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works
WILLIAM PAL EY, D. D.
VOLUME VI. CONTAINING
SERMIONS
ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS.
BOSTON:
FROM THE PRESS OF THE CHRISTIAN EXAMINER,
Stephen Foster, Printer.
1827.
{C.
5.-
2. j-2 P A
SERMIONS
ON
V AR I O U S S UB J E CTs.
BY WILLIAM PALEY, D. D.
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED
BY REV. EDMUND PALEY, A. M.
IN MDCCCXXV.
FIRST AMERICAN EDITION.
BOST ON :
HILLIARD, GRAY, LITTLE AND WILKINS.
sol, D BY RICHARDson AND Lord, crock ER AND BREWSTER, Bow LEs
AND DEARBORN, BosTon ; G. AND c. cARVILL, C. s. FRANCIS, NEw
YORK ; CAREY, LEA, AND CAREY, AND R. H. SMALL, PHILADELPHIA.
1827.
BOSTON : PRESS OF THE CHRISTIAN EXAMINER.
Stephen Foster, Printer.
£º
7://ez. Že,4g £e-,
4 - ?
~ /? 3.2
ADVERTISEMENT.
*ºme
THE Sermons of Paley now for the first time presented to the
American public, are introduced by the English editor with the
following paragraph.
‘THE following Sermons, now published for the first time in the
third edition of the Author's collected Works, are given also in
this detached form for the accommodation of the purchasers of
former editions, who will of course accept this apology for the un-
connected state in which they appear. It has been thought right
to reprint, in these volumes, Sermons 7, 9, and 11, because they
form part of the subject of two of the new Sermons. E. P.”
But why it was thought proper to reprint the seventh of the
Charges, which also appears in every edition of Paley's Works
in use, we are not told. It is here retained, because the present
volume professes to give all contained in the English copy, the
general arrangement of which has been scrupulously followed.
The Charges, however, which in the English edition break the
series of the Sermons by being printed at the end of the first vol-
ume, are in this made to close the work, which would doubtless
have been done by the English editor had he published but one
volume instead of two. The punctuation and division into para-
graphs of the English copy are extremely faulty. A paragraph is
sometimes made in the middle of a sentence, and in general such
marks of carelessness appear in the execution of the work that the
learned editor could not have superintended it himself, but proba-
bly abandoned it to the printer. It is impossible to remove every
blemish arising from this cause without an inspection of the manu-
scripts. Such errors as were obvious, however, have been correct-
ed; but it has always been thought better to leave a passage as
dark as it was found, than to change a word, except when the
wrong one was evidently a mere mistake of the printer’s.
FRANCIs JENks.
Boston, October 1st, 1827.
C O N T E N T S .
I.
Why men resist and put aside the Thoughts of Religion.
St John III. 19, 20.
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men
loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. ... For
every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved † o w sº
II.
Fear a Religious Principle.
PROVERBs xiv. 16.
A wise man feareth and departeth from evil
III.
The Stirring of Conscience.
EPHESLANs II. 1.
And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins
IV. *.
Our dearest Interests to be parted with rather than
endanger our Duty.
MATTHEw v. 29.
If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee; for it is
profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that
thy whole body should be cast into hell o e &
10
16
vi CONTENTS.
V.
4 Sense of Sin to be kept up in our JMinds.
PsALM xL. p5/7.
For innumerable troubles are come about me; my sins have taken such
hold upon me that I am not able to look up ; yea, they are more in
number than the hairs of my head, and my heart hath failed me e 21
VI.
Use and Abuse of the JMercy of God in the Redemption
of JMankind by Christ.
EccLEs. v. 5, 6.
Concerning propitiation, be not without fear to add sin unto sin; and say
not, His mercy is great, and he will be pacified for the multitude of my
sins; for mercy and wrath come from him, and his indignation resteth
upon sinners © º & e g 25
VII.
The Efficacy of the Death of Christ.
PART I.
HEBREws Ix. 26.
Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by
the sacrifice of himself 30
VIII, IX, X.
The Efficacy of the Death of Christ.
PART II, III, IV.
RoMANs VI. 1.
What shall we say then shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound 2
God forbid º tº º * * 35, 42, 50
XI.
.All stand in JNeed of a Redeemer.
PART V.
HEBREws Ix. 26.
Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by
the sacrifice of himself e tº * e e
- XII.
JMisapprehension of the Natural Efficacy of Repentance.
PAIRT VI.
HEBREws Ix. 26.
Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by
the sacrifice of himself § tº º *
CONTENTS. vii
XIII.
Religion not a mere Feeling, but an Active Principle.
* MATTHEw VII. 21.
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the king-
dom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in
heaven 71
XIV.
The Forgiveness of Injuries.
MATTHEw v1. 15.
If ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive
your trespasses e & te c g 76
XV.
Reconcilement of Disputes.
PRovERBs xvii. 14.
The beginning of strife is, as when one letteth out water. Therefore
leave off contention before it be meddled with we e 82
XVI.
Oaths.
HEBREws vi. 16.
For men verily swear by the greater; and an oath for confirmation is to
them an end of all strife & ſº ſº g 87
XVII.
Profane Swearing.
ExoDUs xx. 7.
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord
will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain º e 92
XVIII. º
Drunkenness.
Romans xIII. 13.
Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness 97
XIX.
Licentiousness and Debauchery.
EPHESLANs v. 6.
Let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things
cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience º 102
viii CONTENTS.
XX, XXI.
Fornication.
PART F, Ir,
HEBREws xIII. 4.
Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled; but whoremongers.
ând adulterers God will judge º º 112
2
XXII.
Discontent.
1 TIMOTHY vi. 6, 7, 8.
Godliness with contentment is great gain; for we brought nothing into
the world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out; and having food
and raiment, let us be therewith content * e e
XXIII.
Suicide.
2 SAMUEL xvii. 23.
And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled
his ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put
his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in
the sepulchre of his father - - º e
117
123
XXIV.
The Law of Honor.
LUKE xvi. 15.
For that which is highly esteemed amongst men is abomination in the
sight of God º - e º &
XXV.
Honesty.
PROVERBs xx. 7. ..-
The just man walketh in his integrity - -> º 136
XXVI.
Prudence in the Conduct of our Temporal Concerns.
I 30
PRoverBs xxx. 8, 9.
Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for
me, lest I should be full and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord 2
or lest I be poor and steal s º - º
141
XXVII.
The JMisapplication of Ea'ample.
- I CorINTHIANs xv. 33.
Evil communications corrupt good manners º e - 146
CONTENTS. ix
XXVIII, XXIX.
The Duty of Parents towards their Children.
PART I.
EPHESIANs v1. 4.
Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in
the nurture and admonition of the Lord & w & 151
PART II.
PRoverBs xxII. 6.
Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not
depart from it 157
XXX.
The Duty of Children towards their Parents.
ExoDUs xx. 12.
Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land
which the Lord thy God giveth thee § tº º 163
XXXI.
The Duties of Servants.
EPHESIANs vi. 5–8.
Servants, be obedient unto them that are your masters according to the
flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart as unto
Christ; not with eyeservice as menpleasers, but as the servants of
Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with good will, doing ser-
vice as to the Lord and not to men; knowing that whatsoever good
thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether
he be bond or free 167
XXXII.
Jl Studious Life recommended to the Clergy.
1 TIMOTHY Iv. 13.
Till I come give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine 173
XXXIII.
* Jłdvent.
MATTHEw xi. 3.
Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another g 183
XXXIV.
Christmas Day.
MATTHEwzxvii. 54.
Truly this was the Son of God § g º e 189
x CONTENTs.
XXXV
Lent.
2 CoRINTHIANs v1.1. 10.
For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of 193
XXXVI.
Good Friday.
CoLossIANs I. 12, 13, 14.
Giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light; who hath delivered us from
the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his
dear Son; in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the
--
forgiveness of sins a º e 199
XXXVII.
Good Friday.
RoMANs v. 8.
But God commendeth his love towards us, in that whilst we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us º e :- & 204
XXXVIII.
Easter Day.
- 1 CoRINTHIANs xv. 3–9.
I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that
Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures; and that he was
buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the scrip-
tures; and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve; after that
he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater
part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that he
was seen of James; then of all the apostles ; and last of all, he was
seen of me also, as of one born out of due time; for I am the least of
the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I per-
secuted the church of God g º 4- º 209
XXXIX.
sy Easter Day.
AcTs xIII. 29, 30, 31.
And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him
down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre; but God raised him
from the dead; and he was seen many days of them which came up
with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are witnesses unto this peo-
ple - º - º - - 218
XL.
On Confirmation.
MARK x. 17.
And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and
kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I
may inherit eternal life g º º º
224
CONTENTS. xi
XLI.
The Duty of Selfea amination.
1 CoRINTHIANs xi. 31.
For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged º 230
XLII.
Sacrament.
I CorINTHIANs x1. 26.
As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's
death till he come º 236
XLIII.
Public Worship.
HEBREws x. 15.
Forsake not the assembling yourselves together, as the manner of some is 241
|XLIV.
Outward Acts of Devotion no Ezcuse for JNeglect of JMorality.
MATTHEw v. 20.
Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes
and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven 247
XLV.
Fast Day.
* PsALM xxII. 28.
The kingdom is the Lord's, and he is the governor among the nations 252
XLVI.
Fast Day.
JonAH III. 10.
And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, and God
repented him of the evil that he said he would do unto them, and he
did it not s º º ſº º tº
|XLVII.
Fast Day.
PRoverBs XIv. 34.
Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people 262
ſº XLVIII.
* On the JNew Year.
RoMANs XIII. 11.
And that knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of
sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed
257
**
tºº.* *:
xii CONTENTS.
XLIX.
Sunday Schools.
2 CHRONICLEs xx, 13.
And all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives,
and their children º 272
L.
The Parable of the Samaritan.
LUKE x. 36, 37.
Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that
fell among thieves 2 And he said, He that showed mercy on him.
Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise • º 278
LI.
Parable of the Talents.
MATTHEw xxv. 19.
After a long time, the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with
them º tº e e - ſº
LII.
Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican.
LUKE xviii. 9–14.
And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that
they were righteous, and despised others. Two men went up into
the Temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself; God, I thank thee,
that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or
even as this Publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all
that I possess. And the Publican, standing afar off, would not lift up
so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying,
God be merciful to me, a sinner!. I tell you this man went down to
his house justified rather than the other; for every one that exalteth
himself shall be abased ; and he that humbleth himself shall be ex-
alted º * g º - & 288
LIII.
Analogy between our Natural and Religious Progress.
1 CoRINTHIANs xII. 11, 12.
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought
as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
For now we see through a glass darkly; but them face to face. Now
I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known 293
LIV.
The Advantages of Old Age.
JoB xxxH. 7.
I said, days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom 298
CONTENTS. xiii
LV,
Different Degrees of Future Rewards and Punishments.
JoBN v. 29.
They that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that
have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation º
304
LVI, LVII.
The Being of God demonstrated in the Works of Creation.
PART I, II. -
HEBREws xi. 3.
Through faith we understand that the worlds were formed by the word
of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which
do appear º tº º 309, 314.
LVIII.
Unity of God.
MARK xII. 29. -
Hear, O Israel ! the Lord our God is one Lord tº e º 320
*
- LIX, LX.
The Goodness of God proved from the Light of Nature and
Revelation.
PART I, II.
PsALM xxxIII. 5.
The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord 324, 330 tº º
LXI.
*_
The Ills of Life do not contradict the Goodness of God.
RoMANs X. 23.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love
God º & º e tº
LXII, LXIII, LXIV.
Prophecies.
PART I, II, III.
ACTs xxviii. 23.
And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into
his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of
God; persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses,
and out of the prophets, from morning till evening 341, 348, 354
xiv CONTENTS.
_3=
LXV, LXVI, LXVII.
Evidences of Christianity.
PART I, II, III.
JoHN xx. 31.
But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that, believing, ye might have life through his
Ilaſſle º e te e º
LXVIII, LXIX, LXX.
Propagation of Christianity. #
PART I.
RoMANs x. Itä
But I say, Have they not heard? Yes, verily, their sound went into
all the earth, and their words into the ends of the world
PART II.
2 PETER I. 16.
For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made
known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
PART III.
ACTs v. 38, 39.
If this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought; but if
it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it g º *ś
º "w
.**
*-ºr-
CHARGES. 2.
I.
Delivered to the Clergy of the Diocese of Carlisle, in the
year 1785, on the Distribution of Religious Tracts
II.
On the Oaths of Churchwardens
III.
Om Parish Clerks e e º º •
- IV.
On Afternoon Lectures e g e º
359, 366, 372
378
390
395
399
403
406
CONTENTS. XV
V.
On the Studies suitable to the Clergy e . 412
VI.
JAmusements suitable to the Clergy te o 417
VII.
Use and Propriety of Local and Occasional Preaching 421
VIII.
Sunday Schools * tº ſe © wº 435
S E R M O N S.
WHY MEN RESIST AND PUT ASIDE THE THOUGHTS
OF RELIGION.
ST. John III. 19, 20.
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one
that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds
should be reproved. -
OUR Lord, two verses preceding these, states the momen-
tous truth, that “God had sent his Son into the world, that
whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have ever-
lasting life.” But in the works, no less than in the words of
God, the intention is not always the same with the effect, but
often of a nature entirely contrary. Who can doubt but that
the intention of our Maker, in giving us the faculty of speech,
was mutual utility and pleasure ? Yet the faculty of speech
often produces the very reverse of these, mutual annoyance
and offence. Our joints and limbs were formed, without ques-
tion, with a design of being instrumental to action and motion;
yet the effect not seldom is, that they are the seats of pain and
disease. It fares in like manner with the christian dispensa-
tion. Its intention was to redeem souls, to save them from sin,
from the devil, and from death; to turn us from our sins; to
lead us into the ways of life, and to conduct us in the paths of
righteousness, which is the path to heaven and to God. This
was its intention, but far different its effects; its effects, in
many instances, are altogether opposite; they are not unfre-
1
2 WHY MEN RESIST AND PUT ASIDE
quently such as to increase the condemnation and punishment.
“He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy; of how
much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought wor-
thy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and counted
the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an un-
holy thing, and hath done despite unto the spirit of grace P’ It
has been noticed, that this is no more than what happens in the
gifts of nature; they are all intended for use, capable of abuse;
calculated for good, convertible to evil; designed and suited
for our benefit, turned by ourselves to our prejudice, perhaps
to our destruction. What is generally true of the endowments
which we receive from the hands of our Creator, may be ex-
pected to be true of spiritual things, of the works and operations
of grace, distinguished indeed from the course of nature, but
proceeding from the same cause ; and more particularly true of
those things which were meant and intended to be, not only
benefits, but trials. Religion is a trial of character. The world
we live in is a place, the life we live is a state, of trial and pro-
bation. Christianity itself is a part of this system. It is a trial
to all, to whom it is proposed; infinitely to their advantage, if
accepted; at their utmost peril, if put away and rejected. ‘Ye
put it from you,” says St Paul, ‘and judge yourselves unworthy
of eternal life.” Therefore we are not to wonder as though it
were any thing strange, that the intention of the Gospel is dif-
ferent from its effects. It is, in a certain degree, the case with
all things which belong to us. It is more particularly true, as
it was more particularly to be expected of every thing which
partakes of the nature of a trial, which is the case with revealed
religion.
And it may be observed, that it is not perhaps either a harsh
or unauthorised interpretation of some prophetic descriptions of
Christianity, to apply them to its character, spirit, and inten-
tion, rather than to its effects, which are in so many other cases,
as well as in this, contrary and opposite. ‘The wolf shall dwell
with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and
the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together, and a
little child shall lead them.” This, in the strong eastern man-
ner, as applicable to Christianity, to which it has generally
indeed been understood to allude, paints the spirit and tendency
of Christ’s religion, which is exceedingly peaceable, rather than
its effects, which are often in this respect frustrated and over-
come by the perverseness of man.
Amongst many causes which occasion the thing we speak of,
namely, why the effect of Christianity so frequently does not
THE THOUGHTS OF RELIGION. 3
come up to the intention, is the cause assigned by our Lord
himself in the text; “men love darkness rather than light.”
Light, he states, is come into the world, yet mankind continue
unenlightened; and why? Because men love darkness rather
than light. This our Lord lays down as a fact; men love
ignorance rather than inquiry; to be without a sense of spirit-
ual things, rather than to search into them ; a determined
resistance of the thought of religion, rather than any indul-
gence, or perhaps it ought to be called, intrusion of it. Of this
fact, of this observation, experience attests the truth; and irra-
tional as such conduct may seem, the inducement to it, and
the motive of it, is not difficult to find out. Ignorance is a
great flatterer, a great soother of consciences, an opiate to the
souls of men. While we remain in ignorance of the revealed
will of God, we shall readily bring ourselves to think, that
whatever it be, it must be a law of ease and indulgence to hu-
man infirmities; under which name of “human infirmities’ we
shall include every sensuality to which we are addicted, every
sin which we have set our hearts upon, every passion we feel,
and every temptation we wish to comply with. The heathen
world counted and thought in this manner, because they were
ignorant; and many Christians count and think in like manner,
because they are ignorant also.
And is not this an inducement to remain in ignorance 2 The
ignorance of the Christian is more voluntary than that of the
unenlightened heathen ; there is that difference ; but the sooth-
ing effect of ignorance is the same in both. On this account,
when the infidel became a Christian, and began to look into
some of the truths and regulations which the gospel introduces,
he felt and found what an awakened Christian will find and
feel now, that the law of God is a law of purity; that without
holiness no man can see God; that continued sin is unrepent-
ed sin ; that unrepented sin is an exclusion from heaven ; and
that this holds of all sins of all kinds. Now, though “light be
come into the world,' if it only serve to make such discoveries
as these, no wonder that men, indolent, besotted, corrupted
men, “love darkness rather than light.” No man looking for
heaven can continue in any known sin. But is it to find this
out that we are come to the light? Surely, surely, rather let
me remain in darkness. For what must be the consequence
of this knowledge It is no other, nothing less, than to break
up my plan of happiness, my pleasures, my enjoyments, and
my profits. The two first are not such, as I can pretend to
say are reconcileable to purity and holiness; the last carries
4. WHY MEN RESIST AND PUT ASIDE
me occasionally to things which are not strictly just and hon-
est; it carries me oceasionally at least, and perhaps regularly.
Whilst I was ignorant, I was easy ; but this new information
brings with it great disturbance. It requires me to change. I
must change from the bottom. -
Again : As ignorance of the laws of God encourages an
opinion of ease and latitude in those laws, which is not true;
so an ignorance of our own religious character will make us at
peace with ourselves, and cause us to fondle an opinion, that
we are better than we seem to be, or, in reality, than we are.
Here, if in any thing, men love darkness rather than light; error
without examination, rather than truth with it. For what shall
we gain by examination ? Only more and more insight into the
deep and numerous corruptions of our hearts, our lives and
conversation. Things little thought of, or unthought of al-
together ; circumstances unperceived, and slight failings with-
out number, will start up to our view. In the negligent way
of life in which we have passed our days, we found some de-
gree of contentment; at least we were not very unhappy. We
judged of ourselves by what we remembered of ourselves; and
if any thing troubled our memory of its own accord, it was
some black offence, of which in some part of our lives we had
been guilty. Recollections such as these, can be, we must
suppose, but very few with any, except with notorious offend-
ers; with a very great part of those who hear me, it is possi-
ble there may be no such things to recollect. That I can
allow very well, and believe to be true ; and the absence of
such recollections keeps up a kind of peace in the soul. But
is it a just, well grounded confidence, which the event will
verify?
Here, then, are two grand inducements for continuing in
voluntary ignorance, for loving “darkness rather than light.” It
makes us believe the law of God and Jesus Christ to be more
lax than it is ; and it makes us believe our own life and char-
acter to be better than they are ; and these two reasons
amount, in many persons, to unconquerable inducements. But
let them now call to mind, that no physician who saw his pa-
tient at ease would disturb that ease, except it were to save his
life ; and then undoubtedly he would, if he was true to his
trust. In the same manner the careless, negligent, sensual, and
thoughtless; and not only they, but another description of
character, worse, it is to be feared, than they ; namely, such
as are not forgetful in other things, but in this particular con-
cern of religion do purposely and by design put it from them,
cast it out of their thoughts by a positive act of their will.
THE THOUGHTS OF RELIGION. 5
These must be called upon, again and again, to behold their
danger, and to view their condition earnestly, and truly, and
really.
They are at ease in their ignorance ; but what is ease which
ends in perdition ? It is beyond all doubt an ease which will
become the sorest of all evils, worse than any terror, any dis-
turbance, which inquiry and reflection can produce ; and re-
flection is recommended by an assurance, that it will lead to
good. You will allow it possible for a man to be in the wrong
way, and not to be thinking of the way he is in ; to be entire-
ly careless about it. And how is such a person ever to be
brought into the right way, except by opening his eyes, com-
ing to the light, taking up the matter and consideration of reli-
gion in earnest, and with seriousness. It is utterly necessary
that something should be done in order to save his soul, and
this must be the beginning of the work. It signifies nothing to
allege, that this disposition to religion and to serious reflection
is natural to man. This may be allowed to be true, but is
nothing to the purpose ; for the question is really come to this,
whether our souls are to perish, or this disinclination, whether
natural or not, be got the better of.
One would suppose that light was always more grateful than
darkness, knowledge than ignorance; but our Saviour knew it
to be otherwise ; he knew what was in man; he knew, that
though lost and bewildered, though not seeking their way, but
going on unconcerned, and not knowing whither, by reason of
the darkness which surrounded them, yet they would turn
away from that light which alone could guide them in safety;
that if they could obtain for themselves any thing like ease,
though it were only that false ease which results from incon-
siderateness, insensibility, and ignorance, and that upon the
most unfit subject of which men can remain insensible or igno-
rant; they would prefer even that to the anxieties which they
foresee must follow, from entering upon religious meditation
and inquiry. And to every argument and every plea which
may be offered, or which may pass in our minds in favor of
putting aside the thoughts of religion, this single string of con-
clusions is an answer ; 1. That it is by religion alone that a
sinner can be saved. 2. That religion can have no effect where
it has no influence. 3. That until we come to think, to pon-
der, to ruminate upon religion, it is impossible that we should
acquire its instruction ; and still more impossible, that we should
feel its power, its authority, its rule and direction, in the regula-
tion of our hearts, and in the government of our lives.
6 FEAR A RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLE.
II.
FEAR, A RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLE.
PROVERBs XIV. 16.
A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil.
THE beginning of religion in the heart is a subject of curious
inquiry; it is also more than curious, it is of great practical im-
portance. But it appears that there is no sufficient reason for
supposing that it is in all men alike, or rather, the same in all
good, religious men, as it is in those who become such ; both
experience and reason seem to speak the contrary. If we re-
fer to the operations of God’s holy spirit, we shall not be able
to collect any authority for limiting them to a particular mode,
or for saying that it must either be sudden or slow, early or late,
more or less frequent or powerful. It surely may be all these,
and in very different degrees in different times, and in differ-
ent men. Nor yet, if we refer to the natural influence of what
is usually called principle, have we any rule for saying, that
religion must either necessarily, or that it does usually spring
from the same cause. Different men are affected by different
motives ; and what sinks deep into the heart of one man, makes
little impression upon another; and this depends not only upon
a difference of disposition, which yet is very great, but upon a
difference of circumstances, which are various beyond compu-
tation. Still, if we do but really become religious, from what-
ever origin we set out, we are authorised to hope that our reli-
gion will save us.
Thus it is, that religion sometimes, not seldom indeed, has a
violent origin in the soul, and begins in terror. “A wise man
feareth, and departeth from evil.” The punishment of men’s
crimes overtaking them in this world, brings them to reflection,
and reflection brings them to God. And not only does the pun-
ishment of the law effect this change, but the punishment of
misery which men endure in consequence of losses either in
their health, or fortune, or reputation. These are stings which
sin inflicts, and we hope that they are sometimes available to
repentance. We know but too well that they do not always
answer their purpose ; because we know, that when the frights
or pains are over, men go back to their old courses. This may
f'EAR A RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLE. 7
be a frequent, but it is a deplorable case; for little can be hop-
ed for from lessons and admonitions addressed to a conscience
upon which even the experience of danger, and mercy, and
suffering takes no hold; one cannot indeed say, makes no im-
pression, but takes no firm and abiding hold. First, then, let
those who have suffered either alarm or affliction by reason of
their sins, and under the visitations consequent upon sin, yet
who, so soon as the calamity or fear is passed, forget it, and re-
turn to their vices with as much greediness as ever, let them
know that they are far gone, and deep sunk in iniquity. “They
have,” as the Apostle expresses it, “ yielded their members
servants of sin unto sin;’ not merely sinners, but slaves of sin,
chained to their vices, under the dominion, and in no slight sense,
in the possession of the father of sin. Secondly; Repentance,
though violent in its beginning, though founded in what some
will call a base motive, the dread of punishment, may yet be
sincere; and if sincere, it will be effectual. The shock which
the mind receives may loosen and unfix that hardness of the
soil into which the seeds of religion would never before pene-
trate. All chastisement is not lost; grief is not always wasted.
There is a “godly sorrow, a sorrow unto repentance.’ Many
may cry out, not for form, but in perfect sincerity of heart, “we
are grieved for our offences, and laden with the burden of our
sins;’ and true religion may spring from the sense and weight
of this burden.
Again: It is in misery and distress, though not the misery
and distress brought on by our sins, but unconnected with them,
that religion sometimes has its origin. Ease, and prosperity,
aud wealth, and pleasure, and gaiety, and diversion, are sadly
unfavorable to the impressions of religion; they are not incon-
sistent with these impressions; to say that, would be to say
more than the truth; but they are adverse to them. “How
hardly shall a rich man enter into the kingdom of heaven;' that
is, one either intent upon acquiring riches, or addicted to the
pleasures which riches procure, and lost in them altogether;
and it may, perhaps, be difficult to find a person who is not in
fault by one or other of these means. However, what ease and
wealth efface, the troubles of adversity write and engrave deeply
on the heart. Seriousness is, above all things, necessary to the
reception of the word; therefore, whatever makes men serious,
prepares them for becoming disciples of Christianity. Sick-
mess, poverty, disappointment, the house of mourning, the loss of
our family, the death of pur friends, do tend powerfully to pro-
duce seriousness, to show us the folly, and unreasonableness,
3 FEAR A RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLE.
and end of that levity and giddiness which have taken up our
time, from which we have drawn our delights. It seems im-
possible to be serious, and not to think of God and of religion.
It is possible in the height and flow of spirits, pleasures and en-
joyments; it is possible also in the eagerness and hurry of busi-
mess, not to think of those things at all. But when pleasures
fail, when pain and misery come in their place, when employ-
ment fails, when we can no longer follow it, or when distress is
come upon us; then we naturally draw and turn towards that
which was, and is, and always will be a grand concernment,
whether we have been accustomed to reflect upon it or not.
Yet even in this case, and even in any case, we may, if we
please, avoid the subject; we may shut our eyes against, or
turn them aside from any object, how great soever, or however
near ; but it is an unnatural effort so to do.
Thirdly : A great and loud call upon the conscience of the
most thoughtless and hardened sinner, is any thing which puts
him in mind of the uncertainty of his life, or gives him reason
to expect that it will be short. The common course of hu-
man mortality, though it ought to be the most affecting consid-
eration in the world, does not much affect us; it has lost its
force by its familiarity; but particular admonitions have with
most men, their influence. It is something to see our com-
panions go down into the grave. It is more when they are of
our own age, our own apparent strength, habit and constitution
of body; more still when they appear to have hastened their
end by the same practices to which we have been addicted.
But many who will not take warning from others, begin for the
first time to be srartled and alarmed by what they feel in them-
selves, symptoms of danger and decline in their own bodies.
There may be fatal symptoms, and known to be so; there
may be dangerous symptoms, and known to be so; there may
be symptoms and inward sensations of which we know little ;
but all these are strong and loud calls. There are two op-
posite courses which men take upon this occasion; the one
is to put from them, obstinately and strenuously, the thoughts
of approaching death; the other is, to prepare and make
themselves ready for it. And it is in this last way, not,
we may hope, unfrequently, that religion begins in the heart,
and begins too with an operation which is finally success-
ful. Above all things we must avoid the following thought,
that it is to no purpose to begin to be religious now. From
religion having hitherto made no impression upon us, it does
not follow that it can make none. We are altered, our case is
FEAR A RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLE. 9
altered; we have not, as in times past by, a long life before
us; schemes of futurity in prospect; and death and judgment,
sure indeed, but lying at the end of a long train of worldly
hopes. Let our souls experience the benefit of this change |
Why should we suffer depressions of mind, body, or estate,
waste of years, lapse of life, without drawing from them relig-
ious advantages, which they are capable of yielding; some
amendment, some improvement at least in the condition of our
souls Repentance, be it how or when it may, will, if sin-
cere, be accepted in Jesus Christ. If it would produce refor-
mation, supposing life and opportunity to be allowed, it may
be, in the sight of God, the same as if it did. This is true,
and therefore it is not impossible that even the repentance of
a death bed may be effectual. But it is only not impossible;
to say that it is an uncertain dependence, is to say too little for
it. It is only not impossible, because it is only not impossible
to give to it that sincerity which is required in repentance; and
it is absolutely impossible for the person himself to be assured
of that sincerity, or to distinguish it from those fits of remorse
and penitence which he and every sinner has a thousand times
felt, and felt in vain, because they passed away with the alarm
and danger which produced them. And this is still more true,
when it is the beginning of religion in the heart, when there
has been no religion in that place before. We must not there-
fore speak of the extremity of a death bed; but of some serious
case short of that, which is, when men are reminded by their
bodily constitution that their time is drawing towards its con-
clusion, yet have enough both of strength and life left to carry,
if they will, their good resolves into execution; not only to re-
pent, but to reform ; to put their repentance, by their future
conduct, to the proof, whether it be sincere or not. If it bo
sincere, it will be accepted ; if it be not, which in this case the
effect upon our lives will show, let not the grace or mercies o'
God be accused; because no acceptance is promised to such
repentance. This, therefore, is a case, in all respects, capa-
ble of generating religion in the soul, and of giving proofs of
it; and therefore it is thought to be highly probable, that sav-
ing religion frequently begins in the soul from this cause, and
under those circumstances.
Fourthly: Pain itself, abstractedly considered, has a close
connexion with religious sentiment, inasmuch as it induces us to
reflect what creatures we are, and what we are liable to ; par-
ticularly, what inexhaustible stores of punishment and misery
are in the hands of our Creator, when he pleases to use them;
O
*
10 THE STIRRING OF CONSCIENCE.
that is, when insulted or despised mercy is turned into correc-
tion and exemplary justice, which is the case when the de-
nounced and forewarned judgment of God upon sinners comes
to be executed. What torment can even the touch of his
hand inflict | Let a person under the agonies of pain reflect,
what it must be to exist for ages in that condition; and yet
that his sins may bring him to this, and worse. The risk, the
danger, the very chance, the very possibility of such a thing
coming to pass, must rouse, one would suppose, every fear in
his nature; must put him upon considering betimes, how he
may secure himself against it; and when he finds, which he
soon will do, that his only security is repentance and change,
he betakes himself in earnest to those resources.
It may now be remarked very obviously, that though what
has been stated may be allowed to be a true representation, yet
it may be deemed a base and unworthy beginning of religion
in the heart; it may be said, that if the principles of men are
no better than those, they are principles lodged in the very
lowest part of our nature, and have nothing in them of dignity
or virtue. Religious obedience, provided it be sincere, from
whatever cause it proceeds, will at last, will after a little time,
produce unbounded love and gratitude to our God of so great
mercies; will finally avail us, and work our eternal salvation.
III.
THE STIRRING OF CONSCIENCE.
EPHESIANs II. I.
And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.
THE quickening and stirring of conscience within us, are
sometimes the first signs of a renewed and regenerated soul.
There have been disputes concerning this principle of con-
science, its origin, nature, extent; but all sides agree in one
thing; namely, that it may be dead for a time in the human
breast ; without any energy or activity whatsoever.
The causes of this torpor and deadness, or rather the cir-
cumstances wnder which it is found, have been often assigned.
THE STIRRING OF CONSCIENCE. | 1
In many cases, I am afraid, it takes place so early in life, that
the person can hardly be said to have ever known what the
remonstrances and admonitions of conscience were. His con-
science may be said to be dead born. He remembers not the
time when he found any check concerning any action which he
set himself to do. If there was any pleasure or gratification in
view; if there was any thing to be got by the action; that
was all he considered about it; its being right and its being
wrong formed no part of his deliberation, nor was he put upon
asking this question by any thing which he felt within him.
This state of complete depravity is the effect of a totally neg-
lected education, and of being at the same time thrown, when
very young, amongst profligate examples.
Neither of these causes is sufficient to produce the effect by
itself; but both causes, acting in conjunction, may produce it.
If good principles have been early instilled by means of a vir-
tuous, or any thing like a virtuous education, there will be
some conscience left; there will be a conscience perceived, let
the person so brought up fall into what society or amongst what
examples he may. His conscience may not carry him safe
through these dangers, may not have preserved him from vice
and wickedness; that is a different question; but a conscience
will be there, will be felt.
Again : Let the education, that is, any precise and particu-
lar instruction, have been ever so much or so culpably neglect-
ed, yet let even that rude uninstructed mind come amongst
examples of goodness, or even keep clear of dissolute and
profligate examples, and conscience will be heard. Examples
themselves are education ; good and virtuous examples the best
of all education ; even innocent and harmless society will pro-
duce, or, however, suffer, the natural growth and production of
conscience in minds the most ignorant. But when a mind,
perfectly ignorant, uninstructed, and uneducated, falls at first
nto debauched and profligate society, then it is possible that
conscience may never spring up ; its influence over the heart
may never have a commencement. This cruel case can never
happen but in the instance of parents who are wicked them-
selves, and undesignedly perhaps, but very effectually, commu-
nicate their wickedness betimes to their children, or in the in-
stance of children deprived from the beginning of a parent's
care, and not only so, but from the beginning also thrown into
bad hands, and into bad society. It is of these instances we
were speaking, when we said that there are many unhappy per-
Sons in the world, who never remember the time when they were
12 . THE STIRRING OF CONSCIENCE.
sensible of any feeling or compunction of conscience within
them, of any distinction, indeed, between right and wrong.
But, secondly, I will now suppose a more general, and a
more natural state; that of a conscience really formed in the
breast, and in some degree at least, performing its office. This
once living conscience may, by various means, be reduced
back to a state of death and insensibility; nay, it often is so.
Almost any course of sin will do it, as to that sin. Men al-
ways enter upon sinful courses under strong temptation ; they
may go on in them afterwards under less; but the temptation
which first seduces them into vice is usually strong. There is
a conscience at first repelling, remonstrating, rebuking ; but
then there is a violent temptation to be opposed. Conscience
is overcome. It resists afterwards with less force, and is again
overcome. Its remonstrances are now weaker; they are not
heard; being heard, they are set aside. This takes place re-
peatedly and frequently, with a constant abatement and dimi-
nution of strength and force on the part of conscience. The
sin, after this, is committed, and conscience is silent. This is
the regular effect of any course of sin, as to that sin. Let
any habitual sinner compare himself at one time with him-
self at another time; his former sensations, his remorse, his
uneasiness, his scruples, his fears, when he first entered upon a
course of sin, with his sensations, or rather, with his want of sen-
sations, now that he has for some time been confirmed in it; let
him make this comparison, and say whether the case be not
with him as we have described it.
But the misfortune goes farther. Any course of sin whatever
weakens the power of conscience, not only as to that sin, but
as to all. Either the person reflects that it is to no purpose to
guard against other sins, whilst he knowingly, constantly, and
wilfully goes on in this; or else the principle itself of con-
science, by being so often overpowered and beaten back in this
instance, has lost its spring and energy in all instances. Al-
most all, even the greatest sinners, have begun with some par-
ticular vice. The first encroachment upon innocence and up-
on conscience, was made by some single species of offence to
which they were tempted; but the rottenness spread. A gen-
eral and complete depravity of character may grow, and often
does grow, out of one species of transgression; because con-
science, which has been put to silence, not by one or two op-
positions, but by a course of opposition to its remonstrances,
ceases to execute its office within that man’s breast; so that a
conscience which was once alive may be reduced to a state of
death and insensibility.
THE STIRRING OF CONSCIENCE. 13
There are pasſages of scripture which expressly relate to
this state, and to a recovery and restoration from it, and which
ought therefore to be remembered; and in the first place our
text, and what follows it; “And you hath he quickened, who
were DEAD in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye
walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience; among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the
desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the
children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in
mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we
were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ.’
Eph. ii. 1. And the same idea is repeated, Col. iii. 3.
There is also another remarkable text in the same epistle, v.
14, which has relation to the same subject; ‘Wherefore he saith,
Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ
shall give thee light.” The place in which this text is found,
and the subject concerning which St Paul is in that place dis-
coursing, show sufficiently that the sleep here meant was the
sleep of the conscience. Awake thou that sleepest; rouse thy-
self from that state of moral and religious insensibility in which
thou liest; arise from the dead, from being dead in sin and
trespasses; so deeply sunk in evil courses as to have become
altogether without perception or consciousness of their guilt or
danger, which is being dead in this respect.
Speaking of a particular case in his epistle to Timothy, St
Paul saith, “She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth;’
that is to say, is going on without taking heed to that living
principle of conscience which forms our spiritual life. This is
very true; and it is more general than St Paul here has occa-
sion to state it. He that liveth in pleasure, engrossed and ta-
ken up with the thoughts and pursuits of pleasure, is dead
whilst he liveth; has no time, no inclination, no disposition for
listening to any dictates of religion or of conscience. With re-
spect to these, therefore, he is dead; his conscience is dead
within him ; his neglected, opposed, unavailing, rejected con-
science, speaks no more ; no more renews efforts which have
now been long and totally disregarded. It is silent, and it is
the silence of death.
Now this is a state of the soul, which of all others, perhaps,
most requires the assistance of God’s holy spirit. This, in some
measure, is intimated by the very term, and metaphor, and com-
parison which are made use of; that of death. A dead man
14 THE STIRRING OF CONSCIENCE.
cannot raise himself to life again; it must be by an energy from
without; by the help and power of some other than himself,
that life is recovered, if it be recovered at all. In like manner,
the voluntary powers, without being aided and strengthened by
the holy influence of God’s spirit, may be entirely unable to re-
store a dead conscience to its office in the human breast.
What is intimated by the language and manner of speaking
on the subject in scripture, is confirmed by our own conscious-
ness, and by our experience. JYothing is so hard to be ac-
complished as reformation ; nothing so difficult as to change
the heart; nothing in this world so arduous as to rouse a dead
and sleeping conscience, to bring back lost principles, to recti-
fy depraved affections, to break vicious habits; more especial-
ly, vicious habits of mind and thought. Vicious habits of ac-
tion, though difficult, are more easy to be managed than vicious
habits of mind and thought. In proportion to the difficulty is
the necessity for help. In proportion to the difficulty, must
we have recourse to His all powerful help, with whom all things
are possible, all things are easy. “Who then shall be saved P’
was the apostle's question. “With God all things are possible,”
was our Lord’s answer. &
What then is the practical use of these reflections : What
are the fit sentiments to entertain, the fit conduct to pursue 2
We know that conscience may be silent and dead. Is it si-
lent and dead in us? We know that it may be so weak and
feeble, that in point of fact, it does not govern our lives at all.
Hs this our case ? If it be, we have a great work to go through,
before we can be in a state to form any reasonable hopes of
salvation; namely, the restoring conscience to its office and its
energy. The first thing to be done towards it, is to sue earn-
estly for the help of God Almighty’s spirit; that is the first
thing. Our prayers obtaining, and our endeavours sincerely co-
operating with that help, will carry us through the work; no-
thing else will.
Secondly, when we find the whisperings of conscience re-
newed; when we find sensations of religion, after a long ab-
sence and forgetfulness, returning; when we find spiritual
emotions, unfound and unfelt before, or, if formerly felt, long
disused; when we find the quickening and stirring of good
principles and good thoughts within us, then may we be
assured that the work is begun. We may then take com-
fort; we have much cause for rejoicing; we are in the
hands of God; we experience the first sign, at least, of a renew-
ed, regenerated soul. It is our business to rejoice in it, to
cherish it most carefully.
THE STIRRING OF CONSCIENCE. 15
The first sign, I said; but it must still depend upon our-
selves. From what we perceive, we have good reason to hope
that power is given us from above, if we will use it. Whilst
we were without all thought, all concern, all fear, all anxiety
about our religious state, we were in the worst of all possible
conditions; we were in the condition which the scripture calls
being dead in sin. That is not our condition now. We trust
that we are quickened, that we are raised again to a spiritual
life by the operation of God’s spirit.
But what is the duty belonging to this situation, supposing us
to be right in our judgment? ‘Work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in us both
to will and to do.’ This is the text for us to meditate deeply
upon; this text describes our duty. St Paul, who wrote it, so
far from thinking that any promise, any assurance, any percep-
tion of the assistance of God’s spirit, was a reason for negli-
gence, remissness, want of firmness, and care and perseverance
on our part, makes it the very ground of his exhortation to
exert ourselves to the uttermost. We are not only to work,
but to work out, that is, to persist to the end in working, our
salvation; and why why particularly 2 Even because “it is
God that worketh in us.” For this is the argument; spare no
efforts, no endeavours on your part, that you may not lose, that
you may not forfeit, that you may not miss of the incalculable
benefit of that spiritual succor which God in his mercy is now
vouchsafing unto you; of that regeneration which is now be-
ginning.
16 our DEAREST INTERESTS TO BE PARTED WITH
IV.
OUR DEAREST INTERESTS TO BE PARTED WITH
RATHER THAN ENDANGER OUR DUTY.
MATTHEw V. 29.
If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee; for it is profita-
ble for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole
body should be cast into hell.
I shALL first set about to explain these words, which may
seem a little difficult to understand; then consider the advice
they contain; and lastly, the reason that is given for it.
Now the word ‘offend,’ in this expression, “If thy right eye
offend thee,” signifies corrupt, seduce, tempt to sin. If thy
right eye tempt thee to sin, pluck it out; otherwise what has
the eye to do with being cast into hell, or how should the pluck-
ing it out save the whole body from being cast into hell? I sup-
pose likewise, that the right eye in this verse, and the right
hand in the verse following, is said of any thing we set our
hearts upon, or take delight in. The right eye and the right
hand are mentioned as being most dear to us, most precious for
their use and strength, and so properly represent to us some of
our pleasures, habits, or gains, which become almost as dear to
us, and as difficult to part with. The body being cast into
hell, signifies our being condemned at the day of judgment to
the punishment of hell; so that our Saviour’s admonition is this;
that whatever in any manner draws us into vice, however un-
willing we be to part with it, must nevertheless be given up and
quitted, rather than suffer it to endanger our salvation; a rule
perfectly reasonable in itself, as any man can see and own upon
the bare mention of it; a rule it is of great consequence to be
observed, and yet in fact and in practice very little, if at all,
regarded; for where shall you find a man sacrificing an advan-
tage or pleasure, any profit or amusement he is engaged in, to
his virtue? Men have a different way of satisfying themselves.
Provided a pleasure, situation, or profession, be not in itself,
strictly speaking, criminal, whatever crimes it may lead to, or
tempt them to, they venture upon it; they see no reason for
avoiding it, and when they are engaged in it, they find the com-
fort in vice so strong, that there is no power in them to with-
RATHER THAN ENDANGER OUR DUTY. 17
stand it; they soon begin to hope that God, who knoweth
whereof we are made, will make allowance for their frailties
and infirmities, and will not require more purity and exactness
than such a man in such a situation is capable of.
Now our Lord's rule would have taught them another doc-
trine, and a different train of arguing. It does not suppose that
what we are required to give up is of itself sinful; but provided
it draw or lead us into temptation or into sin, the text tells us
that is reason enough for avoiding or resigning it; nay, insists
in effect upon our parting with it; for without so doing, we shall
not find the strength or violence of the temptation it brings, an
excuse for the vice it tempts us into. The right eye and the
right hand are of their own nature to be retained ; are what God
has given us, and must be supposed to mean what is in its own
nature allowable and innocent; yet when this right hand and
eye offend, that is, seduce, corrupt, tempt us to sin, they are
nevertheless to be cut off and plucked out, otherwise the whole
body will be cast into hell. It will not serve us to plead that
we were led away by that which was most dear and natural to
us, and, in other respects, most beneficial and advantageous.
We were bound, our Saviour tells us, to part with it, whatever
it cost us. So that on all occasions, before we urge or expect
to avail ourselves of this plea, of this strength of temptation, it
behoves us to weigh well, whether there be no way of avoiding
it, if we cannot resist it. If there be any such way, we are
thus to avoid it, cost it what it will, be it ever so inconvenient or
mortifying so to do. This is what our Saviour in the text com-
mands us.
This much may serve to explain our Saviour's direction. As
to the application of it, every one must apply it for himself, to
his own particular case; and there are few that have not, one
way or other, a case to apply it to. By way of making
what has been said more plain, let one or two examples be ta-
ken to show the force and use of the precept before us.
Suppose now in our calling, or business, or profession, there
be some underhand, unlawful gains or practices, about which
we cannot satisfy ourselves, but which we have ever been ac-
customed to, and which, moreover, are so common in our way
of life and occupation, that we cannot carry it on to any toler-
able advantage without them. What is to be done? If we will
believe our Saviour, and go by his rule, the advantage we gain
by these practices, be it ever so considerable, and the calling
too, if it be not worth the following without these advantages,
must be given up. Here is a right eye to be plucked out, and
3
18 our BEST INTERESTs SHOULD BE PARTED witH
a right hand to be cut off, and it matters not what we lose, or
how loath we are to lose it. The way of life may not be un-
lawful in itself, nor reckoned so; yet if it have certain tempta-
tions to dishonesty, and if we, from habit, education, or any
other reason, cannot withstand them, nothing remains but to
get free from them, and betake ourselves to a course of life, if
not so beneficial, more innocent and safe.
Or, secondly, it may happen that the situation we are placed
in exposes us too much to the vices of drunkenness or debauch-
ery; that is, affords temptations and opportunities, more
than, with our propensities to those vices, we can withstand, or
actually do withstand. The same rule obtains in this case as
in the last; that is, we must not attempt to set up these temp-
tations, or the violence of them, as an excuse for our compli-
ance, so long as we had it in our power to get out of the way
of such temptations. It is to be feared that many, instead of
avoiding or abandoning a situation for the reasons mentioned,
on the contrary seek and court such on this very account, in
order to find the gratification which their vices and follies pre-
sent to them ; so opposite is the practice of mankind and their
duty. -
Another thing, which it is oftentimes necessary to give up on
this ground, and what is given up with more pain and unwil-
lingness than almost any thing, is company, and sometimes
friendships. We do not choose our companions or friends al-
ways for their virtues; nor, to say the truth, are men always
agreeable in proportion to their virtues; so that it shall hap-
pen, that a very licentious unprincipled person may have found
such means to delight and entertain us, to insinuate himself in-
to our affections, that we may perceive very great pleasure in
his society. Now admitting it possible, that a man may pre-
serve his own virtue uncorrupted by a course of intimacy
with a profligate companion, it is but barely possible. This is
what we remember St Paul says, “Evil communications cor-
rupt good manners. Be not deceived.” Let friends, or
gay associates, cry aloud, ‘Eat and drink while we have life,
for tomorrow we die; make use then of the time; for after
we are dead, there is no more room for enjoyment, we be-
come as we had never been born.” Yet, says the apostle,
“Be not deceived.” So here, whatever resolutions we may
make, there are many unguarded seasons in a course of intima-
cy, when your friend will of course endeavour to bring you into
some way of thinking and acting with himself; and you will
find your horror and fear of vice decline and wear off by de-
RATHER THAN ENDANGER OUR DUTY. 19
grees, when it is made familiar to you in the example and con-
versation of your friend. Now if this be the case, and we shall
find it so in fact, however we may reason about it, there seems
to be nothing left for a man who pays a proper attention to his
virtue, and to our rule in the text, but to renounce and break
off all such acquaintance absolutely. This is hard and diffi-
cult, we say; but be it recollected, that Christ knew it to be
so ; for he takes his examples from things the most painful and
severe. This instance, it is true, requires more than ordinary
resolution, for we may have the censure of the world, as well
as our own inclination to struggle with. But I can only say
that they both are to be set at nought, when our duty and the
salvation of our souls are at stake.
But we proceed to consider the reason our Saviour gives for
this command. ‘It is profitable for thee that one of thy mem-
bers should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast
into hell.”
Every sound plan of religion, and consequently the plan of
the gospel, is only putting men in the best way of promoting
their own happiness, and providing for their own interest. It
is on our own account, for our own sakes, after all, that we are
bound to perform the laws of our religion, because ourselves
only will be the sufferers by the violation of them. For the
present, possibly, we may have to undergo some mortification,
or pain, or self denial; and yet it is our real pleasure and hap-
piness, upon the whole, that is aimed at by the prohibition.
As we are obliged and willing to take a very bitter medicine,
or suffer a very painful operation, not for the sake of torment-
ing ourselves for the present, but in order to amend our health
for the future; so is the case with every thing we suffer, or
every thing we give up on the score of religion; that is, it is
with a view of being bettered and benefitted by it at the con-
clusion. If we give up father, mother, and brother, and sis-
ter; or, as this expression further denotes, riches, and honor,
and pleasures, and diversions, or any thing else we take de-
light in, it is to receive tenfold reward, and in the world to
come life everlasting. The severest trials we are put upon, if
we are to cut off our right hand or pluck out our right eye, such
is the instance before us, it is that our whole body may not be
cast into hell; it is to escape those punishments which will be,
beyond all comparison, more grievous to be borne, than any
thing we ever experienced. Certainly we are not, and possi-
bly we could not have been made acquainted with the particu-
lar kind or state of happiness we are to enjoy, or the punish-
20 ouR DEAREST INTERESTs NOT to ENDANGER DUTY.
ment we are to undergo, in the next world; but we may be
sure it is in God's power to make them both such as will far
exceed any thing we can get or lose in this world, any pleas-
ure that sin can give us, any pain that virtue costs us. This
much is intimated, or rather plainly declared, by the words of
the text, that what we shall suffer hereafter for our sins is as
much beyond any thing we can suffer here by giving them up,
as the destruction of the whole body is beyond the loss of a
single limb. And then, surely, our Saviour had a right to
charge us to suffer the one rather than suffer the other.
It is to be lamented that men cannot be brought to under-
stand, that they are to act in the business of their religion only
upon the same principles and grounds that they act upon in their
own common concerns and transactions. A situation or pur-
suit, however pleasant or delightful at present, if we foresaw
that it would lead to nothing but ruin and disgrace, we should
quit most certainly in common prudence. In like manner, if
we had made any advantages for the present, though apparent-
ly considerable ; and if we observed that they were very un-
certain advantages which the next day or even hour might take
away, I suppose that we should prefer a smaller, but more reg-
ular return, which might be trusted to always. Now it is but
this, and no more than this, that we are required to do by
Christ’s command. Sin, be it ever so pleasurable or ever so
profitable, must not be long; its pleasures and its profits must
end with our lives, generally much sooner; but who shall count,
who shall say what or when will be the end of the misery it
brings us to ? If we gain the whole world and lose our own
souls, you may remember who it is that hath said it profiteth
nothing. Few, or rather, be it said, none, ever went through
more for their religion than St Paul; yet he could say, and he
had every reason to know, “that his sufferings were not worthy
to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed ; ' all the
struggles, all the self denial, all the pains we go through to pre-
serve our virtue, will meet with, we may be assured, a propor-
tionable reward, a far more exceeding weight of glory.
Upon the whole, then, to sum up the doctrine of the dis-
course, if there be nothing in our business, condition, or man-
ner of life, which tempts us to practise deceit, injustice, or any
thing which we cannot reconcile to our consciences; if it does
not breed in us pride, covetousness, desire of worldly wealth,
and the contempt of every thing beside; if there be nothing in
our way of life, company, or pleasures, which leads to drunk-
enness, revelling, or excess of any kind, we may think our-
A SENSE of SIN To BE KEPT UP IN our MINDs. 21
selves very happy, and have cause to be thankful. If there be
any such occasions or temptations more than we can withstand,
or in fact do withstand, it is the command of our Saviour, and
the express command which none can alter, that we fly from
them, though it oblige us to suffer as much as the loss of a right
hand or eye; though we give up an advantage ever so great,
or part with a pleasure we are ever so fond of.
V.
A SENSE OF SIN TO BE KEPT UP IN OUR, MINDS.
PsALM XL. 15.
For innumerable troubles are come about me; my sins have taken such hold
upon me that I am not able to look up ; yea, they are more in number than
the hairs of my head, and my heart hath failed me.
A conviction of sin is oftentimes the beginning of religion
in the heart. It is oftentimes a source of anguish and despair.
Yet, with all its bitterness and all its danger, it produces a
frame of mind more hopeful as to salvation than insensibility. I
do not mean that it is more hopeful than the reasonable satis-
faction and assurance which arises in the heart from the recol-
lection of a well spent life, or even of sincere, broken, and im-
perfect endeavours after such a life; but it is more comforta-
ble than unconcernedness, for that has no recollection to build
upon. It is the property of a man, and, God knows, there are
millions such, who, when danger is at hand, seeks security by
shutting his eyes against danger.
Now all who feel within themselves a strong conviction of
their sin, I desire they will go to the text I have read to you.
It describes their case ; it exposes their feeling and their suſ-
ferings, and it leads them into the right direction. The words
of the text bear about them the marks and tokens of reality.
It seems impossible to entertain a doubt but that the person who
wrote them, was at that time laboring and struggling under pow-
erful workings and impressions of conscience; under a deep
sense of guiltiness before God, and of the shame and misery, self
condemnation and debasement, which belong to such a condi-
22 A SENSE of SIN TO BE KEPT UP IN our MINDs.
tion when it is perceived. Perhaps it is more than we ought
to presume, and more than the truth, that this person was a
greater sinner than the generality of men. It might be only
that he perceived his condition; and there is as much differ-
ence between the man who does, and the man who does not
perceive his situation, as between two sinners of very unequal
magnitude. sº
Let us now see how the inward compunctions and stirrings
of the writer’s conscience operated ; what thoughts it raised in
him, what expressions it drew from him.
First, he is covered, not only with remorse and fear, but
with confusion. “My sins have taken such hold upon me, that
I am not able to look up.’ It is a strong, significant expres-
sion, “ have taken such hold upon me,’ for they do indeed take
hold ; they seize the mind. The remembrance of sin, with
the reflections which belong to it, possesses, where it enters, the
whole soul; and it ought to do so. As they take hold of the
thoughts, so they do of the spirits. Men are disturbed in their
spirits by the evils of life; but sin, when understood, makes
the evils of life nothing; it displaces them, by presenting some-
thing more near to us than they are. The force with which
sin perceived, sin understood, seizes the spirits and the
thoughts, is well expressed by the Psalmist, when he tells of
their taking hold of him. “And they overwhelm him with
shame and confusion.” It was not the shame of men, for his
sins might be unknown to them ; it was not that sort of confu-
sion which he alludes to, but it was shame and confusion be-
fore God. And this very often exists in reality; nay, so much so,
that the man who has never felt it, ought to doubt with himself
whether religion be indeed within him. It is a different thing
from the shame of men; it is a secret humiliation and debase-
ment, when we call to mind our behaviour, as towards God.
The Publican in the gospel would not so much as lift up his
eyes unto heaven. He felt his humiliation and self debase-
ment; yet was it entirely between his God and him. The
Pharisee saw him afar off, but it is not said that he saw the
Pharisee, or that he was moved by the presence of men, or by
any consideration of the presence of men; nay, the contrary
must be taken for granted, to give proper force and significance
to the parable. It must be taken on the Publican’s part, to
have been a secret and close communication with his Maker.
Now observe the progress of the Psalmist’s meditations;
‘My sins have taken such hold upon me, that I am not able to
look up;' and why? You hear the reason; ‘They are more
A SENSE of sIN To BE KEPT UP IN ouR MINDs. 23
in number than the hairs of my head.’ This is to perceive sin.
When we begin to see our sins as they are, they crowd and
multiply upon us beyond number. An ordinary mind, or a
man in an ordinary state of mind, bears nothing, possibly, in his
memory as touching his sins, but a few flagitious, very vicious
actions, if he has in the course of his life been guilty of any.
But these cannot, in the worst men, be said to be more in num-
ber than the hairs of his head. It is only when a man comes
to think more deeply and closely upon the subject, that he is
made to perceive the number of his sins, and understand them,
as the Psalmist did. Let us place fairly and fully before our
eyes the laws of God. Let us call to mind, not slightly, but
thoroughly, our thoughts, our affections, our desires, and pas-
sions; what has passed within, as well as what has passed
without us; and lastly, our words, and actions, and conduct;
not in a few great instances of flagrant offences, which may,
indeed, or may not be really more sinful, but are more strikingly
such, because coming under human laws and opinions. I say,
letus not confine our attention to these, which we are apt to do;
but direct it to the examination of our conduct in its ordinary
course. Let us do this, and we shall see that our sins are more
in number than the hairs of our head. For example; What
is it which we owe to God, which we know to be due to him 2
“To love him with all our hearts, with all our souls, and with
all our strength.’ Have we done so Have not, on the con-
trary, our lives been a constant failure of duty in this very
article 2 Wherein have we come up to this rule Wherein
have we not come short of it 2 Yet it is both our rule and our
reason. The rule carries our obligation no farther than reason
carries it. Such a being, such a benefactor as God is, is enti-
tled to our love, and to be loved with all our hearts, with all
our souls, and with all our strength. Deficiencies, therefore, in
this respect, are sins truly and actually such.
Then, as to mankind, our benevolence is to be as strong as
our self interest; we are to love our neighbour as ourselves.
Self interest is a motive of action usually strong and powerful
enough ; benevolence ought to be equally strong and powerful.
It ought to be so; for that is the meaning of the rule. Yet is
it so? is it any thing like it? Here, therefore, we must see in
ourselves a humiliating deficiency of duty.
Again :- Look to the ten commandments themselves; look
not to their letter, but their spirit; look to them as expounded,
in some instances, by our Lord himself in his sermon upon the
mount, and consequently as justly admitting the same exposition
24 A SENSE OF SIN TO BE KEPT UP IN OUR MINDS.
in other instances ; look to their comprehension and extent, to
what has been well called their spirituality ; and then bring
your conduct to the touchstone, that is to say, the test and cri-
terion of rectitude, and we shall want little to convince us of the
multitude of our sins, to humble us under the hand of God. It
makes no difference, that others have as much cause for as much
self accusation as we have, or some more, and even greater ; it
makes, in reality, no difference in the case. We ought to re-
collect this in particular, because we are ever ready to think it
does. But we must look to ourselves alone. We must make
no comparison, except that between our conduct and our duty.
This comparison being honestly made, our failings and offences
will appear numerous beyond calculation. And can this be
thought upon without concern, a deep and fixed concern ?
What says the Psalmist? “My heart hath failed me ; ’ and con-
templation of his sins made his heart sink within him. If it be
not so with us, is it that our sins are less and fewer, or is it not
that we care less about them 2 We do not choose to review
or contemplate them at all. When we find ourselves in danger,
we wish to become insensible of it. We have it in our power
to turn away our thoughts and attentions from subjects that we
dislike ; and we exercise this power with respect to our sins.
If it were not so, it would be with us as it was with the Psalmist,
“our heart would fail us;’ the number and vileness of our sins,
our failure of duty to God, our transgressions of the purity of
his laws, our deficiency to man for God’s sake, would over-
power us.
But, thirdly, what was the turn and direction of thought
which these reflections produced in the mind of the Psalmist
It was a flying to God, the Almighty, for aid and mercy;
“Withdraw not thou thy mercy from me, O Lord. O Lord,
let it be thy pleasure to deliver me; make haste, O Lord, to
help me.’ He felt that his situation demanded mercy and as-
sistance, mercy that would spare, mercy that would forbear to
inflict the punishment due to past sins; and assistance to be
delivered from their power for the future. And there was no
time to be lost; ‘Make haste, O Lord, to help me.” The
bonds and burden of his sins were what he groaned under.
The deliverance, therefore, which he meant, was the deliver-
ance from that burden and from those bonds. The help he
called for, was divine aid in working that deliverance.
Now if this turn and direction of thought was rightly and
properly produced in the Psalmist's mind, by the recollection of
his sins, much more do they befit a Christian; because Christ,
USE AND ABUSE OF THE MERCY OF GOD. 25
the author and high priest of our religion, came expressly into
the world to save sinners, to enable them to turn to God, and
to call upon them to do so. -
If the sinner under the law, which the Psalmist was, could
cry out for mercy, much more the sinner under grace. If the
Psalmist could hope for aid and help to be delivered from sin,
much more the Christian for the aid and help which is promised
of the Holy Ghost. But then this recourse to God by Christ,
this prayer and supplication, must be sincere. Without sinceri-
ty no good can be expected from the prayer; and if it be sin-
cere, it must necessarily import and include a resolution against
sin. For no man can pray sincerely against sin, while he is
wilfully and voluntarily indulging himself in it. It is contradic-
tory and impossible, equally under the law as under the gospel;
equally under our dispensation as another, under the law or un-
der the gospel. Can we wonder that nothing comes of such
prayers ? But if we truly withstand our sins, let them have been
what they will, aid, and help, and mercy may be asked for. In-
deed they will be asked for, and sought with earnest strivings
and contentions of the spirit in prayer. In every heart, touched
as the Psalmist’s was with the perception of sin, his feelings
will produce his prayers; and blessed be God, we have in
Christ the best assurance that the thing asked, so asked, will
be obtained.
VI.
USE AND ABUSE OF THE MERCY OF GOD IN THE
REDEMPTION OF MANKIND BY CHRIST.
EccLESIASTICUs W. 5, 6.
Concerning propitiation, be not without fear to add sin unto sin; and say not
His mercy is great, and he will be pacified for the multitude of my sins; for
mercy and wrath come from him, and his indignation resteth upon sin-
Ilê S.
I KNow not so much good advice drawn up in so little com-
pass any where as in the chapter which we have quoted ; nor
of that advice, any part so important as that which I have read
to you in the text. We are all naturally inclined to lean and
4
26 USE AND ABUSE OF THE MERCY OF GOD
presume much upon the mercy of God; and this presumption
cannot be combatted by any general arguments, because the
foundation of it is right. It is certainly true, that the frame of
nature, the multitude which we see of contrivances, evident
contrivances, and provisions for the happiness of sensitive
beings, bespeak the good will and kindness of the Creator;
and of that good will, a plain and obvious part and consequence
is, condescension to our infirmities, and mercy to our faults.
It is not only rational, but unavoidable to expect this. The
language of scripture, if we go to that for information, comes up
in this respect to the intimations of nature. Throughout the
whole book, God is described as loving, affectionate, patient,
compassionate, and long suffering to his human creation ; so
that when we conceive of God as a merciful being, we think of
him very truly. But then the question is in what manner, and
to what extent, we may apply this consideration to our own
conduct.
First, then, when we apply it to console ourselves under any
imperfection of character, owing to invincible weaknesses, either
of body or mind, we apply it rightly. God has not fixed a
certain measure or standard of virtue, which every person of
every sort and degree must come up to, in order to be saved ;
that were not the part of a merciful judge. He proportions
his demands of duty to our several capacities, justly estimated,
and faithfully exerted. It may be true, that he who has em-
ployed extraordinary endowments well, will be recompensed
with a higher reward than he who has employed inferior en-
dowments well; but still one as well as the other will be re-
warded. He who had doubled the ten talents which were en-
trusted to him, was set over ten cities; whilst he who had
doubled the five talents was set over five cities; but both were
rewarded, though differently. Therefore any inferiority to
others in our natural abilities, any difficulties or disadvantages
we labor under, which others do not labor under, need not dis-
comfort us at all. They are made up to us by God’s mercy,
who will finally accommodate his judgment to those difficul-
ties and disadvantages so far as they are real. And the same
allowance, which we hope will be vouchsafed to our constitu-
tional infirmities, so far as they are both real infirmities and in-
vincible infirmities, will also be extended to the difficulties we
labor under, by reason of the circumstances and condition in
which we are placed; whether these difficulties be ignorance,
for want of education and opportunity; or prejudice, by reason
of a wrong education, and a dependence upon those into whose
IN THE REDEMPTION OF MANKIND BY CHRIST. 27
hands we were committed ; or error or superstition arising
from these causes; for all such defects, so long as they are,
properly speaking, involuntary, and not brought on or increased
by our own act, we humbly rely upon the mercies of God, and
we are not going too far in our reliance.
Secondly : When for any sin into which we have been un-
happily betrayed, yet without a course and habit of sinning in
the same manner, or at least without a regular plan of a sinful
life, we trust for pardon in God’s mercy through Christ, our
trust is well founded. This is the very case, as I apprehend,
which St John had in his thoughts, when he tells us, that “if any
man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, and he is the
propitiation for our sins.” “If any man sin;’ that is, if any man
be accidentally betrayed into single instances of sin without a
plan or system of sinning, we have Jesus Christ interceding for
our forgiveness.
Thirdly : When our past life has not only been checkered
by casual omissions and commissions, but has been stained and
polluted even by habits of licentiousness, or by a course of un-
just and iniquitous conduct; still, if we look up to God's mer-
cy, only so as to quicken and inspirit us to a speedy and reso-
lute breaking off of our vices, I believe and trust that we do
not abuse that mercy, let our past case or our past conduct
have been ever so bad.
The true and sound distinction which we should continually
bear in our mind, is no other than this; whilst we think of
God’s mercy only with a view to sins which are past, strictly
and exclusively, then it can hardly happen but that we shall
judge rightly of it, and according to truth; but when we think
of it with relation to our future sins, then we are in very great
danger of mistaking and misapplying it; and the mistake may
have, indeed necessarily must have, the most dreadful effects
upon our final welfare.
I cannot mark this distinction more strongly, than by desir-
ing you to compare attentively what is said in the text with
what is said by St John in the passage just now quoted from his
epistle. Both passages speak of propitiation ; that is, of the
means whereby we may obtain pardon. Hear what St John
says of it; ‘If any man sin, we have an advocate with the
Father; and he is the propitiation for our sins.” Next hear
what the text says of it; ‘Concerning propitiation, be not with-
out fear to add sin unto sin.’ You will observe, that one pas-
Sage speaks in terms of encouragement; the other in terms of
warning. And the truth is, that one passage speaks in relation
28 USE AND ABUSE OF THE MERCY OF GOD
to sins which are past, strictly and exclusively; the other
speaks in relation to sins that are yet future. When St John
tells us that “if any man sin, we have in Jesus Christ an advo-
cate and a propitiation,’ he supposes a person to be reviewing
his past life, to be distressed by the memory of his former sins;
and then he points out a relief and source of comfort to his dis-
tress, by telling him that he has with God an advocate and a
propitiation for the sins under the sense and recollection of
which he is sinking. When the author of Ecclesiasticus warns
us solemnly ‘concerning propitiation,’ the same subject of
which St John speaks, by bidding us ‘not to be without fear to
add sin unto sin, and not to say, His mercy is great, he will be
pacified for the multitude of our sins,’ and when he farther
reminds us, that ‘wrath as well as mercy come from him;’ he
applies his advice to a different supposition; he supposes a
person to be doubting and deliberating with himself concern-
ing his future conduct; either concerning some particular sin
which he is tempted to commit, or concerning the general
course of his future behaviour; and he charges such an one
against bringing into the deliberation the account or considera-
tion of God’s mercy, so as to encourage himself thereby in
giving way to the temptation by which he is urged. By this
view of the subject the two passages are rendered consistent,
and the important distinction upon the subject rendered visible.
We may proceed, therefore, to describe the cases in which
we misapply the consideration of God’s mercy, and act in op-
position to the council delivered in the text.
First, then, we misapply the matter, when the thoughts of
God’s mercy beget in us ease under our past sins, and this ease
makes us less afraid of repeating them. In minds not suffi-
ciently thoughtful, if you in any way take away or diminish the
terror or pain which they suffer from what they have done, you
in the same proportion render them apt and willing to do the
same thing again. But it is only so with minds which are not
sufficiently thoughtful; in a mind seriously disposed, and which
rightly considers its situation, the contrary effect will take place;
the sense of past forgiveness will produce gratitude; gratitude
will produce love; and love will increase, not diminish, the
dread of offending anew. Suppose a malefactor under sen-
tence of death, looking for nothing but the execution of that
sentence, should receive assurance, or even hopes, of pardon;
no doubt this intelligence would take off much of the load which
weighed down his spirits, much of the pain of his condition.
But ought this relief and alleviation to make him go and be as
IN THE REDEMPTION of MANKIND BY CHRIST. 29
wicked as ever? If it did so, no one would say that he was an
object of clemency or mercy, let the clemency and mercy of
the prince be in themselves ever so great. Wherefore, I re-
peat, that whenever the ease and comfort which we draw from
the contemplation of God’s mercy, in respect to past sins, is
carried forward to the future, so as to make us with more readi-
ness give way to temptation, it is grievously and dangerously
abused. -
But, secondly, the method above described is an indirect
method of applying the mercy of God to the encouragement of
our sins; that is to say, the consideration of God’s mercy ren-
ders us easy under the past; and ease under past transgres-
sions, serves to make us less scrupulous and difficult in com-
plying with returning temptations. But there is also a more
direct way in which we carry our presumption upon God’s mer-
cy to the deceiving of our consciences; and that is, when we
argue with ourselves in this manner; when in deliberating con-
cerning any particular sins which we are induced to commit,
we say within ourselves, if God be so gracious, forgiving, and
merciful, as religion teaches us that he is, he will not be ex-
treme to condemn me for this single offence, this one addition
to the number of my sins. Now this is what may be called
sinning upon a plan, and making the goodness of God the
foundation of the plan; which is a very different case from re-
sorting to the mercies of God in the case of past sins. Sup-
pose a prince of the mildest and most placable character should
be informed concerning a malefactor, that he had committed
the crime of which he was accused, expressly depending upon
forgiveness beforehand; would not this be a reason for withhold-
ing the mercy which had been thus perverted It certainly
would.
Again, thirdly, this reliance beforehand goes sometimes to a
greater extent. It goes the length of keeping men in a course
of sins; because so often as men think of their condition, the
first thing that fills their thoughts, is the abounding, inexhausti-
ble mercy of God; and the first effect of that meditation is, that
if it so abound, and be so inexhaustible, they may still hope for
Salvation, although they go on to continue their pleasures and
their practices. Now I will tell you what is properly meant by
calling God’s mercy abounding and inexhaustible. This is
meant by it; that whatever be the quantity, or amount, or kind,
or degree of our past offences, if we sincerely and truly repent
and cease from them, their former enormity need not make us
despair of pardon; but it relates solely to the past; it has no-
30 THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST.
thing to do with the future, because it is then only applicable,
when a reformation for the future takes place. Extensive as
that mercy is, the case of a person intending to continue in sin
does not come within it; that intention totally excludes the ap-
plication.
Upon the whole, the brief statement of the case is this. It
is certainly true that God is merciful, but we are not authorised
to use or apply the consideration of God’s mercy any other-
wise than to guard us against despair for our past sins, to quick-
en and incite us to reformation for the future, and to support
and comfort us when we feel that reformation in ourselves be-
ginning. If we go farther than this, and think of God’s mercy
when we are deliberating concerning some sin which we are
about to commit, either concerning our continuance in some
old, or entrance upon some new, course of sin, we are sure to
think of it improperly, and to build hopes and conclusions upon
it which we are not authorised to entertain. I know nothing
which can be a more powerful preservative against this turn of
mind, and this fatal delusion, than the wise and solemn warn-
ing of the text; ‘concerning propitiation, be not without fear
to add sin unto sin, and say not, His mercy is great, he will be
pacified for the multitude of my sins; for mercy and wrath
come from him, and his indignation resteth upon sinners.”
VII.
THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST.
PART I.
HEBREws IX. 26.
Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sac-
rifice of himself.
THE salvation of mankind, and most particularly in so far as
the death and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ are concerned
in it, and whereby he comes to be called our Saviour and our
Redeemer, ever has been, and ever must be, a most interesting
subject to all serious minds.
THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 31
Now there is one thing in which there is no division or dif-
ference of opinion at all ; , which is, that the death of Jesus
Christ is spoken of, in reference to human salvation, in terms
and in a manner, in which the death of no person whatever is
spoken of besides. Others have died martyrs, as well as our
Lord. Others have suffered in a righteous cause as well as he:
but that is said of him, and of his death and sufferings, which
is not said of any one else. An efficacy and a concern are as-
cribed to them, in the business of human salvation, which are
not ascribed to any other.
What may be called the first gospel declaration upon this
subject, is the exclamation of John the Baptist, when he saw
Jesus coming unto him; ‘Behold the lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world.’ I think it plain, that when
John called our Lord the lamb of God, he spoke with a rela-
tion to his being sacrificed, and to the effect of that sacrifice
upon the pardon of human sin; and this, you will observe, was
said of him, even before he entered upon his office. If any
doubt could be made of the meaning of the Baptist’s expression,
it is settled by other places, in which the like allusion to a lamb
is adopted ; and where the allusion is specifically applied to his
death, considered as a sacrifice.
In the Acts of the Apostles, the following words of Isaiah
are, by Philip the evangelist, distinctly applied to our Lord,
and to our Lord's death. ‘He was led as a sheep to the
slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearers, so opened
he not his mouth ; in his humiliation his judgment was taken
away, and who shall declare his generation ? for his life is taken
from the earth; ? therefore it was to his death, you see, that the
description relates. Now, I say, that this is applied to Christ
most distinctly; for the pious eunuch, who was reading the pas-
Sage in his chariot, was at a loss to know to whom it should be
applied. “I pray thee,” saith he to Philip, ‘of whom speaketh
the prophet this? of himself or of some other man P’ And
Philip, you read, taught him that it was spoken of Christ. And
I say, secondly, that this particular part and expression of the
prophecy being applied to Christ’s death, carries the whole pro-
phecy to the same subject; for it is undoubtedly one entire
prophecy; therefore the other expressions, which are still
stronger, are applicable as well as this. ‘He was wounded for
our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities; the chas-
tisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we
are healed; the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
32 THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST.
There is a strong and very apposite text of St Peter’s, in
which the application of the term “lamb’ to our Lord, and the
sense, in which it is applied, can admit of no question at all. It
is in the 1st chapter of the 1st epistle, the 18th and 19th verses;
* Forasmuch as ye know, that ye were not redeemed with cor-
ruptible things, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a
lamb without blemish and without spot.’ All the use I make
of these passages is to show, that the prophet Isaiah, six hun-
dred years before his birth; St John the Baptist, upon the
commencement of his ministry; St Peter, his friend, com-
panion, and apostle, after the transaction was over, speak of
Christ's death, under the figure of a lamb being sacrificed; that
is, as having the effect of a sacrifice, the effect in kind, though
infinitely higher in degree, upon the pardon of sins, and the
procurement of salvation; and that this is spoken of the death
of no other person whatever.
Other plain and distinct passages, declaring the efficacy of
Christ’s death, are the following; Hebrews ix. 26. “Now once
in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by
the sacrifice of himself. Christ was once offered to bear the
sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear
the second time without sin unto salvation.” And in the xth
chap. 12th ver. ‘This man, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sin, for ever sat down on the right hand of God, for by one
offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.' I
observe again, that nothing of this sort is said of the death of
any other person; no such efficacy is imputed to any other
martyrdom. So likewise, in the following text, from the epistle
to the Romans; “While we were yet sinners Christ died for
us; much more then being now justified by his blood we shall
be saved from wrath through him; for if, when we were ene-
mies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much
more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life.’ ‘Recon-
ciled to God by the death of his Son;' therefore that death
had an efficacy in our reconciliation; but reconciliation is pre-
paratory to salvation. The same thing is said by the same
apostle in his epistle to the Colossians; “He has reconciled us
to his Father in his cross, and in the body of his flesh through
death.’ What is said of reconciliation in these texts, is said in
other texts of sanctification, which also is preparatory to Salva-
tion. Thus Hebrews, x. 10. “We are sanctified ; ” how 2
namely, ‘by the offering of the body of Christ once for all; ’
so again in the same epistle, ‘the blood of Jesus is called the
blood of the covenant by which we are sanctified.’
