 
 baptized into his death ? Therefore we are 
 buried with him by baptism into death; that 
 like as Christ was raised up from the dead by 
 the glory of the Father, even so we also should 
 
 walk in newness of life." '* Knowing this 
 
 that our old man is crucified with him, that the 
 body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth 
 we should not serve sin." And again, " Shall we 
 sin because we are not under the law, but under 
 grace ? God forbid ! Know ye not that to whom 
 ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants 
 ye are to whom ye obey ? whether of sin unto 
 
 death, or of obedience unto righteousness" 
 
 " being then made free from sin, ye became the 
 servants of righteousness." And such also is 
 his tone in every passage relating to the same 
 subject. 
 
SECT. 2.] On the Abolition of the Law. 181 
 
 § 2. Now let us but adopt the obvious interpre- 
 tation of the Apostle's words, and admit the entire 
 abrogation, according to him, of the Mosaic law ; 
 concluding that it was originally designed for the 
 Israelites alone, and that its dominion over them 
 ceased when the Gospel system was established : 
 and we shall find that this concession does not 
 go a step towards introducing the Antinomian 
 conclusion, that moral conduct is not required of 
 Christians. For it is evident that the natural 
 distinctions of right and wrong, which conscience 
 points out, must remain where they were. These 
 distinctions, not having been introduced by the 
 Mosaic law, cannot, it is evident, be overthrown 
 by its removal; any more than the destruction of 
 the Temple at Jerusalem, implied the destruction 
 of the Mount Sion whereon it was built. The 
 Apostle does indeed speak in some passages, of 
 the law as having been a guide and instructor in 
 matters of morahty ; as where he says, " I had 
 hot known sin but by the law ; " but that this 
 must not be understood, in the fullest extent, as 
 implying that no moral obligation could exist, or 
 could be understood, independent of the Mosaic 
 revelation, is evident not only from the nature of 
 
1 82 On the Abolition of the Law. [essay v. 
 
 the case, but from his own remarks in the same 
 epistle, relative to " the Gentiles, which have not 
 the law," being capable of " doing by nature the 
 things contained in the law .... their conscience 
 also bearing witness, and their thoughts accusing 
 or else excusing one another;" and of their 
 " knowing" (in cases where they committed sin) 
 "that they who do such things are worthy of 
 death." To say, therefore, that no part of the 
 Jewish law is binding on Christians, is very far 
 from leaving them at liberty to disregard all 
 moral duties. For, in fact, the very definition of 
 a moral duty, implies its universal obligation 
 independent of all enactment. The precepts re- 
 specting sacrifices, for instance, and other cere- 
 monial observances, we call Positive ordinances ; 
 meaning, that the things in question became 
 duties because they were commanded: — the com- 
 mandment to love one's neighbour as oneself, 
 on the contrary, we call a moral precept, on the 
 very ground that this was a thing commanded 
 because it was right. And it is evident that 
 what was right or wrong in itself before the law 
 existed, must remain such after it is abrogated. 
 Before the commandments to do no murder, and 
 
SECT. 2.] On the Abolition of the Law. 1 83 
 
 to honour one's parents, had been delivered from 
 Mount Sinai, Cain was cursed for kilHng his 
 brother, and Ham for dishonouring his father ; 
 which crimes, therefore, could not cease to be 
 such, at least, as any consequence of the abo- 
 lition of that law. 
 
 Nor need it be feared that to proclaim an 
 exemption from the Mosaic law should leave 
 men without any moral guide, and at a loss to 
 distinguish right and wrong: since, after all, 
 the light of reason is that to which every man 
 must be left, in the interpretation of that very 
 Law. For Moses, it should be remembered, did 
 not write three distinct books, one of the Cere- 
 monial Law, one of the Civil, and a third of the 
 Moral ; nor does he hint at any such distinction. 
 When, therefore, any one is told that a part 
 of the Mosaic precepts are binding on us, viz. 
 the moral ones, if he ask which are the Moral 
 precepts, and how to distinguish them from 
 the Ceremonial and the Civil, with which they 
 mingled, the answer must be, that his conscience, 
 if he consult it honestly, will determine that 
 point. So far, consequently, from the moral 
 precepts of the law, being, to the Christian, 
 
184 On the Abolition of the Law. [essay v. 
 
 necessary as a guide to his judgment in deter- 
 mining what is right and wrong, on the contrary, 
 this moral judgment is necessary to determine 
 what are the moral precepts of Moses. 
 
 The study, indeed, of the moral law of Moses 
 is profitable for instruction, and may serve to 
 aid our judgment in some doubtful cases that 
 may occur ; provided we are careful to bear in 
 mind all the circumstances under which each 
 precept was delivered. For there is a presump- 
 tion'' that what was commanded or prohibited by 
 Moses, is right or wrong in itself, unless some 
 reason can be assigned, which makes our case 
 at present different from that of the Israelites ; — 
 some circumstance of distinction, which either 
 leaves us more at large than they, or (as is 
 oftener the case) calls for a higher and purer 
 moral practice from us. But to consult a code 
 of moral precepts for instruction, is very different 
 from referring to that as a standard, and rule of 
 conduct. 
 
 If the notion then that such as are not under 
 the Mosaic law, are, on that account, exempt 
 from all moral obligations, be rejected as utterly 
 
 ^ See Elements of Rhetoric ; " Presumptions." 
 
SECT. 2.] On the Abolition of the Law. 185 
 
 groundless, and if, consequently, no practical 
 danger or absurdity be involved in the suppo- 
 sition of that law being fully abrogated, the 
 conclusion that it is so abrogated will hardly be 
 any longer open to doubt ; being evidently the 
 most agreeable to the Apostle's expressions in 
 their obvious, natural and unstrained sense." And, 
 indeed, the very Law itself indicates, on the face 
 of it, that the whole of its precepts were in- 
 tended for the Israelites exclusively ; (on which 
 supposition they cannot, of course, be binding on 
 Christians,) not only from the intermixture of 
 civil and ceremonial precepts with moral, but 
 from the very terms in which even these last are 
 
 <= I am inclined to believe that one reason which makes 
 some persons reluctant to acknowledge the total abolition 
 of the Mosaic law, is the notion that the sanctity of the 
 " Christian Sabbath" depends on the fourth commandment, 
 and that, consequently, the reverence due to the Lord's Day 
 would be destroyed, or impaired, by our admitting the ten 
 commandments to be no longer binding. But a little re- 
 flection will satisfy any candid mind that there is no ground 
 for any such suspicion, and that all the various opinions 
 respecting the Lord's Day, however irreconcileable with each 
 other, are all perfectly reconcileable with the belief of the 
 abrogation of the Mosaic Law. — On this point I have offered 
 some remarks in Note B at the end of this Essay. 
 
1 86 On the Abolition of the Law. [essay v. 
 
 delivered. For instance, there cannot be any 
 duties more clearly of universal obligation, than 
 that of the worship of the one true God alone, 
 and that of honouring parents ; yet the precepts 
 for both of these are so delivered as to address 
 them to the children of Israel exclusively : " I 
 am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of 
 the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage ; 
 thou shalt have none other Gods but me." And 
 again, " Honour thy father and thy mother, that 
 thy days may be long in the land which the Lord 
 thy God giveth thee." 
 
 The simplest and clearest way then of stating 
 the case with respect to the present question, 
 is, to lay down, on the one hand, that the Mo- 
 saic Law was limited both to the nation of the 
 Israelites, and to the period before the Gospel ; 
 but, on the other hand, that the natural prin- 
 ciples of moraUty, which, among other things, 
 it inculcates, are, from their own character, of 
 universal obligation ; — that, as on the one hand, 
 " no Christian man (as our article expresses it) 
 is free from the observance of those command- 
 ments which are called moral," so, on the other 
 hand, it is not because they are commandments 
 
SECT. 3.] On tJie Abolition of the Law. 187 
 
 of the Mosaic Law that he is bound to obey 
 them, but because they are moral. Indeed, 
 there are numerous precepts in the laws, for 
 instance, of Solon and Mahomet, from a con- 
 formity to which no Christian can pretend to 
 exemption ; yet, though we are bound to prac- 
 tise almsgiving and several other duties there 
 enjoined, and to abstain from murder, for in- 
 stance, and false-witness, which these lawgivers 
 forbid, no one would say that a part of the 
 Koran is binding on Christians ; since their con- 
 duct is determined not by the authority of the 
 Koran, but by the nature of the case. 
 
 § 3. The remarks, however, which have been 
 offered, may perhaps be admitted as just, by 
 some who will yet be disposed to doubt their 
 importance : " the proposed statement," they 
 may say, " of the character of a Christian's 
 moral obligations, differs from the one opposed 
 to it, merely as a statement ; there is substanti- 
 ally no difference, as long as it is fully admitted 
 that the Christian is not exempt from the rules 
 of morality." But it should be remembered 
 that the difference between an accurate and an 
 
188 On the Abolition of the Law. [essay v. 
 
 inaccurate statement of any doctrine, and of 
 the grounds on which it rests, is of no slight 
 importance, if not to those who embrace the 
 doctrine, at least in reference to such as are 
 disposed to reject or to doubt it. It is giving 
 a manifest advantage to the advocates of error, 
 to maintain a true conclusion in such a form, 
 and on such grounds, as leave it open to un- 
 answerable objections. And this has been par- 
 ticularly the case in the present instance ; for 
 the only shadow of probability which has ever 
 appeared to exist on the Antinomian side, has 
 arisen from the question having been made to 
 turn on this point, whether the Mosaic Law be 
 entirely abolished, or not : one who denies that 
 it is, cannot but find a difficulty, at least, in 
 reconciling his position with many passages of 
 Scripture ; whereas, if we admit the premiss 
 which the Antinomians contend for, but show 
 how utterly unconnected it is with their extra- 
 vagant conclusion; — if we show that though 
 the Mosaic Law does not bind us, our moral 
 obligations exist quite independent of that 
 Law, — the monstrous position that the moral 
 conduct of Christians has nothing to do with 
 
SECT. 4.] On ilie Aholilim of the Law. 189 
 
 their final doom is at once exposed as totally 
 untenable and absurd. 
 
 § 4. It may be thought, however, that real 
 decided speculative Antinomians are so rare, 
 and, moreover, are so far beyond the reach of 
 sober reasoning, that it is scarcely worth while 
 to devise arguments for their refutation. And 
 it must be admitted that the doctrines in ques- 
 tion are not by any means prevalent ; a circum- 
 stance which is very remarkable, and strongly 
 indicates their intrinsic improbability. For a 
 system so evidently favourable to the natural 
 indolence and sinfulness of Man, as that which 
 makes our eternal destiny entirely independent 
 * of our moral conduct, could not have failed to 
 become highly popular, among a large class at 
 least, were it not utterly repugnant to Reason. 
 A frightfully large portion of the world are, 
 undeniably, practical Antinomians ; i. e. they 
 live as if they did not expect to be hereafter 
 accountable for their conduct ; and yet it will 
 be found, that in theory, very few of these 
 adopt the Antinomian hypothesis, which would 
 be the most effectual in quieting the conscience 
 
1 90 On the Abolition of the Law. [essay v. 
 
 of the sinner : a circumstance which furnishes 
 most powerful testimony against the truth of 
 that hypothesis. 
 
 But however small may be the danger of the 
 Antinomian heresy gaining ground, the right 
 interpretation of Scripture relative to this point, 
 is not, therefore, the less important. The 
 opinion that the Gospel exempts men from 
 moral obligation is not the error which I have 
 had principally in view, but another, much 
 more prevalent — that of suspecting that Paul 
 lends some support to such an opinion ; and 
 consequently, of depreciating the authority, or 
 discouraging the study, of his writings. It is on 
 this account chiefly that I have endeavoured to 
 show, in this and two former Essays, how far 
 this Apostle is from affording any countenance 
 to certain doctrines, the advocates of which 
 usually appeal to his authority. 
 
 But another, and perhaps still more important 
 use, may be made of the view which has been 
 now taken. The Apostle, we find, while he 
 earnestly contends for the entire abolition of the 
 Mosaic Law, still recognizes the authority of 
 that moral law which is written on man's heart. 
 
SECT. 4.] On the Abolition of the Law. 191 
 
 This consideration not only deprives Antino- 
 mians of all shadow of support for their system, 
 and removes the prejudice which might exist 
 against the Apostle, but it also leads us to re- 
 flect on his method of inculcating moral duties, 
 and on his reasons for adopting it. 
 
 If men are taught to regard the Mosaic Law 
 (with the exception of the civil and ceremonial 
 ordinances) as their appointed rule of life, they 
 will be disposed to lower the standard of Chris- 
 tian morality, by contenting themselves with a 
 literal adherence to the express commands of that 
 Law ; or, at least, merely to enlarge that code, 
 by the addition of such precise moral precepts 
 as they find distinctly enacted in the New 
 Testament. Now this was very far from being 
 the Apostle's view of the Christian life. Not 
 only does the Gospel require a morality in many 
 respects higher and more perfect in itself than 
 the Law, but it places morality, universally, on 
 higher grounds. Instead of precise rules, it 
 furnishes sublime principles of conduct ; leaving 
 the Christian to apply these, according to his 
 own discretion, in each case that may arise ; and 
 thus to be " a law unto himself." Gratitude 
 
192 On the Abolition of the Law. [essay v. 
 
 for the redeeming love of God in Christ, with 
 mingled veneration and affection for the person 
 of our great Master/ and an exalted emulation, 
 leading us to tread in his steps — an ardent 
 longing to behold his glories, and to enjoy his 
 presence in the world to come — with an earnest 
 effort to prepare for that better world — love 
 towards our brethren for His sake who died for 
 us and them — and, above all, the thought that 
 the Christian is a part of " the temple of the 
 Holy Ghost," who dwelleth in the church — even 
 the " Spirit of Christ, without which we are none 
 of his," a temple which we are bound to keep 
 undefiled ; — these, and such as these, are the 
 gospel-principles of morality, into a conformity 
 with which the Christian is to fashion his heart 
 and his life ; and they are such principles as the 
 Mosaic dispensation could not furnish. The 
 Israelites, as not only hving under a revelation 
 which had but a shadow of the good things of 
 the Gospel, but also as a dull, and gross-minded, 
 and imperfectly-civilized people, in a condition 
 corresponding to that of childhood, were in few 
 things left to their own moral discretion, but 
 See Essay III. First Series. 
 
SECT. 5.] On the Abolition of the Law. 193 
 
 were furnished with precise rules in most points of 
 conduct. These answered to the exact regu- 
 lations under which children are necessarily 
 placed, and which are gradually relaxed as they 
 advance towards maturity; not by any means 
 on the ground that good conduct is less required 
 of men than of children ; but that they are ex- 
 pected to be more capable of regulating their 
 own conduct by their own discretion, and of acting 
 upon principle. 
 
 § 5. When, then, the Mosaic code was abo- 
 lished, we find no other system of rules substi- 
 tuted in its place. Our Lord and his Apostles 
 enforced such duties as were the most liable to be 
 neglected,— corrected some prevailing errors, — 
 gave some particular directions which particular 
 occasions called for, — but laid down no set of 
 rules for the conduct of a Christian : they laid 
 down Christian principles instead : they sought 
 to implant Christian dispositions. And this is 
 the more remarkable, inasmuch as we may be 
 sure, from the nature of Man, that precise regu- 
 lations, even though somewhat tedious to learn, 
 and burdensome to observe, would have been 
 o 
 
194 On the Abolition of the Law. [essay v. 
 
 highly acceptable to their converts.^ Hardly 
 any restraint is so irksome to Man {i. e. to " the 
 natural Man") as to be left to his own discretion, 
 yet still required to regulate his conduct accord- 
 ing to certain principles, and to steer his course 
 through the intricate channels of hfe, with a 
 constant vigilant exercise of his moral judgment. 
 It is much more agreeable to human indolence 
 (though at first sight the contrary might be sup- 
 posed) to have a complete system of laws laid 
 down, which are to be observed according to the 
 letter, not to the spirit ; and which, as long as a 
 man adheres to them, afford both a consola- 
 tory assurance of safety, and an unrestrained 
 liberty as to every point not determined by 
 them ; than to be called upon for incessant 
 watchfulness, — careful and candid self-examina- 
 tion,— and studious cultivation of certain moral 
 dispositions. 
 
 ^ If the Sermon on the Mount, for instance, had been three 
 times as long, and had consisted, not, as it does, of a delinea- 
 tion of Christian dispositions, but of a catalogue of minute 
 directions for particular cases, it would doubtless have been 
 more satisfactory to the hearers. But for some further re- 
 marks on our Lord's mode of conveying moral instruction, 
 see Essay VIII. 
 
SECT. 5.] On tJie Abolition of the Law. 195 
 
 Accordingly, most, if not all systems of Man's 
 devising (whether corruptions of Christianity, or 
 built on any other foundation) will be found, 
 even in what appear their most rigid enactments, 
 to be accommodated to this tendency of the 
 human heart. When Mahomet, for instance, 
 enjoined on his disciples a strict fast during a 
 certain period, and an entire abstinence from 
 wine and from games of chance, and the devotion 
 of a precise portion of their property to the 
 poor, leaving them at liberty, generally, to follow 
 their own sensual and worldly inclinations, he 
 imposed a far less severe task on them than if 
 he had required them constantly to control their 
 appetites and passions, to repress covetousness, 
 and to be uniformly temperate, charitable, and 
 heavenly-minded. And had Paul been (as a 
 false teacher always will be) disposed to comply 
 with the expectations and wishes which his 
 disciples would naturally form, he would doubt- 
 less have referred them to some part of the 
 Mosaic Law as their standard of morality, or 
 would have substituted some other system of 
 rules in its place. Indeed there is strong 
 reason to think, (especially from what we find 
 o 2 
 
196 On the Abolition of the Law. [essay v. 
 
 in 1st Corinthians) that something of this nature 
 had actually been desired of him. He seems to 
 have been appHed to for more precise rules than 
 he was willing to give ; particularly as to the 
 lawfulness of going to idol-feasts, and as to 
 several points relative to marriage and celibacy ; 
 concerning which, and other matters, he gives 
 briefly such directions as the occasion rendered 
 indispensable, but breaks off into exhortations 
 to " use this world as not abusing it ;" and 
 speedily recurs to the general description of the 
 Christian character, and the inculcation of 
 Christian principles. He will not be induced to 
 enter into minute details of things forbidden, 
 and permitted, — enjoined and dispensed with ; 
 and even when most occupied in repelling the 
 suspicion that gospel-liberty exempts the Chris- 
 tian from moral obligation, instead of retaining 
 or framing anew any system of prohibitions and 
 injunctions, he urges upon his hearers the very 
 consideration of their being exempt from any 
 such childish trammels, as a reason for their 
 aiming at a more perfect holiness of life, on 
 purer and more generous motives : " Sin," he 
 says, " shall not have dominion over you ; for 
 
SECT. 5.] On the Abolition of the Lmv. 197 
 
 ye are not wider the Law, but under grace and 
 he perpetually incites them to walk worthy 
 of their vocation," on the ground of their being 
 " bought with a price," and bound to "live unto 
 Him who died for them ;" — as " risen with 
 Christ" to a new life of hohness, — exhorted to 
 " set their affection on things above, not on 
 things on the earth ;" — as " living sacrifices" to 
 God ; — as " the temple of the Holy Ghost," 
 called upon to keep God's dwelHng-place un- 
 defiled, and to abound in all " the fruits of the 
 Spirit ;" — and as " being delivered from the Law, 
 that we should serve in newness of the Spirit, 
 and not in the oldness of the letter." 
 
 He who seeks then (as many are disposed to 
 do), either in the Old Testament or in the New, 
 for a precise code of laws by which to regulate 
 his conduct, mistakes the character of our re- 
 ligion. It is indeed an error, and a ruinous one, 
 to think that we may " continue in sin, because 
 we are not under the law but under grace :" 
 but it is also an error, and a far commoner one, 
 to inquire of the Scriptures in each case that may 
 occur, what we are strictly bound to do or to 
 abstain from, and to feel secure as long as we 
 
198 On the Abolition of the Law. [essay v. 
 
 transgress no distinct commandment. But he 
 who seeks with sincerity for Christian principles 
 will not fail to find them. If we endeavour, 
 through the aid of the Holy Spirit, to trace on 
 our own heart the delineation of the Christian 
 character which the Scriptures present, and to 
 conform all our actions, and words, and thoughts, 
 to that character, our heavenly Teacher will 
 enable us to "have a right judgment in all 
 things;" and we shall be " led by the Spirit" of 
 Christ to follow his steps, and to " purify our- 
 selves even as He is pure;" that "when He 
 shall appear, we may be made like unto Him, 
 and may behold him as He is." 
 
 1 
 
NOTES. 
 
 Note A, page 179. 
 
 It appears plainly from the Acts and from the 
 Epistles, that the Jewish Christians continued to adhere 
 to the observances and rules of the Levitical Law, as 
 national customs, down to the time, probably, of the 
 taking of Jerusalem and final overthrow of the Jewish 
 polity. [See Acts xviii. 18, and xxi. 24.] 
 
 To some it has appeared a difficulty to understand 
 why the Apostle Paul in particular, should have not 
 merely allowed this, but apparently even made a point 
 of it, while at the same time, so far from insisting on 
 the Gentile-converts observing the Ceremonial Law, he 
 earnestly protested against their doing so. To them he 
 declared that "if they were circumcised, (denoting I 
 conceive by that word, the observance, generally, of the 
 Ceremonial Law) Christ profited them nothing ;" while 
 on the other hand he himself made an open display of 
 his strict compliance with the customs and observances 
 of his People. 
 
 Some might at first sight be led to expect that the 
 principle he lays down, " In Christ Jesus neither cir- 
 cumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a 
 
200 
 
 Notes. 
 
 new creature," would have led him to disregard alto- 
 gether the whole question respecting the Ceremonial 
 Law, and to leave all men to their own judgment or 
 inclination. 
 
 But on more attentive reflection we shall perceive the 
 admirable wisdom of his procedure, and its exact con- 
 formity with the above principle. The ceremonial 
 observances of the Law being a matter of perfect in- 
 difference as far as the Gospel is concerned,— neither a 
 part of it, nor contrary to it — the only way of practically 
 complying with this principle, was, that, in respect of 
 such observances, every one should remain just as he 
 had been before ; neither adopting nor discontinuing, on 
 becoming a Chi'istian, national customs which Chris- 
 tianity neither enjoins nor forbids : — should " continue 
 (as the Apostle expresses it) in his vocation wherein he 
 was called." [See Hinds's History of the Rise of 
 Christianity.] 
 
 If those who had been accustomed, for instance, to eat 
 all kinds of meats, had hecjun, on becoming Christians, 
 to abstain from swine's-flesh, &c. this would have implied 
 that that abstinence, and other such observances were 
 regarded by them as a part of Christianity : — it would 
 have implied their attributing some justifying efficacy to 
 these " works of the Law." And the Apostle reprobates 
 accordingly such an error as most pernicious and un- 
 christian ; saying that he who seeks this justification is 
 " fallen from grace," (viz. the grace of the Gospel) " and 
 that Christ is become of none effect to him." But if 
 again any one who was a Jew by nation, had departed 
 
 ) 
 
Notes. 
 
 201 
 
 from their customs on becoming a Christian, he would 
 have implied a belief that those national customs were 
 something contrary to Christianity ; — that there was some 
 Christian virtue in the opposite customs. Now this 
 would have been no less an error than the other ; for the 
 eating, for instance, of swine's-flesli, was no more a part 
 of Christianity than the abstaining from it. 
 
 When indeed the city and temple had been finally 
 destroyed by the Romans, and the People dispersed, 
 then, and from thenceforward down to the present day, 
 there was no longer the same reason for converted Jews 
 to adhere to those observances which could no longer be 
 regarded as national customs, (the national Polity being 
 entirely subverted) but rather as badges of a religious 
 persuasion. But during the subsistence of that Polity, 
 the example and the advice of the Apostles tended to 
 leave all Christians, Jew and Gentile, each "in his voca- 
 tion wherein he was called ;" neither discontinuing, nor 
 adopting, any customs that were, as far as regards Chris- 
 tianity, matters of perfect indifference. 
 
 The most anxious care was taken, and the most ad- 
 mirable wisdom evinced, in guarding men against mixing 
 up with Gospel-truth, any thing, — no matter what — that 
 is no part of it, and in warning them of the several 
 superstitions, which, though seemingly opposite, were 
 essentially the same. 
 
 Note B, page 185. 
 Several different opinions are to be met with as to the 
 ground on which the observance of the Lord's Day should 
 
202 
 
 Notes. 
 
 be maintained; none of which however, — though they 
 cannot all be correct, — are in reality at variance with 
 what has been said respecting the abrogation of the 
 Levitical Law. 
 
 In the former editions I entered into an examination 
 of these several opinions, and a defence of the one which 
 appears to me the best-founded ; and was thus led into a 
 discussion, not, I trust unprofitable, but longer than I had 
 originally designed, or than was perhaps warranted by 
 the degi-ee of connexion it has with the immediate subject 
 of the Vth Essay. That dissertation being now sepa- 
 rately published under the title of " Thoughts on the 
 Sabbath," I have judged it best to refer ray readers to it, 
 for a fuller examination of the several questions that 
 have been raised ; confining the present Note chiefly to 
 the one point more immediately relating to the subject 
 now before us, viz. that (as has been already said) none 
 of the prevailing opinions, however irreconcileable with 
 each other, are necessarily at variance with the doctrine 
 that the obligations of the Levitical Law are at an end. 
 
 The several opinions respecting the grounds of the 
 observance of the Lord's Day may be classed under four 
 heads : 
 
 i. Some hold that the Lord's Day is essentially a 
 Christian festival, observed in conformity with the prac- 
 tice of the Apostles and of their followers in every 
 Christian Church from their time downwards: that it 
 agrees with the Jewish Sabbath, only, inasmuch as it is 
 observed on one day in every seven, agreeably to the 
 division of time into weeks, derived from the Jews, the 
 
Notes. 
 
 203 
 
 nation in which Christianity originated : but that it dif- 
 fers from the Jewish Sabbath in being observed on a 
 different day of the week, — on a different authority — in 
 a different manner, — and in commemoration of a different 
 event.* 
 
 ii. Some hold that the Lord's Day is observed on the 
 authority, not of the Fourth Commandment, but of a 
 precept deUvered to all mankind at the Creation, and 
 which is alluded to in the beginning of Genesis. 
 
 iii. The observance of Sunday as a Christian Sab- 
 bath is by some persons derived from the Mosaic Law, 
 on the ground of its being one of the moral precepts of 
 that Law. 
 
 iv. Lastly, some maintain that the Fourth Com- 
 mandment is binding on Christians, but that the duties 
 and obligations pertaining originally to the Seventh day 
 were transferred by the authority of the Apostles to the 
 First day ; — in short that they changed the Sabbath from 
 Saturday to Sunday. 
 
 Now each of these different opinions will be found on 
 reflection to be perfectly reconcileable with what I have 
 maintained relative to the abrogation of the Mosaic 
 Law. 
 
 \. With respect to the first of these opinions this is 
 obvious. A festival peculiarly and exclusively Christian, 
 
 » The universal observance among Christians in distant ages and 
 countries, and differing in so many points of doctrine and practice, 
 of some Christian Festivals, such as Christmas Day, Good Friday, 
 and the Lord's Day, is in many points of view a most interesting 
 fact 
 
204 
 
 Notes. 
 
 cannot be in any way affected, — any more than the 
 ordinance of the Lord's Supper, — by the abolition of 
 the Law of Moses. 
 
 2. The same may be said of the second of the opinions 
 noticed. A command delivered at the Creation to the 
 whole Human Race, cannot be affected by the abolition 
 of the Law, delivered, many ages afterwards, to the one 
 Nation of Israel. 
 
 3. A moral precept again, must, by its own character — 
 because it is a moral precept — be binding on all men in 
 every age and country, independent of any enactment. 
 
 4. And those who hold that the obligations of the 
 Sabbath were transferred by the Apostles from Saturday 
 to Sunday, — though their doctrine is extremely liable to 
 be so understood as to imply that the Mosaic Law is not 
 abrogated — yet may perceive on attentive reflection that 
 this conclusion does not necessarily follow. For this 
 (supposed) transfer of the Sabbath by the Apostles 
 would plainly amount to a re-enactment by the divine 
 authority of those Apostles; so that the Christian 
 Sabbath being thus made to depend on their command, 
 cannot be affected by the abrogation of the Levitical 
 Law. We all know that when (in secular matters) some 
 law is repealed by a subsequent Act, which declares at 
 the same time that such and such a clause of the former 
 law shall, under certain modifications, continue in force, 
 then, the clause so modified, is binding by virtue of the 
 very Act which repealed the original law. Any altera- 
 tion therefore made by the Apostles in the Jewish Sab- 
 bath (viz, as to the day, and the mode, of the observance) 
 
 1 
 
Notes. 
 
 205 
 
 plainly amounts to an institution by them of the Christian 
 Sabbath. 
 
 Now the authority of an apostolical institution no one 
 can consider as weakened by the abrogation of the Mo- 
 saic Law. 
 
 The doctrine in question however, — though the above 
 is I think the fairest way of considering it, — yet is liable 
 (as has been just observed) to be so understood — and I 
 believe often is so understood — as to nullify all that I 
 have urged respecting the entire abrogation of the Mosaic 
 Law, and to establish a principle which, if consistently 
 followed out, would go to subject Christians to all the 
 obligations of that Law. 
 
 1. The first of the opinions alluded to, — that which 
 places the observance of the Lord's Day wholly on a 
 Christian foundation, — has a strong presumption in its 
 favour from its general prevalence among Christians, 
 even those most widely separated from each other, not 
 only in age and country, but also in their opinions and 
 practices in several other points. With scarcely any ex- 
 ception but that of a portion — certainly a considerable 
 portion — of the inhabitants of these Islands (and of their 
 American descendants) for about the last two centuries, 
 the opinion I now advert to has been the prevailing one 
 throughout the whole Christian world in every age and 
 country. This does not indeed amount to more than a very 
 strong presumption of the soundness of the doctrine : 
 but that it should have been represented as not only 
 unsound, but novel and sinc/ular, is quite unaccountable. 
 
206 
 
 Notes. 
 
 Of the later divines who have taken this view the best 
 known is Dr. Paley ; whose Moral Philosophy is in the 
 hands of almost every educated person in the empire. 
 Of our earlier divines, — the Reformers of our Church 
 and those who lived near their times — there were 
 scarcely any who took any other view than that I am 
 now adverting to; which indeed was in those days so 
 little disputed, that most of those writers implied, by 
 their silence on the subject, or their slight and inci- 
 dental allusions to it, that they did not consider the 
 doctrine as requiring to be defended or even formally 
 stated. For example, throughout the whole of our 
 Liturgy and Rubric the word Sabbath never once 
 occurs. Our Reformers, there is every reason to be- 
 lieve, concurred in taking the same view of the obli- 
 gation of the Fourth Commandment as is set forth in 
 the Catechism extant under the name of Archbishop 
 Cranmer, published in the beginning of the reign of 
 Edward the Sixth : " The Jews, in the Old Testament, 
 were commanded to keep the Sabbath Day ; and they 
 observed it every Seventh Day, called the Sabbat, or 
 Satterday. But we Christian men, in the New Testa- 
 ment are not bound to such commandments of Moses' 
 Law," &c. &c. 
 
 The reader who would examine further the opinions 
 on this point, of our early divines, is referred to Dr. 
 Heylin's " History of the Sabbath," Baxter's " Prac- 
 tical Works," (p. 764), Bishop Taylor's " Ductor Dubi- 
 tantium," Bishop Sanderson's " Cases of Conscience," 
 Bishop Bramhall's " Dissertation," &c. 
 
Notes. 
 
 207 
 
 II. In reference to the second of the opinions above 
 noticed, which rests the obligation of observing the Lord's 
 Day on a command given at the creation, I so far agree 
 with it as to think it highly probable that some Sabbatical 
 institution in memory of the creation existed in the patri- 
 archal times. It must have been indeed something less 
 strict than the Mosaic ordinance ; else the Sabbaths could 
 not have been " a sign between the Lord and the People 
 of Israel," distinguishing them from the other nations : 
 but that some kind of observance of the Seventh Day ex- 
 isted prior to the Mosaic Law, is a conclusion reasonably 
 to be drawn (though not to be insisted on as a necessary 
 Article of Faith) from the wide diffusion of the custom of 
 dividing time into weeks, even among the Pagans ; whose 
 religion was a corruption of the patriarchal. Even in the 
 agreement of several different nations in dedicating each 
 day of the week to some one of their false gods, some trace 
 may be perceived of the true origin of the hebdomadal 
 division.^ 
 
 But the question is rather speculative than practical. 
 The precept, if any such was originally delivered, of ob- 
 serving the last day of the week as a Sabbath in memory of 
 the close of the Creation, never in fact has been observed 
 by Christians ; with the exception of a very small number, 
 in the early Churches, of men who were tinctured with 
 
 b It seems not unlikely that the dedication, among so many dif- 
 ferent nations, of the first day of the week to the Sun, may be a 
 trace of the commemoration of the day on which " God said, Let there 
 be light." And again, Saturn, to whom the Seventh Day was dedi- 
 cated, is generally described by Pagan writers as connected with a 
 reign of peaceful rej)ose, — of universal and unbroken rest. 
 
208 
 
 Notes. 
 
 Judaism. And if a law designed to be universal and perpe- 
 tual, had been delivered; God would never surely have left 
 it to be inferred by uncertain conjecture, but would have 
 plainly recorded it. To leave men in doubt what their obli- 
 gations are, is always reckoned one of the most inexcusable 
 blunders in legislation, and such as it would be profane to 
 attribute to the Deity. The very notion of a. probable law, 
 emanating from a perfectly wise and good Being, may 
 fairly be regarded as a contradiction in terms. 
 
 III. As for those who represent the Fourth Command- 
 ment as a part of the moral law, and the observance of 
 the Lord's Day as a fulfilment of it, they appear, if I 
 understand their meaning (of which, however, I am not 
 certain) not so much to hold any peculiar doctrine, as to 
 employ their terms in a peculiar and unusual sense ; intro- 
 ducing needless indistinctness and perplexity by the want 
 of a precise mode of expression. The distinction between 
 moral (i. e. natural) precepts, and positive precepts, (see 
 Essay V. § 2,) is too well established and too convenient, 
 to be lightly departed from. It is indeed morally right 
 to obey the just commands of a lawful superior, even in 
 matters originally indifferent ; but still we should distin- 
 guish these from things not originally indifferent. A Jew 
 was bound, for instance, both to honour his parents, and 
 also, to worship at Jerusalem : but the former was com- 
 manded because it was right ; and the latter was right 
 because it was commanded. 
 
 Now it is plain that the observance of one day in seven 
 rather than one in six, or one in eight or in ten, and the 
 observance of the last day of the week rather than the first 
 
Notes. 
 
 209 
 
 or the second, must be, — independently of any positive 
 ordinance, — a matter of indifference. 
 
 But what is usually meant, I believe, by those who 
 reckon the observance of the Sabbath as a part of the 
 moral {i. e. natural) law, is, merely that it is a moral duty 
 to devote a certain portion of time to devotion and reli- 
 gious study ; though the specification of particulars is a 
 matter of positive enactment. In this sense, the statement 
 is true ; and it is equally true, in the same sense, that the 
 Levitical Sacrifices were, — and that the ordinance of the 
 Eucharist is — a part of the moral law : since natural con- 
 science teaches the duty of worshipping God, though not, 
 the particular mode of worship. 
 
 IV, Lastly, the opinion of those who hold that the fourth 
 commandment is binding on Christians, but that the 
 Sabbath was transferred by the Apostles from the last 
 day of the week to the first, although, as I have said, it 
 is not, when fairly considered, at variance with the doc- 
 trineof the general abolition of the Mosaic law,— since such 
 a transfer by apostolic authority would plainly amount to 
 a re-enactment by the Apostles, of that particular ordi- 
 nance, so modified — yet I must say that I can see no 
 plausible grounds for the opinion. 
 
 The Mosaic law of the Sabbath was delivered very 
 plainly and publicly, — with especial solemnity — and with 
 such particularity as to forbid expressly the kindling of a 
 fire. (Exod. xxxv. 2, 3.) Any transference therefore 
 of the ordinance from one day to another, or any other 
 modification of it, we might have expected to find intro- 
 duced with no less plainness, solemnity, and precision : 
 and not left to be inferred from any incidental hints, or 
 P 
 
210 
 
 Notes. 
 
 traditional interpretations. But we find not only no 
 express enactment, or even hint, or tradition of the kind, 
 but the very contrary. We find in the book of Acts the 
 Sabbath continually mentioned, always as the Jewish 
 Sabbath, and always as an ordinance regularly observed 
 (in common with the other precepts of the Levitical law) 
 by the Apostles and the rest of the Jewish Christians : 
 and this, at the very time when it is plain they were ac- 
 tually observing the Lord's Day as the day of Christian 
 worship ; assembling " the disciples on the first day of 
 the week, to break bread ;" {i. e. to celebrate the Eucharist) 
 — those very Gentile-disciples whom Paul exhorts to "let 
 no man judge them in meat or in drink, or in respect of a 
 holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath-days; which 
 are a shadow of things to come ; but the body is Christ." 
 
 We find, in short, the most ample evidence of the ob- 
 servance of the Lord's day, as a Christian festival, by the 
 Apostles and their immediate converts ; whose example 
 has been followed by all Christian Churches down to this 
 day : but that in so doing they conceived themselves to 
 be observing a precept of the Levitical law, and that they 
 taught the doctrine of a transfer of the Sabbath from one 
 day to another, we find not only no evidence, but every 
 conceivable evidence to the contrary. 
 
 I am therefore much at a loss to understand how any 
 one can really entertain a doubt on the question, who does 
 but read the New Testament with attention, and with an 
 unprejudiced mind ; even without consulting as an inter- 
 preter, that Liturgy which is usually regarded as our 
 Church's Commentary on the Scriptures, as far as regards 
 the main points of Christian doctrine and duty. 
 
Notes. 
 
 211 
 
 But many persons not generally uninquiring, or un- 
 candid, or incompetent to reason accurately, have yet 
 been so early accustomed to take for granted, and assent 
 to on authority, certain particular points, that they after- 
 wards adhere to the belief so formed, rather from associa- 
 tion than on evidence. And some again, through the 
 influence of a feeHng which I have described in Essay L 
 § 5. when inculcating what they are conscientiously con- 
 vinced is a duty, are so fearful of unsettling the minds (as 
 the phrase is) of their hearers, that, rather than use any 
 argument, which though valid, might startle and revolt 
 popular prejudices, they will avail themselves of such as 
 they know will be readily admitted, though really un- 
 sound : sometimes even cautioning their hearers (as I 
 know to have been done in respect of the present question) 
 against reading any thing on the other side. 
 
 They probably satisfy themselves with the considera- 
 tion that the great point being to bring men to a right 
 practical conclusion, it is a matter of comparatively small 
 moment how they get at it. And it may, I am sensible, 
 seem to many, that it is a mere speculative question, on 
 what the observance of the Christian Sabbath is made to 
 depend, as long as all Christians are practically agreed 
 that it shall be observed, and observed on the same day 
 of the week, — the first, — and observed in a different 
 manner from that prescribed to the Jews ; who were for- 
 bidden, among other things, to kindle a fire, Sec. 
 
 Now this pra ctical agreement does certainly make any 
 hostile bitterness on such a question doubly unjustifiable, 
 and aggravates greatly the culpability of any slanderous 
 p2 
 
212 
 
 Notes. 
 
 misrepresentation of the doctrine maintained. I cannot 
 however but consider it as practically very dangerous to 
 admit a principle that may encourage men to take liberties 
 v?ith any divine commandment which they confess to be 
 binding on them, and to modify it according to human 
 tradition, or any kind of human authority. And such a 
 danger cannot but be incurred, if we teach them that the 
 Mosaic law of the Sabbath is binding on Christians, while 
 we also teach them that they are obeying it by observing 
 a different day from the one which that law appoints, — 
 in a different manner, — and in memory of a different event. 
 And it is every way desirable that they should be taught 
 not only, in practice, to observe the Lord's Day, but also 
 in principle; to observe it not as an ordinance enjoined by 
 the Mosaic Law — which in fact it is not — nor as deriving 
 its obligation — even if it were enjoined there — from a law 
 which the Apostle assures us does not bind Christians ; 
 but on the reasonable and true grounds which I have en- 
 deavoured to point out in the foregoing pages, as a 
 Christian festival. 
 
 For a fuller elucidation of this subject than would be 
 suitable to the present occasion, the reader is referred 
 to the treatise already mentioned, — " Thoughts on the 
 Sabbath;" — and also (besides the authors above cited) to 
 Bishop Kaye's " Selections from ths Works of Justin," 
 and to a well-written Review of the same in No. X. of the 
 Brtish Critic ; to several parts of Augustine and the other 
 early Fathers when treating of the Decalogue ; and to 
 " Calvin's Institutes," [lib. ii. ch. 8.] 
 