*.
THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 33
In these and many more passages, that lie spread in different
parts of the New Testament, it appears to be asserted, that the
death of Christ had an efficacy in the procurement of human
salvation. Now these expressions mean something; mean
something substantial. They are used concerning no other
person, nor the death of any other person whatever. There-
fore Christ's death was something more than a confirmation of his
preaching ; something more than a pattern of a holy and pa-
tient, and perhaps voluntary, martyrdom ; something more than
necessarily antecedent to his resurrection, by which he gave a
grand and clear proof of human resurrection. Christ's death
was all these, but it was something more ; because none of
these ends, nor all of them, satisfy the text you have heard,
come up to the assertions and declarations which are delivered
concerning it. -
Now allowing the subject to stop here; allowing that we know
nothing, nor can know any thing concerning it, but what is
written; and that nothing more is written, than that the death
of Christ had a real and essential effect upon human salvation;
we have certainly before us a doctrine of a very peculiar, per-
haps I may say, of a very unexpected kind, in some measure
hidden in the councils of the Divine nature, but still so far re-
vealed to us, as to excite two great religious sentiments, admi-
ration and gratitude. t
That a person of a nature different from all other men; nay,
superior, for so he is distinctly described to be, to all created
beings, whether men or angels; united with the Deity as no
other person is united ; that such a person should come down
from heaven, and suffer upon earth the pains of an excruciating
death, and that these his submissions and sufferings should avail
and produce a great effect in the procurement of the future
salvation of mankind, cannot but excite wonder. But it is by
no means improbable on that account; on the contrary it might
be reasonably supposed beforehand, that if any thing was dis-
closed to us touching a future life, and touching the dispen-
sations of God to men, it would be something of a nature to
excite admiration. In the world in which we live, we may be
said to have some knowledge of its laws, and constitution, and
nature; we have long experienced them ; as also of the beings
with whom we converse, or amongst whom we are conversant,
we may be said to understand something; at least they are
familiar to us; we are not surprised with appearances which
every day occur. But of the world and the life to which we
are destined, and of the beings amongst whom we may be
5
34 THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST.
brought, the case is altogether different. Here is no experi-
ence to explain things; no use or familiarity to take off sur-
prise, to reconcile us to difficulties, to assist our apprehension.
In the new order of things, according to the new laws of na-
ture, every thing will be suitable; suitable to the beings who
are to occupy the future world; but that suitableness cannot,
as it seems to me, be possibly perceived by us, until we are
acquainted with that order and with those beings. So that it
arises, as it were, from the necessity of things, that what is told
us by a Divine messenger of heavenly affairs, of affairs purely
spiritual, that is, relating purely to another world, must be so
comprehended by us, as to excite admiration.
But secondly; partially as we may, or perhaps must, com-
prehend this subject, in common with all subjects which relate
strictly and solely to the nature of our future life, we may com-
prehend it quite sufficiently for one purpose; and that is grat-
itude. It was only for a moral purpose that the thing was re-
vealed at all; and that purpose is a sense of gratitude and
obligation. This was the use which the apostles of our Lord,
who knew the most, made of their knowledge. This was the
turn they gave to their meditations upon the subject; the im-
pression it left upon their hearts. That a great and happy
being should voluntarily enter the world in a mean and low
condition, and humble himself to a death upon the cross, that
is, to be executed as a malefactor, in order, by whatever means
it was done, to promote the attainment of salvation to mankind,
and to each and every one of themselves, was a theme they
dwelt upon with feelings of the warmest thankfulness; because
they were feelings proportioned to the magnitude of the ben-
efit. Earthly benefits are nothing compared with those which
are heavenly. That they felt from the bottom of their souls.
That, in my opinion, we do not feel as we ought. But feeling
this, they never ceased to testify, to acknowledge, to express
the deepest obligation, the most devout consciousness of that
obligation, to their Lord and Master; to him, whom, for what
he had done and suffered, they regarded as the finisher of their
faith, and the author of their salvation.
THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 35
VIII.
THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST CON-
SISTENT WITH THE NECESSITY OF A GooD LIFE;
THE ONE BEING THE CAUSE, THE OTHER THE
CONDITION, OF SALVATION.
PART II.
Romans VI. 1.
What shall we say then 2 shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
God forbid.
THE same scriptures, which represent the death of Christ as
having that which belongs to the death of no other person,
namely, an efficacy in procuring the salvation of man, are also
constant and uniform in representing the necessity of our own
endeavours, of our own good works, for the same purpose.
They go further. They foresaw that in stating, and still more
when they went about to extol and magnify, the death of Christ,
as instrumental to salvation, they were laying a foundation for
the opinion, that men’s own works, their own virtue, their per-
sonal endeavours, were superseded and dispensed with. In
proportion as the sacrifice of the death of Christ was effectual,
in the same proportion were these less necessary. If the death
of Christ was sufficient, if redemption was complete, then were
these not necessary at all. They foresaw that some would
draw this consequence from their doctrine, and they provided
against it.
It is observable, that the same consequence might be dedu-
ced from the goodness of God in any way of representing it;
not only in the particular and peculiar way in which it is rep-
resented in the redemption of the world by Jesus Christ, but in
any other way. St Paul, for one, was sensible of this; and,
therefore, when he speaks of the goodness of God even in gen-
eral terms, he takes care to point out the only true turn which
ought to be given to it in our thoughts; ‘Despisest thou the
riches of his goodness and forbearance, and long suffering; not
knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?’
as if he had said, With thee, I perceive, that the consideration
of the goodness of God leads to the allowing of thyself in sin;
36 THE EFFICAcy of THE DEATH of CHRIST.
this is not to know what that consideration ought in truth to
lead to ; it ought to lead thee to repentance, and to no other
conclusion. -
Again ; when the apostle had been speaking of the righteous-
ness of God displayed by the wickedness of man, he was not
unaware of the misconstruction to which this representation was
liable, and which it had, in fact, experienced; which miscon-
struction he states thus; “We be slanderously reported, and
some affirm, that we say, let us do evil that good may come.”
This insinuation, however, he regards as nothing less than an
unfair and wilful perversion of his words, and of the words of
other christian teachers; therefore he says concerning those
who did thus pervert them, ‘their condemnation is just;” they
will be justly condemned for thus abusing the doctrine which
we teach. The passage, however, clearly shows, that the ap-
plication of their expressions to the encouragement of licen-
tiousness of life, was an application contrary to their intention;
and, in fact, a perversion of their words.
In like manner in the same chapter our apostle had no soon-
er laid down the doctrine, that “a man is justified by faith with-
out the deeds of the law,” than he checks himself, as it were,
by subjoining this proviso; “Do we then make void the law
through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law.” What-
ever he meant by his assertion concerning faith, he takes care
to let them know he did not mean this, “to make void the law,”
or to dispense with obedience.
But the clearest text to our purpose is that, undoubtedly,
which I have prefixed to this discourse. St Paul, after expa-
tiating largely upon the “grace,’ that is, the favor, kindness, and
mercy of God, the extent, the greatness, the comprehensive-
ness of that mercy, as manifested in the christian dispensation,
puts this question to his reader; ‘What shall we say then P shall
we continue in sin, that grace may abound P’ which he answers
by a strong negative, ‘God forbid.’ What the apostle design-
ed in this passage is sufficiently evident. He knew in what
manner some might be apt to construe his expressions, and he
anticipates their mistake. He is beforehand with them, by
protesting against any such use being made of his doctrine,
which, yet he was aware, might by possibility be made.
By way of showing scripturally the obligation and the ne-
cessity of personal endeavours after virtue, all the numerous
texts which exhort to virtue, and admonish us against vice,
might be quoted; for they are all directly to the purpose; that
is, we might quote every page of the New Testament. “Not
THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST, 37
every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father
which is in heaven.” “If ye know these things, happy are ye
if ye do them.” In both these texts the reward attends the
doing ; the promise is annexed to works. Again; “To them,
who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and
immortality, eternal life; but unto them that are contentious,
and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, tribulation
and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil.” Again;
“Of the which,” namely, certain enumerated vices, ‘I tell you
before, as I have also told you in time past, that they, which do
such things, shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” These are
a few amongst many texts of the same effect, and they are
such as can never be got over. Stronger terms cannot be de-
vised than what are here used. Were the purpose, therefore,
simply to prove from scripture the necessity of virtue, and the
danger of vice, so far as salvation is concerned, these texts are
decisive. But when an answer is to be given to those, who so
interpret certain passages of the apostolic writings, especially
the passages which speak of the efficacy of the death of Christ,
or draw such inferences from these passages, as amount to a
dispensing with the obligations of virtue; then the best method
of proving, that theirs cannot be a right interpretation, nor theirs
just inferences, is, by showing, which fortunately we are able to
do, that it is the very interpretation, and these the very infe-
rences, which the apostles were themselves aware of, which
they provided against, and which they protested against. The
four texts, quoted from the apostolic writings in this discourse,
were quoted with this view; and they may be considered, I
think, as showing the minds of the authors upon the point in
question more determinately, than any general exhortation to
good works, or any general denunciation against sin could do.
I assume, therefore, as a proved point, that whatever was said
by the apostles concerning the efficacy of the death of Christ,
was said by them under an apprehension, that they did not
thereby in any manner relax the motives, the obligation, or the
necessity of good works. But still there is another important
question behind; namely, whether, notwithstanding what the
apostles have said, or may have meant to say, there be not, in
the nature of things, an invincible inconsistency between the
efficacy of the death of Christ, and the necessity of a good life;
whether those two propositions can, in fair reasoning, stand to-
gether; or whether it does not necessarily follow, that if the
death of Christ be efficacious, then good works are no longer
38 THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST.
necessary; and, on the other hand, that, if good works be still
necessary, then is the death of Christ not efficacious.
Now, to give an account of this question, and of the diffi-
culty which it seems to present, we must bear in mind, that in
the business of salvation there are naturally and properly two
things; viz. the cause and the condition; and that these two
things are different. We should see better the propriety of
this distinction, if we would allow ourselves to consider well
what salvation is ; what the being saved means. It is nothing
less than, after this life is ended, being placed in a state of hap-
piness exceedingly great, both in degree and duration; a state,
concerning which the following things are said; “the sufferings
of this present world are not worthy to be compared with the
glory that shall be revealed.” “God hath in store for us such
things as pass man's understanding.’ So that, you see, it is
not simply escaping punishment, simply being excused or for-
given, simply being compensated or repaid for the little good
we do, but it is infinitely more. Heaven is infinitely greater
than mere compensation, which natural religion itself might lead
us to expect. What do the scriptures call it? ‘Glory, honor,
immortality, eternal life.’ ‘To them that seek for glory and
honor and immortality, eternal life.” Will any one then con-
tend, that Salvation in this sense, and to this extent; that heaven,
eternal life, glory, honor, immortality; that a happiness such as
that there is no way of describing it, but by saying that it sur-
passes human comprehension, that it casts the sufferings of this
life at such a distance, as not to bear any comparison with it;
will any one contend, that this is no more than what virtue de-
serves what, in its own proper nature, and by its own merit,
it is entitled to look forward to, and to receive The greatest
virtue that man ever attained has no such pretensions. The
best good action that man ever performed has no claim to this
extent, or any thing like it. It is out of all calculation, and
comparison, and proportion above, and more than, any human
works can possibly deserve.
To what then are we to ascribe it, that endeavours after virtue
should procure, and that they will, in fact, procure, to those
who sincerely exert them, such immense blessings? to what,
but to the voluntary bounty of Almighty God, who, in his good
pleasure, hath appointed it so to be The benignity of God
towards man hath made him this inconceivably advantageous
offer. But a most kind offer may still be a conditional offer.
And this, though an infinitely gracious and beneficial offer, is
still a conditional offer, and the performance of the conditions
THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 39
is as necessary, as if it had been an offer of mere retribution.
The kindness, the bounty, the generosity of the offer, do not
make it the less necessary to perform the conditions, but more
so. A conditional offer may be infinitely kind on the part of
the benefactor who makes it, may be infinitely beneficial to
those to whom it is made. If it be from a prince or governor,
it may be infinitely gracious and merciful on his part; and yet,
being conditional, the condition is as necessary, as if the offer
had been no more than that of scanty wages by a hard task-
ImaSter.
In considering this matter in general, the whole of it appears
to be very plain ; yet, when we apply the consideration to reli-
gion, there are two mistakes into which we are liable to fall.
The first is, that when we hear so much of the exceedingly
great kindness of the offer, we are apt to infer, that the condi-
tions, upon which it was made, will not be exacted. Does that
at all follow P Because the offer, even with these conditions,
is represented to be the fruit of love, and mercy, and kindness,
and is in truth so, and is most justly so to be accounted, does
it follow that the conditions of the offer are not necessary to be
performed * This is one error, into which we slide, against
which we ought to guard ourselves most diligently; for it is
not simply false in its principle, but most pernicious in its appli-
cation; its application always being to countenance us in some
sin which we will not relinquish. The second mistake is, that,
when we have performed the conditions, or think that we have
performed the conditions, or when we endeavour to perform the
conditions, upon which the reward is offered, we forthwith at-
tribute our obtaining the reward to this our performance or
endeavour, and not to that which is the beginning and founda-
tion and cause of the whole, the true and proper cause ; name-
ly, the kindness and bounty of the original offer. This turn
of thought, likewise, as well as the former, it is necessary to
warn you against. For it has these consequences; it damps
our gratitude to God, it takes off our attention from Him.
Some, who allow the necessity of good works to salvation,
are not willing that they should be called conditions of salvation.
But this, I think, is a distinction too refined for common christian
apprehension. If they be necessary to Salvation, they are
conditions of salvation, so far as I can see. It is a question,
however, not now before us.
But to return to the immediate subject of our discourse.
Our observations have carried us thus far; that in the business
of human Salvation there are two most momentous considera-
4() THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST.
tions, the cause and the conditions, and that these considerations
are distinct. I now proceed to say, that there is no inconsis-
tency between the efficacy of the death of Christ and the ne-
cessity of a holy life, by which I mean sincere endeavours after
holiness; because the first, the death of Christ, relates to the
cause of Salvation; the second, namely, good works, respects
the conditions of salvation ; and that the cause of salvation is
one thing, the conditions another.
The cause of salvation is the free will, the free gift, the love
and mercy of God. That alone is the source and fountain and
cause of salvation, the origin from which it springs, from which
all our hopes of attaining to it are derived. This cause is not
in ourselves, nor in any thing we do, or can do, but in God, in
his good will and pleasure. It is, as we have before shown,
in the graciousness of the original offer. Therefore, whatever
shall have moved and excited and conciliated that good will
and pleasure, so as to have procured that offer to be made, or
shall have formed any part or portion of the motive from which
it was made, may most truly and properly be said to be effica-
cious in human salvation.
This efficacy is in scripture attributed to the death of Christ.
It is attributed in a variety of ways of expression, but this is
the substance of them all. He is “a sacrifice, an offering to
God; a propitiation ; the precious sacrifice foreordained; the
lamb slain from the foundation of the world; the lamb which
taketh away the sin of the world. We are washed in his
blood; we are justified by his blood; we are saved from wrath
through him; he hath once suffered for sins, the just for the
unjust, that he might bring us to God.” All these terms, and
many more that are used, assert in substance the same thing;
namely, the efficacy of the death of Christ in the procuring of
human salvation. To give to these expressions their proper
moment and import, it is necessary to reflect, over and over
again, and by reflection to impress our minds with a just idea,
what and how great a thing salvation is; for it is by means of
that idea alone, that we can ever come to be sensible, how un-
speakably important, how inestimable in value, any efficacy,
which operates upon that event, must be to us all. The high-
est terms in which the scriptures speak of that efficacy are not
too great, cannot be too great; because it respects an interest
and an event, so vast, so momentous, as to make all other
interests, and all other events, in comparison contemptible.
The sum of our argument is briefly this. There may appear,
and to many there has appeared, to be an inconsistency or in-
THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 41
compatibility between the efficacy of the death of Christ, and the
necessity of sincere endeavours after obedience. When the
subject is properly examined, there turns out to be no such in-
compatibility. The graciousness of an offer does not diminish
the necessity of the condition. Suppose a prince to promise to
one of his subjects, upon compliance with certain terms, and the
performance of certain duties, a reward in magnitude and value
out of all competition beyond the merit of the compliance, beyond
the desert of the performance ; to what shall such a subject as-
cribe the happiness held out to him He is an ungrateful man,
if he attribute it to any cause whatever, but to the bounty and
goodness of his prince in making him the offer; or if he suffer
any consideration, be it what it will, to interfere with, or dimin-
ish his sense of that bounty and goodness. Still it is true, that
he will not obtain what is offered, unless he comply with the
terms. So far his compliance is a condition of his happiness.
But the grand thing is the offer being made at all. That is
the ground and origin of the whole. That is the cause ; and
is ascribable to favor, grace, and goodness, on the part of the
prince, and to nothing else. It would, therefore, be the last
degree of ingratitude in such a subject, to forget his prince,
while he thought of himself; to forget the cause, whilst he
thought of the condition; to regard every thing promised as
merited. The generosity, the kindness, the voluntariness, the
bounty of the original offer, come by this means to be neglected
in his mind entirely. This, in my opinion, describes our situa-
tion with respect to God. The love, goodness, and grace of
God, in making us a tender of salvation, and the effects of the
death of Christ, do not diminish the necessity or the obligation
of the condition of the tender, which is a sincere endeavour
after holiness; nor are, in any wise, inconsistent with such obli-
gation,
42 THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST.
IX.
THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST CON-
SISTENT WITH THE NECESSITY OF A GOOD LIFE;
THE ONE BEING THE CAUSE, THE OTHER THE
CONDITION, OF SALVATION.
PART III.
RoMANs VI. 1.
What shall we say then 2 shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound 2
God forbid.
IN the last discourse I said that good works are the condition
of salvation; not the cause; that the cause is no other than the
gratuitous abounding mercy of Almighty God. Now, though
this position was attempted to be established for the purpose of
checking such a notion of merit and pretensions in ourselves, as
might tend to lessen in our minds the consideration of that
goodness and love to which we are above all measure indebted,
and by which we are above all degrees obliged ; though, I say,
it was there advanced for the sake of this application, and no
other, yet the proposition may be again taken up as introduc-
tory to a second important argument; namely, the discussion of
the question, which every Christian must have heard of, be-
tween good works and faith.
Remarking the great stress that is laid upon faith in scrip-
ture, and the high and strong terms in which it is spoken of in
certain passages of St Paul’s epistles in particular, some per-
sons, though they agreed with us in stating good works to be
the condition of salvation, had at the same time alleged faith
to be the cause. Now that is not so. Faith is no more
the cause of salvation than good works are. The proper cause
is distinct from either, being exclusively and solely the grace
or voluntary bounty of Almighty God. Therefore it is mis-
representing the matter to advance faith into a different predic-
ament, as I may say, from good words, by calling it the cause,
and good works the condition of salvation. In truth, they are
neither of them the cause. They are both of the same nature;
they both hold the same place in our consideration; by which
THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 43
I mean to signify, that so far as either of them are necessary,
they are of importance and efficacy as conditions only. This,
I think, ought to be carefully observed ; for it puts us into the
true way both of comprehending and of trying the question be-
tween them; which question, though in substance one, is capa-
ble of being submitted to examination under three forms.
Whether faith alone be the condition of salvation ? Whether
good works alone be that condition ? Whether faith and good
works be the condition, neither of them being, without the oth-
er, sufficient?
Now, independently of scripture texts, I know not that any
one would ever have thought of making faith alone, meaning by
faith the belief of certain religious propositions, to be the con-
dition of salvation; because it would have occurred to every
one, who reflected upon the subject, that at any rate faith could
only be classed amongst other virtues and good qualities, and
not as that which superseded all. Be its excellency, or value,
or obligation ever so great, it is still a quality of our moral na-
ture, capable of degrees, and liable to imperfections, as our oth-
er moral qualities are. Those, therefore, who contend for the
sufficiency of faith alone, must found their doctrine, and we
will do them the justice to allow, that they do found their doc-
trine, upon certain strong texts of scripture. The texts upon.
which they rely are principally taken from the writings of St
Paul; and they are these ; “Therefore we conclude that a man
is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law.” “Knowing
that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the
faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed on Jesus Christ,
that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the
works of the law; for by the works of the law shall no flesh be
justified.’ ‘That no man is justified by the law, in the sight of
God, it is evident; for the just shall live by faith.” “The
scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by
faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.”
‘For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of your-
selves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should
boast.” “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved.” These, no doubt, are strong
texts, and it will not be wondered at, that in conjunction with
other inducements, they have led many serious persons to lay
such a stress upon them, as to exclude good works from being
considered even as a condition of salvation; and a few perhaps
to take refuge in this doctrine, as a ground of hope under a
44 THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST,
life of continued sins. I say that these inferences are not to be
wondered at, if the texts be taken by themselves. Scripture is
to be compared with scripture ; particular texts with other
particular texts; and especially with the main tenor of the
whole. The doctrine even of transubstantiation has a text to
stand upon, which, taken alone, and interpreted literally, is
very strong in its favor; but collated with other texts, and ex-
plained according to certain reasonable rules of interpretation,
the passage is capable of being disposed of without forcing up-
on us any doctrine like that which had been deduced from it.
Now, proceeding in this manner with the texts above cited,
concerning the efficacy of faith, we take upon us to say, that
whatever the writer of them meant by these expressions, he
did not mean to lay it down as an article to be received by his
disciples, that a man leading a wicked life, without change and
without repentance, will nevertheless be saved at the last by
his belief of the doctrines of the christian religion; still less did
he mean to encourage any one to go on in a course of sin, ex-
pressly and intentionally comforting and protecting himself by
this opinion. I repeat, that he, the apostle, could not mean to
say this ; because if he did, he would say what is expressly and
positively contradicted by other texts of at least equal authority
with his own ; he would say what is contradicted by the very
drift and design of the christian constitution; and would say,
lastly, what is expressly denied and contradicted by himself.
First, he would say what is contradicted by other texts of
scripture, and those of the very highest authority. For in-
stance, what words can be plainer, more positive, or more de-
cisive of this point than our Saviour’s own 2 ‘Not every one
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of
heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in
heaven.” There can be no doubt but that they who are here
introduced as crying out to Jesus Christ, ‘Lord, Lord,” are
supposed to believe in him; yet neither their devotion, nor
their faith which prompted it, were sufficient to save them.
Nay, farther; our Lord, in the same passage, proceeds to tell
his hearers, that many will say to him in that day, ‘Have we
not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out
devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works?’ It can-
not be questioned but that they who do these things in Christ's
name believe in Christ. Yet what will be their reception ? ‘I
will profess unto you I never knew you.” And who are they
who shall be thus repulsed and rejected No others than the
workers of iniquity. “Depart from me, ye workers of iniqui-
THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST, 45
ty.’ The difference between doing good and doing evil ac-
cording to another declaration of our Saviour, is no less than
this; “They that have done good shall come forth unto the
resurrection of life; they that have done evil, unto the resur-
rection of damnation.” Can a greater distinction be made, or
expressed in words more plain * All the preceptive part of our
Lord’s teaching, especially his whole sermon upon the mount,
may be alleged on the same side of the argument. And to
substitute belief in the place of the duties there enjoined, or as
an expiation for the offences there forbidden, even when perse-
vered in, would in effect set aside the authority of the lawgiver.
Why did our Lord command and forbid these things, or indeed
any thing, if he did not require obedience as a condition of sal-
vation ? Again, every thing which we read concerning repent-
ance implies the necessity of good works to salvation, and the
inconsistency of bad works with salvation; for repentance is a
change from one to the other, and can be required upon no
other supposition than this. But of repentance we hear con-
tinually in the New Testament, and from the first to the last of
the great mission of which it contains the history. John the
Baptist began with it before our Saviour's own ministry com-
menced, and as the introduction to that ministry. His call to
the Jews who resorted to his preaching was to “repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ That practical virtue made an
essential part of what he meant by repentance is not left to be
collected from the mere import of the word or nature of the
subject, which yet might show it sufficiently, but is expressly
by himself declared; “Bring forth fruits meet for repentance ;
and when particular classes of men come to inquire of their
teacher what they should do, his answer was a warning against
those particular sins to which persons of their class and char-
acter were most liable, which is his own application of his own
principle, and is, so far as the instances go, a direct and clear
exposition of his meaning. All proves that a moral change, a
moral improvement, practical sins, and practical virtues, and a
turning from one to the other, was what he included in the aw-
ful admonition which he sounded in the ears of mankind.
What his forerunner began with our Lord followed up in the
same sense, and with the same design. “Now after that John
was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gos-
pel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled,
and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye, and believe
the gospel.” As our Lord preached repentance himself, nay,
made it the burden of his preaching, so he sent out his apos-
46 THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST.
tles to do the very same. He called the twelve, you read, and
began to send them out, two by two. And, thus sent, what
were they to do? “They went out and preached, that every
man should repent.” After our Lord’s departure from the
world, the apostles carried on exactly the same plan of religious
instruction. They had learnt their lesson too well and too
deeply to change its essential part. “Repent and be baptized,
every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remis-
sion of sins.” “Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that
your sins may be blotted out.’ ‘The times of this ignorance
God winked at, but now commandeth all men every where to
repent.’ This is the explicit language the apostle held upon
the subject of repentance; which, as hath already been obser-
ved, has a precise reference to a good and bad life; and these
texts deliver no other judgment concerning the matter than
what their great teacher had pronounced before. By compar-
ing St Paul’s words with other scriptures, we cannot overlook
that well known text of St James; ‘What doth it profit, my
brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and not works; can
faith save him º' St James doth not here suppose the man hypo-
critically, and for some sinister purpose, to pretend to believe
what he does not believe. The illustration which follows plain-
ly supposes the belief to be real, for he compares it to the case
of the devils, who believe and tremble. Now we are to re-
member that St James’s words are scripture, as well as St
Paul's. Here, therefore, is a text, which precisely, and in the
most pointed terms, contradicts the sense which the Solifidians
put upon St Paul's words.
Again, a sense which virtually sets aside the obligation and
the necessity of good works cannot be the true sense of St
Paul’s words, because it is contrary to at least one declared
end of Christianity itself. The office and design of the chris-
tian revelation is set forth in the following texts; “The grace
of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.” By
the phrase, “the grace of God that bringeth salvation,’ is un-
doubtedly meant Christianity. Then for what purpose hath it
appeared 2 To do what was it published 2 The text goes on to
tell us; namely, that it should teach us, that denying ungodli-
ness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and
godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope, and
the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus
Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from
all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous
of good works. That was his object, or at least one of his ob-
THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 47
jects, and the mean towards it was to teach us, that denying all
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteous-
ly, and godly in this present world. Our Saviour himself had
before told his disciples, ‘that he came to call sinners to re-
pentance;’ and repentance, as already hath been noticed, bears
a necessary relation to good works and bad works. Agreeably
hereunto, the benefit and blessing of Christianity, as a revela-
tion, is described by the apostle Peter to consist in its convert-
ing efficacy; for addressing the Jews upon a very signal occa-
sion, and a very short time after our Lord’s ascension, when
every thing was fresh in his thoughts, he speaks thus; “Unto
you first, God, having raised up his son Jesus, sent him to bless
you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.”
The question, you remember, is what St Paul meant, or
rather, strictly speaking, what he did not mean, in the several
texts that have been cited in this discourse, and which are usu-
ally cited by those who may be called the advocates of faith,
in contradistinction to good works. Now, although it may be
a reasonable method of showing that a man’s words are not to
be taken in the sense which the letter and terms of the sentence
may seem, at first sight at least, to convey, in order to prove
that such sense is inconsistent with what is delivered by author-
ity as great as his own, or greater, and inconsistent also with
the main drift and purpose of that very institution, in the ad-
ministration of which, and as forming part of which, the texts
in question were written; although these points may be fairly
brought forward in argument, yet the straight and clear way of
showing, in any case of difficulty, in what sense a writer in-
tended that his words should be understood, or rather in what
sense he did not mean them to be taken, is to look to what
himself has elsewhere said upon the same subject, and more
especially to what he has said in the same writing. For though
a man may advance what is contrary to sound reason, what is
contrary to other authority, nay, what is contrary to his own
professions at other times, and in other writings, yet. Surely his
words ought not to be interpreted, if there be any fair way of
avoiding it, in such a manner as to make him contradict himself
in the same discourse. *
Now, pursuing this line of observation, we have to remark,
first, that in the very same epistle to the Romans in which St
Paul says, that “the just shall live by faith,’ not only in the
same epistle, but in the same sentence, St Paul tells us that the
wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unright-
eousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. By
48 THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST.
quoting, therefore, the old prophet's expression, “shall live by
faith,’ he cannot mean to say that faith, accompanied with un-
godliness and unrighteousness, would end in salvation. That
indeed would be to say, not that the ‘just,” but that the unjust,
shall live by faith. It would be to say what his next words
unsay, and contradict. The most therefore that this text, “the
just shall live by faith,’ can amount to, is, that though good
works be necessary and be performed, yet, after all, it is not
by them, otherwise than as they are the proof of faith, but by
that faith itself, that the just shall live. Again; though it be
true that St Paul in this epistle concludes “that a man is justi-
fied by faith without the deeds of the law,” yet in the same
epistle he had before told us, that “God will render to every
man according to his deeds; to them, who by patient continu-
ance in well doing, seek for glory, and honor, and immortality,
eternal life; but unto them that are contentious, and do not
obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil,
of the Jews first, and also of the Gentiles.” Therefore, his
expression concerning faith, in the third chapter of this epistle,
though strong, must not be so construed as to make the author
assert the direct contrary of what he had asserted just before
in the second chapter. Again ; four chapters of this very
epistle, viz. from the twelfth to the fifteenth inclusive, are occu-
pied in delivering moral precepts. Let no one therefore say
that moral precepts are indifferent, or that moral practice, i. e.
the conduct which these precepts enjoin and enforce, is unne-
cessary; I mean in the judgment of the writer whose authority
is here pleaded. Nor is it possible to reconcile with this opin-
ion the two following texts, taken out of the same epistle ; ‘The
wages of sin is death;’ chap. vi. verse 23. ‘If ye live after
the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye, through the spirit, do mortify
the deeds of the body, ye shall live;’ chap. viii. verse 13.
The same species of observation applies to the epistle to the
Galatians; in which epistle, it is true, that the apostle hath used
concerning faith these very strong terms; “Knowing that a man
is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of
Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ; that we
might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works
of the law; for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”
Nevertheless, in another place of this same epistle, we have the
following plain, clear, and circumstantial denunciation ; ‘The
works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, forni-
cation, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,
THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 49
variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings,
murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like ; of the which I
tell you before, as I have told you in time past, that they which
do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” No
words can be more positive than these, and the last words are
the most positive of all; ‘shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Sinners like these may have been justified in a certain sense ;
they may have been saved in a certain sense ; that is, they may
have been brought into a state of justification or salvation for
the present; but they shall not be finally happy, “they shall
not inherit the kingdom of God.”
In the epistle to the Ephesians, we acknowledge the same
observation, namely, that the apostle hath spoken strong things
concerning faith, yet hath at the same time, and in the same
writing, most absolutely insisted upon a virtuous life, and most
positively declared that a life of sin will end in perdition. Con-
cerning faith, he hath said this; ‘By grace are ye saved through
faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of
works, lest any man should boast.” Concerning a life of sin,
he makes this declaration. After having enumerated certain
species of sins, he adds these cautionary words, which show his
opinion as manifestly as words can show it ; ‘Let no man de-
ceive you with vain words; for because of these things,” even
the sinful practices before recited, ‘cometh the wrath of God
upon the children of disobedience.”
To conclude: What the apostle might particularly mean by
the several expressions concerning faith, which have been quot-
ed, is another question; but that he did not mean to state or
teach that a life of endeavour after virtue, if that be what we
understand by good works, could be dispensed with ; or that a
life of continued unrepented sin would end in salvation by means,
or for the sake of any belief in Christ's religion, I think most
evident, and would be so, although we were not able to settle,
to our satisfaction, the first question ; namely, what it was
he did mean. I say, the negative proposition is most evident,
unless we can be brought to suppose, that St Paul delivered a
doctrine contrary to that of our Saviour and of the other apos-
tles, destructive of one declared end of the christian institution
itself; and the end and design of any system of laws is to control
the interpretation of particular parts; and lastly, what is most
improbable of all, at the same time and in the same manner,
directly repugnant to what he himself has solemnly asserted and
delivered at other times and in other places.
7
50 THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST.
IX.
THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST CON-
SISTENT WITH THE NECESSITY OF A GOOD LIFE;
THE ONE BEING THE CAUSE, THE OTHER THE
CONDITION, OF SALVATION.
PART Iv.
Romans VI. 1.
What shall we say then 2 shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound 7
God forbid.
THAT St Paul, in the texts which are usually quoted upon
this question from his epistles, did not mean to say, that faith,
accompanied with wickedness of life, would end in salvation,
may be considered, I think, as proved. The next inquiry is,
if he did not mean this, what did he mean His words we
cannot alter; and what other sense can we fairly put upon
them, so as to excuse or avoid the sense which we disclaim 2
Now it is but justice to every writer to suppose, that he writes
to be understood by those to whom his writing is immediately
addressed, and that he has in view the circumstances and situa-
tion of the persons whom he directly accosts, much more than
the circumstances and situation of those who may come to read
what he has written, in some remote age and distant country.
There are no ancient writings in which this allowance is more
wanted than in those of St Paul, nor in any part of his writings
more than in that which forms the subject of our present dis-
course. St Paul’s writings were addressed to Christians; but
who in those days were Christians? They were in general,
if not altogether, persons, not as we are, born and bred up in
the religion, but they were persons who, having been born and
bred up heathens or Jews, when arrived at years of judgment
and discretion, and exercising that judgment and discretion,
had voluntarily, and from conviction, quitted their native reli-
gion, become believers in Jesus Christ, and openly taken upon
themselves the profession of this, now a new system of faith and
conduct. This conversion had been with them a most mo-
mentary change. It was the grand era and event of their lives
THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 51
as to spiritual matters; and no wonder their teachers should be
industrious in pointing out to them the advantages, the effects,
and the obligation of this change. Now it appears to have
been a doctrine of Christianity taught both by St Paul and the
other preachers of the religion, asserted, or rather assumed, in
their writings, and frequently referred to therein, that, amongst
other effects and advantages of their becoming Christians, this
was one; namely, that the sins of which they had been guilty
before their conversion were thereupon forgiven; and which
sins being so forgiven, they, by their conversion, and at the time
of their conversion, stood in the sight of God, whatever their
former lives had been, as just persons, no less so, than if they
had led lives of righteousness from their birth; that is, in one
word, they were justified.
But the forgiveness here spoken of, namely, the forgiveness
of prior sins upon this faith and conversion, and the justifica-
tion implied in that forgiveness, was undoubtedly an advantage
annexed by the mercy of God to their faith and conversion,
and not the effect of any pretensions they had, or might sup-
pose themselves to have, from either their situation or behaviour
prior to their conversion. Therefore, supposing this to be the
sense of the word.justification, viz. the remission of all the sins
they had committed before their conversion to Christianity, it
was literally and strictly true what St Paul tells these Chris-
tians, in his epistle to the Romans, that they were justified by
faith without the works of the law, even supposing “the works
of the law” to comprise all the duties of the moral law; and I
think it very probable, that this is what St Paul meant by justi-
fication in that remarkable text, and which is one of the strong-
est on that side of the question. And I think so for two rea-
sons. In the fifth chapter of the epistle, and the first verse,
which connects itself with the text under consideration, the in-
termediate chapter being employed in a digressive illustration
of the subject, drawn from the history of Abraham ; I say, in
the beginning of the fifth chapter, St Paul evidently speaks of
their being justified, as of a thing that was past. Whatever it
was, it had already taken place; they were already justified;
for he speaks thus of it; ‘Therefore, being justified by faith,
we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.” If
then their justification had already taken place, when did it
take place 2 What time can be assigned to it but the time of
their conversion, according to the sense we contend for 2
A second fair ground for believing that this was the apostle's
meaning is, that it best suited with his argument. His argu-
52 THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST.
ment was to prove, that the Gentiles were as properly admissi-
ble into the christian dispensation as the Jews; a question at
that time hotly contested, though now laid asleep. To make
out this point, he shows that the justification, i. e. the pardon
of prior sins, which conversion to Christianity brought with it,
was neither in Jew nor Gentile attributable to their former be-
haviour, or to any thing which that behaviour could merit; but
was, in both the one and the other, the pure and free effect
and gift of God’s mercy, was grace, was favor; and being so,
that one sort of men, as well as the other, was capable of re-
ceiving it, and of participating in all the fruits and privileges
which belonged to it. It was a thing which, upon the ground
of prior merit, the Jew could not claim ; which, upon the ground
of pure favor, the Gentile might expect as well as he. There-
fore, the purpose of the apostle's argument is satisfied, and the
argument itself made most clear, by limiting his sense of justi-
fication to what passed upon the act of conversion; and it is
by this interpretation alone that we can fairly avoid, in this pas-
sage, the sense which those put upon it, who contend against
the proper necessity of good works; for we cannot, I think, in
this passage, understand by faith that operative, productive
faith which includes good works. Nor can we understand by
the works of the law the rites only, and peculiar ordinances of
the Jewish law. We cannot understand by faith that which
includes and necessarily supposes works, because then the
apostle could not have talked of faith without works; whereas
he says, that “we are justified by faith without the works of the
law.” We cannot restrain the expression, “the works of the
law,” to the positive precepts of the Jewish law, because we
must suppose that St Paul’s conclusion was coextensive with
his reasoning; and his reasoning evidently applies and relates
to the Gentiles as well as the Jews, to those who had no pro-
per concern in the Jewish law, as well as those who had.
‘We have before proved,” says he, ‘both of Jews and Gen-
tiles, that they are all under sin.” This was the common situ-
ation of both ; and to this, their common situation, must be ap-
plied what he afterwards says concerning justification. It hath
likewise been truly I think observed, that the laws must here
mean the moral law; because only three verses afterwards, and
continuing, as must be presumed, the same idea, he adds, “Do
we then make void the law through faith ? God forbid ; yea,
we establish the law.” But in no sense, to be sure, could it be
said that the ritual or ceremonial law of the Jews, as a distinct
and separate thing from the moral law, was established by the
preachers of faith, or by this their reasoning upon it.
THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 53
There is another strong text in St Paul's epistles, which al-
lows of nearly the same exposition. The apostle tells the
Ephesians, chap. ii. verse 8, “By grace ye are saved through
faith.” Being ‘saved' means being put into the way and
course of being saved, which was done for them at their con-
version, when they became believers in Christ; and therefore
it was through faith. The expression, being saved, when ap-
plied to those who are yet living, can only mean being put into
a way or course of being saved; final salvation itself, or, in
other words, being received into heaven, only taking place after
death. Now the being saved in this sense, namely, the being
put into a way or course of salvation, by no means dispenses
with the necessity of a good life; because the final salvation,
the aim and end of the whole, will still of necessity depend
upon their keeping in that way, and pursuing that course. By
a bad life they go out of the way into which they had been
brought, desert the course upon which they had entered, and
therefore lose heaven at last; and all this consistently with St
Paul’s words to the Ephesians, as thus interpreted.
The third chapter of the Galatians is another scripture
which has been much relied upon on the other side of the
question. To the apparent difficulties arising out of this chap-
ter, I should be inclined to apply a somewhat different solution
from that which we last gave. I think that in this chapter the
term faith means a productive faith ; and I think also, that the
works of the law mean circumcision and the other rites of the
Jewish law. As to the first point, St Paul, in the ninth verse
of this chapter, says, “They which be of faith are blessed with
faithful Abraham.” Now common sense obliges us to suppose,
that the faith of those concerning whom he says, “they that be
of faith,’ was of like kind with the faith of Abraham, so that
they might partake of the blessing along with him; but St
James, you know, hath asserted, and shown indeed, that the
faith of Abraham was faith efficacious to the production of good
works. Then, as to the second point, the works of the law, of
which St Paul appears in this epistle to lower the value, are
explained by him in the ninth and tenth verses of the fourth
chapter, and so explained, as to show that they were ritual
works which he was thinking of; “But now after that ye have
known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to
the weak and beggarly elements whereunto ye desire again to
be in bondage 2 Ye observe days and months, and times and
years.’ The truth was, that in St Paul’s absence, his Gala-
tian converts had been going fast into Judaism, which he con-
54 THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST.
sidered as an undoing of every thing which he had done
amongst them; and which conduct of theirs drew from him
some very strong expressions; yet none, I think, but what may
be fairly understood without supposing him to dispense with the
necessity of a virtuous conduct.
Justification is properly, distinguished from sanctification.
Justification, in the scripture sense of it, is the pardon of sins,
prior to a certain period; sanctification is holiness of life sub-
sequent to that period; or more strictly speaking, these words
express what God does for us in these different stages of our
christian life. Justification is altogether his, because pardon is
by its very nature the subject of favor. Sanctification, to say
the least of it, is indebted to the support and assistance of his
spirit. There is, therefore, an intelligible difference between
justification and sanctification, and this is included in the term ;
for, as it respects us, it would be called sanctity; as it respects
God’s assistance, it is called sanctification. But, as hath been
said before, they are both necessary. A man may be justified,
that is, may have his sins forgiven up to a certain period; yet
if he be not also sanctified, if, after that period, he relapse into
and go on in unrepented wickedness, he will perish notwith-
standing his justification. On the other hand, sanctification it-
self would not avail, without having a preceding justification to
rest upon. Good behaviour, from a certain period, has not in
itself any proper virtue or quality such as to atone for bad be-
haviour before that period. By the grace of God it hath this
effect, but not by its proper nature, any more than the regular
paying off of our debts, after a certain period, will discharge or
cancel those which were contracted before that period. Where-
fore there must be a remission of prior sins, or in other words,
justification, in order that a subsequent good life, or sanctity, or
sanctification, may avail us at the last.
It may be true, that, according to this representation, the
terms justification, faith, and works of the law are not every
where used in scripture in exactly the same sense. Thus, al-
though justification be generally used to express the pardon of
sins that are passed, with a reference to some certain period,
commonly that of their becoming believers in Christ, yet one or
two passages are found, in which the word denotes our final desti-
ny at the day of judgment. This, I think, is the sense of the
word in that text of St Paul, wherein he declares that not the
hearers of the law, but the doers of the law, are justified; and
most unquestionably it bears this sense in that discourse of our
Saviour, in which he tells his hearers, ‘by thy words thou shalt
THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 55
be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned ;’ for
this declaration is equivalent to another, which our Saviour
delivers at the same time, namely, that for every idle word
that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the
day of judgment. So again, although in the texts which have
been quoted from the epistle to the Galatians, it appears highly
probable that, under the word faith, St Paul had in contem-
plation an efficacious faith; and that by the works of the law he
meant particularly the rites and ordinances of the Jewish law,
the view with which he wrote that epistle naturally and neces-
sarily suggesting these ideas to his thoughts; yet in the epistle
to the Romans, penned with a somewhat different aspect, and
under a different impression, especially in that famous text,
“Therefore we conclude that man is justified by faith without
the works of the law,' I think he meant by faith, the simple act
of believing, and by the works of the law, the practice of those
duties which are enjoined by its precepts, moral as well as rit-
ual; and that the true interpretation of the text turns upon the
word justification, which does not here signify finding accep-
tance, but the pardon of all sins committed before conversion.
Therefore, there is some latitude to be allowed in the exposi-
tion of these terms as they occur in different places.
It may be also further true, that some passages of St Paul’s
epistles are not accordiug to the interpretation which we have
put upon them, so applicable to us, or as some may think, so
useful, or instructive, or affecting, as they are under a different
exposition. Is it to be wondered at, that portions of ancient
writings are not in all points, and in all their expressions, so ap-
plicable to us at this day, as they were to the persons to whom
they were immediately addressed ? Is it not true rather, that
this is no more than the necessary consequence of those chan-
ges which have taken place in the circumstances of christian
life? But we are not to put a different sense upon words from
that which was intended, in order to make them more closely
applicable to our own case; or to make them, as we may sup-
pose, more edifying; for there is no real edification separate
from truth. That great revolution which had taken place in
the lives of the Christians of St Paul’s time, upon their becom-
ing Christians at a ripe age, together with the almost entire
change both of opinions and of conduct, which accompanied
that event, does not take place in the ordinary life of a Chris-
tian at this day; whereby it comes to pass, that such of St
Paul's expressions as refer particularly to that change, will not
admit of the same proper application to us as it did to them.
56 THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST.
This, no doubt, constitutes a considerable difference; and with-
out having some regard to this difference, we may fall into er-
ror in interpreting divers passages of scripture.
Nevertheless, we are not to dismiss every text which we
cannot at first sight explain, with the short answer, that it re-
lates to the first Christians, and not to us. This is a negligent
and unworthy way of treating subjects of such deep impor-
tance. It often proceeds from rashness, or indolence, or
religious indifference, and will lead into mistakes of an opposite
kind. We are to ascertain, by a serious examination of the
text before us, and the place in which it is found, what the ac-
tual difference is between the case of the early Christians, and
our own, and how far that difference clears up the particular
meaning; whilst at the same time, in a more general yet fair
construction, much substantial truth may be left, in which we
ourselves are interested. If this be so, we are to apply what is
applicable. And perhaps there are few portions of scripture,
in which, proceeding in this manner, we shall not find some-
thing that touches our own case most nearly. For instance, and
to return to the question now under consideration, every man who
reforms his life ; who hath found in himself a general change
of his behaviour; and who feels this change, both in the state
of his mind and the course of his behaviour, will find a strong
similitude between his own case and that of the first christian
converts; and I think that he is well warranted in hoping that
the justification, the pardon of the past, which in St Paul’s
epistles is expressly attributed to their conversion, will be ex-
tended to his reformation, and upon the same condition; name-
ly, of his persisting steadily in his new course; for, though the
change in him be called reformation, and in them was conver-
sion, reformation is in truth the substance of conversion; it
being to no purpose to go from one religion to another, even from
a false to a true religion, if we carry our vices along with us.
Again, he who breaks off any particular sin from a relig-
ious motive, and without hypocrisy, such alteration being the
effect upon his heart of his faith in Christ, has reason to apply
to himself the doctrine of justification by faith, so far as to sup-
port and comfort himself with the expectation, that in the sight
of God, he is justified from the sin which he had so forsaken;
by which is meant, that his former transgressions of that kind .
are blotted out. This, however, has nothing to do with the
case of him, who is merely changing one species of sin for an-
other, according as a different time of life, a different state of
fortune, a difference of place, possession, or society, may offer
THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 57
different temptations; for in that sort of change there is no re-
pentance, no reformation, no proof or example of the efficacy
or operation of christian faith; but a mere following of the in-
clination, which is uppermost at the time. There is no justi-
fication by faith, when there is no faith operating, and conse-
quently none in the case here described. But wherever there
is a resolute resistance of temptation, a resolute breaking off of
sinful habits, from and by virtue of the strength and force of
religious motives within us, there is a working, emergetic faith,
and there is that justification by faith which is so much spoken
of in St Paul’s epistles. So that though there were circum-
stances of the age in which these epistles were written, which
concerned the doctrine, which circumstances do not subsist
now, it is far from being true that the doctrine itself is either
barren or unimportant, or such as may be overlooked or neg-
lected.
To conclude : The grand question is, what will save us at
last. And this, so far as our present argument is concerned,
divides itself into three ; Will faith and works together save us?
will faith without works save us? will works without faith save
us? Now that faith in Jesus Christ, accompanied by a good
life proceeding from that faith, will infallibly lead to salvation,
neither admits, nor ever hath admitted, of any controversy
whatever. Upon this point all parties are agreed. And this
point is sufficient for the sincere Christian. He may entertain
the other questions as matters of very interesting meditation;
but for himself, whilst he believes in Christ's religion, and earn-
estly and honestly strives to obey its laws, according to the
utmost of his power and knowledge, he has no personal cause
of doubt or distrust from either of them. The chief thing he
has to look to is humility, the want of which may vitiate all his
other good qualities. The chief thing he has to guard against,
is a false and presumptuous opinion of his good works, so as
to found upon them, in his own mind, a secret claim upon Hea-
ven as of justice due to his merits, instead of gratefully referring
himself, and all his hopes, to the free bounty and infinite love
of God in Christ, displayed by offering him such a reward upon
such terms.
The second question is, Will faith save us without works;
or, to put the same question in another form, will faith end in
salvation, though accompanied by a life of wickedness? Doc-
trines certainly have been, and are held, which lead to this
conclusion, yet the conclusion itself is seriously maintained by
few ; for, however in terms the doctrine of salvation by faith
8
58 THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST,
without works may appear to agree with certain expressions of
St Paul’s epistles, yet, when it comes to be offered as a rule of
practice, it shows its own inconsistency with every property
and character of true religion so strongly, that the practical in-
ference is always denied. It is generally avoided by putting
such a construction upon the word faith, as to prevent any li-
centious deductions being drawn from the doctrine of justifica-
tion by faith; so that, to the question just now stated, “will
faith end in salvation, though it be accompanied with wicked-
ness of life 2' the answer usually given is, that true faith never
can be accompanied by wickedness of life. It is not necessary
to go over the subject again, for the purpose of inquiring wheth-
er it be applicable to all the texts of scripture to which it is ap-
plied, or only to some of them ; for, I trust, we have shown
upon the whole, that the sense, which the doctrine of justifica-
tion by faith without works, rigorously taken, would put upon
St Paul’s expressions, can never have been the sense which St
Paul himself intended; amongst other strong reasons, chiefly
for this, that it is in contradiction with his own repeated decla-
rations, and even with declarations delivered in the very writings
in which the contested expressions are found. And I trust also
we have shown, what undoubtedly it might be required of us
to show, that these are interpretations fairly assignable to St
Paul’s words, which stand clear of the doctrine in its rigorous,
or, as it is sometimes called, its Calvinistic sense.
The third question is, Will good works save us without faith?
Now, this is a question of circumstances, and the principal cir-
cumstance to be attended to is, whether our want of faith be
our own fault. It is certainly true, that want of faith may pro-
ceed from, and be a proof of a wrong and a bad disposition of
mind, of such a disposition of mind as no good thing can come
from. This, perhaps, was both very generally and in a very
high degree the case with the Jews in our Saviour's time, and
with many of those to whom the apostles preached ; because
they had evidence afforded them, which ought to have con-
vinced them, and which would have convinced them, had it not
been that they gave themselves up to their prejudices, to their
vicious propensities, and to wrong habits of thinking. And this
their situation and opportunities will account for some of those
strong denunciations against want of faith, which are found in
scripture addressed to the unbelievers of those times. “If our
gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.” And, to a cer-
tain extent, the same reason may be alleged concerning many
of those by whom, in after ages, the gospel is rejected, after
THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 59
being fairly proposed to them. Now, in this case, good works
without faith, will not save a man; because, in truth, the works
are not good, which flow from that disposition which occasions
the want of faith. The works may be good, that is, may be
useful as to their consequences and effects upon others; but
this is not enough for the salvation of the person who performs
them. They must also flow from a good disposition, which in
the case supposed they could not do; for that good disposition
would, along with the works, have produced faith.
On the other hand, cases undoubtedly may be supposed, and
cases occur in innumerable instances, in which the want of faith
cannot be attributed to the fault of the unbeliever. Whole na-
tions and countries have never yet heard of the name of Christ.
In countries in which he has been preached, multitudes have
been debarred, by invincible impediments, from coming to the
knowledge of his religion. To multitudes of others it has never
been preached or proposed truly or fairly. In these and the
like cases it is not for us to say, that men will be destroyed for
their want of faith. The scripture has not said so, but the
contrary. The scripture appears to intimate that which, so far
as we can apprehend, is most agreeable to the Divine equity,
that such persons shall respectively be judged according to the
law and rule with which they were, or, if it had not been their
own fault, they might have been acquainted, whether that were
simply the law of nature, or any addition made to it by credible
revelations. This is generally understood to be the meaning
of that passage in the second chapter of St Paul's epistle to the
Romans, in which he declares, that ‘as many as have sinned
without the law, shall also perish without law ; and as many as
have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law.” To which
he adds, that “when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do
by nature the things contained in the law, they having not the
law, are a law unto themselves; which show the works of the
law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing wit-
ness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excus-
ing one another.” Which two texts, taken together, intimate,
as I have said, that in the assignment both of punishment and
reward, respect will be had to the law or rule of action with
which they were acquainted, so that those who acted conscien-
tiously by that rule would be accepted, but who wilfully went
against the dictates of their own conscience would be regarded
as transgressors before God, be their condition, as to religious
knowledge and information, what it would.
In order to understand that this doctrine does not detract
60 . ALL STAND IN NEED OF A REDEEMER.
from the value of Christianity so much as, at first sight, it may
seem to do, two considerations are to be attended to, as pos-
sessing a material influence upon the subject. One is, that
this gracious dispensation which comprises all mankind, which
so condescends to their several difficulties and disadvantages,
and is so indulgent to human blindness and wickedness, is pro-
cured to the world through the intervention, the mission, death,
and mediation of Jesus Christ. Christ is the instrument of
salvation to all who are saved. The obedient Jew, the virtuous
heathen, are saved through him. They do not know this, nor
may it be necessary they should. Yet it may be true in fact.
That is one important consideration. The other is, that we
are expressly taught in scripture, that there are divers degrees
of happiness even in heaven ; which being so, it is not unrea-
sonable to expect that faithful followers of Christ will be ad-
vanced to higher rewards than others. This opinion is not re-
pugnant to any ideas we form of distributive justice, and is
scriptural.
Still, however, this speculation, though we cannot, I think,
easily shut it out from our thoughts, does not touch our own
proper concern. Our concern is solely with the question how
a Christian can be saved. And in this question we rest upon
one single conclusion; viz. that there is no safe reliance upon
any thing but upon sincere endeavours after christian obedi-
ence; and that a Christian’s obedience consists in relinquishing
his own sins, and practising his own duties.
XI.
ALL STAND IN NEED OF A REDEEMER.
PART V.
HEBREws IX. 26.
Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sac-
rifice of himself.
IN former discourses upon this text I have shown, first, that
the scriptures expressly state the death of Jesus Christ as hay-
ing an efficacy in the procurement of human salvation, which is
ALL STAND IN NEED OF A REDEEMER. 61
*
not attributed to the death or sufferings of any other person,
however patiently undergone, or undeservedly inflicted; and
secondly, that this efficacy is quite consistent with our obliga-
tion to obedience; that good works still remain the condition of
salvation, though not the cause ; the cause being the mercy of
Almighty God through Jesus Christ. There is no man living,
perhaps, who has considered seriously the state of his soul, to
whom this is not a consoling doctrine, and a grateful truth. But
there are some situations of mind which dispose us to feel the
weight and -importance of this doctrine more than others.
These situations I will endeavour to describe ; and, in doing so,
to point out how much more satisfactory it is to have a saviour
and redeemer, and the mercies of our Creator excited towards
us, and communicated to us by and through that saviour and
redeemer, to confide in and rely upon, than any grounds of
merit in ourselves.
First, then, souls which are really laboring and endeavouring
after salvation, and with sincerity; such souls are every hour
made sensible, deeply sensible, of the deficiency and imperfec-
tion of their endeavours. Had they no ground, therefore, for
hope, but merit, that is to say, could they look for nothing more
than what they should strictly deserve, their prospect would be
very uncomfortable. I see not how they could look for heaven
at all. They may form a conception of a virtue and obedience
which might seem to be entitled to a high reward ; but when
they come to review their own performances, and to compare
them with that conception; when they see how short they
have proved of what they ought to have been, and of what they
might have been, how weak and broken were their best offi-
ces; they will be the first to confess, that it is infinitely for
their comfort that they have some other resource than their
own righteousness. One infallible effect of sincerity in our en-
deavours is to beget in us a knowledge of our imperfections.
The careless, the heedless, the thoughtless, the nominal Chris-
tian, feels no want of a saviour, an intercessor, a mediator, be-
cause he feels not his own defects. Try in earnest to perform
the duties of religion, and you will soon learn how incomplete
your best performances are. I can hardly mention a branch of
our duty which is not liable to be both impure in the motive,
and imperfect in the execution; or a branch of our duty in
which our endeavours can found their hopes of acceptance upon
any thing but extended mercy, and the efficacy of those means
and causes, which have procured it to be so extended.
In the first place, is not this the case with our acts of piety
62 ALL STAND IN NEED OF A REDEEMER.
and devotion ? We may admit, that pure and perfect piety has
a natural title to reward at the hand of God. But is ours ever
such To be pure in its motive, it ought to proceed from a
sense of God Almighty’s goodness towards us, and from no oth-
er source, or cause, or motive whatsoever. Whereas even pi-
ous, comparatively pious men, will acknowledge, that authority,
custom, decency, imitation, have a share in most of their reli-
gious exercises, and that they cannot warrant any of their de-
votions to be entirely independent of these causes. I would not
speak disparagingly of the considerations here recited. They
are oftentimes necessary inducements, and they may be means
of bringing us to better; but still it is true, that devotion is not
pure in its origin, unless it flow from a sense of God Almighty’s
goodness, unmixed with any other reason. But if our worship
of God be defective in its principle, and often debased by the
mixture of impure motives, it is still more deficient, when we
come to regard it in its performances. Our devotions are bro-
ken and interrupted, or they are cold and languid. Worldly
thoughts intrude themselves upon them. Our worldly heart is
tied down to the earth. Our devotions are unworthy of God.
We lift not up our hearts unto him. Our treasure is upon
earth, and our hearts are with our treasure. That heavenly-
mindedness which ought to be inseparable from religious exer-
cises does not accompany ours; at least not constantly. I
speak not now of the hypocrite in religion, of him who only
makes a show of it. His case comes not within our present
consideration. I speak of those who are sincere men. These
feel the imperfection of their services, and will acknowledge
that I have not stated it more strongly than what is true. Im-
perfection cleaves to every part of it. Our thankfulness is nev-
er what it ought to be, or any thing like it; and it is only when
we have some particular reason for being pleased that we are
thankful at all. Formality is apt continually to steal upon us
in our worship; more especially in our public worship; and
formality takes away the immediate consciousness of what we
are doing; which consciousness is the very life of devotion;
all that we do without it being a dead ceremony. *
No man reviews his services towards God, his religious ser-
vices, but he perceives in them much to be forgiven, much to
be excused; great unworthiness as respecting the object of all
worship; much deficiency and imperfection to be passed over,
before our service can be deemed in its nature an acceptable
service. That such services, therefore, should, in fact, be al-
lowed and accepted, and that to no less an end and purpose
ALL STAND IN NEED OF A REDEEMER. 63
than the attainment of heaven, is an act of abounding grace and
goodness in Him who accepts them; and we are taught in
scripture, that this so much wanted grace and goodness abounds
towards us through Jesus Christ; and particularly through his
sufferings, and his death.
But to pass from acts of worship, which form a particular
part only of our duty to God; to pass from these to our gen-
eral duty, what, let us ask, is that duty : What is our duty to-
wards God? No other, our Saviour himself tells us, than ‘to
love him with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our
strength, and with all our mind.” Luke, x. 27. Are we con-
scious of such love, to such a degree ? If we are not, then, in a
most fundamental duty, we fail of being what we ought to be.
Here, then, as before, is a call for pardoning mercy on the part
of God; which mercy is extended to us by the intervention of
Jesus Christ; at least so the scriptures represent it.
In our duties towards one another, it may be said, that our
performances are more adequate to our obligation, than in our
duties to God; that the subjects of them lie more level with
our capacity; and there may be truth in this observation.
But still I am afraid, that both in principle and execution our
performances are not only defective, but defective in a degree
which we are not sufficiently aware of. The rule laid down
for us is this; ‘to love our neighbour as ourselves; ” which
rule, in fact, enjoins, that our benevolence be as strong as our
self interest; that we be as anxious to do good, as quick to
discover, as eager to embrace, every opportunity of doing it,
and as active and resolute, and persevering in our endeavours
to do it, as we are anxious for ourselves, and active in the pur-
suit of our own interest. Now is this the case with us? Where-
in it is not, we fall below our rule. In the apostles of Jesus
Christ, to whom this rule was given from his own mouth, you
may read how it operated; and their example proves, what
some deny, the possibility of the thing; namely, of benevo-
lence being as strong a motive as self interest. They firmly
believed, that to bring men to the knowledge of Christ's relig-
ion was the greatest possible good that could be done unto
them, was the highest act of benevolence they could exercise.
Aud, accordingly, they set about this work, and carried it on
with as much energy, as much ardor, as much perseverance,
through as great toils and labors, as many sufferings and diffi-
culties, as any person ever pursued a scheme for their own in-
terest, or for the making of a fortune. They could not possi-
bly have done more for their own sakes than what they did for
64 ALL STAND IN NEED OF A REDEEMER.
the sake of others. They literally loved their neighbours as
themselves. Some have followed their example in this; and
some have, in zeal and energy, followed their example in other
methods of doing good. For I do not mean to say, that the
particular method of usefulness, which the office of the apos-
tles cast upon them, is the only method, or that it is a method
even competent to many. Doing good, without any selfish
worldly motive for doing it, is the grand thing; the mode must
be regulated by opportunity and occasion. To which may be
added, that in those, whose power of doing good, according to
any mode, is small, the principle of benevolence will at least
restrain them from doing harm. If the principle be subsisting
in their hearts, it will have this operation at least. I ask there-
fore again, as I asked before, are we as solicitous to seize op-
portunities, to look out for and embrace occasions, of doing
good, as we are certainly solicitous to lay hold of opportunities
of making advantage to ourselves, and to embrace all occasions
of profit and self interest ? Nay, is benevolence strong enough
to hold our hand, when stretched out for mischief? Is it always
sufficient to make us consider what misery we are producing,
whilst we are compassing a selfish end, or gratifying a lawless
passion of our own 2 Do the two principles of benevolence and
self interest possess any degree of parallelism and equality in
our hearts, and in our conduct? If they do, then so far we
come up to our rule. Wherein they do not, as I said before,
we fall below it.
When not only the generality of mankind, but even those
who are endeavouring to do their duty, apply the standard to
themselves, they are made to learn the humiliating lesson of
their own deficiency. That such our deficiency should be
overlooked, so as not to become the loss to us of happiness af-
ter death ; that our poor, weak, humble endeavours to comply
with our Saviour's rule should be received and not rejected;
I say, if we hope for this, we must hope for it, not on the
ground of congruity or desert, which it will not bear, but from
the extreme benignity of a merciful God, and the availing me-
diation of a redeemer. You will observe that I am still, and
have been all along, speaking of sincere men, of those who are
in earnest in their duty, and in religion; and I say, upon the
strength of what has been alleged, that even these persons,
when they read in scripture of the riches of the goodness of
God, of the powerful efficacy of the death of Christ, of his me-
diation and continual intercession, know and feel in their hearts
that they stand in need of them all.
ALL STAND FIN NEED OF A REDEEMER. 65
In that remaining class of duties which are called duties to
ourselves, the observation we have made upon the deficiency
of our endeavours applies with equal or greater force. More is
here wanted than the mere command of our actions. The
heart itself is to be regulated; the hardest thing in the world
to manage. The affections and passions are to be kept in or-
der; constant evil propensities are to be constantly opposed.
I apprehend, that every sincere man is conscious how unable
he is to fulfil this part of his duty, even to his own satisfaction;
and if our conscience accuse us, “God is greater than our con-
science, and knoweth all things.” If we see our sad failings,
He must.
God forbid that any thing I say, either upon this, or the oth-
er branches of our duty, should damp our endeavours. Let
them be as vigorous and as steadfast as they can. They will
be so if we are sincere; and without sincerity there is no hope;
none whatever. But there will always be left enough, infinite-
ly more than enough, to humble self sufficiency. -
Contemplate, then, what is placed before us; heaven. Un-
derstand what heaven is ; a state of happiness after death, ex-
ceeding what, without experience, it is possible for us to
conceive, and unlimited in duration. This is a reward infinite-
ly beyond any thing we can pretend to, as of right, as merited,
as due. Some distinction between us and others, between the
comparatively good and the bad, might be expected; but, on
these grounds, not such a reward as this, even were our ser-
vices, I mean the service of sincere men, perfect. But such
services as ours in truth are, such services as in fact we per-
form, so poor, so deficient, so broken, so mixed with alloy, so
imperfect both in principle and execution, what have they to
look for upon their own foundation ? When, therefore, the
scriptures speak to us of a redeemer, a mediator, an interces-
sor for us; when they display and magnify the exceedingly
great mercies of God, as set forth in the salvation of man, ac-
cording to any mode whatever which he might be pleased to
appoint, and therefore in that mode which the gospel holds
forth; they teach us no other doctrine than that to which the
actual deficiencies of our duty, and a just consciousness and
acknowledgment of these deficiencies, must naturally carry our
own minds. What we feel in ourselves corresponds with what
we read in scripture.
66 MISAPPREHENSION OF THE NATURAL
XII.
MISAPPREHENSION OF THE NATURAL EFFICACY
OF REPENTANCE.
PART VI.
HEBREws IX. 26.
Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sac-
rifice of himself.
THE little that we have to hope for on the ground of right,
or desert, or claim, and consequently the much in which we
are indebted to spontaneous goodness and mercy, and the much
we stand in need of other application and other intercession
than our own, of a saviour, a redeemer, and a mediator, I have,
in a former discourse, endeavoured to show, from the extreme
deficiency and imperfection of our services, even of such as
are sincere in their duty.
The same conclusion also arises from the indignity and ag-
gravation of our sins. I think it to be true that we are fully
sensible neither of one nor of the other; neither of the imper-
fection of our services, nor the malignity of our sins; otherwise
our recourse to Jesus Christ would be stronger and more earn-
est than it is.
There is another point also nearly connected with these, in
which we take up an opinion without foundation, and that is,
the natural efficacy of repentance in obtaining the pardon of
SIITS,
I am at present to treat of the malignity and aggravation of
our sins, under the circumstances in which they are usually
committed.
First, our sins are sins against knowledge. I ask of no man
more than to act up to what he knows; by which I do not mean
to say that it is not every man’s obligation, both to inform his
understanding, and to use his understanding about the matter;
in other words, to know all he can concerning his duty; but I
mean to say that, in fact, the question seldom comes to that;
in fact, the man acts not up to what he does know; his sins
are against his knowledge. It will be answered, that this may
well be supposed to be the case with persons of education and
is the author of our being, and of every blessing which belongs
EFFICACY OF REPENTANCE. 67
learning, but is it the case with the poor and ignorant? I be-
lieve it to be the case with all. Is there a man who hears me
that can say he acts up to what he knows? Does any one feel
that to be his case ? If he does, then he may reasonably plead
his ignorance, his want of education, his want of instruction,
his want of light and knowledge, for not acting better than he
does; for not acting as he would have acted if these advantages
had been vouchsafed to him. But he must first act up to what
he does know, before he can fairly use this plea ; before he
can justly complain that he knows no more. Our sins are
against knowledge. The real truth is, and it comprehends
both the wise and the ignorant, the learned and the unlearned;
the real truth I say is, that we not only sin, but sin against our
own knowledge. There may be nicer cases, and more dubi-
ous points, which a man, informed and instructed in religion
and morality, would perceive to be wrong; which a man, ig-
norant and uninformed, would not discover to be so ; and there
may be many such cases; but what I contend is, that the ques-
tion never comes to that. There are plain obligations which
the same men transgress. They are confessed and acknowl-
edged duties which they neglect. There are sins and crimes
committed, which they know to be sins and crimes at the time.
Therefore, since they act contrary to what they know, small as
their knowledge is, is it in reason to be expected that they
would not act contrary to what they know, if that knowledge
was increased ? Alas! in computing the number, and weight,
and burden of our sins, we need only take into the account the
sins which we know. They are more than enough to humble
us to the earth upon the ground of merit; they are more than
enough to banish that consideration; they are more than enough
to humble every one of us to the dust.
Secondly, our sins are against gratitude. Whom do we of
fend by our sins 2 A parent. Him who is much more to us
than a parent, a benefactor; the first, the greatest, the best of
our benefactors; Him who, in fact, hath given us all that we
have. If we have had any enjoyment in life, it is his bounty.
If we have any thing to hope for, it is from his kindness. It is
his act and doing alone that we are at all, or in any respect,
superior to, or different from, the earth under our feet. It is
his will which hath raised us into animated sensitive beings; it
is still farther his will which hath made us intelligent rational
agents. “In him we live, and move, and have our being.’
These words are often repeated to us with little impression;
but they contain solid, physical, and philosophical truths. He
*.
68 MISAPPREHENSION OF THE NATURAL
to it; directly or indirectly, he is the author of them all. He
is the constant preserver of our existence, the constant bestow-
er of the good which we receive, or ever shall receive from ex-
istence. It is impossible to sin knowingly without offending
this benefactor; that is, we know at the time that we offend
him. Were we not justified, therefore, in asserting that our
sins are sins against gratitude 3 “He that loveth me keepeth
my commandments.” He that loveth God keepeth his com-
mandments. No proposition can be more true, for it means,
that he who feels as much gratitude towards his Maker as he
ought to feel, must be kept by that gratitude from wilfully of—
fending him; which the transgression of his commandments in-
fallibly does. Yet we sin; under all these circumstances of
aggravation, we still sin; sin in us is exceedingly sinful; yet
we sin. When the scripture talks, therefore, of sin requiring
atonement and expiation, and of the death and sufferings of
Christ as of great and mighty efficacy thereto, does it talk of
more than what we should judge to be necessary for us, con-
sidering what sin is 2 ... •
Thirdly, our sins are sins against forbearance. Is there one
of us who might not have been cut off, and called to judgment
in the midst of his sins 2 To the forbearance alone of God we
owe that we were not so. We must recollect that there have
been with us times and circumstances, when it had been most
unhappy for us if we had been seized by death, or visited by
punishment; when it had been a fearful thing indeed if our
Lord had come. When, therefore, with these recollections
upon our mind, we nevertheless continue to sin, it is rightly
said that we sin against forbearance, which is a great aggrava-
tion. It is expressly taught in scripture, by St Paul in partic-
ular, that the longsuffering of God is calculated to work upon
the heart of man. If it do not therefore so work; if it do
not operate as a principle and motive of amendment, then it
brings us exactly under the description which St Paul has left
us of contumacy in sin; that is, “we despise,’ such is St Paul's
word, ‘the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and long-
suffering,” disregarding the design of this forbearance and long-
suffering; which conduct, as the same St Paul pronounces, is
no other than ‘treasuring up unto ourselves wrath against the
day of wrath.”
These are characters which belong to sin as such ; and
every known sin is under the condemnation of these reasons.
They are general reasons, not to say universal. But beside
these, almost every particular sin has its particular aggravation;
EFFICACY OF REPENTANCE. 69
particular as to the person who commits it, particular as to
those against whom it is committed, particular in its circum-
stances, and its consequences. Did we deal with ourselves
according to truth, or did we deal with ourselves half so acute-
ly as we treat other concerns, these circumstances would rise
up to our recollection. They would help the argument; they
would help, along with more general religious reasons, to im-
press us with a sense of the malignity of sin; a sense which
few have as they ought to have, though perhaps none want it
entirely; and also the utter improbability that we should be
able by repentance to atone for such malignity. Undoubtedly
the sinner's refuge is repentance; it is all which the sinner can
do. But still, as touching salvation, we ascribe an efficacy to
repentance which does not belong to it, or rather, we get into
a way of looking upon that as the natural fruit and consequence
of repentance which is no such thing, but which is the conse-
quence of repentance only by the appointment and mercy of
God through Jesus Christ. The same thing may be said of
repentance which has been said of good works; it is the con-
dition, not the cause, of salvation. It is the condition; for
there is no salvation for unrepented sin, for unrepenting sinners.
It is not, nevertheless, the cause; for of itself it would have no
such effect as to procure salvation; it has no right or title to
look for any such thing.
This matter is not well understood ; yet it easily may be.
There never was a malefactor brought before a judge who did
not repent. Yet does that save him, even when it is most sin-
cere? Does the judge go about to inquire whether the criminal
before him repent, or whether his repentance be sincere? He
makes not that inquiry, because repentance will not save the
malefactor from the denounced punishment of his offence. It
is not therefore of the nature of repentance, it is not appertain-
ing to its nature as such, to save even from punishment; no,
not when it is most sincere. But our salvation, the salvation
which we look for in Christ Jesus, comprehends much more
than being saved from punishment; it includes the happiness of
heaven, the reward of an immortal soul, above all price, and
beyond all comparison the greatest thing we can gain. Can
this, then, naturally belong to repentance, when even being sa-
ved from punishment does not? Simply to be saved from pun-
ishment is not the natural effect of repentance; for, in point of
fact, it does not do it; how, then, to entitle us to the supre-
mest of all gifts, the greatest of all blessings; how can that be
ascribed to repentance, as by its own operation, and of its own
70 MISAPPREHENSION OF REPENTANCE.
nature? Observe, therefore, repentance has this to do with sal-
vation; it is an essential condition ; we cannot be saved with-
out it; but then as to its being the cause of our salvation, or of
salvation flowing or following from it, as its natural fruit, its due
reward, its proper effect and consequence, it is no such thing.
On this ground it resembles any other of our good works. It
stands upon no other; I mean, it does not supersede at all the
agency, the want, the efficacy of a redeemer.
Observe, that I am speaking only of that repentance which
is sincere. Of a planned, concerted, prefixed repentance, I
account nothing; because it is impossible it should ever be sin-
cere. Observe also, that whatever has been said of the imper-
fection of our good works may be said against the imperfection
of our repentance; it as seldom attains to what it should be, as
any one duty which we perform. But this also lies out of the
question. For the present we contend, that even suppose it be
proper, it has no necessary tendency to do away punishment;
for in fact, it has not this effect, even in this world. If it can-
not of itself do away punishment, it is impossible it can deserve
heaven; if it cannot do the less, it cannot do the greater.
When we refer, therefore, our salvation, which is the attain-
ment of heaven, to some other and higher cause than either
our virtue, or innocence, or our penitence, we judge not either
superstitiously or enthusiastically upon the subject, but accord-
ing to the truth of the case, rightly understood.
Something beyond ourselves as the cause of our salvation,
is wanting even according to sound principles of natural reli-
gion. When we read in scripture of the free mercy of God
enacted towards us by the death and sufferings of Jesus Christ,
then we read of a cause beyond ourselves, and that is the very
thing which was wanted to us.
RELIGION AN ACTIVE PRINCIPLE. 71
XIII.
RELIGION NOT A MERE FEELING, BUT AN ACTIVE
PRINCIPLE.
MATTHEw VII. 21.
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of
heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
THESE words are addressed to mankind at large. They
are not, like some of our Lord’s discourses, relative to the par-
ticular circumstances of those who stood round him at the time.
Christ here speaks to all his disciples, in whatever country of
the world they may live, or in whatever age of the world they
might come to the knowledge of his name. He speaks, in this
text, as much to those who are assembled here in his worship,
as to the very people who received the words from his mouth.
The words themselves are the conclusion of our Saviour’s cele-
brated sermon on the mount, and they close that divine dis-
course most aptly and solemnly.
When the fame of our Lord’s miracles had drawn great
numbers after him from every quarter of the country, from
Galilee, you read, from Decapolis, from Jerusalem, from Judea,
and from beyond Jordan, he deemed that a fit opportunity to
acquaint them with those great moral duties which they must
discharge, if they meant to be saved by becoming his followers;
for which purpose he went up into a mountain, for the conve-
niency, it is probable, of their hearing and of his own retirement,
and also in imitation, perhaps, of Moses, who delivered the
blessings and curses of the old law from the summit of a hill.
When the people in great multitudes were assembled round
him, he pronounced that great lesson of duty, that summing up
of weighty precepts, that statement of christian morals, and of
a right christian disposition, which you read in the 5th, 6th, and
7th chapters of St Matthew ; and when he had finished the
particular precepts he had given them, the several distinct com-
mands which he enjoined upon his followers, he concluded
with this reflection, which was applicable to them all, and was
indeed the great point he wished to leave upon their minds,
and not only upon theirs, but upon the hearts and souls of all
who should afterwards profess his religion; ‘not every one
that sayeth unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
72 RELIGION NOT A MERE FEELING,
of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in
heaven.” -
It was very natural for those who attended our Lord to feel
a glow of zeal and affection, to be transported with admiration,
to cry out ‘Lord, Lord,” from the very fervency and ardor of
their love and reverence, when they beheld the astonishing
works which he wrought, and heard the words of salvation
which flowed from his lips, or saw the sufferings which he un-
derwent, or his meekness and resignation under them. It was
natural for them, and the same thing is natural for us. When
we meditate at all upon these subjects; when we turn our
thoughts towards the great author and finisher of our faith, the
Lord Jesus Christ; when we reflect that he is our way and
our life, that what we know concerning the life to come pro-
ceeds from him, that our hopes of attaining it are through him,
that he is our guide and our instructer, our redeemer and me-
diator, that he came to lead his followers to heaven, that he laid
down his own life to give them eternal life, that he still sits at
the right hand of God to interest in our behalf; when we re-
flect, I say, upon the infinite, unutterable importance of saving
our souls, and what he has done, and continues to do towards
it, we cannot help crying out, ‘Lord, Lord ;’ we cannot help
feeling ourselves overwhelmed, as it were, with the vastness
and immensity of the subject, and the deep obligation which
we owe to the Saviour-of the world. This sentiment is still
more apt to come upon the mind when any worldly distress or
affliction drives us to take refuge in religion; to fly for succour
to God Almighty’s protection, and to the dispensation of his
righteous will in another world ; ‘to take hold,” as St Paul
speaks, “ of the anchor of hope,” and the strong consolation
which is ministered to us by the gospel of Christ. It is upon
these occasions that we find religion to be our only stay, trust
in God to be the only firm ground we can set our foot upon.
No wonder, therefore, if we be drawn almost involuntarily to
cry out, ‘Lord, Lord ;’ that we are constrained by his love ;
that we feel our dependence upon him; that we are brought to
understand, that to be saved in the day of judgment is that con-
cern which wraps up all others; that there is none other name
under heaven, whereby we can be saved, only the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ. No wonder, I say, that in moments like
these our affection towards Christianity is increased, our thoughts
serious, and our devotion sincere.
Sometimes, also, without any external causes, or any cause
that we are acquainted with, strong impressions of futurity, aw-
BUT AN ACTIVE PRINCIPLE. 73
ful apprehensions of our great change, come over the mind.
The things of this world are diminished to nothing, when we
place them by the side of that great event which will arrive,
and in a short time, to all of us. Life appears what it is, a
span; inconsiderable at the longest; liable every day to be put
an end to. What shadows we pursue, what shadows we are :
The unsatisfactoriness of all our worldly enjoyments, the un-
certainty of all our worldly hopes, seizes the imagination with
irresistible force. Here then again the soul turns to God.
Beaten and repulsed from every other source of confidence and
contentment, it seeks them in the future mercies of a faithful
Creator.
Or again, it may and does happen, that a sudden glow, a
certain warmth and elevation of heart, as to the concerns of re-
ligion, spring up at particular times in our breast; we cry,
* Lord, Lord!' with rapture; the promises, the views, the con-
solations of Christianity, fill our hearts; we rejoice, as St Paul,
who felt much of this animation, expresses it, in the hope of our
calling, and in the joy of the Holy Ghost.
Now concerning all these various states of mind and affec-
tion, the first thing to be said is, that they are all good. What-
ever draws the soul to God, whether it be reflection upon the
astonishing history of our Lord Jesus Christ, the ardor of his
love, the patience of his sufferings, undertaken and undergone
for our sakes; whether it be some outward visitation and dis-
comfiture, some stroke of Providence, which brings us to our-
selves, which makes us serious in the business of religion ;
whether it be some inward sinking and misgiving of the mind,
some cloud which overcasts the spirits; or whether, on the con-
trary, we be raised and lifted, as it were, towards heaven by the
life and flow of our devotions, still all is good. We ought to re-
gard and accept these stirrings and motions of the mind towards
religion, from whatever cause they proceed, as favorable and
hopeful intimations of a righteous principle forming within us.
We are to invite, cherish, and cultivate them ; wait and desire
the return of them ; above all, be thankful for them, and account
even calamities as blessings, when they tend to make us religious.
It is a sorrow not to be repented of, when it leads to salvation.
Nothing that our Lord says in the text ought by any means
to be construed to the undervaluing or discouraging of devout
feelings of any kind, or from any cause ; but the great misfor-
tune is, these thoughts are apt to be shortlived; they are wont
to be soon forgotten, and forgotten entirely. In the night we
cry, ‘Lord, Lord ' ' in the morning we return to our sins; that
10
74 RELIGION NOT A MERE FEELING,
-ºº:
world, with its pleasures, and honors, and cares, and contentions,
which we lately thought so little worth our strife and our anxi-
ety, courts us again with new temptations, and is pursued with
fresh eagerness. That enduring, imperishable soul, the saving
of which we judged the only concern we need to care about
or to be afraid about, obtains not our consideration amongst the
multitude of thoughts which crowd upon us; those prospects of
everlasting happiness in heaven, which awhile ago opened so
bright upon our view, are again shut out; some loose, sinful
pursuit, some mean advantage, gets hold again of our hearts,
and closes up that passage where religion was entering in. This
is precisely the weakness which our Lord was aware of, and
which the words of the text were intended to warn us against.
To make good thoughts effectual to salvation, we must so work
them into the frame of the mind, so knit and weave them into
the very substance of the heart and disposition, that they be no
longer merely thoughts, or merely occasional ; but that they
have a steady influence upon our behaviour, that they take hold
of our conduct, that they be at hand to check and pluck us
back when we would go about any wicked design, and that
they be at hand also to remind us, and to put us forward when
any good thing falls in our power to do.
This is to become a Christian ; and this indeed is the diffi-
culty of the work. The passage from thought to action, from re-
ligious sentiments to religious conduct, seems a difficult attain-
ment. I said before, the very beginnings are blessings. Holy
thoughts, though occasional, though sudden, though brought on,
it may be, by calamity and affliction, though roused in us we
do not know how, are still the beginnings of grace. Let no
man, therefore, despise serious thoughts; let no man scorn or
ridicule them in others; least of all the man who has none him-
self; for there is still a wide difference between him who thinks,
though but occasionally, of his duty and of his salvation, and
him who never permits himself to entertain such thoughts at all.
One, it is true, may be far from having completed his work;
the other has not begun his. Those very meditations which
he despises in other men, because he sees that they have not
the influence which they ought to have upon their lives and
conversation, are, nevertheless, what he himself must begin with,
what he himself must come to, if ever he enter truly upon a
christian course. It is from good thoughts and good resolutions
that the christian character must set out; it is with these it
must begin; it is by these it must be formed. We cannot,
however, always be thinking about religion. That is true; but
BUT AN ACTIVE PRINCIPLE. 75
the thing wanted of us, the thing necessary for us, the thing re-
quired in the text, is, not that religion be constantly in our
thoughts, but that it have a constant influence upon our beha-
viour; and that is a very intelligible distinction, and takes place
in common life. Avarice and pecuniary gain shall have a con-
stant influence upon a man’s behaviour, that is, his actions shall
constantly draw and tend to that point, and yet it may not be
that his thoughts are always employed in calculating his profits
or reckoning on his fortune. And that influence which a world-
ly principle often possesses, a religious principle may acquire.
The making sure of heaven may be to one man as strong and
steady a motive of action as the making a fortune is to another.
Pleasing God by doing good to man, may be as fixed a point
in the mind of a disciple of Jesus Christ, as the compassing
some scheme of wealth or greatness is frequently to the children
of this generation. The fear of offending our Maker may be
as great and powerful a check upon a religious man’s actions,
as any consideration whatever can be in the pursuits of worldly
prosperity. The matter, and what in a great measure forms
the business, and the greatest difficulty of religion, is to bring our
minds to this; that devout thoughts draw from us not only words,
but actions; not only make us call upon him, but do his will;
not only lift up our hearts to Heaven in particular seasons of
meditation, but that at all seasons they keep us back from sin.
This, then, is the sum of what we have delivered. Do we
find ourselves visited with pious affections, with serious and
awful apprehensions of futurity, with devout and holy thoughts
of God, of Jesus Christ, and of our salvation, let us be thankful
for them, as for the greatest of blessings.
But do we find these thoughts vanish, leaving no solid im-
pression behind them ; or do we find that they do not at all
break off our course and habits of sinning, or interrupt us in
the wicked practices into which we have fallen, or rouse us
from the moral sloth and unprofitableness in which we are sunk;
let us bring to remembrance this solemn text, ‘Not every one
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord ' shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father.” By no
means let us undervalue the good thoughts and good motions
which we feel, or have ſelt; but it is necessary we should know
that we are yet far short of the mark; that something is done,
and that of great importance, but that more is still wanting;
that we must earnestly and laboriously strive so to fasten these
good intimations upon the heart, so to imprint them deeply upon
the soul, as that they may convert our behaviour, beget in us
76 THE FORGIVENESS OF INJURIES.
amendment, strengthen our resistance of temptation, break off
our evil habits, and at length conquer every obstacle, and every
adversary both spiritual and fleshly, which would stop and turn
us out of our way in our progress to a heavenly reward.
XIV.
THE FORGIVENESS OF INJURIES.
MATTHEw VI. 15.
If ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses.
THE forgiveness of injuries is commanded in scripture, not
simply as other duties are, but in a manner peculiar to itself;
that is, as the absolute condition of obtaining forgiveness our-
selves from God; a most awful consideration, and expressed
in terms which cannot be mistaken or explained away; “if ye
forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father for-
give you your trespasses.’ Words cannot be plainer or more
positive. Nor is this all; for in the prayer which our Lord
taught his disciples, and which from thence is called the Lord’s
prayer, we are instructed to petition God to forgive us our tres-
passes, as we forgive them that trespass against us; which is
as much as to acknowledge that so far from expecting forgive-
mess of our offences, we are not even to ask it upon any other
terms than our forgiving the offences committed against us.
Some wonder why this forgiving temper, which they reckon no
better than tameness, or want of spirit, should be ranked so
high by our Saviour, and hold so prominent a place amongst
the duties of his religion; should be of more account with him
than the most shining and splendid virtues. But such people
do not sufficiently consider the importance of this duty, or the
difficulty of it. By its importance, I mean its use to mankind;
for what are half the vexations of life, the uneasinesses in fami-
lies, betwixt neighbours, and all the strife and contention we
see in the world owing to, but to the want of it 2 and how are
they to be healed and put a stop to, but by one of the parties
at least setting an example of forgiveness? As long as each
is determined to be even with his adversary, there can be no
THE FORGIVENESS OF INJURIES. 77
end of provocation or offence. Every retaliation is looked
upon as a fresh affront, and requiring consequently a fresh act
of revenge; so that upon this principle hatred must be immor-
tal; an offence once given, or a quarrel once begun, must
breed a train of perpetual ill turns, of constant spite and malice
in the persons concerned. And this disposition is as painful to
a man himself as it is mischievous to his adversary; for there
is no enjoying any solid quiet, or comfort of heart, while a man
hateth his brother; whilst he bears a grudge against, or is seek-
ing to be revenged of any one. It likewise makes this a duty
of greater real value, that it is very difficult. When we have
received an injury or affront, we are naturally set on fire by it;
we consider constantly how to be revenged upon our enemy,
and make him, as we say, repent it. This is either natural,
as I said, or become so by our education, fashion, habit. Now
this propensity, which is one of the strongest belonging to us,
must by degrees, and with great pains and reflection, be got
the better of And we have not only this to struggle with, but
also the opinion of the world, which is apt to have a mighty in-
fluence upon us. Other virtues are a credit and an honor to
a man, but this is not. On the contrary, the world are more
likely to reproagh him as mean spirited and cowardly for sitting
down under an insult or affront, and tamely forgiving the author
of it. As I said before, therefore, it is no wonder our Saviour
should lay so much stress, and set so high a value, upon a duty
which is so necessary to the peace and quietness of the world,
which yet is so very diffiuclt to be performed ; and one which
there is so little inducement to perform besides the considera–
tions of religion.
To explain this duty farther, it may be necessary to mention
some particulars which we may be apt to confound with it, but
which are not any real parts of it. First, then, the forgive-
ness of offences should not imply that offences should not be
punished when the public good requires it, that is, when the
lawful punishment of the offence is necessary, either to correct
and amend the delinquent himself, or others by his example.
This duty only requires, that such offences should be punished
and prosecuted out of a pure regard to the public safety, and
to answer the ends of punishment, and not to gratify revenge.
There is no moral similitude between what we make a man suf-
fer out of a cool consideration and a sense of what is necessa-
ry, and what is done out of spite or anger. There is this solid
difference betwixt the two states; the one will be as painful to
us as the other is pleasant. The two things arise from quite
78 THE FORGIVENESS OF INJURIES.
different motives; are of a separate nature; and Christ's com-
mand, which respects the one, has nothing to do with the oth-
er; so that the magistrate may do his duty in punishing offen-
ders, and private persons may do their duty in bringing public
offenders to justice, without interfering with this command of
our Saviour’s. At the same time, however, it should be re-
marked and understood, that where no substantial good end is
to be answered by it; that is, where the offence is trivial or in-
advertent, or where lenity will not be likely to invite the repe-
tition of it, or encourage others in it; in such circumstances to
pursue an offence with the utmost rigor and severity of the law
savours more of private spite than public justice. Now if there
be a mixture of private grudge in such severity, it is a breach
of our Saviour's command, though there be law, perhaps, to
color and cover it.
Secondly; nor does this precept hinder us from applying,
upon proper occasions, to the laws of our country to recover
some right that is denied us, or satisfaction for some wrong that
is done us; for there would be no living in the world, if the
good must sit down under every wrong that the bad do them.
This in the event would be putting the good in absolute slavery
and subjection to the bad. But then to justify our conduct in
this case, that is, to make it consistent with our Saviour's pre-
cepts, the right in question must be some serious right, of value
worth the contest, and not merely to show that we are in the
right and our adversary in the wrong, rather than for any thing
that depends upon either. And likewise, when we are neces-
sarily engaged in a contest of this kind, we ought to proceed
with calmness, civility, and good temper, which hurts no cause,
and not with anger or passion; and also to accept the cheapest
and most easy method that will answer the ends of justice; for
what is beyond this must be merely to berate and distress our
adversary, and springs, we may depend upon it, from malice
and revenge at the bottom. In short, it is easy enough to dis-
tinguish in ourselves when we act in those contests, which are
almost unavoidable, with a christian spirit, and when otherwise.
If we, instead of trying every fair expedient to avoid and ter-
minate the dispute amicably, are hastily engaged in it; if we
go more for victory and triumph, to depress and expose our ad-
versary, than for any thing else; if we take delight in putting
him to trouble, vexation, and expense, we are far, very far, let
his conduct have been what it will, from acting in that mild re-
lenting temper which our religion inculcates and insists upon.
Neither,
THE FORGIVENESS OF INJURIES. 79
Thirdly, when another has offended against us, are we bound
to overlook his offence, or to continue to him the opportunity
of repeating it. If, for instance, a person has cheated or de-
ceived us, we are not obliged to trust him again ; because that
would probably encourage him to persist in his bad practices,
which is doing him as much harm as it can do us. Nor,
Fourthly, ought we so to forget men's bad behaviour, as to
caress and countenance all characters alike, to preserve no re-
spect or distinction for virtue, to testify no dislike or indigna-
tion against vice. Men, good as well as bad, act with some
view to the opinion of the world and the loss of character; the
being ill received and looked upon is often the only punish-
ment which the wicked fear; so that it seems to be necessary,
in order to uphold and maintain the interests of virtue in the
world, to treat the vicious differently from the virtuous, to with-
hold or withdraw our civilities or communications from such as
would only disgrace the acquaintance of honest men. This
sort of discipline is what St Paul authorises, and even enjoins;
‘I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that
is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater,
or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one,
no not to eat.” But what we do on this score is easily distin-
guished from what we do out of revenge, by this mark; that
"we should do the same had the person who offended us acted
in like manner to any other; because if it be the guilt and not
the injury which offended us, the offence will be the same
whether we are the objects of it or another. These are the
chief cases in which we can make others suffer for their faults,
without disobeying our Saviour's command to forgive them.
With regard to the command itself, let it be observed, that
it certainly extends, not merely to trifling offences or imaginary
affronts, but to real and actual injuries. Thy brother is sup-
posed to have transgressed against thee, to have done thee
wrong, and to have behaved ill; so that the common excuse, that
your adversary began first, that he was in fault, or most to
blame, is no excuse at all for quarrels and resentment; I mean,
upon the principles of our Saviour’s command.
This duty, the forgiveness of injuries, is rather in the nature
of a disposition, than a single act; that is, does not so much
consist in determining expressly to forgive this or that particu-
lar injury, as in working ourselves into such a softness and mild-
ness of temper as easily and readily to forgive injuries. ‘Be
ye kind,” says St Paul, “one to another, tender hearted, forgiv-
ing one another; even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven
80 THE FORGIVENESS OF INJURIES.
you.' Is that fulfilled whilst we recompense evil for evil, and
return railing for railing; seek and study only to be even with
our adversary; whilst we try to do him an ill turn when the
opportunity comes in our way, and when we cannot bear the
sight and the thoughts of him without pain; whilst we refuse
to allow him the praise or merit really due to him; whilst we
cannot see his success without mortification, or his misfortunes
but with secret pleasure ? As long as we continue in this dispo-
sition, at least whilst we continue without endeavouring to cor-
rect it, we have not the spirit of Christ; we have not complied
with his command.
There are several considerations, which properly attended
to and applied, may help to mollify our hatred, and bring us by
degrees to that tenderness of heart and temper which makes so
great a part of a good Christian. I will mention two. The
first is, that the only way of overcoming evil is with good. The
most generous and effectual method of subduing our adversa-
ry’s animosity, and making him sensible of his error and unkind-
ness, is to repay it with kindness and good offices on our part.
He that requites one ill turn with another is only even with his
adversary when he has done. He that forgives it is above
him ; and so his adversary himself will confess one time or
another. And thus does St Paul exhort us ; ‘Be not over-
come of evil, but overcome evil with good. If thine enemy
hunger, give him meat; if he thirst, give him drink; so shalt
thou heap coals of fire upon his head; ' a singular expression,
but very just and beautiful when rightly understood. It was
the custom to melt down hard metals by heaping coals of fire
upon the head of the vessel they were put into. And so St
Paul comes to speak of heaping coals of fire upon your adver-
sary’s head to melt his heart. But the great consideration of
all, and which should never fail, one would think, to produce
this forgiving temper within us, is that we stand in so much
need of forgiveness ourselves. Imagine our own offences all
disclosed and brought to light; imagine, again, ourselves obsti-
nately persevering in revenge, in a denial of satisfaction, refu-
sing to be intreated, disdaining to forgive, extreme to mark and
to resent what is done or said amiss; imagine, I say, this, and
you can hardly paint to yourself a greater instance of arrogance
and absurdity. It must be intolerable, if any thing is, in the
sight of God. This sentiment is described by our Saviour, in
one of the finest parables in the whole book; which I desire to
leave upon your minds, as being what we should always bear
about us; a lesson which it is a shame to be ignorant of, and
THE FORGIVENESS OF INJURIES. 81
impossible, one would think, to forget. It is to be found in
the latter part of the 18th chap. of St Matthew.
“The kingdom of heaven,” that is, God's dealing with man-
kind under the gospel, ‘is,’ says our Saviour, “like unto a cer-
tain king which would take account of his servants; and when
he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed
him ten thousand talents; but, forasmuch as he had not to pay,
his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children,
and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant
therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have
patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of
that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and
forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out and
found one of his fellow servants which owed him an hundred
pence, and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat,
saying, Pay me that thou owest; and his fellow servant fell
down at his feet and besought him, saying, Have patience with
me, and I will pay thee all; and he would not, but went and
cast him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his
fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and
came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord,
after he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant,
I forgave thee all that debt because thou desiredst me; shouldst
not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even
as I had pity on thee And his lord was wroth, and delivered
him to the tormenters till he should pay all that he owed unto
him.” We can readily see the monstrous cruelty and ingrati-
tude of the servant’s behaviour. ‘ Oughtest not thou also to
have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity
on thee,” is an expression that goes to the heart. We must
agree also in the justice of his lord’s conduct when he deliver-
ed him to the tormenters till he had paid all that was due to
him. It is impossible not to own it is what he deserved, but
our business with it is to see, what also a little secret reflection
will convince us of, that this is no other than the case of each
and every one of us who does not from the heart forgive his
brother his trespasses.
11
82 RECONCILEMENT OF DISPUTES.
XV.
RECONCILEMENT OF DISPUTES.
PROVERBs XVII. 14.
The beginning of strife is, as when one letteth out water. Therefore leave off
contention before it be meddled with.
THERE is not found throughout the Book of Proverbs, or in
any book, indeed, either of ancient or modern morality, a max-
im which contains more of truth and wisdom, or which we see
more frequently verified by instances of public and private mis-
fortunes, than this of the text. The meaning is plain ; as in a
bank by which waters are confined, the first breach is general-
ly small, easily prevented, or as easily repaired, but if the
flood be suffered even for a short time to gain head and go on,
the torrent soon gathers force and violence, continually work-
ing its passage wider, till it bears down every obstacle that op-
poses it, and overwhelms the country with deluge and ruins,
admitting perhaps of no remedy which human art or strength
can apply, or requiring operations so expensive as to impover-
ish all who are concerned in them; so is it with the begin-
ning of strife. Some small slight or neglect, some frivolous dis-
pute, some affront scarcely perceptible, easily avoided, and at
first as easily made up, commonly lays the foundation of those
quarrels and animosities which, in private life, are sure to make
those miserable who are involved in them; and when they fall
out between persons or parties of powerful and extensive influ-
ence, are apt to fill a whole neighbourhood with rancor, calum-
my, and confusion. The breach at first might have been closed
up with little cost or trouble. It is seldom that the occasion of
the dispute is worth a thousandth part of the uneasiness which
each side suffers by it; or that there is any proportion between
the importance of a quarrel and the heat with which it is car-
ried on. A hasty, angry, or inadvertent word, or sometimes
not so much as that, even a cold, suspicious, or unkind look,
may be enough to give birth to a contention which in its pro-
gress and effects may involve a whole neighbourhood; may di-
vide friends, disturb families, set up unnecessary parties and
odious distinctions, put an end to all the comfortable inter-
course of society, and, what is much more to be lamented, to
RECONCILEMENT OF DISPUTES. 83
all charity and good will and good offices one towards another.
What does either side gain? What do not both sides lose 2
lose in the composure and tranquillity of their own minds, in
the society of those about them, in the opportunities of per-
forming and receiving kind offices, which render the journey of
life easy and comfortable As the causes of the bitterest quar-
rels are generally the most frivolous, so condescensions equally
unimportant would in the early stages of the dispute generally
close and heal them. A soft expression, a friendly counte-
nance, a kind salutation, are all, probably, it would have cost to
reconcile enmities which have since become fierce, implacable,
and deeprooted ; but we must not condescend, we must main-
tain our right, we must not be wanting to our dignity, we are
ready to accept acknowledgment, but we will not yield or give
way first We have declared our resolution, and it were
meanness to give it in Whilst both sides choose to argue thus,
both sides may entertain an internal desire of reconciliation,
and yet never be reconciled. The opportunity will soon be
lost. The season of peace will soon be over. Offences are
easily given, where both sides are on the watch to take them.
Jealousy and suspicion are apt to convert undesigned words
and actions into marks of what is already believed to be lurk-
ing within. One shyness is returned with another; every re-
turn becomes a fresh injury, and every injury requires a fresh
retaliation. The distance between the parties is rapidly in-
creasing, till all connexion and communication becomes odious
to both ; they no more approach each other, and therefore
have no more opportunity, if they sought it, of bringing one
another back to their former friendship; they are alienated in-
curably, and for life. A riveted hostility takes place; mutual
reproach and mutual railing, invective, slander, and backbiting,
are sure to follow. It is become a gratification and a triumph
in each to depress and mortify the other. Thus are two neigh-
bours and two friends set down for life to torment each other
and themselves, not without almost constant disquietude and
heartache ; I may say also, with a constant violation of God
Almighty’s laws. Are not the evils and calamities of life enow?
Is not the distress we suffer from sickness, from the loss of
friends, from unavoidable misfortunes sufficient, that we must
aggravate and magnify it by quarrels amongst ourselves? Dis-
putes of real moment and of serious consequence will some-
times arise between parties peaceably and amicably inclined ;
but such disputes, we may observe, are generally conducted with
decency and with moderation. It is for small, and sometimes
84 RECONCILEMENT OF DISPUTES.
only imaginary affronts; from minute, or perhaps only suspect-
ed incivilities; from contests about insignificant forms and cer-
emonies; from a passion to be thought greater than some oth-
er, whom we have taken it into our heads to view with eyes of
rivalship and jealousy; it is from causes like these that the bit-
terest quarrels take their beginnings. It is haughtiness and im-
petuosity of temper from which dissentions usually commence;
that is to say, a hasty, peevish, or captious pride begins them ;
and that stiffness which borrows the name of firmness, dignity,
or consistency of character, but which is in truth, and which
we should probably call in another, mere obstinacy and stub-
bornness, continues them. At least these are the infirmities of
temper to which many are subject; and these are the infirmi-
ties which if ‘we would wish to see good days,’ if we would
wish “to pass the time of our sojourning here' in ease and qui-
etness, we must endeavour to overcome. -
If I can offer any brief rules, by which these endeavours may
be assisted; by which we may learn, what is most to be desir-
ed, to avoid unnecessary quarrels; or, what holds the second
place in usefulness, to soothe, to compose, and reconcile them,
I shall think I have made choice of a subject by the considera-
tion of which we may all be benefited.
First; from what has been laid down concerning the usual
progress of the malignant and vindictive passions, which are
called into action in the course of a dispute, it is evident that
our caution is best exercised at first. ‘Leave off contention
before it be meddled with ; ” refrain from all language and be-
haviour which is likely to beget enmity and dissension. You
see the beginning of your quarrel, but not the end, the extent,
or the consequences. A provoking word, in the heat of pas-
sion and resentment, may be forcibly or shrewdly thrown out
at the moment by the person who uses it, but it is sure to re-
turn upon his mind with bitterness and regret.
Secondly ; a reflection which may put us on our guard
against that promptness to take offence, and that precipitation
in punishing or revenging the injury we conceive ourselves to
have received, is, the consideration how extremely liable we all
are to mistake both facts and words in the first report that is
made, and the first apprehension that is formed of them. A
very minute difference will convert innocent but heedless ac-
tions into studied insults, loose and equivocal or unguarded ex-
pressions into deliberate affronts. . And this circumspection is
doubly necessary, when the behaviour or language that offends
us comes to our knowledge through the representation of a
RECONCILEMENT OF DISPUTES. 85
third person, or the intervention, perhaps, of two or three in-
termediate accounts. It is not always necessary to suppose
express malice in that person. Inaccuracy alone, in either ob-
serving or relating, will often fatally mislead a rash and impet-
uous hearer. -
Thirdly; if we be often incorrect in the judgment we form
of other men's behaviour, I mean as to the facts, words, and
circumstances themselves, much more are we apt to misinter-
pret the motives from which they arise. It will convince us of
this, to recur to our own consciousness, and to recollect wheth-
er it hath not frequently happened to ourselves to have the
principles, views, and inducements upon which we have acted,
totally misunderstood or misrepresented ; how forgetfulness
hath been construed into neglect; inadvertency into insult ;
cheerfulness or vivacity of spirits into forwardness, intrusion, or
petulance ; shyness into distance ; natural reserve into super-
ciliousness and disrespect. It may sometimes have fallen out
worse. An unfortunate conjunction of circumstances, or com-
bination of accidents, may have caused us to be suspected of
dark purposes, or mean contrivances, of art, craft, or design,
when, in truth, our minds were perfectly free from them. We
may have appeared to be insincere when we were never less
so ; to have acted an equivocal part, when the whole embar-
rassment arose from unforeseen, unknown, or unthought of, pos-
itive circumstances. If ever this case has been ours, it ought
to admonish us to reflect, that the same may happen to others;
and possibly to those with whom we have a present cause of
dissatisfaction or complaint. We may be acting, at this very
time, upon those hasty judgments from which we have our-
selves experienced hardships and injustice. We have seen
how liable other men are to error, with respect to us, when
they proceed upon first impressions, partial accounts, or even
upon appearances; and we cannot but know, that we are no
less fallible in judging of them. It ought to teach us caution
and forbearance in our first behaviour, under a supposed injury
or affront.
Fourthly; one would think it no extraordinary stretch of
candor to make those allowances to others, which we habitu-
ally expect for ourselves. Yet we are with difficulty brought
to do this, or to perceive palliation in any conduct but our own.
We do not remember, what we should never forget, that others
have their passions and prejudices as well as we ; their favor-
ite aims, their favorite friends, their early fears, their particu-
86 RECONCILEMENT OF DISPUTES,
lar caution, their interest, their impulses, their varieties of hu-
mor, constancy, or changeableness of mind; by which, when
they are guided, they do no more than we are doing. They
act, it may be true, differently from us, but they act under the
same infirmities of temper, constitution, or understanding.
Fifthly; there is a point in the progress of a quarrel, and a
situation in which men are often placed, and that is, when both
sides would be glad of a reconciliation, but know not how to
effect it; when both wish to approach, but neither will make
the first advance. It may help us to improve this disposition,
and to avail ourselves of this opportunity, to be apprized that
neither disposition nor opportunity will last long. If we suffer
the quarrel to proceed, the season of reconciliation will be gone
for ever; and to invite us to make the first advance, let us be
assured that it is a generosity which will never be forgot.
There is no man living who is not affected by the kindness,
and who feels not the superiority, of a ready forgiveness.
Sixthly; one compendious rule, which, if observed, would
prevent many quarrels from originating, and many more from
proceeding to desperate extremities, is the following; ‘Never
to speak what will give pain, without a prospect of doing good.’
It is of the nature of human resentment to prompt us to say
what we think may vex and mortify our adversary, what may
raise up in his breast uneasy recollections, and to have a pleas-
ure in doing so. This propensity is more irresistible when the
sting is pointed by some scornful wit or vivacity of reply. A
successful retort is what few can deny themselves. Our ad-
monition, therefore, is, to control and withstand the impulse ;
and to reflect upon each occasion, not how grating what we
are about to say may be, how it will confound and silence our
adversary, how smart or lively, how true, or even how just and
deserved, but what good it is likely to produce. This reflec-
tion would correct those sudden ebullitions either of anger or
fancy, by which, if applause be gained, peace and friendship
are destroyed, our tranquillity disturbed, our character ulti-
mately injured, or at least ruffled in the estimation of every one
who knows his duty.
Lastly; these rules, and every rule upon the subject, would
become unnecessary, if we once acquired, perhaps if we sin-
cerely sought, that disposition which Christianity inculcates and
enjoins; which disposition is not that of the proud and haugh-
ty and jealous, or peevish and passionate and captious, least of
all the malicious and vindictive, but is mild and gentle, patient
OATHS. 87
and longsuffering, forbearing and forgiving; and if any one be
overtaken in a fault, restoring such a one in the spirit of meek-
ness, under a constant sense of our own trials and frailties, lest
we also be tempted.
XVI.
OATHS.
HEBREws VI. 16.
For men verily swear by the greater; and an oath for confirmation is to them an
end of all strife.
PERHAPs there are few who, in the course of their lives,
are not, upon some occasion or other, called upon to take an
oath. Therefore, if there is a thing which well deserves to be
learnt, to be understood, it is the nature and obligation of an
oath. It is an article, indeed, in which the sentiments of man-
kind are not generally to be found fault with ; for if there be
any one thing which men do hold sacred, it is an oath ; if there
be one character which they agree to condemn and detest, it is
that of the perjured man. I believe it is generally true, that
few or none have the hardiness to go about knowingly and de-
liberately to perjure themselves, but those who have given up
all pretensions to virtue, and all concern about it, as well as all
hopes of religion and interest about their future happiness or
misery. And with some, perhaps, this is no security. But
admitting that there is with the generality some concern for
virtue at the bottom, there is ground to believe, that their opin-
ion of virtue is rather forced by custom than consideration;
and this shows it, that you shall frequently see men scrupulous
enough about the observation of the law of oaths; as oaths, for
instance, in evidence before a court of justice, and the like;
who are very heedless, not to say worse, of the authority and
obligation of an oath in other cases; as oaths for the due dis-
charge of their office, oaths relating to the customs, and oaths
concerning their allegiance, and some others of a like kind.
Now it is an oath in both cases; and men's care about the one,
and indifference about the other, seem, I say, to indicate that
their judgment of oaths is taken up rather from conforming to
88 * OATHS.
the prevailing way of thinking, than any just knowledge of the
subject, or reflections of their own about it.
In treating this at present, we will observe the following or-
der; first, to say a few words concerning the form of oaths;
secondly, their nature; and then the force and obligation upon
the consciences of those who take them. .
Now as to the form, an oath is a religious ceremony; and
like other religious ceremonies not described or pointed out in
scripture, is, and may be, in different countries and different
ages of the world, very various, without any substantial altera-
tion in the thing itself. Amongst the Jews the person sworn
held up his right hand towards the heavens, while he repeated
the terms of the oath ; which explains the meaning of an expres-
sion in the Psalms, “And their right hand is full of falsehood.”
Amongst Christians, also, the form differs considerably ; and in
no country, I believe, in the world, is the form worse contrived,
either to express or impress the nature of an oath, than in our
own. The shortness and obscurity of the form, together with
the levity and too great frequency with which it is administer-
ed, has brought about an inadvertency to the obligation of an
oath, which, both in a religious and political view, is much to
be lamented. I do not mean that it is a common practice for
men knowingly and deliberately to perjure themselves. I trust,
as I said before, that this is rare and singular ; but on some
occasions, they carry away so little awe or sense of an oath
upon their minds, as hardly to know whether they have taken an
oath or not; and therefore they must be in perpetual danger of
violating the obligation of the oath, from mere ignorance, or inat-
tention, or want of thought; which, though it does not come
up to the crime of wilful and corrupt perjury, is still a crime.
All I think necessary to say, in explanation of the form in use
amongst us, is this; that when the person sworn repeats the
words, ‘So help me God,” he is understood to mean, “so,” that
is, upon condition of my speaking the truth, or performing what
I now promise; this he is understood to say when he repeats
the words, and to assent to when another repeats them. But
whatever be the form of an oath, the substance and significa-
tion are the same. It is the calling upon God to witness, that
is, to take notice of, what we say; and invoking his vengeance,
or renouncing his favor, if what we say be false, or what we
promise be not performed.
This is what the person who swears in effect does; and no
man can do that, and know what he is doing, without an awe
or dread upon his mind, both at the time and whenever after-
OATHS. 89
wards he reflects upon the obligation he is under, and how far
he hath been careful to fulfil it. The knowledge alone of what
an oath is, is enough, with a serious mind, to enforce the au-
thority of it beyond all other arguments.
In further explaining the obligation of an oath, we must lay
out of the case the particular mischief which false security, and
false swearing, may, in any instance, do, because that mischief
is to be accounted the same as if compassed by any other
means ; this we will pass over, and observe the general guilt of
false swearing, which is what we are to consider. Thus, if we
take away the life of another by false swearing, it is just the
same as if we stabbed him ; there is no difference. If by false
swearing we make a cause go otherwise than it would have
done, and ought to have done, and thereby deprive the losing
side of what he would otherwise have obtained or preserved,
it is the same as if we robbed him; the manner of depriving
another of his just right makes no difference. Whatever we
consider the general nature and guilt of false swearing to be,
these particular effects and aggravations are incalculable.
In order then to show, that oaths carry with them a proper
force and obligation of their own, it will be necessary for me to
show that there is good reason to believe that God will punish
false swearing with more severity than a simple lie, or breach
of promise; for unless there be cause to think so, it cannot be
contended that an oath has either use or virtue in itself; but
that men's bare word or promise might as well be taken, if there
be the same guilt in breaking them as a solemn oath. Compari-
sons of crimes are to be made with caution, for they are attended
sewith this disadvantage ; that when we mention one crime to be
greater than another, the hearer is led to fancy the less crime
to be none at all, or to be inconsiderable. Thus, while we
prove that false swearing is a greater sin, and will be more se-
riously punished than lying, we are apt to think lying can be no
great sin in the sight of God, nor the punishment much. This
is not an uncommon, but surely a very weak way of reasoning;
for lying remains just the same crime, and the punishment which
awaits it will be just the same, whether perjury be a greater sin
or not. It does not make the guilt of one action less, to show
that the guilt of another is greater, any more than it diminishes
the height of one tower or mountain, to say that another tower
or mountain is higher.
Under this caution, therefore, we proceed to offer our rea-
sons why we believe that God will punish false swearing with
more severity than a simple lie, or breach of promise, First;
2
90 OATHS.
perjury is a sin of greater deliberation. The person who swears
has in fact, I believe, the thoughts of God and of religion upon
his mind at the time; at least there are very few who can
shake them off entirely. He offends, therefore, if he do offend,
with a high hand; in the very face, that is, and in defiance, of
the sanctions of religion. This offence implies a disbelief or
contempt of God’s knowledge, power, or justice; which can-
not be said of a lie, when there is nothing to carry the mind to
any reflection upon the Deity, or the divine attributes at all.
For a lie may be sometimes pleaded haste, negligence, thought-
lessness, surprise; this can never be alleged in extenuation of
perjury. It is doing a cool, concerted, deliberate crime. It
may be said of a liar, that he was off his guard, had not the
sense of his duty, and of God, the author of all duty, upon his
mind at the time; the reverse of this is the case of perjury.
A man must have, from the nature of the thing, and in fact has,
the thoughts of God Almighty and of his duty upon his mind
at the time; and then it is showing, by transgressing one, and
in effect bidding defiance to the other, a false way of implying
in the person guilty of it, either a disbelief or contempt of God’s
knowledge, power, and justice. This is a heavy accusation ;
but when we reflect that a man who swears calls upon God to
witness what he says, invokes his vengeance, renounces his
favor, if what he says be false, knowing still that it is false,
what are we to think of the swearer's guilt? Can we think he
believes that God hears him, that God has the power to punish
him, and that God is a punisher and avenger of wickedness?
If he believe these attributes, it is clear that he despises and
wilfully defies them. tºes.
But, secondly; perjury violates a superior confidence. Man-
kind must trust to one another; and they have nothing better
to trust to than another’s oath. Hence all legal decisions,
which govern and affect every right and interest on this side of
the grave, of necessity proceed and depend upon oaths. Per-
jury, therefore, in its general consequences, strikes at the secu-
rity of reputation, property, and even life itself. A lie cannot
do the same mischief, because the same credit is not given to
it. I have repeatedly endeavoured to inculcate this rule, that
the way of estimating the guilt of any action is, to consider
what would be the consequence if others allowed themselves in
the same; the rule will never fail us. Now apply it to the
case of perjury; what would be the effects, what would be the
condition of mankind, if men once began to trifle with oaths, or
to allow themselves, without shame or reserve, to swear to a
OATHS. 91
falsehood P No man’s innocence, no man’s character, no man’s
estate, no man’s life, would be safe for an hour. Who would
sleep in his bed in peace that reflected he was in danger of
being called out to prison, and perhaps to death, upon the accu-
sation of a false witness; and that, since the obligation of oaths
was held no longer sacred, false witnesses were to be procured
in every street of a city ? We read of something of the kind
in the last stage of prophecy, in the state at which some nations
arrived before their destruction; and a dismal state of affairs it
was. It supplied the place of murder and robbery, when men
could take away the lives and fortunes of another by false
swearing. This they may always do. Courts of justice, be
they ever so honest or so vigilant, cannot help it, for they must
trust to oaths of witnesses; for what else, what higher tie upon
the consciences of men, can they trust to ? So that it is truly
said that every man's estate or life is in the power of perjury to
take away; and this is true in our own country as much as in
any other.
The point we laid down was, that there is good reason to
believe that God will punish false swearing with greater severi-
ty than a simple falsehood; and we have evidence to prove
that it is in reality a greater crime.
But further it is to be observed, in the third and last place,
that God, in the Old Testament, directed the Israelites to swear
by his name, and the priests to require upon some occasions an
oath of the person to be examined; and moreover, to show the
immutability of his own counsels, he solemnly confirmed his
covenant with that people by an oath. None of these things,
it is probable, he would have done, had he not intended that
oaths should have some meaning and effect beyond the obliga-
tion of a bare word or promise; which effect must be owing to
the severer punishment with which he will hereafter vindicate
the authority of oaths.
92 PROFANE SWEARING.
YVII.
PROFANE SWEARING.
ExoDUs XX. 7.
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not
hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
IN all cases whatever, where there is an express command,
it is best, in my opinion, to set off with the command, and to
let it come fairly to be tried what the strength of the command
is ; whether men will take upon them to set aside the authority
of God’s commandment or not. *
Now in the case of profane swearing, there is a positive and
express command extant. There neither is, nor ever was, a
doubt but that the command reaches the case. There neither
is, nor ever was, a doubt but that the case of profane swearing
constituted a direct and positive violation of the command.
There may be, and there are, various ways of taking God’s
name in vain, but it never has been disputed that profane swear-
ing is one of them.
There is no swearer, then, who does not knowingly violate
the divine command, and who therefore has not this question to
ask himself; Whether he be safe while he is going on in a con-
tinued breach of one of God’s commandments : That is pre-
cisely his situation; and if he can draw, either from sound rea-
son or from scripture, good authority for believing that to be a
safe situation, then he may be at ease; if he cannot, then has
he the condemnation of a transgressed and despised command
to look forward to. It does not seem a case, either for evasion,
for doubt, or indeed for much reasoning. The command is
clear, if commands can be clear. The transgression is also
clear.
And in this respect it goes beyond some other duties, and
some other sins, in the clearness of the command and the clear-
ness of the transgression; for which reason, although it may
be true, and perhaps is true, that the most ignorant persons are
the most guilty of this practice, yet it is a case in which igno-
rance is little or no excuse. Were it a deep or abstruse case,
were it a case of much argument or reasoning, were it a case
which called for learning, or research, or inquiry, or knowledge,
to come to any certainty about it, great apologies might be made
PROFANE SWEARING. 93
for ignorance, great allowance to the want of education or of
opportunity, from which the ignorance proceeded. But nothing
of this sort can be pleaded. Here is a plain command, and a
plain transgression. The ignorant man knows this as well as
the wise. It is a rule for all. ‘God will not hold him guilt-
less that taketh his name in vain,’ is a judgment pronounced
for all mankind. The most illiterate understands it, the most
learned does no more.
If any questions have been ever raised upon this command,
such as whether taking any oath, or upon any occasion, be con-
sistent with it, more especially as it is recognised and applied
by our Saviour, they are questions in which the profane swear-
er has no concern. This case is clearly within the law. It is
nothing to him whether other cases be so or not.
I have said, here is a plain transgression of a plain command;
and of what sort of a command Let that be considered. Let
it be considered under what circumstances, with what distin-
guishing force, with what extraordinary and prodigious so-
lemnity, the ten commandments, of which this is one, were:
delivered; what reverence they are entitled to from all who
reverence God. With those who think that God is not to be
reverenced, who do not reverence him in any thing, I have no:
concern. “And the Lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people,
and sanctify them today and tomorrow ; and be ready against
the third day, for the third day the Lord will come down, in
the sight of all the people, upon Mount Sinai. And it came to
pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders
and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the Mount, and the voice
of the trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people that was
in the camp trembled; and Moses brought forth the people out
of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the
Mount; and Mount Sinai was altogether in a smoke, because
the Lord descended upon it in fire; and the smoke thereof
ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole Mount
quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded
long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God an-
swered him by a voice. And God spake all these words.”
‘These words,” saith Moses, ‘the Lord spake unto all your as-
sembly in the Mount, out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud,
and of the thick darkness, with a great voice, and he added no
more; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone, and deliv-
ered them unto me.”
Now of commands so delivered, so pronounced, accompa-
mied with such terrible preparation and solemnity, is any one to
94. PROFANE SWEARING.
be made a sport of 2 Is it to be a diversion, a mirth, to treat
one such command with insult and contempt, and with the very
highest degree of both 2 Yet is it not true, that ‘Thou shalt
not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain,’ is one of these
commands; and is it not true, that it is thus treated 2 I speak
not, as I said before, to those who think that God is not to be
reverenced at all, or who do not reverence him in any thing,
but to others do I speak, and most especially to all young per-
sons. What a beginning is this, of a religious course of life 2 It
is impossible, in the nature of things, that any serious sentiments
of religion, any impressions, any conversation, any practice, any
thing that resembles a religious character, or approaches to it,
can grow out of such an origin.
But it may be said that this was spoken to the Jews, and not
to the Christians. Hear how that matter stands; “I say unto
you, swear not at all; neither by heaven, for it is God’s
throne ; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; neither by
Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king; neither shalt thou
swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white
or black; but let your communication be yea, yea, or may,
nay, for whatever is more than these, cometh of evil.” These
are the words of Christ himself, whereby it appears most indis-
putably, that he adopts the third commandment in its full extent,
and according to the spirit, as well as the letter of it. So far
from superseding or weakening its authority, he adds to it his
own ; “I say unto you, swear not at all.” So far from confin-
ing its extent, he rather enlarges it ; that is, he interprets it
according to its spirit as well as its letter; from the name of
God he extends it to every thing which relates to God. This
excuse, therefore, does not come well from the mouth of any
Christian whatever, namely, that the commandment was spoken
only to the Jews; for Christ, the author of our religion, has
explicitly adopted it, in all its force, in all its obligation, and in
all its extent. What Christ himself began upon this head, the
apostles continued ; “Above all things, my brethren, Swear not,
neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath.’
Here is the very same strain of admonition as our Lord had
used, clear, positive, decisive ; and this is from St James.
Am I not well warranted, therefore, in asserting concerning
profane swearing, that there is a clear command, and a clear
transgression ? But will any one reply by asking, What is a
command without a reason 2 I will judge the strength of the
command by the weight of the reason, when I know it. Is this
a reply from a creature to his Creator, from dust and ashes to
PROFANE SWEARING. 95
Omnipotence, from ignorance itself to Him who knoweth all
things, from weakness and impotency to the ruler of the world 2
Is the command itself nothing Is not the command itself suffi-
cient; above all reasons or arguments whatever sufficient; a
command so pronounced, so ratified; proceeding from such
authority, delivered with such solemnity; so decisive in its
prohibitions, so clear in its signification ?
The reason, nevertheless, is the strongest of all reasons; to
uphold, namely, in the minds of men, a reverence for their
Creator. Such is human nature, such is the constitution of the
human mind, that what is treated externally, that is, by words
or by behaviour, with levity and giddiness and contempt, loses
its force and impression internally. It is so in all cases; it is
remarkably so in the present. How stands the fact in men
addicted to swearing 2 Are they men who live under an inward
conscientious awe of God Almighty; a sense of his infinite
adorable nature, of his constant presence, of his bounty or his
goodness, of his power or his authority, his close relation to us,
our absolute dependence upon him If these things be true,
are they not things which should possess the mind?' But is it
possible that a mind possessed with such thoughts should allow
itself without any shock in the practice of swearing? Is out-
ward profaneness consistent with inward piety Can they, do
they in fact and in experience, subsist together in the same
person? That I take to be the exact question. If it be true,
either that a deep, a just, a rational piety, even without the
smallest tincture of enthusiasm or melancholy, must and actu-
ally will produce a seriousness of outward demeanour with
respect to these subjects, at least to a degree sufficient to
check both presumptuous contempt and heedless levity, of
which contempt and levity a surer evidence and indication can-
not be given than by common swearing, in any form of it and
under all forms, for though forms of swearing be more or less
shocking, they are in their view alike; or if on the other hand
it be true, that the habit and practice of swearing will eat out,
in young minds most particularly, all reverence for God Almigh-
ty, dissipate all good impressions, produce an incapacity for
devotion, either public or private, and at last bring them to an
impious boldness, to a casting off of all awe of God’s judgments,
of all regard and respect to him ; then undoubtedly there was
not only reason, but the highest of all reasons, for laying a re-
straint upon licentiousness so pernicious in its consequences;
and the same, nay indeed much greater reason, for obeying that
law, and that injunction by which it was laid. Depend upon it,
96 PROFANE SWEARING.
that a regard to God Almighty lies at the root of every thing
which is good, is the only restraint from every thing that is bad;
that whatever in any degree diminishes, or tends to diminish
that regard, is of all hurtful things the most so.
For if it be allowed, which I think it may, that to see the
moral evil of swearing, is to look farther than the generality of
men do look, and that these evil effects, though real, and
great, and certain, are not, like the effects of murder or theft,
sensible and immediate ; allowing this, then in what situation
does the subject stand with those who have not considered the
effects at all? It stands thus; it stands with them upon the
ground of religion. The religion of the case, the religious
command is clear; that at least is obvious and intelligible; of
that at least they must be apprised. Wherefore, if they be of
the number of those who do not comprehend the reason, or
have never much considered the reason which makes swearing
and cursing an evil, upon principles of morality, then it be-
comes a test and trial whether religion alone, whether religion
as such, and independently of other considerations, has any
authority or influence with them at all. Rules of morality,
such as, commonly speaking, are called so, do not afford this
test; for they are either enforced by the terrors or penalties
of law, or the violation of them is attended with direct and im-
mediate public mischief, or with cruelty, or with injury to indi-
viduals; under all which circumstances, although religion ope-
rate in keeping us to our duty, yet it operates in conjunction and
combination with other powerful motives. In the case before
us, that is to say, in curbing, and checking, and breaking the
practice of profane swearing, religion operates by itself, and
therefore shows what degree of force and strength and weight
it really has with us. This observation is applicable to a high-
er class than those who are vulgarly addicted to this vice, and
the very truth is, that those who have upon their minds a sense
of religion as such, and in any degree proportioned to its im-
mense importance, are not drawn into the practice of swearing
by any position of circumstances whatever; those in whom
this sense is feeble, or wanting, or lost, are drawn into this
practice, if it so happen that their profession, their company, or
their temper, or their habit, lead them into it.
I shall conclude with one reflection.
If there be one description of men more than another who
ought to have the dread of God Almighty upon their minds,
and in whom that dread ought to check all profane, all con-
temptuous, all idle, all impious treatment of his name and his
DRUNKENNESS. 97
commands, it is those who carry their lives in their hands.
* Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have
no more that they can do; but I will forewarn you whom you
shall fear; fear him, who, after he hath killed, hath power to
cast into hell; yea I say unto you fear him.’
XVIII.
DRUNKENNESS.
RoMANs XIII. 13.
Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness.
WHoEveR considers the purity and strictness of the christian
religion; how it extends its rules, not only to our actions, but
our words, not only to words, but to thoughts; how it requires
selfcommand, selfgovernment, at almost every turn, and in eve-
ry point of our duties; mastery and management of our pas-
sions of every kind; a constraint over every inclination, so as
to be able to check and call it back to its subjection to reason ;
whoever considers this, will see that we stand in need of per-
petual vigilance and circumspection; how liable we are to fall;
how little able to maintain a complete adherence to God’s laws,
even in our soberest hours, with the perfect use of our faculties,
and without any extraordinary violence or impetuosity added
to our acquired or constitutional propensities; that consequent-
ly, when a great advantage is thrown by intemperance into the
wrong scale, the passions of every sort are inflamed and put in
motion, our reflection and sense of duty is confused, our judg-
ment disordered, the admonitions of conscience laid asleep, and
we are surrounded with temptations and with provocations; in
this condition it cannot be expected from human strength that
a man should preserve an unblameable conduct, or a steady
regard to the rules of morality and religion. Accordingly, I
suppose it is the fact, that few, or none, recover from a fit of
intemperance but who are conscious, when they come to them-
selves, of some impropriety or extravagance into which drunk-
enness has betrayed them; some action or some outrage of
which they are ashamed ; some expression or word which has
escaped them, and which they wish in vain could be recalled;
--
13
98 DRUNKENNESS.
some quarrel which they have drawn upon themselves; some
enmity of which they have sown the seed, and, universally, a
loss of that command of ourselves in which both our happiness
and virtue consist. But then comes the specious considera-
tion, that the crimes a man commits in that condition are ex-
cused by the very condition he is in ; that he is not chargeable
with what he does when he is not himself; when he has no
command perhaps left of his conduct; when his nature and
disposition are altered as to all moral purposes; that, like the
insane person, he is entitled to all the indulgence and excuses
of that condition. This plea is made by thousands; it is a
kind of discourse you often hear; and weighs, I am apt to sup-
pose, much in the private thoughts of persons addicted to in-
temperate courses. We allow, too, that it carries enough of
the semblance of reason to impose upon many, and to deserve
examination.
Now, the first observation that occurs, is, that if this plea
were allowed in its full extent, a man would be at liberty when
he found himself disordered by intemperance to commit any
crime or any extravagance; for his drunkenness, according to
his argument, would cover and excuse it all; and a conclusion
so absurd leads one to suspect the argument from which it
flows. The truth of the case seems to be this; that if we look
no further than the point of time when a drunken man commits
his crime, it will be difficult to distinguish between his case and
that of an insane person; for he is at that moment more com-
pletely bereft of his reason, at least as completely delivered
over to the impulse of his passions, as the other; and if that be
an excuse for the one, why should it not be so for both 2 So
it may be argued, if we confine our attention to the precise pe-
riod of committing the offence. But here the two cases differ
exceedingly; that the one person suffers under the visitation of
an inevitable calamity; the other is the author of his own dis-
temper; and this is what, properly, the drunkard’s guilt con-
sists in ; not in committing faults when he is in a condition in
which he cannot help it, but in knowingly and voluntarily bring-
ing himself into such a condition. And when we once under-
stand the proper foundation of the guilt, we shall be enabled to
estimate the crime of the action of a drunken man, compared
with the same action in a sober man. The rule of reason and
justice appears to be this; whatever proportion the chance of
falling into such and such crimes bears to the absolute certain-
ty, the same proportion does the crime of any evil action in a
#ºn man bear to the guilt of the same action in a sober
DRUNKENNESS. 99
man; so that if there be, as there always is, unjustifiable licen-
tiousness, if not of action, at least of language and thought, to
which all persons inflamed with liquor are subject; or if there
be certain particular feelings and extravagances which the
infirmity of particular constitutions when disordered by intem-
perance is sure to draw men into, then, and to both these,
the guilt may be deemed equal to the deeds, if committed with
all our senses and faculties about us; for it makes little or no
difference whether we deliberately commit a crime, or delibe-
rately put ourselves into a condition in which we know before-
hand that we shall be tempted to commit it. Of crimes and
outrages which are the effects of drunkenness, but are unusual
or unthought of, the judgment is not quite the same ; they can-
not be accounted of, as if proceeding from deliberate wicked-
ness, because they are the effects of a condition which admits
of no deliberation; nor can it be said here, as before, that the
drunken man foresaw, or might have foreseen these effects,
when he suffered himself to be brought into such a condition;
for they are by the supposition unusual, and therefore not fore-
seen; but though unusual, they are not impossible, nor perhaps,
all things considered, very improbable. Therefore there is a
guilt, and a very great one, in incurring the hazard, or even
the possibility of perpetrating those crimes and outrages from
which we had power or had reason to withhold us; and from
which we are safe, or at least distant, so long as we neither
abused that power nor that reason. I here put the supposition
more in favor of intemperance than it will properly bear; for I
supposed that the disorder occasioned by it deprives a man
of the use of his understanding, and leaves him, at the time of
committing the crime, in the absolute condition of an insane
person; so that the very guilt he was capable of, consisted in
bringing himself into that condition. Now this is seldom the
case in reality. In intoxication, some selfcommand, some
conscientious sense of right and wrong remains with men; and
for so much as does remain they are accountable, as much
then as ever. Another circumstance should likewise always
be noticed, which is a great aggravation of drunkenness; when
a man finds by experience the mischievous, the pernicious con-
sequences which intemperance produces to himself, or through
him to others, and does not take warning by them, but returns
to his drunkenness at every opportunity, and whenever the
temptation comes round, it will be difficult to distinguish such
a man’s misconduct from the same misconduct in a sober per-
son; at least, there is a wide difference between this case, and
100 DRUNKENNESS,
his who has been casually betrayed into intemperance, and, by
intemperance, into improper behaviour, and takes little caution
from the experience of his own infirmity, to keep out of the
way of a second temptation, or gains little resolution to with-
stand it.
One considerable part of the mischiefs and evil tendency of
intemperance, is the ea ample, especially in people whose ex-
ample is likely to influence others; as of masters of families,
persons in public stations, those who are, or ought to be, the
instructers of others.
Drunkenness effectually puts an end to all authority; for it
so degrades and debases the drunkard, as not only to bring
him upon a level with the lowest of those over whom his au-
thority should be preserved, but much beneath them. It is
ridiculous in a drunkard to talk to others of decency, order,
good manners, quietness, peaceableness, industry, activity, use-
fulness, who himself, in this one vice, exhibits a public exam-
ple of the violation of all these duties. And this matter of ex-
ample, in this, as well as in a thousand other instances, may
lead us to enlarge our views of the consequences of our actions,
and see a guilt in them which we may not discern in them con-
sidered simply in themselves. In the case before us, expense,
for instance, may not be a consideration to all; but their ex-
ample, or their company, may draw in others to make it a con-
sideration very serious. In like manner, the shame, and dis-
tress, and terror, and uneasiness which intemperance is sure to
occasion to a person’s own family, is an important aggravation
of the offence. This is not applicable to those who have no
family; but then the infection of their example, or the exer-
cise of their vice, propagates itself to those who have families,
and so makes them indirectly the authors of misery which, very
possibly, they never intended or suspected.
I have thus enumerated the effects of drunkenness, without
exaggeration; for I do not wish to indulge in invective or ex-
cite indignation against it, further than the solid mischief it pro-
duces will justify. Universally we ought to take into the ac-
count, not merely the mischief it produces at the very moment
of committing the crime, but altogether, sooner or later, directly
or indirectly ; to ourselves, in our fortunes, health, constitu-
tions, understandings; to our families, in their subsistence, ex-
pectations, morals, peace, and satisfaction; to the neighbour-
hood and the public at large, by the outrages, indecencies, and
extravagances into which it betrays us; or more generally, by
the evil tendency of our example, which will operate afterwards
DRUNKENNESS. 101
where it is more pernicious than in ourselves, and for which
we are in a very serious degree answerable.
It remains that we state the judgment of scripture concerning
this vice; which you will find to be agreeable to what the light
of nature, rightly attended to, indicates of its evil tendency;
* Be not drunk with wine,’ says St Paul, “wherein is excess.”
You here find no rigid rules of abstinence or self denial;
nothing of that unnecessary mortification or painful refusal of the
satisfactions of life, which all religions that are founded on en-
thusiasm or imposture have been wont to enjoin. St Paul does
not forbid wine; but being drunken with wine, wherein is ex-
cess. The reasonableness of this precept entitles it to re-
spect.
In the sixth chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians,
St Paul enumerates the offenders of whom he says, “they shall
not inherit the kingdom of heaven.” Amongst these we find
drunkards; “neither thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor
revilers, nor extortioners, shall enter the kingdom of heaven.”
This declaration admits of no comment save one ; that we must
understand the apostle to speak of habitual offenders, persisting
in their respective crimes, without repentance, change, or re-
formation. In other passages, St Paul is at some pains to teach
his disciples how inconsistent this vice is with their particular
characters and profession. It was a common way of preach-
ing with him, to describe those who were indulged with the
light of the gospel as children of light, and of the day, in op-
position to the rest of the world, who lived, as to religious mat-
ters, in night and darkness. In this view of their condition as
Christians, he takes occasion to enforce upon them the duty of
sobriety; “They that be drunken, are drunken in the night;
but let us who are of the day be sober.” I am not concerned
to discuss the arguments. The passage shows St Paul’s senti-
ments of the crime of drunkenness, and its absolute inconsist-
ency with the christian profession.
With respect to the preservatives against this vice, the first
thing to be remarked is, that there is no trusting to our natural
aversion to excessive drinking. Most people have this aver-
sion at first. Therefore, a man being drawn in notwithstand-
ing, proves that that is no security to be depended upon.
If, then, from our business, in which we are exposed to much
company and many invitations to excess, or from any other
cause, that we find our aversion abating, and a liking or a de-
sire after this indulgence beginning, I know of no better advice
102 LICENTIOUSNESS AND DEBAUCHERY.
that can be given, than to tie ourselves down by rules, and re-
solutely and constantly to abide by them.
All such rules are absurd when they are unnecessary; but
they are not unnecessary when we are exposed to such danger
by the consequences of falling into such a habit, so utterly de-
structive of all that is good, and of such incalculable mischief;
and from which there is so little hope, if there be any indeed,
of ever recovering. -
The next great caution I would recommend is, to beware of
indulgences of the kind when alone, at home, and in our own
families. So long as we confine our intemperance to occasions
of feasting or of company, that can be repeated no oftener than
the occasions return, which is not constantly. Whenever we
cease to wait for occasions, and have found the way of betak-
ing ourselves to this gratification by ourselves, there is less,
there is nothing, to hinder or interrupt a settled habit of intem-
perance fastening upon us. As I have observed already, the
most plausible excuse to ourselves for indulgence is fatigue.
Thousands have been drawn in by this excuse. It is always,
therefore, prudent to place the danger full before our eyes; to
reflect how easily and how gently refreshment leads to intem-
perance, indulgence to excess. We shall consult our safety
and happiness by forbidding to ourselves such indulgence, the
moment we perceive that there is danger of its gaining ground
upon us, and laying, however slowly, the foundation for every
other vice.
XIX.
LICENTIOUSNESS AND DEBAUCHERY.
EPHESIANs W. 6.
Let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things cometh
the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
THESE are awful words. They assert most satisfactorily,
that there are certain things, which, let men say or think what
they will, are sure of bringing down the wrath of God upon
those who commit them. They further intimate, that, although
this be certainly true, and will be found to be so, yet many
LICENTIOUSINESS AND DEBAUCHERY. 103
mistake, fatally mistake the matter, hold flattering opinions up-
on the subject which will prove to be false, thereby overlook-
ing or remaining ignorant of their own danger, and of the end
to which they will come ; that there are deceivers and deceiv-
ed; they who are laboring to deceive others, and they who are
very willing to be deceived. For when the apostle uses these
words of warning, “let no man deceive you,” he knew that such
deceptions were abroad, were common, were employed, were
listened to, succeeded, and prevailed over the minds and con-
sciences of many. Then he apprizes them of the danger,
of the necessity of preparing and fortifying themselves against
such delusions. He bids them, for this is the meaning and
force of his admonition, he bids them look neither to the right
hand nor to the left; to listen neither to what one man said,
nor to what another man said; neither to this specious persua-
sion, nor to that plausible argument, but to keep close to this
one momentous, this never to be forgotten consideration, that
these, however varnished, however colored over, however ex-
tenuated or diminished, however excused or defended, will in
the event feel the wrath of God.
* Because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon
the children of disobedience.” Because, you will ask, of what
things 2 That undoubtedly is the first question to be consider-
ed. What were the things which St Paul had particularly in
his mind when he wrote the words of the text; I say particu-
larly, for that he had some particular view, or some particular
class and kind of view in his contemplation, cannot be well dis-
puted. Now the context, the words which go before, must
show us what he meant by these things, because they were
things which he had already mentioned. The term these
things implies that; it is a term of reference. But what he had
been speaking of before, to which the text relates, was as fol-
lows ; ‘Fornication and all uncleanness, or covetousness, nei-
ther filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting which is not con-
venient; for this ye know, that no whoremonger nor unclean
person, nor covetous man who is an idolater, hath any inheri-
tance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.’ And then he
goes on ; ‘Let no man deceive you with vain words, for be-
cause of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the chil-
dren of disobedience.” Now I say that the class of crimes
which the apostle had particularly, and I think had solely in
view, were crimes of licentiousness and debauchery. I include
all crimes arising from the unlawful and licentious indulgence of
men's passions. The terms made use of by St Paul, are ‘for-
104. LICENTIOUSNESS AND DEBAUCHERY.
nications, uncleanness, filthiness, foolish talking, jesting which
is not convenient.” Those terms all very evidently relate to
one and the same subject, and that subject is what I mentioned.
The only thing which can create a doubt whether it was that
class of vices alone, which St Paul intended, is the word covet-
ousness. Covetousness is put among the other articles enumer-
ated; “all uncleanness or covetousness.” Now it appears very
manifest that the word covetousness in this place, does not
mean covetousness in the sense in which we usually understand
it, as it relates to property or to riches, but that it means in-
ordinate desires of another kind, or the intemperate and un-
lawful indulgence and letting loose men's passions in the arti-
cle of licentiousness and debauchery. The phrase, I own, is
peculiar ; I mean, not only different from the common accep-
tation of the word at present, but different from the use of the
original word in that language, and in the writings of that time;
yet I think it can be made out by proofs, that this and not the
other, is the sense of the word in this place, and in some other
passages of St Paul’s epistles. First; the covetous man is
called an idolater. Now there is no proper reason for this, or
meaning in it, according to the common sense of the word
covetous. For though we may sometimes say that a man idol-
izes gold, it is only a modern fashion of speaking. It is not
intended nor found in the language of the New Testament, nor
like that language; but in the sense we are arguing for, it is
very just and proper. The character of the heathen idolatry,
and this is what St Paul refers to, was, that it taught immorality
instead of morality; that instead of prohibiting and discouraging
lewd and licentious practices, it promoted and authorized them
by the impurity and indecency of its religious rites ; which
being the case, it was natural for our apostle to call a man ad-
dicted to these vices an idolater; inasmuch as these vices com-
posed the character of that religion, if it deserved the name of
religion, and even of its religious worship. -
Secondly ; in the passage from which our text is taken, v.
13, you read that “it is a shame even to speak of those things
which are done of them in secret; ” and what is here said, evi-
dently refers to the offences before enumerated. But its being
a shame to speak of it, and its being done in secret, does not
apply to covetousness, in the common sense of the term. There
is nothing indecent or shameful in the mention of covetousness
in that sense; nor in that sense can it be particularly accused
of being carried on in secret; but of covetousness in the sense
we are affixing to it in this place, the inordinate indulgence of
vile and licentious desires, both these may be said truly.
LICENTIOUSNESS AND DEBAUCHERY. 105
Thirdly; one can hardly avoid being convinced that we are
right in our exposition of the word, when we consider how it
stands joined with this sort of sins in other parts of St Paul's
epistles; Col. iii, 5. “Mortify, therefore, your members which
are upon earth ; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection,
evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”
Again, I Cor. v. 9. “I wrote unto you in an epistle, not to keep
company with fornicators of this world, or with the covetous;”
and in the next verse, “but now,” says he, “I have written unto
you, not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother,
be a fornicator or covetous.” In both these places, covetous-
ness is put in close connexion with fornication, which connex-
ion establishes the sense we give to it. The fourth chapter of
the 1st Thess. verse 5th, is equally strong for our purpose,
though not quite so obvious. The passage is this; ‘Ye know
what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus; an aw-
ful preface; then what follows 2 * This is the will of God, even
your sanctification; that ye should abstain from fornication ;
that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in
Sanctification and honor, not in the lust of concupiscence, even
as the Gentiles which know not God; that no man go beyond,
or defraud his brother in any matter, because that the Lord is
the avenger of all such ; as we have also forewarned you and
testified, for God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto
holiness.” In this passage the apostle is discoursing of one
class and kind of crimes; and what that class was appears from
the concluding clause ; “God hath not called us unto unclean-
ness.” Now though the word covetousness does not appear in
our translation, it does in the original language; for the word
which is translated go beyond in this passage, is the word which
is translated coveting, covetousness, in the other passages. In
each and every one of these passages, it is put as an undoubt-
ed and characteristic mark of idolatry. From the term, there-
fore, being always put by St Paul in strict and close connexion
with fornication, we are authorized to conclude that it bore in
his mind, and in his manner of writing, a signification similar
to what that term bears.
It may be said, that investigations of this sort are superfluous
and minute ; but I answer, that when we read such strong
texts as the present, ‘because of these things cometh the wrath
of God upon the children of disobedience,’ it can never be su-
perfluous to ascertain what things the apostle really meant.
These declarations are what we have to go by. Their true
sense, therefore, is of the utmost moment for us to know ; and
14
106 LICENTIOUSNESS AND DEBAUCHERY.
in the present instance, I think that it is made out with great
certainty, that sins of debauchery and licentiousness were what
the apostle had specifically in his mind, when he pronounced
this condemnation.
The next observation I have to make is, that these sins were
then common amongst the heathen ; that the Christians, before
their conversion, had been addicted to them ; that those who
practised them were endeavouring, under various pretexts, to
draw others to be partakers with them ; that these pretexts
were to be resisted by the consideration that, let the slaves or
the advocates of those vices say what they will, “the wrath of
God, because of these, cometh upon the children of disobedi-
ence.” These sins were so common amongst the idolatrous
heathens, that they were emphatically called idolatry itself, and
that in all the different passages which have been quoted.
Again, some of the Christians themselves, before their conver-
sion, had been addicted to them. ‘Ye were sometimes dark-
mess, but now are ye light in the Lord ; walk as children of the
light;” and more express in the epistle to the Colossians,
speaking of the same practices; ‘In the which,’ says he, ‘ye
also walked some time, when ye lived in them.” Thirdly;
those who practised these crimes were endeavouring, by vari-
ous practices, to draw in others to be partakers with them ;
“Be not ye partakers with them. Let no man deceive you
with vain words; have no fellowship with the unfruitful works
of darkness.’ This was the state and character of the times.
This was the situation of the persons whom St Paul so earnest-
ly admonishes. And in similar situations, the like admonitions
will be always necessary. For I take upon me to say, that
whensoever any licentious practice becomes common in the
country, palliatives and excuses, salvos and subterfuges, will
never be wanting to draw in and encourage the timid and ap-
prehensive who are entering upon such courses, as well as to
fortify and to harden those who are actually and deeply engag-
ed in them ; that there will always be found, as I said before,
deceivers; and likewise persons very willing, not to say desi-
rous, to be deceived ; that as it was in St Paul's time, so since,
so now, so hereafter, it will be the case, that those who give a
loose to such practices will endeavour by many vain words, by
various forced and futile reasons, both to make themselves as
easy as they can in the course which they are following, and
to bring others, first to relax in their own condemnation of such
examples, and then to imitate them. When this once hap-
pens, and it happens to all of us, that is the very case in which
FORNICATION. • 107
we ought to recollect St Paul’s powerful warning, delivered
under circumstances perfectly similar to those which we expe-
rience; ‘Let no man deceive you with vain words; ” with art-
ful salvos and subterfuges, with contrived excuses and extenu-
ations; for the solemn truth remains, and so you will find it to
be, that “because of these things, cometh the wrath of God on
the children of disobedience.”
XX.
FORNICATION.
PART I.
HEBREws XIII. 4.
Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled; but whoremongers and
adulterers God will judge.
IN treating of the crime of whoredom, thus solemnly rebuked
in these words, I shall simply mention to you the mischiefs at-
tending it, and the severe declarations of scripture against it ;
and then leave it to yourselves to judge whether the allowing
ourselves in this practice can be consistent with the hopes of
getting to heaven at the last.
Now, I maintain, that whoredom is destructive to the public,
destructive to the person joined with us in the crime, and de-
structive to ourselves. It destroys the public in this way; if
there be one thing more than another of consequence to the
public morality, it is the encouraging and keeping up of family
connexion; for without families, what would become of the
world 2 The business of it could not be carried on ; there
would be little private comfort; there would be no industry or
regularity in the country; children could not be brought up
with any tolerable care, or sent into the world to do any good
in it. But more need not be said ; for every man that reflects
a moment must perceive that it is morally impossible to keep
up any peace, quietness, happiness, or order amongst mankind,
without families; and as a proof of it, marriage institutions, of
some kind or other, obtain, as far as I know, in every quarter
and country of the world ; a plain proof that men are convinc-
ed it is absolutely necessary for the common good.
108 FORNICATION,
Now whoredom and fornication are ‘sure to hinder and dis-
courage marriage; for if people are restrained from the un-
lawful indulgence of the passions, nature herself will take care
to point out to them what is lawful, and marriage will be more
or less frequent and happy, according as men are tied down
from loose and irregular gratifications. I am aware what you
will answer ; that this may be a consideration of consequence
upon the whole, but that in a single person’s case, the harm a
single person can do to the whole community in this respect is
but a trifle, scarcely to be perceived. To which I answer,
that you may say this almost of any crime; it is not a vast or
very sensible mischief that any one man, however wicked, can
do to the public at large ; but you will please to remember
withal, that if the mischief you do is but a trifle with respect to
the public happiness, the punishment you suffer for it hereafter
is but a trifle with respect, to the public misery; the one is pro-
portionable to the other, though but inconsiderable with respect
to the whole; it may be enough to destroy you, who in the
same view are also inconsiderable. But the proper answer to
this, which is a very common way of talking and thinking, is
this; What would be the consequence if every one were to
argue so 2 I allow myself in this, which I own in the general
practice to be wrong and hurtful, because my single case can
make but small difference. Another has the same reason to
say so that you have ; and so if this excuse is to be allowed in
one instance, there is nothing left but to allow the sanction to
every one that pleases; that is, to make an end at once of all
morality and religion in the world.
But secondly ; whoredom, I contend, is mischievous in the
highest degree possible to the partner of our guilt, the person
concerned with us in it. I desire to draw your attention to this
point. Imagine a wife, a daughter, a sister of your own, to be
the person seduced and corrupted; you cannot conceive a
heavier misfortune, an affliction or disgrace that can equal it.
What shame, confusion, and misery in a family How is a hap-
py and united house thrown into a scene of bitterness, anguish,
and reproach | What think you of the author of this misery :
Is there no guilt in his behaviour 2 Is there no punishment due
to it, to be expected for it, from a just and righteous God He
may have got out of the way, and does not see or know all the
misery he has occasioned; but does that make it less, or ex-
tenuate his offence 2 I am free to say, that if we compute
crimes by the unhappiness and distress they knowingly occa-
sion, and I know no better method of computing, not half the
FORNICATION. 109.
offences for which men suffer death by the law, are so guilty as
this of seducing and corrupting a young person to her ruin.
The loss of money or property is nothing to it. Now, I may
say, whoredom always begins or ends with this. It too often
begins with this ; or otherwise profligate young men who have
already debauched and corrupted themselves in the world, be-
come the authors of this mischief and calamity to others.