ESSAY VI. 
 
 ON IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS. 
 
 The importance of obtaining correct, and 
 avoiding erroneous notions, respecting any point 
 of doctrine, is not always to be measured by the 
 intrinsic importance of the doctrine itself, or by 
 the practical consequences immediately resulting 
 from this or that view of it. No error can be 
 considered as harmless and insignificant, which 
 tends to put a stumbhng-block in the way of 
 believers in the Gospel, and to afford to infidels 
 or heretics the advantage of a plausible objection 
 against its truths. The genuine and fundamental 
 doctrines of Christianity, may become hable to 
 the scoffs of some, and to the dread or disre- 
 gard of others, from their supposed connexion 
 with such as are in fact no part of the gospel- 
 revelation. It then becomes a matter of im- 
 portance to rectify even those mistakes which 
 
214 On imputed Righteousness, [essay vi. 
 
 are in themselves of no moment ; since we thus 
 (to use once more the expression of Dr. Paley) 
 " relieve Christianity of a weight that sinks it." 
 God forbid that the Christian should deny or 
 explain away any thing that is a part of his 
 faith, for the sake of moderating the hostility, or 
 escaping the scorn that may be directed against 
 it ; but as little is he authorized needlessly to 
 expose his religion to that hostility or scorn, by 
 maintaining or allowing to be maintained, as a 
 part of the Christian-revelation, any tenet (how- 
 ever intrinsically true) which the Scriptures do 
 not warrant. The same authority which forbids 
 us to " diminish aught" from the word of God, 
 forbids us also to "add thereto." 
 
 That the Apostle Paul's authority in particular 
 has been appealed to in support of several con- 
 clusions which are in fact not taught by him, 
 I have already endeavoured to show ; principally 
 with a view to the removal of that dread or 
 neglect of his writings which has too often been 
 the result. 
 
 § 1. Another doctrine, or set of doctrines 
 rather, there is, in support of which, this 
 
SECT. L] On imputed Righteousness. 215 
 
 Apostle s authority is principally referred to, 
 and which being (whether deservedly or not) 
 regarded by many with suspicion and alarm, or 
 with disgust and contempt, has thus proved a 
 source of objection, either to the gospel-scheme 
 altogether, or to the teaching of Paul in par- 
 ticular, of which such tenets have been supposed 
 to form a part. I allude to the doctrine of 
 " imputed sin," and " imputed righteousness," as 
 set forth by some writers, who represent it as 
 the very key-stone of the Christian system. 
 
 I purposely abstain from referring to any 
 authors in particular ; because the proper cha- 
 racter of a calm inquiry after truth, is so liable 
 to be lost in that of a controversy with some 
 individual or party ; and the discussion of any 
 question thus becomes, though more interesting 
 perhaps to some minds, yet less edifying ; since, 
 after all, the object ultimately proposed should 
 be, not the confutation of this or that theologian, 
 but the ascertainment of the genuine doctrines 
 of our rehgion ; which must rest, not on any 
 merely human authority, but on that of the 
 Holy Scriptures. 
 
 The system at present in question, as far as 
 
216 On imputed Righteousness, [essay vi. 
 
 I have been able to collect its import, may be 
 briefly stated thus : that when our first parents 
 had fallen from their state of innocence, they 
 transmitted to all their posterity (over and above 
 the proneness to sin which we are born with, 
 and our liability to natural death,) the guilt also 
 of the actual transgression committed by Adam : 
 this being imputed to every one of his poste- 
 rity : for he, it is said, being the federal head 
 or representative of the whole human species, 
 his act is considered as theirs to all intents and 
 purposes ; and each descendant of Adam is con- 
 sidered by his Almighty Judge as actually guilty, 
 from his birth, of the very sin of having eaten 
 of the forbidden fruit ; and is, for that sin, sen- 
 tenced not merely to undergo natural death, but 
 also everlasting punishment in the next world, 
 independently of any sins committed by himself. 
 
 This is not indeed always the sense in which 
 the imputation of Adam's sin to his posterity, 
 and their consequent punishment, are spoken 
 of ; there are some who understand by the ex- 
 pression, merely, the forfeiture of immortahty — 
 the liability to temporal death; though it is 
 perhaps rather an incorrect use of language, to 
 
SECT. 1.] On imputed Righteousness. 217 
 
 apply the term punishment to the absence of that 
 immortality which was never our's : the human 
 race indeed, taken collectively, so as to include 
 our first parents, may be said to have lost im- 
 mortal hfe ; but each individual of their pos- 
 terity, being born mortal, cannot, without great 
 laxity of language, be said to be punished by 
 being excluded from immortality. 
 
 The doctrine, however, in the sense before 
 stated, has been often expressly maintained, and 
 much oftener, indirectly imphed, and assumed as 
 indubitable. 
 
 Then, to relieve mankind from this sentence, 
 and to procure for them immortal happiness in 
 heaven, our Saviour Christ, it is said, not only 
 in his death offered up an effectual sacrifice for 
 the sins of the whole world, — bearing in his own 
 person the punishment due both to the imputed 
 transgression of Adam, and to the actual sins 
 of men, — but also, during his abode on earth, 
 performed for them those good works of perfect 
 obedience to the law, both ceremonial, civil, 
 and moral, which are imputed to true believers 
 in Him, and considered as theirs : even as the 
 transgression of Adam is imputed to all his 
 
218 On imputed Righteousness, [essay vi. 
 
 natural descendants. Thus, and thus only, it 
 is said, could the evil introduced by Adam's 
 transgression be (as far as respects the adoptive 
 children of God) effectually repaired : for as 
 Adam w^as the representative of the whole human 
 race, so that his sin is, by imputation, made 
 theirs, and they, all and each, thus lay under 
 the sentence of eternal punishment, so it was 
 necessary that the obedience and personal holi- 
 ness of Christ, who stands as the representative 
 of his faithful servants, should be, in like manner, 
 imputed to them, and thus give them a title to 
 eternal happiness : — that He should, in short, 
 not only by his death undergo the punishment 
 due to Man from God, but also, in his life, fulfil 
 the righteousness due to God from Man ; in 
 each instance, suffering and performing what 
 He did, vicariously,— /or, and in the stead of, 
 his people ; who are thence regarded as having 
 themselves both paid the penalty of sin, and 
 also performed perfect obedience to the divine 
 laws ; both having been accomplished by their 
 substitute and representative. And some there 
 are, who go so far as to maintain that as God 
 imputes to believers the good works of Jesus 
 
SECT. 1.] On imputed Righteousness. 
 
 219 
 
 Christ, and transfers to them the merit of his 
 obedient life, so He also imputed to Jesus, at the 
 time of his crucifixion, the actual guilt of those 
 sins for which he suffered, and regarded Him, 
 for the time being, as the actual transgressor; 
 " bearing ous sins " not only in respect of the 
 penalty of them, but of their intrinsic guilt, and 
 the divine wrath* against it. This, however, is not, 
 I believe, held by all who maintain the imputa- 
 tion of Adam's sin, and of Christ's obedience. 
 
 Some other slighter variations of statement 
 are to be found, as might be expected, in the 
 works of different authors ; but such, in the 
 main, as I have described, is the system taught, 
 not in abstruse theological disquisitions merely, 
 but in several popular treatises and sermons ; 
 and taught, as the very foundation of christian 
 faith ; of which indeed it must, if true, form no 
 insignificant part." 
 
 * There are many writers, who never think of reminding 
 their readers, and, indeed, appear to have themselves gradually 
 learnt to forget, that wrath is attributed to the Deity only in 
 a figurative, not a literal sense. — See King's Discourse on 
 Predestination. 
 
 ^ This theory may be classed, I think, under the head of 
 Bacon's " Idola Theatri." 
 
220 On impuled Righteousness, [essay vi. 
 
 That it is paradoxical, — remote from all we 
 should naturally have expected, — and startling 
 to our untutored feelings, cannot be questioned. 
 This is, however, no reason why it may not be 
 true ; or why, if true, we should shrink from 
 receiving it ; since God's " ways are not as our 
 ways ;" and since, incapable as we are of esti- 
 mating his counsels, it is for us, not to question, 
 but to receive, whatever He may have proposed 
 to us. It is a reason, however, why we should 
 inquire for, and expect, the more full and precise 
 revelation on such a point. What is discover- 
 able by unassisted human Reason, we must not 
 expect to find revealed at all in Scripture. 
 Such things again as, though not discoverable 
 by reason, are yet conformable to its suggestions, 
 and contain no mysterious difficulty, — of these, 
 we may receive satisfactory assurance even in a 
 single passage, or in a few short hints. But 
 any doctrine which, like that now in question, is 
 wholly at variance with every notion we should 
 naturally be led to form, we may be sure will be 
 revealed, if revealed at all, in the fullest and 
 most decisive language. The doctrine, too, 
 which I have been considering, must, if it belong 
 
SECT. 2.] On imputed Righteousness. 221 
 
 to the gospel-scheme, be as important as it is 
 mysterious : it must be the very key, as it were, 
 to eternal happiness ; since, according to this 
 view, it is only through the obedience of Christ 
 imputed to us, that we can have any claim or 
 hope to be admitted to the glories of his 
 heavenly kingdom. 
 
 § 2. It is not once or twice, therefore, — it is 
 not obscurely or obliquely, — that we might ex- 
 pect to find Paul speaking to his converts of 
 this imputed sin, and imputed obedience. As 
 the foundation of salutary dread, and of conso- 
 latory hope, — as connected most intimately with 
 every question relative to the punishments and 
 rewards of the next world, — we might expect 
 him to make the most explicit declarations re- 
 specting a point of such moment, — to dwell on 
 it copiously and earnestly, — to recur to it in 
 almost every page. 
 
 Now when we proceed to the actual examina- 
 tion of Scripture, do we find these most reason- 
 able expectations confinned ? Far otherwise : 
 it is not, perhaps, going too far, to say that the 
 whole system is made to rest on a particular 
 
222 On imputed Righteousness, [essay vi. 
 
 interpretation of one single text (Rom. v. 19), 
 *'As by one man's disobedience many" were 
 made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall 
 many'^ be made righteous." For though there 
 are other passages which have been considered 
 as alluding to and confirming the tenet in ques- 
 tion, there is none that could, without manifest 
 violence, be construed into an express declara- 
 tion of it. 
 
 The passage in question is one which we 
 cannot reasonably hope to interpret aright, if 
 we contemplate it as an insulated proposition ; — 
 if we do not take into account the general tenour 
 of the Apostle's teaching. Now, it is most im- 
 portant to observe, that frequent as are his 
 allusions (as might be expected) to the Chris- 
 tian's redemption, and acceptableness to God, 
 through Christ ; the reference is made, through- 
 out, to his death, — to his cross, — to his blood, — 
 to his siijfferings, — to his sacrifice of himself, as 
 the meritorious cause of our salvation ; not, to 
 the righteousness of his life imputed to behevers ; 
 the transfer of the merit of his good works. 
 For instance, "He hath reconciled us to God, 
 
 01 TToWot the many ; i. e. the whole mass of mankind. 
 
SECT. 2.] On imputed Righteousness. 223 
 
 in the body of his flesh through death :" " Being 
 justified freely by his grace, through the redemp- 
 tion that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set 
 forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his 
 blood:" " He hath brought us nigh to God, and 
 made Him at peace with us, through the blood 
 of the cross " We are sanctified through the 
 offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all ;" 
 — besides numerous other passages to the same 
 purpose. 
 
 Frequent again as are the allusions to the 
 pure and perfect holiness of our Saviour's hfe, 
 we nowhere find this spoken of as imputed to 
 Christians, and made theirs by transfer of merit ; 
 but always, as qualifying Him to be, on the one 
 hand, an example to Christians, and on the 
 other, both the Victim and the Priest, of spotless 
 purity ; — as constituting Him the true Lamb 
 without blemish, — " the innocent blood," which 
 " taketh away the sin of the world," because He 
 who offered it had no need of atonement for Him- 
 self. For instance, " how much more shall the 
 blood of Christ, who, through the Eternal Spirit, 
 offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse 
 your bodies from dead works to serve the living 
 
224 On imjyuted Righteousness, [essay vi. 
 
 God ?" " Such an High Priest became us, who 
 is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sin- 
 ners." In these and many other such passages, 
 in which the personal holiness of Christ is spoken 
 of, and spoken of too in reference to our salva- 
 tion, it is not said that the obedience of Christ is 
 imputed to us, and the merit of his good works 
 transferred to us, (which we might surely have 
 expected to find there mentioned, had it been 
 designed to teach such a doctrine) ; but, on the 
 contrary, it seems rather to be implied that his 
 obedience was imputed to Himself as necessary 
 to qualify him for the great sacrifice of atone- 
 ment. 
 
 And the language of Scripture on this point 
 coincides with the most sound moral judgment ; 
 which indicates that nothing short of a life of 
 unsinning virtue could have made Him, Himself, 
 acceptable, and fit for his great office ; that, in 
 short, it behoved Him " to fulfil all righteous- 
 ness," in order that he might be a spotless 
 Victim, and an undefiled Priest : that in suffering 
 indeed an accursed death. He did more than 
 could be required of an innocent person on his 
 own account; and that, therefore. He died, "the 
 
SECT. 2.] On imputed Righteousness. 
 
 225 
 
 just for the unjust;" but that his being ]w?,t, — 
 the perfect obedience of his life, — could not be 
 more than requisite to constitute Him perfect as 
 a man. I speak, of course, of his obedient hfe 
 in reference to his human nature alone ; in 
 respect of which He always declared, " My 
 Father is greater than I ;" to speak of his obedi- 
 ence, considering Him as a Divine Person, would 
 be at least approaching very near to the Arian 
 doctrine f since all obedience necessarily implies 
 a superior. 
 
 Surely, then, when we read that " by the 
 obedience of [the] one, many [the many] shall 
 be made (or constituted, — KaraaraO-qaovTaL) 
 righteous," the presumption is strongly in favour 
 of such an interpretation as shall accord with 
 
 ^ There is, I fear, in many Christians a strong habitual 
 leaning of the mind to this view of the Scripture doctrines ; 
 though they are unconscious of it, from their having /oma% 
 condemned Arianism, and distinctly asserted the equality of the 
 Son and the Holy Spirit with the Father : forgetting that this is 
 no security against a tinge being given to their ordinary course 
 of thought on the subject, — a tendency practically to contem- 
 plate three distinct Divine Beings, the second inferior to the 
 first, and the third to both. — See Note A, at the end of this 
 Essay. 
 
 Q 
 
226 On imputed Righteousness, [essay vi. 
 
 the declaration that we are "justified by his 
 Mood." Now such an interpretation is not only 
 allowable, but is even, I may say, suggested 
 by the Apostle himself in another passage, in 
 which, speaking of Christ's death, he uses the 
 very corresponding word to (vTraicori) "obedi- 
 ence " in this place : Christ, he says, " became 
 obedient (virriKoos) to death, even the death of the 
 cross." His death, indeed, is more than once 
 referred to in this point of view ; namely, as a 
 part, and as the great and consummating act of 
 that submissive and entire obedience which he 
 rendered throughout to his Father's will. For 
 instance, in our Lord's own words just before 
 He suffered, "not my will, but thine be done :" 
 " Lo, I come to do thy will, O God ;" " when 
 He suffered He threatened not, but submitted 
 Himself to Him that judgeth righteously." 
 
 Then, with respect to the imputation of Adam's 
 sin to his descendants, it might, as I have said, 
 be expected that, if true, it would be frequently 
 and fully set forth. But at any rate it could 
 hardly fail to be mentioned on those occasions 
 where the Apostle is occupied in proving and in- 
 sisting on the universal necessity of a Redeemer, 
 
SECT. 2.] On imputed Righteousness. 227 
 
 and the inevitable ruin of mankind without an 
 atoning sacrifice. Now this plainly is his object 
 in the opening of this very Epistle, (to the 
 Romans) which is generally regarded as the 
 most systematic of all that he wrote. What 
 then is Paul's procedure ? He dwells at large 
 on the actual sins of men ; he gives a copious 
 and shocking detail of the enormities of the 
 Gentile world, into which they had plunged in 
 defiance of their own natural conscience ; and 
 then expatiates on the sins of which the Jews 
 had been guilty, in violation of the law in which 
 they trusted. How needless would all this have 
 been for one who maintained the doctrine of 
 imputed sin ! No one, indeed, denies that men 
 do commit actual sin ; but the hypothesis I have 
 been speaking of would have cut the argument 
 short : on that supposition it would have been 
 sufficient to say at once, that Adam's trans- 
 gression being imputed to all his posterity, so 
 that they are all regarded as guilty of his act, 
 they must be, in consequence, whether sinful or 
 innocent, — whether more or less sinful, — in their 
 own persons, doomed to eternal perdition, unless 
 redeemed from this imputed guilt. Nor does 
 q2 
 
228 On imputed Righteousness, [essay vr. 
 
 the passage I have appealed to, stand alone in 
 this respect. Numerous as are the denuncia- 
 tions of divine judgment against sin, all concur in 
 making the reference not to the imputed sin of our 
 first parents, but to the actual sins of men : none 
 of them warrants the conclusion that any one is 
 hable to punishment (I mean in the next world) 
 for any one's sins but his own. 
 
 § 3. It should be observed also, that there is 
 an especial reason for interpreting that part of 
 the Epistle I have been alluding to^ by reference 
 to other parts of Scripture : which is, that it is 
 not the Apostle's object, in this place, to declare 
 or establish the doctrine of original sin, and of 
 our deliverance from its consequences by Christ 
 our Saviour. It is plain from the context that 
 these points are established only incidentally ; 
 the main drift of his argument being to set forth 
 the universality of the redemption, — as being 
 co-extensive with the evil introduced at the Fall, 
 which it was designed to remedy. The Jewish 
 converts to whom he seems to be principally 
 
 e Rom. V. 19. 
 
SECT. 3.] On imputed Righteousness. 229 
 
 addressing himself, were disposed, by their 
 ancient national prejudices, to limit the benefits 
 of the Messiah's advent to their own people. 
 The great and revolting mystery to them, was, 
 " that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs :" in 
 opposition to which exclusive spirit he infers the 
 universal redemption accomplished by Christ 
 from the universality of that loss and corruption 
 which He undertook to repair : " as in Adam 
 all die, even so in Christ shall allhe made alive :" 
 "as by one man's disobedience many (the many, 
 i. e. ail) were made (or constituted, Karea-TaOrjaav,) 
 sinners, even so by the obedience of the one 
 shall the many," (i. e. not the Jews only, but the 
 whole race of mankind, as many as believe) 
 " be made righteous." 
 
 Now there is no doubt that such an obhque 
 allusion to any doctrine does not only establish 
 it, but establish it even more decidedly than 
 an express assertion : since it implies that it is 
 a known and undisputed truth ; but still the 
 difference between the two cases is not the less 
 important : we are not to look for the same full 
 and clear exposition of any point of faith in those 
 passages where it is merely alluded to inciden- 
 
230 On imputed Righteousness, [essay vi. 
 
 tally, as in those wherein the object is to declare 
 and explain it. And some passage, in which it 
 is the direct object to reveal and inculcate the 
 doctrine now in question, would doubtless have 
 been appealed to by its advocates, had any such 
 passage existed. But fundamentally important 
 as this truth must be, if it be a truth, no portion 
 of Scripture can be found that can even be 
 represented as having for its immediate and 
 primary design to declare it. The sinfulness of 
 human nature is, indeed, abundantly set forth ; 
 but not the imputation to one man of the actual 
 transgression committed by another ; our salva- 
 tion through Christ is earnestly dwelt on ; but 
 it is " through faith in his blood." Nay, there 
 is mention made of imputation and non-imputa- 
 tion ; but not of one man's act or desert to 
 another. God is spoken of as "not imputing 
 to men their trespasses," (which, by the way, 
 would amount to nothing, if He still imputed 
 to them the trespasses of another) ; and we are 
 told, "faith (our own) shall be imputed to us 
 for righteousness." 
 
 And this should teach us how to interpret 
 the passages in which we are said to be made 
 
SECT. 3.] On imputed Righteousness. 231 
 
 " the righteousness of God in Christ," and He, 
 to be " made sin for us ;" viz. not that he was 
 considered in the sight of God as actually sinful, 
 but that he was made a " sin-ofFering" for us; the 
 word (dfiapTia) which is Hterally, "sin," being 
 commonly used by the Septuagint translators in 
 the sense of a sin-offering. And again, when 
 we are said to be made righteous through his 
 " obedience unto death," — and to be " made the 
 righteousness of God in Him :" and He again is 
 said to be " made of God unto us wisdom, and 
 righteousness, and sanctification, and redemp- 
 tion," it is not meant that there is an imputation 
 to behevers of the righteousness of Christ's hfe, 
 as if it were theirs; any more than that the 
 wisdom of Christ is imputed to them, or the 
 redemption which He effected is regarded as 
 effected by them ; but that He purchased, by 
 the sacrifice of Himself, all these benefits for 
 men ; for those, i. e. who should by faith be 
 admitted to be partakers of them ; — that when 
 He had been "dehvered for our sins," He "rose 
 again for our justification ;" i.e. "ascended up 
 on high, and received gifts for men, that the 
 Lord God might dwell among them :" viz. that 
 
232 On imputed Righteousness, [essay vi. 
 
 his Holy Spirit, whose temple we are, might 
 reside in, and sanctify our hearts, and impart to 
 us wisdom and righteousness, to be practically 
 displayed in our lives/ And since without this 
 holy guidance our own feeble and depraved 
 nature could never bring forth what the Apostle 
 calls " the fruits of the Spirit," nor follow the 
 steps of Christ, this may well be called the 
 "righteousness of Christ," or the "righteousness 
 of God in Christ." For " if any man have 
 not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his :" 
 " if any man keep my saying, my Father will 
 love him, and we will come unto him, and make 
 our abode in him." " Little children," says the 
 Apostle John, " let no man deceive you ; he 
 that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He 
 is righteous." " They that are Christ's," says 
 Paul, " have crucified the flesh with the affections 
 and lusts ;" "if we live in the Spirit, let us also 
 walk in the Spirit." " If ye, through the Spirit, 
 do mortify the deeds of the flesh, ye shall live ; 
 for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they 
 are the sons of God." 
 
 ' See Whitby on this subject. 
 
SECT. 4.] On imputed R'igJdeoiisness. 233 
 
 § 4. From the consideration then of these 
 passages of Scripture which have been adduced, 
 as well as of many more to the same purpose 
 which might be appealed to if needful, I cannot 
 but conclude that that system of imputed sin 
 and righteousness, which I have been consider- 
 ing, is altogether fanciful and groundless. It 
 has indeed at first sight a sort of compactness, 
 coherency, and consistency of parts, which gives 
 it, till closely scrutinized, an air of plausibility ; 
 but this very circumstance should, in any case, 
 put us the more carefully on our guard ; for 
 there is no more common error in many depart- 
 ments of study, and especially in theology, than 
 the prevalence of a love of system over the love 
 of truth.^ Men are often so much captivated 
 by the aspect of what seems to them a regular, 
 beautiful, and well-connected theory, as to adopt 
 it hastily, without inquiring, in the outset, how 
 far it is conformable to facts or to scriptural 
 authority ; and thus, often on one or two pas- 
 sages of Scripture, have built up an ingenious 
 and consistent scheme, of which the far greater 
 
 g Seduced by the " Idola Theatri" of Bacon. See Note ^ 
 p. 219. 
 
234 
 
 On imputed Righteousness, {^essay vi. 
 
 part is a tissue of their own reasonings and 
 conjectures.*" 
 
 The whole subject indeed of justification has 
 been involved in great, and, I cannot but think, 
 needless, perplexity, by the practice formerly 
 alluded to (Essay III.) of first aflSxing (which 
 may be allowable)' a strict technical sense to 
 each of the principal words that have been 
 employed in Scripture, and then (which is not 
 allowable) interpreting the word, whenever it 
 is found in the Sacred Writers themselves, ac- 
 cording to such precise definition ; instead of 
 
 ^ I would not be thought to appeal to our Articles, or to 
 any other human work, as decisive on such a point. But it is 
 worth considering by those members of our Church who regard 
 this doctrine as the key-stone of Christianity, that the Articles, 
 though insisting on justification through Christ, make no 
 allusion to the imputation to believers of his good works. 
 The expression is, " propter meritum" &c. 
 
 > Perhaps, however, it would have been better if, from 
 the very first, no scriptural terms had been introduced into 
 systems of theology. Some have objected to the word 
 " Trinity," and a few others, on the ground that they are 
 not found in Scripture : this appears to me their chief recom- 
 mendation ; since in this case all danger is effectually avoided 
 of misinterpreting Scripture in the way I am describing. As 
 it is, one of our best safeguards against this danger would be, 
 to vary from time to time the language of our expositions of 
 Scripture doctrines. 
 
SECT. 4.] On imputed Righteousness. 235 
 
 regarding their works as popular, not scientific, 
 and seeking for the meaning of their expressions, 
 in each case, from the context. 
 
 Thus, in the present instance, if three or four 
 perhaps of those who are accounted sound divines, 
 should be consulted as to the doctrine of Justifi- 
 cation, it is not unlikely they would give as many 
 different accounts of it. All would agree as to 
 the importance of the doctrine ; but some per- 
 haps would lay down two Justifications, others, 
 only one ; and among these there would be found 
 great discrepancies ; and yet all probably would 
 be found, in their general views of the Christian 
 scheme, to arrive at nearly the same practical 
 results. It is hardly to be supposed indeed that 
 there can be so much difficulty (to the unlearned, 
 impossibility) as this discrepancy would seem to 
 imply, in ascertaining from Scripture, " what we 
 must do to be saved." And is there not there- 
 fore ground to suspect that many divines have 
 been unconsciously involved in embarrassing dis- 
 putes about words, from expecting in the Sacred 
 Writers a more scientific accuracy and uniformity 
 of language than they ever aimed at 
 
 See Hampden's Bampton Lectures. Lect. 1. 
 
236 
 
 On imputed Righteousness, [essay vi. 
 
 When one of the Apostles speaks to men of 
 the condemnation for sin, from which they were 
 to seek a way to escape, he naturally uses the 
 word BiKaiwOi^vai.,^ to be "justified," in the sense 
 of acquittal; — their "not having their trespasses 
 imputed to them." (Acts xiii. 38, 39. Rom. iii. 25. 
 Rom. V. 9.) When again he alludes to the defile- 
 ment of sin, analogous to the ceremonial impu- 
 rities which, under the Levitical Law, excluded 
 men from partaking of its sacred ordinances, 
 he as naturally uses "justified" to signify 
 their being accounted clean, — regarded as God's 
 holt/ people, and admitted without profanation 
 to approach Him, in the spiritual service of the 
 
 ' See A. Knox's Remains, [vol. i. p. 276,] where he points 
 out that the use of the word ciKdioawt) by the Apostle (denoting, 
 like the other words in (rwr], a moral habit) instead of Citcaioiaic, 
 in those passages where he is, by some, understood to be 
 speaking of another's righteousness, imputed to us, plainly 
 indicates that this was not his meaning. 
 
 The coincidence in this point between Mr. Knox and 
 myself, has led some to imagine that my notions must have 
 been, directly or indirectly, derived from him. But this Essay 
 was published some years before I even knew of the existence 
 of him or any of his friends. My views were no more bor- 
 rowed from him, than his from me ; but both from a common 
 source. 
 
SECT, 4.] On imputed Righteousness. 237 
 
 new covenant. (Rom. v. 1, 2.) When again the 
 Jews prided themselves on their law, as their 
 guide to a moral and religious life, and as 
 "justifying," that is, making men good, and fit to 
 obtain heavenly rewards, he sets forth the vain- 
 ness of that expectation ; since, even if the Law 
 had had the " better hope" of the Gospel, — the 
 sanction of eternal rewards, — still, it could not 
 justify those who had not strictly obeyed all its 
 precepts ; which man, left to his natural strength, 
 had never fully accomplished ; (Rom. ii. 25, and 
 vii. 22, 23.) insisting, that we are to be justified, 
 that is, made good men, through faith in Christ, 
 which admits us to a participation of his Spirit, 
 (Rom. V. 12), even the Spirit which " helpeth 
 our infirmities," (Rom. viii. 26,) and " worketh in 
 us both to will and to do of his good pleasure." 
 Hence he speaks of Christ as being " delivered 
 for our sins, and rising again for our justifica- 
 tion," (Rom. iv. 25, and vi. 4) ; that is, that when 
 He " ascended up on high. He received gifts 
 for men," namely, " that the Lord God might 
 dwell among them.'' Hence also he occasionally 
 speaks of the " law of faith ;" and universally 
 contrasts, not (as many are apt to suppose) good 
 
238 On imputed Righteousness, [essay vi. 
 
 works with faith, but faith with the Mosaic law ; 
 as leading more effectually to good works, 
 (Rom. viii. 4, 11, 12, 13, and Tit. iii. 5, and 
 1 Cor. vi. 11), by obtaining for us the aid of the 
 Holy Spirit, of which they are the fruits. The 
 chief cause indeed of this Apostle's giving so 
 prominent a place to the word "justification," 
 may be found in the pecuHar circumstances under 
 which he preached ; especially when addressing 
 the Jews, and those infected with their preju- 
 dices ; who were always hoping to be justified 
 by the Law; (imperfectly as they observed it;) 
 that is, made at least sufficiently righteous to 
 inherit the rewards of a future life." 
 
 § 5. It may be said, however, that the system 
 which has been treated of in this Essay, is, even 
 if unsound, not practically dangerous, and there- 
 fore, not one which needs to be refuted. That 
 it has been held by pious and worthy men, I 
 am well aware ; nor would I contend that it had 
 any tendency to make them otherwise, and that 
 their notions on this point were inconsistent with 
 their religious and moral characters. But it 
 
 See Note p. 225. 
 
SECT. 5.] On imputed Righteousness. 239 
 
 would be rash to conclude thence, that their 
 error, if it be one, must be altogether harmless. 
 Nothing is harmless which may put a stumbhng- 
 block in the path of any sincere Christian : 
 nothing is harmless that tends to give an undue 
 advantage to unbelievers, — to disgust some with 
 what they are told is the orthodox faith, and to 
 furnish others with objections against it, by in- 
 serting doctrines which the Scriptures do not 
 warrant : — nothing is harmless that leads to a 
 depreciation, a dread, or a neglect of the divine 
 instructions of the Apostle Paul. And such is 
 most remarkably the case in respect of the 
 system I have now been considering. It is a 
 favourite point of attack to the infidel, and the 
 heretic ; who pretend, and probably beheve 
 themselves, to have exposed to contempt the 
 great doctrines of the Atonement and the 
 Divinity of Christ, by exposing the chimerical 
 pretensions of doctrines which are taught in 
 conjunction with these, and represented as parts 
 of the same system. And in others, the too- 
 prevaihng neglect of Paul's writings, as neither 
 intelligible, nor safe, nor a profitable study to 
 any but theologians of the most profound 
 
240 On imputed Righteousness, [essay vi. 
 
 learning and wisdom, is fostered, by attributing 
 to him doctrines more likely to bewilder and 
 mislead, than to be applicable to any practical 
 benefit. 
 
 Mysterious, no doubt, it is, that the sacrifice 
 of "the innocent blood" should be accepted as 
 an atonement for sin : but in this case we know 
 that the sacrifice was voluntary ; — " I lay down 
 my life ; no man taketh it from me, but I lay 
 it down of myself." Christ, of his own accord, 
 offered his life as " a ransom for many." But 
 when we are told of eternal punishment de- 
 nounced against men for the actual sin of Adam, 
 and this, not by their own voluntary choice, or 
 by any act of their own, but by the absolute 
 decree of the Almighty Judge, our ideas of the 
 divine justice, whether drawn from reason or 
 from Scripture, cannot but be shocked. When 
 again, we find Christ spoken of as suffering 
 for us and in our stead, so that " by his stripes 
 w^e are healed," though we cannot comprehend 
 indeed, this act of mysterious mercy, we do com- 
 prehend that " there is now, therefore, no con- 
 demnation for them that are in Christ Jesus," 
 but that his suffering in our stead exempts his 
 
SECT. 5.] On imputed Righteousness. 241 
 
 faithful followers from suffering in their own 
 persons. But when men are told that the 
 righteousness of Christ's life is imputed to be- 
 lievers, and considered as thei7- merit, they are 
 startled at the want of correspondence of this 
 doctrine with the former, and its apparent in- 
 consistency with the injunctions laid upon us to 
 "bring forth the fruits of the Spirit" unto ever- 
 lasting salvation, because "God worketh in us 
 both to will and to do of his good pleasure," 
 while we are also told that Christ has already 
 fulfilled all moral obligations in our stead. The 
 Antinomian system is unhappily the only one 
 which surmounts this incongruity ; and its advo- 
 cates accordingly have availed themselves of the 
 advantage : — Since, say they, Christ suffered for 
 us, and in our stead, so as to exempt us from 
 suffering ourselves, by parity of reasoning, the 
 good works which He performed, — the personal 
 hoHness He possessed, — being imputed to us, as 
 performed for us and in our stead, must, in like 
 manner, exempt us from any such performance 
 of our own." 
 
 I do not however mean to contend, that the 
 
 " See Whitby on this subject. 
 R 
 
242 On imputed Righteousness, [essay vi. 
 
 generality of those who maintain the system in 
 question, are tainted, or are even in danger of 
 tainting the minds of others, with the Antino- 
 mian heresy. It is enough to say, that if they 
 bring Paul's writings into disrepute or disuse, 
 by attributing to him, without sufficient grounds, 
 doctrines which appear to lead to such pernicious 
 consequences, they are answerable for the evil 
 thence resulting. Whenever we teach for gos- 
 pel-truths any thing which Scripture does not 
 warrant, we are answerable for the effects pro- 
 duced, not only on those who adopt our opinions, 
 but also on those who dissent from them. 
 
 Let Paul, as well as the rest of the Sacred 
 Writers, be studied with diligence and candour, 
 and without any bias in favour of an ingenious 
 and consistent theory, the offspring of our own 
 speculations ; let the student " prove all things, 
 and hold fast that which is right ;" and to this 
 end let him observe the wise maxim of admitting 
 no conclusion which is not, itself, as well as the 
 premises it is drawn from, agreeable to the word 
 of God. And let the general tenour of each 
 work in particular, and of the Scriptures alto- 
 gether, be carefully attended to, instead of 
 
SECT. 5.] On imputed Righteousness. 243 
 
 dwelling exclusively on detached passages : and 
 then we may boldly and constantly maintain 
 every doctrine which we find to be really 
 revealed, however mysterious, or however un- 
 acceptable. 
 
 We are, in reality, not preaching the Gospel, 
 unless we both preach the whole Gospel, and 
 likewise, the Gospel alone; nor can we hope 
 for the Apostle's consolatory trust of being 
 " pure from the blood of all men," unless, like 
 him, we declare to men " all the counsel of 
 God," and (as a part of the Christian faith) 
 nothing but " the counsel of God." 
 
NOTE. 
 
 Note A, page 225. 
 
 That it is possible for men to become something very 
 near indeed to Arianism without knowing it, we have a 
 curious instance in ecclesiastical history. In the early 
 stages of Arianism, a confession of faith was agreed upon' 
 which was satisfactory to all parties, till some time after, 
 the Arians began to boast of their triumph, and to point 
 out the sanction which the formula adopted gave to their 
 doctrine; and then "the Church," says Jerome, "mar- 
 velled to find itself unexpectedly become Arian." 
 
 Something of the same kind, on a smaller scale, took 
 place very recently among ourselves. The discovery of 
 Milton's system of theology startled many persons by its 
 avowed Arianism, who had been accustomed to commend 
 his poems for their sound theology ; though they convey 
 the very same views, stated almost as plainly as, in a 
 poem, they could be. Numerous passages indeed may 
 be cited from the " Paradise Lost," which cannot be 
 censured as heterodox, because they are little more than 
 metrical versions of portions of Scripture. But such 
 passages do not necessarily prove any thing, one way or 
 
 » At Rimini, a.d. 360. Above 400 prelates attended it. 
 
Note. 
 
 245 
 
 the other, respecting a writer's opinions : since the Scrip- 
 tures themselves appear, to an Arian, to speak Arianism, 
 — to a Socinian, Socinianism, &c. But that there is in 
 the poem a general leaning such as I have just alluded 
 to, must I think be evident, except to those who, from 
 various causes, and, among the rest, from an early and 
 habitual study of Milton,'' have themselves imperceptibly 
 imbibed similar notions. 
 
 These instances are amply sufficient to prove, at the 
 very least, such a possibility as I have alluded to. 
 
 Probably, indeed, the whole doctrine of justification 
 through the righteousness of Christ imputed to believers, 
 may be traced in a great degree to these semi-arian views. 
 Men are apt to conclude that the " righteousness of Christ" 
 must denote something distinct from the indwelling of the 
 Holy Spirit, bringing forth fruit unto holiness ; because 
 they fear to confound together, what they habitually, 
 though unconsciously, consider two different Agents. 
 Whereas Scripture, if they would submit to be implicitly 
 led by it, promises that Christ will come unto his servants 
 and " make his abode with them ;" — that " hereby know 
 we that He (Christ) dwelleth in us, by his Spirit which 
 He hath given us ;" and that " the Lord is the (not " that " 
 as our translation has it) Spirit." 
 
 b When I speak however of Milton as Arian, I do not mean that 
 he precisely coincided with Arius : much less, designed to enrol him- 
 self among his disciples. I mean merely to designate the kind of 
 error towards which his language tends. Milton certainly was "nul- 
 lius addictus jurare in verba magistri ;" well inclined to think for 
 himself, though not always to " think soberly." 
 
ESSAY VIL 
 
 ON APPARENT CONTRADICTIONS IN SCRIPTURE. 
 
 § 1. It has been above remarked (Essay II.) 
 that the expression of the Apostle Peter relative 
 to the " things hard to be understood," in Paul's 
 writings, has been employed to furnish an ex- 
 cuse at least, if not a reason, for neglecting and 
 keeping out of sight those writings ; as being, 
 to the generality of Christians, both too abstruse 
 to be studied with any profit, and too liable to 
 perversion to be approached with safety. And 
 the principle of avoiding altogether whatever is 
 hard to be understood, or liable to be wrested to 
 a destructive purpose, naturally extends itself (as 
 indeed the passage in question cannot but seem 
 to warrant) to other parts of Scripture as well as 
 to Paul's Epistles ; till the result ensues of an 
 exclusive attention to certain narratives of fact 
 and plain moral precepts ; while all that relates 
 
SECT. 1.] Contradictions in Scripture. 247 
 
 to the peculiar doctrines of Christianity, is left, 
 as matter of mere speculative inquiry, in the 
 hands of learned theologians. 
 
 Of the precise extent of such an error, no one 
 individual can be an adequate judge ; but that it 
 is not imaginary — that it does prevail to a con- 
 siderable degree — is a conclusion which I am 
 convinced no one will doubt who has made ex- 
 tensive and careful observations. Indeed there 
 is in the human mind a kind of indolence which 
 tends to produce this consequence. The remark 
 of the intelligent historian of Greece, will remain 
 as true as ever while human nature continues the 
 same ; that " the generahty of men are averse to 
 labour in the investigation of truth, and ready 
 rather to acquiesce in what is set before them." 
 The most corrupt Churches, in the darkest and 
 most priest-ridden ages and countries, have only 
 taken advantage of, what they could not have 
 created, this disposition of the many to leave the 
 task of searching the Scriptures to the learned 
 few, — to let them acquire knowledge, instead of 
 themselves, — and to acquiesce without inquiry 
 into whatever these should promulgate. The 
 Clergy of those Churches were thence looked to. 
 
248 On apparent Contradictions [essay vii. 
 
 not as leaders and assistants to the laity in the 
 study of Scripture, but as their substitutes ; and 
 the word of God became, in consequence, a pro- 
 hibited book to the great body of Christians ; 
 who were thus left to the guidance of men often 
 themselves ignorant of Scripture, but whose 
 ignorance the others had lost the means of de- 
 tecting. This state of things, however, no 
 priestcraft could have brought about, had not 
 the dread of laborious investigation prepared the 
 way for it.^ 
 
 That there are difficulties in many parts of 
 Scripture, — as great perhaps in Paul's writings 
 as in any, — and that there is consequent danger 
 of mischievous perversion, is undeniable ; and is 
 indeed what analogy would prepare us to ex- 
 pect : for if the Scriptures could be properly 
 understood without any trouble, and were in- 
 capable of perversion to bad purposes, they 
 would be extremely unlike the rest of God's 
 gifts. 
 
 But the difficulties of Scripture, as well as the 
 
 ^ I have treated of this subject more at large in a Sermon 
 on the Christian Priesthood, subjoined to the Second Edition 
 of the Bampton Lectures. 
 