Thirdly ; it is mischievous also to the offender himself, and
in this way; it draws down the mind from all sense of religion,
and by degrees loosens and wears away all the good princi-
ples that were in a man. There are some points, which when
well passed, all is over with a man; and this seems to be one
of those points. When a man has been once brought to al-
low himself in habitual whoredom and uncleanness, generally
speaking, it is all over with him. As to his religious princi-
ciples, he will soon, if I am not mistaken, find a change him-
self in this respect, which he will be surprised at ; that is,
many things which before seemed shocking and abominable to
him become so familiar and accustomed to his thoughts as to be
made light of; all spiritual meditation and reflection, all reli-
gion, and the hopes of it, are laid aside when a man has given
himself up entirely to this vice; indeed, he is neither fit for
such thoughts, nor has any relish for them ; his thoughts and
his relish are taken up with something else, from which he
finds it impossible to lift or disengage himself. I am saying
no more than what I believe fact and observation will easily
testify. There are scarce any who give themselves up habit-
ually to this vice who retain any sense of their various obliga-
tions, or live in the fear of God in other instances. It has a
more immediate tendency, I think, than any other vice to cre-
ate a disregard to all other breaches of the law, and to occa-
sion a total neglect of duty. The duties of devotion, those
particularly relating to the Deity, suffer especially by this prac-
tice, which clouds the understanding, corrupts the will, debases
the affections, and indisposes the whole man for devotion and
any proper service of God. It usually occasions all kinds of
sins, and prevents the repentance of any. We need not go
far to seek for the causes of this effect. One may be, that as
there can be no peace but by reconciling, some how or other,
their practice with their principles, they who will not conform
themselves to the purity required by the gospel, are forced, as
it were, to conform their notions to their own impure conversa-
tion, and either at once to have done with the belief of Chris-
tianity, or, what is more easy and common, to stifle the remem-
I 10 FORNICATION.
brance of it. These are the consequences of whoredom to
the public at large, to the partner of our crime in particular,
and upon ourselves; and I do not know that I have exaggerated
them, or put down any which are not true. *
I proceed, in the next place, to set before you some of those
declarations against it which are to be found in scripture. I
could produce a great deal out of the Book of Proverbs, from
the Book of Wisdom, and the prophets, but I shall confine my-
self to what Christ and his apostles have said, as being of the
higher authority with us, and that according to which we shall
be judged. ‘Out of the heart,” says our Saviour himself,
‘proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts,
false witness, blasphemies; these are the things which defile a
man.” This is what our Saviour himself says ; and one word
from him decides the point. You will observe also with what
company fornication is classed; with murders, thefts, false wit–
ness, blasphemies. I do not mean that these crimes are all to
be reckoned equal, because they are all mentioned together;
but it proves that they all are crimes. The apostles are more
full ; and for this reason, that they had to do with the heathens,
who made very light of this crime. St Peter enforces the duty
of chastity upon the new Christians in the following very
strong terms; “Dearly beloved,” says he in his first epistle, ‘I
beseech you as pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war
against the soul.” And again in his second epistle ; ‘The
Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and
to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished ;
but chiefly them that walk after the flesh, in the lust of un-
cleanness.’ These are very plain and affecting words; ‘the
Lord knoweth how to reserve the unjust unto the day of judg-
ment to be punished; but chiefly them that walk after the flesh
in the lust of uncleanness.’ St Paul also has treated this sub-
ject very largely; as indeed he had occasion, being that to
which the people he wrote to were before their conversion
much addicted ; “but fornication, and all uncleanness, let it not
be once named amongst you, as becometh Saints.’ St Paul
shows here very plainly his sense of the heinousness of this
vice. He not only says, let it not be practised, but “not once
named amongst you, as becometh saints.’ This to the Ephe-
sians. To the Corinthians he sets forth the guilt of this vice
in this way; ‘Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and
that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you ? If any man defile the
temple of God, him shall God destroy.’ And that the defiling
here spoken of is intended of fornication is pretty plain from
FORNICATION. 111
what he says more fully in the sixth chapter of his epistle;
* Flee fornication ; every sin that a man doeth is without the
body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his
own body, the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you,
which ye have of God; and ye are not your own.”
I do not want to explain the argument here used by St Paul,
or all the expressions contained in it; because I produce it
only to show, what it says without any explantion, that St Paul
condemned fornication as absolutely and peculiarly inconsistent
with the christian profession. In his epistle to the Colossians,
for I think there is hardly one of his epistles which does not
take notice, more or less, of this, he charges them as follows;
* Mortify your members which are upon the earth ; fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence; for which
things' sake,” he adds, “the wrath of God cometh upon the
children of disobedience.” For which things' sake; that is,
for the sake of fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection,
evil concupiscence. This is a very awakening rebuke to these
vices; we find that they call down upon them the wrath of
God. Once more also, in his epistle to the Thessalonians;
‘This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye
should abstain from fornication.” Had the apostle stopped
here, he had told us every thing we wanted of the will of God.
‘This is the will of God ; ' and to know that will and do it is
the whole of our business here ; but he proceeds; ‘that every
one of you should know how to possess his vessel,” namely, his
own body, “in sanctification and honor; not in the lust of con-
cupiscence, even as the Gentiles, which know not God; for
God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.”
There are two very remarkable passages to our purpose in the
Revelation of St John, in which you cannot fail to take notice
both of the terrible sentence denounced against fornication
amongst some other crimes, and also with what other crimes it
is classed; “The fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable,
and murderers, and whoremongers, and idolaters, and all liars,
shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire
and brimstone.’ And again, speaking of those who shall be
excluded from the Divine presence, he says; “Without are
dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and
idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.” The words
of the text I reserve for the conclusion, because it is both posi-
tive, and withal so short as to be easily carried in memory.
It is in the thirteenth chapter of Hebrews and the fourth verse;
112 FORNICATION.
• Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled; but
whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.’
I shall make no sort of remark on what has been said, but
this one; that if you are satisfied, partly from the harm it does,
but principally from these places of scripture, that whoredom
is really contrary to the will of God, and will draw down his
wrath upon it, it matters not how light the world may in gen-
eral make of it; because it is by the rules of scripture and
reason that we shall be judged at last, and not by the opinion
of the world.
XXI.
FORNICATION.
PART II.
HEBREws XIII. 4.
Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled; but whoremongers and
adulterers God will judge.
I HAVE in a former discourse set forth the effects of lewd-
ness as we see them in this world; and also the consequences
that we are to expect to ourselves in the next world, if the
threats and declarations of scripture are to be depended on. I
made no other observation upon these effects or these declara-
tions than simply this ; that if we saw reason to believe from
either of them, or both of them together, that a course of un-
lawful lewdness was inconsistent with our hopes of salvation,
not to suffer ourselves to be led away by the opinion of the
world, or expect that these things would pass for trifles here-
after, because they are amongst many accounted trifles here.
If, then, this be a vice of that serious mature, and which may
have such serious effects upon our everlasting condition, the
next great consideration will be, what are the proper preserva-
tives and precautions against it.
Indeed the whole subject of the preservation of virtue is
vastly too much neglected, in other circumstances, as well as
this. A virtuous and vicious character does not so much con-
sist in one or two, or a few single acts of virtue or of vice, but
FORNICATION. 113
in such a plan and rule and habit of living, as is suited to pro-
mote the one and guard against the other. I allow that the
greater part live without any such plan, rule, or habit; and
what is the effect? They commit themselves to every situation
that presents itself, without reserve, fear, or caution ; and they
trust that if a temptation to vice assault them, they shall find
firmness and reflection enough in themselves at the time to
guard against it ; and upon the strength of that presumption,
they either lay themselves out for such situations as furnish
temptation and opportunities of vice, and are inviting on that
account; or they enter heedlessly into such situations; or they
fancy the time for exercising their morality is not yet come ; as
yet there is no harm; and when they fall, as they are almost sure
to do, into the snares, why then, “they were surprised and taken
off their guard, they were overpowered by allurements which no
one could resist, the reason they depended upon was perhaps
grown dark, the resolutions, which were so steadfast and uncon-
querable, melted away like snow before the fire ; and He surely,
who knows whereof we are made, will condescend to excuse
the passions which he himself has implanted, and not condemn
with severity our fall, which no human fortitude could prevent; ”
in which train of thinking the error is, that we do not carry
back our minds to that which composes, perhaps, the greatest
part of our offence ; our leading ourselves into temptation, our
either seeking it or suffering ourselves to be drawn into it, or
falling upon such a course of life as exposes us to it; which we
might have prevented, and which surely we had power enough
to have withstood. But surely this delusion can happen but
once. A man may be once drawn in, and entangled for want
of experience ; but he will escape, when he does escape, like
a bird out of the hand of the fowler, not to return, one would
think, to the snare. Just the contrary is the fact. The same
process is renewed, the same often dangerous situation or heed-
lessnesss about entering into it, the same weakness in yielding;
and the same excuses and palliations will be no longer neces-
sary ; till a confirmed habit of vice be formed, “when we work
uncleanness,’ as the apostle expresses it, “with greediness,’ and
without any further molestation from the rebukes or checks of
conscience.
Having said thus much upon the necessity of looking after
the preservation of our virtue in time, and laying out such a
plan of life as may best keep us from temptation, and fortify us
against it, I now proceed to propose what appear to me the
15
114 FORNICATION.
most effectual preservatives against the sins of lewdness, which
of all others most easily and most violently beset us during the
early and best part of human life; and these are, employment,
temperance, choice of company, and the regulation of the
thoughts.
The first precaution against those vices is constant employ-
ment. There are few who can bear leisure; that is, whom
leisure does not lead into vicious attachments. When a man
looks about him, and finds nothing for him to do, all his evil
thoughts and propensities are directly setting themselves to
work; and when once the attention has got hold of any crimi-
mal indulgence, it is not easily set loose. Resolutions against
these serve only to rivet the thoughts the faster upon our minds,
and there are few who can hold out against the continual teazing
of such thoughts. The only way was, at first, to have kept
our attention better employed; and it is still the only way, to
convert it to something else. This account is confirmed by
observation. I do not say that the active and the diligent are
always free from these vices, for a man may be vicious, in spite
of every thing; but I think you will find few exceptions to the
remark, that the idle are generally dissolute; that those who
have no business, or do not take to their business, are com-
monly a nuisance to the neighbourhood they live in, in this very
respect. Let those, then, who are to live by their labor or
business, receive this additional reason for sticking close to
their occupation ; that they can hardly fail of success, or of a
comfortable livelihood however ; that they make their employ-
ment by sticking to it, easy, which otherwise is sure to become
irksome and fretting. Besides both these reasons, they are
taking the most reasonable method, and perhaps the only one,
of passing their time innocently here upon earth, and procuring
thereby the happiness they look for hereafter. As to those
who have no employment, they have great reason to lament the
want of one as a misfortune, if it was only on the account above-
mentioned; but a man must be very low in understanding, as
well as left very short in his education, who cannot contrive some
method of bestowing his activity and thoughts which may pro-
cure him advantage or credit, or at least an innocent amuse-
ment, as well as make him of some service to the neighbour-
hood he lives in. -
The next safeguard against the vices of lewdness is tempe-
rance, especially in drinking. Was drunkenness nothing more
than a brutality for the time, every one who had a concern for
his duty would avoid it; but the mischief is seldom over so
FORNICATION. 1 15
soon. The consequences are too often fatal to virtue in another
respect; not only to the drunken man's, if he had any, but to
the virtue of some poor sufferer who falls in his way. Drunk-
enness, in reality, both inflames men's passions, and confounds
and deadens the reason and reflection, and every principle that
can restrain them; so that it always destroys the balance, as
one may say, which was intended in the human constitution;
and if men of the best and ablest sort can scarcely control their
passions, it is not expected they should retain much command
over them when such an advantage is thrown into the wrong
Scale. Now if to these you add a notion, which men in gene-
ral take up, that drunkenness is an excuse for what men do in
that condition, and which notion in effect amounts to this; that
when men find themselves drunk, they are at liberty to do what
they please; if you lay all these considerations together, it can-
not, I think, be reasonably supposed that men will preserve a
constant regard to morality and religion in the government of
their matural passions, who do not lay a restraint upon them-
selves in the article of drunkenness.
The next great point to be attended to by those who are
anxious for the preservation of this virtue from the allurements
of criminal pleasures, is the choice of company. Companions,
however they differ in other respects, commonly resemble one
another in their vices. The influence of a good man’s exam-
ple may not possibly be always able to make those who asso-
ciate and converse with him good; but the contagion of a
vicious man’s life will seldom fail to infect and draw in all who
keep him company ; and the reason is, it is in one case against
the stream, in the other case with it; in the one case, the
example has to combat with our natural propensities, in the
other case, it aids and assists them. Nothing so soon and so
effectually wears off that horror and shrinking back of the mind
from any vicious actions, with which good education and good
principles have inspired us, as the practices of our companions.
We are astonished at first to hear with how much ease they
speak of those things which we have been taught to shudder
at, and with how little reluctance and regret they practise
them; but our surprise by degrees wears off. We begin to
think there cannot be all the danger or guilt in those indul-
gences which we supposed; we then insensibly gather courage;
and as we set not up for singularity, or a superior standard of
virtue, we do not understand how that should be so heinous an
offence in us, which others allow to themselves without concern
or remorse. Thus are our sentiments insensibly changed; and
116 FORNICATION,
yet the nature of things is not thereby changed. What was
immoral, and profligate, and destructive of the happiness of hu-
man society, and contrary to God Almighty's commands, and
under the sentence of condemnation in his word which he has
revealed to us, is so still. Nor are the consequences less likely
to overtake us because we have forgotten them. Another
thing, which vastly increases the baneful influence of dissolute
company, and renders us, as some may suppose, almost ex-
cusable, is a certain shyness in some men, which will seldom
allow them to make much opposition to the solicitations and
examples of their companions, how contrary soever to their
own choice and judgment, if they had been permitted to choose
and judge for themselves; and then there is generally, in addi-
tion to all this, the fear of ridicule, which to the tenderness and
sensibility of young minds is like the fear of death. And the
misfortune is, they make no distinction; their being laughed at,
whether with reason or without, is equally insupportable; and
especially when these scruples look like want of spirit, of their
companions give that turn or that name to it; though, in truth,
it is want of spirit, and nothing else, that keeps them in such
company; for what, in reality, can be more meanspirited than
to be led in a state of subjection to those about us, without
choice, force, or judgment of our own ; and to be compelled,
for it is compulsion, to give up our consciences, principles, and
resolutions 2 -
I mention this, not so much to fortify young men against the
influence of bad company, for I have little hopes of that, but to
advise them to keep out of their way, to be wary and cautious
how they trust themselves in the society, much less with the
intimacy, of a dissolute character.
The last and great preservative I shall mention is the regu-
lation of the thoughts. “Whosoever,’ says our Saviour, “ look-
eth on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery al-
ready with her in his heart;’ that is, whoever voluntarily en-
tertains loose and bad thoughts and designs, makes himself in
a degree a partaker of the crime; so that our Saviour imposed
it as a duty upon his followers to lay a restraint upon their
thoughts; and our Saviour knew what was in man when he
did so; he knew that, without a proper control and regulation
of our thoughts, it is in vain to expect virtue in our practice;
for licentious thoughts will, earlier or later, according as oppor-
tunities present themselves, or we grow tired of struggling with
them, lead to licentious practices. I have already mentioned
the way of managing our thoughts, that is, by keeping them
DISCONTENT. 117
constantly employed upon some proper object; and I believe
there is no other way.
These, then, are the precautions, which, with the blessing
and assistance of Divine grace, are most fitting to conduct us
through this world, and in a debauched and licentious age of
it, with innocence in that respect in which of all others there
is the most danger, and by which men are drawn into such con-
firmed habits of universal profligacy as are dreadful to observe.
Men are perpetually complaining that they resolve against
these vices, but that their resolutions, in the time of trial, never
stand out; and how should they They have never used any
of those cautions, put in practice any of those preservatives,
which are absolutely necessary to keep up selfgovernment, or
a command over their passions, and to give stability and suc-
cess to any resolutions. Their virtue does not take the alarm
in time. They take up with an idle life; they see no harm in
that, if they can afford it, or if they cannot, it is their own con-
cern. Profaneness, drunkenness, unreasonable hours, are only
so much frolic, which is over the next morning. They find
out, or are found out by, dissolute companions. They are
courted for their mirth, or vivacity, or humor, or entertaining
qualities, without any care about the danger of the conse-
quences. A habit of vicious thoughts is suffered to grow upon
us, because, if it do not lead to a habit of acting, where is the
mischief? And then all vice, or entry to vice, is laid open,
every precaution neglected, every incentive excited or inflamed,
and we are surprised that we are overcome.
XXII.
DISCONTENT.
1 TIMOTHy VI. 6, 7, 8.
Godliness with contentment is great gain; for we brought nothing into the
world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out; and having food and rai-
ment, let us be therewith content.
RESTLEssNEss and impatience in the situation of life they
are placed in, is in some men a disposition, in others a habit;
in others, again, a false calculation of the advantages and dis-
118 fjLSCONTENT,
advantages of different conditions. And it is in all a temper of
mind extremely prejudicial to a man's happiness, as it will not
suffer him to acquiesce in, or enjoy, the satisfactions which are
within the reach of his present situation, and is no mean what-
ever of procuring him a better. It has an ill effect upon his
virtue; as no man accommodates himself properly to the du-
ties of a station with which he is discontented, which he is la-
boring only to get rid of. Although there may be no reflec-
tions, perhaps, which can compose the fretfulness of his dispo-
sition, or correct a confirmed habit of being out of humor with
every thing that belongs to himself, and pleased with whatever
he sees others possess; yet where discontent proceeds, as it
sometimes does, from mistaken notions of the happiness and
misery of different conditions, a little just reasoning and con-
sideration may help to cure it.
Now what deceives most men in comparing their own situa-
tion with that of others, is this; that they are perfectly sensible
of their own cares, their griefs and difficulties, the hardships
and inconveniences of their own situation, and know little or
nothing of those of others. A man’s happiness or misery, so
far, I mean, as it is affected by outward condition, depends al-
most always upon invisible circumstances, secret particulars
which others are not acquainted with, and never suspect. Few
can truly estimate the real circumstances in the condition of
others, the evils and inconveniences they suffer; nor if they
do, will they trouble themselves to confess what they believe.
Besides, evils are never known till they are passed ; that is,
there is such a difference between our judgment of the evils
which we experience, and those which we are only told of,
that the smallest of our own sufferings seems to outweigh the
greatest we observe in others. Add to this, that such is also
the infirmity or the perverseness of the human mind, that pain
of all kind makes a much greater impression than pleasure, in-
conveniences than advantages, the irksome part of a man’s con-
dition, than the benefits and privileges of it. So that when we
come to reflect on our own situation, the evil of it is always
uppermost. Instead of taking the good and the bad together,
and fairly balancing both sides of the account, we dwell, for
example, upon the fatigue, or the confinement, or the humilia-
tion, or the indigence, or other disadvantages of our condition,
which are remembered distinctly, and with all their aggrava-
tions; whilst the comfort and advantages, the peace, quietness,
and security and independence, the freedom from care and
from danger, and many substantial blessings we enjoy, we
DISCONTENT. 119
either forget, or overlook as familiar and inconsiderable, and
so miss the common benefit of every situation.
Discontent, then, in fact is delusion. We see nothing but
the outside, and fair side, of a man's condition; we see not the
secret of his real difficulties and inconveniences; or if we hear
his complaint, we do not feel his sufferings; whereas our own
situation is understood to the bottom, the evils and hardships of
it are all found out; and not only so, but these evils and hard-
ships perpetually return upon our thoughts, whilst the comforts
which should balance them are left out of the comparison.
With such prejudices, it is no wonder we form very false com-
putations, and are betrayed, without reason, into complaint and
injustice; into a dislike of our own condition, and envy of oth-
er men’s; into a restlessness and discontent, which confine our
merit, and damp our activity, and make us both uneasy in our
condition and useless. That there is some very great decep-
tion in men's judgment of one another’s happiness, and one
another’s station in life, is probable from two facts, which all
moralists of all ages have taken notice of; one is, that the man
who is discontented in one situation is generally discontented in
every other. This is a fair experiment. Suppose a man who
is dissatisfied with his condition to be able to change it. Sup-
pose him, if you will, advanced to the very station he coveted,
and would have carved out for himself; if you find this man
from thenceforward easy and satisfied, his former uneasiness
and impatience were not without foundation ; if, on the other
hand, you find, that after the novelty of the change, and the
first triumph of success is over, the man returns to his wonted
ill humor; that his discontent continues, though the subject of
it be altered ; that new causes produce new complaints; that
he still murmurs and still repines; if this be the case, it is a
reasonable conclusion that the man was originally wrong in his
calculation, deceived in his estimation of the happiness of a
condition which he had not tried. And this so often is the
case, that it furnishes good reason to suppose, that such decep-
tions are extremely common. The greater part of mankind
get nothing by a change, but to regret advantages which they
despised, or did not even perceive, whilst they possessed them,
and to discover new sources of anxiety and complaint.
Another fact of the same kind, and which I mention for the
same purpose, is, that the envy of mankind is commonly mutu-
al; I mean, that you shall meet with twenty persons who all
envy the others’ condition. Now they cannot all be right.
The greatest part must necessarily be under a delusion, when
120 DISCONTENT,
they judge of their neighbour's happiness. This mutual envy
is to be found amongst all orders and professions. The poor
man envies the plenty, the appearance, and accommodation of
the rich; and sees them with envy, because he sees nothing
else. He compares them with the fatigue he undergoes, with
the scanty provision which his own condition affords. The
pains and pressure of his own distress he feels, and can there-
fore judge of them; the delight and pleasure of his rich neigh-
bour's luxury he only imagines; and ten to one he is deceived
in his imagination, because he places to the account the pleas-
ure that he himself should receive from it, which is very differ-
ent from what the possessor actually receives. The rich man,
in return, when he observes the health and activity, the cheer-
ful countenance and vigorous spirits of the laborer whom he
employs, his continual occupation and sound rest, and compares
it with his own languor and listlessness; when he reflects how
burthensome his time and thoughts are, when he reflects upon
his tedious days and wakeful nights, when he takes this view
of his own condition, he repines at the superior lot of those
whose humble but active station supplies them with employ-
ment, and exempts them from care.
Stations of peril and enterprise are generally envied by those
who are tired with the slow progress of their fortunes; while
such men, in their turn, regret the situations they have left, or
lament that they ever exchanged the plain path of patient in-
dustry for scenes of adventure and uncertainty. And all such
mutual discontents are governed by the same mistake; each
man forgets his own advantages, and magnifies those of others;
each party is impatient under his own sufferings, and ignorant
of those of his neighbours. Generally speaking, we cannot
employ our time or thoughts worse than in comparing our con-
dition with that of others. For the most part, the fewer of
these comparisons we make, the better. Indeed, when the
mind is in health, as we may say, when the spirits and temper
are properly composed, we seldom concern ourselves with them
at all ; yet if we will make such comparisons, it is of conse-
quence that we make them truly. This we can never do, till
we learn to allow a great deal for the intimate knowledge we
have of our own condition, and the imperfect judgment we can
form of other men’s ; for there is a wide difference between
observing an evil or inconvenience in others, and coming actu-
ally to experience it ourselves; and lastly, for our imperfect
enjoyment of pleasures which are new and unexperienced.
DISCONTENT. 1.21
Secondly; the best remedy for discontent is, to learn to at-
tend to those blessings which we enjoy in common perhaps
with the rest, or with the generality of mankind, instead of
looking for other exclusive or particular privileges which some
men possess beyond or above others. A blessing is in reality
not the less valuable because others possess it as well as our-
selves; and yet it requires some generosity of temper to see
this. It is for the want or defect of this temper that the love
of God obtains so little in the heart of man; that there is so
much less gratitude towards him than might be expected from
reasonable creatures to such a benefactor. Health and liber-
ty, the perfect enjoyment of our limbs and reason, the use of
our understanding and the faculties of our mind, are blessings
beyond all price; yet because others possess them as well as
ourselves, because they are only common to us with almost
every man we meet, they are seldom in our thoughts, seldom
subjects either of satisfaction to ourselves, or of gratitude to
God. Not one man in ten reflects from whom he receives
these blessings, or continues to receive them. If we are not
indulged with riches and honors, and high stations, with the
means and knowledge of luxury and show ; unless we are dis-
tinguished by those favors which, from the nature of them,
must be confined to a few, we can see nothing in our own con-
dition to be thankful for. Could this narrowness of mind be
once so far got rid of, as to allow us to estimate the blessings
we enjoy according as they are in themselves, and not by the
comparison with others, there are few who might not find
enough in their condition to excite sentiments of complacency
and content, certainly of gratitude towards God.
Discontent, considered in a religious view, besides that it
indisposes us for the duties of our station, by making us lazy
or careless about them, besides that it sometimes puts men up-
on advancing themselves by unjust or forcible means, is utterly
inconsistent with a religious temper of mind. It destroys, as
we have already said, the love and gratitude we owe to God.
It is not to be expected that men should be, nor is it found in
fact that they are, capable of much affection towards God,
whilst they are discontented with the condition in which he has
placed them. When we confer favors, if, instead of observ-
ing satisfaction and gratitude in the person obliged, we meet
with nothing but impatience, complaint, and discontent, we are
naturally and justly offended with such obstinacy of temper ;
nor do I know any reason why the same temper should not be
offensive to God, especially when it is considered that the fa-
122 DISCONTENT.
vors we are able to confer upon one another bear no propor-
tion to those which God has bestowed upon us all.
Discontent, again, argues too great a fondness for the world
and for the concerns and advantages of it; a fondness, I mean,
greater than is consistent with our expectations and pursuits of
a better. Were this world a man’s all, it would be difficult to
offer any considerations that could abate his passion for it, alle-
viate his disappointment, or soothe his complaints; but when
another, and a better existence, and of longer duration, is held
out to us, such a prospect is calculated, one would think, to
moderate our attachment to the present, and our solicitude and
concern about it. The differences and distinctions of human
life, which so much affect and perplex us, when placed beside
this great object, appear what they are, too diminutive to pro-
voke our jealousy or discontent. For these two reasons, con-
tentment in us Christians appears to be our duty as well as our
happiness, and as such, is enjoined by St Paul; ‘having food
and raiment,” he writes to Timothy, “let us be therewith con-
tent;" and to the Hebrews he commands, “be content with
such things as ye have.” But above all precepts does he re-
commend this virtue by his own example; ‘I have learnt,” says
he, “in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I
know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound; every
where, and in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to
be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.” There is some-
thing very great and affecting in these words, and quite of a
piece with that fortitude and firmness of mind which distin-
guished St Paul’s character upon all occasions.
From what has been said, then, it appears that when we re-
pine at our own condition, and covet other men's, we, for the
most part, impose upon ourselves; that we are the dupes of a
delusion, natural enough, no doubt, but of which a proper ex-
ertion of judgment and reflection will get the better; that when
we indulge this fretful, discontented, dissatisfied humor, we
cherish a narrowmindedness, which overlooks the many and
great blessings we enjoy, because in common perhaps with
most others, in order to torment ourselves with the thought of
some fewer, some single advantage which is denied to us; that
this frame of mind is both extremely unfavorable to all sense
of affection and gratitude to God Almighty, and also too much
binds down our souls to this world, and prevents any due pre-
paration for, and progress to another.
SUICIDE. 123
XXIII.
SUICIDE.
2 SAMUEL XVII. 23.
And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his
ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put his
household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the
sepulchre of his father,
THE crime of suicide prevailing amongst us beyond the ex-
ample of any other christian age or country, and the lawfulness
of it being maintained, as it is said, by many, it becomes high
time to look into the question, to see whether this practice is,
or is not forbidden to the christian moralist. ſ
I set out with observing, that to those who regard death as
the termination of their being, this question becomes a mere
computation of interest, a single comparison of the evils of life
with its advantages; and according as one or the other shall
appear to preponderate, a wise man will relinquish his existence
or preserve it. In which estimate, however, we shall do well
to remember that the prospect of many evils is worse than the
presence; that though circumstances change not, we shall;
that time may dissolve those associations which torment us;
that habit accommodates the temper to every variety of situa-
tion, and, as the dilated eye discovers glimmerings of light
amidst the thickest darkness, so the mind inured to misfortune
finds alleviation and comfort in the most desperate condition.
But to those who look for a future day of retribution and
account, the lawfulness of suicide becomes a question of a very
different nature. The selfmurderer, though he fears not him
that killeth the body, and after that can do no more, has the
same reason with others to fear Him who casteth Soul and body
into hell fire. And here I would premise, but without the least
distrust of my argument, that should the guilt of suicide turn
out at last to be a matter of doubt only, we are bound by that
very doubt to abstain from it. There can be no question but
that we may, if we will, lawfully continue in existence; there
is a question whether we may lawfully quit it. It is a contempt
of authority to incur even the danger of disobedience, when a
safe and certain choice is in our power. Besides that, the
action in this case would want that entire acquiescence and
124 SUICIDE.
approbation of conscience, which should accompany every im-
portant step of a good man's conduct. For he who can over-
rule the scruples of his conscience will soon learn to reject its
decisions. I am the more confirmed in this position, as I take
the case of a hesitating conscience to have been thus, and in
an instance of much less importance, adjudged by St Paul;
“He that doubteth,” saith the apostle, ‘is damned if he eat ;
because he eateth not of faith ; for whatsoever is not of faith,’
that is, not done with a full persuasion of the lawfulness of it,
“is sin.” This caution applies with especial force to the case
of suicide; a sin, if it be one, which cuts off all place of repa-
ration and repentance.
We now proceed to the inquiry itself, whether a man pos-
sesses such a right over his own life and person, that he may
lawfully destroy them at his pleasure.
To ask then, what is our duty in any instance, is to ask
what the will of God is in that instance. Now the will of God,
as of every other intelligent being, must be learnt upon any point,
from his express declarations where they can be had ; or,
where these are silent, from his general character and disposi-
tion ; from the aim and analogy of his laws and conduct in
other instances. We will begin with this latter inquiry, and
see how the question stands, upon the foot of reason and natural
religion.
First, then, the Divine will is intimated by that eager and
instinctive love of life, which prevails without exception through
the whole animal creation. There are who think this love of
life to be nothing more than what results from a sense and
experience of the pleasures it affords; and to those who think
so, this argument has no weight. Many, on the other hand,
observe a violence and intensity in this passion, beyond
what they deem either the value of life or the pains of death
could on their own account create. To such there will appear
a separate and original principle superadded for this special
purpose, to retain men in existence, when disgust or despair
would drive them out of it. And considered in this light, it
becomes a proof of God’s intention, that we should preserve
our lives; and consequently of his displeasure against those
who wilfully and wantonly destroy them. t
Secondly; he, who puts it out of his power to do his duty,
refuses to do it; and who is there so disengaged and uncon-
nected, as to have no duty or demand upon him 2 Who is
there that owes not to some relation or other, industry or obe-
dience, piety or gratitude, justice or restitution, instruction,
SUICIDE. 125
counsel, protection, or support all which obligations are at
once violated and forsaken by this single act of suicide. Or,
if a situation so singular can be supposed, that all private claims
Aupon our service are satisfied or ceased, I would then ask, what
condition can be so abject or so useless, but that “by a patient
continuance in well doing,” by the exercise of those virtues
which fall within our reach, we may not hope to improve our
merit here, and, of consequence, our proportion of happiness
hereafter 2
Thirdly ; another way of determining whether an action be
virtuous, innocent, or criminal, is to see whether the effects of
it are beneficial, indifferent, or pernicious to the happiness of
human Society; which happiness, from the manifold provi-
sion he has made for it, appears to be the purpose of God Al-
mighty's will, the end, therefore, and aim of all his laws, and, by
consequence, the measure and standard of our duty. Now in
this way of reasoning, it is material to remember, that it is not
the particular consequence of any individual action which alone
determines its moral quality; but the tendency and operation
of that general rule, by which actions of the same sort are per-
mitted or forbidden. I will explain myself by an example.
Murder in certain instances may produce no immediate or par-
ticular mischief to the community; it may deliver a nation
from tyranny, or a neighbourhood from oppression; it may
transfer power and property to better hands and better uses.
But when we reflect that we cannot permit one action and
forbid another, without assigning some distinction between
them ; that the same rule, therefore, which permits this, must
permit every assassin to fall upon each man he meets, whom
he thinks useless or noxious ; that the allowance of such a rule
would overthrow the best end of society, the security of its
citizens; commit each man to the spleen, fury, or fanaticism
of his neighbour, and fill all things with terror and confusion;
when we reflect upon this, we see, that the present benefit of
the action is outweighed by that more important ruin which the
admission or impunity of so fatal an example would at length
produce. Whatever, therefore, we may think of its particular
consequences, we condemn it, to sustain a general rule which
will not endure an arbitrary exception, and which cannot be
laid aside without a general injury.
Whatever is expedient is right; whatever is indifferent is in-
nocent. But then it must be expedient or indifferent upon the
whole, in all its collateral and remote effects. The same at-
tention to equal and general rules; the same study of uniform-
126 SUICIDE.
ity, which prevails in every code of human jurisprudence, takes
place for the same reason in the moral system also, and govern-
ment of the universe. To apply this reasoning upon the two-
fold consequences of our actions, to the question before us;
suicide has much to answer for of both ; nor can any case be
put, which is not concluded under sin, either by the peculiar
injury, or the general mischief. The tears and cries of our
unpitied relatives, the confusion and agony of those we leave
behind, the loss which may never be forgotten or repaired, the
ignominy of our fate, which stings to the heart, and which is
derived to all our connexions, are consequences of selfmurder,
which cannot be mentioned or thought upon with patience.
What must be the stubborn cruelty of his mind who can de-
spise, and in his last hour disregard, the affliction and disgrace
of all he loves, whom no compassion, friendship or affection,
whom neither the tender ties of family and kindred, nor the
dearer names of wife and child, can withhold from the fierce
and sullen purpose of his soul ? The thief, the plunderer, and
the rebel, inflict not any calamity on a stranger or an enemy,
which can be compared with that which the selfmurderer brings
down on those of his own household, and his own blood. But
though no duty were deserted, no claim defrauded, no friend
or family afflicted by our death, no orphans abandoned, and no
widows to make lamentation ; yet, if it be once admitted, that
whoever is weary of life, and has rendered, or can suppose,
himself useless to others, is for that reason at liberty to quit it,
what have we not to fear, where the accumulating of riches in
the few produces the want of a sufficiency in many; where
early habits of luxury and refinement have multiplied desires
and disappointments; where voluptuousness and sensuality
have drained the sources, and worn away all sense of natural
pleasures; where the permanent satisfactions of the heart and
understanding are unknown, or extinguished by more gross
pursuits; where the spirits, convulsed by passion, by turbulent
and impetuous exertions, have lost their natural tension and
composure; where religion, the appointed medicine of human
woes, is converted by our vices and mistakes into an object of
terror and aversion ? In circumstances like these, connected
perhaps with other more physical causes, if ever a time should
come when public opinion and numerous examples shall au-
thorize this crime, what havoc may we not expect; what deso-
lation of the species, from spleen, impatience, melancholy, and
despair.
SUICIDE. 127
These are the arguments, which reason holds forth against
the lawfulness of suicide; and combined together, as in every
probable question the arguments on each side ought to be,
amount to such a presumption of God Almighty’s will, as should
stagger the most determined purpose of destruction.
We next inquire, what may be added to this presumption
from the light of revelation.
And here I meet an objection which asks why, if suicide be
indeed unlawful, we do not find it more expressly forbidden in
the christian scriptures?
In the first place, our Saviour's own precepts, if we except
that set discourse, which is chiefly taken up in rectifying the
perversions, and improving the purity of the Jewish law, are,
for the most part, occasional, arising out of some present oc-
currence, or alluding to some special instance; a method of in-
struction, for conciseness, perspicuity, and impression, of all
others perhaps the most convenient. As no example, there-
fore, of selfmurder is recorded to have fallen within his notice,
we are not to wonder that he has left us no observation upon
the guilt of it. The morality of the apostolic writings is con-
tained either in summary catalogues of virtues and vices under
their most general denominations, or in certain series of brief
independent maxims, pointed, perhaps, sometimes at the par-
ticular exigencies or corruption of those to whom they were
addressed. Amongst these, it is no more extraordinary that a
particular species of murder should be omitted, than that the
duties of friendship, the rights of selfdefence, the extent of
gratitude, the limits of civil or parental authority, are nowhere
ascertained. A systematic detail of morality, pursued through
all the subdivisions of our duty, is not given. The most beau-
tiful and perfect general rules were laid down, and men are left
for the application of them to the deductions of reason, and the
dictates of humanity. What goes a great way towards account-
ing for the silence of scripture upon this crime, is, that it does
not appear to have prevailed in any great degree amongst those
with whom the scriptures had to do. But four instances are
recorded in the Old, and one in the New Testament, of any
thing like selfmurder, and these, surely, of a kind which can
do no credit to the cause ; of a rejected favourite, a fallen ty—
rant, and a perfidious traitor. The Jews are known to have
held this vice in the utmost abhorrence, and to have prosecuted
the remains of a selfmurderer with all the indignities which
their law assigned to the worst of malefactors; a circumstance
sufficient to show, that the public opinion in this instance was
128. SUICIDE.
right, and therefore needed no new lesson from the christian
teacher. Admitting therefore, that the scriptures had not con-
demned this crime in so many terms, let us see what can be
gathered from them concerning it, by fair implication and con-
Struction.
First, then, occurs to our observation the commandment it-
self, ‘Thou shalt do no murder.' Who shall say, what the
scriptures have not said, that a prohibition, delivered in terms
so absolute and comprehensive, is not meant to include the
murder of ourselves; especially, when reasons of public utility,
the best interpreter of moral precepts, require that it should
All other exceptions to this rule, the rights, namely, of the ma-
gistrate and the soldier, are expressly recognized or clearly al-
lowed; whereas we are repeatedly commanded to abstain from.
the life of man, without one saving clause in favor of this as-
sumed dominion over our own. When God commits to man-
kind a right over the lives of brutes, he expresly reserves out
of the grant any authority over the life of man. “For in the
image of God,” says the Almighty, “made he man;’ an ex-
pression which, whatever it imports, stamps a superior dignity
and estimation on the human species, and contains a reason for
the prohibition, which, whatever it be, prevails alike against the
killing of ourselves and others.
Secondly; human life, throughout the scriptures, is every
where spoken of as a stated period, as a race that is set before
us, as a course to be finished, as a fight that must be fought;
descriptions, which could hardly have dropped from the pen of
those who considered life, and the duration of it, as in our pow-
er, and at our disposal. It is absurd to command us to “perse-
were unto the end,' if the end be determinable by our own
choice; to bid us ‘not be weary of well doing,” if we may cease
from it at pleasure.
Thirdly; the passions, temper, and motives, which give
birth to suicide, contradict the spirit and principles of our re-
ligion. Affliction and calamity, considered in the view under
which Christianity exhibits them, are either subservient to the
exercise and improvement of our virtue, or swallowed up in
the expectation of immortality and heaven. Complain to the
disciple of Jesus of the sufferings of life; he tells us, that they
are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be re-
vealed. Are we overwhelmed with tribulation and distress? he
teacheth us that tribulation worketh patience, and patience vir-
tue; that the severities of Providence are the corrections of a
parent, pledges of his care, and tokens of his love. Now it
SUICIDE. 129
seems impossible, that a mind possessed in any sort of this per-
suasion should so far sink under, or repine at the misery of its
condition, as to be driven to this last act of discontentment and
distrust. If suicide be lawful, what is the exceeding great use
or excellence of patience, that it should obtain a place amongst
the foremost duties of the christian profession ? In vain are
we exhorted to take up the example and the cross of Christ,
to look forward unto Jesus, the finisher of our faith, to rejoice,
inasmuch as we are made partakers of his sufferings, to endure
the chastisement of the Lord, and not to faint, when we are re-
buked of him, to struggle, in a word, through all the dangers
and difficulties of life, if we may take refuge at once in a vol-
untary death. The accidental temper in which a man dies
does not determine his fate, any further than as it is the effect
or indication of more established principles. But that death
can never be safe which proceeds from a total want or decay
of those principles, which it was the first care of Christianity to
inculcate.
Fourthly; it does not appear that any of the first disciples
of Christ did, in fact, ever admit this crime amongst them,
though provoked to it by the most extreme and intolerable suf-
ferings. As far as relates to this life, they were, both by their
history and profession, of all men the most miserable. If they
had conceived themselves at liberty to choose under these cir-
cumstances, it is extraordinary that they should all have pre-
ferred life, when they universally professed and believed that
to be with Christ was life, and to die was gain. I rest it here.
One argument, however, which rises from our reasoning
against suicide, deserves an answer.
As a man cannot give what he has not, if he has no right
over his own life, how can he transfer that right to another ?
and how, then, can any state derive, from any implied and so-
cial compact with its citizens, that right which it claims and
exercises of punishing by death I answer, that the state de-
rives this right, not from any secret or supposed consent of the
subject, but immediately from God; I mean, from that pre-
sumption upon God Almighty’s concurrence with every neces-
sary means of upholding society; upon which presumption, the
whole right and obligation of civil authority relies. This power
in private hands, and in the hands of the magistrate, has very
opposite effects upon the general welfare. For the same rea-
sons, therefore, of public utility, God has delegated it to the
one, and denied it to the other.
These reasons may be sufficient to evince the unlawfulness
17
130 THE LAW OF HONOR.
of suicide, considered in a general sense when it is wanton
and unprovoked, when it is called in to put a period to a life
made miserable by our crimes.
But is there no exception or excuse for those who flee for
refuge to the grave from the injuries of fortune or the never
ceasing anguish of a wounded mind? If selfmurder be unlaw-
ful, these reasons afford only the same excuse for it, that any
violent temptation does for the sin it prompts us to commit;
that want does for theft, thirst for drunkenness, or revenge for
murder. We know that the sufferings of life may be aggravat-
ed beyond the ordinary patience of human nature ; we know
too, that there is born with some men, and generated in others,
a certain horror and dejection of spirits, which spreads a dis-
mal shade over the fairest scenes, and fills our evil days with
sorrow and disconsolation. But we will not allow that this is
either insupportable or incurable. We mistake the remedy;
let them cease to expect it from riot and excess, which serve
only to stupify the feelings, while they exasperate the malady.
Let them try what temperance, soberness, and chastity will do;
the satisfaction of virtue, and the hopes of religion, the exhilar-
ating activity of some benevolent pursuit, or the triumph of suc-
cessful struggles with our passions and ourselves. Lastly, let
them resort to that gracious Being, who despises not the sigh-
ings of a contrite heart, nor the desire of such as be sorrowful;
who will relieve, and in his own good time reward, those suf-
ferings with which, for some kind but mysterious purpose, it
hath pleased him to visit us.
XXIV.
THE LAW OF HONOR.
LUKE XVI. 15.
For that which is highly esteemed amongst men is abomination in the sight
of God.
. A considerABLE part of mankind, and those too of the high-
er orders of society, govern their conduct, so far as they do
govern it at all, by the rule of reputation, or, as it is better
known, by the name of the law of honor.
THE LAW OF HONOR. 131
In the first place, I acknowledge that it is a great thing to
act according to any rule; for, generally speaking, men fail
not so much in the choice of their rule, as in not being able to
act up to it. To obey every impulse of passion; to yield to
any or every temptation; to catch at all opportunities of all
sorts of pleasure, with plan, prospect, and condition, is the low-
est state of moral character. To proceed by some rule, to aim
at some standard, to possess an authority over our conduct, and
exercise our judgment at all, is the next state, and compared
with the last, a state of improvement. To take for our guid-
ance the rule of reason and the rule of scripture, to inquire
after it, to inform ourselves of it, to endeavour to understand it,
and when we do understand it to conform our behaviour to it,
is the perfection of moral excellence; and like perfection in
every thing, seldom perhaps absolutely and completely attain-
ed, but what we should always aim at, and gradually advance
towards.
Again; I would by no means decry or disparage the law of
honor universally. It holds many to order, whom nothing else
would. Part of mankind seem, in a great measure, incapable
of reasoning about their duty, or inquiring for themselves.
These must of necessity proceed a great deal by the rule of
honor and reputation; that is, in other words, by what they
hear praised and esteemed by the persons they converse with.
In a multitude of instances, the law of honor in all civilized .
countries, and we have no concern with any other on this sub-
ject, prescribes the same behaviour that reason and religion
prescribe. St Paul himself, who had no extraordinary deſer-
ence for human judgment in these matters, enjoins upon his
followers whatever things are praiseworthy, whatever things
are of good report; which is a good general rule, though it
may contain exceptions and defects.
Having premised thus much in behalf of the law of honor,
and of those who go by it, and who challenge to themselves
the character and title of men of honor, and who are certainly
much to be preferred to those who go by no rule but present
inclination, I shall now proceed to show that the rule is not,
alone, either safe or complete. By safe, I mean sure to con-
duct to future and final happiness; by complete, I mean, con-
taining all the duties which are required of us by the will of
our Creator.
It is not safe or complete, because it omits some duties, and
tolerates some vices; so that a person may be deemed and
132 THE LAW OF HONOR,
may be a man of honor, notwithstanding he neglects some ne-
cessary duties, and allows himself in some vices.
It is my business to make this appear. Now, as the motive
and law of honor is calculated principally, if not wholly, to se-
cure and make easy the intercourse between people of equal,
or nearly equal condition in life, by regulating the behaviour of
such as are governed by or resting upon fidelity, punctuality,
civility; between such this may be the view and object of the
rule. It prescribes duties only between equals, or those who
account themselves such ; omitting, as well that whole class of
duties which relate immediately to the Deity, as those which
we owe to our inferiors; and the reason of the omission is sub-
stantially this; that a man is not the worse companion, nor the
worse to deal with, in those concerns which are usually trans-
acted between persons of honor. Hence it comes to pass, that
the profanation of God’s name and attributes, of his religion,
religious ordinances, and all the effect of passions, levity, or infi-
delity, are no breaches of honor, nor accounted such, even by
those who think them wrong. And if this be not a true ac-
count that I have given of the law of honor, that it is confined
to the duties and offices between equals, we would desire to
know how it happens that it is not the same as the law of God.
At least, it is a demonstration that the law of Moses does not
embrace the extent and compass of our duty; since there are
points, such as those I have mentioned, relating to the Deity,
which we acknowledge to be duties, though yet the violation of
them is accounted no breach of the law of honor. The con-
sequence of this is, that those who set up for persons of honor,
and look no farther than to maintain the character of men of
honor in the world, find no obligation or inducement to any of
those duties which we owe immediately to God. They may
allow the evil habits of cursing and swearing to grow upon them
and keep hold of them; they may indulge themselves in the
utmost licentiousness in the treatment of many things that be-
long to religion; they may be as remiss and negligent as they
please in their attendance upon public worship, and behave as
irreverently as they please when they do attend; they may
utterly lay aside any act of private devotion; they may cease,
in a word, from every expression of homage, piety, gratitude,
and acknowledgment to the Supreme Preserver of us all, with-
out suffering in their character as men of honor, or incurring a
stain or imputation upon their honor on that account. Never-
theless, these are duties. God is entitled to our affection and
devotion, our love and honor; and he has commanded that
THE LAW OF HONOR. 133
we pay it. This is not disputed; nor do I insinuate that it is.
What I argue is, that the law of honor is not considered to
concern itself with these duties, even by those who confess
them to be duties.
This, then, will be admitted; that what respects the Divine
Being lies out of the province of the law of honor. But in all
that concerns man and man, in that great and important class
of duties which are called relative duties, the law of honor may
be depended upon as an adequate rule; and there, it is enough
if we act but up to and support the character of men of honor.
I wish it were so, for the sake of all who profess this character;
but I fear the observations we have laid down, that the law of
honor takes notice only of what passes between equals, will be
found here also ; and that those duties which we owe to our
dependents and inferiors, which form together a very consid-
erable part of a good man’s virtues and a bad man’s vices, are
omitted in the law of honor; that is, may be either observed
or violated, without any effect upon a man’s honor, or reputa-
tion for honor, one way or other. Of this kind the following are
examples; the cruel and barbarous treatment of our domestic
servants; the worrying them out of their happiness by cause-
less or immoderate anger, habitual punishments, groundless
suspicion, wanton restraint, harsh, scornful, or opprobrious lan-
guage. It is not to be computed the quantity of misery a
fierce, overbearing temper may produce in his family and
amongst his dependents by these means. Yet what has all this
to do with his honor He is not the worse accounted as a
man of honor for this behaviour. Notwithstanding, the justifia-
bleness of such behaviour no one will assert; for a conduct
which occasions so much unnecessary misery to any, no mat-
ter to whom, must be criminal.
Bounty to the poor is a christian duty; no one doubts it ;
but I do not find it affects a man’s honor either way, whether
he is bountiful to the poor or not bountiful. And not only
want of charity, but want of justice, is tolerated and connived
at by the law of honor. The great and grievous injuries done
to tradesmen by delay of payment, oftener by not paying their
just demands at all, and by persons of rank and distinction,
and who assume the name of men of honor, however inconsis-
tent they be with any principle of moral probity and every pre-
tension to it, are not inconsistent with the reputation of honor,
provided the man be careful of his conduct amongst his equals,
and preserve a regard to truth, fidelity, and punctuality in his
dealings with his equals, or with persons of honor; for all these
134, THE LAW OF HONOR.
instances proceed upon and produce the same principle ; to
wit, the observation we set out with, that the law of honor pre-
scribes and regulates the duties only between equals; and
though it may be right as far as it goes in most instances be-
twixt such and amongst such, it is altogether regardless of what
is due from us on the one hand to our inferiors, or from them
to us on the other. And these merely are two capital defects
in the law, when it is considered as, or set up for, a complete
rule of life.
But this is not all; we have something further to accuse the
law of honor of; and that is, in one word, the licentious in-
dulgence of our natural passions. If I was to describe the
law of honor freely, I should call it a system of rules well con-
trived, by persons in the higher stations of life, to facilitate their
intercourse with each other. Now such persons being occu-
pied in a great measure in the pursuit of pleasure, it is not to
be expected that they should lay down rules to themselves
which trench upon their pleasures, or subject them to any great
restraint in that which composes the business and object of
their lives. And this remark will be verified by experience.
The law of honor is careful to exclude all fraud, chicanery,
falsehood, concealment in the mutual dealings of persons of
honor ; but I do not find that it lays much, if any, stress upon
the virtues of chastity, sobriety, moderation, economy; be-
cause such stress would greatly check and contract the plea-
sures and pursuits of this description of men. There are some
duties which the law of honor does embrace; but the violation
of them contains not any great breach of it. These are
decorum, civility, good manners, or the avoiding any of that
shuffling and cunning which makes it impossible, or highly in-
convenient, to deal with any man. The requiring strictness in
those virtues would bear hard upon the manner of life of per-
sons who come most within the reach and influence of the rule
of honor. It is upon the same principle that the great chris-
tian duty of the forgiveness of injuries, of which you hear and
read so much in the scripture, has no place at all amongst the
virtues of a man of honor. Indeed it is hard to say whether,
if the law of honor were to decide upon it, it would be judged
a virtue or a vice ; whether it would not be pronounced mean-
ness, rather than magnanimity; an instance of weakness and
pusillanimity, rather than of chastised affections or a sense of
duty. Resentment is a natural passion, and it costs no little
selfmortification to quell and quiet it ; and mortification of any
sort is not to be looked for in this class of mankind.
THE LAW OF HONOR 135
The substance of our assertion is, that the rule and law of
honor is not alone a right or sufficient rule to go by; and I will
comprise the sum of what I have delivered in support of the
assertion in two or three queries.
First ; Is it not true that a person may be negligent of every
act of duty to the Divine Being, of every act of service,
worship, or devotion whatever, without any impeachment of
his honor *
Secondly ; Is it not true, that the same person may be
tyrannical and overbearing in his family and among his servants;
rigorous in the extreme in the treatment of his dependents;
utterly without any share of liberality to the poor 2 Is it not
true that a person may be all these without impeachment of his
honor P
Thirdly ; Is it not true, that he may likewise distress or ruin
his tradesman by dilatory and irregular payment, or by abso-
lute insolvency, and yet pass for a man of honor among those
who claim that title -
Fourthly ; Is it not true, that he may live in the habitual
guilt of fornication, adultery, drunkenness, prodigality, and be
capable of the most desperate revenge, without impeachment
of his honor P
Fifthly and lastly ; If these things be so, is the law of honor
a safe rule of life 2 Is it enough to satisfy any man who is
concerned for his final happiness, to be able to say of himself
that he is, or to hear others call him, a man of honor; without
inquiring whether he hath also fulfilled the duties, and com-
pared himself with the measure of God’s word, explained and
applied by the sound judgment of unprejudiced reason 2
136 HONESTY.
XXV.
HONESTY.
PRoverBs XX. 7.
The just man walketh in his integrity.
[JV. B.-Passages in it borrowed from Ogden.]
It is an old question amongst moralists, whether mere justice,
or as we commonly call it, honesty, be a virtue. All allow
that dishonesty is a vice, and a very great one ; but whether
the contrary of it be a virtue, or only a strict debt and obliga-
tion, has been sometimes controverted. Thus to steal, is a
very grievous sin ; but merely to keep his hand from picking
and stealing, would hardly entitle a man to be called virtuous;
nor the paying his lawful debt; nor the discharge of those
demands which he is bound, and obliged, and compellable to
discharge. None of these, it is said, though they may entitle
a man to the name of honest, give him either the name or the
characteristic of virtuous. On the contrary, no duties are of
greater importance to society than these ; perhaps hardly any
of so great. Society might subsist without generosity, but
without honesty it could not subsist at all. Therefore human
laws are all calculated to enforce honesty. There is place,
there is opportunity, there is a call for, there is a want of, higher
degrees of goodness; but in these men may and indeed must
be left, so far as human laws are concerned, to themselves.
The essential thing for society is honesty. Therefore in that,
men must not be left to themselves. When conscience will
not do its office, the laws must. There may be a thousand
violations of christian duty, which the laws of men neither can
reach, nor would reach if they could, because they ought to be
voluntary; but honesty is so necessary, so essential, so funda-
mental a part of social order, that the laws of society, not in
one but in all countries of the world where there are any laws,
punish the violation of it with exemplary severity, and every
considerate man acknowledges the justice and necessity of such
proceedings. Different views, therefore, of the question, make
us see it in different lights. If we look to the character of the
person who is merely honest and no more, we do not seem to
see any thing for which to call him virtuous. If we look to
HONESTY. *. 137
the conduct itself, we find few virtues of such greatimportance;
and that is the matter which has raised the doubt upon the
subject.
I will now explain to you the consideration which I think
resolves the difficulty. The true distinction in the case is,
whether a man may be honest upon principle, or honest out of
policy. That will be found to be the exact distinction. If a
man be honest from principle, his honesty is a virtue, and will
carry him a great way in the discharge of all social virtues ;
which form not the whole, far from it, but an important part of
the christian character. The difference between honesty and
other duties is, that there are so many strong external reasons
for being honest, that it is extremely possible for a man to be
so, without any internal principle whatever. In point of fact,
many persons, I believe, are honest, without any internal prin-
ciple of duty whatever. With regard to others, therefore, it
may be always doubtful, whether this honesty proceed from
principle or from policy. But that is not the whole, or the
most important part of the doubt. It may be doubtful even to
ourselves, from which of these two motives even our own
honesty springs.
The fear of the law, without question, keeps many persons
honest. They do that of their own accord, in the first instance,
which they know the law would compel them to do in the
second, with a great addition of inconvenience and expense.
Such a man may never, in the course of his life, be the subject
of an action or lawsuit; yet if he act from the consideration
here described, and only from that consideration, he acts as
much through fear of the law, as if he was under its compul-
sion; and what he does is as little connected either with a
moral or religious principle, as if the law did it for him.
Another man shall discharge the demands upon him, which
strict honesty, according to the common signification of the
term, requires at his hands, out of mere policy; because he
sees plainly that no person would knowingly deal with him if
he did not. If he is to draw an advantage from any kind of
business, he must observe the rules by which business is regu-
lated. To see this, is only to see his own interest, and is a
case rendered so plain by daily and constant experience, that
few persons, in fact, miss of seeing it. Yet there may be no
principle at the heart all this while. There may be regularity
in his transactions, yet no principle at his heart.
A third finds; what it is impossible to live in the world with-
out finding very soon, the numerous advantages of a good
18
138 HONESTY.
character; and that character is deeply concerned in the pre-
cision and pnctuality of his dealings. He looks steadily to his
reputation in business. That he knows to be essential to his
success; his prospects, his fortune, depend upon it. He goes
something farther than the rest. He does not look to the law,
or the terrors of the law ; he never intends to let the matter
come to that. He does not merely take care so to deal with
others, as that others will continue to deal with him, but he is
anxious to establish a character for honesty, knowing how ser-
viceable, how important, and how valuable a possession such a
character may prove. But though he may carry his conduct
somewhat farther than the others, he may be as destitute as
they of either moral or religious principle.
The truth is, in all those acts which fall under the meaning
of this term honesty, especially pecuniary honesty, there are
so many external motives which bear upon our conduct and
direct it, that it is impossible almost to know in others, and not
very easy to know in ourselves, whether what we do springs
from virtuous and religious principles or not. Yet a vast deal
depends upon that difference, when the character is to be esti-
mated in a religious view; or even when the general question
is to be resolved whether honesty itself be a virtue or not.
All that a teacher can do, and, so far as he can do it, it may
be important, is to point out some of the tests by which a man
may satisfy his own conscience, how far the integrity which he
observes in his dealings, his honesty, in a word, be the fruit of
a right and religious disposition, or be the effect of mere
worldly considerations.
Now one of these tests is, when a transaction is of a nature
to be perfectly secret; when the truth of it is known only to
ourselves, all others who were privy to it being dead or absent;
when if we do what is right, we acquire no reputation ; if we
do what is wrong, we incur no censure, because the whole
world except ourselves are in ignorance of what is either right
or wrong in the business. When this happens, as it sometimes
does to almost every man who is engaged much in the affairs
of the world, then to act with complete fidelity, and with as
scrupulous a regard to justice and equity, as if we were acting
in the face and under the direction of a court of justice, fully
informed in all the facts and circumstances of the case; I say,
so to act, and to be conscious of having so acted, forms a fair
presumption that our honesty is honesty upon principle.
Secondly ; merely to render what is due to those who can
claim and assert their right, is, as we have said, an equivocal
HONESTY. 139
proof of principle ; because a man of no principle whatever, if
he were possessed of common prudence, would do the same ;
but when we deal equitably and justly with those who must
take what we choose to give them ; who must sit down under
our determination, be that determination what it will ; to deal,
I say, with those at least as amply and liberally as we should
do either with a superior who could command justice, or with
an equal who could enforce it, this again I acknowledge to be
a proof of honesty upon principle.
Now many persons may stand in this relation to us; and
they often do so, for different reasons.
It is the case with those who are too poor to vindicate their
pretensions. The benefit of the laws, in many cases, cannot
be obtained easily. If you will have justice, you must pay for
it. When such men, therefore, take advantage of this diffi-
culty, withhold your right under color of referring it to the
law, they rob ; when, under protection of their own wealth and
ability to maintain a contest, they refuse or but delay to comply
with equitable obligations, they steal. b
But, secondly ; the person with whom we have to do may
not be absolutely poor, but may be dependent upon us in some
other way. Now, whenever we make this dependency a rea-
son for curtailing him, in any respect whatever, of his full and
just rights, we show evidently that our honesty, even when we
do act honestly, is not an honesty upon principle. He must
be silent, even though oppressed. He must not complain,
however injured. But if we be honest upon principle, we shall
either lay this situation of his with respect to us entirely out of
our consideration, or, if we do consider it, we shall make it a
reason for conducting ourselves towards him with more attention
to all his claims, and with a strict regard to the justice and
honesty of the particular case now under our view; without
reference to any other case, or any other transaction, which
may have passed between us. He must not remind us of our
duty; therefore we should be more careful and anxious not to
forget it ourselves, both to recollect it and to discharge it. We
may have been bountiful, we may have been generous towards
him upon former occasions, but that is not to be made a reason
for doing him injustice upon the present. It may stop his
mouth ; we shall hear of no remonstrance from him ; but it
ought not to induce us to subtract the smallest particle of his
right or his claims. This is one case in which honesty is put
to the test. Nor will it vary the case, whether the person with
140 & HONESTY.
whom we have to deal be obliged to us by former favors, or be
dependent upon us for future expectations.
Exceedingly plain cases need not come in question ; that
is, when a demand is precise and positive, exact and clear,
both in its amount and in the right. These are not the sort of
cases upon which honesty is called upon to do its duty, or to
manifest its principle. There is another class of cases, and
that is of those in which there is some degree of doubt or
latitude. These are the cases for an honest man to show his
character in ; most especially when they are conjoined with the
circumstances of the former case, namely, that whatever we do
cannot be questioned ; that in fact we have the making of both
sides of the bargain, the adjudication of our own cause in our
own breast, and that cause not without grounds of doubt and
question, then is the time to give evidence of the sincerity and
the reality of a moral principle within us.
If in cases like these we do not lean, not even a little, towards
our own side; if we attend to the whispers of equity without
any one to admonish us; if we be advocates, not for ourselves,
but with ourselves for every one who has a claim upon us; if
we see our own cause with the same eye with which we look
upon that of another, our own reasons not made greater than
they are by selfinterest, another person’s reasons not made
less than they are because he is unable to maintain them ; if
we impose no hardships because they must be borne ; then, I
say, we have a comfortable assurance in our own conscience,
that our integrity, not only upon these but upon more ordinary
occasions, upon occasions in which it cannot be brought to the
same test, is in truth the effect, not of policy, but of principle ;
and such integrity, such honesty as this, is a fulfilment of duty,
and therefore a great virtue, because it is a fulfilment of that
comprehensive christian precept, “whatsoever ye would that
men should do to you, do even so to them.”
PRUDENCE IN OUR TEMPORAL CONCERNS. 141
XXVI.
PRUDENCE IN THE CONDUCT OF OUR TEMPORAL
CONCERNS.
PRoverbs XXX. 8, 9.
Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me, lest
I should be full and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord 2 or lest I be
poor and steal.
I HAVE made choice of this text, not so much for the prayer
itself, which yet is a very good one, and what most wise men
will join in, as because it marks very strongly, and I believe
very truly, the effects which riches and poverty, the extremes
of them, however, frequently have upon us. We will convert
the order of the words, which will make no difference in the
substance of them, and consider at present what the text has to
say of poverty.
Give me not poverty, says the author of this prayer, lest I
be poor and steal. The strength of this observation extends
beyond the words. We must not by poverty understand only
an absolute want of subsistence and the ordinary accommoda-
tions of life, but every situation, high and low, where men's
expenses exceed their income, and thereby occasion embar-
rassment and distress. Nor is the danger confined to stealing.
Any dishonesty, and unfair shifts by which people can relieve
their distresses, come within the extent and substance of this
remark. So that the force of the prayer may be seen, perhaps,
more plainly if it be put into these words; Guard me against
all difficulties and embarrassments in my circumstances, lest
these difficulties put me upon unfair means of relieving them,
and drive me to desperate and dishonest shifts to get rid of
them.
Whether there be sufficient reason for this prayer or not,
must be judged of by observation and experience; and they
who have seen most of the world will be most ready, I believe,
to acknowledge that the opprobrium of involved circumstances
is so great and so urgent, that there are few who find their in-
tegrity firm enough to bear up against it. How frequently do
we see, or hear, however, of men of fair character, whilst the
world went easily with them, drawn in by degrees as their cir-
cumstances grew worse, to try experiments, at first perhaps,
142 prºUDENCE IN THE CONDUCT
though not quite upright, neither on the other hand absolutely
dishonest, and end at last in the direct practice of roguery and
deceit ! The inducement, no doubt, is strong. There are few
who can give up their habits of luxury, or part with the indul-
gences to which they have been accustomed; fewer still who
can bear the shame of it. There is a reputation to be upheld,
a pride and point of honor to be maintained, which, however
false or foolish, will not permit men to descend in the ranks of
life, or submit to those humiliations and restraints which their
circumstances require. Now this is a constant pressure and
temptation; and although at certain times their reflection may
get the better of it, and fortify them against the remotest
thought of relieving themselves by dishonesty, yet these reflec-
tions coming only at certain times, and the temptations, as I say,
being constant, pressing always upon their thoughts and spirits,
if an opportunity comes in their way, of supplying or superse-
ding their necessities, it is well if they be scrupulous about the
means, or able to refrain from any expedient which promises
alleviation or relief in present distress. One may imagine how
urgent the temptation is. . A man has tasted what it is to live
well and reputably. This must beggar him. He must give
up his acquaintance, connexions, place, character, appearance,
and esteem. This is what is before him, if he insist upon the
strict rules of honesty and uprightness, and all this may be
avoided by taking an advantage which is in his power. A
man, in such an instant, has not wit or ingenuity enough to dis-
guise or palliate the irregularity of what he is about. But no
matter what is the cause of it, if it be found true in fact, that
distressed circumstances drive most men to injustice of one
kind or other, it affords matter of very serious reflection to all
of us.
Are we those, first, who are setting out in the world? such,
if they consider what has been said, will take heed to lay the
plan of their expenses so as to fall easily and entirely within
the compass of their fortune, and to keep close to this plan.
And this, not merely as a matter of prudence and economy,
but as a moral duty; for so they will find it to be to their cost,
if they neglect it. Let not any luxury of living tempt them
into dissipation and extravagance. Luxury of eating and drink-
ing is the poorest of all pleasures at the best ; and can, I think,
be no pleasure at all when it is procured and embittered by the
difficulties it draws us into. Neither, which is equally danger-
ous, let any false notions of shame, or appearance, or emula-
tion, lead them into expenses inconsistent with their fortune.
OF OUR TEMPORAL CONCERNS. 143
They may be sure that real respect is never procured that way,
They mistake the matter much, if they hope to procure reve-
rence and esteem by displaying an appearance beyond their cir-
cumstances. All who are acquainted with the truth will up-
braid and despise them for it, and it is surely a pitiful ambition
to impose upon strangers. All this, as I said before, is to be
pressed upon them on the score of duty and religion, for, if
they will either observe the world themselves, or believe those
who have observed it, they will find dishonesty in some shape
or other, open or concealed, direct or indirect, to be the gen-
eral effect of involved and encumbered fortunes, especially
where the incumbrance is brought on by extravagance or pro-
fusion; and when we see other men's integrity so often borne
down by the temptation this lays them under, it is a piece of
presumption to expect that ours should stand firm against it.
So that a reasonable degree of prudence, in the regulation of
our desires, habits, and expenses will be found, and I believe
most men will own it earlier or later, to be as conducive to our
virtue as our comfort; equally necessary, that is, in other words,
to make us happy here as hereafter.
I would next address a word to those whose misconduct or
misfortunes have reduced them to straits and difficulties in their
circumstances. There is a vast difference, no doubt, in the
cause of their distress; but their distress, in either case, may
be great. Now such, perhaps, should be told what they are
to expect. They must look for struggles and temptations.
They may expect to meet with opportunities of relieving the
present burden by unfair practices; perhaps, of setting them-
selves, apparently, at ease and at liberty. They must count
upon being violently beset and urged in their minds when these
opportunities offer. Their own hearts will suggest to them all
the misery of their present situation, what they have suffered,
or what they are likely to suffer, if they neglect the present op-
portunity. Their imagination will go in quest of every excuse
and palliation that can be thought of; what they are induced
to do is no more than what thousands, and they themselves,
perhaps, have done before, what, they hope, urgent want may
make pardonable; it is what, some time hence, they may make
restitution for; what, perhaps, may never be known, what, if it be
known, will not leave them worse than they are. These, and
numberless more like reflections, will rise up in their minds.
All is, however, of no weight, because what is wrong and un-
just in a rich man will be wrong and unjust in a poor man; but
such, nevertheless, as will probably be of great influence upon
144 PRUDENCE IN THE CONDUCT
the biassed, bewildered judgment. The temptation they must
expect will occur frequently, will meet them at every turn, ruin
them when off their guard, struggle with them when upon it,
infest them with constant importunity. What advice, them, can
be given to such To stick the closer to their integrity the
more urgent their distress grows. To consider that every man
has his trial, this is theirs; that this is their proper enemy, the
persecution and danger to which they are exposed; this their
spiritual enemy. They are to do what a good soldier does,
arm themselves the strongest where they know they are the
weakest; prepare for defence where they expect the attack;
collect, that is, all their resolution, to this point; exert them-
selves, and all the vigour of character which they are masters
of, against their adversary. If they have themselves to blame
for their distress, strict honesty under it is the way, and the
only way, by which they can repair their error. Uprightness
in adversity always procures the respect and indulgence of
mankind; and, we trust, also, the favor of Almighty God.
Even when our adversity has been owing to our own fault or
folly, it is an atonement in some measure for past misconduct;
but when we see extravagance drive men to distress, and dis-
tress to dishonesty, there is no one will pity them ; because
every body but themselves can see that both the distress and
dishonesty lay at their own door. The case of those who are
reduced by misfortunes, which is what may happen to the best
and wisest of mankind, is, as it ought to be, more easy. It is
easier, I mean, to bear up cheerfully against the inconveniences
of poverty, when we have not ourselves to reproach with it.
There is no infamy to contend with ; for where is the shame of
sharing the disaster which all mankind are liable to ? It is like
being struck by a thunderbolt. There is no disgrace in it of
any kind. Fools, indeed, may deride, when they see us strip-
ped of the ornaments of wealth and honor, but none but fools
will laugh; the good and serious will be taught to look up to
the hand which holds the rod, and tremble for themselves.
Misfortunes man is taught to expect; and, bad as the world is,
it will always reverence an honest man struggling with difficul-
ties. But there are for such, comforts and considerations of
another kind, far above the world or its opinions. The proper
reflection in such a situation, and which should never be out of
a man’s mind, is this; that their misfortune is the visitation of
God alone, probably for the very purpose of trying and proving
our integrity.
He, therefore, that stands firm, that holds fast his integrity,
OF OUR TEMPORAL CONCERNS. 145
comes out of the fire purer and brighter, approves himself to
his God in the very part in which God has been pleased to try
him. This is to sanctify our sufferings, making, that is, “our
light affliction, which is but for a moment, work out for us a
far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.’ But, indeed,
to speak the plain truth, it is not those who are brought to
poverty by misfortunes that are often dishonest under it. It is
those who set out with schemes of overreaching and deceit, and
fail in them; or those who begin with extravagance and end in
fraud; that is, wanting either any good principle or firmness of
mind to abide by, they are carried away by the temptation
which, according to their circumstances, is the strongest; in
their prosperity by luxury and pride, in their adversity by the
practices of fraud and roguery. The violent temptations that
distressed circumstances lay men under, to attempt the arts of
fraud and dishonesty, ought both to make us careful ourselves,
and likewise somewhat more moderate and charitable towards
others, who labor under difficulties of this kind. We may
have been, perhaps, fair and honest in our dealings; we have
done well, but we have been always in affluence, at ease in our
circumstances, and have never felt the load and pressure of
perplexed or reduced fortunes. We have never known what
it is to look disgrace and poverty in the face. If we have
known this, we know not the trials some men's honesty is put
to, nor how far ours would have stood out against them. It is
one thing to maintain our integrity in the ordinary transactions
and easy concerns of life, and another to hold it fast at an ex-
tremity, when we are pushed on by indigence, and the pros-
pect, perhaps, of ruin on the one side, and covenient oppor-
tunity, and the expectation we may be under of setting our-
selves at ease and liberty on the other.
I am not now arguing for dishonesty of any kind, or in any
circumstances. I am only pleading for the lenity of mankind,
somewhat more mildness and moderation in our judgment and
treatment of such persons, than is always shown ; and this
principally to impress upon you the advice of St Paul, “That if
any be overtaken in a fault,’ instead of driving him to despair
by persecution and ill usage, to “restore such an one in the spirit
of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.’
19
146 THE MISAPPLICATION OF EXAMPLE.
XXVII.
THE MISAPPLICATION OF EXAMPLE.
1 CoRINTHIANs XV. 33.
Evil communications corrupt good manners.
'WE often make a very bad use of the example of others;
and this is not owing solely to the wickedness of the example,
but to our own error and perverseness in applying it. It is very
difficult to live well among bad companions. It is a proof of a
strong sense of duty, as well as of a great command of reso-
lution, to maintain our virtue and innocence in any particular
branch of morals, in which there is a general relaxation of
principle and insensibility of guilt prevailing among the per-
sons around us. Men without principle, men without religion,
men of unsteadfast minds, of easy consciences, of thoughtless
dispositions, are swept away by the current; they go down with
the stream of general practice, and of general conversation,
with very little opposition to corruptions which have example
to support them. Hence the infectious nature of vice, and the
rapid progress of the infection. If licentious and lascivious
sins have found their way into a neighbourhood, good and
serious men are shocked to see how the youth of both sexes
fall into the snare. It is with concern that they observe how
many are undone, and how soon. When drinking, late hours,
riotous proceedings, gain footing in a place, there is no com-
puting what numbers are drawn in ; at first, it is probable,
those only who were bad beforehand, then the idle and unoc-
cupied, who are ready for any seduction, then the giddy and
foolish, then the pliant tempered ; but the evil practice con-
tinues, till husbands and parents forget all those who ought to
be the nearest and dearest to them, and share in the general
profligacy, to the great grief, terror, and prejudice of their
friends, and those who depend upon them. If swearing get
into use, it is inconceivable how the horror of it wears away,
and how soon oaths and imprecations become frequent in our
streets, even from the lips of children; how all discourse, es-
pecially all mirth and diversion, become tainted with it; but
the good Christian reflects, he knows, that sin is the same,
whether it be common or uncommon, whether there be many
examples to countenance it, or none, whether it be the fashion of
THE MISAPPLICATION OF EXAMPLE. 14.7
the place, or the contrary; that it is the same in the sight of God,
the same in its final effects, the same in its punishment; and that
all those, be they many or few, who are led away by the com-
monness of a vice, are either men of hollow and unsound princi-
ples, or foolish and ignorant, men wanting in firmness and self-
command, men incapable of any moral proficiency; yet that is
the true time to hold close to a man's innocency and resolutions,
when he is beset, as I may so say, by the restless importunity of
evil example, of a corrupt neighbourhood, of a licentious age.
These all are the natural consequences of bad examples;
but what I rather propose to consider is, not so much the ef-
fects, as the misapplications of example. And of these one is
the following; when a man of general good character has some
particular failing mixed with his virtues, we without possessing
his virtues, make them an excuse for the failings in ourselves;
than which nothing can be more absurd, for how far these vir-
tues may extenuate the failings in him is certainly of no im-
portance to us; if we have not his virtues to allege in our con-
duct, they can be of no benefit or profit to us. And if we
take the argument the other way, if we suppose that the fail-
ing cannot have so much harm and guilt in it as some impute
to it, otherwise so good a man would not have allowed him-
self in the practice, we advance the unsafest argument that can
be alleged. Some are very mixed characters, very incon-
sistent with themselves; and men, otherwise good, are under
surprising delusions in that part of their character in which they
have suffered themselves to be overcome ; so that to build upon
their authority in the very point in which they betray their
weakness, is to rely upon a very feeble support indeed. Thus,
a man of honor and honesty in his dealings, in whom the world
places great trust and confidence, may unfortunately, with all
his character for general conscientiousness and integrity, have
fallen into habits of sottishness and drinking; others who give
themselves up to this insinuating and pernicious vice will plead
his example, and appear to themselves to be sheltered, as it
were, under his character, though not one of the qualities which
compose his character belong to themselves. But, they say,
could he be the man to permit himself these indulgences, if he
thought them so wrong? Alas! we ought never to argue in
this manner; we cannot infer a man's judgment from his prac-
tice; we know not what passes in his mind ; perhaps his con-
science is struggling against it all the while ; perhaps he has
been so often overcome by temptation and by his propensity,
that conscience has lost its force and its sensibility, which will
148 THE MISAPPLICATION OF EXAMPLE.
happen; perhaps if he were to counsel and admonish, he would
be the first man to warn or caution us against the very in-
dulgence in which we think we are only following him ; he
would propose his own case to us, not as an encouragement or
an example, which we make it to be, but as a lesson and a
warning. Sensible of his infirmity and his unsteadiness, he
does not undertake to defend it, although he has often found
himself overcome by it. And what must be the consequence
of this kind of imitation ? If we will imitate some particular
person, let us imitate him in his good properties; at least, let
us imitate him throughout. Picking out from each character
the bad parts of it, and infusing those, and those only, into our
own, is a plan which must end in gradual loss of virtue and
growth of vice; and if others pursued it as well as we, in
universal depravity and corruption. We are to judge of ac-
tions and conduct as they are in themselves, and not as they are
joined with other actions and other conduct in the same person;
that is the right and sound judgment; but the most wrong, and
the most unsound, is that which would excuse vices which we
have, by virtues which we have not; that which presumes that
a man’s judgment vindicates what his passions prompt him to.