SECT. 1.] 
 
 in Scripture. 
 
 249 
 
 danger of misinterpreting it, are evidently an 
 additional reason for diligence in the study of 
 it. And Peter's implied censure of " those 
 who are unlearned" (that is, ill acquainted with 
 the religion of Jesus Christ) and (as will natu_ 
 rally follow) " unstable," and hkely to be 
 " blown about with every wind of doctrine," 
 should operate as a caution, not against the 
 study of the Scriptures, but against the faults 
 which would lead us to wrest them to our de- 
 struction. 
 
 To examine into all the difficulties of Scrip- 
 ture, or even of Paul's writings alone, would be 
 a task to which perhaps the whole life of any 
 single individual would be scarcely adequate : to 
 lay down all the rules that might be applicable 
 in such a task, would far exceed my present 
 limits; but it may be worth while to offer a 
 few remarks on some of the most important, 
 and, at the same time, most commonly over- 
 looked, of those principles which should be kept 
 in view in the study of the doctrinal parts of 
 Scripture ; and the neglect of which has aggra- 
 vated, if not produced, many of the difficulties 
 complained of (in Paul's writings especially,) 
 
250 On apparent Contradictions [essay vii. 
 
 and has led, in many instances, to perplexity, 
 if not to error. 
 
 § 2. (I.) It is evidently of great importance, 
 with a view to the right interpretation of any 
 author, to consider, and to understand fully, his 
 general drift and design. If we are mistaken in 
 this point, the utmost diligence and the utmost 
 ingenuity may sometimes answer no other pur- 
 pose than to lead us the further astray. Now it 
 is, I conceive, not uncommon to consider Reve- 
 lation as designed, in part, to convey to us 
 speculative truths : — to increase our knowledge 
 concerning divine things as they are in their own 
 intrinsic nature; — in short, to teach us not 
 merely religion properly so called, (that is, the 
 relations between God and man,) but also what 
 may be styled theological philosophy, — a certain 
 branch of abstract science.*" All men, it is true, 
 acknowledge revelation to have a practical pur- 
 pose ; but it is conceivable that this might still 
 be the case, though it were not confined to such 
 purposes ; — it might, conceivably, propose to 
 
 Hinds. "Rise and Early Progress of Christianity." 
 Introd. p. 31. See also Essay IV. First Series. 
 
SECT. 2.] 
 
 in Scripture. 
 
 251 
 
 our belief, both practical truths, and speculative 
 truths also, distinct from each other ; and such 
 a notion of the christian revelation, may, without 
 being distinctly avowed, be nevertheless practi- 
 cally entertained and acted upon. 
 
 (2.) Nearly allied to, and resulting from, such 
 a view of the Scriptures, viz. as being, more or 
 less, of the nature of a philosophical system, is 
 the expectation (before alluded to) of finding in 
 them a regular technical vocabulary ; — a set of 
 terms confined, each to its own appropriate 
 sense, in which it shall be uniformly and pre- 
 cisely employed. This might indeed take place 
 in a purely practical system ; but in any case 
 where speculative scientific truth was the object, 
 it would be altogether requisite ; and the more 
 the Scriptures are viewed in this light, the more 
 the student will be disposed to regard each word 
 and phrase as bearing throughout a fixed and 
 peculiar sense ; just as might be expected in a 
 Creed, — Catechism, — system of Articles, — code 
 of ethics, or any such composition. 
 
 (3.) In any scientific treatise, employing its 
 own appropriate technical terms, any single 
 detached passage will usually be sufficiently 
 
252 On apparent Contradictioiis [essay vii. 
 
 intelligible, to one who is familiar with the 
 definition of those terms. It may, indeed, need 
 others to establish its truth, or to be combined 
 with it for the proof of ulterior truths ; but not, 
 to ascertain its meaning. In proportion, there- 
 fore, as the Scriptures are regarded as approach- 
 ing to the character of a philosophical system, 
 furnished with a regular technical phraseology, 
 in the same degree will the student be disposed 
 to build conclusions on insulated passages, with- 
 out thinking it necessary in every instance to 
 refer to the context, and to explain one part of 
 Scripture by others. 
 
 (4.) Lastly, one who has been accustomed to 
 take in any degree such a view of Scripture as 
 I have been describing, (and there are many who 
 are disposed to do so, though without acknow- 
 ledging it, even to themselves,) will, of course, 
 when they meet with passages which seem at 
 variance with each other, be inchned (if, indeed, 
 they are not absolutely driven into doubts as to 
 the truth of some portion of Scripture) to regard 
 these merely in the light of difficulties designed 
 for the trial of their faith ; which they must sur- 
 mount as well as they can, by explaining away 
 
SECT. 2.] 
 
 in Scripture. 
 
 253 
 
 such texts as are most adverse to their own 
 conclusions ; while they dwell on every one that 
 favours them ; softening down, if I may so 
 speak, by their interpretation, every other part 
 of Scripture, into a conformity with the hypo- 
 thesis which they have built on some selected 
 portion. 
 
 It is true, indeed, that no one ever professed 
 a design of studying Scripture on such a plan 
 as has been described ; but it is no less true 
 that many have at all times evinced in various 
 degrees a tendency to slide into it insensibly ; — • 
 that to these causes, in great measure, may be 
 traced almost all the erroneous systems of faith 
 which have at various times prevailed ; — and 
 that many of the difficulties complained of, 
 especially the discrepancies between the several 
 parts of Scripture, and particularly between the 
 Apostle Paul and the other Sacred Writers, 
 have been either produced or greatly aggravated 
 by this mistaken mode of studying the Sacred 
 Records. 
 
 That the Scriptures contain nothing like a 
 philosophical system, set forth in technical 
 phraseology, and that we must not expect to 
 
254 On apparent Contradictions [essay vii. 
 
 understand them by confining our attention to 
 certain insulated passages, and disregarding or 
 explaining away the rest, but must interpret each 
 by the context, and from the rest of Scripture — 
 these maxims appear so obvious when distinctly 
 stated, that we are apt to be the less sensible 
 what vigilant care is requisite in order to con- 
 form to them steadily in practice. It may be 
 allowable, therefore, to offer some brief remarks 
 on each of the points that have been just 
 alluded to. 
 
 § 3. (1.) That the natural desire of knowledge 
 for its own sake, tends to influence men's judg- 
 ment respecting a divine revelation, in which 
 they are apt to seek, not merely practical truths, 
 but the gratification of speculative curiosity, I 
 have elsewhere taken occasion to remark." All 
 pretended revelations accordingly, and legendary 
 tales of saints, — all the disquisitions concerning 
 things divine, of the heathen philosophers, and, I 
 fear we may add, of some Christian theologians, 
 however otherwise different, concur in this, that 
 they relate in great measure, if not exclusively, 
 
 ' Essay IV. First Series. 
 
SECT. 3.] 
 
 in Scripture. 
 
 255 
 
 to the nature and attributes and works of the 
 Supreme Being, as He is in Himself ; — to the real 
 state of things in the invisible world, however 
 unconnected with human conduct : while our re- 
 velation is characterized, as I there observed, by 
 abstaining from speculative points, — by refusing 
 to gratify mere curiosity, — by teaching, in short, 
 not philosophy, but what is properly called 
 Religion, — the knowledge, i. e. of the relations 
 between God and man, and of the practical 
 truths thence resulting. 
 
 Those, therefore, are not hkely to interpret 
 Scripture rightly, who are not content with 
 relative truths, but seek to ascertain, in each 
 instance, the real state of things ; the knowledge 
 of which, in many cases probably, could not 
 be imparted to us with our present faculties ; 
 and is often withheld, where it might. Such 
 a student is hkely to mistake the sense of the 
 Sacred Writers, from not judging aright what 
 kind of instruction it is that they design to im- 
 part ; his religious notions are " spoiled through 
 philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of 
 men, after the rudiments of the world, and not 
 after Christ." And from such a view of the 
 
256 On apparent Contradictions [essay vii. 
 
 Scriptures, the conclusion that the doctrinal 
 parts of them are unnecessary, unprofitable, and 
 unsafe, to the great mass of Christians, will be 
 the natural result. Both the learned and the 
 unlearned will agree in taking this view of the 
 Scripture-doctrines : the presumptuous inquiries 
 of the one class, have a direct tendency to 
 sanction and foster the indolent indifference of 
 the other.'' 
 
 (2.) And as nothing was further from the 
 design of Paul and the other Sacred Writers, 
 than to frame a philosophical system, so, they 
 aimed at no philosophical regularity of language : 
 their writings, as I have before remarked, were 
 popular, not scientific ; they expressed their 
 meaning on each occasion, in the words which, 
 on each occasion, suggested themselves as best 
 fitted to convey it to readers of plain under- 
 standing ; and these terms are to be understood, 
 though not indeed always in their ordinary 
 
 ^ The sense of the term " mystery," as employed by the 
 Sacred Writers, is very commonly mistaken ; and the mistake 
 has been a source of much error.- — See Parkhurst's Lexicon 
 to the New Testament, on the word MvuTr^piov. — See Note A 
 at the end of this Essay. 
 
SECT. 3.] 
 
 in Scripture. 
 
 257 
 
 sense, yet, on the other hand, not according 
 to any precise scientific definition, but each with 
 reference to the context of the place where it is 
 found. 
 
 (3). And again, it is this popular and un- 
 systematic character of the Sacred Writings that 
 makes it the more unsafe to dwell on detached 
 portions of them, instead of comparing each part 
 of Scripture with the rest. Not merely incom- 
 plete knowledge, but actual error, will often 
 be the result ; because it will often happen (as 
 might be expected in an unscientific discourse) 
 that the author has in view, in some particular 
 passage, not the full development of any truth, 
 but the correction of some particular mistake, — 
 the inculcation of some particular caution, — or 
 the enforcement of some particular portion of a 
 doctrine or precept ; so that such a passage, 
 contemplated by itself, would tend to partial, 
 and consequently, erroneous views. 
 
 (4.) And as it is hence necessary to call in 
 the aid of different parts of Scripture for the 
 interpretation of each other, so, those which 
 appear the most at variance with each other, — 
 which if taken singly, and strictly interpreted, 
 s 
 
258 On apparent Contradictions [essay vii. 
 
 would contradict each other, — are, for that 
 very reason, the most important to be brought 
 together and contemplated in connexion. The 
 seeming contradictions in Scripture are too 
 numerous not to be the result of design ; and 
 doubtless were designed, not as mere difficulties 
 to try our faith and patience, but as furnishing 
 the most suitable mode of instruction that could 
 have been devised, by mutually explaining, and 
 modifying or limiting, or extending, one another's 
 meaning. By this means we are furnished, in 
 some degree, with a test of the truth or falsity 
 of our conclusions : as long as the appearance 
 of mutual contradiction remains, we may be sure 
 that we are wrong : — when we can fairly and 
 without violence'' reconcile passages of opposite 
 tendencies, we may entertain a hope that we 
 are right. 
 
 Such must be the procedure of the candid 
 inquirer after truth ; and by which, through 
 divine help, he may hope to attain it. Those 
 whose object is to find arguments in support 
 of a favourite hypothesis built on a partial view 
 of Scripture, will often be no less successful in 
 
 e See Pascal's Thoughts, XIII. 12. 
 
SECT. 4.] 
 
 ifi Scripture. 
 
 259 
 
 their object ; — in finding texts that will serve 
 to give plausibility to their own system, and 
 to perplex an opponent. But that opponent 
 will usually have exactly the same advantages 
 on his side also ; each party having apparently 
 some portion of Scripture favourable to his 
 scheme, and others which he can hardly re- 
 concile with it : and both parties perhaps being 
 equally remote from the truth, and guilty of the 
 very same error as to their mode of interpreting 
 Scripture. 
 
 § 4. That the apparent contradictions of 
 Scripture are numerous, — that the instruction 
 conveyed by them, if they be indeed designed for 
 such a purpose, is furnished in abundance, — is 
 too notorious to need being much insisted on. 
 
 We are told that God " repented of having 
 made man upon the earth," — that He "repented 
 of having made Saul King over Israel," — that 
 " He repenteth Him of the evil and again, 
 that " He is not the son of man that He should 
 repent;" and that "in Him is no variableness 
 nor shadow of turning." We are told that 
 " whosoever is born of God doth not commit 
 s 2 
 
260 On apparent Contradictions [essay vii. 
 
 sin ;" yet again, by the very same author, that 
 "if we say that we have no sin, we deceive 
 ourselves." We read in one apostolical epistle, 
 that Abraham was justified by faith, and in 
 another, that he was justified by works. One 
 discourse of our Lord's, in which He makes 
 mention of the day of judgment, and describes 
 the blessing and the curse respectively pronounced 
 on those who have performed or neglected such 
 charitable offices as feeding the hungry, clothing 
 the naked, and ministering to the sick, might 
 seem to favour the conclusion that our final 
 doom is to depend exclusively on our care or 
 neglect of our distressed brethren, without any 
 regard to our faith, or to the purity or the 
 integrity of our lives ; in his final charge to his 
 disciples again, it might seem that every thing 
 is made to depend on right belief alone; "he 
 that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." 
 We are told again by our Lord, to pray and to 
 give alms, secretly ; and again, to let our " light 
 so shine before men that they may see our good 
 works ;" and by the Apostle, " not to forsake 
 the assembling of ourselves together" for the 
 purpose of worship. We are told by our Lord, 
 
SECT. 4.] 
 
 in Scripture. 
 
 261 
 
 " He that is not with me is against me ;" and 
 again, " he that is not against us is with us ;" — 
 that " he who hateth not his father and mother, 
 and wife and children, and all that he hath, can- 
 not be his disciple ;" and again by his Apostle, 
 that " he who provideth not for his own house, 
 is worse than an infidel." The same again who 
 tells his disciples, " the Father hath sent me 
 " I go to the Father ;" " the Father is greater 
 than I ;" " I can of mine own self do nothing ;" 
 tells them also, "he that hath seen me hath 
 seen the Father, — I am in the Father, and the 
 Father in me, — I and the Father are one." The 
 same who tells them, that He " will not leave 
 them comfortless, but will come unto them ;" 
 and " lo, I am with you always, even unto the 
 end of the world," tells them also, " if I go not 
 away, the Comforter will not come unto you, 
 but if I depart I will send Him unto you ;" yet 
 again He tells them of "the Comforter whom 
 the Father will send, in his (Christ's) name ;" 
 and again in another place, " if any man keep 
 my saying, my Father will love him, and we will 
 come unto him, and make our abode with him." 
 And He who was preached to Cornelius as " one 
 
262 On ap2)arent Contradictions [essay vii. 
 
 whom God anointed with the Holy Ghost and 
 with power," is spoken of by Paul, as " over 
 all, God blessed for ever," in whom dwelleth 
 all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." *^ And 
 instances of a similar character might be mul- 
 tiplied to a great extent. 
 
 I am well aware what copious and satisfactory 
 explanations have been given of a multitude of 
 such seeming discrepancies as these : the only 
 point that pertains to the present question, and 
 which we ought, I think, strongly to dwell upon, 
 is, that they are not to be regarded merely in the 
 light of difficulties, but rather as belonging to the 
 mode of instruction employed in Scripture. Even 
 in teaching moral duties, there are good reasons 
 for introducing, as we find is occasionally done, 
 some maxims which, taken separately, and in- 
 terpreted with literal strictness, are at variance 
 with each other, but which, when taken in con- 
 nexion, serve to explain and modify each other. 
 Instructions thus conveyed are evidently more 
 striking and more likely to arouse the attention ; 
 and also, from the very circumstance that they 
 call for careful reflection, more likely to make a 
 ^ See Appendix to Elements of Logic. Art. " Person." 
 
SECT. 4.] 
 
 in Scripture. 
 
 263 
 
 lasting impression.^ But there are additional 
 reasons for adopting this mode of conveying to 
 us the requisite knowledge concerning mysteries 
 which are not directly comprehensible by our 
 understanding. Since no language could convey 
 to man, with his present faculties, in proper 
 terms, a clear and just notion of those attributes 
 and acts of the Supreme Being, which revelation 
 designed to impart, it was necessary for this pur- 
 pose to resort to analogical expressions, which 
 may convey to us, in faint shadows and figures, 
 such a knowledge of divine mysteries as is 
 requisite, and is alone within the reach of our 
 capacity.'' 
 
 Now the disadvantage attending the use of 
 such language is, that men are sometimes apt 
 to understand it too literally, and to interpret 
 what is said more strictly than was intended. 
 And the best remedy against this mistake, is to 
 vary the figures employed as much as possible ; 
 — to illustrate the same thing by several different 
 analogies ; by which means these several ex- 
 pressions, being inconsistent when understood 
 
 ^ See the following Essay. 
 
 ^ See King's Discourse on Predestination. 
 
264 On apparent Contradictions [essay vii. 
 
 literally, will serve to limit and correct each 
 other ; and thus, together, to convey more 
 clearly the real meaning designed.' 
 
 What has been just said, may be illustrated 
 by the language we employ in speaking of the 
 human mind and its operations ; respecting 
 which, we have few or no terms that are not 
 originally, at least, borrowed from the material 
 world. For instance, it is very common to 
 speak of the Memory as a kind of storehouse or 
 repository : — we speak of treasuring up things in 
 the memory ; of having the memory well stored ; 
 and the like. Now there might be a danger 
 that by the long and familiar use of such figura- 
 tive expressions, we should at length come to 
 forget that they are figurative ; — to imagine the 
 brain to be literally a kind of storehouse, and ideas 
 or notions to be some real things actually laid 
 up within it : but this mistake is guarded against 
 by another, and quite different, set of figurative 
 expressions for describing the same thing ; for 
 we often again speak of the Memory as a kind of 
 writing-tablet ; we speak of things being written, 
 — imprinted, — engraved, on the memory ; or 
 
 ■ See Stewart's Philosophy, vol. i. 
 
SECT. 4.] 
 
 in Scripture, 
 
 265 
 
 again, of their being erased from the memory. 
 Now these expressions again would mislead men, 
 if understood literally ; but this is prevented by 
 those other modes of expression before men- 
 tioned ; which in their turn are limited and 
 explained by these. For by considering that the 
 two, when taken Uterally, contradict each other, 
 — that the memory cannot be, literally, at once 
 a storehouse and a writing-tablet, — we are habi- 
 tually reminded that it is literally neither ; but is 
 so called, only by analogy.^ 
 
 Now as we are thus unable to speak even of 
 the workings of the human mind without using 
 such figurative expressions, much less can we 
 expect that all which is to be taught us of the 
 things relating to the Most High, can be con- 
 veyed to us in any other way. And in each case 
 it is requisite that the figures employed should 
 be several and various, in order the better to 
 guard us against understanding any one of them 
 more literally than was intended. It was de- 
 signed therefore that many of the expressions 
 employed should be such as would, if strictly 
 
 ^ See "Elements of Logic." Dissertation, chap. v. § 1, 
 towards the end. 
 
266 On apparent Contradictions [essay vii. 
 
 and literally interpreted, contradict each other ; 
 and such as may, when reconciled together, lead 
 us as near the truth, as our minds are capable of 
 approaching. The mariner who has to steer his 
 passage through the untracked ocean, when it 
 happens that he cannot have the exact line of 
 his course pointed out, is often enabled to avoid 
 any important deviation from it, by being ac- 
 quainted with certain boundaries on each side 
 of it, and by keeping his vessel between them. 
 Certain rocks and landmarks may serve to fur- 
 nish to his eye a kind of line, which will secure 
 him, as long as he keeps within them, from 
 certain shoals or currents which he is to avoid 
 on one side of his destined course : but this is of 
 no service in guarding him against the dangers 
 which may beset him on the opposite quarter : 
 for this purpose, another line must be pointed 
 out to him, in the same manner, on the contrary 
 side : and though neither of these lines is pre- 
 cisely that of the course he is to steer, yet an 
 attention to both of them will enable him to 
 proceed midway, in safety, and in the direction 
 required. Even thus, it will often happen, that 
 two apparently opposite passages of Scripture 
 
SECT. 5.] 
 
 in Scripture. 
 
 267 
 
 may together enable us to direct our faith or our 
 practice aright ; one shall be calculated to guard 
 us against certain errors on one side, and the 
 other, on the other side ; neither, taken alone, 
 shall convey the exact and entire truth ; but 
 both taken in conjunction, may enable us suf- 
 ficiently to ascertain it. Perplexity, therefore, 
 and error must be the result of an undue pre- 
 ference, and an overstrict interpretation, of one 
 or two such expressions, to the neglect of the 
 others. For we have in many instances (to use 
 another illustration) something corresponding to 
 the composition of forces in mechanics : several 
 different texts will be analogous to several im- 
 pulses in various directions acting on a body 
 which is to be set in motion, and whose combined 
 effect will propel it in the direction required ; 
 though no one of the impulses, taken singly,. is 
 acting precisely in that direction. 
 
 § 5. After all, indeed, the notions conveyed 
 to us in this way can be but very faint and in- 
 distinct ; but for that very reason they are the 
 less likely to be incorrect ; for if we obtain a 
 full and clear notion of things beyond the reach 
 
268 On apparent Contradictions [essay vii. 
 
 of the human faculties, it cannot fail to be an 
 erroneous notion. The main object of revelation 
 being to represent to us, not so much what God 
 is in Himself, as what He is relatively to us, 
 with a view to our practical benefit, this object 
 may be sufficiently accomplished by dim and 
 faint pictures of things which could not otherwise 
 be revealed at all. The " light which no man 
 can approach unto," if presented in unmitigated 
 blaze to eyes too weak to endure it, would blind 
 instead of enlightening : we now " see by means 
 of the reflection of a glass," what we could not 
 otherwise see at all. 
 
 Although, however, we may well believe that 
 we are deficient in faculties for comprehending, 
 as they are in themselves, many things of which 
 the Scriptures furnish us with some faint repre- 
 sentations, yet since, of course, no one can form 
 a distinct conception of the nature and extent 
 of his own deficiency, it may be profitable to 
 illustrate our own case by that of a person 
 destitute of some faculty which we do possess ; 
 by which means we may the better understand 
 the nature of that mode of instruction which 
 the Scriptures adopt, and the advantage and 
 
SECT. 5,] 
 
 in Scripture. 
 
 269 
 
 necessity of employing it for such Beings as we 
 now are. Let any one, for instance, attend to 
 the case of a man born blind, and endeavour 
 to convey to him some idea of the sense of seeing, 
 and of the nature of light, and colours. When 
 you attempt this, you will then be in a situation 
 answering in some degree to that of the Inspired 
 Writers when they are instructing us in the 
 unseen things of God. — You might easily explain 
 to the blind man that colours are perceived by 
 the eyes ; which convey to men (as well as the 
 organs of the other senses, and even better) a 
 knowledge of the objects around us ; you might 
 also easily make him understand that light is 
 something different from heat, and yet proceeds 
 from the sun, — a fire, — a candle, — or the like ; 
 and that when nothing of this kind is present, 
 there is darkness, in which no one can see ; and 
 also that light is cheerful and agreeable, and 
 darkness something melancholy. So far, we are 
 giving merely general descriptions ; which would 
 be intelligible enough, but could convey only the 
 most faint and imperfect idea of Seeing. You 
 might then impart some further knowledge by 
 means of the analogy of the other senses ; for 
 
270 On apparent Contradictions [essay vii. 
 
 instance, you might teach him that Seeing, in 
 one respect, resembles Hearing and Smelling, in- 
 asmuch as it conveys a knowledge of things at 
 a distance, as they do ; but that, nevertheless, 
 it is as different from either of them as they are 
 from each other ; and that, moreover, Seeing 
 gives us, what Hearing and Smelling cannot, a 
 notion of the magnitude and of the form of 
 bodies ; in which respect, it agrees with the 
 sense of Touch ; though this last again conveys 
 the knowledge of such bodies only as are close 
 to us ; whereas Sight extends to a distance. 
 
 Now such instruction as this, given to a blind 
 man, may serve to illustrate what has been just 
 said about the apparent contradictions in Scrip- 
 ture ; for the blind man might easily interpret 
 the two parts of this lesson as contradictory ; 
 and might say, " How can the same thing bear 
 any resemblance to Hearing, and at the same 
 time to Feeling ? " Or he might regard even each 
 part of the lesson as in itself contradictory and 
 impossible ; — saying, " You would fain persuade 
 me that there is some way of touching things at 
 a distance ; or that there is a kind of Hearing or 
 of Smelling by which one can judge of form and 
 
SECT. 5.] in Scripture. 271 
 
 magnitude ; neither of which is conceivable." 
 And it is plain, that if he regarded either part of 
 your instruction, hy itself, and was not careful to 
 limit and explain it by the other, he would be 
 utterly misled ; for he would suppose Seeing to 
 be much more like some one of the other senses 
 than it really is. But if he were careful to 
 attend to the whole, together, and to consider 
 that two things may be very much alike in one 
 respect, and yet very different in others,' and that 
 the same thing may be compared to several 
 others which are themselves quite unlike, and 
 may resemble one of these things in one respect, 
 and another, in another, and in some respects 
 again may differ from all of them, he would 
 acquire, a faint, indeed, and indistinct notion of 
 Sight, but as far as it went, not an incorrect one : 
 for he would understand that Sight in one 
 respect corresponds, or is analogous, to Smelling 
 and Hearing, inasmuch as it extends to distant 
 objects ; and again, in another respect, to Touch, 
 inasmuch as it gives an idea of shape and size ; 
 that it differs from each of these respectively in 
 the circumstance wherein it agrees with the 
 
 ' See King's Discourse on Predestination. 
 
272 On apparent Contradictions [essay vii. 
 
 other ; and that it differs in many points from 
 both. So that by interpreting each of these 
 analogies in such a manner as to be reconcileable 
 with the other, he would be using the best means 
 to avoid misunderstanding either, and to attain 
 the most perfect knowledge which his natural 
 deficiency would allow. For if you attempted, 
 beyond this, to give him any distinct and precise 
 knowledge of the nature of light and colours, 
 you would be more likely to confuse and mis- 
 lead, than to instruct him. 
 
 The circumstance that the knowledge conveyed 
 to us in Scripture, in many cases, is not merely 
 incomplete in degree, but, being conveyed to us 
 by Figures, is also different in kind from that 
 more direct and perfect knowledge which we 
 may hope hereafter to attain, is alluded to, 
 perhaps, in that expression of Paul's respecting 
 the glorified state ; " whether there be knowledge 
 it shall vanish away :" we might have expected 
 him, perhaps, to promise rather an increase and 
 extension of our knowledge ; but it appeared to 
 him probably that the knowledge we now possess 
 concerning several points not fully comprehen- 
 sible to us, is so utterly different in kind, from 
 
SECT. 5.] 
 
 in Scripture. 
 
 273 
 
 that which is reserved for us, that the change 
 might more properly be called an entire vanish- 
 ing of the notions we are at present able to 
 form, and a substitution of others in their place. 
 In like manner, if we suppose a blind man who 
 had been instructed in the way just described, 
 to obtain Sight, all those faint analogical notions 
 of Seeing, which we may conceive him to have 
 formed, would fade away from his mind, and be 
 succeeded by others incomparably more direct 
 and clear.™ 
 
 Meanwhile our care must be, during our state 
 of trial here below, not to imagine our know- 
 ledge more complete than it is ; nor to expect 
 from the Scriptures such information as they 
 were not meant to supply." We must not study 
 
 ™ See the interesting and valuable account of a boy born 
 blind and couched by Mr. Chesselden, extracted from the 
 Philosophical Transactions, by Mr. H. Mayo, in his Physio- 
 logy, p. 163. 
 
 " " Has the reader ever attempted to state to himself 
 distinctly, what he understands by the term revelation, mean- 
 ing a revelation of the Divine-nature ? Neither the voice, the 
 vision, the dream, nor the instinct can be said to be God. 
 All are evidently vehicles, and modes of communicating his 
 messages to man. ' Him no man hath seen at any time.' 
 Suppose, then, we wished to convey a description of an object 
 T 
 
274 On apparent Contradictions [essay vii. 
 
 them as designed to convey, as it were, in terms 
 of art, the speculative truths of philosophy ; but 
 must seek, in the first instance at least, and with 
 the greatest diligence, such truths as are relative 
 
 of sight to one born blind; (for that is our condition in 
 relation to the Divine-nature ;) he may perhaps be made to 
 receive some indistinct idea of it through his sense of hearing; 
 and the vehicle of this revelation, as it may be termed, would 
 be a voice. Some contrivance may be afterwards invented 
 which should convey to him the same description, by submit- 
 ting to his touch figures representing it, or, as is done in some 
 asylums, by letters and words strongly impressed, so as to 
 be distinctly felt. If it had so happened, that he -was at 
 length favoured with the gift of sight, (as occurred with some 
 in the miraculous period of the Church,) that same description 
 might be set before his eyes in a painting. Meanwhile, 
 suppose him never yet to have witnessed the object itself, 
 thus variously represented. He would then have become 
 acquainted with it in three distinct ways, and have been 
 enabled to improve and to apply his knowledge of it by 
 means of each ; still, he would hardly be absurd enough to 
 make either of these assertions, 
 
 " 1. That the sounds, the figures, the writing, or the paint- 
 ing, were the very thing described. 
 
 " 2. That the variety in the mode of conveying the descrip- 
 tion implied any corresponding distinction in that one object, 
 the idea of which was thus variously communicated to him." — 
 Hinds's History of the Rise and Progress of Christianity. 
 Vol. I. pp. 295, 296. 
 
SECT. 5.] m Scripture. 275 
 
 to man, and practical ; — nor must we allow our- 
 selves, in any case, to interpret strongly all the 
 texts which seem to offer themselves on one 
 side, while we explain away all that are on the 
 other side ; as if, on the ground that they are 
 not to be taken literally, we were thence- autho- 
 rized to affix to them any signification whatever 
 that may chance to suit our views : but we 
 must endea,vour honestly to reconcile Scripture 
 with itself, and thus to avail ourselves of that 
 mode of instruction which our Divine Teacher 
 has thought best for us. So shall we be en- 
 abled, through divine help, to avoid, or to 
 diminish, many of the difficulties which pre- 
 sumptuous speculators, or partial and preju- 
 diced inquirers, have to encounter in the 
 Scriptures : we shall find them " able to make 
 us wise unto salvation, through faith which is 
 in Christ Jesus." 
 
 T 2 
 
NOTE. 
 
 Note A, page 256. 
 
 The ancient heathen had certain sacred rites, in which 
 were disclosed, to those " initiated," certain secrets, which 
 were carefully to be kept concealed from the uninitiated, 
 (a^injroj,) the great mass of the professors of the religion. 
 The Apostle natm-ally makes allusion to these, by the use 
 of the word " mystery," to denote those designs of God's 
 providence, and those doctrinal truths, which had been 
 kept concealed from mankind " till the fulness of time " 
 was come, " but now were made manifest'' to believers. 
 And he frequently adverts to one important circumstance 
 in the Christian mysteries, which distinguishes them from 
 those of paganism; viz. that while these last were re- 
 vealed only to a chosen few, the gospel- mysteries, on the 
 contrary, were made known to all who would listen to and 
 obey the truth ; whether Jew or Gentile, bond or free, 
 barbarian or Greek. All Christians were ** initiated " 
 {avjifivarai, as one of the ancient Fathers calls them), and 
 those only remained in darkness who wilfully shut their 
 eyes ; " if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are 
 lost, whom the prince of this world hath blinded." 
 
Note. 
 
 211 
 
 Now our ordinary use of the word mystery conveys 
 the notion of something that we cannot understand at 
 all, and which it is fruitless to inquire into. I am not 
 censuring this use of the word ; but if we interpret ac- 
 cording to our own usage, an author who employs it 
 differently, it is plain we shall be misled. Both we 
 and the Sacred Writers, indeed, understand by the 
 word, something hidden from one party, and known to 
 another, (for we suppose all mysteries to be known to 
 God) ; but there is this difference ; that we use the 
 word in reference to the party from whom the know- 
 ledge is withheld; the Apostles, in reference to those 
 to whom the knowledge is retealed. Such an expres- 
 sion as, "this is a mystery to us," conveys to m the 
 idea that it is something we do not and cannot under- 
 stand ; to Paul it would convey the idea that it is some- 
 thing which " now is made manifest," and which we are, 
 therefore, called upon to contemplate and study ; even 
 as his office was " to make known the mystery of the 
 gospel." Not that he meant to imply that we are able 
 fully to understand the divine dispensations ; but it is 
 not in reference to this their inscrutable character that he 
 calls them mysteries, but the reverse ; they are reckoned 
 by him mysteries, not so far forth as they are hidden and 
 unintelligible, but so far forth as they are retealed and 
 explained. 
 
 For another use of mystery, to signify a symbolical 
 representation, See Parkhurst. 
 
ESSAY VIIL 
 
 ON THE MODE OF CONVEYING MORAL PRECEPTS IN 
 THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 In the preceding Essay some remarks were 
 offered relative to the methods employed for 
 communicating as much as was needful to be 
 known concerning the more abstruse doctrines 
 of our religion ; viz. by apparent contradictions ; — 
 by expressions which, if taken literally, would be 
 at variance with each other ; and which conse- 
 quently must be mutually explained and modi- 
 fied by each other, in order that they may be 
 reconciled. And in this case the advantage of 
 such a procedure is evident ; the things them- 
 selves are such as we are no more capable of 
 distinctly and fully comprehending, than a bhnd 
 man can, the nature of light and colours ; such 
 instruction, therefore, as we can receive con- 
 cerning them, must be necessarily imparted 
 
Precepts in the New Testament. 279 
 
 according to the same principles by which we 
 should convey to the blind some idea of Sight ; 
 viz. by employing several different analogies, 
 each of which may serve to correct the others^ 
 and all of which in conjunction may convey a 
 notion as nearly approaching to the reality as 
 the case will permit. 
 
 But (as was observed in that Essay) in the 
 inculcation of moral precepts, there cannot be 
 the same reason for employing this method, as 
 there is in doctrinal instruction respecting in- 
 scrutable mysteries. And yet there are not a 
 few directly practical passages, in" different parts 
 of the New Testament, which, if taken literally 
 and in their full force, would contradict each 
 other ; and such apparent discrepancies there 
 are, not only between the writings of the Evan- 
 gelists and the Apostolic Epistles, but also be- 
 tween different portions of our Lord's own 
 discourses. Not only is Paul's censure of that 
 man as " worse than an infidel," who neglects 
 to " provide for those of his own household," at 
 variance with our Lord's declaration, " If any 
 man hate not his father, and mother, and wife, 
 and children, and all that he hath, he cannot be 
 
280 
 
 Mode of conveying Moral [essay viii. 
 
 my disciple," if both be understood literally, and 
 without limitation ; but also, according to such 
 an interpretation, our Lord's own precept to his 
 disciples to "let their light shine before men," 
 would be no less opposed to his command that 
 their prayers and alms should be strictly con- 
 cealed. And his description again of the day of 
 Judgment, in which the performance or neglect 
 of the works of charity seem to be the sole 
 ground of distinction between the saved and the 
 condemned, is apparently opposed not only to 
 the Apostle's declaration " by grace ye are saved, 
 through faith, and that, not of yourselves, it is 
 the gift of God," and to numberless others of the 
 same character, but also to the literal import of 
 Christ's own parting declaration to his disciples, 
 which seems to make the absence or presence 
 of a right belief, the only point considered ; " he 
 that helieveth and is baptized shall be saved." 
 And many other like instances might be adduced, 
 which plainly show that the system of instruct- 
 ing 'by apparent contradictions is not confined to 
 doctrinal, but extends to practical points ; and 
 that in both cases it is requisite to compare and 
 balance, as it were, against each other, different 
 
SECT. 1.] Precepts in the New Testament. 281 
 
 parts of Scripture, if we would gain a correct 
 view of what it is intended to convey.* 
 
 § 1. For what purpose, then, it may be asked, 
 did our Lord and his inspired followers resort to 
 this method of instruction, in respect of those 
 practical duties which are not, hke the more 
 abstruse points of faith, beyond the reach of 
 man's faculties ? 
 
 In order to answer this question, it will be 
 necessary to revert to some considerations which 
 have been formerly suggested.*" 
 
 * As I have treated of subjects nearly allied to the one now 
 before us, in the second, third and fifth Essays of the first 
 Series, it may be worth while briefly to notice in this place, 
 the connexion, and also the distinction, between those and the 
 present Essay. I was speaking, in them, of a peculiarity 
 (considering Christianity as compared with any human system) 
 in the motives employed by the sacred writers for producing 
 moral conduct, and also, in the examples (of Jesus Himself, 
 Essay II. and III. and of children, Essay V.) which they 
 propose for our imitation and self-instruction. At present, I 
 am considering their mode of conveying to us the precepts of 
 morality. In all, it is the mova\-instruction of Scripture 
 that I have been treating of; but, distinctly, of the different 
 parts of which it (and indeed all complete moral-instruction) 
 consists; namely, 1st, the Motives inculcated; 2dly, the 
 Examples proposed ; 3dly, the Precepts delivered. 
 
 ^ Essay V. 
 
282 Mode of conveying Moral [essay viii. 
 
 Let it be observed, then, that it was no part 
 of the scheme of the gospel-revelation to lay 
 down any thing approaching to a complete 
 system of moral precepts, — to enumerate every 
 thing that is enjoined or forbidden by our 
 religion ; nor again, to give a detailed general 
 description of Christian duty, — or to delineate, 
 after the manner of systematic ethical writers, 
 each separate habit of virtue or of vice. When 
 the Mosaic Law was brought to a close, — (a law, 
 of which we have no scripture warrant for sup- 
 posing that any part was intended to continue 
 in force, under the gospel-dispensation, or to be 
 extended to the Gentiles) ; when this Law, I 
 say, was brought to a close, no other set of pre- 
 cise rules was substituted in its place. New 
 and higher motives were implanted ; — a more 
 exalted and perfect example was proposed for 
 imitation ; — a loftier standard of morality was 
 established ; — rewards more glorious, and punish- 
 ments more appaUing, were held out; — and 
 supernatural aid was bestowed ; and the Chris- 
 tian, with these incentives and these advantages, 
 is left to apply, for himself, in each case, the 
 principles of the Gospel. He is left to act at 
 
SECT. 1.] Precepts in the New Testament. 283 
 
 his own discretion, according to the dictates of 
 his conscience, — to cultivate Christian dispo- 
 sitions, — and thus to be " a law unto himself." 
 From the exact regulations under which the 
 Israelites, when in a condition analogous to 
 childhood, were placed, he is released ; not that 
 he may be under a less strict moral restraint, 
 but that he may attain, under it, a more manly 
 self-government, — a higher degree of moral ex- 
 cellence ; even as the precise rules and strict 
 control under which a child is placed, are gradu- 
 ally relaxed as he advances towards maturity ; 
 not on the ground that good conduct is less 
 required of a man than of a child, but, on the 
 contrary, because the very maturity of age, 
 which emancipates him from the trammels of 
 childhood, renders him capable of regulating 
 his conduct for himself by his own judgment. 
 " Behold, the days come, saith the Lord," 
 (according to the prophet Jeremiah, cited in the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews,) " when I will make a 
 new covenant with the house of Israel ; not 
 according to the covenant which I made with 
 
 their fathers for this is the covenant 
 
 which I will make with the house of Israel 
 
284 Mode of conveying Moral [essay viii. 
 
 after those days, saith the Lord ; I will put my 
 laws into their mind, and write them in their 
 hearts." 
 
 The system, then, according to which the 
 Christian's life is to be regulated, is one under 
 which, not a less, but a greater degree of moral 
 perfection is expected of him ; but which substi- 
 tutes subUme principles for exact rules. It is 
 this system that the Apostle sometimes calls 
 " Faith," — sometimes " the Law of Faith," to 
 distinguish it, not from good works, but from the 
 Law of Moses. It is called the Law of Faith, 
 not because Christians are not (which he assures 
 us they are) to stand before Christ's tribunal " to 
 give an account of the things done in the body," 
 but because their moral conduct is required to 
 spring from faith ; — from faith in the redeeming 
 mercy of God, " who was in Christ reconciling 
 the world unto Himself," and the devout grati- 
 tude which is the natural result of this ; from 
 faith in the divine holiness and purity of the 
 Saviour, and the consequent desire to tread in 
 Ms steps whose life is our example : from that 
 faith in his promised rewards which leads to the 
 endeavour after such a preparation of ourselves 
 
SECT. 1.] Precepts in the New Testament. 285 
 
 as may qualify us to dwell ** for ever with the 
 Lord ;" — from faith in his promised presence 
 with us, even unto the end of the world, by his 
 Spirit " which worketh in us both to will and to 
 do, of his good pleasure."" 
 