A second misapplication of example is this; when we see a
man of pious and religious carriage forget his character, so as
to fall into some unjustifiable or loose conduct, we forthwith
conclude that his former piety was all hypocrisy, his religion
feigned. Now this is a very hasty conclusion ; the experience
of human life does not authorize it. On the contrary, we
see men drawn into transgressions of their duty, without re-
nouncing, or even disturbing their principles. There is a great
deal of difference between secretly respecting religion, and re-
ligion not having so firm a hold on our minds as to guide and
direct our conduct uniformly. We may infer the weakness of
a man’s principles and resolution, or we may infer the violence
of his passions, and the mastery they have gained over him,
from his giving way to temptation ; but we cannot infer, either
his former insincerity, or that any deliberate change in his
opinions has taken place. A difference ought to be made
whether the sin be casual or habitual; that is, whether it be a
single offence, or a course of offending; if it be the first kind,
it is a very harsh judgment to pronounce, because a man has
been off his guard, and overtaken off his guard, that therefore,
in truth he has no religion at all. There is no foundation for
any such inference. Not only charity but probability is against
it. If a man apparently religious falls not only into a single
THE MISAPLICATION OF EXAMPLE, 149
act of transgression, but into a evil course of life, the presump-
tion no doubt is more against him ; yet even here it is far from
decisive. Men in fact allow themselves a course of unlawful
practices in some particular point, who retain a regard to duty in
other points. We may perhaps argue that they deceive, even
fatally deceive their own hearts; but we cannot argue that they
reject the grounds of moral and religious obligation. I mention
this case in particular, because vicious men are exceedingly apt
to lay great stress upon it. It is a kind of ease to their minds to
find out a hypocrite. If they can but point out in the neighbour-
hood a man of outward sanctity and apparent religious be-
haviour, who has been detected in some secret bad practices,
or who, after years of sober and regular conversation, has fallen
off from his character, and given himself up to licentious or
dishonest courses, they draw a great comfort from it to them-
selves; they are fond of repeating such instances; they are
willing to believe, and would have others believe, that all men
at the bottom are very like themselves; that the difference
between good and bad men is more in the appearance than the
reality; that the opinion of the world, which reprobates and
cries out against them, is unreasonable ; for it is not, that they
are in fact worse than others, but that they do not cover and
mask their vices so well. Now I say, that this way of talking
and thinking is very irrational, on two accounts; first because
it presumes that every man who allows himself in some bad
practice, or who falls off from his former character, is, and all
the while has been, secretly, a disbeliever and contemner of
religion; which presumption is by no means true; it is neither
generally true, nor absolutely true. It is a conduct which
arises from inconsistency much oftener than from insincerity.
And secondly, were it true, the inference they draw from it to
the encouragement of their own vices is to the last degree fal–
lacious Because there are hypocrites in the world, does it
follow that there are no solid grounds of virtué º True it is,
that some who make a profession of religion, in their hearts
reject it. Does it follow that religion has no foundation to
stand on It is only the judgment of these partial persons
after all, that is shown ; and what is most material, it is that
judgment corrupted and influenced by a bad life; because
theirs is always, by the very supposition, a case of concealed
or newly commenced wickedness.
Another species of deceptious argument from example is
this ; when we see, or rather imagine that we see, other persons
perform any act of religion from selfish or unprincipled motives,
150 THE MISAPPLICATION OF EXAMPLE.
we avoid their example by not performing the act of religion
at all; which is the most perverse turn to give to the matter
that can be. The true reflection from such an example is this;
the duty does not cease to be such, the act of religion is not
therefore less an obligation, because certain persons of our
acquaintance perform it with very improper views and motives;
if they comply with it from bad reasons, we ought to comply
with it from better, instead of not complying with it at all, in
order to show our dislike of their example. Thus because we
think some persons come to church or the sacrament, to be
thought religious ; others because it has been their custom ;
others because they are obliged to it by their situation, calling,
or the authority of their parents and masters; others because
they have nothing else to do, therefore we will not go to church
or the sacrament at all. This example shows what shifts and
pretences men are driven to in excuse of their neglect of duty.
Good and wise men would be very unwilling and scarcely able
to believe, that any persons performed religious acts from any
other than religious motives; but they immediately reflect that
if the case be not so, it is nothing to them; it is no extenuation
of their guilt, should they neglect what is their duty, if others
debase their performance of it by unworthy motives; nor, on
the other hand, can it ever detract from the worthiness and
acceptability of those services which proceed from a sincere
wish to please God. t
In like manner, because it sometimes happens that men who
are remarkable for their attendance upon religious ordinances,
are not equally remarkable for their honesty and virtue, and
good conduct in other respects, therefore we take up a mean
opinion of religion and religious ordinances. This is a very
loose consequence that we draw. Religious ordinances never
pretended to possess such a check and irresistible efficacy in
them as to make men good universally or necessarily. Great
allowances must be made for the difference of men's engage-
ments, and the temper of their minds with respect to them,
and some for the difference of men’s apprehension of the
importance of particular offices; and after these allowances, I
believe it will turn out that the soundest virtue, the truest moral-
ity, is found in conjunction with a pious veneration for the
offices of religion. -
The sum of my discourse amounts principally to this ; If
unfortunately there be any in our religious congregations who
are found out to have carried on concealed practices of wicked-
ness along with outward sanctity and devotion ; who, after
DUTY OF PARENTs TowARDS THEIR CHILDREN. 151
having led for a long time a life of regularity and religion, fall
off from these characteristics, we are not entitled to conclude,
as we are very apt to do, that they are, and have been, disbe-
lievers on the whole. Experience of human nature authorizes
no such conclusion; the probability is, that they are not so
much consequences as inconsistences ; these men are borne
down by the force and strength of the temptation. But, chiefly
and industriously, ought we to beware of drawing such infe-
rences from the examples, as to make them either a reason for
the less respectability of religion itself; or for thinking that
such may in any way, or by any construction, either in the
judgment of mankind, or in the final judgment of God, be an
excuse or cover for our own evil courses.
XXVIII.
"THE DUTY OF PARENTS TOWARDS THEIR
CHILDREN.
PART I.
EPHESIANs VI. 4.
Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord.
THE duty of parents towards their children is a duty which
concerns so many, and is of such importance to all those whom
it does concern, that it deserves every consideration which
we can give it; for though it be a duty generally acknowledged,
it is not in some parts of it either so well understood, or so
properly practised as it ought to be. I shall divide the duty,
for method’s sake, into three parts.
First ; the maintenance of children, and a reasonable pro-
vision for their happiness, in point of circumstances and situation
in the world.
Secondly ; education.
And thirdly; the proper care of their virtue.
The obligation upon parents to maintain their children is the
first and pleasantest part of their duty; and it is founded upon
this reason ; the helpless condition of infancy renders it abso-
152 THE DUTY OF PARENTS
lutely necessary that one or other take the charge of its mainte-
nance. And it is manifest that the parents have no right, by
their act and deed, to burden others with the charge. Nothing,
therefore, is left but for the parents to undertake it themselves;
so that the maintaining of our offspring is matter of strict debt
to the rest of mankind, and this, independent of the affection
of parents to their children; which, if it be instinctive, is an
instinct implanted for the express purpose of promoting the
interests of their children, and so demonstrative of God Al-
mighty’s will and intention about it.
This part of a parent's duty, though so plain and natural, and
though the impulse to it be commonly so strong, is not always
discharged. They are the lowest, indeed, as well as the vilest
of the human species, who neglect or break through it; yet
there are some such in every neighbourhood. There are those
who run away from their families and leave them to perish, by
the want of what they should do for them. There are others
who stay at home only to consume in drunkenness and idle
sports, what should be bread for their families; and perhaps
what their families earn. There are those who are fallen into
so slothful and idle a course of life, that they had rather cast
their children upon the public than labor for them. And there
are those, lastly, who, after having ruined the mother, and been
the means of bringing innocent sufferers into the world, abandon
both to shame and misery, nor concern themselves as being any
farther connected with them, or being under any obligation to
provide for the maintenance of either; which is just as aban-
doned and wicked a line of conduct as any of the others; for,
if you remember the reason why parents are bound to maintain
their children, that reason holds equally for natural children, as
for any other. There is no difference in the obligation, so far
as it extends to maintenance, but what custom holds, which is
no difference at all.
But there is something beyond mere subsistence, which a
child is entitled to receive at the hands of its parents, because
there is something necessary for it, and which the child cannot
procure for itself; and that is, a reasonable provision for the
happiness of the child in its circumstances and situation of life.
Those, who, to make short work of the subject, say that a
parent is bound to do all he can for his children, say too much ;
because at that rate, every thing a person spends which might
have been saved, and every profit omitted which might have
been made, would be criminal, as it would be a breach of that
rule. Besides, such very general rules, which have no limtis,
TOWARDS THEIR CHILDREN. 153
would be of no sort of use. But a reasonable care of the cir-
cumstances and situation of children is certainly a parent's
duty; that is, to put them in such a situation, and leave them,
if in our power, in such circumstances, as that they may have
a fair chance, and a probable expectation of being happy and
useful. Happy and useful are the two words to be remem-
bered; that is what I mean by a reasonable provision.
Now I do not say a child has this chance or expectation,
unless he be well placed in a situation suitable to his habits
and reasonable expectations, and furnished likewise with a
competent provision for the demands of that situation. But
here it becomes a very material question, how we are to calcu-
late the demands and expenses of the situation, or what may
be deemed a person’s reasonable expectations. For these
exigences depend much upon the young man himself, and they
can call or think what they please so many exigences; and
thus making the expectations of the child in some degree the
measure of the parent’s duty, we are laying the parent open to
unbounded demands. I answer, that the exigences of any
situation, and the reasonable expectations of children, are so
far regulated by custom, that as much indulgence in expense,
appearance, and manner of living, and the like, as is custom-
arily allowed to and practised by people of such professions, or
in similar situations of life, is to be accounted the exigences
of that situation. Not that custom, in its own proper force,
can alter or determine what is wrong in any case ; but in the
present case you cannot suppose that a young person who is
denied that which all, or almost all, about him are allowed,
or, which is the same thing, is not supplied with the means
of procuring it, and exposed on that account to continual
mortification, and what he reckons disgrace; you cannot, I say,
suppose that he will be tolerably easy or happy under such
circumstances, at least you will not find him so ; and a fair
chance for his ease and happiness he has a right to look for.
You will understand that all vicious and licentious indulgences
are to be excepted out of this rule, which a parent is not to
encourage or supply, or even permit, if he can help it, however
common they may be in the situation and class of life in which
his child is placed; nor would it alter the case if such practices
were universal. º
What we have said of custom regulating the exigences, and
situation, is equally true as to the expectation of the child,
and the choice of situation. In reality, and in the eyes of rea-
son, all situations which are equally innocent and useful are
20
154 THE DUTY OF PARENTS
equally honorable; but it is not exactly so in the opinion of the
world. The world has what it calls its distinctions of rank, its
liberal professions, and inferior stations; and in laying out a
plan or provision for our children, we must be content in some
measure to submit to such opinions. A child will naturally ex-
pect to preserve the place, rank, and condition in life, in which
he has been brought up. He has had from the first those who
accounted him their equal, and he will expect to continue so.
And who should say that his expectations are unreasonable At
least they are natural and unavoidable. It is not likely that a
child should be satisfied in a condition which degrades and de-
presses him beneath his acquaintance; and that he should see
with patience the children of all other families, whose birth,
place, and rank in life were like his own, advanced before
him. -
The habits of a young person are a consideration of still
greater importance than his expectations. To accustom chil-
dren to habits of ease, amusements, and elegance, and a thou-
sand distinctions, and then to send them abroad into a calling
where they must all be given up, or meet every day with con-
tradiction and rebuke, and to suppose that your children will
reconcile themselves to the change, is to suppose the children
much wiser than their parents; is to expect that from the in-
decision and vehemency of youth, which you will find is the
fruit of reflection and resolution. -
The rule we lay down then is this; that a parent is bound,
if in his power, for no one is bound to impossibilities, to pro-
vide his child with a calling suited to his talents and reasonable
expectations, and to supply the exigences of that calling; and
those expectations and exigences are to be deemed reasonable,
which the generality of others in similar circumstances, or of
the same profession, are commonly indulged with ; and then,
when a parent has done this, he has done his duty, so far as
relates to provision.
We will next see how this rule applies to the different classes
and conditions of life, and who are the persons that offend
against it.
First, then, the most important, because the most numerous
order of men amongst us, are those who have only their labor
to live by. -
It is manifest that if they accustom their children betimes to
industry, and procure them any calling in which their industry
will honestly support them, they completely acquit themselves
of the duty of a parent to his child; as completely, perhaps
TOWARDS THEIR CHILDREN. 155
more so, than the man who lays up an independence for his
son, in order to raise a family or be in a condition above his
birth. He provides his child with a situation suited to his
habits; for he took care to habituate him from the beginning to
labor and sobriety, and to the reasonable use of exertion; for
the child who expects to live in idleness when his parents
brought him up by their labor, cannot be said to entertain a
reasonable expectation. And then, as to the demands of the
situation, a livelihood for himself, and, in due time, the means
of providing a livelihood for a family of his own, is the utmost
that either reason or even custom can authorize him to expect.
That in fact, with no extraordinary vein and inclination, he will
expect. These things a parent cannot supply him with ; but
he can do better; for he can establish him in the business
which he has taught him, or can get him, taught, and direct
him by the sober and industrious life he has brought him up
with, to maintain himself. This is a consolation and encourage-
ment to their condition of life, as it shows that every man who
has health, and hands, and activity, need not fear being able to
do his duty to his family; and would we did not observe many
persons more afraid of the burden of a family than they are of
offending God by a life of lewdness and licentiousness They
who transgress against this rule are the people who suffer their
children to live in absolute idleness, or what is next to it, in
some trifling employment which can never be of service to
them when they become men, or in little pilferings and private
tricks; and who do not, if they grow up, take care betimes to
provide them with masters and honest laborious callings.
The next order of men are those who are in the middle, be-
twixt poverty and riches; who are of liberal professions, and
though of smaller estates, in creditable branches of business.
These might provide a mere subsistence for their children by
sending them out into the world to get their bread by trade or
manual labor; but they would not satisfy by these means the
reasonable expectations of their children, which is necessary
to be done, in order to give them a fair chance for happiness.
Much less are they bound, on the other hand, to make them
or leave them independent of any profession. This may hap-
pen sometimes; but I believe that there is more pleasure than
merit in it, when it does happen. A calling in some degree
upon a level, in point of place and station, with that which their
parents follow, is the utmost they are entitled to expect; and
yet this simple and practicable rule is often and in various ways
neglected. It is neglected from avarice, from vanity, and from
156 THE DUTY OF PARENTS
extravagance. From avarice; as when a parent sinks his
child's profession to save the charges of education, which of
all schemes of economy is the worst; for the child, when he
becomes master of his liberty and his fortune, will hardly sit
down with the calling he is brought up to, and is qualified for
nothing better. But this error is not common. Our rule is
violated from vanity, when a parent, from some foolish conceit
of birth and distinction, thinks the ordinary occupations of life
beneath the dignity of his family, and yet is not in circumstances
to advance his children into the more honorable professions,
and so leaves them to shift for themselves without either em-
ployment or profession at all; or, what is worse, introduces
them perhaps into some profession or place of public educa-
tion of some great name and repute, and yet has it not in his
power to supply him with the necessary expenses of the station
in which he has placed his child, until he can maintain himself.
I call these necessary expenses, as I said before, which all or
most in the same situation of life are allowed. This is both
folly and cruelty; folly, for you will hardly ever know an in-
stance of a person succeeding in a profession who is thus
shackled; and cruelty to the child, for the thus lifting him up
into the higher classes of life, without giving him the means of
supporting himself, is only to expose him to continual insult and
mortification; to make his life and happiness a prey to every
vexation and distress. I am sure that a parent who acts thus
does not do his duty by his child, if it be a parent’s duty to give
his child a fair chance of happiness. He gives him indeed
scarcely any chance at all ; for there is not any one living who
can be at ease under the difficulties and vexations which a man
is liable to whose circumstances are inadequate to his state.
And lastly, parents do not discharge their duty to their
children, or what is just the same, put it out of their power to
discharge it, by their own extravagance. When a parent might,
by frugality, and selfdenial, and diligence, put his children into
a calling suitable for them, and give or leave them sufficient to
go on with his calling, and does not do so, he is then extrava-
gant in the properest sense of that word, and his extravagance
has a double effect on his children; it both accustoms them to
high or luxurious living, and deprives them of the means of
continuing it. Nor is it an excuse to say that their children
shared with them; that they indulged them while in their
power with every thing they could afford, or more. This is
not that reasonable and permanent provision for a child's hap-
piness which it is a parent's duty to make.
TOWARDS THEIR CHILDREN. 157
The last order of men which remains to be considered, are
those of great fortune and family, and who are bound perhaps
to transmit to some one child a considerable part of their for-
tune. Such child will seldom submit to enter into a profession,
nor would the parent be willing he should. When those per-
sons, by luxury or mismanagement, throw away their large for-
tunes upon themselves, or enjoy it while they may, as it is
termed, they leave the rest of their family of all others the most
destitute; for they have brought them up with expectations
only to be disappointed; with habits which will teaze and tor-
ment them, and with a pride which will starve them.
To sum up the whole; the duty of parents to their children,
like every other duty, has its limits. There is such a thing as
doing too much, when we are so anxious for our family as to
be hardly just, and never generous to the rest of mankind.
And there is such a thing as doing too little; when we neglect
the opportunities we have, or may have, of providing for our
children in such a manner as is reasonable, and, if it be not
their own fault, conducting them through an ensnaring and pre-
carious world, with comfort to themselves and usefulness to
others. -
XXIX.
THE DUTY OF PARENTS TOWARDS THEIR
CHILDREN.
PART II.
PROVERB's XXII. 6.
Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart
from it.
ONE grand article of a parent's duty to his children is the
care of their virtue, and the using of proper expedients and
precautions to preserve and inculcate it. . This, you will say,
was the business of education, which has been already treated
of; but there are certain other precautions and expedients
which do not fall under the notice of what is commonly
158 THE DUTY OF PARENTS
reckoned education, and which therefore we choose to make
the subject of a separate exhortation; though to say the truth,
it matters little how our duty is arranged or divided, if it be
but understood and practised.
Now the first and principal and most direct way of encour-
aging virtue in our children, is by our own example. The
great point in a young person, or indeed in any person, is the
being accustomed to look forward to the consequences of their
actions in a future world; and this is not to be brought about
by any other method than the parents’ acting with a view to
those consequences themselves. Whatever parents may be in
their own conduct, they cannot but wish to have their children
virtuous; both because they know that virtue at the setting out
has a better chance for thriving in the world than vice, though
with all chances it may turn out otherwise, and because, unless
a man has deliberately, and from conviction, cast off all expecta-
tion of a future state, which is not, I trust and believe, the
case with many, if with any, he cannot but desire, if he love
his children at all, to have them happy in that state, he cannot
but know that to promote and secure that happiness and that
interest, is, after all, the very best thing which he can do for
them. And I will suppose it to be the wish and purpose of
every parent. But then how do they go about to accomplish
it? They gravely, perhaps, and solemnly give them lessons of
virtue and morality, warn them with much seeming earnestness
against idleness, drunkenness, lewdness, dissoluteness, and
profligacy; whereas they themselves hang about all day without
employ, come home disordered by intemperance, are cried out
against in the whole neighbourhood for some profligate con-
nexions, and waste and destroy their substance in riot, dissipa-
tion, and high living; or they will tell their children, possibly,
of the great importance of religion; that every thing besides is
of short duration, and, consequently, small importance, in com-
parison with this; that death closes all our cares but this; what-
ever else, therefore, they regard, to take care of this. This is
the conversation, perhaps, that they hold with their children,
whilst their own conduct all the while has not much of the in-
fluence of religion discoverable in it. The offices and ordi-
nances of religion, which are the apparent, and therefore, as
examples, the affecting and influencing spirit of it, are put by
and neglected, if there be any pretence or cause for neglecting
them, not seldom without any pretence or excuse at all.
All that the child sees of the parents is, that they are continu-
ally taken up with the pursuit of some pleasure ; or that they
TOWARDS THEIR CHILDREN. 159
busy themselves about some worldly advantage, as much as if
there were no such things as religion and a future state ever
heard of. One hour the parent shall be representing to the
child the tremendous authority of God Almighty; that the
whole world is in his hands; that he is the giver of all good,
and has the power to inflict upon us every evil; that he is the
author of life and death ; that it is he only that can kill the
body, and after that can cast it into hell fire ; that he is never,
therefore, to be named or thought of without awe and venera-
tion. Thus will the parent talk one hour, and the next, per-
haps, if a very slight provocation fall in his way, the child shall
hear him cursing and swearing, and dealing about the name
and vengeance of God, the terrors of hell and damnation, with
as little concern, and upon as frivolous an occasion, as if these
things were only tales to frighten fools with, and to be sport to
the wise man. Even the understanding of a child is not to be
imposed upon by such mockery, or made to believe that a
parent can be sincere, or really is in earnest in delivering rules
and principles of behaviour, which manifestly possess no sort
of influence upon his own; which he forgets or breaks on every
occasion that arises; and when the child has once found out
this, or suspects it, the discovery has a fatal effect upon the
parent’s authority in general; for whatever lessons of prudence,
or maxims of morality, or admonitions, or exhortations he after-
wards gives his child, they will only pass with it for so much
form and affectation; whereas, did the parent regularly and
constantly act with a view to a future judgment and the laws of
religion himself, the child would easily learn to turn its eyes
and attention the same way, and with very little talking to ;
and the custom of considering itself accountable hereafter for
what it does here, thus silently and insensibly formed by the
parent’s example, would have a chance of remaining with it to
its life’s end. This is the least troublesome, and only true
way of inculcating religion into young minds, and does not
disgust or frighten them with the suddenness of it. *
A second thing, by which much may be done towards the
preserving and cultivating of a young person’s virtue, is in the
choice of professions. Professions differ much in the opportu-
nities and temptations to particular vices; young persons differ
as much in the disposition and inclination they discover to
different vices. Hence, it is manifest, there is room for judg-
ment in selecting professions the least favorable to those vices
to which the child discovers a propensity, and the most likely
to qualify and correct them. Instances of this may be the
160 THE DUTY OF PARENTS
following ; if a youth betray a turn for a loose and dissolute
course of life, some calling in which he will be early restrained
and live at first under immediate inspection and authority, and
above all, one in which his hand and mind will be kept con-
stantly employed, and in which sobriety and regularity of be-
haviour is the general character, and much insisted upon as a
point of reputation ; some calling of this kind, and of this sort
are most employments in trade and business, seems best adapted
to keep within bounds his craving for pleasure, and by degrees
moderate it.
If he show a propensity to sottishness, low company, and
mean diversions, it may remedy this to advance him into politer
stations of life, where he will hear these vices and propensities.
reprobated, and a spirit of honor and dignity set up against
them, and it will carry him away from those places where he
is beginning to form mean attachments and bad habits. If
there be reason to suspect him of a mercenary, sordid temper,
which in youth is not common, a liberal education and a liberal
profession are the best remedy. An intercourse with young
persons of these lines of education and profession will probably
cure it. If he be envious, proud, and passionate, impatient of
superiority and disappointment, the more private his condition
of life is, the better; where he will meet with fewer quarrels,
competitions, and mortifications.
This all seems very plain and rational, and yet it is not only
neglected in practice, but expressly contradicted, and a rule
the reverse of this pretty generally observed. Men choose
sometimes their children’s professions with a view to the dispo-
sitions they remark in them. But how do they direct their
choice P Commonly to such callings and ways of life as are of
all others the most likely to foment, call out, and encourage
every bad disposition they have betrayed. Thus, does a child
seem addicted to dissolute and licentious pleasures, is what we
call wild and ungovernable He is despatched abroad to a
distance, and enters one of those professions where he will be
out of the reach of his parents’ or of any other authority;
without superintendence and control; with every opportunity
and every temptation to vice, together with the example and
encouragement and conversation of those he is placed amongst.
If his temper be narrow and mean and mercenary, a trade and
employment by which that tendency is naturally increased is
sought out for him, where a selfish and avaricious turn will
grow upon him, under the name of frugality, attention to busi-
ness, care, and circumspection; all which he finds to be quali-
TOWARDS THEIR CHILDREN. 161
ties of great use and esteem in the way of life and among the
people that he converses with, and to a certain degree they are
both necessary and meritorious. If he be of a wily, crafty turn
of mind, proud of a successful stratagem, and laying out to
overreach and make an advantage of the simplicity and unsus-
picious temper of those he deals with, why then he is made,
a parent concludes, for one of those callings, necessary and
honorable in their nature, but in the practice of which vileness
and craft have too many opportunities, too much success. If
his spirit be haughty and ambitious, this is considered as the
indication of a lofty and aspiring mind, which must be gratified
by placing it in one of those liberal professions where the re-
spect and importance, and dignity and rank of that higher order
are apt to flatter the vain, the proud, the arrogant, but in which
this sort of temper will have no other effect than to expose a
man to repulse and disappointment, chagrin, envy, and vex-
ation, and the whole train of conflicting passions which infest
unsuccessful, mortified, or affronted pride. In their arguments
no regard is had to the care or preservation of the child’s virtue,
the subduing of his vicious propensities, the amendment of his
disposition, which in reason ought to be the first of all conside-
rations; but the whole attention is paid to worldly advance-
ment and success, in which also their choice often fails.
Another case in which parents are chargeable with the
source of their children's ill conduct, is when they urge them,
as it were, into situations in which it is very difficult to behave
well. The parent complains that the son is idle, when he has
never put it in his power, or given him the means to exert his
diligence, with any advantage or encouragement; or that he is
fallen into a loose course of conduct, when the parent, probably
from pride, avarice, or some such motive, opposed some
generous attachment, and prevented that virtuous connexion
which might have preserved him from his present course of
life. This also is no uncommon case, no uncommon conse-
quence. Or, the child is fretful and discontented in his situa-
tion, instead of attending to the business or the duties of it.
This also is often the parent’s mismanagement, as well as the
child’s fault. It may be that the parent has advanced his child
to a state of which he either cannot or will not supply the ex-
penses, and so he leaves him in much embarrassment and per-
plexity; has dignified him with a condition of life beyond his
first expectations, or has accustomed him early to habits of
luxury inconsistent with the calling he is destined to, or the
provision he has given him.
21
162 DUTY OF PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN.
The example of a parent, I have already said, has a great
and obvious influence upon the manners and moral senti-
ments of children; and the greater in proportion as they en-
tertain the more reverence, esteem, and affection for their pa-
rents. Young people seldom seem much or well impressed
with moral sentiments of their own; and it is not to be expect-
ed, hardly indeed to be wished, that a child should con-
demn or regard with abhorrence what he sees his parent prac-
tise. This is obvious. But there is another way in which the
child’s character is often determined by the parent’s conduct,
which is not so obvious; and that is, when the parent carries
any quality or behaviour to an excess which the child sees and
suffers under. The child is apt, when he grows up, to discard
the whole principle, and run into the contrary extreme. Thus,
when a parent carries his economy to a length which teazes
and harasses, and makes unhappy his family and all about him,
it is odds but the child despises, when he enters into the world,
all economy as so much covetousness, and sets off, as soon as
it is in his power, a prodigal and spendthrift. If the serious-
ness and gravity of the parent be mixed with moroseness and
austerity, the effect is, that the child contracts an aversion to
all seriousness, and turns out a character of thoughtlessness,
levity, and profaneness. If the parent’s religion be melancholy
or superstitious, it compels him to a constant affectation of it,
in season and out of season. If it be a troublesome attention
to multiplied forms and ceremonies, there is danger lest the
child take up a dislike to all religion, as inconsistent with any
tolerable degree of ease or pleasure. The same of many other
qualities. We are often disgusted even with virtue itself, when
coupled with forbidding manners. A parent, therefore, who
wishes to recommend good principles and good qualities to the
child, should not render them forbidding in his own example;
and if he wishes to procure and preserve a proper influence, he
should not only be virtuous, which is the first and great thing,
but take care to make his virtues sit easy upon him, and render
even his virtue, what virtue is always capable of being, amiable,
easy, and engaging.
DUTY OF CHILDREN TO THEIR PARENTS. 163
XXX.
THE DUTY OF CHILDREN TOWARDS THEIR
PARENTS.
ExoDUs XX. 12.
Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which
the Lord thy God giveth thee.
IN my last discourse I gave an account of those duties which
parents owe to their children. I proceed now to take notice of
those which the children, in return, are enjoined to perform
towards their parents. And this may be done by examining into
the sense and meaning of the words of the text; ‘Honor thy
father and thy mother.” Something may be added, too, with
regard to the promise annexed to the performance of this duty,
‘that thy days may be long in the land, which the Lord thy
God giveth thee.” -
* Honor,” then, signifies a great many things; and takes its
sense especially from the person it relates to. To honor the
king is one thing, to honor God is another. To honor our
equals or inferiors is different from either; and therefore the
word must not be taken in the same sense wherever we meet
with it; but the meaning and extent of it must be determined
by the party to which it is addressed. Since then the words,
‘Honor thy father and thy mother,’ are so much of one of the
commandments of God as is meant to secure the duty of chil-
dren towards parents, the several duties of love, of respect,
of obedience, and of support, which children owe to their
parents, are comprehended under them.
First, then, we are commanded to love our parents. But
because, properly speaking, it is not in our own power to love
or hate, to hope for or fear, when, and what, and whom we
will, but according as we apprehend the thing or person to be
desirable and lovely; by being commanded to love our parents,
we are to take such courses and considerations as may increase
our natural affection to them, and avoid all such things as may
any way diminish it. How far their being, under God, the
authors and originals of our life and existence, may contribute
to excite this affection, is not so easy to determine; because
life, as it is happy or miserable, is differently to be represented.
But parental love, which exerts itself in a constant care and
164: THE DUTY OF CHILDREN
preservation of us, is a real good, which deserves to be repaid
with all the love we can show. It is this which supplies all the
wants of helpless infancy, secures from all the hazards of heed-
less childhood, of giddy and unthinking youth. It is this that
informs the mind and regulates the manners, that trains up the
reason, that exercises the memory, that instructs us to argue
and understand such things as by our years we are capable of,
and takes care to educate and fit us for greater concerns. It
is this that brings us first to God in baptism, and keeps us af-
terwards in the ways of goodness and religion, by instilling into
us wise and virtuous principles; by reminding us constantly of
our several duties, encouraging us in good by favors and re-
wards, and reclaiming us from evil by reproofs and corrections.
These, and a thousand more, are the ways which parents take
to make their children happy, besides those endless and innu-
merable labors, watchings, and solicitations, which consume
their whole life, to make a handsome provision for them of the
good things of this life. So that whatever benefits can be the
grounds and foundation of love in children, the care and love
of parents abundantly afford them ; and, therefore, they are
obliged to take the remembrance of these frequently into con-
sideration, in order to stir them up to love their parents, who
have done so great things for them; who next, under God, are
not only the authors of their being, but of their well being
likewise, and present happiness.
Another duty which children owe to their parents is respect;
that is, all external honor and civility, whether in words or
actions, by virtue of which they are obliged to be submissive
in their behaviour, and mannerly and dutiful in their speeches
and answers to them, to say things honorable and commenda-
ble of them, to pry as little into their ſailings and infirmities as
they themselves can, and to extenuate and conceal them as
much as possible from others. And for this there is so much
reason and decency in nature, that it shocks us to hear one
reproach his parents with vices and infirmities, though what he
says be true, unless it be done with great concern and tender-
ness, with grief and pity; but when it is done with contempt
and pleasure in telling, we cannot help abhorring such impiety;
for the hearts of all men go along with Noah for laying pun-
ishment upon Ham for his unnatural and profane derision, and
love the memory of those sons who would not themselves see,
nor suffer their own senses to be witnesses of, the miscarriages
of their father. *
TOWARDS THEIR PARENTS. 165
That, therefore, children may discharge this part of their
duty the better, and in every gesture, word, and action, show
all due honor and respect to their parents, as it is partly in
their parents’ power to effect, so it should be their care and
concern to promote it. And to this purpose, they must be
careful how they live and behave in the sight of their children;
for if they make themselves vile and cheap in their eyes by
too much familiarity, by light and indiscreet carriage, they will
in vain expect the reverence and respect that is due to their
character. The foundation of respect is some supposed ex-
cellence and worth, and in consequence of this, some kind of
superiority ; but when parents either admit their children to an
equality, or make them privy to their follies and indiscretions,
they do in effect invite contempt. And, therefore, all due care
should be taken, that the domestic differences, and idle and
unseemly quarrels and debates, and silly and unkind words and
actions, that too frequently pass between parents, should be
concealed from children.
The third branch of a child's duty is obedience. This will
vary greatly at different times of life; but it should never
cease. It must be absolute and implicit during childhood. It
can admit of very few exceptions in youth. It will ever be
general in manhood; even when a son or daughter is of age to
judge for himself, he ought to perceive clear and strong rea-
sons before he takes upon him to go against his parents’ direc-
tions and admonitions; before he be able to judge for himself,
which is not so soon as many young persons imagine they are
able, no excuse can be sufficient. And there is one of the
strongest possible reasons for our showing great deference to a
parent's pleasure, and that is, that we are sure, which we can
never be on following any other person's counsel, that it is
meant for our good. A child ought to reason thus with him-
self; ‘I have received every proof imaginable of their affec-
tion and good will, nor can I suspect the least design they can
have upon me, unless it be to do me good, and prevent me
from falling into any miscarriage, which I find affects them
rather more than it does myself. They have made me their
pride, happiness, and glory. They have placed all their con-
tent and satisfaction in my welfare, and therefore I cannot but
believe that their counsels and commands are the best that,
considering circumstances, they can give, and the safest for me
to follow.” If children, I say, would but reason thus with
themselves, and at the same time reflect upon the ties and ob-
ligations they have to be obedient to their parents, the reason-
166 DUTY OF CHILDREN TO THEIR PARENTS.
ableness, the pleasure, and the security of being so, the appro-
bation of all good people, and the blessing of God going along
with it, they would soon bring themselves to a ready disposi-
tion of obedience even though there were some things not so
agreeable to their own desires, in what their parents might
enjoin.
There is one duty more included under the word “honor;”
and that is the support and maintenance of our parents, or our
administering to them in their wants and weaknesses. For
considering the care and pains which our father, and the sleep-
less nights and homely offices which our mother, underwent for
us, how tender they both were of us in our infancy, when we
were incapable of helping ourselves, how liberal of their sub-
stance to give us an education and settle us in a station of
life, to the utmost of their abilities; we cannot but think it
incumbent on us to requite their care, and make them a suit-
able return, when either poverty, which is a heavy load and
requires our support, or old age, which is a second childhood
and requires our attention, comes upon them.
Upon the whole, parents, in respect to their children, do
bear the signal stamp and image of God himself, not only as
he is their maker, but as he is their preserver and benefac-
tor; and, therefore, we may observe, that as the duties to other
men are termed kindnesses, or charity, or courtesies, or libe-
rality, &c. those towards parents in every language are entitled
piety; which implies something peculiarly divine in the object
of them, and denotes that the offences of children in this respect
are greatly increased ; that to slight our parents is more than
unkindness; to refuse them support is more than uncharitable-
mess; to be unmannerly towards them is more than discourtesy;
and in their necessities not to be liberal is more sordid than
avarice, nay, is high impiety and flagitiousness against Heaven.
For ‘he that forsaketh his father is a blasphemer; and he that
angereth his mother is cursed of God; but he that honoreth
his father shall have long life.” These words of holy writ bring
us to the nature of that encouragement which God has annexed
to the performance of our duty towards our parents; ‘that thy
days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth
thee.”
Now it is evident that this promise was peculiar to the chil-
dren of Israel, from being limited to the land of Canaan, which
they only were to inhabit; and therefore it cannot from hence
be concluded, either that obedient children shall always inherit
long life, or that they who arrive at old age have therefore been
THE OUTIES OF SERVANTS, 167
obedient children; since every day's experience shows the
contrary. But the encouragement which children have from
hence is this ; that if long life be most convenient for them, all
circumstances considered, they may expect it; but if it will not
prove a blessing, as of itself it seldom does, then is not God
unfaithful to his promise, if the best and most obedient children
are translated betimes into that better and heavenly country, of
which the land of promise was but a poor type or shadow.
And therefore we find the son of Sirach exhorting to honor and
observe parents, from motives of a higher consideration than
what are given to the Jews. ‘My son, help thy father in his
age, and grieve him not as long as he liveth; and if his under-
standing fail, have patience and despise him not, when thou art
in thy full strength; for the relieving of thy father will not be
forgotten ; in the days of thy affliction it shall be remembered.’
XXXI.
THE DUTIES OF SERVANTS.
EPHESIANs VI. 5–8.
Servants, be obedient unto them that are your masters according to the flesh,
with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart as unto Christ; not
with eyeservice as menpleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the
will of God from the heart, with good will, doing service as to the Lord and
not to men; knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same
shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.
THESE words are a lesson to servants, from no other than
the apostle Paul. It was his custom, at the conclusion of his
epistles, to add short practical precepts and rules of behaviour,
adapted to the various understandings of the persons to whom
he wrote. So in this and the preceding, which are the last
two chapters of the epistle to the Ephesians, the apostle sets
forth the duties of husbands and wives, and children and
parents; and in the words I have read to you, of servants and
masters. Now, that in which this lesson exceeds all others, is
the religion that it carries with it; and this religion respects
both the motives upon which servants ought to act towards their
masters, and the rule by which they should regulate themselves.
168 THE DUTIES OF SERVANTS,
Another instructer, a mere human teacher, would have had
servants be faithful and diligent in their calling, that they might
please and satisfy their masters; because, he would have said,
that is the way of recommending one’s self, that is the way of
bettering our condition, and of keeping a good situation if we
have one ; that is the way of obtaining and preserving a good
name and a good character, upon which our livelihood and our
success in the world depend. He who has nothing to trust to
but his hands and labor, must recommend himself to an employ-
ment by industry, honesty, care, and sobriety. These qualities
will constantly be sought for in servants; and qualities contrary
to these, laziness, carelessness, dishonesty, and drunkenness,
will as constantly be avoided by all who need them. There-
fore, a prudent counsellor would suggest, if you have a view
to pass your time creditably in your situation, and to have your
service sought after ; if you would maintain yourself and your
family with decency, and have a maintenance always to trust
to ; secure to yourself by the regularity of your behaviour, as
well as by the diligence, skilfulness, and activity of your service,
the approbation of those who employ you, and of the neigh-
bourhood in which you live ; that will always do, and nothing
else will. -
A merely human teacher, of experience in the world, would
probably tell a servant all this, and it is all true. But what
says the apostle A divine monitor like St Paul puts the mat-
ter on a different foundation. He inculcates far higher views;
* Do,” says he, “the will of God from the heart, with good will
doing service as to the Lord, and not to men; knowing that
whatever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive
of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.” In which words
three things are imported; First, that servants are to look up,
not to the person who employs them, but to God as their master,
“Doing service as to the Lord and not to man.” Secondly;
that it is in truth God, and not man, that sets them their work
and their task; “Do the will of God.” Thirdly; they are to
look to God, and not to man, for the reward of their faithful
service; * Knowing this, that whatever good thing any man
doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord.”
First; the words of the text import this; if God is, so far,
the proper master of all servants, then it is he, and not man,
who has assigned them their works and their tasks. The foun-
dation of the contract is, that the different lots and conditions of
human life are all appointed by God, and that each man’s
calling and destination is that which God has fixed for him.
THE DUTIES OF SERVANTS. 169
The general frame of human society, and the origin and con-
stitution of different societies, are points not understood by all,
but all can understand some things in every society; for instance,
that there must be masters and there must be servants, some
to direct and some to be directed. The business of the world
must be carried on ; and it is only by labor that we are all
maintained. Our food and raiment, our habitations and accom-
modations, and in part our enjoyments, we owe to the hand of
industry. Now there are but two methods possible; one is,
every man working for himself, to supply himself with every
thing he has occasion for ; the second is, working for another.
The former is the condition of savages, among whom, though
every man toils night and day to procure himself food and
clothing, every man is wretchedly and scarcely provided with
either. In such a state, they who are best provided are worse
off than the poorest inhabitant of this country can be. There-
fore by such a rule, if it were possible to establish it, the poor
would gain nothing, and all who are above poverty would lose
a great deal. The second is the condition of civilized life, in
which one man sets himself to work whatever he is qualified to
carry on for the benefit of others, and is in return rewarded
with the benefit of his industry in some other way. There
goes through the different employments of life a general ex-
change. Service, in particular, is a fair exchange of mainte-
nance for industry, of wages for labor. The exchange is honest
and advantageous on both sides. The master is no less obliged
to a good servant, than the servant to a good master.
There must be property. The face of the earth would be a
waste without it. The ground would be uncultivated, if no man
had a property in it. No business of any kind need or would be
carried on, if they who carried it on had not a property in the
produce and the profit; but if there be property at all, it must
be regulated by some fixed rules; and let these rules be what
they will, property will run into unequal masses. This is in-
evitable. The art of man cannot hinder it. One man will
have a great deal to spare, another will want. But there is one
species of property which every man is born to ; the use of his
liberty; and thanks be to God, things are in such a state with
us that this, in general, is equal ; but then to turn his strength,
faculties, and activity to account, he must engage with some
one who has that to spare which he stands in need of. He
must give him what he has to give, namely, his personal service,
in order to obtain from him what he must obtain, his mainte-
nance ; and there is no service in this country but what is
22
170 THE DUTIES OF SERVANTS.
founded in the interest of the servant himself. Now the reflec-
tion that arises from all this, and which is the reflection con-
tained in the text, is, that some service necessarily results from
the order and constitution of civil life, and since that order
was of God Almighty's fixing, that constitution of his appoint-
ment, service also itself may be truly said to be the destination
and contrivance of his providence. The state is what God
made and designed, because it is owing to that order of things
which he has settled in the world; but we are moreover to
refer to his providence the state in which each finds himself;
and this is true of the lowest as well as the highest, of the
servant in his state as well as the prince upon his throne. We
are all disposed into our different states by the appointment of
God. Wherefore the business and duties of these several
stations may justly be called the task which God has given us
to perform ; and, be it what it will, whilst we perform it we
are performing the will of God. A servant, therefore, as the
apostle admonishes, is doing service to the Lord. The work
assigned him is assigned, not only by the will of man, but by
the appointment of God; and therefore, as the apostle proceeds,
in the execution of that work he is to look, not merely to the
favor of men, but to the approbation of God. Honesty and
diligence in a servant are so far their own reward, that they
ensure to him a good character, and nothing else will ; and his
character is his livelihood; but the apostle of Christ, in giving
this servant of his for his wages the reward of a future state,
carries his disciple farther ; he teaches him that, whatever be
a man’s state, if he discharge the duties and business of it, he
will be rewarded for it by God Almighty. The words are
these ; ‘Whatever good thing any man doeth, the same shall
he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.”
Now as this is the principle and motive which the apostle
proposes, namely, the constant consideration that they are
doing God’s work, and, in doing that work well, are serving and
pleasing him, the rule by which a servant is to guide himself
must correspond with this principle.
St Paul delivers his rule in these words; “Servants, be
obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh,
in singleness of heart, as unto Christ, doing the will of God
from the heart, with good will doing service.” Now the first
quality that we find required here, is singleness of heart as
unto Christ; that is, not only sincerity of heart, but the same
sincerity as if they were immediately serving the Lord Christ.
This excludes all pretences, all contrivances and machinations,
THE DUTIES OF SERVANTS, 171
all affectation and appearance of service, which is not true and
real at the bottom. The second thing laid down in the text
in the duty of a servant, is, that he do his duty, not with eye-
service as menpleasers, but as the servants of Christ.” Eye-
service is the service of him who works only under the eye of
his master, only while he is seen and observed by him ; who
is good according as he is watched, diligent so long as he is
well looked after. This sort of service is condemned in the
text, and for a very plain reason ; if pleasing man, if pleasing
his master, was the whole and sole object of a servant’s view,
this might do ; but it can never do with God; it can never,
therefore, satisfy him who looks to God and not to man for
the final recompense of his labors; it can never be his part
who conducts himself, not as a manpleaser, but according to
St Paul’s direction, as the servant of Christ; it can never be
his part who considers himself, whilst he is working for his
master, as doing that business, that task of life, which God
Almighty has appointed him, and looks, as St Paul speaks, to
receive of the Lord for his service. Such a one knows, that
whether his earthly master be absent or present, be negligent
or careful, be skilful or ignorant, be difficult to impose upon or
easy to impose upon, He who is to be the ultimate rewarder of
him can never be deceived, is watching him when no one else
is, seeth in secret, rewards that fidelity and that diligence
which is not to be corrupted by opportunity of negligence
or dishonesty, or which forgets itself when out of sight.
Having thus stated what I take to be the mind and meaning
of the apostle, as to the duty and condition of servants, I will
add, as a concluding consideration, some of the various intima-
tions given us in scripture, how greatly our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ esteemed the character of a good servant. And
this appears from hence, that when he would set forth the merit
and acceptance of a virtuous disciple, he generally does it by
comparing his with that of a good servant; ‘Who then is a
faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord has made ruler over
his household, to give them their meat in due season; blessed
is that servant, whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so
doing. I say unto you he will make him ruler over all his
house.’
Here you see the reception which a true Christian may
expect from God, as compared with that which a faithful ser-
vant shall meet with from his master.
“The kingdom of heaven is as man travelling into a far
country, who called his servants and delivered unto them his
172 THE DUTIEs of servaNTs.
goods; and unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and
to another one. After a long time the lord of these servants
cometh, and reckoneth with them. And he that had received
five talents came in and brought other five talents, saying,
Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents, behold I have
gained besides them five talents more ; and the lord said unto
him, Thou good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful
over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things;
enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” We know that this is but
a parable or similitude, and that in truth Christ is representing
how God will applaud and recompense those who have improv-
ed and best used the abilities and opportunities put into their
power; but what I argue is this; that Christ conveys this repre-
sentation under the comparison of a just, orderly, and faithful
servant, and that he would never have used this comparison,
if the character of such a servant had not been what he approv-
ed, and what those who had heard him were presumed to
approve also. It may be observed also, what were the circum-
stances of this servant whom our Saviour here describes.
They were circumstances, in the first place, of great trust.
The master had delivered to the servant certain goods; the
behaviour of the servant was the more praiseworthy, the trial
of his fidelity the greater, inasmuch as he had exerted himself
so diligently and so successfully when his master was absent,
“afar off on a journey, ' and absent for a long time; this in-
creases the virtue and merit of such conduct, and is mentioned
by our Lord because it did increase it.
These parables admit of two applications; a good Christian
sees his duty and his reward described by the fidelity and
recompense of a good servant. A good servant sees how
highly that character is prized and valued by Christ, when he
finds that Christ makes choice of it as the type and similitude
by which he delineates the qualities and virtues which he
wishes to find in his disciples, and how those virtues will be
accepted at the coming of their heavenly master.
JA STUDIOUS LIFE RECQMMENDED, 173
XXXII.
A STUDIOUS LIFE RECOMMENDED TO THE
CLERGY.
IPreached at Durham, at the Visitation of the Right Reverend Shute, Lord
Bishop of Durham.]
1 TIMOTHY IV. 13.
Till I come give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine,
NEXT to the lessons which proceed from our Lord himself,
I know nothing that can well be imagined more interesting to
a believer in Christianity, than letters of advice and instruction
from an original missionary of the religion, to one whom he had
associated with himself in the office; especially from the most
active and zealous of its teachers, to a disciple and colleague
favored with his highest confidence ; from the chiefest of the
apostles to the most beloved of his converts.
It might be expected that the apostolic character would flow
in pages, which were dictated by christian zeal united with
personal affection. They came from a mind filled at all times
with the momentous truths of the religion it had embraced, but
now in particular excited by sentiments of the warmest friend-
ship for the person whom he addressed, by a sense, as it
should seem, of responsibility for his conduct, and by the mos
ardent desire for the success of his ministry. Still more im-
portant would this correspondence become, if any of the letters
should appear to have been written under circumstances the
most trying to human sincerity of any in which mankind can
be placed, the view of impending death ; because we should
presume, that under such circumstances we were reading the
mind of the author without reserve or disguise, the thoughts
which most constantly dwelt in it, and with which it was most
powerfully impressed, without the admixture of any thing futile
Or eXtraneous.
The account which we have given, does nothing more than
describe the epistles of St Paul to Timothy, and the last
part of the account belongs to the second of these epistles.
‘I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure
is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my
course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for
174 A STUDIOUS IIFE
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
Judge, shall give me at that day.” In this situation of mind,
and under the solemnity of these impressions, the apostle sat
down to exhort his friend and his disciple. And what is there
which can come with more weight to the votaries of Christian-
ity, and above all, to the teachers of that religion, in every age
of its duration, than admonitions so delivered, and from such
authority ? Nor do the admonitions themselves fall short of
the occasion ; ‘Watch thou in all things; endure afflictions;
do the work of an evangelist; make full proof of thy ministry;
preach the word; be instant in season and out of season; re-
prove, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and doctrine.”
These are the lessons of a master in Christianity; every word
is ponderous and significant.
The peculiar circumstances under which these two epistles
were written, partaking of the qualities of a private correspon-
dence, displaying those strong emotions of mind which the
author’s interest in the subject, the native earnestness of his
temper, and the pressing dangers of his situation, conspired to
produce ; these circumstances, I say, give to them a character
in some measure distinguishable from the rest of St Paul’s
writings. They are, more than any of his epistles, methodical.
They embrace three objects; they have three parts; they are
doctrinal, economical, personal. But these parts, whilst each
exhibits sentiments and precepts which can nowhere be excell-
ed, are intermixed, not to say confounded, with one another.
The writer is at one moment impressing upon the mind of his
disciple the important propositions which constitute the religion
that he taught; in the next, is called away perhaps from his
train of reflection by some circumstance of local urgency, which
the then state of the new society, or, it might be, of that par-
ticular church, forced upon his attention. He passes from
both these topics to rules of personal conduct, adapted to the
office which Timothy sustained ; and the delivery of these
rules formed perhaps the proper and immediate occasion of his
letter.
This description accords with what might be expected in
private letters between real parties, on real business. The
subjects which possess the mind of the writer are seen in his
letter; but seldom with the same degree of order and division
as when a writing is prepared for public inspection. If this
difference be observable even at present, when the advantages
of method and order are understood, and when method and
order themselves are become so habitual as to have pervaded
RECOMMENDED TO THE CLERGY. 175
every species of composition, the observation will hold still
more true of the writings, of an age and country in which much
of this sort was unknown, and of an author, the energy of
whose thought was not wont to be confined by rules of art, and
whose subject overpowered all the lesser considerations and
attentions which a colder mind, on an occasion more indifferent,
would have employed in the composition of his epistle. If we
perceive, therefore, unexpected and unnoticed transitions from
one topic to another, frequent recurrences to those which were
left, and a consequent mixture and discontinuance of thought;
what do we perceive but the effusions of a mind intent, not
upon one, but upon several great subjects, occasionally pos-
sessed by each, and set loose from the restraints of method by
the liberty natural to an affectionate and confidential corres-
pondence But I hasten from these observations on the
general character of the two epistles, to the single subject which
I have selected for my present discourse.
In what we have called the personal part of the epistle, St
Paul gives to Timothy directions, as well for discharging the
occasional offices of his ministry, as for the habitual regulation
of his private conduct; and amongst these, as indeed it was of
the first importance to do, for the fit employment of his time.
The apostle expected, it appears, ere long to visit the church
in which Timothy was placed. When he should do so, he
might require, it was possible, from his disciple more active
services in the mission in which they were both engaged. But
in the mean time, in an interval, as it should seem, of compara-
tive repose, he fails not to point out to the Ephesian bishop,
beside the extraordinary or critical exertions to which he might
be called by the demands of his station, the objects which ought
to engage his regular and constant attention.
How then was the man and minister of God to divide his
time 2 Between study, you hear, and teaching; ‘Give atten-
dance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.” Exhortation and
doctrine are both put down as being, as indeed they are, differ-
ent things. The first relates to practice, the second to belief.
The first is to urge upon our hearers the duties of Christianity,
the second to communicate the knowledge of those articles
which compose its faith. But both are parts of public instruc-
tion; and what could be spared from these was to be bestowed
upon reading. From this advice, therefore, and from this
example, we collect the recommendations of a studious life;
and to set forth some of the advantages and some of the satis-
176 A STUDIOUS IIFE
factions of such a life will be no unsuitable employment of the
present occasion.
Now wherein, we may ask, consists the satisfaction of any
life whatever ?
They who have observed human nature most closely will tell
you, with one voice, that it consists in a succession of exercise
and rest, in the exertion of our faculties in some pursuit which
interests them, and in the repose of these faculties after such
exertion.
The inert and passive pleasures, as they are called, of life,
or those in which we are mere recipients, are of small account
in the sum and constitution of human happiness. Man was
made for action. The seat of action is the mind. When he
ceases to employ its powers, he not only neglects, it is proba-
ble, the duties of his station, but loses the source and principle
of his own enjoyment.
These being truths drawn from experience, we are author-
ized to teach, what is their necessary result, that it is incumbent
upon every man, who is studious of his own comfort, to seek
out for himself a supply of constant occupation. The subject
of this occupation, to answer its purpose, must be interesting,
various, accessible ; suited to each man’s opportunity, worthy
of his character. I hardly need say, to be allowable, it must
be innocent; or that it doubles every advantage belonging to it
by being virtuous and useful. Now what employment of our
time can we propose in which so many of these qualities con-
cur, as in the pursuits of learning 2
It must be a stupid or frivolous mind indeed, to which no
science is interesting. Such also is the compass of human re-
search, that the understanding expatiates in unbounded variety.
Study is as diversified as nature itself, because it hath nature
for its object; nay, it adds to nature the operations of art, the
knowledge of language, the testimony of ages. Secondly ; it
reckons also amongst its recommendations, that it is within the
reach of almost every man’s opportunity who possesses the in-
clination. It is at the mercy of external circumstances less
than any other engagement to which we can addict ourselves;
it depends not upon season, climate, or place. Thirdly ; dif-
ferent studies have both a different general value, and also a
different propriety, according to the profession of the person
who cultivates them ; but all science is ingenuous and liberal.
No station was ever degraded by study. There never was,
nor will be, the age or country of the world in which learning
was not respected. Lastly ; it must be owing to a depravity
RECOMMENDED TO THE CLERGY. 177
of taste seldom heard of, that study is ever vicious; and to a
singular misfortune of choice, and defect of judgment, that it
is not always useful.” t
But when we speak of study, either as an exercise of duty
or a source of satisfaction, it ought to be known what we mean
by the term. We have stated one, indeed the first requisite,
of a life of satisfaction to be, the application of our faculties to
some interesting pursuit. To bring study within this descrip-
tion, it must be such as is attended with an exertion of our
understanding. I do not say that it is necessary the subject
should be abstruse, or the application always intense; but it
must be such as to solicit a positive effort of the mind. I the
rather mention this, because it is possible, and I am afraid not
very uncommon, to make reading as idle an occupation as any
of those in which the most trifling of mankind consume their
time. There is reading without method or object; in which
the mind is entirely passive, without endeavour to investigate,
collect, or retain ; reading, in a word, without thought. From
this reading, or ever so much of it, no knowledge can spring.
It assumes not, it ought not to assume, the name of study. It
affords not the satisfaction of which we speak; it is not what
we mean ; nay, its tendency is rather to dissipate than to fix
attention, to dissolve than to call forth the intellectual functions,
to destroy that patience of thought upon which all progression
of science depends.
But every argument by which study can be recommended
to others, is doubled upon the clergy. Their religion, by its
very nature, calls for a great degree of it. It is an historical
religion, founded upon transactions which took place, and upon
discourses which were held, in a distant age and country of the
world ; in a language, and under a state of opinion and cus-
toms, very different from our own. It is evident that the
knowledge of such a religion cannot be transmitted in its purity
without scholars. It is not possible that every Christian should
*To the dogma that truth alone is immutable, might it not be added that
nothing but learning is permanent 2 The writings of Greece have long sur-
vived every place which they commemorate. We have Homer in our hands ;
we seek in vain for Troy. The alphabet of Cadmus is preserved ; his seven-
gated city lies in the dust. In like manner of the labors of our countrymen ;
the time may come when no monuments shall remain but of their learning. A
discovery in science, the improvement of an art, a just sentiment, or even a
beautiful line, may be recorded with respect, when it shall cease to be known
where the metropolis of this island stood. It is enough to have mentioned this
reflection, in order to show the place in dignity and perpetuity which learning
holds, amongst the effects of human industry or the distinctions of human life.
23
178 * A STUDIOUS LIFE
be a scholar; but it is necessary that a knowledge of the
original records of the religion should reside somewhere ; and
from whom can this be expected, if it be not found with those
who profess themselves to be public teachers of its doctrines 2
A volume is spread out before us, containing intelligence,
which, if true, is of infinite and of universal value. To inves-
tigate the authority, and to interpret the sense of these im-
portant pages, is one of the most respectable offices which can
be imposed upon learning or talents; and that office is ours.
The return, the appeal, must always be to original information,
and to those who are furnished with the means of acquiring it.
It is with Christianity as with other subjects of importance,
multitudes may be benefited by the knowledge of a few.
And as the clergy are called upon by the duties, and by one
at least of the confessed designs of their order, to give atten-
dance to “reading,” so are they invited to it by the leisure and
tranquillity usually indulged to their situation, and by the habits
of life which best, which alone, I might have said, befit their
profession.
Retiredness is the very characteristic of our calling; it is
impossible to be a good clergyman and to be always upon the
streets, or to be continually mixing with the diversions, the fol-
lies, or even the business and pursuits of the world.
And in our church, the offices of religion assigned to her
ministers, though they well deserve to be performed with seri-
ousness and punctuality and being so performed are sufficient
for christian edification, are yet neither so numerous nor prolix
as not to leave large portions of our time unoccupied. Of
these vacancies study is the application and the resource. It
has been truly said to be impossible that learning of any kind
should flourish with a description of persons of whom no one
was at his ease. This complaint, however, belongs not to us
as a body. Amongst the clergy of the church of England,
many, without doubt, are very much at their ease. The proper
return for this privilege, the proper use of the opportunity, is
to convert it to beneficial study. But we go farther. If there
be a danger or disadvantage in the clerical profession, which
does not belong equally to other professions; I mean with
respect to the person’s own comfort and satisfaction; it is the
having too much time at liberty, and too little engagement for
it. I have known deplorable examples of the spirits sinking
under this vacuity; oftener, perhaps, of their taking refuge in
resources which were hardly innocent, or, if innocent in their
kind, indecorous by their excess. A literary station without
RECOMMENDED TO THE CLERGY. 179
learning is always gloomy to the possessor. Every thing which
should have been a benefit to him becomes a burthen. The
calm and silence which should dispose to meditation induces
only melancholy. In the leisure to which the contemplative
mind returns as to its home, the person we speak of sees
nothing but a banishment from recreation or cheerfulness.
There is no greater difference in the human character than in
the disposition of different men towards retirement. The
longing with which some seek, the delight with which they
enjoy, and the reluctance with which they leave it, contrasted
with the impatience by which others endure, or the fear with
which they dread it, form an opposition of choice and temper
both remarkable in itself, and upon which the happiness of in-
dividuals and their suitableness for the station which they
occupy, very much depend.
It can admit of no question which of these two is the temper
for a clergyman. That which is desirable by him, I think by
all, but certainly by him, results from the conduct of the mind,
when it is not acted upon by strong internal impressions; from
the power at those times of commanding the objects of its
thoughts, and directing it to such as will detain its attention,
exercise its faculties, and reward its pursuits. This ability
cannot subsist without a love of knowledge, and, what must
always accompany a love of knowledge, or rather indeed is the
thing itself, a taste and relish for instructive reading. This
being felt, retirement is no longer either slothful or tedious,
leisure tasteless, or even solitude without support. -
Perhaps no moments are passed with so much complacency
as those which a scholar spends in his study; none with less
perception of their weight or tardiness, less sense of restless-
ness or desire of change; I will add, none in which alacrity of
spirits is better sustained. Few things are more exhilarating
than the successful investigation of an important truth ; or even
where probability alone is attainable, the discovery or prosecu-
tion of a just argument is an employment always grateful to a
sound and cultivated understanding. It seems scarcely neces-
sary that we should mention the pleasures which are derived
from every branch of elegant literature. It is a recommenda-
tion likewise of this mode of passing our time, that it is with-
out expense of fortune; and a still greater, that it is never fol-
lowed by disgust or reproach.
But what, it will be asked, shall we study ? I am supplied
with an answer to the question by the very terms of our ordi-
nation service, which, after having stated the weightiness of our
180 3. A STUDIOUS LIFE
office and its duties, exhorts us with much solemnity to ‘draw
all our cares and studies this way;’ in which words two things
are implied ; first, that the more directly our studies bear upon
the separate object of our profession, the better they fulfil the
obligations which we have undertaken. It cannot be doubted
but that the reading to which Timothy was to give attendance
related closely to the mission in which he was engaged; most
likely, that it was confined to the Jewish scriptures; to the
law, as they were then divided, the psalms, and the prophets.
If St Paul has nowhere spoken with respect, and sometimes
disparagingly, of the learning of his age and country, it was for
two reasons which do not apply to us; one, that this learning
was in a great degree frivolous; the other, that any learning
was unnecessary for an apostle, his knowledge of some points
being inspired, of others original, immediate, and sensible.
With believers of future ages the case is different. What the
apostles saw with their eyes, and handled with their hands, of
the word of life, we must discover by inquiry and research.
They knew with certainty, and they testified with courage; but
their knowledge and testimony can only reach us through the
medium of a dead language, and by the interpretation of an-
cient records. The subject also of divine revelation itself we
approach with more advantage, for being prepared with the in-
formation which composes and constitutes the basis of natural
religion. -
Therefore, secondly, I do not consider the injunction at our
ordination as prohibiting to us all other studies, but rather as
requiring from us that, whatever be the study which we have
chosen, we make it subservient to the diffusion and illustration
of Christianity. Draw it this way, and I believe what the pre-
cept of our liturgy directs us to do to be more practicable than
is generally understood. Have languages been the early and
favorite subject of our studies, have we possessed ourselves of
that golden key which unlocks the treasures of the ancient
world, it is that we may employ our acquirements in elucida-
ting the writings which transmit to us the history and canon of
our faith. When the works of ancient authors are to be ex-
plained, grammar and criticism must lend their aid, let the sub-
ject of which they treat be what it will. In none certainly is
this aid more wanted than in those in which the ideas express-
ed are not ideas of sense. Sciences still more remote from
religion in appearance, will be found capable of being brought
into connexion with it. Are we geometricians, algebraists, or
analysts, it is in order to become sound and accurate philoso-
RECOMMENDED TO THE CLERGY, 181
phers; and of true philosophy the first business is to explore
and to display the agency of a benevolent power. For in-
stance, there exists not so decisive a proof of design, and of
contrivance to accomplish it, as in the structure of the eye of
animals; but this proof, and indeed, this contrivance entirely
depends upon optical principles; which principles can only be
known and explained by the application of a very subtle
geometry.
Observe, therefore, how we ascend from lines and angles to
the most momentous and sublime truths. These enable us to
trace the action of different surfaces and different media upon
rays of light; which being ascertained, we discover in the or-
gan of vision an apparatus, complex indeed, which increases
the wonder, but accurately adapted to that action. What is
this but to discover God?
The same remark, if not more true, is perhaps still more
striking, when applied to astronomy. Not the conjecture, for
active imaginations can conjecture any thing, but the demon-
stration of that system, is justly ranked amongst the noblest ef-
forts of the human intellect. Yet could it be conceived, unless
we knew it to be so, that whilst Newton and his predecessors
in the same studies were investigating the properties of a conic
section, they were tracing the finger of the Almighty in the
heavens? Nor let it be said that this is foreign from Christian-
ity; for the presence in the universe of a supreme mind being
once established upon these principles, the business of religion
is half done. Of such a being we can never cease to think.
We shall receive with readiness the history of his dispensations,
and with deeper submission every intimation of his will. Of
the several branches of natural history the application is more
obvious. They all tend to the discovery or confirmation of a
just theology; they inspire those sentiments which Christianity
wishes to find in her disciples.
But here we are met by a reflection more than sufficiently
discouraging, arising from the imbecility of our faculties, and
the frequent disappointment and unsatisfactoriness of our in-
quiries. Did learning, in the several subjects upon which it is
employed, turn darkness into light, doubt into certainty, or
always remove our difficulties, every step in its progress would
be marked by pleasure and contentment; but a different repre-
sentation is nearer to the truth. Some doubts will continue,
some difficulties will remain, in a great degree such as they
were, and new ones will spring up. Yet much, after all these
deductions, will be gained; and for the rest, we have the con-
182 A STUDIOUS f.IFE RECOMMENDED,
sciousness to rely upon, that we have discharged our duty to
the subject and the inquiry, according to the measure of our
faculties and opportunities, and the assurance, that having
done this, neither ignorance, nor doubt, nor error, will be im-
puted to us as voluntary offences; that although they may
sometimes perplex, as they will do, or distress us here, we
have nothing to fear from their consequences hereafter. Much,
I say, will after all be gained; and in no article of satisfaction
shall we perceive the advantage of a contemplative life more
than in that fixedness of temper by which we shall be taught
to view the changes and chances of a transitory world. Many
secular studies have this tendency. When a philosopher sur-
veys the magnificence and stability of nature, seen in regions of
immeasurable space, worlds revolving round worlds with incon-
ceivable rapidity, yet with such exactness as to be found to
circumvolve at the point where they are expected; or when he
sees upon the globe which he inhabits the same nature pro-
ceeding in her grand and beneficial operations with unconcern-
ed regularity; when from these speculations his mind is carried
to observe the strifes and contentions of men, the rise and de-
cline of their institutions and establishments, what does he
experience in the greatest of these changes but the little
vicissitudes of little things? Again, when he advances his
meditations from the works of nature to its Author, his attri-
butes, his dispensations, his promises, his word, his will ; most
especially, when he looks to the wonders and the mercies of a
renovated existence, to the tutelary hand of his Creator con-
ducting him safely through the different stages of his being,
through the grave and gate of death to an order of things dis-
posed and appointed for the reward of faith and virtue, as the
present is for trial and improvement; when he reflects how en-
tirely this change supersedes all others, how fast it approaches,
and how soon it will take place, in what a state of inferiority, I
had almost said of indifference, is every interest placed in
which it is not included ? And if ever there was a time when
that steadfastness of mind, which ought to result from the study
and contemplation of divine subjects, is more wanted than at
another, it is the present. It is our lot to live in a disturbed
and eventful period. During the concussions which have
shaken, and are yet shaking, the social edifice to its founda-
tion; in the fate which we have seen of every thing man calls
great, of power, of wealth, and splendor; where shall thought
find refuge, except in the prospects which Christianity unfolds,
and in a well grounded confidence that Christianity is true 2
ADVENT. 183
And this support will not fail us. Erect amidst the ruins of a
tottering age, the pilgrim proceeds in his course without pertur-
bation or dismay; endeavouring, indeed, according to his power,
and interceding earnestly for, the peace and welfare of a world
through which he is but directing his constant eye to a more
abiding city; to that country beyond the great river, to which
the sojourning tribes are bound, and where there remaineth
rest for the people of God.
YXXIII.
ADVENT.
MATTHEw XI. 3.
Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
THE advent of Jesus Christ into the world, which the order
of our public service proposes at this season to our thoughts,
the appearance he made, and the character he assumed, com-
pared with the circumstances and expectations of the age and
country in which he lived, contain attestations to the truth of
the evangelical history which I shall make it my business, as it
will not be unsuitable to the occasion, to lay before you; and
suggest reflections which will serve, both to confirm the truth
of our religion, and to explain some points and passages of the
New Testament which are well deserving of observation.
It is clearly to be collected from scripture, that about the
time of our Lord’s coming, some great person, who was to be
called Messiah or Christ, by the Jews, was expected to appear
amongst them, who also would prove a mighty chief and con-
queror, and by the aid, it should seem, of supernatural powers,
not only deliver the Jewish nation from the subjection into
which they had been brought to the Roman government, but
place that nation and himself at the head of them, in the high-
est condition of prosperity, and in possession of the universal
empire of the world. Traces of this opinion, both of the
coming of this extraordinary person, and of what he was to do
when he did come, are dispersed in various parts of the New
Testament. ‘Art thou he that should come, or do we look for
another?” “When Christ cometh, will he do more,” or do
184 ADVENT.
more miracles, ‘than this man doeth?’ ‘I know,” saith the
woman of Samaria, ‘that Messias cometh; when Christ cometh,
no man knoweth whence he is ; tell us whether thou be Christ
or no.” Herod demanded of the wise men where Christ should
be born. It was revealed to Simeon that he should not die
before he had seen Christ. ‘Shall Christ come out of Galilee?”
‘Hath not the scripture said that Christ cometh of the seed of
David P’ ‘We know that Christ abideth for ever.” “Men
mused in their hearts of John, whether he was the Christ.’
From these, and some other similar expressions, it is manifest
that there was a previous and prevailing expectation that an
extraordinary person, who was to be called Christ, or the Mes-
siah, was at that time to appear.
Then as to the second point, what he was to do when he
came ; “We trusted it had been he,” said his two disciples,
‘who should have saved Israel.” And again, upon his appear-
ance to them after his resurrection, ‘Wilt thou at this time,’
they asked him, ‘restore again the kingdom to Israel 2’ And
this notion of theirs, that he was to set up a kingdom upon
earth, and become a mighty prince and conqueror in the world,
is proved by, and accounts for, a great number of incidents
recorded in the gospels.
It was this that alarmed Herod so much when he heard
reports of the miraculous birth. Herod then possessed the
kingdom of Judea. Now, he, together with the other Jews,
expected the Christ which should appear would become a king,
by conquering and taking Herod’s kingdom from him ; and
this apprehension urged him to the desperate expedient of de-
stroying all the children in Bethlehem who were about the age
that agreed with the supernatural circumstances that had been
talked of. Had Herod looked for no more than a teacher, a
spiritual ruler, he would have had nothing to fear. This opinion
likewise accounts for their attempting to make him a king,
when they were convinced by the miracle of the loaves and
fishes, ‘that he was, of a truth, that prophet that should come
into the world,” John vi. 15. and also for their receiving him
with the pomp and ceremony of an earthly prince when he
entered into Jerusalem, cutting down branches, and spreading
their garments upon the road, and crying, “Blessed be the king
that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
The same reason also accounts for the sudden and seemingly
strange revolution in the sentiments of the people concerning
him. Those who received him with much acclamation, and
would not be restrained by the rulers from paying him the great-
ADVENT. 185
est honors, in a few days afterwards we find crying out that he
should be crucified. The case was, when they introduced him
to Jerusalem, they supposed that he would forthwith show and
make himself, what they had no doubt Christ was to be, a great
and mighty conqueror; conquering, probably, by some super-
natural assistance, all who opposed him, and delivering his own
nation from servitude and subjection, to power and glory. When
nothing of this came to pass, the disappointment provoked
them, and they were as eager to punish him as they were
before to acknowledge him for their deliverer. This earthly
kingdom was what the two sons of Zebedee had in view when
they prevailed upon their mother to ask him that they might
sit, one at his right hand and the other at his left; that is, be
both chief men under him in his kingdom. And this we see
was also the source of the frequent strifes and disputings
amongst them, who should be greatest in that expected promo-
tion to power and glory. Lastly, this was the cause that they
could never believe, nor so much as comprehend, the many
notices he gave them of his approaching crucifixion, because
all idea of his being put to death like a malefactor was abso-
lutely inconsistent with the notions which they and all the Jews
firmly maintained, that he was to be king himself, and a deliv
erer of the Jewish nation. *
When he told them, upon their going up to Jerusalem, that
he should be delivered unto the Gentiles, mocked, spitefully
intreated, spitted on, and that they should scourge him and put
him to death ; we read that they understood none of these
things, and the saying was hid from them, neither knew they
the things which were spoken. And in confirmation of what
has been said, I have only to remark, that the Jews at that day
expected both a Messiah to appear, and that, when he should
appear, he would make them masters of their own land again,
and of the world.
Such, therefore, were the opinions and expectations then
actually prevailing amongst the Jewish people. Now what I
contend for is, that had Jesus, in professing himself, as he did,
to be the king of the Jews, been either an impostor or enthu-
siast, or any other, which he must have been, if the christian
religion be not true, he might have founded his pretensions on
any other thing than truth ; he would necessarily have fallen
in with the established opinion of the country, and produced
himself in the character which they expected. Suppose he
was an impostor, and had a scheme of taking advantage of the
popular expectation, to impose himself upon the Jews for the
186 ADVENT.
great person whose appearance they were looking for, it was
certainly his business to have framed his account and preten-
sions agreeably to those expectations.
Had he been an enthusiast whose enthusiasm, or madness, if
you choose to call it so, had been so far infected with the
popular phrensy as to imagine itself to be the person promised
and expected, then such enthusiasm must at the same time
have unavoidably led him to prove himself to be such an one,
and to be and to do what these expectations pointed out. And
what is a better proof than any reasonings, the fact was so.
All the false Christs, all the pretended Messiahs, of which there
have been some hundreds, have to a man given themselves out
to be the destined deliverers of the Jewish nation, and im-
provers of the world. We read, in the Acts of the Apostles, of
Theudas and Judas, who, before the days of the apostles, had
drawn much people after them. Josephus, the famous Jewish
historian, mentions only nine by name, and multitudes of others
whom he does not name conformably with our Saviour's pre-
diction, “that there should arise false Christs, false prophets,
and deceive many.’ Some of these might be impostors whom
the expectations of the times and consequent eagerness to listen
to such pretences called forth ; others might be enthusiasts,
whose disturbed imagination caught the contagion from the
public throng. But both the one and the other, expectants
and enthusiasts, they who adapted these things to the received
prejudices of the age, boasted and professed to be what they
knew their followers wished for, or what they and every one
expected.
Now why Christ did not go along with the rest who have
called themselves Messiahs, if he was like them, it will be
difficult to say. But where, it will be asked, did our Saviour
in fact differ or depart from the common and received notion
of what the Messiah was to be 2 This remains to be shown.
Now the difference consists in this; that whereas the Mes-
siah, according to the Jewish notion, was to be in his nature a
mere man, and like all other men, but in his condition in the
world exalted to summits of honor and grandeur above the kings
and princes of this world; he, on the contrary, describes himself,
and is described by his followers, as low and mean in his out-
ward visible condition, but in his nature very different from the
whole race of mankind.