 Such a system then, it was necessary so to 
 develop, that its true character might not be 
 mistaken. Since Christians were not to be 
 guided by a precise code of laws, it was neces- 
 sary to guard them carefully against expecting 
 one. And even during our Lord's own ministry, 
 before the " Law of faith " was perfectly laid 
 down, (the objects of that faith being but faintly 
 and partially revealed,) still it was needful, even 
 at the very outset, that men should not be led, 
 or left, to suppose, that either a collection of 
 exact rules, or a system of moral philosophy, 
 was about to be proposed to their acceptance; — 
 that either the Mosaic law was to remain in 
 force as to the hteral observance of its several 
 precepts, extended by the addition of others, — 
 or that any corresponding system — any fresh 
 enumeration of specific acts forbidden and en- 
 joined, — was to be introduced in the room of it. 
 " Essay III. First Series. 
 
286 Mode of conveying Moral [essay viii. 
 
 And care was the more necessary on this point, 
 both because Man in general is more ready to 
 receive, even a burdensome law, of this cha- 
 racter, than to be left to his own watchful and 
 responsible discretion in acting up to certain 
 principles, and also because the Jews in parti- 
 cular had been accustomed to precise regulations, 
 and nice distinctions as to specific acts, even far 
 beyond what the written Law of Moses had laid 
 down. 
 
 And yet our Lord's hearers had need of some 
 moral instruction. It was important that illus- 
 trations should be afforded them of the applica- 
 tion of the general principles of the new religion, 
 to each particular point; — it was desirable to 
 enforce such duties as were especially neglected, 
 and to point out the comparative degrees of im- 
 portance of such as had been unduly estimated ; 
 — many prevailing faults and prejudices called 
 for correction ; — and it was needful, universally, 
 to guard against the supposition that the new 
 covenant was designed to substitute faith for 
 virtuous practice, and to save those who should 
 "call Jesus Lord," while they continued "workers 
 of iniquity." And as all this was to be accora- 
 
SECT. 2.] Precepts in the New Testament. 287 
 
 plished in the course of a short ministry, and the 
 instruction was to be conveyed to men for the 
 most part of untutored and unreflective minds, it 
 was the more important that the mode of con- 
 veying it should be as striking and permanently 
 impressive as possible ; with a constant caution 
 at the same time against the mistake into which 
 the hearers were ever liable to fall ; — that of 
 imagining that they were to receive certain defi- 
 nite precepts, and satisfying themselves with a 
 literal obedience to each. 
 
 Something peculiar then may be expected in 
 the mode of conveying moral instructions, when 
 the object proposed comprehended all the cir- 
 cumstances just mentioned ; — when it required 
 that, besides being suited to the capacity and to 
 the moral condition of the hearer, the precepts 
 should at the same time be both forcibly im- 
 pressive, and also such as to exclude the idea of 
 any intention to lay down a complete moral 
 code. 
 
 § 2. In the moral lessons of the Gospel, 
 accordingly, three pecuHarities especially may 
 be observed, which have a reference to the 
 
288 Mode of conveying Moral [essay viii. 
 
 circamstances I have noticed, and which may 
 be explained by thera. 
 
 First, The precepts are often apparently con- 
 tradictory to each other : 
 
 Secondly, They are often such that a literal 
 compliance with them would be, in many cases, 
 either impossible, or at least, extravagant and 
 irrational : 
 
 And, Thirdly, This literal compliance would 
 in many instances amount to so insignificant and 
 unimportant a point of duty, as could not be 
 supposed deserving of a distinct inculcation for 
 its own sake. And two, or all three, of these 
 characters may sometimes be found to meet in 
 one single precept. 
 
 The reason of all this is clear, from the prin- 
 ciples that have been already laid down : every 
 mode is employed of warning the hearers against 
 satisfying themselves with an observance of these 
 precepts according to the letter, in doing or ab- 
 staining from some particular action. For a 
 literal compliance with precepts which, literally 
 taken, are inconsistent, would be impossible ; 
 where that literal compliance would be wrong or 
 absurd, it is manifest it could not be intended; 
 
SECT. 2.] Precepts in the New Testament. 289 
 
 where it would be trifling, it is manifest that 
 it cannot be all that is intended. And thus the 
 disciples were driven, if they were sincerely de- 
 sirous to learn, and would interpret rationally 
 and candidly what they heard, to perceive that 
 such precepts as I am speaking of were designed 
 to explain and to enforce those general principles 
 on which men are to regulate their conduct : 
 while the very circumstance that such instruc- 
 tions excite some degree of surprise, and evi- 
 dently call for careful reflection, renders them 
 the more likely to make a lasting impression. 
 Many instances of each description will readily 
 occur to most persons : I will advert to a very 
 few. 
 
 When Jesus tells his disciples to pray and to 
 give alms in secret, and not to let their " left 
 hand know what their right hand doeth," and 
 yet exhorts them to " let their light shine before 
 men," it is plain from these precepts, taken in 
 conjunction, and explained by each other, that 
 his design was to discountenance an ostentatious 
 motive, but to leave to our own conscientious 
 discretion the mode of performing each action 
 on each occasion. When the publicity of our 
 u 
 
290 Mode of conveying Moral [essay viii. 
 
 alms and of our devotions, appears likely to 
 " glorify God," and to benefit men by the influ- 
 ence of a good example, the principles of the 
 Gospel prescribe that pubhcity ; in cases where it 
 tends only to the gratification of our own vanity, 
 and especially when we have reason to fear that 
 we may be too much actuated by the desire of 
 men's praise, then, concealment is to be preferred. 
 
 Again, when men's future destiny is described 
 in one place as determined by their performance 
 or omission of the social duties, — in another, by 
 the government of the tongue, — in another, by 
 belief and baptism alone, — in another, (the para- 
 ble of the rich man and Lazarus) apparently by 
 the luxuries enjoyed, or privations undergone 
 in the present life, — we may easily learn, by 
 comparing and balancing together all these pas- 
 sages, that no good works of man, not springing 
 from belief in the Gospel, can tend to salvation, 
 — yet that professions of faith in Christ are but 
 a mockery of Him, when unaccompanied with 
 active benevolence towards those whom He calls 
 his brethren that we shall be condemned or 
 justified by our words as well as by our actions ; — 
 and that those who set their hearts on the good 
 
SECT. 2.] Precepts in the New Testament. 291 
 
 things of this world, and lay up no treasures in 
 heaven, can have no reasonable expectation of 
 heavenly rewards. 
 
 Again, the injunction in the passage before 
 cited, to " hate father and mother," &c. if we 
 would be Christ's disciples,* is not only, if taken 
 
 ^ It may be observed by the way, what an evidence to the 
 truth of Christianity is afforded by this declaration of our 
 Lord, together with his warning that every one who would 
 be his disciple must be ready to "take up his cross and 
 follow Him," and must, in imitation of a man designing to 
 build, and of a king about to make war, coolly calculate 
 before-hand whether he has resources and resolution suffi- 
 cient to go through with the enterprise. All this constitutes 
 so uninviting a doctrine, that we may be sure no one would 
 have preached it who had any object in view except that of 
 teaching the truth. 
 
 We have here therefore one of those many internal evi- 
 dences of our religion, which may be made completely intel- 
 ligible to the unlearned Christian. For common sense may 
 convince any one, that had Jesus been either an impostor or 
 an enthusiast, he would never have entertained, and taught 
 others to entertain, such a view of his religion. He would 
 have used all means to invite men to become his disciples, 
 instead of deterring them ; and would either himself have 
 overlooked, or else concealed from the people, the diflBculties 
 to be encountered by those who should embrace the Gospel ; 
 instead of pointing them out, and earnestly dwelling upon 
 them. 
 
 u2 
 
292 Mode of conveying Moral [essay viii. 
 
 literally, at variance with the exhortations to 
 universal benevolence, and to Paul's command to 
 provide for our families, but also to the plainest 
 dictates of conscience and of common sense. 
 This then is an instance which illustrates at once 
 two of the principles above laid down. It is 
 plain, therefore, that such a precept could not 
 be meant to be understood and obeyed literally : 
 and if there could be any doubt in what manner 
 Christ intended it should be obeyed. He himself 
 has given us in another place an explanation of 
 it ; " he that loveth father or mother more than 
 me, is not worthy of me ; and he that loveth 
 son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of 
 me." It is evident, therefore, that what is in- 
 tended by the command to hate the objects of 
 our strongest regard, is, that the things of the 
 greatest importance to our happiness, and which 
 have the strongest hold on our affections, must 
 be accounted by us as nothing, in comparison 
 with our devotedness to Christ ; and that when- 
 ever any of these objects shall chance to stand 
 in the way of our obedience to Him, we must be 
 ready to resign it without a murmur. 
 
 Sacrifices of this kind were doubtless much 
 
SECT. 2.] Precepts ifi the New Testament. 293 
 
 more frequently called for in the first ages of the 
 Church, than they are now : because not only 
 many were called on to abandon their homes and 
 friends, and devote themselves to the propa- 
 gation of the gospel in distant countries, but it 
 also frequently happened that men's nearest and 
 dearest connexions were at variance with them 
 respecting the religion of Christ ; and that they 
 had to suffer persecution, or at least censure and 
 contempt, from those very friends whose good 
 opinion and regard they had been the most accus- 
 tomed to prize : " Think not that I am come to 
 send peace on earth ; I tell you nay, but rather 
 division : the father shall be divided against the 
 
 son, and the son against the father ; 
 
 a man's foes shall be they of his own house- 
 hold." 
 
 It is plain, therefore, that a man must have 
 been (in such circumstances) very strongly 
 tempted to shrink from the bold and open pro- 
 fession of his faith ; and to concede too much to 
 the authority of those around him : and, accord- 
 ingly, we read of many leading men among the 
 Jevv^s, who sought to compromise the matter, by 
 outwardly renouncing the opinions they inwardly 
 
294 Mode of conveying Moral [essay viii. 
 
 held, — who "beheved in Jesus, but secretly," 
 for fear of being " cast out of the synagogue ; 
 for they loved the praise of men more than the 
 praise of God." 
 
 There is not, however, nor will ever be, any 
 time or any country, in which the sincere Chris- 
 tian is not liable to be called upon to make some 
 sacrifices in the cause of Christ — to do, or to 
 forego, or undergo, something, which occasions 
 a painful struggle to his nature ; and this our 
 Lord exhorts us deliberately to prepare for, and 
 if we would be his disciples, to give him a most 
 decided and strong preference to every object 
 that may stand in the way of our faith or of our 
 obedience to Him. This, He in another place 
 very strongly enforces in a figurative form of 
 expression : which also, common sense teaches 
 us, it would be absurd to understand literally ; 
 saying, " if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out 
 and cast it from thee ;" meaning thereby, that 
 whatever offends us as Christians, that is, stands 
 in our way, and obstructs our progress in fol- 
 lowing our Master's steps, though it may be as 
 dear to us as an eye, or a right hand, must be 
 renounced thoroughly, and heartily, and cheer- 
 
SECT. 2.] Precepts in the New Testament. 295 
 
 fully, for his sake, if we expect that He should 
 own us as his disciples. 
 
 Now this precept of plucking out an eye, or 
 cutting off a right hand, is by no means hard to 
 be understood, as to the spirit and intention of 
 it, and the disposition meant to be recommended; 
 and when it is understood, its effect will be, on 
 those who sincerely study to comply with it, 
 exactly what our Lord designed ; they cannot in 
 this case satisfy their conscience by a literal com- 
 pliance with it in the performance of any specific 
 act ; and, consequently, will the more naturally 
 be led to cultivate that frame of mind, and study 
 to adopt that principle of thorough devotedness 
 to Christ, which He meant to recommend. 
 
 Again, in inculcating the duty of gentleness 
 and patience under provocation, He says, " if any 
 man smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him 
 the left also ; if any man will take away thy 
 cloak, let him have thy coat also ; if any man 
 compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain ;" 
 in which it is evident, that his meaning was, not 
 the mere literal performance of those specific 
 actions mentioned, but the cultivation of a mild 
 and long-suffering temper. The strong way in 
 
296 Mode of conveying Moral [essay viii. 
 
 which He dehvered those precepts — the striking 
 and often paradoxical illustrations which He gave 
 of them — had the effect of making a more lively 
 impression on the hearers' minds, and at the 
 same time guarded them (as I have just before 
 observed) against supposing that it was enough 
 to perform, literally, the particular actions men- 
 tioned, without adopting the principle of action 
 which He was illustrating. This last instance 
 again combines two of the circumstances above 
 mentioned : the mere literal observance of the 
 precept would not only be in many cases irra- 
 tional, but also manifestly insufficient, and would 
 fall far short of what is meant to be inculcated ; 
 and hence a candid hearer is the more imme- 
 diately led to understand, that obedience to it 
 implies not the bare performance of this or that 
 particular action, but the careful cultivation of a 
 certain habit of action. 
 
 The same observations will apply to our Lord's 
 precept against chusing "the most honourable 
 seats at feasts and his exhortation to men to 
 occupy a lower place than they have a just title 
 to. He did indeed intend that his rule respect- 
 ing good manners should be Hterally observed, 
 
SECT. 2.] Precepts in the New Testament. 297 
 
 since good manners is a part of good morals ; 
 but it is evident that this hteral compliance was 
 the least part of what He designed, and that He 
 took this method of inculcating, generally, a 
 caution against arrogance and self-exaltation. 
 
 Universally indeed. He was accustomed to 
 illustrate whatever principle He had in view, 
 by some particular instance ; knowing that this 
 would take better hold on men's attention, and 
 be more surely fixed in their memory, than if 
 He had confined himself to the mere general 
 maxim ; and that it would be very easy for any 
 one, after being, by this exemplification, put in 
 possession of the general maxim, to extend and 
 apply it, for himself, to every case that might 
 occur; supposing him to have the sincere dis- 
 position to do so, without which no instruction 
 can avail. 
 
 Thus, when He was called upon to explain 
 what kind of neighbourly love we ought to show, 
 and towards whom. He illustrates his meaning 
 by relating the parable of a man who "fell 
 among thieves," and He concludes his instruction 
 by saying, " Go and do thou likewise ;" which 
 exhortation no one can be so stupid, if he be 
 
298 Mode of conveying Moi al [essay vhi. 
 
 not also perverse, as to interpret by the letter, 
 as meaning merely that when he might chance 
 to meet with a traveller thus circumstanced, he 
 should relieve him, and that precisely such a 
 case as that in the parable was all that was con- 
 templated. The interpretation of " Go and do 
 thou likewise" was clear enough to any one who 
 wished to understand it ; as signifying that we 
 are to regard every one as a neighbour to whom 
 we have an opportunity of doing service, and 
 are to be ready to perform the kind offices of a 
 neighbour towards him. 
 
 But, as I have said, our Lord chose not only 
 to illustrate his general maxim by some parti- 
 cular exemplification ; but, also, in order to make 
 it the more clear to his hearers that this was his 
 object, — that the instances adduced were for the 
 purpose of illustrating the general rule, — it hap- 
 pened very frequently, as in the case of some of 
 the illustrations just mentioned, that He selected 
 by choice such as were in themselves the smallest 
 and most insignificant instances of the rule. Thus, 
 when he wished to impress on his disciples in 
 the most forcible manner the duty of being 
 ready to serve, and perform kind offices for one 
 
SECT. 3.] Precepts in the New Testament. 299 
 
 another, He taught them by an action, — by Him- 
 self condescending to wash their feet; and after- 
 wards telhng them, " ye ought also to wash one 
 another's feet." This, it is well known, was, 
 from the peculiar circumstances of the age and 
 country, one of the chief refreshments to travel- 
 lers : this particular instance, consequently, was 
 chosen as affording an easy and familiar illus- 
 tration of the general disposition He designed to 
 inculcate ; a readiness to perform all manner of 
 kind offices for one another. Now if the par- 
 ticular office of kindness, selected by Him, had 
 been one of the more important services of life, 
 there might have been the more danger of their 
 supposing that his precept was meant to ex- 
 tend only to that particular service mentioned : 
 whereas this was guarded against by his par- 
 ticularizing one of the smallest: when He said 
 to them, " ye ought to wash one another's feet," 
 they could not have a doubt that the precept 
 was meant to extend to more than that one 
 point of hospitality, and to comprehend a general 
 disposition to befriend one another. 
 
 § 3. To those, then, who are sincerely desirous 
 
300 Mode of conveying Moral [essay viir. 
 
 of instruction, and willing to use care and dili- 
 gence in seeking it, and in practically applying 
 what they learn, it will, in most cases, be no 
 difficult task, to ascertain what principles those 
 are which our Lord and his Apostles intended, 
 on each occasion, to inculcate, and in what 
 manner Christians are required to exemplify 
 them in their lives. 
 
 If we, first, examine the whole of each passage, 
 so as to understand the occasion on which any 
 precept was delivered, and to what persons, 
 and under what circumstances ; and if we are 
 also careful to compare different (and especially, 
 apparently inconsistent) passages together, so 
 interpreting each as it is explained, or limited, 
 or confirmed, or extended, or otherwise modi- 
 fied, by the rest ; we shall be employing those 
 means for ascertaining aright the sense of God's 
 word, which common prudence would prescribe — 
 which doubtless were intended to be employed in 
 such an inquiry, — and which, we may trust, by 
 God's grace will not be employed in vain. 
 
 On the other hand, the inattentive and the 
 uncandid, — those who read the Scriptures with- 
 out diligent study, or with a study only to find 
 
SECT. 3.] Precepts in the New Testament. 301 
 
 confirmations of their preconceived notions, and 
 vindications of their own conduct, — such, could 
 not have been secured from error, even by any 
 other mode of instruction that could have been 
 adopted. Let it not be objected, therefore, to the 
 method pursued by our Lord and his followers, 
 that it affords an opening, for such as are so 
 disposed, to escape from any doctrines or duties 
 they may object to, and to model others accord- 
 ing to their own inclinations, by dwelling on and 
 enforcing literally, such texts as suit their purpose, 
 and explaining away the rest. The most precise 
 and detailed precepts would have been no less 
 successfully evaded by the same persons ; they 
 would easily have found some contrivance, when 
 they were so disposed, to " make the word of 
 God of none effect, by their tradition." 
 
 And the most copious and philosophical system 
 of ethics would have proved no better safeguard 
 against the devices of a corrupt heart. Moral 
 treatises afford no substitute for the exercise of 
 discretion and of candour : philosophy cannot 
 teach its own appUcation : on the contrary, such 
 studies are useful to those only who employ that 
 good sense and sincerity of intention, in bringing 
 
302 Mode of convei/ing Moral [essay viii. 
 
 them into practice in the details of life. It is 
 not enough (as the most illustrious of the ancient 
 moralists has observed*) to lay down, that, in 
 each department of conduct, virtue consists in the 
 medium between an excess and a deficiency ; it 
 still remains to be decided in each single instance, 
 where this medium is to be placed ; and as the 
 determination of this is necessarily left to the 
 judgment and conscience of the individual, so any 
 one whose moral judgment is not incorrupt, and 
 who is seeking, not to improve his character, but 
 to vindicate it, may easily find means first to re- 
 present, and afterwards to believe, his own con- 
 duct to be exactly the right medium. For the 
 maxim laid down in another place by the philo- 
 sopher just alluded to, for applying his own rules, 
 is one which the generahty of men completely 
 reverse : he tells each man to observe to which 
 of the two extremes he is, in each point, most 
 prone by his own natural disposition, and to 
 regard that, as (relatively to him) the worse 
 extreme of the two ; being the one into which 
 he is the more hable to fall. The common prac- 
 tice, on the contrary, is for each to regard, (as, 
 ' Arist. Eth. Nicom. Book VI. chap. i. 
 
SECT. 3.] Precepts in the New Testament. 303 
 
 indeed, is very natural) that, as the worse ex- 
 treme, to which he has the less tendency, and 
 to look with less abhorrence on each fault in 
 proportion as it is the more congenial to his own 
 inclinations. 
 
 Without vigilant and candid self-examination, 
 then, no system of moral instruction that could 
 have been devised, would have been practi- 
 cally available : and with this, the instructions 
 afforded in the Gospel will, through divine help, 
 prove sufficient. There are two objects, neither 
 of which a man will usually fail to attain, who 
 zealously and steadily seeks it ; the one is, the 
 knowledge of what in each case he ought to do ; 
 the other is, a plausible excuse for doing as he 
 is inclined. The latter of these, the carnally- 
 minded might find in any set of precepts or 
 moral instructions that could have been framed ; 
 the former, the spiritually-minded will not fail to 
 obtain in the Gospel. 
 
 Only let him not seek in it for what he will 
 not find there ; — precise and minute directions 
 for every case that can occur ; or a set of 
 insulated maxims which admit of being taken 
 away, as it were, from the context, and inter- 
 
304 
 
 Mode of conveying, S^c. [essay viii. 
 
 preted and applied without any reference to 
 the rest of Scripture ; or for a general detailed 
 description of moral duties. 
 
 But he will find there the most pure and sub- 
 lime motives inculcated, — the noblest principles 
 instilled, — the most bold and uncompromising, 
 yet sober and rational tone of morality main- 
 tained, — the most animating examples proposed, 
 and above all, the most effectual guidance, and 
 assistance, and defence provided ; even that of 
 the Spirit of Truth, who will enable us duly to 
 profit by the teaching of his inspired Servants ; 
 that we ''may have our fruit unto hohness, and 
 the end, everlasting life." 
 
ESSAY IX. 
 
 ON THE INFLUENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 Those things which God's most favoured ser- 
 vants under the old dispensation— vi^hich " many 
 prophets and kings had in vain desired to see and 
 hear," — the disciples of Jesus had been permitted 
 to witness. They had seen the man whom " God 
 had anointed with the Holy Ghost;"* — and "given 
 it unto Him not by measure — the " image of 
 the invisible God,"'' " whom no man hath seen 
 at any time/"^ but whom " the only-begotten Son 
 had declared unto them " being the express 
 image of his Person.'"^ Imperfect and indistinct 
 indeed, — perhaps we may say confused, — must 
 have been the notions they entertained respecting 
 the mysterious person with whom they had been 
 
 ^ Acts X. 38. 
 
 Coloss. i. 15. 
 * John i. 18, 
 
 ^ John iii. 34. 
 
 <! 1 John iv. 12 ; also John i. 18. 
 ^ Heb. i. 3. 
 X 
 
306 Infiuenc.e of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix. 
 
 so long holding intercourse. Such must be our 
 notions also concerning Him, unless they be 
 erroneous ; for the ideas we form on a subject 
 surpassing the powers of our present minds, and 
 which Scripture has but indistinctly revealed, 
 cannot be at once, cleavy and correct. The dis- 
 ciples, however, had, during our Lord's abode 
 with them, even more imperfect notions respect- 
 ing Him than they were afterwards taught to 
 form. He had " many things to say unto them, 
 which yet they could not bear." But they 
 " knew and were sure that He was the Christ, 
 the Son of the living God," and that " He had 
 the words of eternal life ;" and they had latterly 
 been further taught that they were not to regard 
 Him as merely bearing the commission of the 
 Most High, like the prophets of old ; nor yet as 
 merely some Being of a superhuman nature, 
 whether a creature, or (according to the pre- 
 sumptuous fancies which afterwards prevailed) 
 some Mon, or Emanation from the Deity, and 
 partaking of the divine nature ;^ for when asked 
 
 8 The Gnostics (i. e. men of " science, falsely so called," — 
 men claiming, in the title they assumed, to be emphatically 
 such as " knew the Gospel,") taught the doctrine of successive 
 
SECT. 1 .] Influence of tlie Holy Spirit. 307 
 
 by Philip, who probably was disposed to enter- 
 tain some such notion, to show them the Father, 
 He replied, " Have I been so long with you, and 
 yet hast thou not known me, Phihp ? he that 
 hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how 
 then sayest thou. Shew us the Father ? Believest 
 thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father 
 in me the words that I speak unto you I 
 
 emanations (" endless genealogies" alluded to by Paul) from 
 the Deity (whom they call the " Fulness "), and from one 
 another of these celestial beings : in whom they personified 
 many of the Scripture-terms relating to the character or the 
 dispensations of the Most High. Such as Logos (the Word), 
 of whom they regarded Christ as an incarnation ; Phos (Light), 
 feigned to have been incarnate in John the Baptist ; Aletheia 
 (Truth) ; Zoe (Life) ; Monogenes (only-begotten), and others. 
 Without some acquaintance with this tissue of impious absur- 
 dity, it is impossible to understand fully the opening of John's 
 Gospel. See " Hinds's History of the Rise and early Progress 
 of Christianity," Vol. IL p. 49. 
 
 Paul's expressions also, " in Him dwelleth all the Fulness 
 
 of the Godhead bodily" "it hath pleased the Father 
 
 that in Him should all Fulness dwell," have reference proba- 
 bly to the same heresy. 
 
 ^ This mode of expression seems to have been employed, 
 as it constantly is, by our Lord, to guard his hearers against 
 the notion of a local Deity, — against literally attributing 
 place to the Divine mind : thus. He says, " abide in me, and / 
 in you :" and, " the same dwelleth in me, and I in him," &c. 
 
 x2 
 
308 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix. 
 
 speak not of myself; but the Father that 
 dwelleth in me. He doeth the works. Believe 
 me that I am in the Father, and the Father in 
 me ; or else believe me for the very works' 
 sake." (John xiv.) 
 
 § 1. Well therefore might the disciples, when 
 thus far taught, anticipate with grief and dismay 
 the approaching loss of this their Divine Master — 
 the destruction of " the temple of his body," and 
 the withdrawing of this " manifestation of God 
 in the flesh," with which they had been so long 
 favoured ; and He most tenderly sets Himself to 
 relieve their fears and sorrows, by assuring them 
 of his speedy return to abide with them for ever ; 
 " I go away, and come again unto you ; a little 
 while, and ye shall not see me, and again a little 
 while and ye shall see me," It was not, indeed, 
 the bodily presence of their Master in the flesh, 
 that they were to look for as continuing with 
 them " always, even unto the end of the world," 
 as these and several other of his expressions 
 would have led them to suppose, had there not 
 been others to modify and explain them ; it was 
 another comforter, — the Holy Spirit, whom the 
 
SECT. 1.] Influence of' the Holy Spirit. 309 
 
 Father should send in Christ's name, that should 
 teach them all things, and should " abide with" 
 them " for ever." Yet still, Jesus suffers them 
 not to suppose that they were to transfer their 
 love and allegiance to a new Master, or to look 
 for consolation and instruction to any distinct 
 Being from Himself ; though after his ascension 
 He would no longer be, as heretofore, the object 
 daily present to their senses ; " That Spirit of 
 Truth," He said, they knew ; " for He dwelleth 
 with you, and shall be in you :" " I will not leave 
 you comfortless, I will come unto you; yet a 
 little while and the world seeth me no more ; 
 but ye see me ; because I live, ye shall live 
 also : at that day ye shall know that I am in my 
 
 Father, and ye in me, and I in you"* 
 
 " he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father, 
 and I will love him, and will manifest myself 
 
 to him" " my Father will love him, and 
 
 we will come unto him and make our abode 
 with him :" " abide in me, and I in you as the 
 branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in 
 the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me ; 
 — without me ye can do nothing." (John xv.) 
 
 ' See note p. 307. 
 
310 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix. 
 
 That these promises and these precepts of 
 Jesus were not so confined to the disciples then 
 around him as to concern no other Christians, is 
 most evident. If the Apostles could bring forth 
 no fruit except they " abode ip Him, and He in 
 them," no more, surely, can we. He had ex- 
 pressly declared that He " prayed not for them 
 alone, but for those also, who should believe on 
 Him through their word;" nor would his pro- 
 mise of being " with them always even unto the 
 end of the world," have been fulfilled, by any 
 assistance bestowed exclusively on one genera- 
 tion of mortal men.'' 
 
 And it is equally clear, I think, to any one 
 who seeks in earnest to be led by the Scriptures, 
 that our Saviour's words are not to be explained 
 as relating merely to a system of doctrines and 
 motives, — to an abstract religious principle, — but 
 to a real, individual, personal agent ; even the 
 Holy Spirit operating on the minds of behevers ; 
 which is called, amidst the diversity of opera- 
 tions, one and the same Spirit, not, figuratively, 
 as when we speak of the spirit of patriotism, — 
 the spirit of emulation, — the spirit of philoso- 
 
 See Note ("') p. 312. 
 
SECT. 1.] Injluence of the Holy Spirit. 311 
 
 phical inquiry, and the like ; but literally and 
 numerically, one Being, even the one God, 
 whose Temple is the whole body of the faithful ; 
 which Temple they are warned not " to defile, 
 lest God destroy them.'" For if any one could 
 even so strain this last expression (as well as 
 many other such) of the Apostle Paul, and like- 
 wise all the words of Christ Himself, as to inter- 
 pret them into mere metaphor, it would still be 
 impossible for him to conceive a mere principle 
 of action, — a christian spirit, in that transferred 
 sense of the word, — enabling Christians to work 
 sensible miracles ; and these we find distinctly 
 attributed to the immediate agency of the Divine 
 Spirit. One indeed of the many important uses 
 of the miraculous gifts bestowed on the infant 
 Church, and one, doubtless, of those for which 
 they were designed, was this : they served to 
 prove, among other things, that the promised 
 indwelling of the Spirit of Christ in his Church, 
 was not to be understood as a mere figure of 
 speech, denoting their adherence to the doctrines 
 He taught, and the possession of the inspired 
 
 ' See " The three Temples of the one true God con- 
 trasted," by Kev. S. Hinds. 
 
312 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix. 
 
 record of them, but a real, though unseen, pre- 
 sence, by his Spirit ; — not the mere keeping of 
 his commandments through love for his memory, 
 but a spiritual union with Him ; at once the 
 promised reward, and the bond and support of 
 that obedient love, — the effect at once and cause 
 of our " keeping his saying." " For if any man 
 love me," said He, " he will keep my saying, 
 and my Father will love him, and We will come 
 unto him, and make our abode with him."™ And 
 it is, I conceive, this, the more intimate union 
 of the Spirit of Christ with his disciples — more 
 intimate than that which had existed while He 
 was present with them in the flesh, — that He 
 teaches them to regard as a ground for not only 
 
 ™ Would Jesus have said this of any man {i. e. every man) 
 who loved Him, if He had been speaking only of the Apostles, 
 and of those others who should receive miraculous gifts ? Or 
 would Paul, in that case, when writing to the Romans, who 
 had at that time received no miraculous gifts (see Rom. i. 11.) 
 have said " the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by 
 the Holy Ghost which is given unto us:" ... . "as many as 
 
 are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God 
 
 if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you : if any man have 
 not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his : ... . the Spirit 
 itself beareth witness with our spirit ?" &c. &c. 
 
SECT. 2.] Influence of the Hohj Spirit. 313 
 
 not grieving, but rejoicing, at his departure, 
 which was to lead to such a re-union; "if ye 
 loved me ye would rejoice." 
 
 § 2. It may be said, however, that since 
 "every good and every perfect gift is from 
 above," — since from God " proceed all holy de- 
 sires, good counsels, and just works," we must 
 not account spiritual influence as any peculiar 
 privilege of the gospel-system, but must acknow- 
 ledge that good men among the Israelites of old, 
 if not among the heathen also, acted under the 
 guidance of the Holy Ghost. Indeed we find 
 them even recognizing this influence by their 
 prayers to God to "make a clean heart within 
 them," &:c. And yet on the other hand, there 
 can surely be no doubt that under the Gospel, 
 some new manifestation of God in the Spirit has 
 taken place. We cannot suppose that the per- 
 sons, who by our Lord's directions were baptized 
 into" the name of the Father, Son and Holy 
 
 ° Not " in the name," as it is in our translation ; which 
 probably in this and a few more instances showed too much 
 deference for the Vulgate Latin Version. That translates " in 
 nomine ;" a rendering plainly at variance with the original. 
 
314 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix. 
 
 Ghost, — who were " born again of water and of 
 the Spirit," in order to their entering into the 
 newly-founded kingdom of heaven, were admit- 
 ted to no privilege which had not been all along 
 enjoyed by their fathers even from the creation. 
 And every part of the New Testament confirms 
 this view. Among the rest, we find in John's 
 Gospel, "this spake He of the Holy Ghost, 
 which they that believed on Him should receive ; 
 for the Holy Ghost was not yet;"" "because 
 that Jesus was not yet glorified." And again, 
 those twelve disciples whom Paul found at Ephe- 
 sus in his third apostolical journey, had "not 
 so much as heard whether there be any Holy 
 Ghost." Yet certainly they could not have been 
 ignorant that God is a Spirit. Nor can it well 
 be supposed, that they, and the Evangelist John 
 in the passage just cited, refer to the miraculous 
 effusion alone, and call that extraordinary agency, 
 especially and exclusively, the Holy Ghost; since 
 they must have known how frequently God had 
 of old inspired the prophets, and enabled many 
 of them to perform various miracles. 
 
 " " Given," is added by the translators. 
 
SECT. 2.] Influence of the Holy Spirit. 315 
 
 In what then are we to conclude the difference 
 consisted between the Christian Church and her 
 predecessor, in respect of spiritual endowment? 
 Without presuming to decide on the degree of 
 divine assistance bestowed on individuals under 
 the two dispensations respectively, (which would 
 be presumptuous,) this important distinction we 
 may plainly perceive ; that, of the Christian 
 Church the Holy Spirit is the promised and 
 PERMANENT Comfortcr : He is the "promise of 
 the Father," sent that " He may abide with us 
 for ever." Whatever sanctifying aid may have 
 been, in fact, supplied, under the Old Covenant, 
 it was no part of that Covenant ; — of the Chris- 
 tian Covenant, it is. God the Holy Ghost, — 
 God manifest in the Spirit, was not the per- 
 manent Ruler of the former Church, as He is of 
 the Christian. As for the divine communications 
 to the prophets, and the miraculous powers be- 
 stowed on them and on others, under the Old 
 Dispensation, these were not continuous, but 
 occasional ; inward sanctifying grace, again, 
 bestowed on the humble and pious, may have 
 been, for aught we know, constant, but was not 
 promised. And hence the Jewish people was 
 
316 hrfluence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix. 
 
 never called, like the Christians, the " Temple 
 of the Holy Ghost." 
 
 What the Apostle John therefore (as well as 
 those disciples at Ephesus) meant by the Holy 
 Spirit, which, he says, " was not yet," {ovira ^u) 
 must have been, this covenanted and perpetual 
 manifestation of God in the Spirit, (a manifesta- 
 tion now to faith only, though at first confirmed 
 by sensible miracles) as the Governor, Protector, 
 Consoler, in short. Paraclete, of the Christian 
 Church. For we are Christ's Body ; and " here- 
 by know we that He dwelleth in us, by his 
 Spirit which He hath given us." These consi- 
 derations alone would be sufficient to prove, 
 were other proofs less abundant, that the pro- 
 mised presence of God with the Christian 
 Church, cannot, without setting Scripture at 
 defiance, be understood as referring merely to 
 the writings of the New Testament which He 
 inspired ; since that would give us no advantage 
 over the Jewish Church; for "holy men of old 
 spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 
 
 § 3. The promise of Christ, however, that He 
 would always, even unto the end of the world. 
 
SECT. 3.] Influence of the Holy Spirit. 317 
 
 be with his Church, which is thus constituted 
 " the temple of the Holy Ghost that dwelleth in 
 it," is not understood by all in the same extent. 
 While on the one hand, some enthusiasts have 
 pretended to inspiration, and other miraculous 
 gifts ; many on the other hand, who are far re- 
 moved from this error, but who are satisfied with 
 vague and careless notions, have a sort of general 
 idea of spiritual aid not being wholly withdrawn 
 from Christians, but bestowed in a much less 
 degree than on the saints of the primitive times ; 
 without seeking to determine the measure, or the 
 kind of spiritual assistance to be reasonably hoped 
 for by each class respectively, or the signs by 
 which each might recognize its presence. 
 
 And yet it might naturally be supposed, that 
 inscrutable as the nature of God must be to his 
 creatures, and little as they can understand of 
 the reasons and the modes of his dealings with 
 them, at least we should be capable of knowing 
 what the spiritual aid is that we are taught to 
 look for, and commanded to pray and to strive 
 for. The humblest peasant, who subsists by the 
 labour of his hands, may be left ignorant indeed 
 of the process by which corn vegetates in the 
 
318 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix. 
 
 earth, or supplies nutriment to the human frame ; 
 but it is needful for his natural hfe that he should 
 understand how to gain his daily bread, which he 
 is taught to pray for, and to distinguish it from 
 what is useless or noxious ; and it is no less 
 needful that the plainest Christian should be able 
 to understand how his spiritual life is to be sup- 
 ported, — the welfare of his soul secured ; and 
 should be capable of guarding against any dan- 
 gerous error on the subject. 
 
 It is desirable, therefore, that both the resem- 
 blances and the differences between our condition 
 and that of the primitive Christians, in respect 
 of this point, should be as accurately laid down 
 as possible, and should be frequently dwelt upon ; 
 since the worst consequences may result from 
 either underrating or overrating the spiritual aid 
 to be expected by Christians of the present day. 
 
 Thus much is generally admitted ; that the 
 promise of the Holy Spirit extended to both 
 classes of Christians ; but that the sensibly- 
 miraculous gifts bestowed on the early Church 
 have been long since withdrawn ; and these are 
 usually, and very suitably, called the extraor- 
 dinary gifts ; as bestowed at a particular time. 
 
SECT. 4.] Influence of the Holy Spil it. 319 
 
 and for an especial purpose ; and are thus dis- 
 tinguished from what are called the ordinary 
 operations of the Spirit, as needful ahke for all 
 Christians, and at all times. A more particular 
 consideration, however, of some of the Several 
 points of resemblance, and of difference, between 
 the two cases, is requisite for the purpose of 
 guarding against some prevailing errors, and of 
 caUing attention to doctrines not always suffi- 
 ciently noticed, or adequately developed. 
 
 And this inquiry falls naturally under two 
 heads, (which however cannot be kept entirely 
 distinct) ; viz. 1st, as to the different classes of 
 gifts themselves ; and 2dly, as to the tokens by 
 which the presence of each is to be known — the 
 way in which each kind of spiritual influence is 
 to be recognized. 
 
 § 4. First, then, the display of " signs and 
 wonders" in the primitive Church, constitutes 
 one great distinction between their case and 
 ours-.P but this distinction being acknowledged, 
 
 p For it is not necessary at present to enter into an exa- 
 mination of the false pretensions of some impostors and 
 enthusiasts, whether in the Church of Rome or in any other, 
 who have professed to work sensible miracles. 
 
320 Injluence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix. 
 
 we should consider attentively on whom, and for 
 what purposes, these miraculous gifts were be- 
 stowed ; for it is not unnatural, nor I believe 
 uncommon to regard the persons who were thus 
 gifted, as holier, and more highly favoured of 
 God, than Christians of the present day ; — as 
 Saints, in some different sense or degree from 
 any thing that we are required or allowed to 
 become. But an examination of the case will 
 plainly show, that we have no reasons for re- 
 garding the Christians thus gifted as having any 
 such advantage over us. It is not necessary to 
 enumerate and discuss the several kinds of ex- 
 traordinary gifts ; it is plain that they were not 
 such as can be supposed to have been bestowed 
 for the direct benefit of the possessor. The gift 
 of tongues, for instance, or of prophecy, or of 
 heahng the sick, could not, of themselves, and 
 immediately, conduce to the salvation of the 
 persons thus gifted. But more than this, they 
 did not even afford proof that such persons were 
 completely acceptable to God, and in a safe 
 state in respect of their salvation ; for, strange 
 as it may appear to us, there is no possibility of 
 doubting that several of them not only incurred 
 
SECT. 4.] Influence of tlie Holy Spirit. 321 
 
 the Apostle's severe rebuke for their misconduct, 
 but among the rest were censured for a vain 
 and contentious display of these very miraculous 
 endowments ; they showed a carnal mind, not 
 only while possessed of extraordinary spiritual 
 gifts, but even in the very employment of those 
 gifts. 
 
 It appears probable, indeed, that the Apostles 
 (who alone had this power)'' conferred some ex- 
 traordinary gift or other on every one, without 
 exception, of the converts who came in their 
 way, as a token and pledge of their being in 
 truth a holy people to the Lord. At least no 
 mention is made of their bestowing these gifts 
 on some and not on others ; and certainly, 
 whether they made any selection or not, they 
 did not, as we plainly find, confine the gifts to 
 such as it was foreseen would make a right use 
 of them. 
 
 For what purpose then were these gifts be- 
 stowed ? Principally, we may conclude, for these 
 three : 1st, for the satisfactory conviction and 
 assurance of the minds of the possessors ; 2dly, 
 
 •J Acts viii. 16. xix. 6. Rom. i. 11, &c. 
 
 r 
 
322 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix. 
 
 for the propagation of the rehgion ; and, 3dly, 
 for the edification of the Church. 
 