First; I say that the Jewish Messiah was, in their expecta-
tion, to be a mere man. The Jews did not suppose Moses
himself to be any thing more; nor is there any trace that they
ADVENT. 187
had a conception of any thing more in the Messiah. None of
the false Messiahs set up for any thing different as to their
nature from an ordinary man. The Jews themselves were at
a loss to understand those expressions of our Saviour, by which
he intended to intimate the distinction and superiority of his
own nature. This was so little thought of, that they were
unable to resolve the difficulty he proposed to them ; ‘If Christ
be David’s son, how calleth he him the Lord P’
But in his condition their Messiah is to be exalted to supe-
rior power and dignity ; he is to rule and triumph over all the
enemies of the Jewish state ; he was to restore the kingdom to
Israel; he was to sit upon the throne of his father David, and
reign over the house of Jacob for ever. All these expressions
the Jews interpreted and applied literally. The contrary,
however, of all this, our Saviour represents his worldly condi-
tion, which it evidently was, so mean and low, and humble and
contemptible; born in a manger, and of parents of very inferior
station; brought up with these parents; appearing, when he
did appear, with a few poor fishermen ; without name, fortune,
or learning, the son of man had not where to lay his head, in-
debted to the benevolence of a certain Galilean who ministered
unto him of his substance. He came, indeed, as he expresses
it, to minister to others, and not to be ministered unto himself;
and at last, as he all along foretold he should be, was delivered
to the malice of the Jews, and to the power of the Roman
yoke. He never attempted to shake off the Roman yoke, nor
encourage any such attempts in his followers ; on the contrary,
he withdrew himself when the populace would have hailed
their king. He disclaimed the idea of altering or subverting
the civil governments of the world, the very purpose for which
the Jewish Messiah was expected, expressly declaring that his
kingdom was not of this world, and replying, when he was re-
quested to interfere in a private dispute, ‘Man, who made me
a judge over you ?’
Secondly ; but if the condition in which our Saviour appear-
ed, exceedingly disappointed the Jewish expectation, the nature
of which he described himself to be, differed as much from
what they conceived or expected. He described himself as a
being, though in form and fashion as a mere man, yet in reality,
and in his nature, far transcending the whole human race ; far,
inasmuch as these are but creatures of a birth; ‘Dust thou art,
and to dust shalt thou return.” He was from the beginning,
‘before Abraham;’ possessed glory with the Father before the
world was. He came forth from the Father, and came into
188 ADVENT.
the world, as he left the world, and went to the Father. He
came down from heaven, even as he ascended up to heaven.
Again; we believe that there are orders of creation in the
universe much above us, as much, at least, as we are above
the brute creation. He was elevated far beyond all these, a
“being so much better than these, as he hath by inheritance
obtained a more excellent name than they ; for unto which of
the angels, said he, at any time, Thou art my son, this day
have I begotten thee?”
Again; whereas no man hath seen God at any time, he was
with the Father, in the bosom of the Father; he spake that
which he had seen with the Father; the Father loved him, and
showed him all things.
Again; he was next and dearest to his Father, above and
beyond all creatures. He was not only the first born of every
creature, but of all others ‘the only begotten of the Father;”
which phrase must needs denote a relation, unknown, it is true,
and unintelligible to us, but of peculiar value to him, and well
understood. He was appointed also to be judge of the quick
and the dead; “for the Father judgeth no man, but hath com-
mitted all judgment unto the Son.” “It is he,” saith St Peter,
‘which was ordained of God to be the judge of the quick and
dead.” “We shall all stand,’ St Paul assures us, ‘before the
judgment seat of Christ.”
Lastly ; he was invested by the Father with power to raise
us up, to recall us to life at the last day. ‘For as the Father
hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in
himself;" i. e. to have the same power over life. “And this is
the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath
given me I should lose nothing, but should raise them up at the
last day.” “I am the resurrection and the life.” “As in Adam all
die, so in Christ shall all be made alive.’ It seems by this, not
only figuratively, but literally true, that through the sin of Adam
human nature became mortal. By the efficacy and power of
Christ, the same nature is made capable of a restoration to life.
‘It is he, St Paul assures us, ‘who is to change our vile body,
that we may be like his glorious body.”
Now these several particulars put together, compose a char-
acter, or more properly speaking, a nature, not only different
from any thing the Jews looked for from the Messiah, and in
many particulars the reverse of it; but entirely, absolutely,
and truly original. There was no example that could suggest
it, no precedent to authorize it.
The next natural, and as I have argued already, not at all
CHRISTMAS DAY. 189
improbable, supposition, had he been guided by any thing else
than truth, was, that he would be seen just what the Jews ex-
pected the Messiah should be seen; that these expectations
had suggested the thought, and were to be the foundation of his
claims, and the means of success.
But had our Saviour presented himself as a public and bet-
ter instructer of mankind in his day, he would have had exam-
ples of this in the old philosophers. Had he assumed the char-
acter of a Jew, to the Jews he would have been a second
Moses. Had he appeared an inspired prophet, instances of
such had been of old frequent among the Jews.
But why he should not only depart from the established per-
suasion of his own country, and of all the world, concerning
the Messiah who was expected, but assume pretensions differ-
ent and unforeseen, superior to any of these already mentioned,
and without any instance or example to lead to or suggest such
a scheme and character, unless he was, as we believe him to
be, really and truly what he called himself, it seems impossible
to account for.
The character of Christ is single and alone in the history of
mankind. If he was an impostor, there never was such lame
and useless imposture. If he was an enthusiast, produce an
instance of any character made up so well of enthusiasm, so
calm, so rational, so sublime.
XXXIV.
CHRISTMAS DAY.
MATTHEW XVII. 54.
Truly this was the Son of God.
OUR Saviour’s miraculous birth, and still more miraculous
life, distinguished him from every person that ever appeared in
the world. History affords nothing like him, and these miracles
form, no doubt, our assurance, that “he was sent from God.”
He preserved his pretensions by his works; the wonders of his
nativity were followed by the performances of his life. This
was the reason his followers believed on him at the time; and
190 - CHRISTMAS DAY.
this must be a reason for believing on him, throughout all
ages.
But, with considerate minds, there is a further reason for
believing in him, exceedingly impressive, and that is, the ex-
cellency of his character. In this respect he surpasses the best
men of whom we have any knowledge. It might be expected
that it would be so, with so great, so distinguished a messenger,
sent from God; and it was so. -
Pilate said of Jesus, ‘I find no fault with this man,” and he
spoke truly ; nor has any one, that has examined his history,
ever been able to lay a single charge against his conduct. The
temper of his soul and the tenor of his life were blameless
throughout. From the first moment of his birth, which we this
day commemorate, to his last agony on the cross, he never
once fell into the smallest error of conduct; never once ‘spake
unadvisedly with his lips.’ This is a negative kind of excel-
lence; but observe, it is more than can be said of any person
that ever yet came into the world. But however, though a
thing so extraordinary is to be found in no other man, it formed
but a small part of that perfection, which belonged to our Lord
Jesus. He was not only exempt from every the slightest failing,
but he possessed and practised every imaginable virtue, that
was consistent with his situation; and that too, in the highest
degree of excellence, to which virtue is capable of being ex-
alted. We may in particular fix upon the following points of
his character; namely, his zeal for the service, his resignation
to the will, his complete obedience to the commands, of his
heavenly Father. These constituted his piety. Then, the
compassion, the kindness, the solicitude, the tenderness, he
showed for the whole human race, even for the worst of sinners,
and the bitterest of his enemies. These constituted, if such
qualities can constitute, unparalleled benevolence. Then
again, the perfect command he had over his own passions;
and the exquisite prudence, with which he eluded all the snares
that were laid for him ; the wisdom, the justice of his replies;
the purity and the gentleness of his manners; the sweetness,
yet dignity of his deportment; the mildness with which he re-
proved the mistakes, the prejudices, and the failings of his dis-
ciples; the temper he preserved under the severest provoca-
tions from his enemies; the patience, and composure, and
meekness, with which he endured the cruellest insults, and the
grossest indignities; the fortitude he displayed under the most
painful and ignominious death that human ingenuity could de-
vise, or human malice inflict; and that divinely charitable
CHRISTMAS DAY. 191
prayer, which he put up for his murderers in the midst of his
agony, ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they
do;’ these concur to render the head and founder of our re-
ligion beyond comparison the greatest, according to true great-
ness, the wisest, according to true wisdom, and, in every
sense, the best of men.
However, our Lord’s proper office in the world was that of
a public teacher. In that character, therefore, we ought more
particularly to view him. And, in the first place, how aston-
ishing, how inspired, and from what source inspired, must the
mind of that man be, who could entertain so vast a thought in
so low a condition, as that of instructing and reforming the
whole world ; a world, at that time more particularly, divided
between atheism and superstition, but universally abandoned
to sin; differing perhaps in the forms of their idolatry, but
agreeing in giving loose to their passions and desires; a plan,
I say, of teaching, not a few hearers, not a few congregations,
not a few towns or cities, not a single country or nation, but
the whole race of mankind; for to that length did his plan, not
his personal ministry, but the plan of his religion, extend.
Surely such a plan was only to be found in the Son of God .
In the execution of this immense design, what condescension
without meanness, what majesty without pride, what firmness
without obstinacy, what zeal without bitterness or enthusiasm,
what piety without superstition, does our Lord display ! In
his discourses and instructions all was calmness. No emotions,
no violence, no agitation, when he delivered the most sublime
and affecting doctrines, and most comfortable, or most terrify-
ing predictions. The prophets before him fainted and sunk
under the communications, which they received from above,
so strong was the impression, so unequal their strength; but
truths, that overwhelmed the servants of God, were familiar to
his Son. He was composed upon the greatest occasions.
He was tried every way; by wicked men; by the wicked
one ; by weak or false friends, as well as by open enemies.
He proved himself superior to every artifice, to every tempta-
tion, to every difficulty.
It was asked, and will always be asked, “Whence had this
man these things, and what wisdom is this, that is given unto
him º' He had no means or opportunity of cultivating his
understanding, or improving his heart. He was born, as the
history testifies, in a low and indigent condition. He was
without education, without learning, without any models to
form himself upon, either in his own time and in his own coun-
192 CHRISTMAS DAY.
try, or in any records of former ages, that are at all likely to
fall into his hands. Yet, notwithstanding these great disadvanta-
ges, disadvantages I mean to a mere mortal man, he supported,
throughout a most singular and difficult life, such wisdom and
such virtue, as were never before found united ; and we may
venture to say, never will be again united in any human being.
Our Lord's history is given us in the gospels in a very plain,
unornamented manner, and so much the better. There is an
air of godly sincerity, of simplicity, and of solid undisguised
truth in every thing which is related. Nothing is wrought up
with art; no endeavour to place things in the fairest light; no
praise or panegyric, or very little; no solicitude to dwell on
the most favorable, or striking, or illustrious parts of our Sa-
viour’s character. These circumstances added to the whole
turn and tenor of the evangelists’ writings, prove that they
followed truth, and fact, and nothing else. Lay open then the
bible before you, regard and contemplate the character of our
Lord Jesus Christ, as it is there candidly and honestly set forth.
Again, if Jesus be the Son of God, then every thing which
he taught comes to us with the weight and sanction of divine
authority, and demands, from every sincere disciple of Christ,
implicit belief, and implicit obedience. Christ delivered all
his doctrines in the name of God ; all of them, therefore, from
their nature are to be received. He has given no man a
license to adopt as much or as little of them as he thinks fit.
He has authorized no human being to ‘add thereto, or dimin-
ish therefrom.” We are not to receive one precept, and refuse
another; we are not to receive one article of belief, and reject
another article of belief; all are stamped by the same authority,
and that authority is decisive. There may be truths very im-
perfectly apprehended by our finite understandings. There is
nothing surprising in this; on the contrary, it was natural and
reasonable to expect it to be so, in a revelation pertaining to
that incomprehensible Being, ‘the high and mighty One, that
inhabiteth eternity.” But we have this for our trust and conso-
lation ; we have a heavenly guide, we may put ourselves with-
out reserve into his hands, and submit our judgments with
boundless confidence to his direction; ‘for he is the way, and
the truth, and the life; ' we must obey him with our under-
standings, we must obey him with our wills.
‘Let us bring, therefore,” according to the strong expression
of the apostle, “let us bring every thought to the obedience of
Christ, receiving with meekness the ingrafted word, that is able
to save our souls.”
REPENTANCE. - F93
XXXV.
LENT.
2 CorINTHIANs WTI. H6.
For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of.
THE piety of good men in good times having appointed this
season of Lent for a more particular attention to the concerns
of religion, and especially that momentous part of religion,
inward penitence and contrition ; I know not how I can employ
the beginning of this season better than by setting before you
the nature of repentance; so far, at least, as to point out the
marks and rules by which we may judge of its truth, and its
sincerity. -
And when I talk of judging of the sincerity of repentance,
I do not mean other men's repentance, but our own. Under
these words I shall apply myself to consider the rules and
tokens, whereby we may judge of the sincerity of repentance;
not of other men's repentance, with which we have nothing to
do, but of our own. Repentance is a change of the heart
from an evil to a good disposition. When that change is made,
repentance is true. This is a short definition of repentance;
but it will of itself teach us many truths concerning the sub-
ject. As first, that sorrow for our past sins, however earnest
and contrite it be, is not alone repentance. Repentance is the
change of the disposition. Sorrow for the past is likely to pro-
duce that change, which always accompanies it; but still is not
the change itself, nor indeed does it, as experience testifies,
always and certainly work that change.
Sorrow for the past must necessarily be a part of repentance;
for why should we repent, or wish to repent, of that for which
we are not sorry? But still it is only a part; and it is extreme-
ly material that we do not mistake a part of our duty for the
whole. When the change, as I said, is made, repentance is
complete, and not till then. Sorrow and contrition are the
instruments and means towards that change ; but if the instru-
ment does not perform its office, and if the means do not pro-
duce the end, still all the instruments and means then go for
nothing. Secondly. If you ask whether repentance be in its
nature a sudden and hasty thing, to be brought about at once
25
194 REPENTANCE.
and as some think at a single instant, at a precise and per-
ceivable moment; I answer, that usually, perhaps, it is not.
Repentance is the change of the disposition. Few changes
are made on a sudden; at least few sudden changes are last-
ing. If there be constitutional vices of mind and temper, it is
equally the work of long reflection and endeavour to beat them
down, and keep them down. If there be some old confirmed
habit of gratification to contend with, the struggle is commonly
tedious, even when it is successful. This I say for the sake of
those who, because they do not find their change at once, give
up ; who quit the contest, because it continues longer than they
were prepared to expect. The duty of such is comprised in
one word, perseverance; and a determined perseverance is
the very substance of virtue.
Almost every man can be sorry for his sins; every man can
deplore and forsake them. Most men, indeed, make some
shortlived efforts to become virtuous; but perseverance is what
they want, and fail in. Yet in one sense there is one essential
change made in every sinner who repents; which change con-
sists in this, that whereas before he was growing worse, he is
now growing better. His improvement may be slow, but be it
ever so slow, there is still this difference between growing bet-
ter and growing worse. It resembles to my apprehension, the
case of a patient in a fever. We say that his distemper has
had a turn ; yet take him an hour or a day past the turn, or so
much before, and you will observe little alteration; for the
alteration is, that whereas he was before growing worse, and
weaker, by almost insensible degrees, so now he is growing
better and stronger, though by degrees equally slow. And this
the physician accounts a great alteration; and so it is, although
it be long before he be well, and though he be in perpetual
danger of a relapse, during the progress of his recovery. And
the physician pronounces expressly, that there has been a turn
in the disorder; that the crisis is past, not because his patient
is now well, who before was ill, but because he finds him now
gradually growing stronger and well, who before was gradually
becoming ill.
Thus the sinner may securely, though humbly, hope that he
has repented, who observes himself growing continually better;
who is conscious that he is in an amended state, though there
be yet much to be done and suffered, before the amendment
be complete. And as the patient was far from being out of
danger, because he had passed the turn, so is the sinner. As
the patient often relapses, so does the sinner. As the relapse
REPENTANCE. 195
is often more fatal than the first sickness, so is it with the sin-
ner. As the patient must still, for a long time, use extraor-
dinary care and caution, so must the sinner.
On the other hand, there may be some few instances of very
hasty reformation; of the libertine, the drunkard, the profane,
the swearer, the knave, the thief, the miser, becoming on a
sudden modest, sober, serious, honest, charitable; and some,
though still fewer, of extraordinary changes of temper; of the
proud, the overbearing, the passionate, the envious, the quarrel-
some, the malicious, becoming mild, patient, generous, forbear-
ing, and forgiving. And when we do see such instances, we
ought to rejoice at them, rather than suspect them. The frame
of the mind may receive such a wrench at once, as to give it a
happy turn. All I mean to say is, that this is not common;
that the sinner must not be surprised and disheartened, because
it was not his case. He is not to let go, or leave off, because
his old sins and old habits will return. The work is begun at
least. It is for his comfort, I say again, that he grows better.
In the same way may be determined, in the third place, the
question, Is repentance ever brought about by calamity and
affliction, or sickness? Repentance is the change of the dis-
position; and if the change be but made, no matter by what
cause it is effected. The disposition is still changed, and the
repentance is true. Besides which, we have good reason to
believe that judgments and visitations, and sore calamities,
afflictions and sickness, are sent and permitted by our gracious
Governor for this very purpose of bringing us to repentance,
and a better sense of things. It must not be made, therefore,
an objection to the efficacy of our repentance, that it springs
from the root, which God himself hath planted. The sinner
need not suspect the sincerity of his repentance, or doubt con-
cerning its being accepted with God, merely because he was
first put upon it by some misfortune, sickness, or great afflic-
tion.
Repentance we describe to be a change of the heart from
an evil to a good disposition. But how are we to know when
the change is made 2 That is the question. In the general state
of a christian life, repentance is such a sorrow for sin as pro-
duces a change of manners, and an actual amendment of life.
It is that disposition of mind by which ‘he who stole, steals no
more;’ by which the wicked man turneth away from his
wickedness, and doeth that which is lawful and right.’ And to
the man thus actually reformed, it is expressly promised, ‘that
he shall save his soul alive.” Of this repentance the proof is
196 REPENTANCE,
visible, and the sincerity certain, because the new state of mind
is discovered, by a new train of outward actions. I say, this is
the nature of repentance, in the general state of christian life,
where life and opportunity are left to the penitent; and then,
to be sure, there is no authority for us to say, that repentance
will be effectual without amendment, and that the repentance
which is thus proved and followed by actual amendment is not
effectual.
But numerous instances occur, in which, from the nature of
the case, it is impossible for the sinner to testify the truth of his
repentance, either to himself or to the world, by actual refor-
mation. It is so with the repentance of a deathbed. It is so
when confinements from sickness, for crimes, or for any other
cause, disables men from the duties and vices of active life.
It is so where poverty puts it out of men's power to repeat
their old sins; when many vices as well as many virtues are
become impossible. The shortness of their time, the distress
of their situation, the feebleness of their constitution, the nar-
rowness and reduction of their circumstances, leave little power
of active virtue, and of themselves, without any merit on their ;
part, preclude them from the commission of most vices,
Therefore some other measure must be appointed for them ;
because, to expect actual reformation, where virtue and vice
are equally out of their power, is to require impossibilities.
Here then we seem to have authority for saying, that this sim-
ple decision is the truth ; namely, that God will consider that
life as amended, which would have been amended, if he had
spared it, and vouchsafed opportunities. Whether this would
take effect, can never be known to the world. It cannot
always be known to the penitent himself; but it is known to
God. He can see the fruit in the blossom, or the seed. He
knows those resolutions that are fixed, and would hold, those
conversions which would be permanent; and will receive them
who are qualified by these new dispositions and desires for
works of righteousness, without exacting from them those out-
ward duties, which the circumstances of their health, their
confinement, their inability, or the shortness of their lives, hin-
der them from performing. Nothing therefore remains to
conditions like these, but that the persons in them apply with all
their strength to rectify their desires and purify their thoughts;
that they set God before them in his goodness, and in his
terror ; that they consider him as the father and the judge of
all the earth, as a gracious father desirous to save, as a wise
judge who cannot, consistently with the rules of good govern-
125.pºn TANCE, - 197
ment, pardon unrepented iniquity; that they excite in them-
selves an intense detestation of crimes, for if they cannot do
this, it is not probable they would forsake them if they retained
the power of acting, with vehement and steady resolutions;
that if life and opportunity were granted them, they should be
spent hereafter in the practice of their duty; that they pray to
the giver of grace to strengthen and impress these holy
thoughts, and accept the repentance, though late, and in its be-
ginning violent; that they improve any good motion by prayer;
and lastly, that they deliver themselves into the hands of their
faithful Creator.
The promises of acceptance and forgiveness, which are
made to repentance in the scriptures, are general ; and we are
not authorized to limit by exceptions, what God has not limited.
So far, therefore, we may speak comfort to the contrition of a
deathbed, or the circumstances relative to a deathbed, by as-
suring them of our hope, that God will consider that life as
amended, which would have been amended, if he had spared
it. On the other hand, it is necessary that they, at least that
others in different circumstances, should be apprized that their
state is precarious, their hazard great; that though it be possi-
ble their present sorrow may be productive of amendment, yet
experience forces us to declare, that there is nothing farther
from certainty; that they have many disadvantages to contend
with, their sins old and obstinate, their faculties of resistance
weak, their vision clouded, distempered, distorted ; that they
can never be assured that their repentance would be effectual
to their reformation, and consequently must leave the world,
without any well grounded assurance of God’s forgiveness; for
it is impossible even to ourselves to distinguish the effects of
terror from those of conviction, to decide whether our passions
and vices be really'subdued by the fear of God, or only arrested
and restrained for a while by the temporary force of present
ealamity. And, lastly, the deliberately and designedly putting
off repentance to a deathbed makes even that repentance,
morally speaking, impossible to prove ; at least, I will venture
to pronounce, that no mere repentance can be effectual in con-
sequence of such previous design. -
The last, but not the least, test of recovery, which I shall
mention, is restitution. Upon the fullest consideration of the
matter, it is my judgment, that where restitution is practicable,
repentance cannot be sincere or effectual without it. In truth,
it is only mockery to pretend to repent of our sin, while we
keep and enjoy the fruits of it. If we have by mistake, from
198 REPENTANCE.
distress, in haste, or in consequence of disposition and conduct
which we now see the guilt of, taken any thing, or withheld
any thing from any other person, we must restore what we
have so unjustly taken and withheld, or an equivalent, or it is in
vain to talk of repenting of our sin.
I know this is a hard lesson, besides the expense of restitu-
tion, which is very much more than we like, or than we can
well bear. There is a shame, and confusion, and humiliation
in acknowledging our fault, which is one part of the evil. All
this I own, and can only say, that if restitution be a duty, it is
not less a duty because it is attended with difficulties or disa-
greeable circumstances.
When once it has been made apparent that a thing is our
duty, it is then of no service to prove that it is inconvenient,
that it is chargeable, that it is painful. But then restitution may
not be practicable. Some injuries are not capable of it. The
person entitled to restitution may be dead. We may not have
it in our power to make restitution. In such cases we have
not this to exercise. Restitution, like every thing else, is no
longer required than while it can be performed. All I mean
is, that if it be practicable, it is our duty. Repentance will
not avail us without it, and it is no excuse to say that it is una-
voidable. I have only farther to observe, that restitution is not
merely giving back the property which we unjustly kept, but it
is in general the undoing, as far as remains in our power, what
we have done wrong, as well as unsaying what we have said
wrong. Therefore when, by confessing our mistakes, recanting
our falsehoods, exposing our faults, we can put a stop to any
bickerings or quarrels we have excited, remove suspicions and
irritations which we have infused, call back the evil reports
which we have circulated, or, in short, alleviate anyhow the
uneasiness we have occasioned, we are bound to do so. It
may produce shame, but it is false shame. It is false shame,
but true magnanimity. But whether shame or magnanimity,
it is to be, if we would obtain remission from God of our fault
through the merits and death of Christ, by means on our part
of a hearty, unreserved, unfeigned repentance.
THE WARIOUS ENDS OF CHRIST'S DEATH. 199
XXXVI.
GOOD FRIDAY.
CoLossIANs I. 12, 13, 14.
Giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us meet to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in light; who hath delivered us from the power of
darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son; in whom
we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.
It is observable, in the ordinary course of God’s providence,
that a variety of ends are sometimes brought about by the same
means; and it is not unnatural to expect something of the same
contrivance in his extraordinary interpositions. Agreeable to
this, the death and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ was prob-
ably subservient to many beneficial purposes to one part or
other of the universe, and to more than we can understand.
Therefore, I question whether those proceed upon any good
authority, who propose one single end and use of the death of
Christ, as exclusive of all others, or as the only end designed
by it, all others being accidental consequences or figurative
applications. The death of Christ is represented as a sacrifice
of the same nature, but of superior efficacy, with the Jewish
sacrifice of old. Again, it is represented as a price paid for
our redemption from sin and death, like the ransom that is paid
when captives are redeemed and set at liberty. Again, it is
considered as a martyrdom calculated to testify the truth and
sincerity of our Lord’s profession. Again, it is an exalted
instance of love and affection to mankind; for, although he
foresaw all along that this would be the consequence of his
undertaking, yet, because he loved us, he would not desist
from his ministry, though it cost him his life. It may be again
conceived, and is in scripture conceived, that the death of
Christ is a pattern to us of patience and humility, of fortitude
and resolution in our benevolent endeavours, and firm constancy
against whatever man was able to inflict or threaten. Others,
lastly, represent it as the method by which God testified his
utter and irreconcilable hatred to sin, which nothing was allowed
to expiate but the blood of his own Son, and his love also to
his creatures, who gave his own Son to die for our sins. But
why might not the death of Christ be all these ? There are
separate passages of scripture where each one of these is spoken
200 THE ENDs of CHRIST's peATH VARIots. "
of as the end and effect of Christ's death; and to suppose that
but one of those is the strict and literal account, and that all
the rest are to be taken in a figurative or some qualified sense,
is bringing great and umnecessary difficulties into the interpreta-
tion of scripture. These ends are all consistent with one
another ; and it is surely no defect in a scheme, that it serves
many purposes at the same time. On the contrary, it affords
a striking proof of the wisdom of the contriver; and if he con-
trive some of them plainly and others figuratively to express
what he wants, they may be all equally real ends and equally
appropriate; for it is very necessary, in explaining scripture,
to observe, that when a reason, or motive, or end is assigned
for a thing, it does not imply that this is the only reason, or
motive, or end, though no other be mentioned, possibly, in that
passage. Thus, in one place of the Old Testament it is said
that God would deliver Jerusalem “for his servant David’s
sake.” No other reason is mentioned here ; but turn to the
prophet Isaiah, and you there find that God would deliver Jeru-
salem “for mine own name sake and my servant David’s sake.’
God’s distinguished indulgence to the house of Israel is de-
seribed to be sometimes for Jacob’s sake, for his ancestor’s
sake, for God's own name sake, for his truth’s sake, for his
mercy’s sake. All I wish to be observed is, that these reasons
are not applicable to one, but are regarded as so many concur-
ring motives and reasons for the same measure. I mean that,
in order to give an adequate sense and substance to many
passages of scripture, it is necessary to regard the manner of
the writers; and that this regard may be without unfairness
extended to the death of Christ.
The various ends of Christ's death may be divided into two
kinds, the spiritual and moral. The spiritual consists in the
benefit it procured us in the attainability of final salvation.
The full nature and extent of this benefit, or in what precise way
the death of Christ operates to produce it, needs not perhaps
be perfectly understood. Reflect how little we know of the
laws of nature, as they are called, or the laws and regulations
by which the world of spirits is governed; still less of the lives
which we shall experience in a world for which we are destined.
According to that, the death of Christ may, both in an intelli-
gible and a natural way, have an efficacy in promoting the
salvation of human creatures. The moral ends of the death of
Christ consist in the additional motives which it furnishes to a
life of virtue and religion, as it is a pattern, and example, and
THE WARIOUS ENDS OF CHRIST'S DEATH. 201
encouragement, and incitement to virtue. This last class I
propose to make the subject of my present discourse.
It is necessary, in the first place, that nothing I say of this
class be construed to exclude the other; for the most probable
opinion seems to me to be, that many and different ends were
proposed in the death of Christ, all equally real, none of such
single importance as to exclude the rest. Now the first great
lesson which the death of Christ teaches us is humility. “Let
this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him
the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men;
and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
How does this rebuke the pride, or inclination to little strifes
and distinctions, of human life Shall we be elated with or
made great by any petty superiority, which, if real, is but the
difference of an artificial make Shall we take fire, if our
dignity be neglected or affronted 2 Is it so mighty a matter
with us to condescend to place ourselves upon a level with our
inferiors 2 Cannot we deign to submit to be poorly thought of
in the world 2 Will not we dispense with one particle of the
respect and deference, which we challenge to our rank, or
station, or abilities P Do these high and lofty airs become us,
miserable dust and ashes, taken at first out of the earth, and
ready to sink into it again, when he, who was in the form of
God, the express image of his Father, by whom, and for whom,
all things are and were made 2 when he scorned not to divest
himself of the glory which he had before the foundation of the
world, and to become of no reputation, to humble himself even
to the death of a malefactor, to bear the taunts and triumphs
and insults of his enemies, in meek resignation to his Father's
will to bow down his sacred head upon the cross? This, indeed,
reduces all human pride and power to nothing.
Another virtue, equally conspicuous in this great transaction,
and equally useful and wanting for ourselves, is that of patience
under disappointed affection. Do men refuse or pervert our
intentions; do they repay with ingratitude or ill usage all
attempts to do them good by every turn, and disparage us in
the opinion of the world, or try to mortify, and vex, and put
us to inconvenience in our affairs, whilst we have given them
no provocation, or none that we know of ; are others lying in
wait to overreach and impose upon and make a property of our
ignorance, to prey upon our easiness of temper, to thrust us by
202 THE WARIOUS ENDS OF CHRIST'S DEATH.
in all the competition of life, to encroach because they per-
ceive our weakness; how is all this to be borne The scrip-
tures tell us how. The epistle to the Hebrews has the follow-
ing passage ; ‘Consider him who endured such contradiction
of sinners against himself; who, when he was reviled, reviled
not again ; when he suffered, he threatened not, but committed
himself to Him that judgeth righteously.”
A third just application of the sacrifice and death of Christ
is to induce us to crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts;
for shall our salvation be in the sight of God himself of such
infinite importance and price, that ‘he spared not his own Son’
in carrying on the great business of our redemption, and shall
we refuse, for the same end, to resign pleasures of a few hours'
continuance, or keep within bounds those destructive passions,
the gratification of which we know will be our bane and perdi-
tion, which commonly begin their torment here, and are cer-
tain of it hereafter Are we less to consider our redemption,
whose final happiness or misery must all depend upon it, than
he who undertook it, and who quitted the clouds of happiness
to carry it on ? Would you know what is meant by the flesh
with the affections and lusts, which they that are Christ's have
erucified ? St Paul refers distinctly and circumstantially to all
uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, vari-
ance, emulation, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings,
murders, drunkenness, revellings; but neither is this all. There
are pleasures and pursuits which are criminal only in the excess,
such as diversions, riches, honors, power ; these are called the
world; the immoderate love of them is called in scripture the
love of the world. This love in the heart of a Christian is
moderated by contemplating on the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, ‘by whom the world is crucified unto us, and we unto
the world;’ that is, so much more affecting considerations
present themselves to our thoughts this way, and on this subject,
that diversions, riches, and honors lose their charms; their
gaudy lustre fades away before such contemplations, and our
attention is drawn to the littleness of this generation.
But the great inference which the scriptures continually press
upon us from the sufferings of Christ is, that “if Christ so loved
us, we ought also to love one another;” and surely with reason;
for is it to be endured, that while the shepherd layeth down his
life for the sheep, the flock should be killing and devouring one
another? that while we live under the obligation of this stupen-
dous love, while we are indebted to it for the eternal salvation
of our souls, we should cast off all kindness and affection to-
THE WARIOUS ENDS OF CHRIST’S DEATH. 203
wards one another, or towards any Christ died that he might.
gather together in one the children of God that were scattered
abroad; that he might unite his followers into one body, firmly
connected by the same spirit to the same obedience, to the
same regulations, by the same love and mutual affection to one
another; that they all might be one, even as we are one. How
is this gracious design defeated by our treachery and ill inten-
tions towards one another How little do we judge one another
members of the same household, children of the same Parent,
washed in the same blood, and saved by the death of one re-
deemer, when there is any passion to be gratified by oppressing
and vexing each other | But are we sensible, you will say, of
our obligation to a saviour of the world? We acknowledge the
infinite debt we owe him ; we allow all gratitude and all love
to be most fully due ; how are we to show it? how shall we
love Christ, whom we have not seen 2 “Lord, when saw we
thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or
in prison, and did not minister unto thee P’ There is but one
way in which we are capable of making any return, the way
which he himself has been pleased to point out and declare he
will accept; ‘Forasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least
of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” We cannot
lay down our lives for him, as he did for us; we cannot pour
out our soul a sacrifice for sin, heal human creatures by our
stripes, or bear their iniquities; but we can promote peace and
good will, and comfort, and quietness in his family and amongst
our brethren. Our influence, it is true, may be small ; it may
be little we can do even towards these ends, but we can ad-
vance them in our neighbourhood, amongst our acquaintance
and our families; and the circle of each man’s opportunity, be
it great or small, is to him the whole world.
But there is also a second consideration on this matter, that
it exalts into dignity and respect, it lifts above insult and con-
tempt the meanest of our fellow Christians. Be their outward
appearance ever so despicable and forbidding, be their quality
what it may, be their age or health ever so infirm, still they are
those for whom Christ died. ‘Destroy not him,” says St Paul,
‘by meats’ only ‘for whom Christ died; ' much more, despise
not, insult not, overbear not, trample not on, the lowest of our
brethren in Christ. However vile they may seem in our eyes,
he scrupled not to lay down his life for such. -
Finally; as high and low, rich and poor, wise and ignorant,
have all one hope of our calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of us all, let us all pass the short time of
204 MISAPPREHENSIONS OF THE
our sojourning here in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and
given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God, for a
sweet smelling savour. We are members one of another, and
of Christ; ‘wherefore let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger,
and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away, with all malice;
and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you.’
XXXVII.
GOOD FRIDAY.
RoMANs W. 8.
But God commendeth his love towards us, in that whilst we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.
THE veneration and devout affection which we entertain for
the memory and person of Jesus Christ, can never be too great
or too ardent, whether we respect what he has suffered for our
sakes, or the benefit we draw from his sufferings. If we re-
gard his sufferings, one plain reflection presents itself; “greater
love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his
friend,” It is the last and highest possible instance of affection
which a parent could show for a beloved child, or any one can
show for the dearest relation in human life. If we look to the
benefits which the author of our redemption hath procured to
us, this is manifest, that all favors and all kindnesses are insig-
nificant, compared with those which affect our eternal welfare
in another world ; because, in proportion as the happiness of a
future life is more important to us than any thing we gain or
enjoy in this, so whatever helps or promotes our salvation, our
attainment of heaven, is more precious than any advantage
which can be conferred upon us in this life. We may not be
sensible of this now, I fear we are not ; but we shall be made
sensible of it hereafter. The full magnitude and operation of
those effects which will result from the death of Christ we can
only comprehend in a general way; that is, we can only com-
prehend from general expressions used in scripture. These
testify that such effects, and the benefit which the faithful in
Christ shall draw from them, will be very great; if we consider
DOCTRINE OF RECONCILIATION. 205
that they relate to nothing less than the saving of our souls at
the day of judgment, infinitely great in comparison they neces-
sarily must be ; because then nothing at all will be of any con-
cern but what relates to that. By the efficacy of his death,
surpassing in a great degree our present knowledge, and by his
powerful and perpetual intercession for us, which we can in
some degree comprehend, we may rest assured that he hath
brought into the way to heaven, millions who, without him,
would not have attained it. If we regard the effects which re-
ligious love ought to produce upon us, the love of Christ, like
the love of any great benefactor, if it be in our heart, will show
itself some way or other. In different men it will show itself
in different ways; but in all men it will show itself, if it exist.
Such is the nature of the affection. It is never a dead princi-
ple. If the root be in the ground, it will irresistibly spring up
into action.
* There is, however, a danger naturally adhering even to the
very piety with which we cherish the memory of our redeem-
er, and it is this ; it leads sometimes to a frame of mind, and
to a habit of thinking concerning religion, and concerning the
object of all religion, the Supreme Being himself, which is not
justified by reason, or by any thing delivered in the christian
revelation. The opinion which I have in view by this caution
is, that whilst we contemplate with deserved admiration the
exceeding great love of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we
slide into a way of considering God the Father as a being of a
harsh and austere character, at enmity with mankind, which
enmity was to be reconciled by the blood of his Son.
Now I do not so much say that this is irrational, because it
may be allowed, perhaps, that human reason is a very imper-
fect judge of such matters; but it is unscriptural ; it is not that
representation of the subject which the scriptures exhibit, but
the contrary. -
For, in the first place I remark, that God is never said to be
reconciled to us, but we to God. He is always ready to
receive mankind returning to their duty. But the difficulty
was to induce mankind to return. And in this strain run all
the texts in which the term ‘reconcile’ occurs. ‘We pray you,
in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled unto God;’ that is, we
entreat you, as though Christ himself entreated you, that ye
would return to your duty to God. Again, as to be reconciled
is to return to their duty, so reconcile is to cause to return, or
to bring back to duty and obedience those who had deserted ;
both which I apprehend to be the sense of the term in the
206 MISAPPREHENSIONS OF THE
following texts. “It pleased the Father that in him should all.
fulness dwell; and having made peace through the blood of his
cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him, I say,
whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven; and you
that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by
wicked works, now hath he reconciled.” Col. i. 20. Again,
Eph. ii. 15, St Paul, speaking of the Jews and Gentiles,
declares, That Christ hath now by his death abolished all
distinction between them; that having made of twain one new
man, he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the
cross; so in other places, God is said to reconcile us to
himself by Jesus Christ; to be reconciling the world unto
himself. The preaching of the gospel is called the word and
the ministry of reconciliation. The same distinction holds
concerning some other phrases which occur in the writings of
the apostles. God is never said to be at enmity with us, or an
enemy to us, or alienated from us, but we are said to be at
enmity with God, enemies to God, alienated from God; and
all by the wickedness of our lives. ‘A friend of the world,”
saith St James, ‘is an enemy of God.” “You that were some-
time alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works; ”
so the Gentiles were said to be alienated from the life of God,
through the ignorance that was in them.
I proceed, in the second place, to prove, that the redemption
of the world, instead of being undertaken by another, to appease
the wrath of an incensed or austere God, was itself a thing
provided by God; and was the effect of his care and goodness
towards his human creatures. The texts I shall lay before
you, in support of this proposition, are the following; “God so
loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that who-
soever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life.’ John iii. 16. Again, in the sixth chapter of the same
gospel, Christ speaks, ‘I came down from heaven, not to do
mine own will, but the will of him that sent me; and this is the
Father’s will who hath sent me, that of all which he hath given
me I should lose nothing.” These are Christ's own words;
and in what way does Christ describe his office and commis-
sion ? not as coming of himself to pacify God the Father,
who was alienated from and averse to the race of mankind,
but as sent by God the Father to reclaim and reform this
degenerate race; to save them, by turning every one from his
sins, and so to bring those back who were gone far astray from
their duty, their happiness, and their God; in other words,
Christ's coming was the appointment of God the Father, and
DOCTRINE OF RECONCILIATION. 207
that appointment was the effect of God the Father’s love.
These declarations of our Saviour's own are followed up by
many passages in the writings of the apostles, which speak of
Christ's coming into the world, of his ministry, and more espe-
cially of his death, as concerted and determined of old in the
counsels of the Almighty Father. “Him being delivered,” saith
St Peter, “by the determinate counsels and foreknowledge of
God ye have taken.” “Against the holy child Jesus they were
gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel
determined to be done.” But the mission of Christ was not
only the counsel and design of God the Father, but it was a
counsel of supreme love to mankind. ‘God commendeth his
love towards us, in that whilst we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us.” “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him
up for us all, how shall he not with him also give us all things?’
But the text the fullest and the plainest to our purpose is in the
fourth chapter of the epistle of St John. “In this was manifested
the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only
begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.”
‘Herein is love ; not that we loved God, but that he loved us,
and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Now in
these various texts you will remark the same thing, which is,
that they do not describe the redemption of mankind, as if a
milder and more benevolent being went about to propitiate the
favor of another who was harsh and austere, who was before
incensed at the human race, had cast them off, or was averse
to their welfare; that certainly was not the idea which dwelt
in the mind of those who delivered such declarations as I have
now read to you ; but it was all along the design and the doing
of that Being, the effect of his love, the fruit and manifestation
of his affection and good will.
But it will be asked, if God the Father was always gracious,
and merciful, and loving to his creatures; always ready to
receive, and desirous to make them happy, what necessity was
there for a redeemer, or for the redemption of the world at all 2
I answer that there was still the same necessity to reform and
recover mankind from their sins, and there was likewise a ne-
cessity for a propitiation for sin. It was a law of God’s moral
government, that mankind could not be made happy in their
future existence without holiness, at least without endeavours
after holiness, without turning away from their sins, without a
pardon obtained through Jesus Christ his Son. Perhaps the
whole rational universe, angels as well as the spirits of departed
men, may be interested in the maintenance and preservation of
208 Misapprehensions of THE
this law. Here God’s love to his creatures interposed, not to
break through or suspend a rule universally salutary and neces-
sary, but to provide expedients, and to endeavour, if we may
so say, to bring the human race, lost in an almost total deprav-
ity, within the rule which he had appointed for the government
of his moral creation. The expedient which his wisdom made
choice of, and which it is for us to accept with all humility and
all thankfulness, was to send into the world the person nearest
and dearest to himself, his own and his only begotten Son, to
instruct the ignorance of mankind, to collect a society of men
out of all nations and countries of the world, united together
by faith in him, and through the influence of that faith, produc-
ing the fruits of righteousness and of good works. It seemed
agreeable, also, to the same supreme wisdom, that this divine
messenger should sacrifice his life in the execution of his office.
The expediency of this measure we can in part understand,
because we can see that it conduced with other causes, to fix a
deep impression on the hearts and consciences, both of his im-
mediate followers, the living witnesses and spectators of his
death and sufferings, and of those who, in after ages, might
come to a knowledge of his history. It bound them to him by
the tenderest of all reflections, that he died for their sakes.
This is one intelligible use of the death of Christ. But we
are not to stop at this; in various declarations of scripture con-
eerning the death of Christ, it is necessary also to acknowledge
that there are other and higher consequences attendant upon
this event, the particular nature of which consequences, though
of the most real and highest nature, we do not understand, nor
perhaps are capable of understanding, even if it had been told
us, until we be admitted to more knowledge than we at present
possess, of the order and economy of superior beings, of our
own state and destination after death, and of the laws of nature
by which the next world will be governed, which probably are
very different from the present. But that there are such bene-
fits arising from the death of Christ, various passages of scrip-
ture declare, and cannot be fairly interpreted without supposing
them. We are sure that the whole was a wise method of ac-
complishing the end proposed, because it was the method
adopted by the wisest of all beings. Perhaps it was the only
method possible; but what I am at present concerned to point
out is, that it is to be referred to the love of God the Father.
It is to be regarded as an instance, and the very highest instance,
of his paternal affection for us. You have heard, in the several
THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 209
texts which I have read to you, that it was so regarded and so
acknowledged by our Lord himself, and by his apostles.
What remains, therefore, but that, whilst we cherish in our
remembrance and our hearts a lively sense of gratitude towards
the divine person, who was the visible agent, the great and
patient sufferer, in carrying on the redemption of the world,
we look also to the source and origin of this, as of every bless-
ing which we enjoy, the love and tender mercies of God the
Father. ‘Blessed therefore be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual bless-
ings in heavenly places in Christ, to the praise of his glory in
Christ, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved, in
whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of his grace.”
|XXXVIII.
EASTER, DAY.
I CorINTHIANs XV. 3–9.
I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died
for our sins, according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that
he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures; and that he was
seen of Cephas, then of the twelve ; after that he was seen of above five
hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present,
but some are fallen asleep. After that he was seen of James; then of all
the apostles; and last of all, he was seen of me also, as of one born out of
due time; for I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called
an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
AMongst the various testimonies that have come down to us
of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and which,
by consequence, ensure to us the hope of our own, no one pos-
sesses greater evidence, or carries with it stronger credentials
of truth and authenticity, than that which is contained in the
words which I have read to you.
I shall employ the present solemn, and surely if any ever
was so, this joyful occasion, first, in laying before you such re-
marks and explanations as the words themselves may seem to
27
210 . THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.
suggest; and secondly, in addressing you concerning the au-
thor and authority from which they proceed.
St Paul, previously to his writing this letter to the Christians
of Corinth, had himself been in that city preaching the gospel
amongst them in person.
Those to whom he now writes, whilst he was absent upon
the same business in another country, were they whom he had
some time before taught face to face; and most of them per-
sons who had been moved by that his teaching to embrace the
new faith. After having finished some occasional subjects
which he was led to treat of in the epistle, he proceeds, as was
indeed natural, to bring to their remembrance the great topics
which he had set forth amongst them when he appeared at Co-
rinth as an apostle of Jesus Christ. “I declare unto you the
gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received,
and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye keep
in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed
in vain.” He then introduces that short but clear abstract of
the fundamental part of his doctrine, which composes our
present text; and he introduces it with this remarkable pre-
face; “I delivered unto you first of all.” This was the first
thing I taught you ; intimating that this is the fundamental and
great essential of the christian system. In correspondence
with which declaration you will find that the fact of Christ's
resurrection from the dead, and what appeared to be, and what
is, a plain and undisputed inference from it, that God will fulfil
his promise by raising up us also at the last day, were in reality
the articles of information to mankind which the apostles carried
with them wherever they went; what they first disclosed to
their converts, as the groundwork of all their addresses, as the
cause and business of their coming amongst them, as the sum
indeed and substance of what they were bound to deliver, or
their disciples to believe. In proof of this, I desire it to be
particularly remarked, that when the apostles, at Peter’s sug-
gestion, chose out from the followers of Christ a new apostle in
the place of Judas, the great qualification insisted upon in that
choice was, that he should be one who had accompanied the
other apostles at the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out
amongst them, that he might be, together with them, a witness
of his resurrection. This circumstance shows that what they
regarded as the proper office and business of an apostle was, to
testify to the world from their own knowledge, and the evidence
of their own senses, that he whom they preached had died,
been buried, and was raised up again from the dead. After
THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 211
this transaction, the first preaching of Christianity to the public
at large, to those, I mean, who had not professed themselves
the followers of Christ during his lifetime, was after the
descent of the Holy Ghost, upon the day of Pentecost.
upon this occasion, in the presence of a great multitude who
had then resorted to Jerusalem from all quarters of the world,
whom the noise of this miracle had gathered together, St Pe-
ter, with the rest of the apostles standing about him, delivered
a discourse, of which the sum and substance was briefly this;
‘This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.”
The same thing may be observed of two discourses held at Je-
rusalem by St Peter a short time afterwards; one upon curing
the lame man at the gate of the Temple, the other upon his
miraculous deliverance from prison. Christ's resurrection from
the dead, and the solemn attestation of the fact, was the theme
and subject of both discourses. Follow the apostles to any
new place in which their discourses are recorded, and you will
find this same thing the stress and constant burthen of their
preaching. When Peter was called, in so remarkable a man-
ner, to open the knowledge of the gospel to Cornelius and his
friends, the intelligence with which he gratified the eager ex-
pectation of his audience was this brief but surprising history;
*Him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly,
not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before of God,
even to us who did eat and drink with him after he rose from
the dead.” When Paul and Barnabas, a short time afterwards,
had been solemnly appointed to carry the gospel to the Gentiles,
and for that purpose had set out upon a progress through the
Lesser Asia, the most populous and frequented country of the
East, the first public address which St Paul is recorded to have
delivered, was at Antioch in Pisidia, of which this was the
message; “We declare unto you glad tidings, how that the
promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled
the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus
again.” -
*: much journeying from place to place, for the purpose
of diffusing wherever he went the christian faith, we find his
travels at length brought him to Athens, at that time the me-
tropolis, in some measure, of science and learning. We cannot
help being curious to know what the apostle would say there;
how he would first unfold his extraordinary message to an
audience of philosophers. Accordingly his speech upon this
remarkable occasion is preserved; in which he first reminds
them of the great topics of natural religion, which we at this
212 THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.
day call the unity, omniscience, omnipotence, and infinity or
ubiquity of God, all which their own researches might have
taught them, and then proceeds to disclose that which was the
proper business of his preaching, the great revelation which he
was going about the world to communicate; “God now com-
mandeth all men every where to repent, because he hath ap-
pointed him a day in the which he will judge the world in
righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained ; whereof
he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he raised him
from the dead.”
Whenever a set speech of the apostle's at a new place is
recorded, that is, whenever he first opens the great affair of
Christianity to strangers, and not where he is addressing those
who have been before instructed, the great argument of his
discourse is the resurrection ; and therefore we are authorized
to conclude in those other places where his speeches are not
particularly given, that to preach the gospel, to preach Jesus,
to preach the word, which they are said to have done wherever
they came, meant the advancing of the great fact of Christ's
resurrection from the dead, and the decisive proof which they
considered it as affording of a general resurrection at the last
day. It was in perfect conformity, therefore, with St Paul's
practice, as well as with that of the rest of the apostles, that he
reminds the Corinthians of his having declared to them this
doctrine first of all. His ministry amongst them began with
it, as not only the most important, but the corner stone and
foundation of all the rest.
But secondly, the apostle tells the Corinthians that he had
delivered to them what he himself had received. St Paul's
knowledge of the gospel came to him in a manner perfectly
peculiar. ‘I neither,’ says he, in his epistle to the Galatians,
• received it of man, neither was I taught it but by the revela-
tion of Jesus Christ.’
It does not, I think, appear that St Paul, like the other
apostles, knew Christ during his lifetime, or that he had ever
seen him. The necessary information concerning this great
transaction was imparted to him by inspiration, at the time
probably that he was miraculously converted. He was assured
that it was not an illusion which played upon his fancy, because
he was assured of a real public external miracle, which accom-
panied the reception of this knowledge. . .
But whatever certainty a divine communication might convey
to himself, he was very sensible that it was not the most direct
and satisfactory proof to others of a matter of fact, which was
THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 213
capable of being attested by the evidence of men's senses. He
therefore does not rest the point upon the communication which
He had received, but appeals to what was less questionable by
others, the testimony of those who had conversed with Jesus
after his resurrection, in the ordinary and natural way of human
perception. His account of the matter is very full and circum-
stantial ; ‘He was seen of Cephas,' which was the name, you
remember, that Christ had given to Peter, “then of the twelve;
after that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, &
of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are
fallen asleep. After that he was seen of James, then of all
the apostles.” These words are very memorable. A fairer,
a more public, or candid appeal to the evidence of a fact was
never made. Not content with saying in general terms, that
he was seen of many, that he was seen of his disciples, he
gives the names of two eminent brethren who saw him, men
both perfectly well known by reputation, at least, and to many,
it is probable, personally known in the several churches of
Christians; and not only so, but men living at the time. He
names Peter, to whose history and character they could be
no strangers. He mentions James, at that time presiding over
the church in Jerusalem. He names the twelve, all well
known, by fame, at least, and report, to every christian con-
vert; and then he refers to ‘above five hundred brethren who
saw him at one time, of whom the greater part remain unto
this present;" that is, were upon the spot, being witnesses of
the fact, at the time the epistle was written. He proceeds, in
the last place, with great humility to state his own personal
assurance of the same fact, by telling them, that, not then, in-
deed, but some time afterwards, Christ was seen of him also.
He alludes, no doubt, to Christ's appearing to him at his con-
version, upon his road to Damascus. Accounting, as he well
might, the ocular manifestation of Christ raised from the dead
as one of the greatest favors that could be vouchsafed, he ob-
serves, that whilst all the other apostles were indulged with this
satisfaction during Christ's abode upon earth, it was not granted
to him until some considerable time afterwards.
This difference, he acknowledges, was no more than just
and due ; inasmuch as he had rendered himself unworthy of
the name and character of an apostle, not simply by being an
unbeliever in Christ's word, but by going about with a furious
and mistaken zeal to persecute all who called upon his name ;
“last of all, he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due
214, THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.
time, who am not meet to be called an apostle, because I per-
secuted the church of God.”
What is necessary to remark concerning the separate clauses
of the text is in a little compass. St Paul says that Christ
died for our sins, according to the scriptures. The scriptures
here meant were the prophecies of the Old Testament, which
describe the future history of Christ. One of these, amongst
many which are more indirect, speaks the circumstance of
Christ dying for our sins so plainly, that St Paul probably had
it now in his thoughts; ‘He was wounded for our transgression,
he was bruised for our iniquity; the chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.’ This you
read in the fiftythird chapter of Isaiah, written seven hundred
years before Christ appeared.
Our apostle proceeds; and that he was buried, and rose
again the third day, according to the scriptures.” The circum-
stance of his burial is particularly noticed in the same prophecy;
which gave occasion probably to St Paul’s mention of it in
this place. ‘He made,’ saith Isaiah, “his grave with the
wicked, and with the rich in his death.” The more important
fact of his resurrection, is both set forth by necessary implica-
tion in Isaiah's prophecy, for he says of Christ, “when thou
shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days,’ and was also understood by the
apostles to be represented by those words of the sixteenth
Psalm, in which David, speaking as they interpreted it, in the
person of the Messiah, says, “Thou shalt not leave my soul in
hell, nor wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption.”
The apostle then, in order to establish the reality of Christ's
resurrection, enumerates several of his appearances after it.
And in comparing this account with the other accounts of
Christ’s appearance given in the gospels, we are carefully to
remember that none of them undertook or intended to describe
all the occasions or all the instances in which Christ was seen.
Christ appeared on various occasions; and one history relates
what passed upon one occasion, and another what passed upon
a different occasion. This produces, as might be expected,
considerable variation in the accounts, yet without contradiction
or inconsistency. “He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve.’
This exactly agrees with Luke's narrative; “Then the eleven
were gathered together, saying the Lord is risen indeed, and
hath appeared to Simon.” After this, St Paul tells us, “he was
seen of above five hundred brethren at once.’ This number is
not specified in any of the gospels; nevertheless, there is noth-
THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST, 215
ing to hinder us from supposing this number might be present
at some of the appearances recorded in these gospels. It is
generally supposed to have been at his solemn predicted ap-
pearance upon the mountain in Galilee. One circumstance is
common to all the different accounts of the resurrection; namely,
that he appeared to none but his disciples; and however the
unbelieving Jews might cavil at this circumstance at the time, I
think the fair and explicit mention of it, is to us at this day, a
strong confirmation of the truth of the history. It manifests
the candor and exactness of the historians. Had they thought
themselves at liberty to carve and mould the account, so as to
make it pass most plausible and current with the public; had
they not conceived of themselves as relating the truth, they
could as easily have stated of Christ that he was seen indis-
criminately by all, as have confessed, which they have done,
that his appearance was confined to his own followers. We
may not at this time know the exact reasons which determined
our blessed Lord to make the distinction. It is enough to know
that Peter and James, and the eleven apostles, and the Galilean
women, and the five hundred brethren, were abundantly suffi-
cient to testify a fact in which they could not be mistaken.
Having observed thus much upon the terms in which St Paul
delivers his testimony to the resurrection of Christ, it remains
in the next place to consider the authority and weight of the
testimony itself. Here then, we see a man of learning and
education; amongst the first of his countrymen in activity, elo-
guence, and ability; hardly equalled by any other, as appears,
not by any commendations bestowed upon him by those of his
own persuasion, but from his writings, which are now in our
hands; we have this man, after being distinguished in the early
part of his life by his fierce and eager persecution of the
christian name, now spending his whole time in travelling from
country to country, from city to city throughout the most civil-
ized and populous region of the world, to announce, wherever
he came, this important intelligence; that Jesus Christ, a man
sent by God into the world for the instruction and salvation of
mankind, after having been executed by the Jews as a male-
factor, was publicly raised from the dead; that he himself had
seen him after his resurrection; that many others whom he
names, to whom he appeals, and with whom he conversed and
associated, had done the same ; that in consequence of this
stupendous event, they were each one to look for his own resur-
rection at the last day; that they were to conduct and prepare
themselves accordingly. See this man in the prosecution
216 THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.
of his purpose, enduring every hardship, encountering every
danger, sacrificing his pleasures, his ease, his safety, in order
to bring men to the knowledge of this fact, and, by virtue of
that knowledge, to the practice of holiness. Now this is the
question; hath ever any falsehood been supported by testimony
like this 2
Falsehoods, we confess, have found their way into conver-
sation, into tradition, into books. But is an example to be
produced of a man voluntarily undertaking a life of pain, of
toil, of ignominy, of incessant fatigue, of continual peril, of
want, of hardship ; Submitting to the loss of home, of country,
of friends, to stripes and stoning, to imprisonment and 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
What then shall we say to these things 2 If it be true that
Christ is risen, then undoubtedly it is true that we shall live
again in a new state.
Christ, we are told, ‘hath abolished death.” Yet men still die.
What, then, is the change whereof we boast 2 Death is so dif-
ferent a thing, according as it is regarded as the destruction of
our existence, or only as a transition to some other stage of it,
that, when revelation affords us solid ground for viewing it in
this latter aspect, death is said by that revelation to be abolish-
ed, to be done away, to reign, to exist no more.
Still farther; if it be not only by the intervention of Christ
that the knowledge of this is discovered to mankind, but by his
power and agency that the thing itself is effected ; if it be his
mighty working, which is to change our vile bodies, which is
to produce the great renovation that we look for ; then is it
more literally and strictly true, that by death he hath destroyed
him that hath the power of death. $
‘Men,” saith the epistle to the Hebrews, ‘through the fear
of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage;’ and well
they might! It held them in constant terror; it was a fixed
load upon the spirits; it damped the satisfaction, it exaspera-
ted the miseries of life. From that bondage we are delivered.
New hopes are inspired, new prospects are unfolded; the vir-
tuous enjoyments of life we possess here, an exceeding and
eternal weight of glory we expect hereafter. Are we prosper-
ous and fortunate 2 Instead of beholding the period of human
prosperity with perpetual dread, we have it in our power to
make it the commencement of a new series of never failing
pleasures, of purer and better joys. Does the hand of adver-
sity lie heavy upon us? We see before us a reward in heaven
THE RESURRECTION of CHRIST. 217
for patience, for submission, for trials, for sufferings; and, what
is still more important, what is infinitely so, when that hour
which is coming shall come, when we find the enjoyments of
life slipping from under us, when we feel ourselves loosening
from the world, and infirmity and decay gathering fast around
us, we have then an anchor of hope, a rock of confidence, a
place of refuge; we are then able to commit our souls to the
custody of a faithful Creator, knowing, as St Paul speaks, in
whom we have believed; being persuaded that he is able to
keep that which we commit unto him against that day.
We shall rise again; but unto what? they that have done good,
to the resurrection of life; they that have done evil, to the
resurrection of damnation. How tremendous is the alterna-
tive What an event, what a prospect is this to look for-
ward to ' If all this be true, if the hour of judgment will cer-
tainly come to pass, what manner of men, as the apostle asks,
ought we to be, what manner of lives ought we to lead, seeing,
as he expresses it, we have such a cloud of witnesses, such a
hope, such a notice and revelation of the things which will be-
fall us! Is it possible that these things can ever be out of our
thoughts 2 Is it possible that being there they can allow us to
sin: He is gone up on high ; he hath led captivity captive ;
he is in glory. Hear what the angels said to the astonished
apostles; ‘In like manner as ye see him ascend up into heaven,
ye shall see him come down again from heaven. Even so,
come, Lord Jesus !” but oh mayest thou find us in some de-
gree prepared, not indeed to awaii the severity of thy justice,
but to be made objects of thy mercy; prepared by penitence
and humility, by prayer, by a desire and study to learn thy
will; by what is still more, the return and conversion of our
hearts to thee, manifested by a quick and constant fear of offend-
ing; by a love of thy laws, thy name, thy scriptures, thy re-
ligion; by sincere, though interrupted, it is to be feared, and
imperfect, yet by sincere endeavours to obey thy universal will!
28
218 ACCOUNTS OF CHRIST'S RESURRECTION.
XXXIX.
EASTER, DAY.
Acts XIII. 29, 30, 31.
And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down
from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre; but God raised him from the
dead; and he was seen many days of them which came up with him from
Galilee to Jerusalem, who are witnesses unto this people.
THE resurrection of Jesus Christ was on this wise. He had
frequently, during the course of his ministry, foretold his own
resurrection on the third day from his death, sometimes in par-
ables, sometimes in plain terms. In parables, as when, point-
ing to his body, he said to the Jews, ‘Destroy this temple, and
in three days I will raise it again;” and upon another occasion,
“No sign shall be given you but the sign of the prophet Jonas;
for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's
belly, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in
the heart of the earth.”
At other times he foretold the same thing in direct terms;
“While they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, the son of
man shall be betrayed into the hands of men, and they shall
kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again.” And at
various other times he declared thus to his disciples.
The Jews who had come to the knowledge of this declara-
tion, did not, I suppose, give any credit to it, but thought that
it might put it into the heads of his disciples to attempt the
stealing of his body out of the grave, in order to give color to
the report that he was risen as he had foretold. With this
story the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate,
saying, “Sir, we remember that that deceiver said whilst he
was yet alive, after three days I will rise again ; command,
therefore, that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day,
lest his disciples come by night and steal him away, and say
unto the people, he is risen from the dead.” Pilate, upon this
application, which probably he judged a very unnecessary cau-
tion, ordered them to close up and seal the door of the sepul-
chre, and place a guard to watch it.
With respect to the apostles and disciples themselves, they
hardly seem to have known what to make of it. They scarcely
believed or understood our Lord when he had talked of rising
ACCOUNTS OF CHRIST'S RESURRECTION. 219
from the dead. The truth is, they retained to the last the
notion, which both they and all the Jews held, that the true
Christ, when he appeared, would set up an empire upon earth,
and make the Jews the masters of the world. Now when, by
his death, they saw an end put to all such expectations, they
were totally at a loss what to think. ‘We trusted,” said one,
then in a sort of despair of the cause, ‘that it had been he who
should have redeemed Israel;’ that is, from the bondage their
country was then in to the Roman people.
Yet these despairing reflections were mixed with some kind
of confused notion that all was not yet over. ‘Besides all
this,” said the same disciple, ‘today is the third day since these
things were done ;’ which shows that they bore in mind some-
thing that he had said of his rising the third day. In this
situation of the affair, the Jews feared nothing but that his
disciples should steal the body. His disciples, disheartened
and perplexed, at a loss what to do, or what they were to look
for next ; in this disposition, I say, of all parties, mark what
came to pass. Some women, early in the morning of this
day, went to the sepulchre with no other intention than to em-
balm the body with some spices they had prepared, when, to
their astonishment and surprise, they found the guards fallen
down in fright, the sepulchre open, the body gone, and the
clothes it was wrapped in left in their place. They ran back,
as was natural, to give his disciples this strange account. Peter
and John, the two first they met with, hastened instantly to the
sepulchre, and in the mean title, Jesus himself appeared to
them; first to the women, then to two of the disciples, then to
the eleven apostles all together ; afterwards, upon different
occasions, to the apostles and other disciples on the evening of
the fourth day after his resurrection; and upon one occasion,
as St Paul relates, “to five hundred brethren at once, of whom
the greater part,” says he, “remain to this present,’ i. e. are still
living. In one of these appearances he upbraided them, as
well he might, for their unbelief and hardness of heart, in not
believing those who made the report of his resurrection, and
had first seen him after he was risen. On another occasion
he bade them handle his body, that they might be convinced
it was not, as they had suspected, a spirit which they saw ; for
• a spirit hath not,’ says he, “ flesh and bones as ye see me have.”
At other times he was still more circumstantial. Thomas, one
of the apostles, happened, it seems, to be absent when he first
appeared to the disciples assembled together; and though they
all assured him they had seen the Lord, so incredulous was he,
220 ACCOUNTS OF CHRIST'S RESURRECTION.
that he declared, unless he saw him himself, and not only saw
him, but also felt and examined the very marks of the wounds
which were given him upon the cross, he would not be con-
vinced. It pleased Christ, for the satisfaction of those who
came after, to indulge Thomas in this demand; and when he
appeared unto them at their next meeting, he called Thomas
to him; ‘Reach hither,’ says he, “thy finger, and behold my
hands, and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side ;
and be not faithless, but believing.’
You need not be told that, after forty days, during which
time he occasionally appeared to his disciples, he was, in the
sight of the eleven apostles, for the twelfth was Judas the
traitor, lifted up into heaven, and the clouds received him out
of their sight. It will be proper to return and take notice
of the conduct of the Jews upon this occasion. The watch,
which they had placed to guard the sepulchre, came into the
city and showed to the chief priests the things that were done.
“When they were assembled with the elders, and had taken
counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, saying, Say
ye, his disciples came by night and stole him away ; and if this
come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him and secure
you.” So they took the money, and did as they were taught ;
‘ and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews,’ says
Matthew, “unto this day.” •
Now there are some marks of truth in this relation, which,
though both obvious and considerable, may perhaps escape
you, if you have not heard them mentioned. There are, you
will perceive, if you read the narrative, some variations in the
accounts of the evangelists, principally arising from one history
relating one circumstance, and another, another; when, in
truth, both circumstances took place. For example; Christ
appeared at many different times. St Matthew relates what
passed at one appearance, St Luke at another, St John at a
third ; and so it must needs happen that their relations will be
different, though not at all contradictory. But what, after all,
do these variations, or, if you will, inconsistencies, prove
Why, they prove to demonstration, that the writers of the gospel
did not combine or lay their heads together to fill up a story
for the public, but that each wrote according to his memory,
information, and judgment, without any scheme or contrivance
amongst themselves to make their stories tally and correspond.
There are always variations, and often contradictions, where
witnesses are without communication and independent of one
another; and if there be not, it conveys a strong surmise that
ACCOUNTS OF CHRIST'S RESURRECTION. 221
they are prepared with a made-up story, constructed and con-
nected amongst themselves beforehand. It is not said, you may
likewise remember, that Christ appeared after his resurrection
to any but his own disciples. Unbelievers, Jews especially,
lay hold of this circumstance. He ought, for so they speak,
to have appeared openly to the Jews, to enemies as well as
friends. His confining his appearance to his friends and ſol-
lowers is, as they would intimate, suspicious. Now what were
Christ's reasons for refusing his appearance to the unbelieving
Jews we may not know. It is just like inquiring why he did
not come down from the cross when they called upon him to
do so. It might be fitting to withhold this last proof from those
who had so shamefully and obstinately resisted and abused
every other proof he had given in evidence of the resurrection,
and might be designed for the instruction, comfort, and support
of his followers, to whom it was necessary, for they could not
stir a step without it, rather than for the conviction of the un-
believing Jews, inhabitants of Jerusalem, who had abundant
evidence before, if they would have attended to it. And then,
whether this was the reason, or whatever was the reason, it
proves the sincerity and candor of the four evangelists, who
have given the history. They could have said that Christ
appeared to the Jews; and, had they thought themselves at
liberty to have carved the story as they pleased, in order to
make it plausible and probable, no doubt they would have said
so. The objection that would be made to their present ac-
eeunts was obvious ; and uoiiling but a strict adherence to
truth, and disposition to relate them honestly as they were,
whether they made for them or against them, would have in-
duced them to lay themselves open to the objection. Forge-
ries of all kinds take care to guard against objection; and we
are apt to overdo it with cautious exactness.
With respect to the resurrection itself, as I have collected it
briefly out of the four evangelists, you will observe, in the first
place, that Christ had publicly ſoretold his own resurrection at
the precise time of it, the third day from his death. This he
would not have done, had any imposition been intended,
because it was giving the public notice to be upon their guard,
and look to themselves that they were not imposed upon. It
had also this effect; for they did accordingly take such pre-
cautions as they thought most secure. Then, foretelling of his
resurrection must likewise have ruined his cause for ever, if it
had not actually come to pass.
Not very many years ago, there appeared in this country a
222 ACCOUNTS OF CHRIST'S RESURRECTION.
set of bold and wild enthusiasts called French prophets. They
found means to draw after them a considerable party, till at
length they had the confidence to give out that one of their
teachers should, at a certain time and place, publicly rise from
the dead. The time and place being thus known beforehand,
many of all sorts attended. What was the effect? No resur-
rection being actually accomplished, they and their prophecies
were blasted together. And the same thing must have hap-
pened to Christ and his followers, had he not actually risen;
for the two cases are in this respect pretty parallel.
Another way of considering this history is this. I think it
manifest that the body of Jesus was missing out of the sepul-
chre. Thus much may be taken for granted, not merely on
the credit of the gospels, but from the nature of the transaction.
It is certain, and allowed by all, that the followers of Christ
did, after his death, fully preach and assert that he was risen
from the dead, and this they did at Jerusalem. Now if the
Jews had the dead body of Jesus to produce, while his disci-
ples were preaching that he was risen from the dead, how ready
and complete a refutation would it have been of all their pre-
tensions ! It must have exposed them in a moment to the
derision and scorn of all who heard them.
This being so, we may be very sure that the Jews had not
the body forthcoming, as there cannot be a doubt but they
would have made this use of it if they could have found it.
Allowing, then, the body to be missing, the next question seems
to be, whether it was stolen away, as the Jews pretended, by
his disciples, or miraculously raised out of the sepulchre, as we
maintain. The Jewish story, if you attend to it, is charged
with numerous absurdities and improbability. The watch gave
out that, while they slept, the disciples stole the body. This
watch were Roman soldiers, remarkable for their military dis-
cipline and strictness. For a Roman soldier to sleep upon his
post was punished, we know, with death. Is it credible, that
they should sleep, all of them at this particular time, the third
day after his death of all other times? The story carries im-
probability upon the face of it. Nor is it more likely that the
disciples of Christ, dispirited and discouraged by their master’s
fate, should think of such an attempt as stealing away the body,
an attempt likely to be soon detected, and which, if detected,
was sure to ruin and confound them for ever. Could they
expect to find the guards asleep 2 Could they hope to escape
the vigilance of those who were to answer for it with their
lives 2 Now by the same rule that the Jewish story of the
ACCOUNTS OF CHRIST'S RESURRECTION. 223
body’s being stolen is improbable, the apostles’ account of its
being raised from the dead is probable, because missing out of
the sepulchre it certainly was ; and if it could not be conveyed
away by actual means, it must have been removed by a miracle.
I thought this circumstance fit to be attended to in confirmation
of the apostles’ testimony ; though, to say the truth, the testi-
mony of the apostles to the resurrection of Christ needs neither
this nor any other circumstance to confirm it; for where men
lay down their lives, as many of them did, in support of an
assertion which they must know whether it was true or false, it
were an unaccountable piece of misplaced incredulity not to
believe.
In reading the New Testament, especially the Acts of the
Apostles, you must have observed what a great stress the apos-
tles in their preaching laid upon the fact of the resurrection;
more, by much, than upon any other miracle Christ wrought,
or indeed than all. When they chose a successor in the place
of Judas, it was to be one, as St Peter says, to be witness with
him of his resurrection. This also was what Peter rested
upon in his first and second discourse to the Jews, and in his
preaching to Cornelius; and there is reason to believe that it
was what he bore with him, and laid the main stress upon,
wherever he went. .
In like manner, Paul, at Antioch and Athens, and some
other places, delivers long discourses to the people, of which,
however, the resurrection of Christ was the burthen and sub-
stance; and that this was his custom, may be collected from
what he writes to the Corinthians. “I delivered unto you first
of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and
that he rose again the third day.” The reason of which was,
that they considered the resurrection of Christ as a direct and
decisive proof of their own resurrection at the last day. With-
out doubt if it pleased God willingly to give mankind the plain-
est possible argument of his intention to raise them up at the
last, we cannot imagine any more satisfactory than his raising
up a dead man before their eyes. St Paul was so struck with
this proof, that he thought no man could resist it. ‘If Christ be
risen, how then say some among you,' that is, how are any
among you so absurd as to say, “there is no resurrection ?’
Let us lay these things to heart. If Christ be risen, of
which we have proof that cannot deceive us, then most cer-
tainly will the day arrive when all that are in the grave shall
hear the voice of the Son of God, and come forth. We shall
224 whar shALL I Do To INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE:
arise indeed; but to what? “They that have done good, unto
the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the
resurrection of damnation. Tribulation and anguish upon every
soul of man that doeth evil; but glory, honor, and peace to
every one that worketh good.’
XL.
ON CONFIRMATION.
MARK X. 17.
And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled
to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit
eternal life 2 -
THE question which was here asked our Saviour, “What
shall I do that I may inherit eternal life P’ comprehends the
whole of religion. He that can tell me this, tells me every
thing. All knowledge and all faith is but to ascertain this one
great point. *
‘What shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ is a question which
there is no man or woman living, one would suppose, but must
have thought upon. In the height and vigor of health and
spirits, when every night brings rest, and every morning joy,
when pleasures, new and fresh, are continually presenting them-
selves to the imagination, it is possible to be so in love with
this world, as to forget, or rather wilfully to shut our eyes
against the thoughts that it is ever to have an end. But this
round of festivity and delight is not every man’s portion, nor
any man’s portion long. The amusements of life flag and
slacken. Wexations and disappointments teach us that they
are not to be relied upon. We pursue them with the eager-
mess of a child who is chasing a butterfly, and who, when he
has caught it, finds that he is only grasping painted dust. We
find that something more solid than mere diversion and sport
must be attended to, to make even the present life comfortable
and satisfactory. When we once grow serious, the most awful
of all reflections opens itself full before our eyes; namely, that
our interests and pleasures and prospects here will soon be
finished ; that we have another, and a far greater concern to
WHAT SHALL I Do To INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE: 225
take care of. There is, we acknowledge, a period of man’s life,
about the time of his coming to manhood, when, himself and his
acquaintance being all young and strong, he, for a course of per-
haps nine or ten years, sees little alteration in the world about
him. All things appear to stand firm. His enjoyments and
connexions seem secure and steadfast. Instances of the fickle-
ness of human affairs happen, but none which reach him. He
is not yet admonished by experience, the only lesson which
many will attend to, that this world is not the place to set up
our staff in ; and that we are called upon by the events of life,
which is the voice of God himself, to look beyond it. How-
ever, this season, so flattering to thoughtlessness, is of short
duration. In the course of no great number of years, the most
happy and fortunate have examples brought home to them of
the uncertainty of every earthly dependence. Their acquain-
tance drop off; their friends and equals and companions go
down into the grave; instances of mortality take place in their
own families, or immediately before their eyes. Decay, and
change, and death press upon them on all sides, and in a
thousand shapes; the scene of the world moves and shifts; the
present generation he sees passing along, and soon to be swept
away from off the face of the earth. Finding therefore this world
to be no abiding place for any one ; that, however it once
Smiled and delighted, its gay prospects are either gone or
going, have either left us or are preparing to leave us; finding,
I say, this; not taught it by others, but finding it out itself,
the mind, musing and meditating upon what is hereafter to be-
come of it, into what new scene it shall next be introduced, is
powerfully led into the inquiry which the words of the text
presents us with, ‘What shall I do to inherit eternal life 2'
Diversion, or company, or hurry of business may keep this re-
flection for a while out of our thoughts; but in a silent hour or
a wakeful night, in a Solitary walk, or a pensive evening, it
must and will come over our souls.
“What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” If there be any
who have not yet asked themselves this grand question, let me
assure them that the time will come, and that it will not be long
before it comes, when it will be the only question in the world
which they will think worth caring about at all; that, although
they may try to remove it from their minds at present as being
too awful for their spirits, they will soon come to know, that
awful or not, it must be regarded, and inquired after, and
searched into. It is, I think, a strong observation, that in man-
aging our worldly affairs, we always consider ourselves as having
226 what SHALL I Do To INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE * >
an interest and concern after our deaths. Now it appears to
me to be the very excess of unreasonableness and stupidity to
be so careful and so solicitous, so pleased and distressed as we
are, about what is to take place after our deaths in this world
in which our existence then is only imaginary, and not to pro-
vide and look forward to our fate in the next world, where we
are to be, where our interest is real and actual, where we shall
ourselves feel, where we shall ourselves enjoy or suffer, the
happiness or misery which our former conduct has brought
upon us.