 And, First, Some external sensible operations 
 of the Spirit must have been highly important at 
 least, to satisfy the minds of the first Christians 
 of his actual presence among them. They had 
 so far shaken off their Jewish and Heathen pre- 
 judices (prejudices which we of the present day 
 can hardly bring ourselves adequately to estimate) 
 as to receive the religion of Christ crucified, " to 
 the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks 
 foolishness ;" they had acknowledged that the 
 Eternal God, the Author and Ruler of the 
 Universe, had been manifested in the flesh, in- 
 carnate in an obscure, despised, and persecuted 
 peasant, who had been executed as one of the 
 vilest of criminals ; and on being baptized into 
 this faith they were further required to believe 
 that they were thus " born again of water and 
 of the Holy Spirit," — that He, the same all- 
 present God, dwelt in an especial manner in the 
 Church, of which they were become members, 
 as in a most holy Temple, and was ever at hand 
 to sanctify and guide them. "Know ye not," 
 says Paul, "that ye are the Temple of the Holy 
 
SECT. 4.] Influence of the Holy Spirit. 323 
 
 Ghost, which dwelleth in you ? " Now all this 
 was so opposite to all their former notions, — so 
 strange to all their habits of thought, that they 
 might well need some special assurance of such 
 a doctrine as this last ; — some support against 
 the uneasy doubts and suspicions which might 
 suggest the question, " is the Lord among us, or 
 not?" And such an assurance was graciously 
 afforded them in the sensible testimony of his 
 presence which God displayed, by conferring 
 powers manifestly miraculous/ Those, for in- 
 stance, who received the gift of speaking in, or 
 interpreting, a language they had never learned, 
 could not suspect that they had been deceived 
 by a false teacher, or that they were under the 
 delusion of a heated imagination : they would 
 have ground for undoubting confidence, there- 
 fore, that they were indeed born of the Spirit, 
 and living stones of that holy Temple, not made 
 with hands, in which He resides. Not, however, 
 be it observed, that they were to regard their 
 extraordinary gifts as the only, or as the most 
 important, instajice of spiritual influence, but as 
 the proof and pledge of it : the truly important 
 " Hinds's History," &c. Vol. I. p. 227. 
 Y 2 
 
324 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix. 
 
 benefit was, the sanctification by the Spirit, with 
 a view to eternal Hfe ; the miraculous power 
 was the seal and the earnest of that benefit, — ■ 
 the sign and notification, as it were, that the 
 treasure had been bestowed, — not the treasure 
 itself. 
 
 Secondly, These extraordinary gifts were 
 needful in various ways for the propagation of 
 Christ's rehgion ; both to furnish those who 
 preached it with credentials, as it were, from 
 heaven, to prove the divine origin of the religion, 
 and also to enable all nations to " hear in their 
 own tongues the wonderful works of God." 
 
 Thirdly, divers extraordinary gifts (probably 
 those designated as the "word of wisdom," "the 
 word of knowledge," and "the word of pro- 
 phecy") were evidently needful for the edification 
 of the infant Church ; — for the supply of instruc- 
 tion, both in doctrines and in moral duties, to 
 those whose Divine Master had not left behind 
 Him (hke Moses) a book, containing the prin- 
 ciples of Christian faith and practice, but had 
 left, instead, the promise of his Spirit, who should 
 " lead them into all [the] truth." 
 
 Such, principally, appear to have been the 
 
SECT. 4.] Influence of the Holy Spirit. 325 
 
 peculiar wants, and such the pecuhar supply of 
 those wants, in the infant Church. We have 
 the records of inspiration in the writings of the 
 Apostles and their followers, which supersede 
 the necessity of inspiration in ourselves : we have 
 the history of their miracles preserved, which, 
 together with the result of the miracles, — the 
 establishment and existence, at this day, of the 
 religion, — afford a sufficient evidence of its truth, 
 to all who are open to conviction ; since expe- 
 rience, — now, long experience, has proved that 
 all attempts to account for its establishment by 
 human means, are vain. And as the blaze of 
 the pillar which guided the Israelites in the 
 wilderness, and proved to them the divine pre- 
 sence among them, was withdrawn when they 
 were sufficiently convinced of that presence, and, 
 as it were, familiar with the belief that the Lord 
 was among them as their Protector and King, — 
 the manifestation of "the glory of the Lord" 
 being thenceforward enclosed within the most 
 holy place, — so, the outward and sensible marks 
 of God's presence in his Church, were gradually 
 withdrawn, when sufficient evidence had been 
 afforded of that presence ; which is still not less 
 
326 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix. 
 
 real or lesS effectual than before ; and which is 
 no longer miraculously displayed, only because 
 it has been already sufficiently proved.* 
 
 The extraordinary gifts were probably with- 
 drawn gradually, in proportion as the structure, 
 of which they were the temporary support, gra- 
 dually acquired consistency. We have, accord- 
 ingly, nothing recorded on the subject ; indeed, 
 much has come down to us respecting miracles, 
 pretended to have been wrought long after the 
 apostolic age, which we have good reason for 
 regarding as fabulous. The Sacred Writers, 
 however, furnish us with grounds for at least a 
 highly probable conjecture. It v/as through the 
 laying on of the hands of the Apostles only, 
 that extraordinary gifts were for the most part 
 conferred ; as may be proved from several parts 
 of the New Testament, particularly the account 
 in the Acts (chap, viii.) of the preaching of the 
 Gospel by Philip the Deacon to the Samaritans ; 
 who were afterwards favoured with a visit, chiefly, 
 
 I am indebted for this remark, and for several others in 
 the present Essay, to that most interesting and useful work, 
 " Hinds's History of the Rise and Early Progress of Chris- 
 tianity ;" first published in the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana. 
 
SECT. 5. J Influence of ' the Holy Spirit. 327 
 
 as it appears, for this express purpose, by the 
 Apostles Peter and John. And the same may 
 be collected from the opening of the Epistle to 
 the Romans. 
 
 Such then being the mode in which, exclu- 
 sively, miraculous powers were conveyed, (with 
 the exception of a very few cases, including, of 
 course, that of the Apostles themselves,) the 
 result must have been, that when all the Apo- 
 stles had terminated their course on earth, all 
 the channels must have been stopped through 
 which this stream had hitherto flowed ; and as 
 the last generation dropped off, one by one, of 
 such as had thus been gifted, this extraordinary 
 manifestation of the Spirit gradually became 
 extinct. 
 
 § 5. These extraordinary endowments, then, 
 constitute one important difference between the 
 early Christians and ourselves ; but the corre- 
 sponding point of resemblance is one of far 
 higher importance : for we have no reason to 
 suppose that that spiritual influence, which is 
 conferred for the benefit of the individual Chris- 
 tian, — for his moral improvement and purifi- 
 
328 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix^ 
 
 cation — for his support and guidance in the road 
 to eternal life, — is bestowed in any less degree 
 on sincere Christians, at the present day, than 
 formerly. Now this surely is of incomparably 
 higher importance than the miraculous gifts we 
 have been speaking of. These last without the 
 other, — without, that is, the proper use having 
 been made of the other, — would be utterly worth- 
 less ; the sanctifying influence of the Spirit, if 
 we so walk after it as to bring forth the fruits of 
 the Spirit, hath the " end of everlasting life." 
 " Many," says our Saviour, " shall say in that 
 day. Lord, we have in thy name cast out demons,' 
 and in thy name done many mighty works ; 
 then will I say unto them, I know you not ; 
 
 depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity" 
 
 And again, "in this rejoice not, that the demons 
 are subject unto you ; but rather rejoice, because 
 your names are written in heaven." 
 
 And Paul in like manner, when he has been 
 enumerating and comparing together the various 
 extraordinary spiritual gifts, which had been a 
 
 ' The Devil {^m^oKoq) is used as a designation of Satan, 
 and, of course, always in the singular : the plural, which has 
 been injudiciously rendered Devils, is Demons, (Aatjuoi'ta.) 
 
SECT. 5.] Influence of the Holy Spirit. 329 
 
 subject of emulation and dissension among the 
 Corinthian Christians, concludes by utterly de- 
 preciating all of them in comparison of that 
 which he calls a " more excellent way." This he 
 designates by the word dja-m]; which in most 
 places is rendered "love," but in the passage 
 in question " charity." It appears, however, to 
 have been employed in this place to denote 
 collectively all the sanctifying efficacy, — all of 
 what we call the ordinary operations of the Holy 
 Spirit ; this gift being at once the great proof 
 and instance of Christ's love to his Church, — 
 the ground of the love of Christians towards their 
 Master, and also the bond of their brotherly 
 love towards each other, not as fellow-creatures 
 merely, but as fellow-members of Christ's body. 
 • The circumstance of the Apostle's setting dyaTTT} 
 above faith and hope {irlans and kXTrls) not 
 merely as the greatest of the three, but as in- 
 cluding the other two, because it " hopeth all 
 things, and believeth all things," {irdvTa eXTr/fet, 
 •rrdvTa -jnarrevet) seems to indicate that he was 
 not in this case confining his view to Christian 
 benevolence alone : and if any one will compare 
 the fruits of dyaTn], as enumerated in the 13th 
 
330 Influence of tJie Holy Spirit, [essay ix. 
 
 chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, 
 with " the fruits of the Spirit" in the 5th chap- 
 ter of the Epistle to the Galatians, in the ori- 
 ginal, he will perceive such a striking coincidence 
 in the Greek words employed in the two pas- 
 sages, (much more striking than an English 
 translation exhibits,) as will leave little doubt 
 that the same train of thought was in the writer's 
 mind in both instances." 
 
 It may appear superfluous, however, to adduce 
 scriptural proofs of what is in itself so obvious 
 as the superior value of sanctifying grace to 
 miraculous endowments. But as long as lan- 
 guage is employed by mankind to express their 
 thoughts, there will always be a danger of their 
 thoughts being influenced by language ; and 
 unless an especial attention is directed to this 
 danger, the best-chosen expressions will ever be 
 liable insensibly to become a snare to us. The 
 ordinary and the extraordinary operations of the 
 Holy Spirit have been very fitly so termed ; but 
 these words are likely, if we are not on our 
 guard against the danger, to suggest to us, 
 
 " See Hinds's " History of the Rise and Progress," &c. 
 Vol. II. p. 221. 
 
SECT. 5.] Influence of the Holy Spirit. 331 
 
 gradually and imperceptibly, an erroneous idea. 
 Extraordinary abilities place a man much above 
 one of ordinary; extraordinary merit is some- 
 thing much greater and better than ordinary ; 
 and the like in many other cases. Such an 
 employment, therefore, of those words, is apt to 
 lead men insensibly to form an indistinct notion 
 of some very superior advantage possessed by 
 those endowed with the extraordinary gifts of 
 the Spirit ; especially as the title of saints is com- 
 monly applied in Scripture to the early Christians, 
 as equivalent to that title : while by us it is 
 limited to a few of the most eminently pious that 
 are recorded.'' If one were even to hint at the 
 
 ^ The application (among Protestants) of the title " Saint," 
 in the present day, seems somewhat anomalous. It is never 
 applied to the indisputably holy (sancti) and even inspired 
 persons who lived under the Jewish dispensation ; such as 
 Moses, David, Daniel, &c., nor is it limited to such Chris- 
 tians (viz. the Apostles and Evangelists) as were confessedly 
 inspired ; for Protestants commonly speak of Saint Jerome, 
 Saint Augustine, &c. without attributing inspiration to them ; 
 nor again is it considered allowable to characterise by that 
 title such men of later days as appear to us eminent for 
 Christian knowledge and virtue ; as, for instance, the chief 
 promoters and martyrs of the Reformation. All this surely 
 tends to foster the notion that in the earlier ages of Chris- 
 
332 Influence of the Hohj Spirit, [essay ix. 
 
 possibility of any man's becoming, in the present 
 day, as perfect a Christian as one of the Apostles, 
 — of any set of Christians now, attaining an 
 equality with the best of those primitive Chris- 
 tians, — becoming Saints in as high a degree 
 as those who are usually so called, — the very 
 idea would be reprobated by many persons as 
 an almost impious presumption ; though in fact 
 there is much more presumption in expecting 
 God's eternal favour, while we are content to 
 remain inferior. 
 
 Not that men deliberately assent to the propo- 
 sition, that the power of working miracles is a 
 
 tianity, some men at least were ab]e to attain a higher degree 
 of Christian holiness than any one can hope for, or need 
 strive for, now. 
 
 The Romanist-system, a most complete and compact, and 
 well-proportioned edifice, though built on a foundation of sand, 
 seems to me in this matter, as in most others, very consis- 
 tent with itself. The definition of a Saint according to that 
 system, — of one enrolled in the list, or canonized, as it is 
 called, — seems to be, one who is supposed to have performed 
 eminent works of supererogation ; i. e. to have had more merit 
 than sufficed for his own salvation ; the overplus being, (as 
 is well known to all who are acquainted with the doctrines 
 of that school) stored up, as it were, in a kind of common 
 treasury, for the benefit of the rest of the Catholic Church. 
 And no Romanist need be at a loss to know who is, and who 
 
SECT. 5.] Influence of the Holy Spirit. 333 
 
 better thing than a pure and holy mind; nor 
 that they can be ignorant, if they are but mo- 
 derately versed in Scripture, of the recorded 
 imperfections of many thus gifted, even in their 
 manner of exercising these very gifts ; but the 
 use of the word extraordinari/, together with the 
 perceptible and striking character of these en- 
 dowments, and our habit of prizing the most 
 highly what is rare, tend to leave a sort of vague 
 impression on the mind, of some pre-eminent 
 sanctity in those who were partakers of them, 
 above what is attainable in the present day. 
 The splendid accompaniment which testified to 
 
 is not, to bear the title of Saint : the names are to be found in 
 a register, into which they are admitted by the Pope himself. 
 All this is at least consistent, and convenient. It wants 
 nothing but satisfactory evidence. 
 
 I would suggest however to Protestant-preachers the im- 
 portance of frequently reminding their hearers, at least the 
 middle and lower classes, i. e. a large majority of most con- 
 gregations, that it is a mistake (and I believe it to be a very 
 common one) to suppose that the admonitions and exhor- 
 tations which the Apostles address to " Saints," do not con- 
 cern, or do not equally concern. Christians in the present day; 
 or that they are " not expected to be Saints." To assume that 
 title indeed as distinguishing them from their fellow- Christians, 
 is most presumptuous ; but the Gospel-promises are limited 
 to those who live "as becometh Saints." 
 
334 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix. 
 
 them the reaUty of the spiritual influence be- 
 stowed, is apt to enhance in our minds the value 
 of the benefit thus attested, above that which is 
 still placed within the Christian's reach. But if 
 we attentively consider the case, we shall be 
 convinced that the Lord has not given to the 
 one class of Christians any advantage over the 
 other, in that which tends to the spiritual wel- 
 fare of the individual Christian, and leads to the 
 salvation of his soul ; — that his promise to be 
 with his Church always, and to dwell spiritually 
 in the hearts of those who love Him and keep 
 his saying, extends equally to all who equally 
 strive to fulfil that, the condition of it ; — and 
 that our situation resembles that of the primitive 
 Christians in all that is essential, and differs from 
 it only in circumstances which were not only 
 temporary but comparatively unimportant. 
 
 § 6. Hitherto, I have been comparing together 
 the case of the early Christians and our own, 
 principally with a view to the intrinsic character 
 of the spiritual gifts themselves that were pro- 
 mised. I shall proceed (according to the division 
 mentioned, § 3.) to offer some remarks on the 
 
SECT. G.] Influence of the Holy Spirit. 335 
 
 signs by which the two classes of gifts — the 
 influence of the Spirit in these two modes of 
 operation, the extraordinary, and the ordinary, — 
 are, respectively, to be recognized and ascer- 
 tained. We shall hence be led to perceive some 
 further points of difference and of resemblance, 
 between the condition of the first Christians and 
 our own ; and may thus be more effectually 
 guarded against each of those opposite errors, 
 which are but too prevalent ; that of neglecting 
 or depreciating those inestimable gifts, which are 
 placed within our reach ; and that of pretending 
 to, or expecting such as are not promised. 
 
 When our Lord said to his disciples, " If ye 
 have Faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do 
 this which is done to the fig-tree, but also, if ye 
 shall say unto this mountain. Be thou removed, 
 and be thou cast into the sea, it shall be done," 
 it is plain that the Faith, which in this and in 
 several other passages He was inculcating on 
 them, is not to be understood of mere belief in 
 Jesus as the Messiah, or in the doctrines of his 
 religion ; or of trust, generally, in divine power 
 and goodness. It evidently has reference to 
 miraculous powers, such as are not bestowed on 
 
336 Influence of tJie Holy Spirit, [essay ix. 
 
 all Christians; though Faith, in another sense, 
 is required of all. But in this and other decla- 
 rations of like import, there can be little doubt 
 that our Saviour had in view, confidence in those 
 admonitions and injunctions which his disciples 
 and many others of the early Christians from time 
 to time received, authorizing and empowering them 
 to work certain miracles. Their extraordinary 
 gifts were not at their own command. Even 
 Paul, who performed so many mighty works, 
 and, among others, possessed the gift of healing 
 in a high degree, yet was not always permitted 
 to exert this gift, even in favour of his dearest 
 friends/ A special commission seems to have 
 been requisite to enable them to exercise their 
 delegated powers. And this was conveyed to 
 them, — their commission and call to perform 
 miracles, was announced to them, — in various 
 ways. During our Lord's abode on earth in the 
 flesh, He Himself, whose authority they could 
 not doubt, uttered commands to this purpose 
 with his own lips. Besides the general commis- 
 sion given to the Apostles and to the Seventy, 
 we find Him on one occasion giving a precise 
 y See 2 Tim. iv. 20. 
 
SECT. 6.] Influence of the Holy Spirit. 337 
 
 direction to Peter to cast a hook into the sea, 
 and to take the fish that first came up, in whose 
 mouth he should find the piece of money (a 
 Stater) which the exigency required : in another 
 instance. He, at the request of the same Apostle, 
 commanded him to come and meet Him on the 
 surface of the water. Peter seems to have well 
 understood that his Master's command was at 
 once requisite and sufficient to enable him to 
 tread the waves without sinking. But even after 
 he had begun to experience the efficacy of that 
 command, his faith was shaken by alarm, and 
 he began to sink, and was reproached by his 
 Master for his doubts. The faith in which he 
 was in this instance found deficient, seems to 
 have been precisely that which our Lord on other 
 occasions so earnestly inculcated. 
 
 After our Lord's ascension, some other kind 
 of indication must have been given, by which 
 those who were on each occasion authorized to 
 work any miracle, might know that they were 
 thus empowered. A species of revelation, in 
 short, must have been bestowed, informing them 
 what they were enabled and required to perform ; 
 and in this revelation they were required to have 
 z 
 
338 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix. 
 
 a full faith. Whatever mode may have been, in 
 each case, employed for conveying this revela- 
 tion, the indication given must always have been 
 something in which they could not be mis- 
 taken — something as free from all doubt or 
 suspicion as the words which they heard Jesus 
 utter while with them ; since otherwise, this 
 unhesitating faith could not reasonably have 
 been required of them. It must have been 
 something, therefore, which could not possibly 
 be confounded with any suggestions of their 
 own minds. 
 
 This is a point concerning which we have no 
 precise statements in Scripture ; but the nature 
 of the case puts it, I think, beyond a doubt, 
 that the intimations or signs we are speaking of, 
 must always have been accompanied by, or con- 
 nected with, something sensibly miraculous. For 
 otherwise we must suppose the disciples to have 
 been left exposed to a double danger; that of 
 mistaking any remarkable dream, or impression 
 on their waking minds, from natural causes, for 
 a communication from the Spirit ; in which case 
 they would have given faith to a delusion, and 
 have been disappointed in their expectations. 
 
SECT. 6.] Influence of the Holy Spirit. 339 
 
 contrary to our Lord's express promise : and 
 that of mistaking, on the other hand, some hea- 
 venly communication for an ordinary dream or 
 thought; in which case they would have failed 
 in faith without any fault of their own. God 
 certainly would not leave his servants in any 
 such uncertainty ; and they could not possibly 
 be secured from it in any way but by the inter- 
 vention of sensible miracles. 
 
 I have said, however, that the intimation in 
 question must be either accompanied by, or 
 connected with some sensible miracle, because 
 such a proof to the party concerned, of his not 
 being deluded, as would be necessary in the first 
 instance, might be dispensed with afterwards, 
 when some particular mode of communication 
 had been once stamped, as it were, with the 
 signature of divinity, by some plainly miraculous 
 accompaniment.^ A particular sort of internal 
 sensation, for instance, or mental emotion, which 
 a man might experience, however strikingly 
 different it might be from his ordinary feelings, 
 he would be very rash in regarding as a signal of 
 
 ^ Hinds's History," &c. p. 187. Vol. I. 
 
 z 2 
 
340 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix. 
 
 inspiration ; since he could not possibly tell that 
 it was not a symptom of disease, or of some 
 other natural change ; but if he experienced 
 something of this kind in immediate connexion 
 with a miraculous phenomenon, to which his 
 senses, and those of others, could testify, the 
 recurrence of this pecuhar sensation or percep- 
 tion afterwards, would then be of itself justly 
 regarded by him as a heaven-sent intimation. 
 For instance, a man may dream, or, if in an 
 excited state of mind, may fancy, that he hears 
 a voice addressing him, when there is no such 
 thing ; but when Paul, on his road to Damascus, 
 was struck to the ground, and blinded by a 
 blaze of light, he thus received the assurance 
 of a sensible miracle ; then it was that he heard 
 himself addressed in the awful voice of the Lord 
 Jesus. He afterwards, as he tells us, received 
 from Him, at various times, revelations con- 
 cerning the Gospel. Now if, as is most probable, 
 this revelation was communicated to him by that 
 same voice, — (even though unaccompanied by 
 the supernatural light) — a voice which could not 
 but be strongly impressed on his memory, he 
 would be in no more danger of delusion, than 
 
SECT. 6.] Influence of the Holy Spirit. 341 
 
 any of us, in holding communication with a 
 well-known friend. 
 
 Again, when two of the disciples met with 
 their Master lately risen from the grave, as they 
 were going to Emmaus, their senses were at 
 first preternaturally obscured, so that they did 
 not recognize Him ; but they seem to have 
 experienced, while He was talking with them, a 
 certain remarkable inward sensation, not noticed 
 by them at the time, which they described by 
 their " hearts burning within them :" now this 
 may indeed have been no more than a natural 
 and ordinary emotion, elicited by the interesting 
 character of the discourse they were hearing : it 
 may, however, have been something peculiar; 
 and the remarkable circumstances of the case 
 (especially their eyes being "holden that they 
 should not know Him,") render this not very 
 improbable. It is certainly not impossible ; and 
 therefore at any rate we may frame such a 
 supposition for illustration's sake : suppose then, 
 as is at least conceivable, this were a sensation 
 altogether different from any thing they had 
 ever before experienced ; its recurrence on any 
 subsequent occasion, would be justly regarded 
 
342 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix. 
 
 by them, from the miraculous circumstances 
 accompanying its first occurrence, as a token 
 of their Lord's presence, though unseen, and a 
 notice that they were to regard as a communi- 
 cation from his Spirit, the ideas conveyed to 
 their minds through this vehicle. 
 
 Whether in this particular instance the fact 
 were or were not such as I have supposed, 
 makes no difference to the present argument; 
 the object being only to illustrate my meaning. 
 \_See " Elements of Rhetoric," Part I. Chap. iii. 
 § 3.] It is worth observing, however, that our 
 Lord must have had some design in thus present- 
 ing Himself to his disciples invisible ; invisible 
 that is, as their Master, Jesus : and his design, 
 or at least part of it, may have been, to teach 
 them the meaning of a certain peculiar internal 
 impression, denoting his presence in the Spirit. 
 If so, the sensation, and its peculiarity, their own 
 consciousness would testify ; its meaning would 
 be explained to them by their Lord's afterwards 
 opening their eyes, so that they knew who it was 
 that had been with them. 
 
 But whenever (as has often been the case 
 with those of an enthusiastic temperament in 
 
SECT. 6.] Influence of the Holy Spirit. 3^3 
 
 later times) we find a person strongly suspecting 
 that he has received a revelation, or fully con- 
 vinced of it, from feeling (as they sometimes 
 express it) a certain thought forcibly borne in 
 upon his mind, we may be quite sure that he 
 is deluding himself. God would never leave 
 any doubt, or any reasonable ground for doubt, 
 on the mind of any one to whom He might 
 think fit to impart a revelation; He doubtless 
 never did, nor ever will, communicate any one 
 of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, without 
 attesting, to the person or persons concerned, its 
 reality, by the stamp of some sensible miracle. 
 
 The Apostle Paul, accordingly, we find en- 
 abled to distinguish, and careful to distinguish 
 the fullest convictions of his own understanding, 
 from divine revelations. During his last journey 
 to Jerusalem that is recorded in the Acts, he 
 was strongly impressed with the expectation that 
 he should there close his career by a violent 
 death. He took leave of the Elders of Ephesus 
 with an assurance of his complete conviction 
 that they should see his face no more ; but he 
 knew that this his conjecture (which, all things 
 considered, was a very probable one, though 
 
344 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix, 
 
 the event, we have every reason to believe, did 
 not agree with it) was merely a conjecture, and 
 not a revelation. He had received a divine ad- 
 monition to take this journey, together with a 
 warning of approaching persecutions ; but the 
 ultimate event was as yet hidden from him : 
 " Behold, I go bound in the Spirit unto Jeru- 
 salem, not knowing the things that shall befall 
 me there ; save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth 
 in every city that bonds and afflictions abide 
 me." 
 
 An admirable instance of this Apostle's care, 
 may be seen in 1 Cor. vii. Any such directions 
 as he might have been supposed to deliver on 
 divine authority, on points whereon he had 
 received " no commandment from the Lord," 
 he is careful, though he could not but wish his 
 advice to be followed, to point out as merely the 
 suggestions of his own judgment. In points un- 
 connected with religion, such as the directions 
 he gives about bringing his cloak and his books 
 from Troas, as it would be absurd to suppose 
 any inspiration, so there was no need that he 
 should disavow it. 
 
 And this applies to such purely historical 
 
SECT. 6.] Influence of the Holy Spirit. 345 
 
 passages in the sacred writers as involve no reli- 
 gious doctrine or precept. It is childish there- 
 fore to allege errors, real or imaginary, of this 
 nature, as reasons for doubting either the truth 
 of Christianity or the inspiration of our sacred 
 writers. If indeed they can be proved to have 
 written like men so ill-acquainted with the time, 
 places, and occurrences, they speak of, as to 
 show that they could not really have been what 
 they profess, this is an objection of a different 
 kind ; and on this question we may safely join 
 issue. But when we are told of a blind man 
 healed by Jesus, according to one Evangelist 
 (Mark x. 46.) as He was going out of Jericho, 
 and according to another (Luke xviii. 35.) as He 
 was coming into Jericho, it seems obvious that 
 one of the two was mistaken as to this circum- 
 stance ; — a circumstance so utterly insignificant, 
 that it would be extravagant to expect that the 
 Holy Spirit should interfere to correct the mistake. 
 And any one who should, on such a ground, deny 
 the occurrence of the miracle, or the general 
 fidelity of the writers, would be acting on a princi- 
 ple which if adhered to in ordinary life, would be 
 regarded as a symptom of utter mental imbecility. 
 
346 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix. 
 
 There are other points again in which we 
 could have no ground for conjecturing, /rom the 
 nature of the case, whether supernatural guid- 
 ance took place or not : as, for example, when 
 the Apostle Paul changed his first design of 
 going into Bithynia, and proceeded to Troas, 
 there is no reason why this alteration of plan 
 might not have been regarded as the result of 
 his own natural judgment, but that we are ex- 
 pressly told that " the Spirit suffered them not" 
 to enter Bithynia; (Acts xvi. 6, 7.) In this 
 case therefore either there was a supernatural 
 interference, or the writer is guilty of a direct 
 falsehood. This is a distinction most important 
 to be remembered, as it has been overlooked by 
 eminent writers. Many of the enactments of 
 the Mosaic law again, are, in themselves, such 
 as we might conceive to have been framed by 
 the natural wisdom of Moses ; and his detaining 
 the Israelites forty years in the wilderness, is not 
 a measure on which we could pronounce, from 
 internal evidence, that it could not have been 
 the result of his own judgment. But when we 
 find him distinctly declaring that he had re- 
 ceived express commands from the Lord on 
 
SECT. 6.] Influence of the Holy Spirit. 347 
 
 these points, no alternative remains but either 
 to admit that these were Divine appointments, 
 or to impute to the author a dehberate impos- 
 ture. 
 
 Inspirations, however, and other miraculous 
 gifts, we have (as has been already observed) no 
 reason to expect in these days. Not, however, 
 that we are authorized to assert confidently that 
 nothing of the kind ever will recur ; but thus far 
 we may be confident, that if it does, it will be 
 accompanied by sufficient evidence to distinguish 
 clearly a miraculous interposition, from impos- 
 ture or delusion. 
 
 And it is important to observe, that one who 
 rashly gives heed to such impostures or delu- 
 sions is so far from being chargeable with erring 
 through excess faith, that he has in reality for- 
 feited all claim to the praise of faith as a Christian 
 virtue ; since he plainly shews that even what is 
 true in his belief is received by him not because 
 it is true, but because it agrees with some fancies 
 or prejudices of his own ; and that he is right, 
 where he is right, only by chance. Having 
 violated the spirit of the first commandment, by 
 regarding what is human with the veneration 
 
348 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix. 
 
 due to that only which is divine, his worship, 
 even of the true God, becomes an abomination. 
 He has " set up idols in his heart," (see Ezek. 
 xiv.) and the Lord, the jealous God, will " set 
 his face against that man." 
 
 § 7. The signs then by which the extraor- 
 dinary gifts of the Spirit were announced, consti- 
 tute (as well as those gifts themselves) a point 
 of difference between the early Christians and 
 their successors. There is a resemblance, and, 
 as we have every reason to conclude, an equality, 
 between the condition of the infant Church and 
 our own, in respect of that far more important 
 point, the ordinary grace of the Holy Spirit 
 operating in the sanctification of the heart. 
 What then is the sign of this gift ? — the token by 
 which we may be assured of " God's working in 
 us both to will and to do, of his good pleasure ?" 
 This operation of the Spirit, there is every reason 
 to believe, not only is, but always was imper- 
 ceptible; and undistinguishable, except by its 
 fruits, from the ordinary workings of the human 
 mind. For if it was suggested to the mind of 
 one of the first Christians, that he ought to do 
 
SECT. 7.] Influence of the Holy Spirit. 349 
 
 this or that, and suggested in such a manner 
 (which sometimes was the case) as to afford him 
 a satisfactory assurance of an immediate com- 
 mand from the Holy Ghost, this would clearly be 
 a case of revelation, and, consequently, would 
 belong to the other class of spiritual gifts ; — not 
 to that which we are now considering. But we 
 may be sure that they were not, even the most 
 highly gifted of them, thus guided by immediate 
 revelation in all the actions of their lives ; but 
 were left to work out their " own salvation with 
 fear and trembhng ;" though still encouraged to 
 do this by the assurance that " God wrought in 
 them." They were accordingly not uniformly 
 infallible; for we find a dissension arising between 
 Paul and Barnabas ; nor was this settled by any 
 miraculous interposition, or authoritative decla- 
 ration of the Spirit, to either of them. And 
 again, we find Paul withstanding and censuring 
 Peter; but at the same time using arguments 
 to convince him of his error ; not charging him 
 with having wilfully rebelled against any express 
 immediate revelation respecting the particular 
 act in question. 
 
 In fact, the early Christians could hardly 
 
350 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix. 
 
 have been moral agents, if they had not been 
 left watchfully to regulate their own conduct 
 according to the best of their judgment, but had 
 in every case recognized the immediate dictates 
 of the Holy Spirit forbidding or enjoining each 
 action of their hves. And yet they were taught 
 that in all their conduct the assistance of God's 
 Spirit was requisite, and was promised to 
 them; our Lord Himself told them that with- 
 out Him they " could do nothing ;" and the 
 Apostle's encouragement to them to work out 
 their own salvation, is, "it is God that worketh 
 in you." 
 
 But how then were they, and how are we, to 
 know what are these suggestions of the sanctify- 
 ing Spirit? Our Lord Himself seems to instruct 
 us that we are to judge by the effects, when He 
 says, " the wind {-Trvevfia) bloweth where it listeth, 
 and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst 
 not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth; 
 so is every one that is born (tou Trvevfiaros) of 
 the Spirit." He here seems to have in view the 
 ordinary and universal operations of the Holy 
 Spirit, — those which extend to " evert/ one that is 
 born of the Spirit," without which, " no one can 
 
SECT. 7.] Influence of the Holy Spirit. 351 
 
 enter into the kingdom of Heaven." And as we 
 judge of the direction of any wind that blows 
 (though itself invisible) by its effects, — by the 
 direction in which it impels the bodies moved by 
 it, — so, we must decide whether we are in each 
 instance influenced by God's Holy Spirit, or by 
 our own corrupt desires and the Spirit of Evil, 
 by observing the direction in which we are im- 
 pelled ; whether to holiness or to sin, — towards 
 a conformity, or an opposition, to the example 
 of our great Master, — the word of his inspired 
 servants, and the moral law which is written on 
 our conscience, though the characters be so far 
 obscured as not to be traced without diligent 
 study. The Apostle, in like manner, when ex- 
 horting his converts to be " led by the Spirit," 
 and to " walk after the Spirit," evidently refers 
 them to a similar test, by enumerating the prin- 
 cipal of the fruits of the Spirit, and contrasting 
 them with " the works of the flesh," which, he 
 says, " are manifest." 
 
 From these considerations it will appear how 
 much those are in error, who imagine that such 
 as have attained a very high degree of Chris- 
 tian perfection, and are eminently under the 
 
352 Infliience of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix. 
 
 sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit, will be 
 able distinctly to perceive, by a peculiarity of im- 
 mediate sensation, and thus to distinguish from 
 their own natural thoughts, the suggestions of 
 the Holy Ghost. If this his ordinary operation, — 
 this grace which guides and assists the Christian 
 " to will and to do what is well-pleasing to God," 
 always was (as there seems good reason to con- 
 clude) insensible, we may be well assured that 
 it always will be so. As on the one hand, even 
 the lowest of the extraordinary spiritual gifts 
 alluded to by Paul must always have been ac- 
 companied with a distinct manifestation of its 
 super-human origin, so as to prevent the possi- 
 bility of its being mistaken for an exercise of 
 any natural power ; so, on the other hand, even 
 the very highest degree of purifying grace, is, 
 and always was, undistinguishable from the exer- 
 cise of the natural powers, except by the hohness 
 which is the result. The " carnal mind," and the 
 " spiritual mind," are to be known respectively, 
 by " the works of the flesh," and the " fruits of 
 the Spirit." It is, 1st, by the inclinations of 
 our hearts ; 2dly, by our deliberations towards 
 the accomphshment of our wishes ; and, 3dly, by 
 
SECT. 7.] Influence of the Holy Spirit. 353 
 
 the actions which are the result of these, that we 
 must know what spirit we are of ; for it is from 
 God that " all holy desires, all good counsels, 
 and all just xmrks do proceed." 
 
 Another error, opposite to the one just con- 
 sidered, is that of those who acknowledge, in 
 general terms, the existence and the necessity 
 of the ordinary operations of the Spirit, but 
 explain them away in each particular case ; and 
 thus completely nullify the doctrine. They allow- 
 that Christians are to expect the sanctifying 
 grace of the Holy Ghost ; but each separate 
 work in which this divine agency can possibly 
 operate, they attribute exclusively and entirely 
 to some other cause. If a man resist tempta- 
 tion, they attribute this to his sense of the folly 
 and danger and sinfulness, of yielding to it ; and 
 thence deny that spiritual influence was con- 
 cerned in the case : if he improve in rehgious 
 knowledge, they attribute this, exclusively, to 
 his diligence in learning, and to the advantage 
 of good instruction ; and, accordingly, contend 
 that there is no need in such a case to suppose 
 spiritual influence concerned : if he does any act, 
 or entertains any sentiment, which right reason 
 
354 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix. 
 
 would approve, they regard this as a proof that 
 to right reason alone it is to be referred : and 
 by this means they exclude, one by one, every 
 possible instance in which the ordinary grace 
 of the Spirit can operate ; for any thing which 
 could not be traced to any natural cause, would 
 clearly be miraculous. But a doctrine which is 
 true generally, cannot be false in every particular 
 instance. In fact, what we mean by the ordinary 
 operation of the Holy Spirit, is his operation 
 through second causes, — his aid to our endea- 
 vours, — his blessing upon the means of grace. 
 We are taught to pray for our daily bread as 
 God's gift, though it is not, like Manna, showered 
 miraculously from the skies ; and every christian 
 thought and word and deed is no less "from 
 above, and cometh down from the Father of 
 lights," though it come not accompanied with 
 fiery tongues and the " sound of a mighty wind." 
 Its christian goodness is the sign of its spiritual 
 origin. 
 
 It is perhaps hardly v*rorth while to notice an 
 objection I have heard, that every operation of 
 the Divine Spirit must be an interruption of the 
 course of nature, and miraculous ; and that con- 
 
SECT. 7.] Injiuence of the Holy Spirit. 355 
 
 sequently I have all along been teaching (though 
 I have said the direct reverse) that miracles are 
 to be expected in the present day ; for if no 
 miracles, it is said, are to be looked for, no. 
 spiritual influence at all is to be looked for. But 
 this surely is little better than a verbal cavil. 
 If this sense of the word "Miracle" is to be 
 adopted, then, I do teach (as indeed every one 
 must, whether sincerely or not, who recites the 
 formularies of our Church) that miracles have 
 not ceased, and that we are still to hope and 
 pray (as in the Collect for the Fifth Sunday 
 after Easter) that by God's "holy inspiration 
 we may think those things that be good, 
 and by his merciful guiding may perform the 
 same." But this does not imply what is, per- 
 haps the most properly, certainly, the most 
 usually, termed a " Miracle ;" viz. : a sensible 
 miracle, — an extraordinary and perceptible in- 
 terruption of the general course of God's pro- 
 vidence. I have all along been speaking of the 
 aid now to be looked for as the "ordinary" 
 operation of the Holy Spirit, — as not "sen- 
 sible," but to be known only by its fruits — 
 and as so far from being an "interruption," 
 A a2 
 
356 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [rssay ix. 
 
 that it may be considered as rather forming a 
 part, of the course of providence, as far as 
 Christians are concerned : to all of whom this 
 spiritual aid is offered. 
 
 At least if this offer is not made in Scripture, 
 I cannot see what can be learned with any 
 certainty, or indeed how any thing at all can 
 be learned, from the writings of the Apostles. 
 For if we are in this case to reject or to explain 
 away their most explicit and repeated declara- 
 tions, on the ground that we have no sensible 
 proof of this divine agency, this is to make their 
 word go for nothing ; since if they announced to 
 us any phenomenon to which our senses did 
 bear testimony, we should believe it on that 
 ground, not, from faith in the declarations of 
 the sacred writers. But he who is content to 
 be taught by them, must I think accede to our 
 Church's doctrine as to the reality of a spiritual 
 influence not sensible or properly miraculous, 
 but known only by its effects to be the work of 
 Him to whom we must apply to " put into our 
 minds good desires, and to bring the same to 
 good effect." 
 
SECT. 8.] Influence of the Holy Spirit. 357 
 
 § 8. These "fruits of the Spirit" then, are, 
 and ever were, the criterion to Christians of 
 their being " led by the Spirit." The sign of 
 their having a claim to this spiritual guidance — 
 to the ordinary operation of the Spirit — of their 
 being admitted to a share in the offer of this 
 grace, I cannot conceive to be, or ever to have 
 been, any other than their baptism into the 
 christian faith. There are some, indeed, who 
 represent baptism as a sign only of admission 
 into the visible Church, and not, necessarily, 
 of spiritual regeneration. But the shortest and 
 most decisive answer to these persons appears to 
 be, that they are making a distinction without a 
 difference. Such as the Church is described in 
 Scripture, viz. " as the body of Christ Jesus," as 
 the " Temple of the Holy Ghost which dwelleth 
 in it," to speak of admittance into this Church, 
 without an admission to the privileges bestowed 
 on it, seems a contradiction in terms. The pro- 
 mises of Christ are made to the Society of which 
 He is the Head ; and to individuals, not as 
 mefi, but as memhei's of that Society. If (in the 
 case of temporal goods) any one is admitted a 
 member of any endowed Society, he is thereby 
 
358 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix. 
 
 admitted to a share of its revenues : it would 
 be a contradiction to disjoin them. The visible 
 Church of Christ is a Society endowed by Him 
 with the richest privileges: but then, it rests with 
 each member of that Society (as it does with the 
 members of a human Society) to avail himself 
 aright of those privileges, or to neglect or abuse 
 them. 
 
 The case of Christians is in this respect ana- 
 logous to that of God's People of old. {See 
 Essay III.) All the Israelites were admitted 
 into covenant with the Lord ; and, being made 
 thus his "peculiar," "holy," and " elect" people, 
 were entitled to all the privileges and promises 
 of that covenant ; though it rested with each 
 individual to make a good or an ill use of these 
 advantages. The Lord was ready to perform 
 his part, if they would perform theirs ; but if 
 they refused this, still they were not allowed to 
 draw back from the engagement, but incurred 
 the heavier judgment for their disobedience. 
 The rebellious were not permitted, as they de- 
 sired, " to return into Egypt," but were cut off 
 in the wilderness. 
 
 And the infants of the Israelites were admitted 
 
SECT. 8.] Influence of the Holy Spirit. 359 
 
 into this covenant by the rite of circumcision, 
 at the age of eight days ; though they were, of 
 course, then, incapable of immediately enjoying 
 or understanding their privileges. If this had 
 been sufficiently attended to, it might have ob- 
 viated the difficulties that have been raised from 
 the consideration that such as are baptized in 
 infancy cannot be, at once, nor till they become 
 moral agents, actually influenced by the Holy 
 Spirit; whence it has been inferred by some, 
 that the new-birth does not necessarily take place 
 at baptism : while the Anabaptists (who alone act 
 consistently with these views) contending that 
 we should not put asunder what God has joined 
 together, — the sign, and the "inward spiritual 
 grace, or thing signified," — accordingly defer bap- 
 tism till the party is arrived at years of discretion. 
 
 But after all, there is no more difficulty in 
 the case than in one which occurs every day; 
 that of an infant inheriting an estate. He is 
 incapable, at the time, of using or comprehending 
 the advantage ; but still it is his; he is not here- 
 after to acquire the title and claim to it ; but he 
 will hereafter become capable of understanding 
 his claim and employing his wealth ; and he 
 
360 Injiuence of the Holy Sjnrit. [essay ix. 
 
 will become responsible at the same time for the 
 use made of it. 
 
 Christians in hke manner are called upon at 
 their peril, to make the best use of their ad- 
 vantages, as soon as they become capable of 
 understanding them : and if they fail to do this, 
 they are not on that account esteemed as never 
 having been admitted to those advantages, but, 
 on the contrary, incur, on that very ground, the 
 heavier condemnation. What, " know ye not," 
 says the Apostle, " that ye are the temple of the 
 Holy Ghost which dwelleth in you ? and if any 
 man defile {^Oelpei) the temple of God, him will 
 God destroy," {(pOepei). 
 
 It is then, and ever was, a matter of faith to 
 believe in the continual sanctifying presence of 
 God with his Church ; and in " the communion 
 of saints," viz. the participation of all Christians, 
 as far as they will avail themselves of the offer, 
 in the assistance of that Holy Spirit, from which 
 every good and every perfect gift proceeds." 
 
 a Doubtless one of the objects of our Lord, in the insti- 
 tution of the Eucharist, was to remind Christians of tliis 
 " communion" or fellowship of the Holy Ghost, and to 
 impress it habitually on their minds. Sec Note A at the 
 end of this Essay. 
 
SECT. 8.] Influence of the Holy Spirit. 3G I 
 
 In this respect our case and that of the early 
 Christians coincide. But there is this point of 
 difference between the two ; that this was not 
 to them, as to us, the great trial of their faith ; 
 because in the infant Church, the extraordinary 
 manifestations of the Spirit served as a visible 
 token to convince them of his actual presence. 
 The same Spirit still resides in the Church ; but 
 like the Shechinah concealed within the Holy of 
 Hohes, it is screened from our view ; we walk 
 wholly " by faith, and not by sight." They, 
 however, had counterbalancing trials : the fel- 
 lowship in the Spirit, of Jews and Gentiles ; — to 
 the one party the admission of the unclean hea- 
 then as fellow-heirs with the favoured children 
 of Abraham ; — to the other, the reception of a 
 religion and of a divine Master, from a nation of 
 obscure barbarians, despised and detested for 
 superstition, both that Master and his ministers 
 being rejected and abhorred even by that nation 
 itself; — in short, " Christ crucified, to the Jews 
 a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks, foolish- 
 ness," constituted a trial to their faith which 
 we can hardly estimate. The indignities which 
 Jesus suffered, who was thence esteemed stricken, 
 
362 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix. 
 
 smitten of God, and afflicted, — the contradiction 
 which the new religion presented to all the 
 fondly-cherished hopes of the Jew, to all that 
 the Gentile most revered in philosophy, and was 
 most attached to in his religion and in his habits 
 of life — the inveterate malice of persecutors, — 
 the scorn and derision of the wisest and greatest, 
 — the censures, entreaties, and lamentations, of 
 kindred and friends, — all these, and numberless 
 other circumstances revolting to every preju- 
 dice — every feeling — every habit, of the new 
 convert, formed a trial to his faith, of which we 
 can form but a faint idea ; and under which it 
 was needful that his gracious Master should 
 support him, by a constant visible display of his 
 presence. 
 
 § 9. It is the part of Christians of the pre- 
 sent day, on the one hand not to distrust the 
 reality of that presence, because it is no longer 
 thus miraculously displayed ; nor, on the other 
 hand, to require or look for such a miraculous 
 manifestation as God has thought fit no longer 
 to bestow. How we should have conducted 
 ourselves, if placed in the circumstances of the 
 
SECT. 9.] Influence of the Holy Spirit. 363 
 
 primitive Christians, can be known only to the 
 Searcher of hearts ; how we shall conduct our- 
 selves under the circumstances in which we are 
 actually placed, — how we shall withstand our 
 own trials, and make use of our own advan- 
 tages, — is the point which most concerns us; 
 since of that we shall have to give an account. 
 
 And if we would profit by the example of the 
 most eminent of God's servants, we must in 
 some respects reverse their procedure, in con- 
 formity with the reversed circumstances in which 
 we are placed. We must endeavour to learn 
 and to perform, as far as we are able, by our 
 natural powers, under the blessing of God's or- 
 dinary operations, what the apostles were taught, 
 or were empowered to do, by miraculous gifts : 
 and the instruction they derived from their own, 
 or from each other's immediate inspiration, we 
 must seek to obtain in the records of that inspi- 
 ration which they have left us. They could 
 in many instances infer this or that to be right 
 or true, from its being the stiggestion of the 
 Spirit; which was attested, to themselves and 
 to others, by miracles : we, on the contrary, can 
 only prove any thing to be the suggestion of 
 
3G4 Infiuence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix. 
 
 the Spirit, by its being right and true ; and the 
 evidence of this, must be sought in Scripture, — 
 that record of the dictates of the Holy Ghost, 
 which is the appointed standard for deciding 
 what does proceed from the Author of all good. 
 If our life and faith are agreeable to the Gospel, 
 this is the ground of confidence that they are 
 right; and if right, they must come from that 
 sanctifying and enlightening and supporting 
 grace, which alone can raise to life the dead 
 in sin, and purify man's corrupt nature, and 
 effectually open his eyes to the truth, and 
 "strengthen the feeble knees" to walk in God's 
 paths. This spiritual assistance is not (like the 
 other) a proof on which to build and support 
 our faith, but is itself a matter of faith ; — a truth 
 to be believed on God's assurances. And those 
 persons, therefore, are in fact wanting in faith (of 
 which they often pretend to a pre-eminent de- 
 gree) who are not satisfied with this assurance, 
 but look for, and pretend to, sensible expe- 
 riences, which are to afford a direct and decisive 
 demonstration to their minds of their being under 
 spiritual influence : " except they sec signs and 
 wonders, they will not believe." 
 
SECT. 9.] Infiuence of tJie Holy Spirit. 365 
 
 We are to look then to the Holy Scriptures 
 which the Spirit of Christ inspired, not indeed 
 (according to the notion some have maintained) 
 as constituting the only assistance that the Holy 
 Ghost now bestows on the Church, but as con- 
 stituting the ultimate standard by which we are 
 to judge how far we have received and are pro- 
 fiting by that assistance. It is not in these 
 only that He is present, but it is by these, as 
 a test, that his presence is, in each case, to be 
 knoxm. 
 
 It is, indeed, only through the enlightening 
 and supporting grace of the Holy Spirit, that 
 even the Scriptures themselves can be consulted 
 with benefit. If we study them with a mind 
 biassed by any of those numerous prejudices and 
 infirmities which beset our frail nature, we shall 
 receive the heavenly light of God's word through 
 a discoloured medium ; and its rays will thence 
 give an unnatural tint to every thing on which 
 they are shed. Many different persons, accord- 
 ingly, have arrived at different conclusions {all 
 which consequently could not be correct), though 
 they have applied, apparently at least, the very 
 test that has been recommended : they have 
 
366 Influence of the Holy Sjnrit. [essay ix. 
 
 compared their opinions or practices with the 
 standard of God's word, and finding them agree, 
 have concluded them to be the suggestions of 
 the Spirit which dictated that word ; and yet 
 this agreement has perhaps been {must have 
 been, in some instances) the result of a partial 
 and prejudiced interpretation of Scripture ; they 
 may have suffered those opinions and prac- 
 tices to bend the ruler^ by which they were to be 
 measured. 
 
 But how, after all (it may be said), is this 
 danger to be completely avoided ? Are we not 
 involved in a vicious circle, if we are to judge 
 whether we are under the influence of the Spirit 
 by consulting the Scriptures, and yet cannot 
 without that influence, interpret aright those 
 very Scriptures ? How, in short, are we to 
 arrive at a completely satisfactory decision as 
 to our own sentiments and conduct ? 
 
 The danger is one against which we never can 
 be completely secured in this life : the decisions 
 we attain can never be wholly exempt from all 
 ground for doubt:'' in other words, we must not 
 
 ^ Arist. Rhet. Book I. chap. i. 
 
 " See Essay VI. § 10. First Series. 
 
SECT. 9.] Itifluence of the Holy Spirit. 3G7 
 
 expect, with our utmost efforts and prayers, to 
 attain perfect infallibility. If we could, this hfe 
 would hardly be any longer a state of trial. To 
 contend against the difficulty in question, — to 
 labour not only with diligence and patience, but 
 "with fear and trembling" also, that is, with 
 anxious and humble self-distrust, — is the very 
 task assigned us in this our state of preparation. 
 But if, while the Christian puts forth all his own 
 powers in this task, he at the same time earnestly 
 and importunately prays for heavenly guidance, 
 and relies with deep humility on Him who alone 
 can crown those efforts with success, he will be 
 continually approaching nearer and nearer to 
 " a right judgment in all things," and to a cor- 
 responding perfection of life. 
 
 And in referring to and studying the Scrip- 
 tures, though no infallible interpreter is to be 
 found, or hoped for, — no system of general 
 directions that will absolutely secure us against 
 mistake; yet there are two maxims especially, 
 (already adverted to in these Essays,) which, 
 studiously dwelt upon, and perpetually recalled 
 to our thoughts, will prove a safeguard against 
 many and various errors. The one is, to 
 
368 Injluence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix. 
 
 remember that in studying the Scriptures we are 
 consulting the Spirit of Truth ; and therefore 
 must, if we would hope for his aid, search 
 honestly and earnestly for the truth, not, for 
 a confirmation of our pre-conceived notions, or 
 a justification of the system, or the practice, to 
 which we may be inclined. This maxim is the 
 more frequently transgressed, from men's falsely 
 persuading themselves that they have complied 
 with it : the conclusions which they arrive at, 
 they, of course, believe to be true ; and thence, 
 from their having, as they suppose, found truth, 
 they take for granted that it was for truth they 
 were seeking. But a desire to have Scripture 
 on our side is one thing ; and a sincere desire 
 to be on the side of Scripture, is another. It 
 is one thing to pray that we may learn what is 
 RIGHT ; and another thing, (though often mistaken 
 for it) to pray that we may fnd ourselves in 
 the right. 
 
 And, finally, in combination with this rule, 
 we should also keep constantly in mind, that, of 
 seeking in Scripture not only for truth, but for 
 practical truth, with a view to the improvement 
 of our life and heart : this is an express condi- 
 
SECT. 9.] Influence of the Holy Spirit. 369 
 
 tion on which spiritual aid in enlightening the 
 understanding is promised : " if any man is 
 wiUing to do^ the will of God, he shall know of 
 the doctrine." We must seek therefore in the 
 Scriptures, by the aid of Him who gave them, 
 not for speculative knowledge respecting the 
 intrinsic nature of God, or of the human soul, 
 but for practical knowledge concerning the 
 relations existing between God and the soul of 
 man, that we may be enabled to serve and 
 please Him the better ; and that " the inspira- 
 tion of his Holy Spirit may cleanse the thoughts 
 of our hearts," and fit us for enjoying the more 
 immediate presence of our Master in his tri- 
 umphant kingdom. 
 
 ^ deXei. 
 
 BB 
 
NOTE. 
 
 Note A, page 360. 
 
 With a view to the mere commemoration of our Lord's 
 sacrifice, and expression of our faith in his atonement, 
 the mere breaking of the bread, and pouring out of the 
 wine in the Lord's Supper, might have been sufficient : 
 but the bread and wine, are by Christ's appointment 
 eaten and drunk; in conformity with his declaration, 
 " except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink 
 his blood, ye have no life in you " He that eateth my 
 flesh, and drinketh my blood, the same dwelleth in me, 
 and I in him." What then is it of which the devout 
 communicants are really partakers, under the outward 
 symbols of bread and wine ? Surely, of the Spirit of 
 Christ ; for " hereby know we that He dwelleth in us, 
 by his Spirit which He hath given us;" and hence, 
 Paul's expression, that " we are all made to drink " 
 {iTTOTiaQnuiv, 1 Cor. xii. 13.) "into one Spirit." 
 
 a See " Hinds's Catechist's Manual," p. 265, to tlie author of which 
 I am indebted for the substance of these remarks. 
 
Note. 
 
 371 
 
 This obvious interpretation, the Romanists (and after- 
 wards the Lutherans) were led to overlook, partly at least, 
 I conceive, from the habit of keeping too much out of 
 sight the divine Unity, and of regarding the Son and the 
 Holy Ghost, too much as distinct Beings ; so that to 
 partake of Christ must, they thought, be something dif- 
 ferent from partaling of the Holy Spirit. Hence they 
 inferred that the communicants receive the literal, mate- 
 rial, body and blood of Christ ; and they accordingly 
 boast that they alone interpret the Scripture declarations 
 not figuratively. There is no need to adduce the well- 
 known refutations of this extravagant doctrine ; but 
 there is one answer to it, which is usually overlooked, 
 and which goes to overthrow the foundation of it ; viz. 
 that if we could actually receive into our mouths the 
 very flesh and blood of Christ, this could not, of itself, 
 be productive of any benefit to the soul : it might, if 
 God willed it, be the appointed token and means of 
 our receiving such benefit ; even as the water of the 
 pool of Siloam was, of restored sight ; but it could 
 not itself confer any spiritual advantage, any more than 
 water could cure blindness. It must therefore, after 
 all, be in a spiritual and figurative sense that Christ 
 says, " my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink 
 indeed;" if they were literally eaten and drunk, they 
 must still be the sign of something else, represented and 
 conveyed by them. So that the violence done to Scrip- 
 ture and to reason, for the sake of avoiding a figurative 
 interpretation, does not, after all, even accomplish that 
 object. 
 
 bb2 
 
372 
 
 Note. 
 
 The error of transubstantiation, the Enghsh Church 
 has guarded against most carefully, by declaring that 
 the bread and wine remain unchanged, — that they are 
 only a sign of Christ's body and blood, — and that it is 
 only " after a spiritual manner" that his body and blood 
 are received by the faithful. But it would have been 
 better perhaps to have added to this, for the benefit of 
 the unlearned, a statement that the bread and wine not 
 only are merely a sipn, but are a sign of a sign: i.e. 
 that theij represent our Lord's flesh and blood, and that 
 his flesh and blood again are a sign of something else. 
 This is indeed implied, when it is said that Christ's 
 body and blood are "spiritually received," and that it 
 " strengthens and refreshes the soid" for it is manifest 
 that literal^ material^ flesh and blood cannot be s^nri- 
 tually received, or refresh the soul. But for the sake of 
 avoiding those vague and confused ideas, which are apt 
 to lead ultimately to the regarding of the Eucharist as 
 a mere memorial, it might have been better to state dis- 
 tinctly what it is that the faithful communicants do 
 really partake of. That which strengthens and refreshes 
 the soul of Christians, as bread and wine do man's body, 
 is " the Spirit of Christ," whereby " He dwelleth in us, 
 and we in Him;" for "it is the Spirit that quickeneth; 
 {Z,(i)OTToiovv) the flesh profiteth nothing." John vi. 63. 
 And as it is the soul or spirit of a man that animates 
 (quickeneth) his body, which would otherwise be lifeless; 
 so. Christians, who are, themselves, the figurative Body 
 of Christ, are quickened, — receive life and vigour — 
 " strength and refreshment," from the Spirit which 
 
Note. 
 
 373 
 
 dwelleth in them ; they " are the temple of the Holy 
 Ghost :" " the last Adam was made a quickening Spirit." 
 And since it is as members of the holy community that 
 individual Christians obtain this gift, of this circumstance 
 they are reminded by their partaking together of the Lord's 
 Supper, — " the communion {Koivwvia) of the blood of 
 Christ:" (1 Cor. x. 16,) " we have all been in one spirit, 
 baptized into one Body ;" e. all admitted by baptism — 
 being born of water and of the Spirit, — into the Church, 
 which is Christ's Body) "and have all been made to drink 
 into one Spirit." (1 Cor. xii. lo.) 
 
1 
 
A CHARGE 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE 
 
 VISITATION OF THE CLERGY OF THE DIOCESES 
 OF DUBLIN AND GLANDELAGH, 
 
 IN JUNE, 1836. 
 
) 
 
A CHARGE, 
 
 &c. &c. 
 
 I SHALL not occupy your time, my Reverend 
 Brethren, by dwelling on the difficulties and 
 dangers that surround the Establishment to 
 which we belong. On that subject I could lay 
 before you nothing that would be at all new to 
 any of you : for none of you, I trust, need to be 
 assured, (and indeed if you did, my assurances 
 would have little weight,) that no exertions on 
 my part ever have been or shall be wanting, — how- 
 ever ineffectual they may prove — towards further- 
 ing any measure that may appear, according to the 
 best of ray judgment, conducive to the stability, 
 good order, and efficiency of our Church, and to 
 the tranquillity and welfare of Ireland. As it is 
 my duty, so, through divine help, it shall still be 
 my endeavour, to view calmly, dispassionately, 
 
378 
 
 A Charge 
 
 and carefully, each question that may arise ; — 
 to decide without any regard to personal interest 
 or feelings, — and to adhere to the best decision 
 I am able to form, undismayed, unprovoked, and 
 unwearied, either by the opposition of the adver- 
 saries of our Church, or the misconstructions of 
 any injudicious supporters of it. And those who 
 may, on any point, differ from me in opinion, 
 will not, I trust, be so wanting in Christian 
 candour, as to deem me undeserving of that 
 credit for good intentions and conscientious 
 exertions, which they would wish to obtain for 
 themselves. 
 
 Nor, again, shall I dwell on the importance of 
 the ministerial duties generally, and on the ne- 
 cessity of zealous devotedness to the service you 
 are engaged in. These topics may be presumed 
 to have been long since practically familiar to 
 the mind of every clergyman, unless he be of a 
 character very unlikely to profit by any such 
 general admonitions. 
 
 But I will take this occasion to offer a few re- 
 marks on some particular points connected with 
 the efficiency of our ministry, and which demand 
 the more careful attention, not only from their 
 
to the Clergy of DiibUn. 379 
 
 intrinsic importance, but also on account of the 
 peculiar dangers which at the present time beset 
 both the Christian religion generally, and our 
 Church in particular. These are times in which 
 less is felt than formerly of that prescriptive 
 veneration for existing institutions, as such, 
 which has so often supplied the place of delibe- 
 rate preference. No one can tell what weight 
 of numbers, or of power, physical or moral, may, 
 before long, be thrown into the scale of the adver- 
 saries either of Christianity altogether, or of our 
 own Church. And our teaching accordingly has, 
 and is likely to have, less of extraneous support 
 to rest upon, humanly speaking, than in ordinary 
 times, and is left very much to the judgments 
 that men may form of its truth and intrinsic 
 value. It is on this account that I would suggest 
 the reflection how peculiarly it behoves us, now, 
 to be careful to " cut off occasion from them that 
 seek occasion of cavil or quarrel to guard 
 against everything that may seem to justify 
 complaint or reproach ; and not only to maintain 
 what is good, but to " take heed that our good 
 be not evil-spoken of." 
 
 Preface to Book of Common Prayer. 
 
380 A Charge 
 
 It may be answered^, that all regard to what 
 may be said or thought of us, can furnish but a 
 secondary motive ; and that if we are but duly 
 anxious for the diffusion of divine truth, and the 
 saving of men's souls, we shall have no need to 
 resort to any secondary motive to exertion, or to 
 trouble ourselves about any other object. And 
 certainly, as far as relates merely to our own 
 credit and character, either as individuals or as a 
 Body — as far as we alone are concerned, our chief 
 care should be to guard against the encroach- 
 ments of so very inferior a principle of action as 
 a regard for the opinions of men ; to watch vigi- 
 lantly against the besetting self-deceit of pursuing 
 our own glory, and calling it the glory of God. 
 A wish to escape the censure and obtain the ap- 
 probation of our fellow-creatures, is a propensity 
 which, though we are not called upon to extirpate 
 it, (that being, I conceive, impossible,) we should 
 yet repress, as if we wished to extirpate it ; quite 
 secure that when we have checked it to the 
 utmost of our power, we shall not fail to have 
 enough of it left. 
 
 But it is of quite another thing that I am 
 speaking. Care to avoid leading or leaving men 
 
to the Clergy of Duhliti. 381 
 
 to mistake truth for falsehood — care to place no 
 stumbling-block in the way of the weak or the 
 incautious among our own hearers, and to give 
 no handle to adversaries — watchfulness against 
 everything that may be a hindrance to the 
 reception, and the profitable reception, of evan- 
 gehcal truth — all this, is very different from 
 seeking our own credit for its own sake. And 
 if an especial attention to these points in " days 
 of rebuke and blasphemy," a vigilant care to 
 "abstain from all appearance of evil," lest we 
 should bring a discredit on our religion — if this 
 is to be regarded as at all a secondary motive, it 
 is at least one which the apostles thought it 
 right repeatedly to inculcate : " having your 
 conversation honest" (says Peter) "among the 
 Gentiles ; that whereas they speak against you as 
 evil-doers, they may, by your good works which 
 they shall behold, glorify God." 
 
 Now, as far as personal good works are con- 
 cerned — a life pure not only from evil, but from 
 all appearance of evil — this precept belongs to 
 us as Christians in common with our brethren 
 among the laity. But in addressing you, my 
 reverend brethren, I have in view more par- 
 
382 
 
 A Charge 
 
 ticularly the application of the precept to our 
 teaching — to what belongs especially to us, as 
 not only members but ministers of the Church. 
 We are bound to consider what impression our 
 teaching is likely to make not only on the most 
 attentive and right-minded, and best-instructed 
 hearers, but also on those less considerate, less 
 informed, and less candid. And we should con- 
 sider also not only what may be truly, but what 
 may be plausibly, urged against the delineation 
 we present of evangelical religion ; — prepared, 
 not, of course, to sacrifice to the fear of giving 
 offence anything that really belongs to our 
 religion, but, — for the sake of all parties, — to 
 obviate, as far as possible, any misconceptions 
 of it : not to omit any part of what is good, 
 but to "take heed that our good be not evil- 
 spoken of." 
 
 Let us suppose for instance, that Christianity 
 generally, or our particular view of it, should be 
 charged by the adversaries either of the one or 
 the other, with being an immoral system, and 
 such as ought to be discountenanced by the 
 civil magistrate ; on the ground that it tends 
 to lead men to expect divine favour through the 
 
to the Clergy of Dublin. 383 
 
 correctness of their decision on certain points of 
 belief, and through the strength of their faith in 
 what has been done for them ; and to relieve 
 their minds from the reproaches of natural con- 
 science, by a general confession of the universal 
 depravity of human nature, and of the utter 
 worthlessness and vileness of all that men call 
 virtue and righteousness ; with a specious ac- 
 knowledgment indeed, that good works are the 
 proper fruit of faith, but with a sort of practical 
 dispensation (in cases of difficulty and strong 
 temptation) from the bringing forth of those 
 fruits, on account of the frailty and corruption 
 of man's nature : so that the morahty of the 
 Christian religion becomes a thing to be talked 
 of and admired, rather than practised ; and 
 men's only sedulous attention is concentrated 
 on the rectitude of their belief, the confidence 
 of their hopes, and the fervour of their devo- 
 tions. 
 
 I have given a strong, but by no means an 
 overcharged statement of one kind of objection 
 which has been urged, and will be urged, again 
 and again, by the opponents of evangelical reli- 
 gion. The question for us to consider, is not 
 
384 A Charge 
 
 whether they are sincere or insincere, — fair or 
 unfair in their imputations : that is their con- 
 cern : nor is it sufficient for us to inquire of 
 ourselves whether we are personally immoral 
 in practice or antinomian in creed : that is our 
 concern as individual Christians ; but as Chris- 
 tian ministers it behoves us to consider whether 
 we are taking due care to guard against a mis- 
 construction of our teaching by the weak and 
 ignorant, which we might have avoided without 
 any compromise of truth. It is for us to con- 
 sider in all cases not merely whether others 
 are to blame but whether we are ourselves fairly 
 blameless. 
 
 Now in respect of the particular point before 
 us, it is certain that our Lord and his apostles, 
 did not content themselves with simply declaring 
 the connexion of Christian faith with moral con- 
 duct, and then bestowing all their culture on 
 the tree, leaving that to bring forth its own 
 fruits as a matter of course ; but insisted ear- 
 nestly and frequently on the care and exertion 
 requisite both in respect of a Christian life gene- 
 rally, and of several particular points of duty ; 
 and sedulously guarded their hearers against 
 
fo the Clergy of Dublin. 385 
 
 deceiving themselves on this point. For where 
 there is (as appears to be the case here) a na- 
 tural tendency to some particular self-deceit, it 
 is by no means enough merely to abstain from 
 fostering the error, without taking pains to re- 
 press it, and to satisfy ourselves with merely not 
 feeding a fire which is spontaneously kindled and 
 kept up. " Why call ye me" (says our Saviour) 
 " Lord ! Lord ! and do not the things which I 
 say ?" " Be ye doers of the word, (says the 
 apostle James,) and not hearers only, deceiving 
 your own selves." " Little children," says the 
 apostle John, " let no man deceive you : he that 
 doeth righteousness, is righteous." Jesus again, 
 when teaching his disciples, that He is the true 
 vine, of which they are the branches, and that 
 " without Him they can do nothing," is careful 
 to add " herein is my Father glorified, that ye 
 bring forth much fruit : every branch in me that 
 beareth not fruit. He taketh away ; and every 
 branch in me that beareth fruit. He cleanseth it 
 that it may bring forth more fruit :" and in a 
 like strain are the continual exhortations and 
 warnings which the apostle Paul thought it re- 
 quisite to give, and to direct Timothy and Titus 
 
386 A Charge 
 
 to give, in order (says he) that they who have 
 beheved in God may be careful to maintain good 
 works." 
 
 It appears then that, from some cause or 
 other, there was a danger, in the time of the 
 apostles, of men's losing sight of all this : — a 
 danger I mean, not merely of their being hur- 
 ried into sin by strong temptation, or living in 
 utter thoughtlessness about their religion, but 
 also, of their being deceived into some notion 
 of being religious without virtue. And since 
 this was the case in the Apostles' days, we 
 ought at least not too hastily to conclude that 
 there can be no such danger now. 
 
 In fact, there always has been, in every age, 
 and always will be, while human nature con- 
 tinues, a liability to self-deceit on this point : — 
 something quite distinct from our proneness to 
 live in a total disregard of duty, or to offend 
 against the suggestions of conscience : — a ten- 
 dency to satisfy and quiet the conscience, by 
 placing the whole of religious duty in something 
 altogether apart from moral conduct. 
 
 The piety, for instance, of the ancient Hea- 
 then, had, we know, in general, little or no 
 
to the Clergy of Dublin. 387 
 
 connexion with morality : and indeed was quite 
 as often connected with gross immorahty. The 
 Jews again, were, as we know from the best 
 authority, prone to place their religion in cere- 
 monial observances, and " omit the weightier 
 matters of the Law." This was their mode of 
 " establishing their own righteousness," and satis- 
 fying the claims of religion without morality of 
 life. And the Christians again of the apostles' 
 times, needed, we find, to be earnestly warned 
 against the danger of being content to " con- 
 tinue in sin that grace might abound," and of 
 satisfying themselves with a " faith which with- 
 out works is dead, being alone." 
 
 Should we therefore flatter ourselves that, in 
 these days, we and our hearers are safe from 
 any like danger, we should be only the more 
 exposed to it, through careless security. 
 
 The danger, in respect of the point now before 
 us, to which the Christian is exposed, arises from 
 the misapprehension or misapplication of several 
 passages of the New Testament. 
 
 You will not fail to recollect very many, such 
 as may be, and have been, so interpreted as 
 to be at variance with all those exhortations 
 cc2 
 
388 
 
 A Charge 
 
 to good works, which abound in the sacred 
 writers. 
 
 When Paul tells his hearers that "we are 
 justified by faith, without the works of the law ;" 
 — that he^ "desires to be found not having his 
 own righteousness, which is of the Law, but that 
 which is through the faith of Christ ;" — that it is 
 " not by works of righteousness which we have 
 done, but according to His mercy, that God hath 
 saved us;'"" — that " being justified by His grace, 
 we should be made heirs according to the hope 
 of eternal hfe:"" — when these, and numberless 
 other declarations to the same effect, in various 
 places, are set forth by us, (which undoubtedly 
 they ought to be) as the very basis of evangelical 
 religion, it is evidently a possible thing, — for we 
 know that it has actually taken place — that men 
 should make such an application of these pas- 
 sages, as to pay little or no regard to moral 
 conduct, at least as any part of the Christian 
 religion, or as having any thing to do with 
 gospel-salvation. And there is a danger, that 
 even if they do not go so far as to consider 
 
 Pbil. ch. iii. 
 
 Ep. to Titus, ch. iii. 
 
to the Clergy of Dublin. 389 
 
 virtue and vice as entirely indifferent in God's 
 sight, or even if they are not so exclusively on 
 the watch against that trust in merits of their 
 own, which, in the language of some writers, 
 is called " self-righteousness," (meaning " self- 
 justification,") as to guard against it by prac- 
 tising no righteousness at all, they may yet be 
 so disproportionately occupied with the dread 
 of the one danger, as to take little or no pre- 
 caution against the other; so careful of not 
 trusting to their good works, as not to be suffi- 
 ciently (as Paul directs us) " careful to maintairi 
 good works." 
 
 This last is a danger men are much more 
 exposed to than that of rejecting moral virtue 
 altogether, as having nothing to do with Chris- 
 tianity. This, — the Antinomian doctrine, — is by 
 no means either commonly taught, or generally 
 acceptable ; and, considering the sinfulness of 
 the human heart, it is very remarkable that this 
 should be the case. Certain it is, however, that 
 the generality of men are shocked and disgusted at 
 being plainly taught that no sin a man commits, 
 can at all endanger his salvation ; and that the 
 practice of any virtue does not render him at all 
 
390 A Charge 
 
 the more acceptable to God. There are, it seems, 
 certain notions of right and wrong implanted 
 by the Creator in the human mind ; (alluded 
 to by Paul, in Ep. to Rom. ii. 14, and elsewhere) 
 which are such, till depraved by a long course of 
 wickedness, that, though insufficient to produce 
 great exertion in the performance of duty, or to 
 resist temptation to do wrong, they yet, in the 
 absence of temptation, disincline men to regard 
 moral good and evil with total indifference, or to 
 conceive that God can do so. Moreover, there 
 is no one, probably, however lax in his morals, 
 who does not beheve himself to possess at least 
 some good quality which many persons want ; or 
 who lives, and believes himself to live, in the 
 commission of every sin. Even a man of im- 
 moral character, accordingly is, in general, not 
 well pleased to be taught that any instance of 
 his good conduct, (or which he thinks to be 
 such) gives him no advantage over one whose 
 conduct, in the same point, has been bad ; or 
 that his having abstained from any crime, does 
 not at all raise him (except as far as worldly 
 success may be concerned) above the level of 
 one who has committed that crime. Men even 
 
to the Clergy of Dublin. 391 
 
 of a very low tone of morality usually retain, and 
 wish to retain, such a portion of approbation of 
 what is good, and disapprobation of evil, as to 
 think the better of themselves for any thing that 
 is good in them, and the worse of their neigh- 
 bour for any vice of his, from which they are 
 themselves exempt. 
 
 Be the cause, however, what it may, the fact 
 is certain, that plain, open, thorough-going, 
 Antinomian doctrine is not generally popular, 
 even with men of depraved character. 
 
 Much greater is the danger (as I have already 
 remarked) of men's falling practically into a 
 careless inattention to their moral conduct, than 
 of their theoretically maintaining that moral 
 conduct is a matter of indifference. Error is 
 ever the more dangerous, the more it is mixed 
 up with truth. Now, it is most true, and a 
 truth of great importance, that " good works" 
 — external actions of any kind — so far from hav- 
 ing any claim to be considered as meritorious, 
 are not, properly, to be regarded as even in- 
 trinsically virtuous. Even the heathen morahsts 
 distinctly taught that it is the disposition of the 
 agent that alone can, in strict language, be 
 
392 
 
 A Charge 
 
 called virtuous or vicious; the same act some- 
 times being either morally good, or bad, or 
 indifferent, according to the motive.^ And it is 
 true also that even the best moral dispositions 
 and habits can claim no reward as a matter of 
 right, at the hands of Him " from whom cometh 
 every good and perfect gift" — of Him " from 
 whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and 
 all just works, do proceed." The branch can- 
 not boast itself against the vine which affords 
 it all its nourishment — even Christ, on whose 
 body we are engrafted, through faith, and by 
 whom we are enabled to bring forth fruit. 
 
 But if any one, while he dwells continually, 
 and very strongly, (as we certainly ought to do,) 
 on justification by faith, and on the total impos- 
 sibility of our being able to merit and earn, either 
 wholly, or in part, eternal happiness, by any 
 good works of our own, even should we lead a 
 life of sinless virtue, and on the consequent ne- 
 cessity of renouncing all claims founded on our 
 own righteousness, and of prostrating ourselves 
 in all humility of soul before the cross of Christ; 
 
 ^ Arist. Eth. Nicom. B. ii. 
 
to the Clergy of Dublin. 393 
 
 if, I say, while the Christian is earnestly occupied 
 with these doctrines, and is labouring daily to 
 impress on himself and his hearers the impossi- 
 bility of our doing anything that can purchase 
 salvation, he is content, at the same time, with a 
 slight occasional hint that this doctrine is not 
 irreconcileable with the moral precepts of Christ 
 and His apostles, — if he is satisfied with just 
 inserting an incidental salvo, by saying, in sub- 
 stance, that notwithstanding the utter worthless- 
 ness of our good works, nevertheless, it is to be 
 expected that a sincere Christian will lead a 
 moral hfe ; — if, I say, this disproportionate inat- 
 tention be shewn, with respect to the practical 
 " fruits of the Spirit," a very great danger will 
 result, of men's substituting a mere approbation 
 of Christian virtue in the abstract, for the prac- 
 tical exemplification of it in their lives ; — a danger 
 that while they admit, in theory, the obligations 
 of virtue, they will not comply, practically, with 
 the apostle's direction to " be careful to maintain 
 good works." 
 
 It was evidently his design, as well as his 
 blessed Master's, that Christians - should exert 
 themselves to walk worthy of their vocation ;" — 
 
394 
 
 A Charge 
 
 should " give diligence,'' (as Peter exhorts them,) 
 " to make their calling and election sure ;" — 
 should " watch, that they enter not into temp- 
 tation ;" — should " run, that they may obtain ;" 
 — should " strive to enter in at the strait gate ;" 
 — should " work out their own salvation, with 
 fear and trembling ;" — and " casting aside every 
 weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us, 
 should run with patience the race set before 
 them." The apostles expected, not that the 
 Christian should be a good man notwiihsta?iding 
 his being justified through faith, but that he 
 should be the better man in consequence of his 
 faith ; not only acting on better motives than 
 those who were not Christians, but also acting 
 better, — " glorifying his heavenly Father by 
 bringing forth much fruit," and by letting their 
 light so shine before men, that all might see 
 their good works," and thence be led to glorify 
 Him also. 
 
 But a different kind of teaching from this is 
 often found to be popular, though plain Antino- 
 mian teaching is not. There are many who, 
 like Felix, will be ready to " hear you concerning 
 the faith in Christ," but " when you reason of 
 
to the Clergy of Duhlin. 395 
 
 righteousness, and temperance, and the judgment 
 to come," will be alarmed and uneasy, and be 
 disposed to bid you " go your way for this time !" 
 Anything that leads, or that leaves men, without 
 distinctly rejecting Christian virtue, to feel little 
 anxiety and take httle pains about it ; anything 
 which, though perhaps not so meant, is Hable to 
 be so understood, by those who have the wish, 
 as to leave them without any feeling of real shame 
 or mortification or alarm on account of their own 
 faults and moral deficiencies, so as to make them 
 anxiously watchful only against seeking salvation 
 by good works, and not at all against seeking 
 salvation without good works — all this is likely 
 to be much more acceptable to the corrupt dis- 
 position of the natural man, than such teaching 
 as that of our Lord and his apostles. 
 
 But those apostles would have counted it 
 treason to their Master, in themselves, or in us, 
 to be " men-pleasers," seeking what may be most 
 acceptable to the hearers, rather than most 
 profitable ; or shrinking, through fear of unpo- 
 pularity, from " setting before them all the counsel 
 of God." 
 
 And it would be very rash for us, Christian 
 
396 
 
 A Charge 
 
 ministers of the present day, to imagine that \vc 
 can with safety pass shghtly over the points which 
 the apostle found it necessary to dwell on with 
 such continual watchfulness, and frequent and 
 earnest repetition. For the liabihty of the human 
 heart to self-deceit in what relates to moral duty, 
 was not peculiar to the times of the apostles. 
 And we are bound not merely to reconcile toge- 
 ther the several parts of their teaching, but to 
 shew the close connexion of those different parts, 
 where the writers themselves evidently perceived 
 such connexion. If we were to explain that a 
 life abounding in good works is not inconsistent 
 with faith in Christ, we should by no means 
 come up to their meaning ; which is, that the one 
 springs naturally from the other, and that both, 
 and each, must be sedulously attended to ; — that 
 " the branch," (to use our Lord's illustration) 
 " can bear no fruit except it abide in the vine ;" 
 and again, that any " branch of the vine which 
 does not bear fruit, will be cut off and cast away 
 to wither." 
 
 I will then briefly point out the mode in which 
 I think we should set before our hearers the right 
 interpretation of the apostle's language in respect 
 
to the Clergy of Dublin. 
 
 397 
 
 of these doctrines, so as to exhibit the several 
 portions of his teaching not merely as not incon- 
 sistent with each other, but as having that intimate 
 connexion which he himself evidently perceived 
 them to have : 
 
 First, then, we should point out that though it 
 is very true, men can put in no claim to ever- 
 lasting Hfe on the ground of even a perfect and 
 unsinning obedience ; this truth is not the one 
 which the apostle is occupied in inculcating. 
 The error of the Jews and of those Christians 
 who had been misled by them, was not that of 
 seeking to justify themselves before God by strict 
 morality, (though that would have been an error,) 
 but by the ceremonial observances of the Leviti- 
 cal law. This is plain from the notorious neglect, 
 among them, of moral duties — the "weightier 
 matters of the law," with which our Lord re- 
 proaches them, when He compares them to men 
 who " make clean the outside of the cup and 
 platter," leaving the inside defiled ; and remarks 
 that while they prided themselves on a rigid ad- 
 herence to minute ceremonial precepts, they 
 were " full of extortion and wickedness." So 
 also does the apostle Paul in the Epistle to the 
 
398 
 
 A Charge 
 
 Romans," (a great portion of those to whom he 
 addresses the epistle being Jews by nation,) 
 speak of the Jews as notoriously " causing the 
 name of God to be blasphemed among the 
 Gentiles," through their violation of the moral 
 law. It is plain, therefore, that when he speaks 
 of these very men as " going about to establish 
 their own righteousness," and seeking to be "jus- 
 tified by the works of the Law," he- is speaking 
 not of moral virtue, but the works of the cere- 
 monial Law. 
 