These observations are made in order to show the deep im-
portance of the question which was proposed to our blessed
Lord, and that it is a point which it is natural for every man
and woman breathing to think upon most anxiously. I would
next wish you to attend to the character and circumstances of
the person who proposed the question; for that is a considera-
tion of some consequence. If you read St Matthew’s account
of the transaction, xix, 20, you will find, that the person who
addressed this question to our Saviour was a young man ; and
that is the circumstance in the history which I desire may be
particularly taken notice of. The earnestness and anxiety with
which he sought to know what he was to do to inherit eternal
life, are most significantly expressed by the manner in which he
presented himself to Christ; “And there came one running,
and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I
do to inherit eternal life P’ From what he had seen of our
Saviour’s mighty works, and heard of his divine discourses, he
seems to have been assured, that, if ever there was a person
appeared in the world who could tell him what he was to do to
be saved, our Saviour was that person. This was the question
which hung and dwelt upon his mind; and now that he had an
opportunity of being informed and satisfied concerning it, he
most eagerly and devoutly embraced it. ‘He came running,
and kneeled to him.’ Here therefore you have a youth, in the
bloom and vigor of his age, in full possession of every thing
which this world can give, for it appears that he was rich as
well as young, solicitously searching after eternal life. He
knew, that amidst all the pleasures of his age and station,
amidst all the delights and recreations of youth, the salvation
of his immortal soul was not to be forgotten or neglected; nay,
was the thing which stood before all other things, the business
to be regarded with the deepest anxiety. This disposition was
highly acceptable to our blessed Lord. “Jesus beholding him,
loved him;’ that is, approved affectionately that pious serious
WHAT SHALL I DO TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE 2 227
temper of mind, which led a young man in the midst of health
and strength and pleasure, to fix his thoughts upon the con-
cerns of religion. And it is from this example, as well as from
the supreme advantage of following it, that I would put it to
the consciences of young persons of every rank and station of
life, to take up religion betimes.
And there is a particular reason to young members of our
church for giving attention to this matter at this time, because
the bishop is about to hold a public confirmation, which is or
ought to be a solemn initiation of young persons into the duties
and hopes of a Christian. It is to be considered, with respect
to religion, as a point for them to set off from upon their own
bottom ; as the line from which they start in the great race that
is set before them ; the term from which they may date their
having their spiritual concerns in their own hands, and when it
becomes their business to look to themselves and their beha-
viour, and begin that progress in virtue, which is the only course
that can lead them, and which infallibly will lead them, to ever-
lasting peace and rest and happiness in heaven. Such a point,
such a term in a man’s life, ought to be marked by some pecu-
liar solemnity. And none seems better suited to the purpose,
more becoming, or more affecting, than that ancient rite which
Christ's church hath practised for a great many ages past,
and which so many wise and good men, who have gone before
us in the steps and ways of godliness, have left us to celebrate
in the office of confirmation. *
I have endeavoured to impress upon your attention that the
great question, ‘What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” will
one day be the only question we shall care about at all. I will
now point out the happiness and wisdom of those who make it
their care betimes, in their youth, and during the season of
strength and activity. And I will admit that sentiments of
religion are not the natural growth of youth, nor to be cherished
without training and reflection. With us the case is rather
different; the time of our life, or the state of our health, may
have reminded most of us that our sojourning here cannot be
long. But in youth, as I observed before, every thing wears
the appearance of firmness and stability. The appearance, I
say, for in truth, it is a delusion....What is the difference of
ten or twenty years to etermity ? What matters it to those who
are dead, whether they died yesterday, last year, or many years
ago; in youth, in manhood, or old age : What, in short will
it signify to us? Besides this, young persons are very much
deceived in their calculations. The probability of life is not,
228 what SHALL I Do To INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE”
as they suppose, in proportion to the shortness of our past
years. Many distempers are peculiar to youth; many which
are more dangerous at their time of life than at any other;
many common to them with others, and quite as frequent
amongst persons of their age as amongst persons of advanced
years. Every day’s experience proves, the very tombstones
in the churchyard show, that, whilst one, now and then, reaches
three or four score of years, which all young persons reckon
upon as a kind of certainty and calculate upon having before
them, by the far greatest number are cut off at a much earlier
period, and very many in the prime of their lives. There is
no age that is safe, no constitution that is secure from the visi-
tation of death; nay, the strongest men and women are more
liable to inflammatory disorders than those who are weaker;
and these disorders are more fatal to them than to persons in
less vigorous health.
But the grand reason for setting forwards early in a religious
course, is undoubtedly this; namely, that as according as a man
sets out at first, his character most frequently is fixed for ever,
for good or for bad. This is a most solemn consideration in-
deed, and the fact is so; I mean humanly and generally speak-
ing. Such as is the youth, such is the man. And I further
believe it to be true, and the same thing has been remarked by
very wise observers of human nature, that the character seldom
changes much after the middle of life. I say seldom ; I do
not say never; because I hold it possible, with the assistance
of God’s grace, to put away our sins; and that that assistance
may always be procured by sincere prayer and corresponding
endeavours, forasmuch as whilst God spares life, he spares it,
* not willing that any should perish, but that all should come
and turn to him.” We therefore do not now talk of possibility;
for who would trust to possibility in a matter which is of infinite
moment? we are speaking of probability as gathered from
actual experience; and experience proves, that if a person go
into a course of vice and irreligion, and hold on in that course
through youth to manhood, and from the dawn of manhood
towards the middle of life, he seldom changes it effectually.
Whether it be owing to the strength of habit, or that the con-
science loses its sensibility and timorousness, the fact is so ;
and the knowledge of this fact, when they are informed of it
by those who would be very unwilling to impose upon them,
ought at least to quicken the attention, or rather ought to alarm
the fears of young persons, I mean persons from the age of
fourteen or fifteen to that of twenty. They ought to consider
what shALL I do to INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE: 229
themselves as at the crisis of their fate. They are arrived at
the division of the road; and accordingly as they turn to the
right hand or to the left, they advance towards heaven, or draw
nigh unto hell; afearful consideration, and calculated, if any
thing will do it, to make young people serious and earnest in
their resolutions to set out right.
‘What shall I do to inherit eternal life P’ was the question
asked. The answer given was, ‘Keep the commandments.”
What God’s commandments are, and how they are to be kept,
you will for the most part know sufficiently; your conscience
will not often fail of informing you. The point for you to
endeavour, is to hold close to the dictates of conscience and
the sense of duty, whatever passions, whatever inclinations,
whatever allurements of pleasure strive to tempt and draw you
aside from it; or however much the invitation of companions
or the example of the world might seem to afford encourage-
ment for so doing. Keep constantly in your minds this short
maxim ; that resolution at your age for a few years, is probably
to fix your character for life, and your fate for ever. Young
men and young women, think not that it is too early to be reli-
gious. Take heed; for whether you would ensure yourselves
against the greatest of all dangers, the danger of being cut off
in the midst of your sins, from which no age, no health, no
constitution is a security or protection; whether you will take
warning by the thousands and tens of thousands, who, having
been drawn at an early age into vicious courses, have never all
their lives got out of them; whether you will credit those who
have gone before you in the path of life, as to the danger of
once yielding to temptations of sin, or will believe indeed your
own eyes and observations as to the same thing; whether
you would avoid that bitter repentance, those sore struggles
which every sinner must undergo before he can possibly bring
himself back to the right way, which are always painful, and
often, it is to be feared, unsuccessful, that is, are not sufficiently
persisted in ; whether, finally, you hope to reach, as you pro-
ceed in life, that holiness of heart and temper which the steady
practice of virtue produces, and which is sure of receiving from
God a crown of proportionable glory and happiness in heaven;
whichever of these considerations move and prompt you to a
life of religion, begin it in time; hold fast your innocency;
step into the right way. Look not aside to the guilty indulgen-
ces which many take delight in ; they will fail you, they will
forsake you ; they will ruin you both soul and body, both your
comforts in this world and your salvation in the next. Heligion
230 THE DUTY OF SELFEXAMINATION.
has great things in store for you ; it will fill you with peace and
joy, and hope and courage to your latest moment; and it will
place you amongst the blessed in heaven, in the presence of
your Father and redeemer.
XLI.
THE DUTY OF SELFEXAMINATION.
1 CoRINTHIANs XI. 31.
For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
IT is true that these words, together with the exhortation two
verses before, ‘Let a man examine himself,’ are spoken par-
ticularly of the Lord’s supper. The Corinthians having
strongly abused that institution, and lost sight of its religious
mature entirely, St Paul here bids them consider and reflect
with themselves what they were about, what they were going
upon, when they come together to eat the Lord's supper.
I think, nevertheless, that these words may in the present
day be taken in a general sense, because whatever reason
there was for the Corinthians to examine themselves and judge
themselves in relation to coming to the sacrament, there is the
same or greater reason for the duty in every other part or point
of obligation in which we are apt to go wrong. St Paul says,
‘if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged;’ but
as a man cannot judge without first examining himself and
making a search into his own heart, I shall take occasion from
these words to treat of the duty of selfexamination, in which
duty there are three things to be considered ; its use, its ne-
glect, and the seasons for it.
Now as to its use, for it is seldom a pleasant task, and there-
fore, unless useful, one would decline it, the end of all religion
is a good life; but a good life is no such easy thing to be com-
passed. We stand in need of all the aids and helps which we
can procure either from religion or our own reason. Experi-
ence proves that they are all often too little. Now of all the
instrumental parts of religion, there is none in its nature so like-
ly, none that in fact, I believe, does influence men’s behaviour
so effectually, as this one of selfexamination; as it is in the first
THE DUTY OF SELFEXAMINATION. 231
place a man's own doing, what the man does for himself. And
in religion, as in many other things in the world, what a man
does for himself is of much more avail than what others do, or
can do for him. In every religious ordinance, in baptism, in
the Lord's supper, in public worship, in reading, in hearing,
there is the ministry of others; but in the business of selfexami-
nation, every man is his own minister. He must do it for him-
self and not another. The other services may be perhaps gone
through with a small share of thought and attention; but this is
properly and entirely the business of thought.
Secondly; selfexamination, from the nature of it, is private,
which is a circumstance of consequence. I do not mean to
dispute or undervalue the use or obligation of public worship,
or of public ordinances; but I do say, that for influence and
effect upon a man’s self, there is nothing comparable to what
passes in private. There is no hypocrisy, for there is no one
to see you. There is no restraint; no being tied down to
forms, which, be they ever so good, cannot reach every man’s
private and particular circumstances. There is nothing to dis-
turb or take off your attention. For which reason the impres-
sion is always the deepest which a man fastens upon himself in
his own meditations. But upon the subject of the use of self-
examination, the fact itself may be relied upon; for I believe
that it may be said of Selfexamination with the same truth that
it was said of prayer, that selfexamination will either make us
leave off sinning, or sin will make us leave off selfexamina-
tion. It is an exercise, which, if honestly persisted in, will
make the worst man in the world grow better ; consequently,
the generality of us, who are mixed characters, composed of
some good with a great deal of bad, will be sure of amending
and improving ourselves by it. Our good properties will be
strengthened and increased, and our bad ones gradually got
rid of.
I have said that any sinful course, if not got the better of,
makes a man tired of selfexamination. It perfectly resembles
a case which is common enough in life. When a man's worldly
affairs go wrong, when they grow perplexed and involved, and
are become desperate and irretrievable, we can never find that
they look into their books, or try to settle their accounts. Peo-
ple in these circumstances have been known never to have
looked into a book, or kept an account, for years before they
failed. Now I would ask whether their affairs went on the
better for never looking into, whether the danger was the less
for shutting their eyes against it, whether they were longer be-
232 THE DUTY OF SELFEXAMINATION.
fore they failed, whether they failed in less debts, or whether
people were more lenient towards them, or whether their friends
were the better for their conduct? And I would also ask,
whether, if it had been possible to have retrieved their fortunes,
it would have been done any other way than by taking up and
searching into their accounts? Now this case and that of a sinner
are perfectly similar; except in one circumstance, that a man’s
worldly affairs are often so far deranged, that no future care or
diligence could restore them; whereas the sinner's condition is
never desperate, while there is life.
This is all to show the use of selfexamination. The next
inquiry is into the proper subject of it. And upon this head I
shall confine myself to a small part of what might be delivered,
in order that this small part may be remembered. Now every
one that has attended at all to mankind, has observed, and very
justly, that the better part of both our virtues and vices are
habits; that it is the habit of this or that sort of behaviour or
discourse, and not one or two, or a few single acts of virtue or
of vice, which constitute the character. The truth is, we are
all the servants of our habits, governed much more by habit
than by reason, or argument, or reflection ; that is to say, ten
actions of our lives spring from habit, for one that proceeds
from deliberation. There is no living in the world without
falling into habits. Since then we must fall into some habit or
other, and since our moral character, our good or bad life, and
by consequence, our happiness or misery hereafter, depend
upon the choice and formation of our habits, upon the good
or bad ones getting possession of us, it leaves the chief and
principal business of selfexamination to watch our habits, to
mark what evil custom is growing upon us, to descry the first
setting in of a vicious habit, and break it off before it be-
comes strong and inveterate. The management of our habits
is all in all, the end of religion, and the great business of life;
and as these are to be managed only when they are young and
pliant, at least ordinarily speaking, it becomes of the last im-
portance from time to time to review our conduct, to seek out
what new habit is stealing upon us, whether it is fit or not to
be tolerated ; if not, then we know our enemy, and we know
our work; we know in what quarter to keep watch, and where
to turn our force and resolution. A man who does not do regu-
larly something of this sort, but thinks it unnecessary or too
troublesome, will find himself entangled, before he is conscious
of it, in some pernicious habit or other, which he will live to
lament as the greatest calamity of his life, but possibly may
THE DUTY OF SELFEXAMINATION. 233
never live to break through. When a Christian retires, there-
fore, to the business of selfexamination, I will suppose his first
care will be to inquire and look back upon the state of his
habits; to inquire how it stands with them, whether growing
better or growing worse, what new ones are stealing upon him,
whether he has been able of late to manage and discipline the
old ones. Now it may give a sort of method to his examina-
tion, to remind him that there are habits of acting, habits of
speaking, and habits of thinking; and that these all must be
taken into the account and estimated. In his habits of acting,
such for example as drunkenness, he will ask himself whether
his excesses of late in that way have been more or less fre-
quent; whether his ardor after such indulgences be not grown
stronger than he remembers it to have been. If he finds
the inquiry turning out against him, that such a habit is insen-
sibly advancing, though ever so slowly, upon him, as I said
before, he knows his enemy and his business; he knows that
if he does not get the better of such a habit in its infancy, it
will be in vain to contend with it when fastened and confirmed.
He may repeat the same process with respect to all other licen-
tious vices, whether he has fled from opportunity and tempta-
tion, or whether he has not courted and sought out for them;
whether he has the command and mastery of his passions, or
they of him ; whether the guilt and danger, and final conse-
quence of any criminal pursuit are as much in his thoughts as
formerly, or less, or at all; whether the remorse and accusa-
tion of his conscience be not wearing away by such arguments,
as are to be found in justification of them only by practising a
little selfdeceit. If a man deal faithfully with himself, he will
learn the truth of his spiritual condition, and where in any
respect he finds matters growing worse, there, if he have his
salvation at heart, he will take the alarm, and apply all the
diligence, and all the resolution he is possessed of. When he
has done with the class of licentious vices, he may turn to the
class of mercenary vices, whether his selfinterest and worldly
concerns be not more in his mind than any thing else, and
whether it is not more and more there ; whether overreaching
tricks and contrivances are not more frequent with him than
heretofore, and less thought of ; whether he be not sliding into
some unlawful dishonest course of gain, of unfair dealing, or
of unfair concealment; whether he has been able to forego
profit for conscience sake; in a word, whether his honesty has
stood firm and upright. And let him apply to these inquiries
that very just and affecting observation of St John. “If our
234. THE DUTY OF SELFEXAMINATION.
hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knoweth
all things.”
But as there are habits of acting, so are there habits of
speaking; habits of lying, which is as much a habit as any
one thing I can mention; of slander, which is as often habit as
it is malice, or, more properly speaking, though it begins in
malice, it soon becomes so habitual as to be almost involuntary.
There are habits of captiousness, ingenious in perverting what
others say ; of censoriousness, unable to discover or acknowl-
edge a favorable point in any character except those of our
own party, or to speak candidly of any thing in any person.
These are all the effects of habit, and the point is to perceive
when the habit is setting in. Now the circumstance which
discovers this, is when any fault of any sort happens to have
been committed oftener than before, and when it is each time
committed with less and less uneasiness, then is it time to look
to this point of our character. But thirdly, as there are habits
of acting and speaking, so are there those of thinking. These
habits are of all others the hardest to be rectified ; for the
imagination can draw upon her own fund when she pleases,
without waiting for opportunity or assistance. Her wanderings
are under no control of other persons, because they cannot be
known by them. They do not break forth into outward acts ;
so we practise them almost without knowing it. They creep
upon us insensibly. We think only to indulge a momentary
pleasure, till by frequent repetitions it grows into a habit, ren-
dering us incapable of entertaining any other subject whenever
the humor sets in for that.
The thing is, that vanity, pride, ambition, covetousness, ro-
mantic schemes of pleasure, ruinous projects, revenge or lust,
take so strong hold upon us, that those operate most powerfully
and involuntarily upon our thoughts. One great part, there-
fore, of selfexamination, is to watch over our thoughts, and the
moment we perceive any bad trains of thinking beginning to
form in our imagination, to break them off forthwith, by refusing
to entertain them, by avoiding such objects as are likely to
forment them, and, above all other rules, to occupy our thoughts
closely some other way; for, assure yourselves, criminal
thoughts sooner or later break out into pernicious and extrava-
gant actions.
The watching of our habits is what I would lay out as the
business of selfexamination; not perhaps the sole business, but
the most important business, because most conducive to a good
life.
THE DUTY OF SELFEXAMINATION. 235
The last point to be considered is the seasons for this duty.
Those of leisure and reflection, of a serious and contemplative
turn, may possibly want no directions or no certain occasions
for this duty. Their thoughts, of themselves, naturally and fre-
quently turn to such subjects. But they who are engaged in
business, or who mix with the bustle of the world, young
persons in high health and spirits, poor persons taken up with
daily labors, rich persons occupied in rounds of diversion and
company; these all must form to themselves stated seasons
for this duty, or they will not perform it at all. It is to be
hoped we have many of us our seasons for private prayer.
Selfexamination will properly accompany our private devo-
tions, if not always, at least sometimes, and at some stated
times. Sunday is with all of us a day of cessation from busi-
ness and from our ordinary diversions; public worship takes up
only a part of the day; there is always time enough to spare
for this important concern. -
The return of the sacrament is a fit opportunity for such an
exercise.
I have only to add, that the business of selfexamination, like
every business of importance, should be gone about when the
mind and spirits are calm, firm, and cheerful. There is great
uncertainty in what is done under the impression of some
fright, or state of affliction; when the thoughts are hurried and
disturbed, and the spirits sunk and overwhelmed.
Selfexamination is a serious, but not a melancholy business.
No one need let his spirits sink under it, or enter upon it with
terror and dejection; because, let a man's spiritual condition
turn out upon inquiry ever so bad, he has it always in his
power to mend it; and because when the amendment is begun
and goes on, every examination of himself affords fresh matter
of comfort, hope, and satisfaction.
236 SACRAMENT,
SACRAMENT.
1 CoRINTHIANs XI. 26.
As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's
death till he come.
THERE are some opinions, concerning the sacrament of the
Lord’s supper, which are very deserving of consideration, as
they are the means either of deterring Christians from coming
to it, or making them uneasy in their minds after it; or, lastly,
as they sometimes lead men to abuse this institution to the pur-
poses of vice and profligacy, which is by far the worst of all.
There are many errors in religion, which having no bad
effect upon a man’s life or conduct, it is not necessary to be
solicitous in correcting. A man may live in such like errors
as these without prejudice, we humbly hope, to his happiness
or salvation. But when errors in opinion lead to errors in
practice, when our notions affect our behaviour, it then be-
comes the duty of every Christian, and especially of every
teacher of Christianity, to set these motions right, as far as it is
in his power. -
Many persons entertain a scruple about coming to the sacra-
ment, on account of what they read in-the eleventh chapter of
St Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians, concerning the un-
worthy receiving of it. “He that eateth and drinketh unwor-
thily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself;’ surely, they
say, it is better to keep away from the Lord's Supper altogether
than to incur the risk of so terrible a sentence. And who,
they will ask, can know that he is safe from it? Who will be
bold enough to say that he eats and drinks worthily? who,
however, that is conscious of many defects and imperfections,
who that has made so imperfect preparation for it, and what is
Worse, who is so liable to forget it all, and relapse again into
his former course of life 2 Now there are two sorts of per-
sons who profess this scruple. There are your heartless, indif-
ferent Christians, who are glad of any reason to get rid of their
duty, and who, because this seems a sort of excuse from com-
ing to the sacrament, take up with it without farther inquiry, or
any sincere concern, indeed, about the matter.
SACRAMENT. 237
Besides these, there are also many serious and well mean-
ing Christians who have been much and really affected by this
text; and who have been either kept away, as I said before,
from the communion, or much disturbed and distressed in their
minds about it. Now mone but sincere and pious people have
these scruples, and therefore the utmost tenderness and indul-
gence are due to them ; even where there is less foundation
for them than there appears to be in the present case. For
the ease, therefore, and satisfaction of all such, I will endeav-
our, in this discourse, to make out two points. First, that the
unworthy eating and drinking, meant by St Paul, is what we,
at this time of day, can scarcely possibly be guilty of ; second,
that the damnation here spoken of means worldly punishment;
or, as we say, judgment upon the offender in this world, and
not everlasting perdition in the world to come, as the term
damnation commonly signifies in our mouths.
First ; I maintain that the eating and drinking, meant by St
Paul, is what we, at this time of day, can hardly be guilty of.
St Paul, you observe, is not writing to all Christians in gen-
eral, but to the Corinthians, to the christian converts in that
city. Now these converts, it should seem, had been guilty of
some disorderly behaviour in the receiving of the Lord’s sup-
per, or at least, at the time of receiving it. “Now in this that
I declare unto you I praise ye not; that ye come together, not
for the better but for the worse.’ x. 17. The coming together
in this verse, means the coming to the sacrament, because in
the twentieth verse he says, “When ye come together into one
place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper.” So then they had
incurred St Paul’s censure for some misbehaviour about the
Sacrament; and the next question will be what that misbeha-
viour was 2 And this we find out from what St Paul says of
them, in the twentyfirst and twentysecond verses, which two
verses are the key, indeed, to the whole chapter. “In eating,
every one taketh before other his own supper, and one is
hungry and another is drunken. What! have ye not houses to
eat and to drink in 2 Or despise ye the church of God and
those that have not What shall I say to you? Shall I praise
you in this 2 I praise you not.’
The fact was, then, the Corinthians had perverted the Lord's
Supper into a common feast, or, at least accompanied it with a
common feast; in which, forgetting entirely the nature and
design of this institution, they indulged themselves without
moderation in eating and drinking, so as, in some degree, to
come away from it surfeited and drunken; ‘One is hungry,
238 SACRAMENT,
and another is drunken;’ one goes to indulge in eating, and
another in drinking. -
It appears, I dare say, to you, unaccountable how any peo-
ple could fall into such a mistake and misbehaviour as this, so
gross an abuse of a religious institution; but it appears from
St Paul’s words that, in fact, they did so ; and one way of ac-
counting for it may be this. These Corinthians, you are to
consider, were not like us, bred up to Christianity from their
infancy. They had been heathens, and a great part of them
were converted to Christianity. Now it had been a practice
among them before their conversion, as it was with all the
heathens, to make feasts to their gods, in which all sorts of in-
temperance were practised and allowed of. It is possible, and
probably was the case, that when they became Christians,
some of them mistook the Lord’s supper for one of these sorts
of feasts which they had been accustomed to hold to their
gods, and celebrated it accordingly with the same licentious
festivity and intemperance. But whatever was the reason of
it, such, in fact, was their mistake and misbehaviour. It is cer-
tain, however, that the misbehaviour was that unworthy eating
and drinking which St Paul mentioned, and which he con-
demned in such severe terms. The fault which St Paul re-
proves, was the fault which the people he writes to had been
guilty of. That is very plain. The fault they had been guilty
of was, the indulging themselves to excess in eating and drink-
ing at the time of celebrating this sacrament. That is equally
plain, from St Paul’s account of them; ‘The one is hungry and
another drunken. What have ye not houses to eat and drink
in P’ to make, that is, your entertainments and hold your feasts
in P which shows that they made a common feast and enter-
tainment of the holy communion.
St Paul proceeds to state to them the history of the institu-
tion of the sacrament, which certainly was the proper preserva-
tive against the gross abuse of it; and he adds, in order to
put an end to so strange proceedings, “He that eateth and
drinketh unworthily,’ that is, in this unworthy manner which
ye have done, “eateth and drinketh damnation to himself,’
‘not discerning the Lord’s body;” that is, not distinguishing
it from a common feast, not at all reflecting that it was a com-
memoration of the Lord’s body.
I am now, therefore, authorized to say, that the unworthy
receiving, intended by St Paul, is what none of us can almost
possibly be guilty of; as none of us, I trust, can ever so far
forget ourselves as to mistake this institution for a worldly en-
SACRAMENT. . 239
tertainment, or behave at it in that unseemly manner that the
Corinthians did.
The next point I undertook to show was, that the damnation
denounced in the text did not mean final perdition in the world
to come, which is what the word commonly signifies, but only
judgments and punishments upon them in this world. It should
have been rendered condemnation ; eateth and drinketh con-
demnation to himself; for the word in the original means any
sort of punishment, either temporal or eternal; so that from the
expression itself, it would have been dubious which the apostle
meant, had he not, in the verse following, added an explanation
of the matter, which clears it up sufficiently. ‘For this cause,”
that is, for their misbehaviour and unworthy receiving, “many
are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” That is,
many are visited by weaknesses and infirmities, and many are
cut off by death; which are all, you observe, worldly judg-
ments; and these immediately following the mention of dam-
nation or condemnation, show that worldly punishment and visi-
tations were what St Paul meant by it.
I allege, therefore, that no Christian at this day has any thing
to fear from this text. I do not mean, but that men may come
to the sacrament with such a thoughtlessness and levity, as en-
tirely destroys the good effect of it, though I hope and believe
that is not much or often the case ; but I mean that none of us,
the least and worst prepared even, incur the crime against
which St Paul denounced the sentence. And if we do not in-
cur the crime, we have no occasion to fear that the sentence
will be applied to us.
Others, again, are kept away from the sacrament by the fear
that, after they have received it, they should relapse into their
former sins, and so only aggravate their guilt and punishment.
To such I shall answer, that all we can do, and even all that
is required of us to do, at the sacrament, is to be sincere in our
resolutions at the time. Whether these resolutions take effect
or not, is another question, although a most serious one. But
if they be hearty and sincere at the time, I see no reason to
doubt but that a man is a worthy communicant, and will be
accepted as such. And our resolutions failing once or twice,
or oftener, is no reason why we should not renew them again;
nay, it must be by dint of these resolutions at last that we
are to get rid of our evil courses, if at all; unless we mean to
give ourselves up to vice absolutely, and without any resistance,
or endeavours to break through it, which is the worst of all
possible conditions. 4.
240 SACRAMENT.
Others again come away discouraged and disappointed, if
they do not feel in themselves that elevation of spirit, that glow
and warmth of devotion, that sort of rapture and ecstasy which
they expected; and look upon themselves as forsaken of God,
and not favored with that share and influence of his spirit
which other Christians are.
Now such people cannot do better than turn to the scriptures,
and expect no more than what is there promised. They will
not find it there promised, either that any extraordinary effu-
sions of the Holy Ghost are communicated by the sacrament,
or that those effusions show themselves in any great transports,
in any visible and extraordinary agitation of the spirits. The
truth is, these emotions are in a great measure constitutional.
Those who feel them ought not to be elated by them; those
who feel them not, have no reason to be cast down and made
uneasy on that account. If they find religion operating upon
their lives, they may always rely upon that test, and be at
peace. +:
But lastly ; the Sacrament, it is to be feared, is not seldom
abused to the purposes of licentiousness. Men consider it as a
sort of expiating, or wiping away their former sins and errors;
and themselves as being at liberty to begin, as it were, again,
upon a new account. As I said before, the best and sincerest
resolutions will sometimes fail; yet, if they are sincere, they
make us worthy partakers of the communion. But when we
at the very time either expressly intend to begin again our evil
practices, when the former ones are, as we suppose, cancelled;
or allow such a secret thought to find place without rebuke in
our minds, it then becomes a very different case. We cannot,
when we relapse, complain that our resolutions fail us. The
truth is, we never made any; any, I mean, that were sincere
and hearty, which are the only ones to be accounted of. There
was duplicity and insincerity at the time, a voluntary deceiving
of ourselves, and an attempt, if one may so speak, to deceive
God. This is mockery and profanation, not devotion; and let
men either discard all such hollow reservations, or come not to
that holy table.
But I hope and believe that is seldom the case. I hope and
believe that those who frequent the holy communion are sincere.
But the danger is, the thing to be provided against, the thing to
be warned of, is, that we do not take advantage of any scruples
or appearances, either of doubt or difficulty, for the purpose of
indulging our disinclination to religious exercises, for the sake
PUBLIC WORSHIP. 241
of having a pretence for avoiding that which in our hearts we
have no real concern or desire to perform.
Scruples that proceed from a good conscience, however weak
or groundless, will meet, I doubt?iot, with indulgence from the
Father of Mercies; but when motions are taken up to flatter
our vices, to amuse or lay asleep the conscience, or reconcile
it to the practice which we will not quit, such must not expect
to come off as so many speculative errors; for these are errors
which no one could have fallen into had it not been for the
pernicious influence of vicious habits, and for the sake of that
ease to our minds, and encouragement to those sins which they
seem to allow.
XLIII.
PUBLIC WORSHIP.
HEBREws X. 15.
Forsake not the assembling yourselves together, as the manner of some is.
THE first thing recorded of the disciples of Christ after their
Lord’s ascension, was their uniting with one accord in praycr
and supplication ; and being with one accord in one place;
continuing steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship ;
continuing daily with one accord in the Temple; and breaking
bread, that is, celebrating the holy communion, from house to
house; lifting up the voice with one accord; their coming
together the first day of the week to break bread; coming
together in the church into one place to celebrate the Lord's
supper; meeting and keeping silence in the church ; the whole
church being gathered together in prayer, and coming into one
place, a rich man and a poor man entering the assembly; and
lastly, not forsaking the assembling of themselves together.
So that the practice of assembling together at stated times for
the purpose of joint devotion, religious exercises, and religious
instruction, stands upon the highest and earliest authority by
which the practice can come recommended to us, the united
example of the apostles and immediate followers of Jesus Christ.
These persons acted under the instructions which themselves
31
24.2 PUBLIC WORSHIP.
had received from Christ's own mouth, and under the extraor-
dinary influence of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, an institution
founded on the common consent and practice of such persons,
so circumstanced, is to be deemed a divine institution; not to
mention the words of Christ, as recorded in St Matthew’s
gospel, which contain the strongest invitation to joint worship
and prayer; ‘Where two or three are gathered together in my
name, there am I in the midst of them.’ Agreeably herewith,
all members and sects of Christianity, let them differ ever so
much in the articles of faith or rules of practice, have concur-
red in this ; the appointing stated times and hours for public
devotion, in complying with what they find to have been the
usage and institution of the apostles and immediate preachers
of Christ's religion, whose authority they all acknowledge.
This may be clearly traced up to the very ascension of Jesus
Christ; especially when coupled with plain words, as above
stated, in evidence of a divine command; and upon this com-
mand our obligation to attend upon public worship primarily
and principally rests. For when we have once good reason to
believe that a thing is the command and will of God, there is
an end of all other consideration about it ; however, all other
considerations are to be introduced only as auxiliary and subor-
dinate to that. It is to no purpose to say that coming to church
is only a ceremony or a custom. Were that true, however,
which it is not, it would be sufficient to reply, that it is what
God is pleased to require. It is his pleasure which ultimately
makes any thing a duty; and where that pleasure is declared
or known, it is presumptuous in us to distinguish or to say that
one thing must be observed, and another dispensed with ; one
institution is of a moral, another of a scriptural nature. They
are all instituted by Him who has complete right and authority
to direct us. When we add to this, what I believe will not
often be found to fail, that one known deviation from the com-
mand of God introduces insensibly, yet inevitably, all deviations
from duty, we shall see the force of the preceding obligation
in its true light.
Having thus stated the first and principal ground of our duty
to attend upon public worship, namely, the command and will
of God, signified in the concurrent usage and judgment of those
with whom God was pleased to carry on a communication of
his will, and by whom he imparted it to the rest of mankind, I
shall proceed to fortify the argument, by showing the propriety
and expediency of the thing itself.
PUBLIC WORSHIP. 243
And first of all, the propriety of joint devotion appears, as it
respects the object of all devotion, the supreme God himself.
His nature is so glorious, so infinitely exalted above ours, that
we are not worthy, as it is truly said, to offer him any sacrifice.
The only approach we can make towards him, in my mind, at
all suited to his transcendent dignity, is by joining our hearts and
voices, by rendering earnest and united adoration to the author
of the universe.
We read that God is worshipped in heaven by the joint
praises of hosts and myriads of blessed saints. It is not each
Solitary angel offering its own thanksgivings to its Creator; but
the collection of beings presenting themselves together before
the throne, and ascribing glory and honor, and power to their
great Father and Governor, with united and never ceasing ac-
clamations. Now, the only way in which we can imitate them,
or produce the smallest resemblance of celestial devotion, is by
coming into one place, with hearts glowing with piety to God,
and with charity to one another; and with decency of outward
behaviour and expression, accompanied with inward sensations
of humble but ardent devotion, falling down before him who is
the Parent, the Preserver, the Saviour, and Benefactor, and
Guide, and Guardian of the whole human race. A king is
pleased by the united addresses of faithful subjects, a parent is
moved by the joint supplications of dutiful children. For the
same reason that we see a prince or a parent affected by the
subjects or children, may we conceive the Divine Being to ac-
cept with complacency the public worship of a devout and se-
rious congregation.
Public worship, as it respects the great object of all worship,
is the best and nearest advance which creatures like ourselves
are capable of making towards a homage in anywise adequate
to the glory and dignity of the being whom we address; im-
perfect at best ; if perfect, unworthy of him, but still our all,
and our utmost; still it is attempting to hallow the name of God
on earth as it is in heaven; that is, by a social and united act
of prayer and thanksgiving.
The propriety may relate to the Supreme Being; the expe-
diency must relate to ourselves. And this becomes the next
subject of consideration.
The plain way of computing the utility of an institution is to
calculate what would be the effect if the institution was alto-
gether laid aside. Now it appears to me not too much to say,
that if public worship was discontinued in a country, the very
244 PUBLIC WORSHIP.
care and thought of God would vanish ; not at once, but would
insensibly decay and wear out, till it was forgotten and lost from
the minds and memory of mankind. The generality of the
people would come, in process of time, to know as little of
their Creator's institution, and think and care as little about it,
as they do of the religion of their forefathers, the ancient
Britons; and the effect which any institution, or the omission
of it, has upon the generality of mankind, is what ought chiefly
to be attended to. It is not what two or three scholars, what a
few who give themselves up to meditation and study, might do
without the assistance of these institutions, but what the general
condition of mankind would be without it. Amongst these,
something visible, something eternal, is absolutely necessary to
remind them of religious matters; and the very visible ex-
ternal part of Christianity is its religious assemblies, and its
sabbaths, and its sacraments. In any, or in such change of
civil polity, where all public worship and observance of the
sabbath is obliged to be discontinued, it is wonderful how soon
the impression and thought of religion begin to be laid aside.
Man is an animal partly rational and partly sensitive. In the
eye of cool abstract reasoning, the way to judge of the truth
and importance of religion is not perhaps to see whether any
outward public act of religion be upheld or not; and where we
are under the direction of this and of nothing else, the influ-
ence and impression of religion would be neither more nor less
for any external observation whatever. But that purely rational
nature is not the nature of man. He has senses which must be
applied to; for by these his conduct, if not his judgment, is
guided and drawn, more than by speculation. Therefore if he
be not kept up by something visible and obvious to his senses;
if a man have not constantly something to see and to join in ;
Some outward public expression of worship, some distinction of
times and places, something, in a word, to revive from time to
time, and refresh the fading ideas of religion in his imagination,
they will by degrees lose all their hold and all their effect.
His will, and his sluggish resolutions to will, are then dull and
languid. And yet in his judgment and understanding, religion
may have all the evidence of its truth, and must of necessity
be equally important as it ever was. But judgment and under-
standing are not what direct the ways of men, or ever can do,
without the assistance of impressions made upon the imagina-
tion by means of the senses.
But secondly; I do not find that any are inclined to dispute
the point so far as to say that the knowledge of Almighty God,
PUBLIC WORSHIP, 245
of our relation to him, of our dependence upon him for all that
is to come, and the duties which we owe to him, and to our
fellow creatures for his sake, are such in themselves as can do
without any kind of religious act and religious worship at all.
But why, say they, is it necessary to come to church for this?
Is it not equally effectual, equally acceptable to God and use-
ful to myself, when performed in my own chamber or in my
own family P
In the first place, I wish it were generally true, that those
who seldom frequent church were regular in their devotion at
home ; for whatever face and reasonableness there may be in
the excuse, it must still depend upon the fact being true, or it
cannot stand them in any stead. Men are not less remiss and
negligent in their private than their public worship. But in the
second place, may it not be said, that without public worship
the greater part would exercise no religious worship at all? It
is not every man that is capable of conceiving an address to his
Creator; however, it is not every one that thinks and feels
himself capable. This would be a constant excuse. It is easy
to direct men to retire into their hearts and their own closets,
there to commune with God and with themselves, and an ex-
cellent and spiritual exercise this is; but there are but a few
who are qualified for such a task. There are men who would
never feel inclination for such a task, through the whole course
of their lives. Besides that, nothing is done regularly which
is not done at stated times and seasons. When times and sea-
sons are stated and appointed by public authority and common
consent, they are always observed, and will be observed, more
or less. But is it to be expected from the generality of men,
occupied in the constant round of daily business and daily
amusements, or interested in the providing a subsistence for
themselves and family; or that others, no less eager in raising
a fortune, or engaged in spending one; is it, I say, to be ex-
pected that men thus conditioned and circumstanced should in
general prescribe to themselves regular returns of private or
domestic devotion, or should withdraw themselves from all en-
gagements to attend these returns? Therefore if any one, as
an apology for absenting himself from public worship, says that
public assemblies are not necessary to the men who would and
do perform their devotions at home ; I answer, that whatever
they may be to you, they are necessary for others, or the gen-
erality of others, who neither could nor would, without stated
returns of public devotion, exercise any religious worship at
all. They would be without that opportunity of religious instruc-
246 PUBLIC WORSHIP.
tion which christian assemblies afford. Let no one say, I stay at
home because I can hear nothing at church but what I know al-
ready, but what I learn at home is learnt better by my own re-
flection. Be it so; but if this be the case with you, it is not so
with all, or with the generality of others; and whatever is for the
benefit of the whole is binding upon the whole. For, to let you
see how necessary your attendance upon public worship and in-
struction, if not for yourself, is for others, you need only reflect
what would be the consequence if any one was to withdraw him-
self from religious assemblies who found that he was above re-
ceiving any benefit from them. First one would drop, and then
another, till none was left but those whose humility and low
opinion of themselves disposed them to seek assistance and in-
struction from any quarter, and who, in fact, were probably
nearer the spirit of Christianity than the others. In one word,
assemblies for religious purposes would speedily be put out of
countenance and out of credit, if what we call the higher class
of mankind were to absent themselves from the appointed
places, that they might be qualified to exercise their religious
duties without them, and every one who pleased was at liberty
to rank himself of that class. You must also observe one thing,
which you must expect will be quite your own case. You ab-
sent yourself from church to employ your time more, you think,
to your edification, in reading or meditation; and possibly you
may, but your ignorant neighbour, who stays from church to
spend his day in idleness and drunkenness, and less religious
society than any other day in the week, will think he only fol-
lows your example, because you both agree in this; in staying
from church. Now one is bound to consider, not only what
the actions are in themselves, but the effects they are likely to
produce by their example. For loving to do good is virtue;
loving to do harm is vice; and it matters little whether the
good or harm is the immediate consequence of our own con-
duct, or proceed from the influence which our conduct has
upon others.
I forbear to mention at present any subordinate, though im-
portant advantages, which result from social worship ; because
it is enough for one time to understand the direct ground of our
obligation. I propose in the foremost place, the command of
God, evidenced by the practice and example of all the apostles
and first followers of Christ. I propose, in the second place,
the propriety of social worship with respect to the object of
worship, the Supreme Being himself, as the only and best ad-
vance we are capable of making towards a homage in any way
Acts of DEvoTION VAIN witHouT MORALITY. 247
suited to the dignity of his nature and the immensity of our
obligation. I propose, in the third place, the utility of public
devotion to ourselves; which utility I ground upon three plain
propositions. Religious worship, of some kind, is absolutely
necessary, to uphold a sense of religion in the world. Without
public worship at stated times and places, a great part of man-
kind would exercise no religious worship at all. If those who
thought themselves needlessly instructed and directed to hear
in our religious assemblies unnecessary truths, were for that
reason to forsake the assembling themselves together, religious
assemblies would soon be put out of countenance and out of
credit, and in process of time would be laid aside ; for the most
ignorant and incapable, provided they were of a presumptuous
temper, would take courage from the example of their betters
to withdraw themselves as well as others, and convert that time,
which was intended for the best purposes, to idleness, debauch-
ery, and excess.
XLIV.
OUTWARD ACTS OF DEVOTION NO EXCUSE FOR,
NEGLECT OF MORAHLHTY.
MATTHEw W. 20.
Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and
Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.
It will be sufficient at present to observe, that the Pharisees
were a religious sect among the Jews, who set up for extraor-
dinary sanctity and strictness, as St Paul says, “after the most
straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.” The Scribes
were the persons employed to interpret the Jewish law, as our
Saviour asks, “How say the Scribes, that Christ is the son of
David P’ They were appointed to instruct the people, and
probably the youth in particular, in that law. Both these de-
scriptions of men were at that time of day of the greatest repu-
tation in the country, for holiness and wisdom; and both valued
themselves chiefly upon, and made their righteousness consist
in, a most strict and rigid observance of the rites, ceremonies,
and outward offices of religion; such, for example, as fasting,
248 OUTWARD ACTS OF DEVOTION
making long prayers, avoiding all unclean meat, and unclean
persons according to the distinction of their law, attending upon
the Temple at their great feast, not eating with unwashed
hands, and many other such outward acts as were commanded;
Some very proper and reasonable, others again frivolous and
superstitious. It was in the outward observance of these that
the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees consisted ; and
our Saviour tells his disciples, that unless their righteousness
was something more and better than this, ‘unless it exceeded
the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, they could not
enter into the kingdom of heaven.’
If there was one thing which our Saviour labored more than
another, if there was one error against which he inveighed with
more than usual earnestness, it was the trusting in the rites and
ceremonies, the outward duties and offices of religion, and
neglecting in the meantime, or living in the transgression of,
the substantial obligations of virtue and morality. And it was
with great reason, that he so industriously cautioned his follow-
ers against this motion; it being that into which mankind in all
ages and countries of the world have been most apt to fall.
We will first take notice of some passages of scripture, which
show our Lord’s sentiments upon the subject; and add a few
reflections, by way of making them applicable to ourselves.
In the twentythird chapter of Matthew, he expresses himself
very strongly on this subject, and in a variety of phrases.
“Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; for ye
pay tithe of mint, and cummin, and amise, and have omitted
the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith,” or
rather fidelity; ‘these ought ye to have done, and not to leave
the other undone.” The paying tithe of mint and cummin was
only put as an instance; the observation is general, that while
they were scrupulous to the least tittle about the outward ordi-
nances and observance of the law, they hoped to pass over the
more substantial part of it, and what our Saviour calls ‘the
weightier matters of the law,’ justice, mercy, and fidelity. This
was their conduct; and how does our Saviour treat it? He
calls it no better than hypocrisy, and promises it nothing but
woe ; ‘Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.”
But our Saviour goes on ; * Woe unto you, Scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites; for ye make clean the outside of the
platter, but within ye are full of extortion and excess.” About
the outside of the cup, or that part of their conduct which was
open and shown to the world, which consisted of specious per-
formances, and acts of outward devotion and piety, they were
No Excuse FOR NEGLECT of MoRALITY. 249
wonderfully studious and exact, while they were full of excess
within, neither careful to observe the rules of honesty or hu-
manity in their dealings with others, nor to moderate and keep
within bounds their lusts and passions. “Thou blind Pharisee,’
proceeds our Saviour, blind as mistaking altogether the true
nature and design of religion, “cleanse first that which is within
the cup, that the outside of it may be clean also ; * begin at the
right end, and bestow the chief and first care in setting to rights
thy heart, thy moral principles and practice, and then all thy
outward piety will become thee; it will no longer be a hollow
treacherous sanctity, but a real and acceptable purity. Much
the same with this is what our Saviour goes on with in the
next verse; ‘Ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed
appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's
bones, and of all uncleanness; even so ye also outwardly
appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy
and iniquity;’ and then condemning them for their persecution
of the prophets, which does not directly belong to this subject,
he concludes with an expression, which is so exceeding strong,
as he scarcely, only once, I believe, used on any other occa-
sion, and which shows his absolute dislike and detestation of
this pride of character; ‘Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers,
how can ye escape the damnation of hell ?”
There is another passage in the same gospel which is much
to our present purpose. It is in the fifteenth chapter, and
upon this occasion. The Pharisees came to Jesus with a com-
plaint against his disciples for eating bread with unwashen hands,
a point they were very exact in, not out of cleanliness, but on
a religious account, and because it openly transgressed the tra-
dition of the elders. Our Saviour, after retorting upon this
charge of transgressing the tradition of their elders, by showing
them that they by their traditions made vain the commandments
of God, makes this remark upon the particular complaint before
him; ‘Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man,
but that which cometh out of the mouth;’ and after these
words explains himself more fully to his disciples, as follows;
“Those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from
the heart, and they defile the man;’ and specifies what vices
they are which proceed out of the heart; “evil thoughts, mur-
ders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, blasphemies, these are they
that defile a man; but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not
a man.’ It appears from hence, that the Pharisees accounted
the breach of their religious ceremonies and observances to
be the greatest guilt and defilement that a man could incur;
32
250 outward ACTs of DEvoTION
that our Saviour, on the contrary, maintained that these were
no defilement in comparison; that it was immorality and vice
which spoil the inward principle; and that evil thoughts, mur-
ders, adulteries, and so forth, were the pollutions most real
and most odious to God. So then, whether he met with those
who thought all righteousness and religion consisted in forms
and observances, or with those who thought there was no vice
like the breach of such things, with both he dealt very freely,
and told them that the first and great point to perform towards
men was to love mercy and justice, and the first and great care
to avoid actual vices; that in the sight and esteem of God,
their strictness in matters of outward religion, was but hypocrisy,
without some real virtue, and that the vices they were to fear
and guard against were the defilements of sin.
There is one other declaration of our Saviour’s to the same
effect, and so clear as to need no sort of explanation. We find
it in the twelfth chapter of St Mark. A certain Scribe came
to our Saviour to ask him which was the first commandment
of all. Our Saviour's answer is explicit; ‘The first of all the
commandments is, Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one
Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy mind, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
strength. This is the first commandment, and the second is
like unto it; namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
The Scribe replied, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth;
for there is one God, and there is none other but he, and to
love him with all the heart, and to love his neighbour as himself
is more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when
Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou
art not far from the kingdom of God.” From this incompara-
ble piece of conversation, which we shall do well to read over
to ourselves, it appears, that a person who had so far overcome
the common prejudices of his countrymen, as to acknowledge
the superior excellency of the love of God and our neighbour
to the most ostentatious acts of outward worship, burnt offerings
and sacrifice; that a person of this turn and temper of mind
was not far from the kingdom of God.
From all these texts laid together, we may venture to deliver
it positively as our Saviour’s doctrine, and, consequently as a
matter of absolute certainty to us, that all hopes and attempts
to please or pacify God, by outward piety and devotion, so long
as we take upon us to transgress the laws of virtue and moral-
ity, are vain and groundless; and his repeating this doctrine so
NO EXCUSE FOR NEGLECT OF MORALITY. 251
often, and on so many different occasions, shows the stress he
laid upon it, and how solicitous he was to have it rightly under-
stood.
I will add to these a passage from the Old Testament, and
which goes to prove that acts of worship, done in the manner
and with the views we are speaking of, that is, to atone or make
up for the neglect or breach of moral duties, are so far from
being at all pleasing or acceptable to God, that they are re-
garded by him only as so much mockery of him ; are odious
and abominable to him. It is in the first chapter of Isaiah, and
God is himself speaking to the Jews by the mouth of that
prophet; ‘To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices
unto me? saith the Lord. I am full of the burnt offerings of
rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood
of bullocks, and of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to
appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread
my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an
abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling
of assemblies, I cannot away with ; it is iniquity, even the sol-
emn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my
soul hateth ; they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear
them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine
eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not
hear; your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you
clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes;
cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the
oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.” This
passage is very remarkable. Sacrifices, burnt offerings, obla-
tions, incense, the feast of the new moons, Sabbaths, the calling
of assemblies, were all what God himself had commanded to
the Jews. They were of his own appointing. Yet how does
he speak of them in the place before us?', ‘To what purpose
is the multitude of sacrifices I am full of burnt offerings; I
delight not in the blood of bullocks; your oblations are vain;
incense is an abomination; your new moons and your feasts my
soul hateth; I am weary of them.’ And whence was all this?
How came this change, as one may say, in God's esteem and
opinion of these ordinances? He tells them, ‘Your hands are
full of blood.’ And what were they to do to make God again
propitious to their services : How were they then to make
their acts of religion again acceptable to him He tells them
this also ; “Cease to do evil, learn to do well; seek judgment,
relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.’
So the very acts of worship and devotion which God himself
252 A DIVINE PROVIDENCE SEEN
had commanded, when they were made to stand in the place
of justice, mercy, humanity, and the like, when they served as
an excuse for neglecting or breaking through moral duties, be-
came detestable in his sight.
The point we set out with was, that acts of outward piety
and devotion signify nothing unless accompanied with real in-
ward virtue and goodness; that they will in no wise make up
for the neglect of moral duties; that they afford in the sight of
God, I mean, no sort of reason or excuse for the practice of
actual vice; and I think we have proved it to be our Sa-
viour’s doctrine to a demonstration, as well as what God him-
self had declared to the Jews long before our Saviour's time.
XLV.
FAST DAY.
PSALM XXII. 28.
The kingdom is the Lord's, and he is the governor among the nations.
THE doctrine conveyed to us in these words is that of a na-
tional providence; and it is a doctrine no less agreeable to reas-
on than comfortable to the human mind. It must, therefore, af-
ford us the highest satisfaction to find this truth confirmed by
the sacred writers, in the clearest and the strongest terms.
The scriptures are full of the most gracious promises to
righteous nations, and of the most dreadful denunciations against
wicked and impenitent kingdoms; and it is well known that
neither these promises nor these threatenings were vain.
The history of the Jewish people, more especially, is scarce
any thing else than the history of God’s providential interposi-
tion to punish or reward them according as they obeyed or dis-
obeyed his laws. And although we should admit that, on ac-
count of the peculiar circumstances of that people, and the un-
exampled form of their government, this case cannot be fairly
compared with that of other nations, yet there are not wanting
some which may. In the ancient world, there were four cele-
brated empires which rose one after another, and successively
filled the age with astonishment and terror; yet these, it ap-
pears, were nothing more than mighty instruments in the hand
IN THE HISTORY OF NATIONS. 253
of God, to execute his various dispensations of mercy, or of
justice, on the Jewish or other nations; and to prepare the way
gradually for the introduction of another kingdom of a very diſ-
ferent nature, and superior to them all. Their rise and fall
were predicted in the sacred writings, by Daniel most especially,
chap. 7, 8, long before they existed ; and some extraordinary
characters, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, and others, were, though
unknown to themselves, the instruments of the Almighty, raised
up at certain appointed times, and furnished with great power,
as well as other qualifications, to perform all his pleasure and
fulfil his views; “I am the Lord that maketh all things; that
stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the
earth by myself; that frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and
maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and
maketh their knowledge foolish; that confirmeth the word of
his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messenger. I
form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create
evil. I the Lord do all these things.” Thus we see that what is
considered as the common vicissitude of human affairs; peace
and war, pestilence and famine, political changes and national
revolutions, the passions of the wicked, the virtues of the good,
the shining qualities of the great ; every thing, in short, that
the world calls accident, chance, and fortune, are all, in fact,
under the control of an invisible and overruling hand, which,
without any violation of the laws of nature, or the freedom of
human actions, renders them subservient to the gracious pur-
poses of divine wisdom in the government of the world.
We of this kingdom have been most remarkably favored
with the visible protection of Heaven; and there are in our
own history so many marks of a divine interference, that if we
do not acknowledge it, we are either the blindest or the most
ungrateful people on earth. Let me more particularly call
your attention to the following very singular circumstances in
some of the greatest events that have happened in this country.
Our separation from the church of Rome was begun by the
passions of a prince, who meant nothing in the world less than
that reformation of religion which was the consequence of it.
The total dispersion and overthrow of what was profanely called
the invincible armada was effected almost entirely by winds
and tempests. That dreadful popish conspiracy, which seem-
ed guarded by darkness and silence against all possibility of
detection, was at last casually discovered by an indiscreet and
obscure letter. At a time when there appeared no hope of
ever recovering our ancient form of government, it suddenly
254, A DIVINE PROVIDENCE SEEN º
rose from the ruins in which the tragedy of those times had
involved it, under the direction of a man who had helped to
destroy it, and who seemed almost to the last moment unde-
cided whether he should restore or destroy it again. Our de-
liverance in the following reign from the attempts of a gloomy
tyrant to enslave both body and soul, was brought about by the
concurrence of the most surprising incidents, cooperating, at
the critical moment upon which the whole depended, with the
noblest efforts of true patriotism. §
These are a few remarkable facts selected from a multitude
of others, scarce less extraordinary; and they bear evident
traces stamped upon them of superior power.
Now it may appear to some, that the calamities which at
various times have befallen our nation were a contradiction to
the doctrine here advanced ; were a strong and melancholy
proof that God's providential care was then at least withdrawn,
and the light of his countenance turned away from this island.
But it is not, Surely, to be expected, that throughout the whole
duration of a great empire, any more than throughout the whole
life of an individual, there is to be one uninterrupted course of
prosperity and success. Admonitions and checks, corrections
and punishments, may be, and undoubtedly are, in both cases
useful, perhaps essentially necessary; and the care and even
kindness of Providence may be no less visible in these salutary
severities than in the distribution of its most valuable blessings.
Both private and ſpublic afflictions have a natural tendency
to awaken, to alarm, to instruct, and to better the heart of man;
and they may be at last attended with other very important
and beneficial consequences.
We have then the strongest reason to conclude, that there is
a power on high which watches over the fate of nations; and
which has, in a more especial manner, preserved this kingdom,
in the most critical and perilous circumstances. Does not this,
then, afford some ground to hope, that, if we endeavour to
render ourselves worthy of the divine protection, it will be once
more extended to us; and that by a speedy and effectual
reformation of our hearts and lives, we may remove or lighten
the judgment which our iniquities have drawn down upon us?
We may be allowed to console ourselves with those reviving
hopes, which the belief of God’s providential government pre-
sents to us. We know in whom we trust; we know that this
trust rests on a foundation which cannot be shaken. It rests,
not only on the express declarations and promises of holy writ,
but on the many remarkable instances of a Divine agency, which
IN THE HISTORY OF NATIONS. 255
occur in the history of mankind, and above all in our own. In
every one of the extraordinary national deliverances above-
mentioned, the dangers that threatened this island were of a
much greater magnitude, and more formidable aspect, than any
which seem at this time to hang over us. Why then may we
not indulge ourselves with the same expectations? A series of
past favors naturally begets a presumption of their continuance;
and it must not be wholly imputed to the partiality which every
man entertains for his own country, if we give way to a per-
suasion that God will still vouchsafe his accustomed goodness
to his favored land. We will soothe ourselves with the belief
that a nation so distinguished as this hath been, with happier
revolutions and greater blessings than any other ever expe-
rienced, will not at this time be deserted by its gracious Bene-
factor and Protector. Compared with the nations of Europe,
it is not too much to say, that it is here that liberty hath fixed
her seat. If it can be pretended, after all it is difficult to prove,
that any other country possesses more liberty, they do not
possess tranquillity along with it. It is here that Protestantism
finds its firmest support; it is here that the principle of religious
toleration is established; it is here that a public provision is
made for the poor; it is here that public institutions for their
relief exist in greater numbers and extent than in any other
part of the world. It is here, in short, that the laws are equal,
that they are, in general, administered both with integrity and
with ability, and that the stream of justice flows with a purity
unknown in any other age or nation.
Nor have we only the happiness of enjoying these unspeak-
able advantages ourselves; we have been the instruments, and
it is an honor to have been so, superior to all conquests, of dif-
fusing them over the remotest regions of the globe. Wherever
our discoveries, our commerce, or our arms have penetrated,
they have in general carried the laws, the freedom, and the re-
ligion of this country along with them. Whatever faults and
errors we may be chargeable with in other respects, for these
gifts at least, the most invaluable that one country can bestow
upon another, it is not improbable that both the eastern and
the western world may one day acknowledge that they were
originally indebted to this kingdom. Is it then a vain imagina-
tion, that, after having been made the instrument of Provi-
dence for such beneficial purposes, there is some degree of fe-
licity yet in reserve for us, and that the part we are appointed
to act in the world is not yet accomplished 2 What may be in
the counsels of the Most High, what mighty changes he may
256 NATIONAL PROVIDENCE.
be now meditating in the system of human affairs, he alone
can tell. But in the midst of this awful suspense, while the
fate of empires hangs on his resolves, of one thing at least we
are absolutely certain, that it is better to have him for our
friend than our enemy. Which of the two he shall be depends
entirely upon ourselves. If by our impiety and our licentious-
ness, we audaciously insult his admonitions and brave his ven-
geance, what else can we expect but that every thing which
ought naturally to be the means of our stability will be con-
verted into instruments of our destruction ? If, on the contrary,
by reverencing the judgments of God, and returning to that
submission which we owe him, we again put ourselves under
his protection, he may still, as he has often done, dispel the
clouds that hang over us; or if, for wise reasons, he suffer
them to gather and darken upon us, he may make even them,
in the final result, conduce to our real welfare.
There is in fact no calamity, private or public, which, under
his gracious direction, may not eventually prove a blessing.
There are no losses but that of his favor which ought to sink
us into despair. There is a spirit in freedom, there is a confi-
dence in religion, which will enable those who possess them,
and those only, to rise superior to every disaster. It is not a
boundless extent of territory, nor even of commerce, that is es-
sential to public prosperity. They are necessary, indeed, to ma-
tional greatness but not to national happiness. The true wealth,
the true security of a kingdom, consists in frugality, industry,
unanimity, loyalty, and piety. Great difficulties call for great
talents and great virtues. It is in times such as these that we
look for courage and ability. Let the wise, the good, and the
brave, stand forth in the present difficulty as one man, to assist
and befriend their country. In the same vessel we are all em-
barked; if the vessel perish, we must all perish with it. It is,
therefore, our common interest; our common duty, to unite in
guarding against so fatal an event. There can be no danger
of it but from ourselves; let harmony inspire our councils, and
religion sanctify our hearts, and we have nothing to fear. Peace
abroad is undoubtedly a most desirable object; but there are
two things still more so; peace with one another, and peace
with God.
NATIONAL PENITENCE AND DEVOTION. 257
_*
IXLVI.
FAST DAY.
JoNAH III. 10.
And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, and God repent-
ed him of the evil that he said he would do unto them, and he did it not.
BEFoRE we proceed with the text, there is one word in it
to be observed particularly, which is the word “repent.” This
word, when applied to God, does not, as when applied to us,
denote sorrow or contrition for a deed or intention which was
wrong at the time, but it imports that what was fit and right,
and so judged to be by divine wisdom, under one state of cir-
cumstances and in one situation of the parties concerned, be-
comes not fit or right under different circumstances and in a
new situation; that God accordingly changes his counsel or
design, because the occasions which induced it have also
changed, which change of counsel is in scripture language
called “repentance.”
In the present instance it is said that God “repented of the
evil.” That evil was the destruction of Nineveh for its wicked-
ness. “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against
it, for their wickedness is come up before me.” When this
terrible sentence was denounced by the prophet Jonah, the
effect which it appears to have produced very suddenly upon
the people, was a solid, national penitence. We are not au-
thorized to say that it was a political change, for of that we
hear nothing, but a personal reformation, pervading every rank
and description of men in that community. “So the people of
Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sack-
cloth from the greatest of them even to the least.” The king
of Nineveh published, we read, a decree for the strict observa-
tion of this religious solemnity, concluding with these pious and
remarkable words; ‘Let them turn every one from his evil
way, and from the violence that is in their hands; who can
tell if God will repent and turn from his fierce anger that we
perish not?” The effect was what might be hoped for from
the sincerity and universality of their penitence and devotion.
* God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way;
and God repented of the evil that he had said he would do
unto them, and he did it not.’ Here, therefore, we have a
33
258 NATIONAL PENITENCE AND DEVOTION.
nation saved by penitence and devotion together; and we are
assured, by the authority of this history, that if, from negligence,
from contempt, from the pride of reasoning, from philosophical
objections, from the hardihood and contumacy of sin, or from
the ease and levity, and unconcern and indifference, which
licentious prosperity begets, the people had despised the warn-
ing of the prophet and the admonition of their king, the event
would have been, that Nineveh had sunk and perished forever.
It is unnecessary to distinguish between devotion and peni-
tence, because one, if sincere, includes or produces the other.
From either of them, when insincere, no good can be expect-
ed; and if sincere, one includes the other. If devotion be
sincere, it must lead to an amendment of life; and if penitence
be sincere, it will universally be accompanied with devotion.
Natural religion has its difficulties upon the subject of prayer;
and it is one of the benefits which we derive from revelation,
that its instructions, its declarations, its examples under this
head, are plain, full, and positive. The revelations, which we
receive as authentic, supply, in this article, the defect of natural
religion. They require prayer to God as a duty, and they
eontain positive assurances of its efficacy and acceptance. The
scripture, also, not only affirms the propriety of prayer in
general, but furnishes precepts and examples which justify
certain subjects and modes of prayer, which the adherents to
natural, in opposition to revealed religion, have sometimes re-
presented as dubious or exceptionable. ‘Be careful for nothing;
but in every thing,” that is, let the subject of your fears be what
it will, “by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your
requests be made known unto God.” The true disposition
under difficulties is described to be, to serve the Lord ; serving
the Lord to rejoice in hope ; thus acting, not to let our souls
sink under misfortune, or relinquish the prospect of better
things; hoping for better things, yet patient under the present;
patient, as it is expressed, under tribulation; and, to close all,
continuing instant in prayer. More particularly, under a sense
of danger, what is to be done why, ‘Pray always, that ye
may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall
come to pass.”
Again ; although it be granted that prayer is allowable, as
far as it expresses a general sense of submission to God, and
as far as it casts ourselves upon his mercy or his bounty, yet
Some have thought that we advanced too far in petitions when
we took upon ourselves to pray for particular favors by name.
And this ought at least to be admitted, that our prayers
NATIONAL PENITENCE AND DEVOTION. 259
even when the most particular and most urgent, and drawn from
us by the most pressing necessity, are to be conceived and
uttered under the reflection and Sentiment that we are address-
ing a Being who knows infinitely better than we do what is
best, not only for the whole world, but even for us; and further
also, we may find some advantage in bearing in mind that, if
prayer was suffered to disturb the order appointed by God in
the universe too much or too apparently, it would introduce a
change into human affairs, which, in Some important respects,
would be pernicious. Who, for example, would labor, if his
necessities could be supplied with equal certainty by prayer
How few would contain within any bounds of moderation those
passions or pleasures which at present are checked only by
fear of disease, if prayer would infallibly restore health In
short, if the efficacy of prayer, as applicable to this life, were
so constant and observable as to be relied on beforehand, and
to the exclusion or diminution of our own caution, vigilance,
and activity, the conduct of mankind would, in proportion to
that reliance, become careless, indolent, and disorderly. How-
ever, our prayers may, in many instances, be efficacious, and
yet the experience of their efficacy be doubtful and obscure;
therefore if the light of nature instruct us, by any arguments, to
hope for effect from prayer; still more, if the scriptures author-
ize these hopes by precept, by example, or by promises of
acceptance, it is not a sufficient reason for calling in question
the reality of such effect that we cannot observe this reality,
since it appears something more than probable that this doubt
about it is necessary to the safety, and order, and happiness of
human life.
We have been speaking of praying for particular favors by
name, and have remarked that the scriptures authorize these
prayers by example. This they do most explicitly. Hear St
Paul; ‘For this thing,” some bodily infirmity, which he calls
“a thorn given him in the flesh,’ and the example applies to
any other sore grief under which we labor, for this thing I
besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.’. Also,
for the future success of any honest intention or just undertak-
ing, in which we are engaged, we have the same authority for
imploring, and with earnestness, the aid and blessing of God;
• Night and day praying exceedingly, that we might see your
face.”
Nay further, it is to be remarked, that we are not only au-
thorized, and even directed by scripture example, to pray for
particular favors by name, but to do so repeatedly and renew-
260 NATIONAL PENITENCE AND DEVOTION.
edly, even in cases ultimately unsuccessful. We are to do our
duty, by addressing ourselves to God under the several diffi-
culties in which we are placed ; and having done this, to resign
both ourselves and them to his disposal. “I besought the Lord
thrice,” saith St Paul, “that it might depart from me.” But yet
it was not departed at the time of his writing, nor have we any
information that it ever did. Our Lord himself drank the fatal
cup to the dregs; it did not depart from him, though his prayer
Surely was right, and was urged, and renewed, and reiterated,
even in the same words. -
But this, viz. the renewal of unsuccessful prayer, is with our
Lord not only a point of practice, but of doctrine ; he not only
authorizes it by his example, but enjoins it by his precepts.
“He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought
always to pray and not to faint.” He would not have delivered
a parable upon it if he had not meant both to authorize, recom-
mend, and enjoin it.
But although our own distresses may both excite and justify
our own prayers, yet we seem, it is said, to presume too far,
when we take upon us to intercede for others, because it is al-
lowing ourselves to suppose that we possess an interest, as it
were, in the divine counsels. Turn however to the scripture,
and we find intercession or prayers for others both preached
and practised. ‘Pray for one another, that ye may be healed;
the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
“God is my witness,’ saith St Paul, “that without ceasing I
make mention of you always in my prayers.” “Now I beseech
you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the
love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your
prayers for me.’ ‘St Peter was kept in prison, but prayer was
made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.” These
are strong and decisive examples of intercession, and of one
individual interceding for another. The largest and farthest
advance in this species of worship, is when we take upon us to
address the Supreme Governor of the universe for public bless-
ings in behalf of our country, or touching the fate of nations
and empires. “I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord,
who am but dust and ashes.’ Surely this humiliating senti-
ment belongs to us all. Who feels not, as it were, a check to
his prayers when he compares the vileness and insignificance
of the petitioner, with the magnitude of the favor asked, and
with the infinitely exalted nature of the being from whom we
ask it? Nevertheless, intercessions for the community, for
blessings upon them, for national blessings, both natural and
NATIONAL PENITENCE AND DEVOTION. 261
civil, are amongst the conspicuous parts of both Testaments;
not only in examples, which is authority, but in precepts, which
is obligation. Are we, as all are, concerned that the blessings
of nature may be imparted to our land “Ask ye of the Lord
rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make
bright clouds and give them showers of rain, to every one
grass in the field.” Or are we more especially interested in
the continuance of those civil blessings, which give, even to the
bounty of nature, no small share of its value and enjoyment?
* I exhort that first of all supplication, prayer, intercession, and
giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and for all that
are in authority;’ and this is in order that “we may lead a
quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.’ The
meaning of this passage is clearly, Pray for them, not for their
sakes, either alone or principally, but for the common happi-
ness, that under the protection of a regular government we may
practise religion and enjoy tranquillity. “This is good,” saith
the apostle, ‘and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour.”
‘O pray for the peace of Jerusalem, for there is the seat of
judgment, even the seat of the house of David; for my breth-
ren and companions' sake I will wish thee prosperity, yea,
because of the house of the Lord God, I will seek to do thee
good.’ Jerusalem was to the Psalmist what our country is to
us, the seat of his affections, his family, his brethren, and com-
panions, his laws, religion, and his temple.
But again, must we look to seasons of calamity and visita-
tion ; have we not the father of the faithful interceding face to
face with the divine messenger, for a devoted land ‘O let not
the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this time.” Or
rather, because the piety of the patriarch was unsuccessful,
hear the leader and lawgiver of the Jewish nation effectually
supplicating for his threatened and offending, but now penitent
followers; ‘Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy
people 2 remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants.
And the Lord repented of the evil which he had thought to do
unto his people.” Or lastly, let us attend him in the most solemn
of all devotions, which seem to have been performed in the his-
tory of the world; in that sublime prayer which he offered up
in behalf of his country; ‘If they pray towards this place and
confess thy name, and turn from their sin when thou afflictest
them, then hear thou in heaven, thy dwellingplace; and when
thou hearest, forgive ; forgive the sin of thy servants and of thy
people Israel, that thou teach them the good way, wherein they
should walk. If thy people go out to battle against their
262 VIRTUE THE SECURITY
enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto
the Lord toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward
the house that I have built for thy name, then hear thou in
heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their
cause.”
XLVII.
FAST DAY.
PROVERBs XIV. 34.
Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.
THERE are many propositions, which, though they be reason-
able and true in themselves, and acknowledged to be so, make
very little impression upon our minds. They glide through our
thoughts without effect, and without leaving a trace behind them.
Yet, the selfsame propositions, when they are brought back to
our reflection by any experience, or by any incident that falls
under our observation, especially any in which we ourselves
are concerned, shall be found to have a weight, a justice, a sig-
mificancy in them which they never appeared to possess before.
This seems to be the case with the words of Solomon which I
have now read to you. That ‘righteousness exalteth a nation,”
is one of those moral maxims which no man chooses to contra-
dict. Every hearer assents to it; but it is an assent without
meaning; there is no value or importance or application per-
ceived in the words. But when such things happen as have
happened, when we have seen, and that at our doors, a mighty
empire falling from the summit of what the world calls gran-
deur to the very abyss and bottom, not of external weakness,
but of internal misery and distress, and that for want of virtue
and of religion in the inhabitants, on one side probably as well
as on the other, we begin to discover that there is not only
truth, but momentous instruction in the text, when it teaches us
that it is ‘righteousness which exalteth a nation.” It is virtue,
and virtue alone, which can make either nations happy or gov-
ernmentS Secure.
France wanted nothing but virtue; and by that want she
fell. If the fairest region of Europe, if a numerous population,
*
AND HAPPINESS OF A NATION. 263
if the nominal wealth which arises from the money of a coun-
try, if large foreign possessions, if armies and fleets, if a splendid
court and nobility, could have given firmness to a state, these
were all possessed by her to a degree which hardly, I believe,
any other nation could pretend to. Her fate, therefore, is, and
ought to be, a standing lesson to the world that something more
than external prosperity is necessary; and that something is,
internal goodness and virtue. *
I know not how I can employ the present solemn occasion,
and the still more solemn admonition which the transactions
that have lately gone on, and are still going on in the world,
ought to convey to us, better, than by illustrating the assertion
of the text, that it is by the people being good, and by that
alone, that any country can be happy, or any government
safe.
And first of all, I would observe to you, that whatever new
opinions have sprung up in France, and of some of which they
have learnt the effects by sore experience, the wisest men of
the last age, in that very country, men also firmly and boldly
attached to public liberty, have said this; that the principles of
Christianity are more favorable to good government than any
principles of any philosopher or politician can be. For the
celebrated French writer to whom I allude, after stating exactly
what sort of a principle was suited to a monarchy, what to an
aristocracy, and what to a republic, concludes by declaring,
that although there be principles proper to each form of govern-
ment, the principles of the christian religion, so far as it pre-
vailed, are better, more useful, and more effectual than them all.
And in my judgment our author, in saying that, has said no
more than what reason will bear him out in.
The true Christian must be a good subject; because, having
been accustomed to fix his eyes and hopes upon another world,
a future state of existence, ‘a more abiding city,” “a taberna-
cle not of this building,” his first care concerning the present
state of things is to pass quietly and peaceably and innocently
through it. Now this is the very disposition to be desired in
human society; it is the disposition which keeps each man in
his station, and what is more, keeps him contented with it. A
man upon whom Christianity hath shed this temper, can never
wish for disturbance, because he cannot wish to have that calm
and even course of life broken up, by going on Soberly and
peaceably in which, he feels himself doing his duty, and feels
from thence, the highest of human satisfaction, that he is grad-
ually making himself ready for, and advancing towards, his re-
*
264 VIRTUE THE SECURITY
ward in heaven. He will not have his progress stopped, his
journey interrupted. I will not say that no case of public pro-
vocation can happen which would move him; but it must be a
case clear and strong, it must be a species of necessity. He
will not stir until he see a great and good end to be attained,
and not indeed a certain, because nothing in human life is so,
but a rational and practicable way of attaining it. Nothing ex-
travagant, nothing chimerical, nothing in any considerable de-
gree doubtful, will be deemed a sufficient reason with him for
hazarding the loss of that tranquillity in which he earnestly,
for himself at least, desires to pass the days of his sojourning
here upon earth. Then as to all ambitious, aspiring views,
which are the great annoyance of public peace and order, they
are killed and excluded in the heart of a Christian. If he have
any ambition, it is the silent ambition of pleasing his Maker.
If he aspire to any thing, it is the hope, and yet even that a
humble and subdued hope, of salvation after his death. That
religion, therefore, by its proper nature generates in the heart a
disposition, though never adverse, but always friendly to public
order and to good government, inasmuch as public order can-
not be maintained in the world without it, is, I think, a general
and plain truth, and is confirmed by experience, as well as dic-
tated by reason, for although the name and pretence of religion,
have at divers times been made the name and pretence of sedi-
tion and of unjustifiable insurrection against established author-
ity, religion never was.
But secondly ; religion is not only a source and support of
national happiness, but the only source and support to be relied
on. I mean, that there arise such vicissitudes and revolutions
in human affairs, that nothing but this can be expected to remain
or is adapted to the changes which the course of this world is
sure to bring along with it. To expect always to continue in
health would be a most unreasonable expectation in any man
living; and to possess a temper of mind which would be pleased
and easy whilst we were well, but which could bear neither
pain nor sickness, would be a very unsuitable temper, a very
poor provision of spirits to go through the world with. It is
just so in civil life. To be quiet whilst all things go on well;
to be pleased in prosperity; not to complain when we thrive;
not to murmur or accuse amidst affluence and plenty, is a state
of mind insufficient to meet the exigences of human affairs.