 You may observe accordingly, that, in the 
 case he so earnestly dwells on, (especially in the 
 Epistle to the Romans^) that of Abraham, who 
 was "justified by faith," which was "imputed to 
 him for righteousness," he is contrasting faith 
 not with moral virtue (for Abraham's faith, dis- 
 playing itself, as we know it did, in ready and 
 thoroughgoing obedience, plainly was a moral 
 virtue) but, with ceremonial observances. For, 
 the reason of Paul's dwelling so much on this 
 instance, evidently is because Abraham not only 
 was not under the Mosaic Law, but had not, as 
 yet, even received the sign of circumcision :^ 
 
 <^ Ch. ii. f Ch. iv. R Ch. iv. v. 10. 
 
/o the Clergy of Duhlhi. 399 
 
 this therefore proved, — what the apostle is con- 
 tending for — that Abraham's righteousness was 
 independent of ceremonial rites. 
 
 Moreover, you may sometimes find occasion 
 still further to elucidate this to your hearers, 
 from the passage in the Epistle to Philippians, 
 (ch. iii.) where the apostle speaks of himself as 
 being, " touching the righteousness which is by 
 the Law, hlameless ;" all this being however 
 counted by him as dross, "that he might win 
 Christ, and be found not having his own right- 
 eousness which is by the Law, but the righteous- 
 ness which is by faith of Christ." Now we 
 cannot suppose him so arrogant as to attribute 
 to himself moral perfection : indeed we know 
 that his persecution of the Christians he re- 
 garded as a grievous sin ; which though God 
 was pleased to pardon " because he did it igno- 
 rantly, in unbelief," yet could not leave him 
 morally hlameless ; for then there would have 
 been nothing to pardon. It is evident he is 
 speaking of the ceremonial part of the Mosaic 
 Law. 
 
 And lastly, you may point out, in still further 
 confirmation of this, that his strong declarations 
 
'100 
 
 A Charge 
 
 against the error of seeking to be " justified 
 by works," are all addressed to those among 
 whom the Judaizing teachers (first mentioned as 
 troubhng the brethren at Antioch) had been 
 busied, or were likely to be, in putting on the 
 disciples the yoke of the Mosaic ceremonies. 
 He writes on this subject accordingly, chiefly to 
 the Romans and to the Churches in Asia ; who 
 were the most exposed to this danger. To the 
 Greek Churches he writes chiefly on different 
 points ; indeed the only exception I recollect is 
 that portion of the Epistle to the Phihppians 
 which I have just cited ; and in that it is evi- 
 dent he is cautioning them against the Judaizing 
 teachers. Now if the error he was combating 
 had been that of men's seeking to earn salvation 
 by their own moral virtue, it is plain the danger 
 of this error would have been quite as great 
 among Gentiles as Jews. But the error he really 
 was opposing, and the danger of which he evi- 
 dently regarded as confined to the Jews and to 
 those who listened to them, was, that of seeking 
 justification by ceremonial observances. The 
 other is indeed an error ; but not the one he 
 had in view. 
 
to the Clergtj of Dublin. 401 
 
 It may be added that the error which the 
 apostle does mean to oppose in these passages, 
 is one more likely, in all times, to prevail, than 
 the other. You will generally find, for one 
 person who seeks to justify himself by the prac- 
 tice of moral virtue, three or four relying on 
 external ordinances, and compliance with posi- 
 tive rules: and the term "good works" has 
 come, even among Christians, in various ages 
 and countries, to be, emphatically applied in 
 this sense.'' 
 
 ^ An error, very nearly the same, had crept in among us, 
 to a vast extent, before the Reformation. " Good works" had 
 come to signify, principally, if not exclusively, pilgrimages, 
 fasts, genuflections, and ceremonial observances of various 
 kinds ; and hence our Reformers used much the same language 
 as the Apostle Paul, with the same meaning, and on a like 
 occasion. 
 
 " Both were, indeed, well aware that virtuous actions can 
 never give a man a claim to the Christian promises, indepen- 
 dently of Christian faith ; and also that the best actions — in 
 themselves the best — are not acceptable in God's sight (in- 
 deed are not even morally virtuous at all) indejiendently of 
 the principle from which they spring. But it is a notorious 
 fact, that it was not by virtuous actions — what are usually so 
 called — that the Judaizing Christians, and the later corrupters 
 of Christianity, sought to justify themselves, but by ceremo- 
 nial observances. 
 
 " Such 
 
 D D 
 
402 A Charge 
 
 II. We should point out to our hearers that 
 " the righteousness of Christ," which the Apostle 
 Paul directs his hearers to seek, was a moral 
 habit given by Christ to his followers : — im- 
 planted in them by Him through the operation 
 of his Spirit. It did not consist in their merely 
 standing acquitted, through divine mercy, of the 
 sins committed by them ; or in their having 
 imputed to them the righteousness practised by 
 another and not by themselves ; but it implied, 
 according to the apostle's representation, their 
 actually becoming — not merely being accounted — 
 good men ; their bringing forth the fruits of the 
 Spirit, and putting on, in their own practice, 
 this righteousness of Christ, this " wedding- 
 garment," as He Himself calls it, in the parable 
 of the marriage-feast : a garment provided in- 
 deed for the guests (according to the oriental 
 
 " Such an error as that was at least as likely to exist among 
 Gentiles quite unconnected with Jews: (see Essay i, § 11, 
 First Series.) That Paul's cautions, therefore, against the 
 notion of being 'justified by works,' are addressed exclusively 
 to those churches which contained a great mixture of Jews and 
 Judaizing teachers, is an additional indication of his real 
 meaning." — Sermons, pp. 401, 402. 
 
to the Clergy of Dublin. 403 
 
 custom) by the master of the feast, but which 
 they were required to wear. 
 
 I am well aware that I am not speaking in 
 conformity with the established phraseology of 
 those technical systems of divinity, which draw 
 precise distinctions, in reference to the present 
 subject, between "justification," and "sanctifi- 
 cation," as defined in those systems. But you 
 should observe that I am not at present occupied 
 either in framing or in expounding, either 
 in defending — or in censuring, — any technical 
 system whatever ; but only in pointing out how 
 we may best explain the language of the apostle 
 Paul ; whose writings were not scientific, but 
 popular. I am not finding fault with any tech- 
 nical system, so long as it is not made a sub- 
 stitute for the Scriptures as the basis of men's 
 faith ; or allowed to fetter the meaning of the 
 sacred writers ; or so introduced as to increase 
 rather than diminish the difficulty of clearly 
 understanding them. Many such systems, 
 though differing from each other, and from the 
 Scriptures, in the sense attached to each term, 
 may yet perhaps all agree in the substance of the 
 doctrines taught. But looking to that which is 
 dd2 
 
404 
 
 A Charge 
 
 our present subject of inquiry, the apostle's 
 use of terms, it may be established beyond all 
 reasonable doubt, that the word he employs 
 {htKULuiavvr}) whicli is rendered in some versions 
 "justice," and in others, "righteousness," is a 
 word which must have implied to any one ac- 
 quainted (as Paul doubtless was) with the usages 
 of the Greek language, a moral habit ; a habit 
 possessed and exercised by the person to whom 
 it is attributed. A mere acquittal, — a verdict of 
 " not guilty," — an imputation to any one of 
 good actions not really performed by him, — 
 would have been expressed by another, very 
 different word. [8t/ca/o)criy.]' And this serves to 
 
 ' " I wonder the continual use of the word AiKaioavrr] 
 (righteousness,) where the subject of justification is treated of, 
 has not led learned men to suspect the soundness of the mere 
 forensic theory. I apprehend that nothing could be more 
 inapplicable than a Greek noun ending in ovwr), to a mere 
 business of reputation, or extrinsic chan(/e. All such substan- 
 tives seem to me, without exception, to express actual and 
 personal habits, rooted in the mind, and manifested in the 
 conduct ; at least, the latter is implied invariably. I allow, a 
 vulgar writer, in any language, might overlook such a nicety ; 
 but, to say nothing of that Divine superintendence, and that 
 knowledge of tongues, which St. Paul had so abundantly from 
 heaven, he was himself too excellent a critic, to have over- 
 
to Ike Clergy of Dublin. 
 
 405 
 
 explain his continually supposing this righteous- 
 ness of Christ which is bestowed on us by Him, 
 through faith, to be something practically ex- 
 emplified in the life of the Christian ; to be an 
 actual " putting on of Christ," in respect of the 
 Christian's own conduct and character : that as 
 the "putting off of the old man" implies the 
 actual discontinuing of a corrupt and depraved 
 life, so, the "putting on of the new man" may, 
 in hke manner, imply the adoption of an oppo- 
 site course of life. 
 
 To take one passage out of many to the same 
 purpose that you might set before your hearers : 
 "After that the kindness and love of God our 
 Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of 
 righteousness which we have done, but accord- 
 looked such a rule in language. Is it, then, credible, that 
 St. Paul should be almost continually applying a word, which 
 he uses oftener than any other single word whatever, and the 
 real force of which he could not but know, in an unnatural 
 and inadmissible sense ? Especially when he had in readiness 
 the much more flexible word At/cat wo-ie (justification ;) and 
 actually uses it, at least, in two instances, where the sense 
 obviously required it." — A. Knoxs Remains, vol. i. Letter 
 to Mr. Parker, on Justification. The whole letter will well 
 repay a perusal. 
 
406 A Charge 
 
 ing to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of 
 regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost ; 
 which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus 
 Christ our Saviour ; that being justified by his 
 grace, we should be made heirs according to the 
 hope of eternal life." ^ This he adds, " is a 
 faithful saying, and these things I will that 
 thou affirm constantly, in order that they who 
 have believed in God may be careful to maintain 
 good works." 
 
 Many other passages conveying the same doc- 
 trine, from several of the sacred writers, — the 
 Apostle Paul not least, — you may find occasion 
 from time to time to set before your congrega- 
 tions, and point out the instruction to be drawn 
 from them. For instance, in Rom. viii. " There 
 is now no condemnation to them that are in 
 Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but 
 after the Spirit; ***** they that are in the 
 flesh cannot please God ; but ye are not in the 
 flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of 
 God dwell in you. Now if any have not the 
 Spirit of Christ, he is none of his," &c. This 
 portion of that epistle should be the more 
 
 " Titus iii. 4—7. 
 
to the Clergy of Dublin. 407 
 
 sedulously dwelt on, because the unfortunate 
 separation of chapters is likely to lead those 
 who are accustomed to read according to that 
 division into the mistake of supposing that 
 Paul in the description just above (ch. vii.) of 
 the " carnal man, sold under sin," is describing 
 his own, actual state ; whereas it is plain he is 
 contrasting that wretched state, of being " in 
 captivity to the law of sin," with the condition 
 of those "who through the Spirit do mortify 
 the deeds of the flesh." 
 
 Thirdly, the last caution I will advert to 
 under the present head, is, that we should 
 warn those who are living a Christian life on 
 Christian principles, that they have not on 
 that ground any pretence for boasting (" glory- 
 ing," as the apostle expresses it) as if they could 
 merit salvation ; but must say, (as our Lord 
 directs us,) "when they have done all that is 
 commanded them, we are unprofitable servants ; 
 we have done but that which it was our duty to 
 do." And yet, since they know that " God is 
 not unrighteous to forget their labour of love," 
 they may fully trust in his being faithful to his 
 promises, and in his " rewarding them that 
 
408 
 
 A Charge 
 
 diligently seek Him;" not because they have 
 earned his favour, but because he has freely pro- 
 mised it. 
 
 And if any one professes to trust in Him for 
 what He has not promised, — to seek justification 
 by faith in Him, without loving Him, — or to love 
 Him without giving that proof of love which He 
 has required, the "keeping of his command- 
 ments," if any one pretends to be a true branch 
 of the vine, Christ Jesus, yet takes no care to be 
 a fruitful branch, we are bound to warn such a 
 person that he is dangerously deceiving himself, 
 and is in instant danger of being " cast forth as 
 a branch and withered." 
 
 In respect of another point again, — Christian 
 humility — much care is requisite in our teaching, 
 to guard against misconceptions of what may be, 
 when rightly understood, very true doctrine ; — 
 misconceptions such as may dangerously mislead 
 some of the less considerate of our hearers, and 
 may furnish adversaries with plausible objections 
 against our religion as leading men into spiritual 
 pride and presumptuous confidence, under the 
 name of humility. I have said that peculiar 
 care is requisite in our inculcation of this virtue 
 
to the Clergy of Dublin. 409 
 
 especially, because it is one in which men are 
 least apt to beheve themselves deficient; and 
 thus those who are deficient in it, superadd to 
 all their other pride, the pride of supposed hu- 
 mility. 
 
 Our hearers, then, should be diligently warned 
 against so perilous a self-deceit. Under this 
 head, we should caution them — 1st, against the 
 mistake of supposing that they have only to con- 
 fess their own natural helplessness, and acknow- 
 ledge that whatever there is that is good in them 
 is the bountiful gift of God ; and that so long 
 as they have this before their minds, they are 
 practising Christian humility, and are safe from 
 spiritual pride. Now this pious gratitude and 
 reliance on God is indeed a necessary part of 
 Christian humility ; but it is only a part, and very 
 far indeed from being the whole. It puts an end 
 to one kind of self-sufficiency, by acknowledging 
 that " our sufficiency is of God ;" but it is far 
 from being inconsistent with spiritual pride, — 
 undue contempt of others, and a disposition 
 rashly to "count ourselves to have apprehended" 
 instead of "forgetting those things that are 
 behind, and reaching forth unto those things 
 
410 4 Charge 
 
 that are before, and pressing toward the mark 
 for the prize of the high calhng of God, in Christ 
 Jesus, " by " working out our salvation with fear 
 and trembling." 
 
 You may point out accordingly to your hearers 
 that in our Lord's parable of the Pharisee and 
 the Publican, the Pharisee is described as full 
 of pious gratitude for his own supposed superi- 
 ority : " God, I thank thee that I am not as 
 other men are ; extortioners, unjust, adulterers," 
 &c. And yet this man, though so distinctly re- 
 ferring every thing to the divine power, is repre- 
 sented by our Lord as " exalting himself" 
 
 Do we not indeed see every day how prone 
 men are to be proud of royal favour ; — of having 
 received from their sovereign, out of his kind 
 regard for them, such distinctions as title, rank, 
 power, fortune ? How absurd then must it be 
 for any one to suppose that there is no danger 
 of being proud of divine favour, — that he is quite 
 safe from pride, when he is perhaps convinced 
 that he is distinguished as a favourite by the King 
 of kings, and exalted far above the great body of 
 his fellow Christians, and so pecuharly enlight- 
 ened by that Spirit of truth as to be exempt from 
 
to the Clergy of Dublin. 411 
 
 all danger of error, and all need of self-distrust. 
 Self-distrust, indeed, such a person will regard, 
 in his own case, as a sin ; for he will consider 
 any doubts concerning the perfect rectitude of 
 anything that occurs to his own mind, as no less 
 than distrust of God ; after it has once been laid 
 down and assumed as a principle, that all these 
 impressions in his mind are undoubted sugges- 
 tions of God's Holy Spirit. He may pray perhaps 
 fervently on each occasion, for spiritual guidance ; 
 but if he neglect our Lord's admonition " Watch 
 and pray, that ye enter not into temptation," — 
 he inevitably will be led into temptation ; by 
 praying without watching, he will be in fact 
 praying that he may Jind himself in the right ; 
 and doubtless he will end by being fully con- 
 vinced that he is in the right, by steadily rejecting 
 every emotion of self-distrust, as the suggestion 
 of the Evil-one prompting him to distrust God. 
 Thus effectually does Satan " transform himself 
 into an angel of hght," — by representing not only 
 his own suggestions as coming from heaven, but 
 every better suggestion as coming from himself ; 
 — by leading us not merely not to seek rightly 
 for true Christian humility, but to shun it as a sin. 
 
412 A Charge 
 
 II. Secondly, We must warn our hearers not 
 to suppose Christian humility to consist in a 
 mere general confession of the weakness and sin- 
 fulness of human nature, or (which comes to the 
 same) such a sinfulness in themselves — or, if 
 you will, such an utter corruption and total 
 depravity in their own nature, as they believe to be 
 common to every descendant of Adam, including 
 the most eminent apostles, and other saints. 
 
 I am not saying, you will observe, that the 
 sinful disposition of the natural-man is to be 
 denied, or explained away, or lost sight of ; only, 
 that the fullest and most habitual consciousness 
 of this does not constitute the whole, or the chief, 
 and most difficult part of Christian humility. A 
 man may indeed feel shame, mortification, self- 
 abasement, alarm, — at being in any respect worse 
 than might have been reasonably expected of him ; 
 — at having failed in some duty, or fallen into 
 some sin, where others in like circumstances, 
 have behaved, or probably would have behaved, 
 better. But who can really feel ashamed, — 
 grieved, — humbled, — or alarmed, — at believing 
 himself no better than the very best of men ; — a 
 sinner as vile as the apostles and martyrs, who 
 
to the Clergy of Dublin. 413 
 
 told us to be '* followers of them, even as they 
 were of Christ Jesus ?"' It is very true that they 
 were by nature sinful men, and had to struggle, 
 as we have, against the original frailty of man's 
 heart, and to subdue it by the help of God's 
 Spirit. All I am saying, is, that we must not 
 allow the Christian to deceive himself into the 
 thought that he really feels shame from a sense 
 of any imperfection, great or small, which is 
 common to the whole human race ; or that perfect 
 Christian humility consists in confessing one's 
 self to be no better than the very best and most 
 eminent Christians. 
 
 It is very right that a child should be fully 
 sensible of his not having the understanding and 
 other powers of a man ; but you will seldom find 
 a child really mortified and ashamed of his being 
 no more than a child, and not possessing manly 
 stature and understanding, if he is but equal or 
 superior to his school-fellows of the same age ; it 
 is when he falls short of these, or has committed 
 some fault which they have avoided, or which a 
 child might have been fairly expected to avoid, — 
 it is then that he is likely to feel real shame ; and 
 ' 1 Cor. xi. 1. 
 
414 
 
 A Charge 
 
 what is more, a profitable shame, such as may 
 incite him to endeavour to do better in future ; 
 whereas no one is incited to any exertion for the 
 attainment of anything which he believes to be 
 absolutely unattainable by himself and by his 
 whole species. No man accordingly either at- 
 tempts to add a cubit to his stature, and to still 
 the waves of the sea by his command ; or is 
 ashamed at not having such power ; — a power 
 which, as he knows, belongs not to man. His 
 humiliation at a deficiency, and his exertions to 
 overcome it, are alike limited to deficiencies 
 which are not regarded as unavoidable.^ 
 
 Nor does the consideration that the human 
 race are fallen from a state of innocency which 
 our first parents possessed, make any difference 
 as to the point now before us. A man may in- 
 deed feel shame and contrition on account of 
 some deficiency which is now unavoidable, but 
 which he himself had originally brought on, by 
 his own misconduct. For instance, a poor day- 
 labourer quite incapable of raising himself above 
 that condition, may, if he had once been a man 
 of good property, which he squandered away, 
 
 m See Note A, at the end. 
 
to the Clergy of Dublin. 415 
 
 be deeply ashamed of his present poverty, and 
 full of remorse for his misconduct ; but if he were 
 horn to poverty through the misconduct of some 
 remote mcestors, who had squandered away 
 their estate, it will be at least a very different 
 kind of shame that he will feel; he will feel 
 ashamed, if at all, of his ancestors rather than 
 himself ; and will feel perhaps a discontented 
 mortification at his present lot, mingled with 
 bitter indignation at their misconduct. 
 
 Such, I fear, is but too much like the kind of 
 feeling with which the subtle Tempter of Man 
 leads some Christians to contemplate their pre- 
 sent condition as resulting from the fall of our 
 first parents. He would fain persuade us that 
 we ought to feel, — and that we do feel, — penitent 
 for the sin of Adam ; and by this false and 
 imaginary penitence, to lose sight of what we 
 really may feel, and really ought to feel, for 
 actual sins of our own. 
 
 Evils indeed, or dangers, may be felt, or may 
 be apprehended, by us, as the consequence of 
 another man's fault : but no metaphysical subtil- 
 ties can bring us really to feel, — though they 
 may bring us to fancy we feel, — that real remorse 
 
416 A Charge 
 
 and personal self-abasement, for his sin, which 
 we should and may feel for an actual transgres- 
 sion of our own. 
 
 The true lesson of humihty which the history 
 of Adam's fall is designed to teach us, is, self- 
 distrust and watchfulness, combined with a dis- 
 position anxiously to look for, and meekly to 
 rely on the promised assistance of the " Spirit 
 which helpeth our infirmities." The history 
 teaches us that even if Adam and Eve had never 
 been, themselves, exposed to such a trial as they 
 did undergo, we, their descendants, resembling 
 them, of course, in character, and where we 
 differ, not differing (naturally) for the better, 
 should, in like circumstances, have yielded, as 
 they did, to the wiles of the same Tempter, 
 whom our unaided powers are insufficient to 
 resist." 
 
 III. Thirdly, we should warn our hearers not 
 to conclude too hastily that they are practising 
 humility by talking much, and in strong terms, 
 (whether to their fellow-mortals, or in their 
 addresses to God) of their own ignorance, weak- 
 ness, and sinfulness. It sometimes happens that 
 
 » See Note B, at the end. 
 
to the Clergy of Dublin. 417 
 
 Christians, from — I will not say an excessive, but 
 — a mis-directed, fear of not sufficiently humbling 
 themselves, are led to use expressions stronger 
 than their genuine feehngs, and to confess 
 greater sinfulness than they are sincerely con- 
 scious of. But in this they are quite erroneous, 
 even if what they confess should really be, in 
 point of fact, the true state of the case. A man 
 is in a far more hopeful state, who confesses even 
 only half the sinfulness that really belongs to 
 him, and does this in perfect sincerity, and with 
 genuine repentance and desire to amend, (since 
 this man is in a way to obtain, hereafter, a fuller 
 insight into himself,) than one who confesses, 
 with his lips only, the whole of what is really 
 true, but which he does not thoroughly believe. 
 It breeds a habit of insincerity, to say anything, 
 however true in itself, of which we have not a 
 hearty conviction at the moment. And it is a 
 most perilous self-deceit to encourage in our- 
 selves anything of insincere profession ; and to 
 measure our penitence and self-humiliation by 
 what we utter, and not by what we sincerely 
 feel. 
 
 This is the case in respect of our private 
 
 E E 
 
418 A Charge 
 
 devotions. As for the practice of speaking much 
 of our sinfulness of disposition, before our fel- 
 low-men, it too often proceeds not from true 
 humility, but from pride in disguise. It is one 
 mode in which " Satan transforms himself into 
 an angel of light," by leading us thus to make 
 an indirect boast of our own humility, by speak- 
 ing before others of our own sinfulness, not 
 meaning to be understood that they are less 
 sinful than ourselves, but that we are more 
 humhle. 
 
 Of course, when there is any particular act in 
 which we are conscious of having wronged our 
 neighbour, it is our duty then to confess to him 
 that we have wronged him, and to ask his for- 
 giveness. This is a real point of Christian 
 humility ; and a great trial of it it is ; far more 
 than the most highflown general lamentation 
 over the sinfulness of our nature. 
 
 And again, when we are consulting some con- 
 fidential adviser, as to any part of our conduct, 
 we are right (supposing him worthy of being an 
 adviser at all) in opening our hearts to him, and 
 confessing the faults and infirmities which we 
 are consulting him how to shake off and coun- 
 
to the Clergy of Dublin. 419 
 
 teract. And in giving advice also to a friend, 
 we may have occasion to supply him with a 
 useful warning, by freely confessing to him the 
 snares in which we have been entangled. 
 
 But except in these cases, confessions of sin 
 had better be made to God only ; and to Him 
 they should be made with perfect sincerity. For, 
 though there is no danger of our deceiving Him, 
 there is great danger of our deceiving ourselves. 
 
 IV. Fourthly, and lastly, we should warn our 
 hearers not to be deceived into imagining that 
 there is any genuine humility in the strongest 
 conviction of sin, without an earnest endeavour 
 to amend; — in the most unqualified and earnest 
 confession of unworthiness, which they are con- 
 tent to utter, and to purpose continuing to re- 
 peat, day after day, and year after year, without 
 wishing, and seeking, and striving diligently, 
 that each day and year may find them better 
 Christians than the last — more grown, and 
 " growing in grace, and in the knowledge of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ," and more fit to be a branch 
 of Him, the true Vine, by " glorifying the Father, 
 in bringing forth much fruit." 
 
 There is no true humility without shame, 
 
 E E 2 
 
420 
 
 A Charge 
 
 mortification, and displeasure with ourselves, at 
 the thought of our faults and imperfections. 
 This shame and dissatisfaction, if rightly directed, 
 will lead us earnestly to seek amendment and 
 improvement, through the promised help of 
 " God, that worketh in us ;" those painful feel- 
 ings will then be counterbalanced by the cheer- 
 ing consciousness of some actual advancement, 
 and the hope of still further advancement in our 
 Christian course ; regret and despondency will 
 be more and more exchanged for animated, and 
 cheerful, and hopeful exertion. 
 
 But if you suffer yourself (we should tell our 
 hearers) to be satisfied, even for a short time, 
 with having disburdened your conscience, (as the 
 phrase is,) by a very full and strongly expressed 
 acknowledgment of your own unworthiness ; — if 
 you rest (we should tell them) even but a short 
 time on this confession of sins, the thought of 
 your sins will create continually less and less 
 shame and uneasiness, the more you dwell upon 
 it, and famiharize your mind to the idea ; till at 
 length, you become utterly and incurably callous 
 to those feelings and to the desire of amend- 
 ment, which is the proper fruit of them. It is 
 
to tlie Clergy of Dublin. 421 
 
 the proverbial effect of familiarity to breed care- 
 less indifference ; any one who, on first finding 
 himself unexpectedly living in a situation where 
 he is exposed, either to great danger, (as at the 
 foot of a volcano, or in the vicinity of the 
 plague,) or to disgusting filth, squalid discom- 
 fort, and barbarian rudeness of manners ; any 
 one, who, so situated, is at first struck with 
 alarm, horror, or disgust, will either set him- 
 self earnestly, to escape from, or to remedy the 
 evils, or, if he does not, will gradually, from 
 custom, become so reconciled to them, as to feel 
 no longer anything of the shock he experienced 
 at first." And in like manner the more you 
 accustom yourself (we should urge) to think of 
 any sin, or of any neglect of duty, without ac- 
 companying every such thought with an effort to 
 amend and improve, the less shame, — the less 
 abhorrence of what is wrong, the less regret for 
 your own deficiencies, — you will feel, every day 
 you are thus occupied ; and the great enemy of 
 your soul will have been leading you to fancy 
 that you were daily exercising yourself in humility^ 
 
 ° See Butler's Analogy. 
 
422 
 
 A Charge 
 
 while you were in fact exercising yourself in 
 getting rid of all true humility, and in hardening 
 yourself against virtuous shame and profitable 
 self-reproach.P 
 
 I have judged it advisable, my reverend 
 brethren, to lay before you some extracts from 
 sermons delivered by myself, in order to shew 
 that, whether correct or erroneous in my views, 
 of the dangers to be guarded against in our 
 ministry, at least I do not inculcate on you any 
 cautions which I do not think it necessary to 
 observe myself. Such cautions I do, most sin- 
 cerely believe to be needful for every one; at 
 least for every one who does not confine him- 
 self to the deHvery of mere moral essays, keep- 
 ing out of sight the great evangelical truths ; 
 for every one who is not seeking to make the 
 vine-branch bear fruit when it has no communi- 
 cation with the vine. 
 
 It is I trust almost superfluous for me to add, 
 in conclusion, that I have been addressing you, 
 not as men justly liable to such imputations as 
 I have alluded to, from really holding, or mean- 
 ing to teach, the erroneous notions described. 
 
 P See Note C, at the end. 
 
to the Clergy of Dublin. 423 
 
 The contrary is indeed implied in the very 
 advice I have presumed to offer. For it would 
 be not only useless but absurd to point out to 
 a man who should be actually a maintainer, for 
 instance, of antinomian (or of any other) tenets, 
 the precautions by which we may guard our 
 hearers against those tenets. Any persons ac- 
 cordingly (if there be any) who do maintain 
 antinomian tenets, though of course they will 
 not approve of what I have been saying, and 
 indeed may be expected to be displeased with 
 it, if the reasons I have urged shall appear to be 
 of considerable weight, yet must perceive that I 
 have not been addressing myself to them. And 
 of the rest, I trust that I shall at least have 
 given no offence to any reasonable mind, and 
 that my suggestions will be received in the same 
 spirit of candour and charity with which they 
 are offered. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 Note A, page 414. 
 
 I HAVE dwelt at perhaps greater length than was 
 necessary, on a point which appears to me to be of great 
 moment. It is a truth which perhaps it is not very diffi- 
 cult, — but certainly very important— to establish, that a 
 man may be very deficient in personal Christian humility, 
 who confesses, however strongly, and reflects on, how- 
 ever earnestly, the universal depravity of human nature ; 
 speaking indeed in, apparently, the most disparaging 
 terms, of himself ; but in such terms as he holds to be 
 equally applicable to the most eminent of the Apostles 
 and Martyrs. And to this may be added that there is 
 not, necessarily, any humility evinced in the strong 
 censures which some are accustomed to pass on the 
 alleged presumption of such as hold the possibility of 
 the Christian's attaining, through divine help, complete 
 and sinless perfection in the performance of duty. 
 
 If indeed any one maintains that he himself has at- 
 tained perfection, he is doubtless guilty of a high degree 
 of presumption. And I do believe that no small danger 
 of something approaching at least to such presumption, 
 is incurred by some, from the view they take of the 
 doctrine of the new-birth ; and from their understanding 
 
Notes. 
 
 425 
 
 the expression of the Apostle John (1st Ep. iii. 6) — 
 " Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin," as 
 an insulated sentence, and without the explanation and 
 qualifications which the very same Epistle furnishes : 
 (as in ch, ii. and ch. v. verse 16.) The apostle certainly 
 means no less, — and I conceive he means no more — than 
 that all sin is a thing at variance with the character of a 
 regenerate man ; and that the antinomian doctrines of 
 the Gnostics — whom he is especially writing against — are 
 utterly unchristian. 
 
 But the danger I am now adverting to is this : a man 
 who holds that every sin, — or that every sin of any mag- 
 nitude, implies the need of being born again, — implies, 
 in short, that the new-birth (since this cannot take place 
 more than once) has not taken place, may then, if he is 
 fully persuaded that he himself has experienced the new- 
 birth, and has been thus placed in a state of grace, 
 consider himself as exempt from all danger of sin, or of 
 any considerable sin ; since this, according to his view 
 of the doctrine of regeneration, would be an impossibility. 
 He may perhaps exclaim therefore (as Oliver Cromwell 
 is well-known to have done) " I am safe ;" and may no 
 more think of vigilant precaution against sin, than a man 
 would against one of those diseases that can only occur 
 once, if he has already had it. 
 
 If, however, any one only maintains — without pro- 
 nouncing anything respecting himself, — the possibility of 
 attaining Christian perfection, he is not on this account 
 to be at once pronounced guilty of presumption ; nor do 
 those who differ from and censure him, necessarily sur- 
 pass him in humility. He may reply, perhaps, to such a 
 
426 
 
 Notes. 
 
 censure, by asking, tchat parts of our duty are impossible 
 to be performed ? how that can be called a duty, which is 
 beyond the possibility of fulfilment ? on what days we 
 should omit, as vain and presumptuous, that prayer in the 
 Te Deum in which we beseech the Lord to " keep us 
 this day without sin ?" and whether it be meant either 
 that God has required of us something beyond what He 
 enables us to perform, or that there is some Christian 
 virtue which He does not require of us ? 
 
 I am not, it is to be observed, giving any opinion as to 
 the tenet in question, further than to vindicate those who 
 maintain it from being, necessarily, guilty of presump- 
 tion ; and to point out that the opposite opinion does not 
 necessarily imply humility. 
 
 On this point I will take the liberty of citing a passage 
 from a former work — 
 
 " It is not, in any case, the belief that exemption from 
 error is, either partially or completely, attainable, that 
 leads to arrogance or presumptuous carelessness ; but, 
 the belief of the individual that he has attained it, or, that 
 one who shall have attained it, may know with certainty 
 that he has done so. 
 
 " If a man believes, for instance, that there may be 
 some human actions so performed, under the promised 
 guidance of the Holy Spirit, as to be completely virtu- 
 ous, — free from all admixture of sin, — in short, perfect, — 
 this belief, whether agreeable or not to the fact, can have 
 no tendency to make him conceited or careless, provided 
 he always maintains that no action, even though it should 
 really be of this description, can be (by man) known with 
 infallible certainty to be such. 
 
Notes. 
 
 427 
 
 " On the other hand, one who entertains the opposite 
 opinion, may yet, conceivably, be deficient in humility 
 and in watchfulness. For he may hold, that every, the 
 best, human action, is, and ever must be, alloyed with 
 some mixture of human infirmities; and yet he may 
 without inconsistency, believe that some part, or even 
 the whole, of his own conduct, is, with all its imperfec- 
 tions, as near an approach to perfection as can possibly 
 be expected of such a Being as Man. And whatever he 
 may profess, even with the most sincere intention, he will 
 not really be either mortified or alarmed at the thought 
 of his not having attained a degree of perfection which 
 he holds to be morally impossible. 
 
 " Many persons persuade both others and themselves, 
 that they are sufficiently cultivating Christian humility,* 
 by dwelling much on the weakness and depravity of 
 human nature, on the numerous temptations which beset 
 us, and on the errors and sins which emry man must be 
 expected to fall into. And if they are reminded that, 
 according to the Scriptures, provision is made by divine 
 grace, for purifying and strengthening our nature, and 
 guarding us against temptation, they will often reply, 
 yes, but after all, every one does fall into many sins. 
 Now, however true this may be, and to whatever extent, 
 still the consideration of it does not necessarily produce 
 
 a A well-known little book, entitled " Hymns for Infant Minds," 
 (I believe by some of the Taylor family,) contains (Nos. 11 and 12) a 
 better practical description of Christian Humility, and its opposite, 
 than I ever met with in so small a compass. Though very intel- 
 ligible and touching to a mere child, a man of the most mature 
 understanding, if not quite destitute of the virtue in question, may be 
 the wiser and the better for it. 
 
428 
 
 Notes. 
 
 vigilance and humility. The kind of self-abasement thus 
 generated is the same we feel when acknowledging man's 
 inability to " add a cubit to his stature," or to " remove 
 mountains," or to foretell future events. No one is much 
 ashamed, or put on his guard, by a consciousness of 
 being no better than what, he is persuaded, the wisest 
 and best of his species must be. 
 
 " However far, in point of fact, sinless perfection may 
 be from being attainable, it is not our deficiency in any- 
 thing that we regard as ^attainable, but in what we 
 regard as attai7iable, that tends to make us humble and 
 diligent. The provisions of divine assistance which have 
 been made, do, as we see but too plainly, in many 
 instances fail, more or less, of their object, through man's 
 negligence or perverseness : it may be true that they never 
 do, or will, completely succeed in attaining that object ; 
 but still, it is not so far forth as we feel assured they will 
 /a^7, but so fer forth as we believe that they may succeed in 
 that object, that our zeal and watchfulness are excited. 
 
 "The danger of arrogance then is incurred, not by 
 any one's opinion, generally, on this point, (whether true 
 or false,) but, by his confidence respecting himself: — his 
 belief that he either knows, or may hereafter in this pre- 
 sent life, know, that he is perfect. ' If we say that we 
 ' have no sin, we deceive ourselves,' would be not the less 
 true and important, even on the supposition that any one 
 of us actually had completely subdued, by divine help, 
 all sin : for he would not be enabled to know it, nor 
 authorized to say it. ' I know nothing (says Paul) by 
 myself;' (i.e. against myself; ovZiv luavri^ eruvotSa) 
 * yet am I not hereby justified, but he that judgeth me is 
 
Notes. 
 
 429 
 
 the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, 
 until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the 
 hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the 
 counsels of the hearts ; and then shall every man have 
 [his] praise of God.' If one man is confident that the 
 moon is inhabited, and the other, that it is not, though 
 one of these assertions must be in itself true, both of 
 these men would alike * deceive themselves,' by pro- 
 nouncing with certainty, where they could have no 
 certain knowledge." — Whatelys Essays, first series, pp. 
 S60— 2. {Note) 
 
 Note B, page 416. 
 
 It may be worth while here to observe incidentally, 
 that some preachers in describing the condition of man 
 before the fall, are accustomed, inadvertently, to use a 
 kind of language likely to convey to the unreflective 
 hearer a notion which I presume they cannot intend. I 
 mean that they describe not only the innocence but the 
 purity and holiness of man's original character, in such 
 terms as might be understood to imply that frailty was 
 introduced at the fall, and did not exist till after the 
 eating of the forbidden fruit. Now it is true that there 
 is no danger of any one's believing, in the strict sense of 
 that word, a contradiction in terms ; and that a moment's 
 reflection must make it clear to the capacity of a child, 
 that Adam could not have transgressed if he had not 
 been frail in a certain degree, however less that degree of 
 frailty than ours. But still, such language may produce 
 confusion and perplexity in the minds of learners ; and 
 may furnish adversaries with a plausible objection against 
 
430 
 
 Notes. 
 
 our religion, as containing a self-contradiction. For that 
 it is a self-contradiction to speak of the liability to yield 
 to temptation having been originally produced by yielding 
 to temptation — the cause by the effect, — no man in his 
 senses can doubt. In whatever sense it is that man was 
 said to be " created in God's image," and that all things 
 that were made were pronounced " very good," — what- 
 ever these expressions do mean, it is plain what they do 
 not mean ; they cannot mean, (as the narrative proves) 
 that our first parents were of such a character as to with- 
 stand temptation to disobedience. 
 
 Innocent indeed, they undoubtedly were, till they had 
 sinned ; for that is the very meaning of the word " inno- 
 cent :" but it is worth remarking that even innocence was 
 lost before the forbidden fruit had been actually tasted ; 
 for since we all know that sin consists, not in the outward 
 bodily act, but in the intention of the mind, it is plain they 
 had committed the sin as soon as the purpose of the act 
 was fully formed. This was known even to the heathen 
 moralist by the light of nature : 
 
 " Nam scelus intra se taciturn qui cogitat ullum 
 fact! crimen habet." 
 
 A man is, morally, a murderer, at the moment he pulls 
 the trigger of a gun with intent to assassinate ; and that, 
 not the less, even should he chance to miss his aim. [See 
 First Charge, Note A, p. 27.] 
 
 Note C, page 422. 
 
 It may be added that there is not necessarily any real 
 humility in a disparagement of the human understanding 
 — the intellectual powers, as contrasted with the affections 
 
Notes. 
 
 431' 
 
 and other feelings. " The pride of human reason " is a 
 phrase very much in the mouth of some persons, who 
 seem to think they are effectually humbling themselves 
 by an excessive distrust of all exercise of the intellect, 
 while they resign themselves freely to the guidance of what 
 they call the heart; that is, their prejudices, passions, incli- 
 nations, and fancies. But the feelings are as much a part of 
 man's constitution as his reason ; every part of our nature will 
 equally lead us wrong, if operating uncontrolled. If a 
 man employs his reason, not in ascertaining what God 
 has revealed in Scripture, but in conjecturing what might 
 be, or ought to be, the divine dispensations, he is employ- 
 ing his reason wrongly, and will err accordingly. But 
 this is not the only source of error. He who, to avoid 
 this, gives up the use of his reason, and believes or dis- 
 believes, adopts or rejects, according to what suits his 
 feelings, taste, will, and fancy, is no less an idolater of 
 himself i\\&n the other ; his feelings, &c. being a part of 
 nimself, no less than his reason. We may, if we please, 
 call the one of these a " Rationalist," and the other an 
 " I r rationalist ;" but there is as much of the pride of self- 
 idolatry in the one as in the other. The Greeks and 
 Romans were indeed wretched idolaters, in their adoration 
 of the beautiful statues of Jupiter and Minerva; but the 
 Egyptians, who adored those of an ox and a hawk, were 
 not the less idolaters. The Jews, relying on the decision 
 of learned rabbis, and the Pythagorean, who yielded im- 
 plicit reverence to the dictates of the sage, did not more 
 exalt man into an oracle, in the place of God, than the 
 Mussulmans, who pay a like reverence to idiots and mad- 
 men. Each part of our nature should be duly controlled. 
 
432 
 
 Notes. 
 
 and kept within its own proper province ; and the whole 
 brought into subjection to Christ," and dedicated to 
 Him. But there is no real Christian humility — though 
 there be debasement — in renouncing the exercise of 
 human reason, to follow the dictates of human feeling. 
 The apostle's precept is, " in malice be ye children ; but 
 in understanding be ye men." 
 
 The error I have been adverting to is worthy of notice, 
 only from the plausibility it derives from the authority of 
 some persons who really do possess cultivated intellectual 
 powers ; and therefore when they declaim on the pride of 
 human reason, are understood not to be disparaging an 
 advantage of which they are destitute. They appear 
 voluntarily divesting themselves of what many would feel 
 a pride in ; and thus often conceal from others, as well as 
 from themselves, the spiritual pride with which they not 
 only venerate their own feelings and prejudices, but even 
 load with anathemas all who presume to dissent from 
 them. It is a prostration, not of man's s<?Z/" before God, 
 but of one part of himself before another. This kind of 
 humiliation is like the idolatry of the Israelites in the 
 wilderness, " The people stripped themsehes of their golden 
 ornaments that were upon them, and cast them into the 
 fire ; and there came forth this calf." 
 
 THE END. 
 
 R. CLAY, PRINTER, BRGAD-STRBET-HILL. 
 
THOUGHTS 
 
 ON 
 
 THE SABBATH; 
 
 BEING 
 
 AN ADDITIONAL NOTE 
 
 APPENDED TO 
 
 C5e Sieconi lEliitton 
 
 OF 
 
 "ESSAYS ON SOME OF THE DIFFICULTIES IN THE WRITINGS OF 
 ST. PAUL, & IN OTHER PARTS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT." 
 
 BY RICHARD WHATELY, D. D. 
 
 ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN. 
 
 FORMERLY FELLOW OF ORIEL COLLEGE, AND LATE PRINCIPAL OF ST. ALBAN'S 
 HALL, OXFORD. 
 
 SECOND EDITION, ENLARGED. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 FEINTED FOR 
 
 B. FELLOWES, LUDGATE STREET. 
 
 MDCCC XXXII. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD-STREET-HILL, 
 CHEAPSIDE. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 In the First Edition of the Essays " on the Difficulties 
 of St. Paul's Writings" 8fc. some reflections on the 
 Sabbath were subjoined, in the form of a Note to 
 Essay V. (" on the abolition of the Law" ) which 
 seemed called for by the argument of that Essay. 
 This note has been in the Second Edition (in which 
 it is appended to the end of the volume) so much 
 expanded, that it has been thought advisable to 
 publish it separately, for the use of such purchasers 
 of the First Edition, and others, as may feel an interest 
 in the subject. 
 
 The Lord' s-day is so jjrecious in the eyes of every 
 right-minded Christian, and its />rq/jer observance of 
 such manifold utility, that it cannot, I trust, be re- 
 garded as labour misapplied, to adduce such consider- 
 ations as may tend to promote this observance. And 
 I am convinced that the most effectual, as well as the 
 
iv 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 only justifiable, means for accompUsJiing this object, 
 will be found in the placing of this duty on its true 
 foundation. 
 
 In the present reprint, a few additional references 
 and other slight alterations have been introduced. 
 But it may be needful to apprise the reader (as a 
 contrary statement has been circulated), that, though 
 some further arguments have been adduced, the con- 
 clusions maintained are precisely the same as in the 
 first and the second editions of the Essays. 
 
ERENCE TO THE CHRISTIAN FESTIVAL OF 
 
 THE LORD'S DAY. 
 
 I HAVE formerly hinted my suspicions, in an Essay 
 already before the public, (" On the love of Truth," § 5, 
 p. 45) that some persons, who do not really believe 
 the Mosaic Law relative to the Sabbath to be binding 
 on Christians, yet think it right to encourage or tacitly 
 connive at, that belief, from views of expediency, for 
 fear of unsettling the minds of the common people. 
 Indeed, I know, as a fact, respecting several persons, 
 what is probably the case with many others, that 
 they fully coincide with my views on the present 
 question, though they jud^e it not advisable, at pre- 
 sent at least, to come forward and avow their opinion. 
 But there are many, no doubt, who maintain the same 
 tenet from sincere conviction. Some again there are, 
 who conceive the observance of the Lord's day to 
 be founded, not on the authority of the Decalogue, but 
 on a supposed command given to all mankind at the 
 creation ; the force of which, as it was antecedent to 
 the Mosaic Law, cannot, of course, be affected by its 
 abolition. These views, though I cannot coincide in 
 
6 
 
 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 them, are not, it is plain, at all at variance with what 
 has been said in the fifth Essay. 
 
 But the opinion, that Christians are bound to the 
 hallowing of the Lord's day, in obedience to the fourth 
 commandment, goes to nullify all that I have there urged ; 
 since it implies that there is a part, at least, of the 
 Mosaic Law binding on Christians ; I should say, the 
 whole; for since the fourth commandment is evidently 
 not a moral, but a positive precept, (it being a thing 
 in itself indifferent, antecedent to any command, whether 
 a seventh day, or a sixth, or an eighth, be observed), 
 I cannot conceive how the consequence can be avoided, 
 that " we are debtors to keep the whole Law," cere- 
 monial as well as moral. The dogma of the " Assembly 
 of Divines at Westminster," — (in their " confession of 
 faith," chap. xxi. § 7) — that the observance of the 
 Sabbath is part of the moral Law* — is to me utterly 
 unintelligible. Yet unless we assent to this, adopting 
 some such sense of the term " moral " as it is difficult 
 even to imagine, I do not see on what principle we 
 can, consistently, admit the authority of the fourth com- 
 mandment, and yet claim exemption from the prohi- 
 bition of certain meats, and of blood, — the rite of 
 circumcision, — or, indeed, any part of the Levitical Law. 
 
 * If it be meant by this expression, merely, that it is a moral duty 
 to allot a certain portion of time to devotion, though the specification 
 of particulars be a matter of positive enactment, it should be remem- 
 bered that, in this sense, the Levitical Sacrifices also might, with 
 equal propriety, be termed a part of the moral law; since natural 
 conscience teaches the duty of worshipping God, though not the 
 particular mode of worship. 
 
THE SABBATH. 
 
 7 
 
 But to those who fear that the reverence due to the 
 Lord's day would be left without support, should we 
 deny the obligation of the Mosaic Law, I would suggest 
 two considerations, either of which would alone be suf- 
 ficient to show that their apprehensions are entirely 
 groundless : 
 
 1st, that there is no mention of the Lord's day in the 
 Mosaic Law. 
 
 2dly, that the power of the Church, bestowed by 
 Christ Himself, would alone (even independent of Apo- 
 stolic example and ancient usage) be amply sufficient to 
 sanction and enforce the observance. 
 
 To seek, therefore, for support for an institution 
 which is " bound on earth" by the Church of Christ, 
 and which, consequently. He has promised to " bind in 
 heaven," among the abrogated ordinances of the Mosaic 
 Law, where, after all, it is not to be found, is to remove 
 it from a foundation of rock to place it on one of sand : 
 it is to " seek for the living among the dead." 
 
 In saying that there is no mention of the Lord's day 
 in the Mosaic Law, I mean, that there is not only no 
 mention of that specific festival which Christians observe, 
 on the first day of the week, in memory of our Lord's 
 resurrection on the morning following the Jewish Sab- 
 bath, but there is not (as has sometimes been incau- 
 tiously stated) any injunction to sanctify one day in 
 seven. Throughout the whole of the Old Testament, 
 
8 
 
 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 we never hear of keeping holy some one day in every 
 seven, but the seventh day, as tlie day on which " God 
 rested from all his work.'' The difference, accordingly, 
 between the Jews and the Christians is not a difference 
 of reckoning; which would be a matter of no import- 
 ance.'^ Our computation is the same as theirs. They, 
 as well as we, reckon Saturday as the seventh day of 
 the week ; and they keep it holy as the seventh day, in 
 memory of God's resting from the work of creation ; 
 we keep holy the first day of the week, as the first, 
 in memory of our Master's rising from the dead on the 
 day after the Sabbath. 
 
 Now, surely it is presumptuous to say, that we are 
 at hberty to alter a divine command, whose authority 
 we admit to be binding on us, on the ground that it 
 matters not whether this day or that be set apart as 
 a Sabbath, provided we obey the divine injunction to 
 observe a Sabbath. One of the recorded offences, we 
 should remember, of " Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who 
 made Israel to sin," was his instituting a feast unto the 
 Lord on the fifteenth day of the tenth month, " even 
 the day that he had devised of his own heart" The 
 
 When Pitcairn's Island, in the South Seas, was visited by an 
 English ship for the first time after its settlement by the remnant of 
 the mutineers of the Bounty, our voyagers, on the day they arrived, 
 which, to them, was Saturday, found the islanders observing Sunday : 
 ,in obvious result of the circumstance that the Bounty and the other 
 ship had arrived at the same spot by sailing from England in opposite 
 directions. This is an instance of a mere difference of reckoning. 
 Both parties designed to observe the same festival, though they kept 
 it on different days. 
 
 i 
 
THE SABBATH. 
 
 9 
 
 Samaritans, who " worshipped they knew not what," 
 perhaps acted on a similar principle when they built a 
 Temple on Mount Gerizim ; though that was not " the 
 place which the Lord had chosen to put his name 
 there:" and so perhaps did Naaman the Syi'ian, when 
 he proposed to " wash in the rivers of Damascus, and 
 be clean," instead of Jordan. One river is as good as 
 another; one mountain as good as another; — one day 
 as good as another ; except when there is a divine com- 
 mand which specifies one ; and then, it is our part not 
 to alter, or to question, a divine command, but to 
 consider whether it extends to us, and, if it does, to 
 obey it. 
 
 I cannot, therefore, but think that the error was 
 less, of those early Christians, who, conceiving the in- 
 junction relative to the sabbath to be binding on them, 
 obeyed it just as it was given, (provided they did not, 
 contrary to the Apostles' injunction, Rom. xiv. 2 — 6, 
 presume to judge their brethren who thought differently), 
 than of those who, admitting the eternal obligation of 
 the precept, yet presume to alter it on the authority of 
 tradition. Surely if we allow that the " Tradition of 
 the Church" is competent to change the express com- 
 mands of God, we are falling into one of the most 
 dangerous errors of the Romanists ; and this, while we 
 loudly censure them for presuming to refuse the cup 
 to the laity at the Lord's supper, on the authority of 
 their Church, though Christ said to his disciples, 
 " Drink ye all of this ;" and for pleading tradition in 
 behalf of saint-worship, &c. 
 
10 
 
 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 But in the present case there is not even any tradition 
 to the purpose. It is not merely that the Apostles left 
 us no command perpetuating the ohservance of the Sab- 
 bath, and transferring the day from the seventh to the 
 first ; such a change certainly would have been autho- 
 rized by their express injunction ; and by nothing short of 
 that ; since an express divine command can be abrogated 
 or altered only by the same power, and by the same dis- 
 tinct revelation by which it was dehvered.'^ But not 
 only is there no such Apostolic injunction, than which 
 nothing less would be sufficient ; there is not even any 
 tradition of their having made such a change ; nay, 
 more, it is even abundantly plain that they made no 
 such change. There are, indeed, sufficiently plain 
 marks of the early Christians having observed the 
 Lord's day as a religious festival, even from the very 
 resurrection, John xx. 19, 26; Acts xx. 7; 1 Cor. xvi. 2; 
 Rev. i. 10: but so far were they from substituting this 
 for the Jewish Sabbath, that all of them who were 
 Jeivs, actually continued, themselves, to observe not 
 only the Mosaic Sabbath, but the whole of the Levitical 
 Law;"* while to the Gentile converts they said, " Let 
 no man judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of 
 an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath 
 day : which are a shadow of things to come ; but the 
 body is Christ." 
 
 Accordingly I have pointed out, in an Essay on the abolition of 
 the Law, the Apostle's distinct and repeated declai-ations, that the 
 Mosaic Law is not binding on Christians. 
 
 Acts xvi. 3. and xxi. 20—27, &c. 
 
 ) 
 
THE SABBATH. 
 
 11 
 
 And if we come down to later ages of the Church, 
 we not only find no allusion to any such tradition, but 
 we find the contrary distinctly implied both in the 
 writings of the early fathers, and in those of the most 
 eminent of the founders of our Reformation. For in- 
 stance, in Cranmer's Catecliism, published in 1548, viz. 
 the first year of Edward VI., we find the following pas- 
 sage: — " And here note, good children, that the Jewes 
 in the Old Testament were commanded to keep the 
 Sabbath day, and they observed it every seventh day, 
 called the Sabbat or Satterday. But we Christian men 
 in the New Testament are not bound to such command- 
 ments of Moses' Law concerning differences of times, 
 days, and meats, but have liberty and freedom to use 
 other days for our Sabbath dayes, therein to hear the 
 word of God, and keep an holy rest. And, therefore, 
 that this Christian hberty may be kept and maintained, 
 we now keep no more the Sabbath on Saturday as the 
 Jews do ; but we observe the Sundays and certain other 
 days, as the magistrates do judge convenient, whom in 
 this thing we ought to obey." 
 
 By the authority of the Magistrate, Cranmer evi- 
 dently meant that of the Church; the government of 
 which would, of course, be in the hands of the Civil 
 Magistrate, in such a Church as our Reformers con- 
 templated ; viz, a strictly 'National Church ; in which 
 each subject of the State is necessarily, as such, a 
 member of the Church, also. In fact, the notion I am 
 contending against, seems, as far as I can collect, to 
 have originated with the Puritans not much more than 
 
12 
 
 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 200 years ago : and to have been for a considerable time 
 confined to them ; though it was subsequently adopted 
 by several members of our Church.'^ 
 
 The greater part of what I have said will apply to the 
 opinion of those also, who rest the observance of the 
 Lord's day, not indeed on the Mosaic Law, but on a 
 supposed command to Adam, (for none is recorded) 
 implied in the declaration that the Lord hallowed the 
 seventh day, because in that, He rested from the work 
 of creation. In reply to this (which however, if ad- 
 mitted, would not establish the conclusion inferred) it 
 has been urged, and not without reason, that it is not 
 said in Genesis, that the Lord hallowed the seventh day 
 at that time, but, for that reason ; and as Moses was 
 writing for the Israelites, who were charged to keep the 
 Sabbath, it was natural that, when recording the 
 creation in six days, he should advert to the day which 
 thetj observed in commemoration of it. This, I say, he 
 
 ^ See "Heylin's History of the Sabbath :" and also the Bishop of 
 Lincoln's Selections from the Writings of Justin. We learn from this 
 father, that the early Christians commemorated on Sunday (not the 
 end, but) the beginning of the creation, in which God gave light to 
 the natural world, as well as the resurrection of Christ, the beginning 
 of the new spiritual creation, — the " light to enlighten all nations." 
 This serves to explain, in some measure, the reference which the 
 Christian festival, as well as the J ewish, has been generally supposed 
 to have to the creation. The one refers to the ojiening, the other to 
 the close of it. 
 
 The recurrence of the Christian festival every seven days, (rather 
 than once in a decade, or in a month, &c.) that is, the adoption by 
 Christians of the division of time into iveelcs, may easily be traced to 
 the circumstance of their having derived their religion from Jews, 
 who used this mode of reckoning time. 
 
 I 
 
THE SABBATH. 
 
 13 
 
 would naturally have done, even had there never been 
 any such observance till the delivery of the Law from 
 Sinai : just as any writer now, who should notice, in a 
 summary of Gospel-history, the "Annunciation" to 
 the Virgin Mary, might naturally remark that this is 
 the event which Christians annually celebrate under 
 the title of " our Lady's Day ; " without at all mean- 
 ing to imply that the festival was instituted at this or 
 that period. 
 
 Nor does the expression " remember the sabbath 
 day" necessarily imply its having been before observed; 
 but rather, that the precept was one liable to be 
 violated through negligence and forgetfulness. We 
 often say, in like manner, " remember to call at such a 
 place, at such an hour;" or, "remember to deliver 
 this letter," &c. ; meaning, " take care not to forget 
 it." It is not said accordingly, " remember not to 
 steal;" "remember to honour your parents," &c. ; 
 though certainly these precepts must have been always 
 in force; but they are such as no one is Hkely to 
 violate through forgetfulness. 
 
 It is, however, I think, more probable than not, that 
 the Patriarchs had some Sabbatical observance ; though 
 less strict than the Levitical Law enjoined ; else, " the 
 Lord's Sabbaths" would hardly have been called a 
 " sign between Him and the children of Israel." No 
 such injunction however to the Patriarchs is recorded; 
 
 f Ezekiel, passim. 
 
14 
 
 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 much less, recorded as of universal and eternal obli- 
 gation. The whole question, indeed, respecting the 
 patriarchal laws and observances, is one which does 
 not directly concern Christians. For we may be sure 
 that any law, by which certain persons are to be bound, 
 will be made known to those persons, (except through 
 some error or neghgence, such as one may often find 
 indeed in human legislation, but which it would be 
 absurd and impious to attribute to the Deity) not as a 
 matter of probable conjecture, but with certainty and 
 precision. The very purpose of a law is to lay down 
 accurately and determine what might have been before 
 dubious or indifferent; so as to leave no room for 
 hesitation as to our conduct in that particular. To 
 speak, therefore, of a probable law (in reference to 
 those for whom that law is designed) seems no other 
 than a contradiction in terms. It is, to speak of an 
 indeterminate determination ; — of an undecisive deci- 
 sion ; — of the removal of doubt by something that is 
 itself doubtful. 
 
 If, however, any persons are fully convinced that 
 the precept respecting the Sabbath was given to Adam, 
 and also conclude, thence, that it must bind all his 
 posterity, they are of course, at least equally, bound by 
 the (recorded) precept to Noah relative to abstinence 
 from blood. Any one who admits these obligations, 
 and complies with them just as they were given, observ- 
 ing not the first, but the seventh day of the week as 
 the Sabbath, is acting on a system, which, though it 
 may be erroneous, is at least intelligible and consistent. 
 
 ) 
 
THE SABBATH. 
 
 15 
 
 But lie who acknowledges a divine command to extend 
 to himself, ought to have an equally express divine 
 command to sanction any alteration in it. Those 
 Christians of the present day, however, who admit 
 the obligation of the ancient Sabbath, have yet taken 
 the liberty to change not only the day, but also the 
 mode of observance. I believe they sometimes allege 
 that the Jews were over-scrupulous on this point, and 
 had superadded by their tradition, burdensome re- 
 strictions not authorized by the Mosaic Law. This is 
 true; but if we shelter ourselves under this plea, — if 
 we admit the authority of the written law, and reject 
 merely the pharisaical additions to it, — we are then 
 surely bound to comply at least with the express direc- 
 tions that are written ; for instance, (Exod. xxxv. 2, 3.) 
 " Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations 
 upon the Sabbath-day;" no one can pretend is a tradi- 
 tional precept ; yet I know of no Christians who profess 
 to observe it. Perhaps we may be told that it is a 
 regulation not suited to our climate. That may be an 
 additional reason, of some weight, for believing that 
 the Jewish Sabbath was an ordinance not designed to 
 be of universal obhgation ; but seems hardly sufficient, 
 if it were of universal obligation, to authorize Christians 
 to depart from the divinely-appointed mode of observing 
 it. I do not however know of any Christians who take 
 this liberty on the plea of actual necessity, and who 
 do comply with the precept, in summer-time, and in 
 warmer countries. 
 
 The rule which seems practically to be laid down by 
 
16 
 
 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 most persons of piety and good-sense, is, to abstain 
 from anything that may interfere (in respect of our- 
 selves and of others) with the primary object of the 
 Christian Sabbath, viz. pubHc worship, and rehgious 
 studies and exercises. This, in the Jewish Sabbath, 
 seems to have been the secondary, and rest the primary 
 circumstance. The fourth commandment, accordingly, 
 does not even contain any injunction respecting public 
 worship, or religious study. But the day was natu- 
 rally made a day of worship, because it was a day of 
 rest : the Lord's-day ought to be made a day of rest 
 because it is a day of worship. The two objects are 
 indeed, generally, so far from interfering, that they aid 
 each other: but if a case should arise in which they do 
 interfere, the secondary point should give place to the 
 primary : if, for instance, it should happen that a man 
 could not attend public worship without labouring to 
 clear away some obstruction in a road, or employing 
 the services of cattle, the Christian would be as clearly 
 bound to go, as the Jew would have been to stay at 
 home. 
 
 It is worth observing by the way, that though the 
 Pharisees certainly had encumbered the observance of 
 the Sabbath with needless restrictions, it is a mistake to 
 suppose (as I believe some do) that in all, or most of the 
 cases in which they took offence at the conduct of Jesus 
 in respect of this point, his design wa« to reprove them 
 for such over-scrupulosity, and to point out in what way 
 the Sabbath ought to be kept according to the institution 
 of Moses. In a few instances this was the case: but in 
 
THE SABBATH. 
 
 17 
 
 far the greater number, it will be plainly seen, on a 
 careful examination of the accounts given by the Evan- 
 gelists, that Jesus did decidedly and avowedly violate 
 the Sabbath ; on purpose, as it should seem, to assert, 
 in this way, his divine authority. For instance, when 
 He healed the cripple at the pool of Bethesda,^ He 
 commanded him to " take up his bed, and go to his 
 house:" now, the objections of the Pharisees to such 
 an act of charity as healing on the Sabbath day, may 
 be regarded as frivolous ; but the man's carrying his 
 bed was a manifest violation of the Sabbath, and could 
 not be called an act of necessity or charity ; yet it was 
 expressly commanded; on purpose, as it seems, to 
 show, that " the Son of Man" claimed to be the Lord 
 of the Sabbath ; that is, to have the Divine power of 
 dispensing with positive enactments ; of the justness of 
 which claim the miracle he had wrought afforded proof. 
 
 So also, when his disciples were censured for rubbing 
 out the grains of corn on the Sabbath, his defence of 
 them plainly turns on his own especial authority . He 
 alludes to the case of David and his companions, who 
 
 g John V. 8 — 18. Where, by the way, the Evangelist records a 
 reply of our Lord to the censure passed on Him for breaking the Sab- 
 bath, strongly illustrative of what I have been saying : viz. that He 
 had a right to work on the Sabbath, because Ms Fa/her had been 
 doing so all along ; the process of vegetation, the motions of the hea- 
 venly bodies, and all the other ivorks of God, going on without inter- 
 mission on the Sabbath. " My Father worketh, hitherto ; and I 
 work." The force of the Greek present tense in this place is hardly 
 conveyed by the English present, but rather by one of our compound 
 tenses; viz. " My Father has been working up to this time." 
 
18 
 
 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 ate, not without the permission of the Priest, the shew- 
 bread which it was not lawful for any but the priests to 
 eat: this was, 1st, tacitly acknowledging that the act 
 of his disciples was in itself as unlawful as the eating 
 of the shew-bread by any but a priest ; 2dly, it was 
 claiming for Himself, at least, equal authority with the 
 priest, who dispensed with the rule in David's favour ; 
 3dly, it was claiming rather more authority ; because 
 there was not, in this case, as in David's, the plea of 
 urgent necessitij. But then, He proceeds to compare 
 this case with that of the " priests in the Temple" who 
 were permitted to profane the Sabbath, by doing the 
 necessary work for the Temple-service : now, this 
 could not mean that the example of the priests in the 
 Temple authorized all men to go about their ordinary 
 business on the Sabbath ; but that example did apply 
 to the disciples who were occupied in ministering to 
 Him, who was Himself the Temple, in whom " all the 
 fulness of the Godhead dwelt and who, on another 
 occasion, to which I conceive he was in this place 
 alluding, claims for Himself the very title of the 
 "Temple."' Lastly, He declares that the "Son of Man 
 is Lord"'' of the Sabbath, " inasmuch as the Sabbath 
 was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." 
 On this passage, which has often been but indistinctly 
 understood, it may be remarked, 1st, that it implies an 
 actual violation of the Sabbath ; else it would have been 
 needless to plead a supreme 2iower over that ordinance ; 
 
 Mark ii. 23 — 28. Matt. xii. Luke vi. See Hinds's " Cate- 
 chists' Manual," on tlie same passage. 
 
 ' Compare Matt. xii. 6. with John ii. 19—22. ^ Kvpiog. 
 
THE SABBATH. 
 
 19 
 
 2dly, that it not only cannot imply that antj other man 
 hail a similar dispensing power, but implies the very 
 reverse ; else it would have been nugatory to claim for 
 the " Son of Man" (the title by which Jesus distin- 
 guished Himself) a power which others might equally 
 claim ; 3dly, that these are not (as some have repre- 
 sented) two distinct remarks, but stand in the relation 
 of Premiss and Conclusion ; " the Sabbath was made 
 for Man, and not Man for the Sabbath ; therefore the 
 Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath," He evi- 
 dently means that though He made no pretensions to a 
 dispensing power in respect of moral duties, (man being 
 made for them) positive ordinances, on the contrary, 
 being " made for man" (i. e. designed as means, — often 
 as local or temporary means — to facilitate man's im- 
 provement) might be dispensed with or abrogated by 
 the same authority which established them; viz. by the 
 divine authority, which He claimed. The reasoning, at 
 full length, and stated regularly, will stand thus: "Any 
 positive ordinance {i.e. one made for Man, and not 
 Man for it) may be dispensed with by my (divine) au- 
 thority : the Sabbath is such an ordinance : therefore 
 the Sabbath may be dispensed with by my authority." 
 
 It is worth remarking again, that in the cure of the 
 bhnd man (recorded in John ix,), on the Sabbath, 
 Jesus is not content with choosing that day for his 
 work, but, instead of merely " speaking the word," He 
 " makes clay, and anoints the man's eyes ;" as if on 
 purpose to draw attention to the circumstance of his 
 doing a work on that day. 
 
 b2 
 
20 
 
 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 Jesus however, though he studiously set forth his own 
 dispensing power over the Sabbath, did not, during his 
 ministry on earth, give any general release from the 
 observance, either of that, or of the rest of the Levitical 
 Law. This remained in full force, till its types had been 
 fulfilled by Himself, — till his Kingdom, which He had 
 proclaimed as " at hand," was come. And when it did 
 come, his Apostles were, as I have said, not com- 
 missioned by Him to change the day, and perpetuate 
 the obligation, of the^Jewish Sabbath ; but they and 
 their successors, even the Church which he promised to 
 be with " always even unto the end of the world," were 
 endued with ample power to enact regulations with a 
 view to Christian edification ; and among the rest, to 
 set apart festival-days, such as the Lord's day, Christ- 
 mas-day, Good-Friday, Holy-Thursday, &c. 
 
 For, after all, what need is there to bring ourselves 
 under the yoke of the Mosaic Law for the sake of 
 enforcing the observance of the Lord's day, which is 
 not even a part of that Law ? The first day of the 
 week is set apart by all Christian Churches, as a reli- 
 gious festival in celebration of Christ's resurrection, 
 agreeably to the practice of the Apostles and other 
 early Christians.' The custom of the pi-imitive Church 
 
 ' And the use of the hebdomadal division of time, which brought 
 round the festival every seven days, followed naturally from our Lord 
 himself, and his first disciples, being Jews. The very record of the 
 Saviour's having risen "on the first day of the week," would of course 
 lead the Christians to reckon their time by weeks, and to commemo- 
 rate the event one day in seven ; especially as they received the gos- 
 pel from those who had always been in the habit of so reckoning. 
 
 ) 
 
THE SABBATH. 
 
 21 
 
 would not, indeed, aZowe, make this an imperative duty; 
 since the " Love-feasts""' and some othei- ancient prac- 
 tices are now, by the rightful authority of the Church, 
 disused ; but their early custom gives additional solem- 
 nity to an observance that has the sanction of the 
 Church — a sanction which would, even of itself, be 
 sufficient. For when our Lord " appointed to his 
 Apostles a kingdom," and declared that " whatsoever 
 they bound on earth should be bound in heaven," 
 promising also to be " with them always even unto the 
 end of the world," He must surely have conferred on 
 his Church a permanent " power to ordain rites and 
 ceremonies," and to institute and abrogate religious 
 festivals, " provided nothing be done contrary to God's 
 word and must have given the ratification of his 
 authority to what should be thus ordained. For if his 
 expressions have not this extent, what do they mean ? 
 
 But when reference is made to the power of a 
 Church, some understand this to mean that it would 
 have been equally right for any Church to consecrate 
 the sixth, or the eighth day, or Monday instead of 
 Sunday, or no day at all. Doubtless the governors of 
 any Church would be much to blame if they did not in 
 this instance conform to the Apostolical precedent, 
 since the reasons for the observance are the same, now, 
 as in the times of the Apostles. We are not to sup- 
 pose that whatever is left to our discretion is left to our 
 caprice ; or that the delegation of power justifies the 
 
 ayoTToi. Jude 12. 
 
22 
 
 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 misuse of it. But a man may have a right lo do many 
 tilings which he would not be right in doing. 
 
 But if any one, not satisfied with what is in reality a 
 sufficient foundation, attempts to strengthen the obliga- 
 tion by an appeal to the Old Testament, he is not 
 merely making an unnecessary and useless addition, but 
 he is nullifying the very obligation which he seeks to 
 enhance : he is not merely superadding the shadow to 
 the substance, but losing the substance, while he catches 
 at the shadow; he is, as I before said, removing the 
 institution from a rock, to place it on the sand. For, 
 if the positive institutions of the Old Testament are 
 wholly abrogated, then, (and not otherwise) all days 
 become in themselves indiflferent; and in such a case 
 the Church has, as I have above remarked, full power 
 to sanctify any that may be thought most fitting : but, 
 on the other hand, the Church has ?io^ power to ordain 
 anything contrary to Gods word: so that if the pie- 
 cepts relative to the ancient Sabbath are acknowledged 
 to remain in force, then the observance of the first day 
 of the week, instead of the seventh, becomes an unwar- 
 rantable presumption. This therefore is a case in 
 which (unless we will consecrate two sabbatli-days in 
 each week) we must absolutely make our choice between 
 the Law and the Gospel. 
 
 My reason for introducing this discussion I have 
 stated at the beginning of it; viz. its necessary con- 
 nexion with the argument of the fifth Essay, which 
 must fall to the ground if the perpetual obligation of 
 
THE SABBATH. 
 
 23 
 
 the fourth commandment be admitted. But some, to 
 whom most of the foregoing arguments may have 
 appeared so obvious as hardly to need being developed 
 at length, may, perhaps, wonder that I should so fully 
 have discussed the subject in these days, when the 
 prevailing fault is rather a neglect, than an over-scru- 
 pulous observance of religious ordinances and festivals. 
 I will conclude, therefore, by a brief statement of my 
 reasons for doing so ; — the additional reasons, I mean, 
 over and above the connexion of the subject with the 
 argument of the fifth Essay. 
 
 The first and principal of these, is, the very one 
 which is urged on the opposite side ; viz. the prevailing 
 disregard among many persons of religious festivals, 
 and, among the rest, of the Lord's day. For this 
 surely makes it the more necessary, for Christian 
 ministers at least, to inculcate a duty thus liable to be 
 neglected. And in doing so, they are bound, I should 
 say in prudence, but at least in Christian sincerity, to 
 place that duty on its true grounds. They have no 
 right, even should they think it expedient, to encou- 
 rage, or tacitly to connive at misconceptions on the 
 subject. If I should either refer to the Mosaic Law, 
 as the foundation of the duty of observing the Lord's 
 day, or so express myself as to leave my hearers to 
 suppose (as a great proportion of them will, if the con- 
 trary be not stated) that I meant to refer to that Law 
 as binding, I should be guilty of directly or indirectly 
 fostering error. According to the principles, therefore, 
 which I have laid down in the Essay " On the love 
 
24 
 
 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 of Truth," I cannot allow myself even to deliberate as 
 to the expediency of such a procedure. Yet a person 
 of undoubted piety, well-informed, and singularly in- 
 telligent, avowed to me, that though in his own mind 
 he fully concurred with my opinion, he should yet, if 
 he had the regulation of a Christian community, think 
 it advisable to inculcate on the mass of the people the 
 strictest Sabbatarianism, based on the obligation of the 
 Mosaic Law. 
 
 I cannot but think, however, that the duty may be 
 even more forcibly inculcated, if we continually refer 
 to the resurrection of Christ as commemorated on the 
 Lord's day ; — to the inoof of his resurrection afforded 
 by this monument more durable than brass or stone, the 
 unbroken commemoration of the event (nearly one 
 hundred thousand times over) from its occurrence to 
 this time ; — to his repeated appearances to the disciples 
 in bodily person, on the first day of the week ; — to his 
 promise of being no less present, though by his unseen 
 Spirit, in each congregation of Christians assembled in 
 his name, on that day f — to their hopes of hereafter 
 enjoying, along with the Apostles, his presence in 
 beatific vision, on that great Lord's day which shall 
 never have an end ; — in short, to the Christian motives 
 for the solemn observance of the festival. 
 
 Such being at least niy own sincere persuasion, and 
 the duty of observing the Lord's day being fully 
 
 n Many Christians, I suspect, from not being accustomed to hear 
 the morning and evening-service on week-days, are ajit to forget that 
 
THE SABBATH. 
 
 25 
 
 admitted, while the only question is as to the grounds 
 of the observance, it might have been expected that 
 this question might have been discussed without acri- 
 monious violence ; especially when it is considered how 
 little (if any) censure was incurred by Dr. Paley ; who 
 decidedly denies the obligation of the fourth com- 
 mandment, in a work which is used as a text-book in 
 one of our Universities. But some cause or other, 
 which did not operate in his case, has, in the present, 
 excited in several writers such a violence of opposition 
 as has led them even to mis-state and misrepresent my 
 views. I regret this, for the credit of the Christian 
 name ; though it is so far satisfactory, as affording a 
 presumption that what I really have maintained, is not 
 open, even in the judgment of adversaries, to any valid 
 objection. 
 
 I should add however that I am far from attributing 
 intentional misrepresentation, to all, or even most, of 
 those who have put forth groundless censures. Several, 
 to my knowledge, and I suspect, a great majority, have 
 never read the publication they are misrepresenting, 
 but speak merely from the reports of others ; who, in 
 some instances have even warned them not to read it. 
 Truth however, we may fully trust, will ultimately, 
 though perhaps slowly, prevail, through the promised 
 aid of Him who " came into the world to bear witness 
 of the truth." 
 
 the Composers of our Liturgy did not frame any Service especially 
 appropriated to the Sunday, (with the single exception of Easter- 
 day); it is perhaps to be wished they had, and had introduced into it 
 some reference to the occasion of the festival. 
 
26 
 
 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 (2dly.) Another reason for dwelling on the view I 
 have taken, is, the strong disposition in many Christians 
 to satisfy their conscience by devoting to God only one 
 day in seven, while the rest of their time is given up 
 to the world, with little or no thought of religion. 
 One instance out of many that might be given of the 
 tendency towards this compromising system, is the 
 practice of some who have family-prayer on Sunday 
 only ; though it is a duty manifestly still more requisite 
 on each week-day. 
 
 Christians need, therefore, to be often reminded that 
 they are required not merely not to " think their own 
 thoughts" on one day in the week, but, as the redeemed 
 of Christ, to " live henceforth not unto themselves, but 
 unto Him that died for them, and rose again;" and 
 " whatsoever they do, to do all to the glory of God." 
 Numerous early Christian Fathers, accordingly, in their 
 commentaries on the Decalogue, describe the Jewish 
 Sabbath as corresponding, in the analogous scheme of 
 Christianity, not so much to the Lord's day, as to the 
 whole life of the Christian, — to his abstinence from all 
 works that may draw off his affections from God, — and 
 to his complete dedication of himself to his service. 
 See Athanasius, Hom. de Sab.; Hieronymus,inDecalog.; 
 Origen, Tract 19. in Matt. ; Cbrysost. Hom. 39. in 
 Matt. xii. ; Justin Mart} r, Dial, cum Tryphone ; Cle- 
 mens Alexandr. Strom, lib. iv. ; and Augustine, joa^siw,- 
 all of whom hold this language. 
 
 I refer however to these and to other human autho- 
 
THE SABBATH. 
 
 27 
 
 rities, not as guides to regulate our f'aitii and practice ; 
 for I am taught to " call no man Master upon earth ;" 
 but merely to shew that the novelty which has been 
 attributed to my views, lies in fact on the other side. 
 
 (3dly.) It seems to me very important to protest 
 earnestly against admitting a dangerous principle ; even 
 though in some particular instances, the conclusion it 
 leads to may be right, or may be insignificant. If we 
 acknowledge, for instance, the perpetual authority of 
 the precepts respecting the ancient Sabbath, but take 
 the liberty of changing, without any Scriptural warrant, 
 the day, or the prescribed mode of observing it, is there 
 not danger that the same principle may be applied to an 
 indefinite number of other cases also? — that this and 
 that Scripture-rule may come to be modified according 
 to our fancy? till, at length, like the Romish Church, 
 we shall " make the word of God of none effect, by our 
 tradition ?" For it should be remembered, that neither 
 that Church, nor, probably, the ancient Jewish, nor 
 any other, began by the most flagrant encroachments 
 on divine authority. It is in small, and comparatively 
 harmless points, that a false principle begins to be 
 admitted and acted on, till its poison has been received 
 into the system, and gradually advances frum the extre- 
 mities towards the vitals. 
 
 (4thly.) Lastly, the prevailing dislike to acknowledge 
 any divinely-sanctioned power in a Church, has greatly 
 weighed with me. I am convinced that in many Chris- 
 tians who are strenuous advocates for the observance of 
 
28 
 
 THOUGHTS ON 
 
 the Lord's day, their anxiety to refer to the positive 
 precepts of the Law, for the authority of the ordinance, 
 is a consequence either of their aversion to admit any 
 such power to be vested in a Christian Community, and 
 binding on its members, or from their never having 
 known or thought at all whether there is or is not any 
 such right existing." Now to such persons it is very 
 useful to show, that an institution, which they would 
 be very unwilling to see deprived of all Divine sanction, 
 can derive such sanction from no other source than 
 from the power conferred by Christ on every Christian 
 Church. For, on the one hand, the rightful authority 
 of any government or code of laws, generally, and, on 
 the other hand, the obligation of any j)articular precept 
 that rests entirely on that authority, are two points 
 which mutually prove each other ; whichever of them 
 we admit, the other must be admitted also. Thus, as I 
 have above said, not only does it follow that, if the 
 Mosaic Law is binding, the Jewish Sabbath ought to 
 be kept; but also, conversely, if the Jewish Sabbath is 
 
 " I have met with a remarkable proof of the general reluctance to 
 admit (or rather, I should say, incapacity to understand) the claim to 
 such a right. A writer in one of the religious periodicals, in speaking 
 of the present subject, states the question to be, " Whetlier the Lord's 
 day is to be observed in compliance with the injunctions respecting 
 the ancient Sabbath, or, on the ground of conformity to the Apostolic 
 usage :" as if that were the only conceivable alternative. Another 
 writer, in the very same work, going a step further, remarks that " if 
 the fourth commandment is not binding, there can be no ground for 
 the observance of the Lord's day, except the enactmenls of the Civil. 
 Magistrate!" 
 
 We seem to have almost passed the point when the Church's power 
 is disputed. It is hardly enough tliought of to be considered even 
 worth denying. 
 
 1 
 
THE SABBATH. 
 
 29 
 
 an ordinance we are bound to, on the authority of the 
 Mosaic Law, then, we must admit also that the whole of 
 that Law is binding. And so also in the present case ; 
 it not only follows, if we admit the authority of the 
 Church, that we must observe the Lord's day as She 
 has ordained ; but also, if we hold as indispensable the 
 observance of the Lord's day, and that, on the Church's 
 authority (which we must do, if it can be established, as 
 a binding ordinance, by nothing else), then, we must 
 admit that our Church's claims to such a power are 
 valid, and rest on the appointment of our Lord. 
 
 As for the authorities of able and learned, but unin- 
 spired, divines, I am myself inclined to attach the less 
 weight to them in the present case, from the character of 
 the question itself The perpetual obligation under the 
 gospel-dispensation of one of the positive precepts of the 
 Old Testament (with or without alteration), and of one 
 too which concerns every individual Christian, whether 
 learned or unlearned, all his life long, is what, I cannot 
 but feel persuaded, the Apostles, had such been their 
 intention, would have recorded so plainly as to leave no 
 doubt on any man's mind. Such a point they would 
 hardly have left to be made out by skilful Hebraists 
 "from a critical examination of doubtful texts, fifteen or 
 sixteen centuries after their time. 
 
 For the benefit of those however who may wish, 
 from various reasons, to consult the writings of eminent 
 theologians on the present subject, I refer the reader 
 (in addition to the Authors already cited) to the 
 
30 THOUGHTS ON THE SABBATH. 
 
 learned Dr. Peter Heylin's " History of the Sabbath ;" 
 " Bp. Sanderson's!' Cases of Conscience" (Case of 
 the Sabbath) ; " Paley's Moral Philosophy," Vol ii. 
 chap. 7; and the Bishop of Lincoln's late publication of 
 " Selections from the Works of Justin." See also, in 
 Vol. iii. of Baxter's " Practical Works," p. 778, a 
 discussion of the Jewish Sabbath; and, in p. 764, of 
 the observance of the Lord's day. 
 
 An able discussion of the question on both sides may 
 also be found in two very well-written articles in the' 
 British Critic : the one side being maintained in No. X. 
 p. 377; the other, in No. XIII. p. 185. 
 
 p He was the last reviser of the book of Common-prayer, and 
 author of the Preface to it. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD-STltF.F.T-HILL. 
 
Date Due