Great varieties and alterations, both of personal and natural
condition, will inevitably take place. Rich men will become
poor, and the poor will become distressed; and this whatever
AND HAPPINESS OF A NATION. 265
course of prosperity a nation seeks. If a people go into trade
and manufactures, innumerable accidents will fall out in the
circumstances either of the country itself, or of other countries
with which it is connected, for it depends upon them also, that
must check and interrupt the progress and extent of its com-
merce. No wisdom hath ever yet been able to prevent these
changes, or ever can. If the cultivation of the soil be more
followed, and trade less so ; still, though the public security be
greater, the security of individuals is not greater. A harsh
season, a storm, a flood, a week or even a day of unfavorable
weather, may spoil the hopes and profits of a year. Disap-
pointments therefore, and losses, and those to a very great
extent, will happen to many. Now there is but one temper
which can prepare the mind for changes in our worldly affairs,
and that is the temper which Christianity inspires. The Chris-
tian regards prosperity at all times, not only as subject to con-
stant peril and uncertainty, but even at the best, and in its
securest state, if any state of prosperity can be called secure,
regards it as an inferior object of his solicitude ; inferior to a
quiet conscience, inferior to the most humble endeavours to
please God, and infinitely inferior to the prospect of future
salvation. The consequence of viewing worldly prosperity in
this light, which is the safest and truest light in which it can be
seen, is, that the Christian uses it when it falls to his lot with
moderation; considers it as a trust, as a talent committed to
him; as adding to his anxiety, and increasing his obligation to
do good, and thereby bringing with it a burden and accounta-
bleness which almost overbalances its value. And for the
same reason that he uses the good things of life temperately
and cautiously whilst they are his, he parts from them, or sees
the diminution of them, with equanimity. When he had them,
he was far from making or considering them as instruments of
luxury, indulgence, or ostentation; least of all, of intemperance
and excess. Now therefore that he has them not, he has none
of those pernicious gratifications to resign. Whatever be a
man's worldly estate, a true Christian sees in it a state of proba-
tion, of trial, of preparation, of passage. If it be a state. of
wealth and plenty, it is only that; if it be a state of adversity,
it is still the same. The only difference is, whether he come
at last out of the fire,’ tried by the temptations of prosperity
or by the strokes of misfortune and the visitations of want;
and he who acquits himself as he ought in one condition, will
be equally accepted and equally approved as he who acquits
himself as he ought in the other. We are wont to admire the
* 34
266 VIRTUE THE HAPPINESS OF A NATION,
rich man who conducts himself with humility and liberality,
studying to spread and diffuse happiness and goodness around
him; and he is deserving of praise and admiration. But I
must be allowed to say, that the poor man, who, in trying cir-
cumstances, in times of hardship and difficulty, carries himself
through with patience, sobriety, and industry, and, so far as he
can, with contentment and cheerfulness, is a character not at
all beneath the other in real merit; not less entitled to the
esteem of good men; but whether he receive that or otherwise,
not less entitled to hope for the final favor of God.
Having seen, therefore, how beneficially religion acts upon
personal characters and personal happiness, it only remains to
point out how, through the medium of personal character, it
influences public welfare.
Disputes may and have been carried on, both with good and
with evil intentions, about forms and constitutions of govern-
ment; but one thing in the controversy appears clear, that no
constitution can suit bad men, men without virtue and without
religion; because, let such men live under what government
they will, the case with them must ever be this; if they be
born to, or happen to meet with greatness and riches, they fall
into dissipation, dissoluteness, and debauchery, and then, if
either the experience of vice, or any accident of fortune, de-
prives them of the means of continuing their courses, they be-
come desperately miserable, and being so, are ready to promote
any mischief or any confusion. On the contrary, let power
and authority be granted to honest and religious men, they
exercise that power without hurting any one, without breaking
in upon any reasonable enjoyment, or any reasonable freedom;
without either plundering the rich, or grinding the poor; by
affording a protection to one as well as the other equally strong
and equally prompt, and, so far as human means can do it, or
as civil institutions can do it, by rendering both happy in their
Stations.
ON THE NEW YEAR. 267
XLVIII.
ON THE NEW YEAR.
RoMANs XIII, 11.
And that knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for
now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
I HAVE made choice of this text, both because I always
thought it a solemn and affecting piece of scripture, and be-
cause it appears well calculated to raise in us a train of reflec-
tions suitable to the beginning of a new year. The apostle,
we observe, is speaking to converts; that is, to those who were
converted from Heathenism to Christianity, after they were come
to years of discretion. Some of these, it is probable, did not
at once change their course of life with their religion, but con-
tinued in that state of sin and sensuality, of insensibility to the
calls of conscience and duty, which St Paul frequently terms
a state of sleep, of night, and of darkness.
The apostle, in the text, tells them if they did not when they
first believed, when they first took up the profession of Christian-
ity, awaken out of their former sleep, out of their negligence and
security about their conduct, it is now, at least, high time that
they should ; “for now is our salvation nearer than when we be-
lieved.’ A length of time has elapsed; we are drawing conside-
rably nearer to the term and period which is to fix our everlasting
destiny, than when we first embraced the faith of Christ. It has
been supposed, and with probability, that St Paul expected the
coming of Christ to be not far off, and this expression ‘now is
our salvation nearer,’ alluded to that coming, which being, as they
thought, to happen soon, now drew sensibly nearer every day.
These two particularities, the computing the date from the
time that they became converts, and their expecting the coming
of Christ to take place soon, though they clear up the meaning
of the words, do not make them so strictly and precisely appli-
cable to us; but the general doctrine, the great and Solemn
admonition contained in them, is still as much for us to lay to
heart, as suitable to our circumstances and religious condition,
as it was to theirs to whom the letter was written. The time
of any man’s death is to him the time of his salvation ; that is,
the time when his destiny in another life is fixed; and we are
268 ON THE NEW YEAR.
taught by the text to reflect that we are hastening very fast to
that period, that every year draws us sensibly and considerably
nearer to it. Then for this reason it is high time, if we have
not already done it, to awake out of sleep ; to shake off that
dulness and insensibility to religious matters which cleaves to
our souls; to rouse ourselves to virtue and to action ; to have
done with these wild and distempered dreams of worldly pleas-
ures and pursuits, which have hitherto influenced us, and to
open our eyes, as one just awake from a sleep, to views of
heaven and of hell, to a sight of our real business in this world,
to making sure of a favorable sentence at the day of judgment.
This meditation I think extremely suitable to the beginning
of a new year. One year more, my brethren, has brought us
nearer to our salvation, nearer to the term that is to fix us for
ever. We now enter upon another year, and it surely is a
proper opportunity to pause; to consider for a while whence
we came, where we are, whither we are going, what we are
about, what we have to look for.
And first, they who suffer year after year to pass over their
heads without any serious thoughts, or any serious endeavours
after their immortal interests, know or consider little what a
year is. A year is a very material portion of the whole time
we have for our work. We talk of seventy or eighty years;
but how few ever reach that number 1 The youngest, the
strongest, the healthiest man living cannot be allowed to reckon
upon more than thirteen or fourteen years; I mean, in worldly
transactions. The very best life, and one in the very bloom
and vigor of age, is not expected to be much more than that;
for the generality of us, that is, for five out of six of all who
are not the youngest, not half that. Let it then sink into our
thoughts that a year is probably the sixth or the seventh part
of all the term we have before us; that a year neglected is one
step lost or gone backward in the business of salvation, and that
such steps are but few. And it may show us the value and the
consequence of a single year to look back upon the last, to re-
collect what changes it has made, what alterations it has pro-
duced in our neighbourhood, or amongst our acquaintance; that,
of those with whom we have met together, sat, and conversed,
several are gone down into the grave; that the time of trial is
over with them, the opportunity of salvation closed and finished
forever; that death is abroad and amongst us ; that our turn
is near, that it cannot be distant; that when we see what one
year has produced around us, we cannot but reflect in many
ways what another may bring to ourselves. Is this a time to
ON THE NEW YEAR. 269
sleep Is this a proper situation to be dreaming about gains
and pleasures, and advantages, which will all cease and perish
with us, whilst death and judgment, and the sentence of God
Almighty at the last day, are unthought of and neglected 2
It is a practice with many, in the arrangement of their
worldly concerns, to settle at every year’s end their accounts,
to inquire how their affairs stand, to see what improvement
they have made, as well as what faults and mistakes they have
committed ; to know whether they go backwards or forwards,
wherein they chiefly fail, what they are to set to rights, and
how they may proceed with more safety and advantage the
next year. This is a general thing, and a good thing; inso-
much as they who do not use something of this sort seldom, I
think, thrive or succeed well. Now I would earnestly recom-
mend a similar proceeding in our religious concerns. I am
sure there is infinitely greater reason for it; because our being
saved or perishing everlastingly is of infinitely greater conse-
quence to every one of us than any other thing we can possibly
gain or lose here. Now this being the case, I cannot employ
the remainder of this discourse better than by suggesting such
topics for this annual selfexamination as may appear most ne-
cessary and most important to be inquired into.
And first, I would speak to those who are sunk in habits of
sottishness and sensuality; who have given themselves up to a
life of drunkenness, debauchery, riot, and disorder, which, if
the bible can be depended upon, must, without a sincere re-
pentance and reformation, bring your souls to final destruction.
We adjure, we warn, and admonish you, in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, trust not to another year. You may not
live through this. Amuse not yourselves with false calcula-
tions of long life. Old age is the lot of few, of very few in-
deed ; not of one in a thousand who addict themselves to these
things, to vice and unlawful courses. You suppose you shall
be alive at the beginning of next year. You will have the
same work to do as at this. You will have less ability, less
inclination, more confirmed habits, more tyrannical propensi-
ties to conquer. To repent to any purpose, you will have
greater difficulty, greater pain, greater struggles. What ground
is there to expect that if your resolutions yield now, they
should be able to stand steadfast then P
In the second place, let me address a word to such as have
spent the last year, and their past life, in a total neglect and
forgetfulness of all religious concerns; who may be truly said
to sleep in darkness and insensibility. Consider the time.
270 ON THE NEW YEAR.
Another year is gone ; a sixth or a seventh part of the whole,
you can reckon your lives worth, is just departed. Open your
eyes to the light. Awaken to a sense of your situation, to a
knowledge of what you are, and whither you are going. It is
your own affair, your own interest. Your own welfare and
salvation are at stake. Things you find, do come to pass.
The silent but irresistible progress of time brings events home,
which you have been accustomed to regard as at a vast dis-
tance. Perhaps one, certainly a few, of such years as that
which is gone, will bring you to death and to judgment, whether
you have thought of these things or not.
The exhortation to other Christians I would found upon
the principle, that the true Christian’s life is a state of continual
progress; a constant growing in grace ; a gradual amendment of
ourselves, either by shaking off bad qualities or acquiring good
ones, or most commonly and most naturally by both together.
Now in this view, what has the last year done for us? What
virtues have we planted in our hearts? What vices have we
exterminated Have we gone backwards or forwards? Is
our moral character better or worse 2 Have we ſought a good
fight? Have we practised a steady opposition to the enemies
of our salvation, to the allurements of the world, the flesh and
the devil? If we have gained one point, if we have advanced
one step, if we perceive the smallest improvement in our prin-
ciples and conduct, it is a high encouragement to quicken our
speed, to redouble our endeavours. The hill which we climb
is steepest at the bottom. The first advances in the way of
virtue, are most slow and most laborious. Let us not faint or
desist. We shall soon add virtue to virtue, cut down one vice
after another. We shall, ere long, begin to taste and to relish
the satisfaction, the joys, the hopes of religion.
On the other hand, if we find that we are sinking more and
more under temptation, our good principles daily giving way,
our old sins grown more confirmed and irresistible, and new
ones making their appearance in us, it is time to take the
alarm. Another such year may ruin us for everlasting. Our
case will bear no delay. We must set about it immediately, if
we intend it at all, with firmness, with resolution, with persever-
ance. Let us then search out our condition to the bottom.
Have we the last year managed our earthly affairs with scrupu-
lous honesty, and truth, and fair dealing 2 or have we in any
instance, for the sake of any advantage to ourselves, taken in,
overreached, or gone beyond any man? Have our transgres-
sions and tresspasses, as to Sobriety and purity, been more or
ON THE NEW YEAR: 271
kiss frequent this last year than heretofore ? Are we growing
better in this respect, or worse How shall we better with-
stand temptation for the future ? or what course shall we take
to avoid it? Do we feel more or less frequently, fits of anger,
rage, and passion ? Have we striven against them Have we
striven to any purpose? In what degree have we conquered
or corrected them 2 or how shall we set about to do it? Are
peevishness, envy, discontent, strife, malice, hatred, covetous-
ness, more or less rife and strong in our hearts of late than
they used to be 2 What evil actions, what evil speakings have
they of late put us upon 2 What quarrels, what contentions have
they drawn us into ? Have we endeavoured to get the better
of these evil passions : Have our endeavours been successful ?
Have they been sincere and continued: Do we feel peace,
and quietness and humility, and good nature, and good will?
Have any impressive and lively lessons been spreading and
gaining ground on our hearts In a word, has the past year
been distinguished by any virtuous acts and virtuous endeavours,
any bad habits broken and got the better of, any good rule of
living begun? •
I trust, and I believe, that many of us will find in the review
of the past, enough to comfort and encourage us. Many no
doubt will find much to mortify, much to abase, much to hum-
ble them ; but we shall all find enough to be done for the
future. f
Let us then awake out of sleep. Let us set about the re-
formation of our lives immediately. Let a new year begin a
new course. Let us reflect that a year more is now gone ; that
the time is far spent ; that now is our salvation drawing nearer;
that a single year brings us nearer to the awful trial when our
destiny will be fixed; nearer, not by a small and inconsider-
able degree, but by a very serious and substantial portion of the
whole term which we, any of us, reasonably expect to live.
272 SUNDAY SCHOOLS.
XLIX.
SUNDAY SCHOOLS.
2 CHRONICLEs XX. 13.
And all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and
their children.
IN a great and solemn act of national devotion, which was
held during the pious reign of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, upon
the occasion of a public danger which then threatened their
country, we read that Judah gathered themselves together to
ask help of the Lord; even out of all the cities of Judah, they
came to seek the Lord.
Had we read no more than that Judah was gathered together,
we should have been led perhaps to conclude that the assem-
bly was made up of the king, the magistrates, and the priest-
hood; the heads of tribes, the masters of families, the principal
persons, the aged, or at the lowest, the adult, inhabitants of the
country. But the words of the text, which have been read to
you, convey a more circumstantial, and, I think, very observa-
ble account of this great religious concourse. By them we are
distinctly told, that not only those whom we have before enu-
merated formed the congregation which stood before the Lord,
but that, together with the great body of the Jewish nation, were
present also their little ones, their wives, and their children.
This is a direct and decisive example for the proof of the follow-
ing points; namely, the propriety and the duty of bringing chil-
dren to the public worship of God, as an act of piety and devotion
on the part of those who bring them. It is an example also of
very high authority, and of an authority which is strengthened
by every circumstance in the history. The assembly appears
to have been held in pursuance of the prayer of Solomon, many
ages before, that when any distress should overtake the nation,
they should find their refuge in the protection of their God,
when they sought it in his Temple. This prayer was accept-
ed; and it was particularly remembered upon the occasion of
which we are now discoursing. ‘If, when evil cometh upon
us,’ say they, “as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or fam-
ine, we stand before this house and thy presence, for thy name
is in this house, and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou
wilt hear and help.”
SUNT)AY SCHOOLS. <s 273
Afterwards it is related, as we have remarked, who they
were that stood before that house and in God’s presence;
* even all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their
children.” Now the little ones and the children were there,
not probably for any knowledge they could be supposed to have
of the nature or extremity of the public danger, nor conse-
quently for any part they could immediately and personally
take in the subject or the devotion of the meeting, but as a
proof and expression, an act and testimony of the public piety,
and of the particular piety of those who brought them thither.
The service was accepted by that Being to whom it was ad-
dressed. The manner of it therefore, was such as he approved.
‘Thou wilt hear,’ they said, ‘and help.” God did hear and
help them most effectually; their enemies were smitten and
overthrown; the very people who had thus assembled in terror
and supplication, returned soon after to Jerusalem to bless the
Lord who had delivered them
Whether, therefore, we regard the solemnity or the effect of
this religious act, we see in it a pattern for our imitation, be-
cause we see in it that which, it is evident from the conse-
quence, was favorably received by the God of Israel, who is
our God, as he is of the whole human race. And indeed, what
act of piety can be more natural or more becoming, than to
draw out in the presence of God, and to bring forward in his
service, the youth of the country, whom his providence has
given and committed to our care 2 It is an act, as hath already
been observed, which doth not simply respect them, but us; it
is our piety, rather than theirs. It is but little that the best can
do towards testifying their gratitude to the supreme Benefactor,
their love, their zeal, their reverence. I mean, that it is very
little when compared with the immensity of the obligation, the
dignity of his nature, the sense of our dependence. What
therefore we can, we ought. What, however imperfect, he has
been pleased to approve; what, however unworthy of him, he
has condescended to accept, we surely should be willing to imi-
tate, we should rejoice to pay. When their parents brought
young children to Christ that he should touch them, the action
was very graciously received by him. He showed manifestly,
as well by his behaviour as by his discourse upon the occasion,
that he approved of what was done; but it was not the
children's piety. They were ignorant and unconscious of what
was passing; yet did not this hinder our Lord from being
pleased with the service. It was the service, thought, and
piety of those who brought the children, and not the children's
35
274, SUNT)AY SCHOOLS.
own, to which he had respect; it was their motive, their affec-
tion, which he viewed. Even the bringing of children to bap-
tism, beside the nature of the ordinance as an instituted rite
for the initiation of the infants themselves, is an act of worship,
an expression of homage and devotion on the part of the pa-
rents. This, I take it, is a just and scriptural way of consider-
ing the subject, and we hope it will be so accepted. Upon the
same principle, the bringing of children to church, beside the
use of it to themselves, is an office of piety in those who do it.
It is an office which springs from piety as its motive; which
hath God, his pleasure, his worship, his honor in view. There
neither is, nor ever was, a parent touched with the love of God,
or with any serious apprehensions upon religious subjects, who
was content with attending public worship himself, without en-
deavouring to bring along with him his household and his chil-
dren. No doubt, it is primarily and properly the duty of parents
to undertake this charge ; but so it is, that many parents want the
attention, the thought, the care, the inclination necessary to this
work; want, perhaps, a sense and knowledge of its importance,
and of their own duty with relation to it; want sobriety, serious-
ness, and regularity of behaviour too much themselves, to in-
culcate these qualities, or any thing which belongs to these
qualities, into the minds of their children; and some, we are
ready to allow, want opportunities. To make provision for
these cases, and that children under such circumstances may
stand before the Lord, as the language of the Old Testament
so often and well expresses it, the benevolence of others must
be exerted; and in whatever degree it is the duty of the
parents, when they have in all respects the power and the op-
portunity to bring their children to church, in the same degree
it is an act of rational and acceptable piety to supply the power
and the opportunity where they are not, as well as to furnish
inducement and encouragement where there is want of will.
I contend therefore, and I conceive that I am authorized by
scripture to contend, that the bringing of children to the public
worship of God is an act of public worship in us, and such a
one as we have good reason to believe will be well pleasing to
him. This is a distinct and original reason for the beneficence
we now solicit; but no doubt, one great consideration upon the
subject is the advantage to the children themselves.
Were man a purely rational creature, that is, was he directed
in all things by unprejudiced reason alone, or could any plan
or system of management make him so, it might be argued very
forcibly, that in religious and moral subjects he ought to be left
SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 275
to the free and unbiassed opinion which he might form when
he came of sufficient age; and that no influence whatever
should be exerted upon the tender and unripe understandings
of youth. But neither this proposal, nor any proposal which
proceeds upon the supposition of mankind being guided solely
by their reason, accords with the actual condition of human
life. Man is made up of habits and prejudices; it is the con-
stitution of his nature; and being so, the only choice which is
left us is, whether we will have good prejudices or bad ones;
salutary habits, or habits which are pernicious ; for the one or
the other will infallibly gain possession of the character.
To which must be added another powerful consideration;
that the tendency, not of human nature, but of human nature
placed in the midst of vicious and corrupt examples, is almost
always to the worse. Instances are but too numerous, where
well educated children as they grow up fall off, decline as they
come into the world from their early principles, grievously dis-
appoint the hopes that have been entertained of them ; but the
cases are very rare in which the man or woman turns out good
where the child was bad ; where uncurbed, neglected, impious
youth ends in any thing better than profligate life. Therefore,
to give to men even the chance of becoming virtuous, and by
being virtuous happy, all endeavours are requisite to impress
good habits, as the only possible means of excluding bad ones.
To apply these general considerations to the particular sub-
ject of Sunday Schools; without entering into any question
which is by no means necessary here, concerning the degree of
strictness with which the sabbath ought to be kept, it is confess-
ed by all who bear or wish to bear the name of Christians,
that it ought to be a day of rest, yet of quietness, order, and
sobriety; of some exercise, at least, of religious worship, and
at least of some attention to religious concerns. How will it
be believed, or can it be expected, that youth, who spend their
Sundays in a total contempt of these things, and in the com-
pany of those who contemn them ; in rude play, in stupid sloth,
in riotous and barbarous sports; in noisy and profane society,
hearers, though they themselves do not share In them, of almost *
every species of bad discourse; is it, I say, likely that children
who have been accustomed to spend their Sundays in this
manner, when they become men, will spend them as they ought
to do? And perhaps there are few situations to which these
remarks are more applicable than those of frequented seaports:
In the tranquillity of a country village, children who are not at
church may be harmlessly engaged ; but where dangerous ex-
276 SUNDAY SCHOOLS.
amples, where loose conversation, and bad companions, the
means, the opportunities, the incentives to vice, abound so
much as they do in crowded places and in places connected
with a seafaring life, it is greatly to be feared that if children and
young persons be not engaged in what is good, they will be
engaged in wickedness; that they are not merely absent from
the duty and the place where they ought to be, but they are
present at scenes which must go near to destroy all the seeds
and elements of virtue within them. It may be true, that of
those who by their parents or the public, are brought to church
in their youth, some show very little proofs of being affected or
benefited by it. But this is nothing more than what may be
said of every plan of education. The best oftentimes fails.
As concerning education, therefore, the proper question is, Do
those who have no education succeed 2 and not, Does every
one that has it make a right use of it So in this article of
bringing children to church ; the first inquiry is, whether those
who never come to church in their youth, will do so when they
are grown up; and whether this might not have been the case
with multitudes, if they had not been beholden to these insti-
tutions.
Then as to another objection, that children, just perhaps
rising out of infancy, are incapable of understanding much of
what is going on at church ; the objection, in the first place,
does not belong to the children who are brought to church by
this institution, more than it did to the little ones, and the chil-
dren, whom Jehoshaphat assembled in the congregation of Judah,
or to the children who were presented to Christ, and we know
that in neither of these two cases did the reason hinder its
being an accepted service, in their view who brought them.
In the next place, the objection is alleged without a sufficient
knowledge of human life. It is not only possible, but it is in
the ordinary course of things, that men retain from reason and
principle what they at first acquired by habit, and under the
influence of authority; which yet, if it had not been so acquired,
this reason might never have attended to, nor their principles
have been excited towards it. Every art and science is at first
learnt by rote. Children do not at first know the reason of the
rules of grammar or arithmetic; nor is it probable they would
ever become grammarians or arithmeticians, if they put off
learning the practice till they comprehend the proofs. It is
afterwards, when they come to employ their own thoughts and
their own reflections; when they come to work themselves
upon the materials which have previously been laid in by rote,
SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 277
that men of science and learning are formed. A good deal of
this observation is true of religion. The principles of christian
knowledge and rules of christian duty, like all first rules and
principles, must be learnt by example and authority. And this
is necessary, in order that when men begin to reflect, they may
be provided with something to reflect upon; and we trust and
believe, that the principles of Christianity are so well founded,
that the more men’s reason opens and operates, the more they
will be inclined to hold fast by their own judgment, what they
at first received from the instruction of others. Whereas if a
man knew nothing of divine worship in his youth, it would be
such a strangeness to him afterwards, that if he should happen to
enter a church, it would be with a stupid gaze and wonder at
what was passing, rather than with any disposition or any ca-
pacity to join in it. This would be a defect not to be over-
come by reason; because it is not probable that men's reason-
ing faculties would be exerted upon a subject from which they
were absolutely estranged; it probably therefore would not be
overcome at all during the course of the man’s life.
I recur to an observation which hath already been stated,
that all we can do for the honor of God, the utmost return we
can any of us make to him for his unceasing, ill deserved, and
unspeakable mercies, is poor and inadequate to the obligation;
yet we are not to sink under the sense of our unworthiness, of
the feebleness of our endeavours, of their frequent want of
efficacy and success; but on the contrary, just in proportion as
they are such, we are to use and exert them to the extent of
our power; we are to do our all and our utmost. One mode
of testifying our piety toward God, is by bringing young persons
and children to his worship. It is a mode founded in rational
considerations as it respects the children; and as it respects
God, it is what we have authority from his word to say, he
himself is pleased to accept and to approve.
I am given to understand that the liberality of the neighbour- .
hood, together with the prudent and praiseworthy attention of
those who conduct this charity, afford a prospect of extending
its usefulness to some other objects, particularly the establish-
ment of a Day School. I shall only say, that it must be an
additional motive to the contributors to know that nothing will
be lost; that what can be spared from one good purpose will
be applied to another; that if they cast, as the scripture ex-
presses it, their bread upon the waters, they will, by one chan-
nel or another, though after many days, find it again ; find it
in its effect upon the good and happiness of some one ; find it
in its reward to themselves.
278 THE PARABLE OF THE SAMARITAN.
L.
THE PARABLE OF THE SAMARITAN.
LUKE X. 36, 37.
Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell
among thieves 2 And he said, He that showed mercy on him. Then said
Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
THE parable of the good Samaritan was calculated to ascer-
tain who are the proper objects of our love and kindness; for
in the conversation which precedes, it seems to have been
agreed between our Lord and the person with whom he con-
versed, who is called by St Luke a lawyer, but which name
amongst the Jews rather signified a divine, that the great rules
of the law were, to “love the Lord thy God, and thy neighbour
as thyself.” But then a doubt is suddenly started, ‘Who was
that neighbour?” who was to be accounted a neigbour within the
sense and construction of the precept 2 To this doubt our
Saviour applies this excellent parable. And the whole frame
and texture of the parable is contrived to set forth this lesson;
that the persons best entitled to our help and kindness are those
who stand in the most urgent need of it; that we are to help
those who are most helpless; that our healing, friendly hand
is to be held out to all who are cast in our way in circum-
stances of misery and distress, let their relation to us in other
respects be ever so remote, or even ever so adverse, and be the
case which hath brought them under our observation, and within
the reach of our assistance, what it will. This is the lesson to
be gathered from this beautiful and affecting piece of scripture;
and almost every circumstance introduced into it has a refer-
ence and application to that moral. It forms the very point of
the narrative. The wounded traveller was a stranger to the
man who relieved him. He was more ; he was a national
enemy. And the very force of the parable turns upon this
circumstance. Do you think it was without design that our
blessed Saviour made choice of a Samaritan and a Jew as the
persons of his story It was far otherwise. It was with a set-
tled intention of inculcating this benevolent truth; that no dif-
ference, no opposition of political, national, or even religious
sentiments, ought to check the offices of humanity, where situa-
tions of calamity and misfortune called for them ; and no two
THE PARABLE OF THE SAMARITAN. 279
characters in the world could more perfectly answer our Lord’s
purpose than those of a Samaritan and a Jew; for every one
who knows any thing of the history of those times and those
countries, or even who has read the New Testament with care,
knows this ; that the most bitter and rancorous hostility sub-
sisted between these two descriptions of men, and that it was
an hostility founded, not only in a difference of nation, but also
in a difference of religion. What is, perhaps, still more apt to
inflame dislike and enmity, is a difference of doctrines and
opinions upon the same religion. On the part of the Sa-
maritans, you meet with an instance of enmity and dislike, in
refusing at one of their villages the common rights of hospitality
to our Lord and his followers, because he was going up, it
seems, to join in the public worship of the festival to be cele-
brated at Jerusalem, whereas they thought ‘Mount Gerazim
was the place where men ought to worship.” Another instance
of the complete alienation and studied distance at which the
Jews and Samaritans kept each other, is seen in our Lord’s
conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well; for the
woman could not forbear expressing her surprise that our Lord,
whom she perceived to be a Jew, asked even for a cup of water
at her hand ; “How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of
me, who am a woman of Samaria P’ The same thing that had
surprised the woman, surprised also the disciples; for when
they came up to the place, they marvelled, you read, that he
talked with the woman, and the cause of surprise in both cases
is explained by the evangelist, who tells us ‘that the Jews have
no dealings with the Samaritans.” In the foul and most unde-
served abuse, which some of the Pharisees bestowed upon our
Saviour, one of the harshest and bitterest things they could
say was, ‘Thou art a Samaritan.’ This shows the temper of
the men and of the times. Such was a Jew, and such was a
Samaritan ; yet, in the beautiful parable before us, when a
Samaritan found a Jew stripped, wounded, and left half naked,
he thought no more of their public hostility, their national quar-
rel, their religious controversies; still less did he reflect that
the Jews and Samaritans had no dealings with each other; that
a Jew was not to speak to a Samaritan, nor a Samaritan to a
Jew. None of these reflections were entertained by him. He
yielded at once to the impulse of his compassion, and to the
extremity of the case. Had the Samaritan gone about to seek
excuses for passing by the poor traveller, specious excuses
were not wanting. The traveller’s character was quite unknown
to him. He was ignorant what sort of person he was, or how
280 THE PARABLE OF THE SAMARITAN.
far deserving of his bounty. He had many at home whom he
did know, Samaritans like himself, of the same country and the
same faith; and many, no doubt, suffering under every species
of distress. The person before him was one of the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, who were all the old and bitter enemies of his
country. He had no reason to think that if a Jew had found
him in such a situation, he would have thought it his duty to
afford him any succor at all ; and no reflection is more com-
mon and natural than to do to others, not what we would that
others should do to us, but what we believe that others would
do to us, if our situation were theirs. The accident also,
which had thrown the traveller in his way, was an accident in
which he had no concern. He had not robbed or beaten him.
It was not owing to him, or to any fault of his, that the road
was infested with thieves, and that the mischief had happened.
These excuses were at hand; but the Samaritan sought none.
It cannot be doubted, in truth it never was doubted, but that
our Saviour, in describing the conduct and character of the
Samaritan, pointed out a conduct which he approved, and a
character which he loved. This is evident, not only from the oc-
casion and general instruction of the parable, but from the words
with which our Lord concludes it; “Go, and do thou likewise.”
The story was so framed, that it extorted a commendation from
the Jewish lawyer, though the commendation was bestowed
upon a person whom he hated, upon the enemy of his name
and religion, a Samaritan. And the reply our Saviour made
was surely the right and true one. Imitate thou the conduct
which thou canst not help approving; “Go, and do thou like-
wise.’ It is most evident, therefore, that when, under similar
circumstances, we act as the Samaritan acted, we act accord-
ing to our Saviour’s command.
Now besides the general instruction which there may be
gathered from the parable, besides the general impression
which it can hardly fail of making upon minds capable of re-
ceiving any moral or religious impression at all; besides, I say,
its main purpose and general use, there are particular circum-
stances in it, calculated to excite salutary reflections.
First of all, it was by no means a good disposition in the
lawyer, which put him upon asking the question, ‘Who is my
neighbour?” It was seeking a needless difficulty in a plain
duty, which always, I take it, springs from a backwardness and
lukewarmth, to say the least, towards the duty itself. When
men are hearty and in earnest in any duty, they are not apt to
multiply questions about it. The lawyer would not love his
neighbour as himself till he new precisely who was to be reck-
THE PARABLE OF THE SAMARITAN. 281
oned his neighbour. Now had his charity been strong, been
real, he could have felt no want of any such information; his
own heart would have informed him. As occasions arose, as
misery and distress came in his way, as the powerful help and
succor was possessed by him, he would have been ready to
stretch out his hand, to have given way to his compassion, with-
out nicely deliberating whether the object before him wanting
his aid, was, or was not, the neighbour whom he was com-
manded to love.
Secondly ; whatever difficulties and distinctions we are per-
plexed with in our own cases, we can generally determine, both
readily and rightly, in the cases that apply to others. When
this beautiful narrative was related to the lawyer, and the ques-
tion upon it pointed home to his conscience, ‘Which now of
these three, thinkest thou, was neigbour to him that fell among
the thieves?” the lawyer had no doubt at all about the answer.
“He that showed mercy on him.’ When another man was
concerned, the case was clear. When the precept of loving
his neighbour was to be obeyed by himself, and at his own ex-
pense, he was then at a loss to know who his neighbour was ;
to ascertain, that is, the limits, the extent, the measure, the ob-
jects of the obligation.
Thirdly and lastly, we have here, as upon many other oc-
casions, great reason to admire the wisdom with which our
blessed Lord spake, the manner and the excellency of his
teaching. It is extremely material to observe, that this para-
ble was not merely made by our Lord, or prepared before-
hand in the manner of a set discourse, but, from the nature
of the case, was conceived at the moment. The occasion
was sudden and unexpected ; a certain lawyer stood up, and
started the question. It was, therefore, our Lord’s divine
promptness and presence of mind that enabled him, without
study, without notice, to deliver a wiser, and more exquisite,
and more complete solution of the question, than any study or
learning could have produced. This was agreeable to his con-
stant method ; he gave to every incident, every discourse, to
what happened before his eyes, to what passed in his conversa-
tion, a turn so as to draw from it a lesson of perpetual use.
Not merely the lawyer was to go away answered, but his dis-
ciples instructed; his disciples in all ages of the world. As
much, therefore, are we who read this beautiful passage in his
scriptures, as they who heard the word from his lips, obliged to
attend to it in our minds and thoughts, and to observe it in our
lives and practice.
36
282 PARABLE OF THE TALENTS.
LI.
PARABLE OF THE TALENTs.
MATTHEw XXV. 19.
After a long time, the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.
YoU cannot but know that these words are the conclusion of
the parable of the talents; in which parable God’s final deal-
ings with mankind are set forth under the similitude of a mas-
ter, who, setting out upon a distant journey, delivered talents,
to some more, and to some fewer, to his several servants, and,
upon his return required from each a separate account of his
management; that upon those who had managed what was
committed to them with diligence and success he bestowed high,
yet proportionable rewards; that one who, though he had not
spent or wasted, yet had hidden and totally neglected his
talent, and had made no use of it whatever, he not only dis-
missed without reward, but sentenced him for his neglect to a
grievous punishment. Now every thing in the New Testa-
ment which discloses the rules and principles according to
which God will be pleased to judge us at the last, is of extreme
importance, because they are what we must stand or fall by,
and because they are what we ought to regulate our choice
and behaviour by, whilst we have the matter in our power.
Therefore this parable, as well as those others concerning the
delivery of the talents, for it is given by the evangelists and
was repeated by our Saviour in two or three different forms, is
amongst the passages of Scripture deserving our most serious
attention. The points to be well considered are, what is meant
by talents, and what is meant by improving and by neglecting,
and by abusing them; for these points being understood, the
application of the parable to our respective cases and conditions
will be sufficiently plain.
By talents, then, are meant any powers or faculties by
which we can do good. Every such power or faculty which we
find ourselves possessed of is a talent delivered to us by God,
and therefore a talent, for the use, the abuse, the neglect of
which, as the parable expresses it, our Lord will reckon with us.
One principal thing, and the most difficult thing to be com-
prehended on the subject, is, that every man, the most common
and ordinary person, hath his talent, for the exercise of which
PARABLE OF THE TALENTS. 283
he will have to account. I say this is less easy of comprehen-
sion, because, whenever we talk of talents, we are in the habit
of considering only great talents, or extraordinary endowments
and advantages. We are very ready to allow, and we think
that is what the parable means, that those who have superior
gifts, those who are blessed with quick abilities, or with favors
of fortune above the common lot of mankind, ought to employ
these rightly; and that if they do not so, they are highly and
justly censurable; but we do not see how this relates to us,
who make no pretensions to uncommon endowments of any
kind, who are not in stations to possess much power of doing
either good or evil. This way of thinking makes nine out of
ten regard the parable of the talents as what does not at all
concern them. I will endeavour therefore, as I proceed, to
show you, that when the proper and true notion of moral talents
is entertained, they are such things as, in a great degree, are
given to every one, and what therefore every one will in the
same degree-be responsible for.
I have said, and I repeat it, that every power and faculty by
which, according as we use it, we may do good, and by which,
according as we misuse it, we may do harm, is a talent within
the sense and rule of the parable. This definition extends the
parable to all, notwithstanding there may be, and there is, much
diversity, both in kind and degree, of the powers and faculties
of different men; yet I believe that there are some of every
station in whom their talents do not subsist in a sufficient de-
gree to make the possessors responsible.
To see this satisfactorily, as well indeed as the full drift and
extent of the parable, we may reflect, that the gifts which we
are to account for, and which, according as we employ them,
may be instruments of good or of evil, are either the faculties
of the body, the faculties of the mind, or the advantages of
situation.
With respect to the body, it is a great fault that few set such
value as they ought upon the blessings of health, strength,
soundness, and activity. Those who possess them are, for the
most part, those who never knew the want of them; or else
they would be sensible how graciously they were dealt with by
their Maker, when he formed them with a vigorous constitution
of body. A healthy constitution is a talent, and a talent from
God. Now this talent is used as it ought to be when we em-
ploy it, and get our own living, in that station of life into which
it hath pleased God to call us; when we labor homestly and
faithfully, according to our portion of strength and activity, for
284, PARABLE OF THE TALENT$.
the maintenance of our families. This is the natural and in-
tended use of the talent; therefore it may and ought to be an
encouraging reflection to the industrious husbandman at his
plough, the industrious weaver at his loom, the artificer at his
work, the tradesman in his shop, that he is then and there using
the precious gift of bodily health and strength in the way in
which his Maker intended they should be used, and that when
his Master comes to reckon for the gift he can render his ac-
count. Health, strength, and activity are talents; lawful in-
dustry is the use of those talents. There will be occasions for
using them still more meritoriously, when we can put forth our
exertion to help a neighbour, to do a good or a kind turn by
means of our bodily activity, without desiring or hoping to be
paid for it. I do allow that such exertions can only be occa-
sional ; but the readiness and the disposition to lend our assist-
ance when the occasions do arise, is both a duty and a virtue.
To save, for instance, a man from a shipwreck, can happen but
seldom, but that disposition which would make a man exert or
endanger himself when it did happen, may be constant; the dis-
position resides in a good man constantly, though the occasions
which call it forth arise only incidentally. The talent is me-
glected, when men suffer their bodily strength and activity to
rust in sloth and idleness, and thereby become a useless burden
to society ; when men have not taught themselves any useful
art, or do not exercise what they profess, with such regularity
as to be faithful to the expectations of those who employ them,
and so manage to throw themselves out of employment, and then
make that a pretence for leading an idle life. Such men find
poverty, unpitied poverty, the common consequence of their con-
duct, or if they be preserved from that, they find the uncom-
fortableness of an insignificant existence; but what I wish them
to find is, that they are laying up a precious talent in a napkin,
that their Lord will come and reckon with them, that they will
have no sufficient account to render of their talent, none of its
improvement, none of its application. But this talent of bodily
health and strength may be worse than neglected, it may be
abused ; and this is the case when it is employed to carry men
into lewd, drunken, or vicious courses.
To see a young man, blessed by his Maker with the gifts of
health, strength, and activity, blessings which no money can
purchase, blessings, which, if they could be purchased, thous-
ands would lay down their fortunes as the price ; to see him
using the strength and goodness of his constitution, and at a
time of life when both are in perfection, only in pursuit of de-
PARABLE OF THE TALENTs. 285
bauchery and intemperance, and making the firmness of his
health only a reason for plunging deeper and continuing longer
in these courses, is to witness a most wicked abuse of the Cre-
ator's kindness. It is the height and extremity of ingratitude,
It is not simply neglecting a precious talent, but it is wilfully
consuming and destroying it. Besides every other aggravation
that attends this course of life, it is chargeable with the guilt of
throwing away the bounty of Providence. What has not such
an one to fear, when his Lord shall demand an account of his
gifts :
But, secondly, we have other faculties than those of the
body; we have endowments of mind to account for. And by
endowments of mind I do not mean great parts, great abilities,
because if the parable related to these alone, it would concern
very few ; though it be true, no doubt, that such parts and
such abilities, when they do occur, cast upon the owner of
them corresponding obligation to exert and exercise them pro-
perly. They are given, not to outshine others with, but to do
good to others. I here rather intend that which, thanks be to
God, is conferred upon most of us, a right and sound mind;
and I desire it may never be forgotten that this is a gift, proper-
ly so called; and moreover, that it is not less a gift because it
is bestowed upon others as well as upon us; and being like-
wise a gift, by the use of which we can do good, it is a talent
in the sense of the parable. The capacity of learning is a talent.
They therefore who, with sufficient capacity, learn nothing, no
useful art, occupation, or knowledge, from being either too idle
to take the necessary pains, or too dissipated to give the neces-
sary attention, or submit to the necessary confinement, griev-
ously neglect their talent. They who, being masters of some
useful art, do not exercise it to the benefit of mankind, also
grievously neglect their talent. They who feel in themselves
a particular turn to some one art or science, a peculiar facility
in acquiring it, and a prospect of attaining to eminence and ex-
cellence, do very well to cultivate their talent in that way in
which they can hope to be most serviceable; not, however,
imagining that their parts place them above their regular call-
ing, at least till they have provided themselves with something
better. But faculties of mind are abused when our whole in-
genuity is turned to contrive and execute mischief, or compass
unlawful, ends, with more subtlety and success than the gener-
ality of men could do; and it is lamentable to see men of good
parts, not only make this bad use of their parts, but boast of so
doing, and value themselves upon the extraordinary skill and
286 pARABLE OF THE TALENTS.
address which they have shown in carrying some point they
never ought to have attempted.
Another talent committed to men, that is, another quality by
which they may do either much good or much harm, is the
power and influence that result from station. I very well know
you will say, that this talent is not intrusted to us who occupy
honest, but certainly very private stations in life. What power
have we to use P what influence can we exert? If this be a
falent, it is one for which we cannot have to account. Now
this is the very point I wish you to see, that private as the situ-
ations of most of us undoubtedly are, there is, nevertheless, a
species and degree of influence belonging to all of them which
we may either apply or misapply, and for which we are equally
accountable with those who possess higher stations. For in-
stance, no man has a family of children and servants, but in
that very relation of a parent and master of a family he has a
great deal of power and influence. The subjects of his power
may not be numerous, but the power itself is very great. Here
therefore is influence, for the due use of which we shall have
to account as much as a prince will have to account for the
authority of his station. The parent, therefore, who uses his
authority over his children for the purpose of pouring into their
minds principles of godliness and religion, of training them up
in the habits of piety and obedience to their great Creator, and
of qualifying them for being useful to man, discharges his trust,
and employs his talent. A parent who is careless about his
children altogether, or who, though he takes some care of their
education, as far as respects means of succeeding in the world,
yet takes none of their morals, and dispositions, and religion,
neglects his trust, and suffers a great opportunity of doing good
to pass by him unimproved. Again ; a parent, who, by his
countenance and example and conversation leads his children
to vice as much as a good man would lead his children to vir-
tue, not perhaps designedly, for that must be a strange case,
but very effectually, abuses the ascendancy which God and
nature have given him over the minds and persons of his off-
spring, which ascendency is full as great in a poor man’s family
as in a rich man’s. The same thing appertains in a considera-
ble, though not in the same degree, to those who have servants
within their families, and also, though in a degree less strict, to
those who have workmen in their employment. You see,
therefore, that the most private station is not without its measure
of influence; which influence is a thing committed to us, and
for the due use and employment of which we shall be called
PARABLE OF THE TALENTS. 287
to account; for the neglect alone, we shall be punished; for
the abuse, most severely.
The true way of treating the subject is, not to go about to
excuse ourselves by the humility or poverty of our station, the
common and ordinary nature of our faculties and occupations,
and so leave the instruction contained in the parable of the
talents to the concern of those who feel themselves in posses-
sion of great abilities, great wealth, and great stations to do good
in, as if these alone were intended to be admonished by it; but
the way is, first, to regard every means and every opportunity
of doing good to any as a talent in the meaning of the parable;
and then to inquire what means, what opportunities are given to
ourselves, either in our bodily health and vigor, or in our men-
tal soundness and understanding, or in our place and relation
as parents and children, as masters of servants, as members of
a neighbourhood; and whereinsoever we find the means and
opportunities, and no man who inquires fairly but will find
many and sometimes more than he had believed or thought of,
to consider them as what he shall have to account for at last,
and the use, or neglect, or abuse of which will form one prin-
cipal subject of inquiry at the last day, and one principal ground
of God’s judgment; ever bearing in mind, what the parable
very expressly avers, that the neglect simply, will be imputed
to us as a crime.
288 PARABLE OF THE PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN.
LII.
PARABLE OF THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN.
LUKE XVIII. 9–14.
And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they
were righteous, and despised others. Two men went up into the Temple
to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee stood
and prayed thus with himself; God, I thank thee, that I am not as other
men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican. I fast
twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the Publican,
standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but
smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner! I tell you,
this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for every
one that exalteth himself shall be abased ; and he that humbleth himself
shall be exalted.
VANITY, which can mix itself with the best actions, is apt to
steal into our religion as much as any one thing in the world ;
nor is it to be wondered at. Religion is what every man can
pretend to ; and religion being of so much greater importance
than any thing else, gives to some either real or even imagined
superiority the highest value and excellence. Besides, when
we have bestowed extraordinary pains and attention upon any
subject whatever, it is very natural to value ourselves upon it.
If this subject, then, be of a high nature and consequence, this
value that we put upon our attainment of it, will be high in pro-
portion. Nor are men to be blamed for overvaluing religion;
that is impossible; but for overvaluing their own proficiency in
it; that is very possible; and for making religious excellence,
whether real or supposed, a reason for despising others.
But hitherto we have only been observing that spiritual pride
is very natural, is what men easily glide into. We will venture
to say, that of all prides, spiritual pride is the worst. The pride
of riches, the pride of dress, the pride of family, the pride of
beauty, though very absurd and offensive, are neither singly,
nor all together, so bad as religious or spiritual pride. When
I say so bad, I mean, it does so much harm to the man himself
or to others.
The effect it has upon the man himself is no other than
spoiling entirely his religion, by placing it all upon wrong mo-
tives. The pure and proper motive of religion is the desire of
PARABLE OF THE PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN. 289
pleasing and obeying God. This simply and solely should be
our motive, and this motive alone makes it like religion to any
purpose. Now the man whose heart is touched or tinctured
with spiritual pride, performs whatever he has to perform in
religion, not so much to please God, which may or may not be
in his thoughts, but to vie with or surpass his neighbour; that
he may indulge the pleasing contemplation of his advantages
and superiority over him. This is no longer religion; it is not,
from that time forth, assumed with the intention of aiming at
final Salvation. It is in reality envy and hatred, pride and ill
will, showing itself in the outward acts and forms of religion
and piety ; and it is pride, envy, and hatred still, for to the
great Judge of all men, who knows well the heart and secrets
of it, and who judges not by appearance but principles, it makes
no difference what cloak or color our passions put on. Religion
is that which must save us. How exceedingly pernicious,
therefore, must any bad passions of our nature, that turn of
temper be, which places all religion upon this wrong founda-
tion, and so, by making it spring from a motive that is not right,
makes it offensive and displeasing to God, instead of being an
acceptable service to him
This is the ground on which I choose at present to fix the
pernicious nature of spiritual pride; namely, that it makes all
religion proceed from wrong motives, though it might at the
same time be accused of making men morose, censorious, un-
forgiving, and disdainful.
But this domineering opinion of our own proficiency in con-
cerns of religion, is pernicious in its effects upon others as well
as upon the man himself who is influenced by it. It raises in
others a disgust and dislike of religion. When they see that
religion only makes a man contemptuous and austere, they
naturally enough begin to entertain a prejudice against such
religion as an insult upon themselves. No man can bear to be
despised in his religion any more than in other things; so that
when they find any one so proudly and ostentatiously displaying
his abundance of piety, when he seems by his carriage and
conversation to let them know how much he is their superior
in the most important thing in the world, it is not to be won-
dered at if they take an aversion to religion, which only tends,
in this instance, and it is but few that will look beyond it, to
engender superciliousness and selfconceit. ... I do not say that
they argue rightly, but it is sure enough that many do argue
so ; it is enough to render those justly chargeable with doing
much mischief in the world who thus create an aversion to
37
290 PARABLE OF THE PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN.
religion. We are to win our brethren, and bring them over to
the service of holiness; and there is sufficient impiety in the
world to make it altogether unnecessary to offend by a fastidi-
ous pride of godliness.
Such, then, is the nature and effect of religious pride, and
I think I may say that no other sort of pride is so dangerous;
and such were the effects which were too obvious to escape
the censure of our Saviour, particularly as he had constantly
before him examples of it in the Pharisees. The little parable
which forms the text, is calculated exactly to reprove this vice,
and is most admirably contrived for that purpose, as well as to
show the general temper and character of Christ's religion,
which upon this, as upon all other occasions, abounds in quiet-
mess, humility, and peace.
What little is necessary to be explained in this parable I will
now proceed to observe, though my discourse will answer a
good purpose if it be the means only of making you mark and
call to mind the parable itself, whenever any sentiment of self-
sufficiency in religion rises in your minds; whenever you are
tempted, that is, whenever you are tempted to be religious
merely out of competition, or to view your own supposed state
with vanity, and look upon that of others with disdain.
A Pharisee and Publican went up into the Temple to pray.
The Pharisees were a religious sect who pretended to extra-
ordinary strictness, and were of high repute amongst their
countrymen for their supposed sanctity. A Publican was a
taxgatherer, employed by the Romans, who had the Jews in
subjection, to collect taxes among them. They were, as you
may suppose, extremely odious and ill thought of, partly be-
cause the Jews, who were weary under their subjection, hated
their profession, and partly because the persons themselves
deserved it. Now it was not without design that our Sa-
viour in this parable made choice of a Pharisee and Publi-
can ; as he thereby intimated that in people and professions of
the highest repute you will often meet only pride and hypocrisy,
while in others, the meanest, and most despised or disliked,
you shall find sincere piety and virtue ; that with God, who
Seeth not as we see, who regardeth not names, or persons, or
professions, the service of one shall be accepted, the other re-
jected. , ‘The Pharisee prayed thus with himself; God, ‘I
thank thee, I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust,
adulterers, or even as this Publican.” This might be all true;
indeed, we ought to suppose it was true. But was it his busi-
mess to remind, as it were, his God of it, or even to bear it in
PARABLE OF THE PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN. 291
his own mind whilst he was addressing God It showed that
his reflections were employed, not upon the purity and glory
of his Creator, but upon himself. Had his thoughts been
at all fixed upon his God; had he considered his own infinite
remoteness from him, the adorable and astonishing perfections
of the being he was addressing, and his own weakness, infir-
mity, and vileness, he would rather have trembled under the
thoughts of addressing him at all, than have come to him with
a proud recital of his imaginary virtues. Nothing, if you re-
flect upon it, could be more out of season. The Pharisee's
prayer was, in truth, no devotion at all ; for it was not God,
the object of all devotion, that was in his thoughts, but his own
good qualities. Though we must suppose, to give the parable
its proper force, that the Pharisee was, what he pretended to
be, guiltless of extortion and adultery; that he was, compara-
tively with this Publican, and generally speaking, virtuous; yet
we must suppose also that he had his failings and his faults, of
which we are to hear nothing. He seems to have no remem-
brance, to make no acknowledgment of his sins and frailties;
these had no place in the worship of the Pharisee, if it can be
called worship, and this was one reason that made it unaccept-
able to God.
But another part of the Pharisee's behaviour on this occa-
sion is very strongly to be censured; that part is the unchar-
itableness of it. The Publican stood with him in the Temple,
though afar off. This Pharisee could not pass by the oppor-
tunity of indulging his vanity, and declaring his superiority ; he
could not even there refrain from that contempt and hatred with
which this order of men was treated. What had this poor Pub-
lican done to him 2 What right had he to insult him : What-
ever this Publican was, he was not then, nor at any time, a sub-
ject of triumph or contempt to the Pharisee. Most men would
have been softened down by such an occasion, and have con-
sidered that they, as fellow creatures and brethren, were kneel-
ing down before their common Parent, imploring the same
mercy, in need of the same bounty and protection. The Phar-
isee, on the contrary, did not only look upon this supposed sin-
ner to cherish his own pride and complacency, but he must
even turn intercessor with God against him, and presume to
carry his arrogance and invective to the footstool of divine
mercy itself. No wonder that God should turn away his
ears from prayers which are mingled with malice and presump-
il011.
292 PARABLE OF THE PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN.
In our poor Publican we have a model, I take it, of true
christian devotion. He comes with a deep and afflicting sense
of his sins, and an earnest concern and contrition for them.
He makes no comparisons, he draws no parallel betwixt him-
self and others, nor does he fly to those wild and superstitious
modes of appeasing an angry God, which grief or dismay is
wont to suggest; but, with that true and unaffected simplicity
which comes pure from the heart, he casts himself on the com-
passion of his Maker; “he would not lift up so much as his
eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be mer-
ciful to me a sinner l’
We can never sufficiently admire the meekness and humility,
the simplicity and earnestness, of this prayer. I do not mean
an affected humility, which is put on for the purpose, but that
which is real and undesigned, flowing from a just sense of our
own vileness and offences.
The Publican's prayer was agreeable to God; and the more
our prayers resemble it in spirit, the more unmixed they come
from the heart, the more simple they are in expression, the
more we have reason, from this parable, to hope that they will
be accepted. ‘I tell you,” says our Saviour, “this man went
down to his house justified rather than the other.” Our Saviour
does not directly say that either was justified, nor was it likely
that the Saviour would give countenance to such a doctrine ;
but so far as depended upon the act of devotion, the Publican
was more acceptable to God than the Pharisee.
The application of this parable to ourselves is easy. Do we
secretly allow ourselves to say or think we are not so bad as
other men are, or even as this or that particular person 2 Let
us remember the parable. Do we profess a strictness in our
religion, with a view, not only of pleasing and obeying God, but
with a notion that we are surpassing our neighbour, and with a
view of triumphing over him? Let us remember the parable.
Does the pleasure and satisfaction we take in performing the
duties of our religion, arise merely from the thought of obtaining
God’s approbation, or are we counting upon the applause of
the world, feeding and flattering our own consequence 2 Does
our notion of piety lead us to survey others, even bad men,
with complacency and compassion, and to behave towards them
accordingly Does it cool or diminish our good will and
benevolence towards our neighbours? Does it make us more
curious to find out their faults; more willing to stick to their
failings than to seek for virtues; more liberal of our censure;
OUR NATURAL AND RELIGIOUS PROGRESS. 293
less inclined to forgive; more disposed to hate; more ready to
throw others at a distance, in order to indulge our own spleen,
and swell out our own importance? then must we remember
the parable. Do we bring this conceit of ourselves and con-
tempt of others to church? Does it mix with and steal upon our
devotions in private Whenever we find this temper growing
upon us, we may be sure that our religion is taking a wrong
turn; it does not proceed from a growth of Christianity within
us; it is the religion of the Pharisee, and not that which will
make us full of gentleness, meek, humble, affectionate, and
compassionate; tending to exercise and improve the love of
. neighbour, instead of inclining us towards contempt and
atred.
LIII.
ANALOGY BETWEEN OUR NATURAL AND RELI-
GIOUS PROGRESS.
1 Coninthians XII. 11, 12.
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a
child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now
we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face. Now I know in
part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
ST PAUL in these words means to describe the imperfect
state of our knowledge now, with respect to any of these mys-
terious parts of both natural and revealed religion, especially
with respect to what shall take place after this life, compared
with that clear and complete knowledge of these subjects which
we shall be endowed with then ; and the similitude he makes
use of, that of the thoughts and understanding of a child com-
pared with the thoughts and understanding of the same person
when become a man, always appeared to me to convey the
justest conception of this matter, and the most likely to satisfy
us in the darkness, and confusion, and uncertainty under which
we labor, of any that could have been devised for the purpose.
St Paul’s words might be briefly explained thus; Let a grown
person look back upon the notions and views of things which
294, ANALOGY BETWEEN OUR NATURAL
he had when a child; let him remark how much these notions
are altered, and improved, and corrected since ; how vain,
and wild, and simple, and short of the truth they then were,
and, how sensible soever such a person must be of the feeble-
ness of his early understanding, of the errors and extravagance
of his childish conceits, equally sensible shall we, in another
life, become of the imperfection, and weakness, and fallacious-
ness of our present judgment and our present apprehension of
many subjects. This is what St Paul says of himself; and
whatever he confessed of his own understanding in these mat-
ters, surely we need not be loth to acknowledge of ours. But to
do St Paul’s observation justice, it will be fitting to point out dis-
stinctly, and more at length, every particular in which his com-
parison holds; for I think the more we turn it in our minds, the
more truth, impressiveness, and good sense we shall discover
In It.
First, then, it must strike every one who will please to re-
view the ideas and imaginations of his youth, of what was then
his notion of many things which he now looks at and has long
looked at as so many vain and foolish baubles, how eager he
was in the pursuit of them, how impatient of being disap-
pointed. He is at a loss now to conceive where or in what the
value or pleasure of them could consist, so much to engage his
affections, to agitate his passions, to give him such anxiety in
the pursuit, and pain in the loss. Now something very like
this will probably take place in the judgment we shall hereafter
form of many of the articles which at present compose the ob-
jects of our care and solicitude. When we come, in the new
state of our existence, to look back upon riches, and honors,
and fortune, and preeminence, and prosperity, how like the
play and pursuits of children, their little strifes, and contests,
and disturbances, will these things appear? When the curtain
is drawn aside, and the great scene of our future existence let
in upon our view, how shall we regard the most serious of our
present engagements and successes, as the toys and trifles of
our childhood, the sport and pastime of this infancy of our ex-
istence 1
A second particular, in which we cannot but remark the fault
of our youthful minds, and how we have been gradually amend-
ing and altering as we grow up, is the impetuosity with which we
seized upon every pleasure that was at hand, whatever it cost
us afterwards, and how unconcerned and unaffected we were
by what lay at any distance. The amusement of the next
hour, the sport of the next day, was all we thought of. What
AND RELIGIOUS PROGRESS. 295
was to become of us, how we were to be provided for, or what
was to be our destiny when we grew up, or even the next year,
never interested our attention, or entered our thoughts. I say,
we find this earnestness, as we advance in years and experi-
ence, by degrees wear off. . We have learned to a certain dis-
tance to look before us, to forego a small advantage in hand for
the sake of a greater in reversion, to deny ourselves, in some
cases, a present pleasure, rather than incur a future pain, or
lose a more important satisfaction which we have in view; but
still the infirmity is but worn away in part, much of it yet re-
mains. We have learned to look before us, but it may be in-
distinctly; and the imperfection, which still cleaves to us in
this respect, we shall hereafter be as sensible of, as we seem
now to be of the same imperfection in the thoughts and pas-
sions of our early years. Thus we are able to part with a present
supply for a treasure in prospect, in order to secure to our-
selves, and for ourselves, the means of acquiring a good estate
some time hence; and this is getting a great way beyond the
hasty thoughts and improvidence of children, of many who
continue children all their lives; but can we reconcile our-
selves to the sacrifice of a substantial interest, of any part of
our profit or fortune, of considerable advantage or advance-
ment in the world, for the sake of securing, or at least making
more sure of, our reward in heaven? We are not accustomed
to look so far. The business of the world we manage with
prudence, because we prefer the greater advantage at a dis-
tance to the less advantage near at hand ; but the world closes
in our prospect, terminates our management.
Again, it may be, that when we find particular indulgences
hurt our health, and lay the foundation for painful distempers,
and find also that we shall hereafter, though not now, suffer for
our pleasures, we can be content to abstain from them; and
this is more than many can do, and is certainly a great advance
in the exercise of our judgment when it is so. But do we
apply the same way of thinking to our immortal interests 2
When we find reason to believe that such and such indulgences
or ways of living are likely to prove fatal to our happiness in
the next world, do we give them up 2 Do we resign our dar-
ling habits and gratifications P Do we quit the broad and
smooth road of our sins or follies, when we find whither it
leads 2 Now I say, though we can blame the impatience of a
child, which will not wait a few short days, a few hours; or
the folly of a headstrong youth, who is so occupied with some
favorite delight, that he can scarcely see beyond it, though cer-
296 ANALOGY BETWEEN OUR NATURAL
tain misery follow close behind; though we can blame them,
yet there are few of us who are sensible at present of what we
shall all be made sensible of when we arrive at our future coun-
try, that we have been and are equally perverse, headstrong,
and impatient in the conduct of our greatest concerns, that the
time which we thought too long to wait for reward was but a
moment, that the misery we have brought upon ourselves did,
in truth, come close behind our crimes, though it appeared re-
moved to a great distance; for such will be the judgment we
shall form of this little portion of our existence, which we shall
hereafter look back upon, compared with the immortality that
lies before us.
Thirdly, we can seldom review what passed in our minds
when we were children, without being surprised with the odd
and extravagant notions which we took up and entertained,
how wildly we accounted for some things and what strange
forms we assigned to many other things, what improbable re-
semblances we supposed, what unlikely effects we expected,
what consequences we feared. I can easily believe that many
of the opinions and notions we now erroneously entertain, espe-
cially concerning the place, condition, nature, occupation, and
happiness of departed saints, may hereafter appear to us as
wild, as odd, as unlikely and ill founded, as our childish fancies
appear to us now. Like the child, we take our ideas from
what we see, and transfer them to what we do not see. Like
him, we look upon, and judge of things above our understanding,
by comparing them with things which we do understand ; and
they bear afterwards as little resemblance, as little foundation
for comparison, as the most chimerical and fantastic visions of
a childish imagination. And this I judge to be what St Paul
had particularly in his thoughts when he wrote the words of
the text. “Now we know in part; but when that which is
perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away,’
even as “when I was a child, I understood as a child, I
thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away
childish things.” Our apprehensions of futurity may, it is true,
be in many respects childish ; but still they may be innocent,
so long as we are not over anxious nor over positive to insist
upon others receiving them, and too much inclined to make
difficulties, or start at those which we meet with, from an opin-
ion that we are able to guess and find out the whole of such
subjects.
Fourthly, a child meets with perpetual difficulties, which
appear to its then comprehension unconquerable, which yet,
AND RELIGIOUS PROGRESS. 297
when it becomes a man, clear up, and vanish of themselves.
It cannot be made to understand the reason or the meaning of
half the things which its parents and its masters make it do or
suffer. Why so much restraint and confinement Wherefore
these grievous tasks, that difficult lesson, these strict rules It
is made to feel pain and uneasiness, of which it sees neither
end nor use. ‘How is this to be reconciled,” a child will matu-
rally ask, “with that kindness, and love, and goodness which
it is told to expect from its parents º' Now as the child advan-
ces in reason and observation, all these difficulties solve them-
selves. He remembers with gratitude what he suffered with
complaint. He sees care and love, when at the time he could
only perceive arbitrary severity and churlish cruelty. He dis-
covers the end aimed at; the importance of that end, how the
means made use of conduced to it, how requisite they were,
how beneficial they have turned out. Now all this bears, in
my mind, a considerable analogy to the difficulties we labor
under, as to the dispensations of divine Providence. Look to
the whole of our existence, and the wisest and oldest of us are
but yet in our infancy; as much strangers to the exigences
and condition of our future state as a child is to that of a man.
Can it be wondered at that we should meet with embarrass-
ments, and inconsistency, and seeming disorder and confusion?
and yet it may in truth be all a regular plan, answering a good
end by wise means. We know in part; a certain portion of
our nature, existence, and destiny we do see ; but it is a por-
tion bounded by narrow limits, a term out of eternity. Now
all such partial knowledge must be encumbered with many
difficulties. It is like viewing the map of a district or small
tract of territory by itself, and separated from the adjacent
country; we see rivers marked out, without any source to flow
from, and running where there is nothing to receive them. In
like manner, we observe events in the world, of which we trace
not either cause or origin, and tending to no design or purpose
that we can discover. If the child have patience to wait, many
of these its difficulties will in due time be explained. And this is
our case. . It was not necessary to the child’s happiness and
well being, that it should have from the first the understanding
of a man; nor is it to ours, that we should possess the faculties
of angels, or those which are in reversion for us in a higher and
more advanced state of existence. The child is in the hands
of its parent, and so are we. The wisdom of the parent will
supply the ignorance of the child, his prudence guide its folly,
his strength protect its weakness, his care conduct it to happi-
298 THE ADVANTAGES OF OLD AGE.
mess. How much does this representation agree with what we
believe and hope of our Almighty and Universal Father | We
are the works of the creation, and produced by his great kind-
mess, and, while we study to please and obey him, the objects
of his love, safe under his wings, secure under his protection,
assisted by his succors, directed by his holy influence, enlight-
ened by his word and spirit, relying upon his love, and finally
conducted by his care from perfection to perfection, from our
present degree of happiness to a better world, we attain the
fulness of joy in the presence of God, and the pleasures at his
right hand for evermore.
LIV.
THE ADVANTAGES OF OLD AGE.
JoB XXXII. 7.
I said, days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.
EveRY age of life has its advantages and disadvantages, not
only in respect of strength, activity, and pleasure on one side,
of judgment, experience, and wisdom on the other, and as these
qualities relate to the success or the happiness of our present
existence, but there is in the different periods of life a system
also of advantages and disadvantages respecting religion itself.
The work of salvation is before us at all ages. Youth can
bring to the task sensibility, usefulness, innocency, activity;
a mind yet unoccupied, and yet unenslaved by vicious habits,
a strength capable of doing much good, a conscience quick and
sensible, a heart warm and susceptible of benevolent affections;
a vigor of principle, and a glow of devotion, which no other
season of life can pretend to. God grant that the young may
use and exert these faculties and these advantages as they
ought to do | But what are the advantages, or are there any,
which the coldness and weakness of age can set against these ?
What is there applicable to religious improvement, which the
natural condition of advanced years brings with it? Those it
is my purpose to set forth, as well for consolation as instruction;
because if any one can feel that he is capable of making him-
THE ADVANTAGES OF OLD AGE. 299
self more and more ready for the great change which is ap-
proaching, it is, and ought to be, a support and comfort to him,
under either the consciousness of decay, or the weight of infirm-
ities; and also, if there be properties, of which advanced life,
and advanced life alone is capable, and which tend to make
us holier and happier, God forbid that we should not know
them, and exercise them, and use them :
Now first, I do say, that older men are naturally more sensi-
ble of the mercies of God. I do not say that they have greater
reason to be sensible of the mercies of God, but that they are
more sensible of them. Young people regard their health and
strength, their vigor, spirits, and enjoyments, as natural to
their time of life, and what other young people possess as well
as themselves. They look upon them as things of course.
These blessings often ſail of exciting any adequate sense of
gratitude in their hearts. They do not, strictly speaking, per-
ceive that they are blessings at all. They scarcely know the
want, they have felt little of the interruption of them. They
do not reflect upon the goodness of their Maker in giving them,
because they see them to be general, and almost universal.
Yet, how wrong is this forgetfulness! Is the goodness of God
less, because he is constantly giving these blessings 2 Is it less,
because he has given them to so many, that it is singular not to
receive them 2 Yet you find this very constancy of his bounty,
this very extent of his beneficence, becomes the reason why it
is not felt and thought of as it ought to be. Was there but
here and there a person in the full enjoyment of health, in the
perfect possession and exercise of his faculties, that person, it
may be supposed, would be filled with thankfulness to his Cre-
ator for his kindness towards him. But is he less to be thank-
ed, because, in truth, he is more kind? because his bounty
flows and spreads around to others as well as to us? to the
general condition of life at certain periods It is a sad thing
that we are not touched with the goodness of God, at the time
when we ought to be so most highly; that is, when we are
receiving the strongest proofs and effects of it. It is a sad
thing not to know or estimate the gifts and blessings of our
state till we experience the loss, and interruption, and decay
of them. Yet it is so. Who are the heedless, the careless,
the despisers of religion, the contemmers of their Creator, but
the very persons who are in the fullest enjoyment of his gifts?
Now it is a most blessed, as it is a natural effect of age, to
cure this inattention, the greatest of all other imattentions.
Most things, when men grow older, take a different appear-
300 THE ADVANTAGES OF OLD AGE.
ance. When they are to feel pain and sickness, frequent or
long interruptions of health, they begin to understand what a
blessing health is; they begin to wonder that they accounted
so little of it when they had it, that they were so ungrateful to
God Almighty for it. Who, that is advanced in life, does not
make these reflections Who can avoid making them 2 In
like manner, when their senses and faculties begin to fail, they
then begin to learn their value. When their sight grows dim,
they are taught by its decay to know, what, if they knew, they
probably seldom thought of before, how inestimable a gift the
use of their eyes was. They begin to understand the Crea-
tor's care and mercy and bounty in our wonderful formation;
most particularly in the use we have found, and perhaps un-
thankfully enjoyed, of this small but astonishing organ. As their
faculty of hearing grows dull, or difficult, or imperfect, and
whilst they lament its incurable decline, or strive a little longer
to preserve it, they at the same time are made to comprehend
how unworthily they judged of this matter, when all the reflec-
tion that passed in their mind upon it was, that they heard
sounds as others heard them, that if they conversed and were
entertained, it was only as others conversed and were entertain-
ed. They did not perceive it, or think it to be a blessing
coming immediately from God, in the same manner as they
now perceive it to be. Fast and good and salutary reflections
are forced upon them by infirmities, which had very little place
in their minds, when in fact they ought to have had the most,
in the midst of health and strength.
Amongst other points of instruction which are gained from
years, this may be one ; that they bring men to see how much
the gifts of nature excel the gifts of fortune; how much, as our
Saviour expresses it, the life is more than meat, and the body
than raiment; how much health, for instance, is above riches;
strength and activity of our own above the help and attendance
of others; nature in all things above art; beauty above dress;
the use of our eyesight more precious, by a thousand degrees,
than treasures of gold and silver; of hearing, than all the titles
and honors and distinctions in the world. I do not say that in
youth men do not believe this assertion, but they do not reflect
upon it. It is a thought which does not readily come into their
minds; when, if ever they live to find the declension or depar-
ture of these blessings, then they will know, that the things
which they receive immediately, as it were, from the hands of
our Creator, and which the poor receive equally at least, and
perhaps more than equally, with the rich, are, beyond all price
THE ADVANTAGES OF old AGE. 301
and calculation and comparison, superior to what they receive
by any thing that proceeds from civil or social intercourse.
They are then convinced how poor and contemptible, how mis-
placed and miscalculated, is not only the indulgence of their
bad propensities, but the objects for which they indulge them ;
when they are taught that riches and honors are what they have
been used to envy and covet; the gifts of their Maker are what
they have neglected, passed over, and abused, what they have
never thought of in relation to the Benefactor who gave them,
or with a feeling of everlasting gratitude which is due to him for
So great and gracious a blessing. -
Again, old age brings us to know the value of the blessings
which we have enjoyed, and it brings us also to a very thank-
ful perception of those which yet remain. Is a man advanced
in life? The ease of a single day, the rest of a single night,
are gifts which may be subjects of gratitude to God. He is
sensible of the gift. The gifts of God are not more or greater
to one state of life than another; but a great many very impor-
tant circumstances belonging to their states, which by the young
and strong are regarded as no advantages, are felt by the old
as very great blessings, and felt with great satisfaction and thank-
fulness. Ease to the young is insipid, and, if continued, weari-
some ; to the old it is sufficient to constitute enjoyment. It
has been said of these two periods of life, that young men are
never happy but when they are in the pursuit or enjoyment of
pleasure, that old men are happy when they are at ease. The
young are fretful, and restless, and impatient, under the mere
absence of pain ; the old, on the contrary, draw actual enjoy-
ment from this state. I think this is a true account, and that
it was intended so to be. The young were intended for activ-
ity, and they were, therefore, to be stimulated and spurred on
to exertion. It would not have agreed with the intention of an
all wise Providence to have made them content with ease.
The old, on the other hand, were designed for repose ; which
design is indicated, not only by the gradual declension of their
active powers, but by the increasing satisfaction which they find
in repose. Herein old age has the advantage over youth.
Ease is more readily attainable than pleasure. The time of
life and state of constitution which may be made happy by
ease, may be blessed with a portion of happiness which its
more flourishing periods may never yet have obtained. The
truth seems to be, that God has provided for each season of life
its own satisfactions. A well ordered mind not only perceives
this in general, but makes the very interruption and decay and
302 THE ADVANTAGES OF OLD AGE.
loss of former faculties, a reason for being more exceedingly
thankful for those which are left. If his strength fail, he draws
more happiness from the use of that which is left.
Now every thing which is of a nature to turn the thoughts to
God in religion, or rather may be and ought to be a source of
religion, and whatever has a tendency to make us look upon
God as the father of all these benefits, see him in his gifts, re-
fer to him all our comforts, understand our close and intimate
dependence upon him both in body and soul, for our bodily
ease as well as mental tranquillity; every thing, in a word,
which stirs and excites our affection towards him, may produce
in us a near application to religion; may carry us to it in the
best way. And we may therefore say, that advanced years
ought to dispose men to their religion on this very account, that
they make them more sensible of the gifts and graces and bless-
ings of our Creator than youth usually is ; I do not mean to
say, than youth ought to be ; the contrary is the truth; but than
youth usually is. -
Again; it is scarcely possible that any man can have lived
to sixty or seventy years without having experienced many
special blessings; I do not mean that general providence, by
which his life has been for so long time preserved and contin-
ued to him, but many special favors and mercies in the course
of it. Recollections of this kind, so long as God is pleased to
grant the powers of recollection, ought to employ the minds of
those in particular who are advanced in years, and raise their
thoughts to God. Either they have been critically perhaps
preserved from sin, which, though they did not think so at the
time, they now acknowledge to have been the very greatest of
all possible mercies; or, though they have fallen, or perhaps
rushed headlong into sin, they were not ruined by it, as they
might have been ruined ; they escaped many of the conse-
quences of it, which might have destroyed them. They were
spared in order to repent. They were saved and snatched as
a brand out of the fire. These are truly spiritual blessings.
These are points and marks of Providence which ought to be
peculiarly grateful to aged men, and which they should delight
to meditate upon, both because they are immediately and in-
timately connected with that salvation in which they now ought
to be more peculiarly interested, and leading their contempla-
tion into that eternity they do certainly border upon ; and also,
because the chief and natural satisfaction of old age is mental
rather than bodily. But even here many recollections crowd
upon a mind even less sensible to the gratifications of thought
THE ADVANTAGES OF OLD AGE: 303
and serious meditation. They may have been recovered and
rescued in times of great bodily danger. Their lives and limbs
have been preserved to them through some great perils, some
extraordinary accidents, some severe sickness. They have
often been drawn near to the edge and brink of their mortal
fate. They have stood upon the precipice of death and con-
fines of eternity; and what makes such preservation a mercy
indeed is that which I fear too many of us but too well remem-
ber, that if they had been cut off when they were in so much
danger, they had been cut off in their sins. Is not then our
preservation from such dangers, both ghostly and bodily, both
of soul and body, a mercy to be acknowledged with the deep-
est sense of thankfulness and obligation ? Still more shall we
acknowledge it, if we have used the mercy and forbearance of
our Maker as we ought to do; that is, if we have grown better
since; if danger has alarmed and roused us; if our escape has
taught us fear and caution, fear of God, and caution in offend-
ing him. If these beginnings have gone on, and have had the
effect of generating seriousness of temper, holiness and purity
of heart, more spirituality than was formerly felt, stronger faith
and livelier hopes, a gradual rising above the follies of the
world, what may we not attribute to this multitude of years, to
this language, which nature and age so forcibly speak: A ma—
ture age, well instructed by experience, well versed in the
changes and chances of this mortal life, ought to be expected
to have where at last to fix its views, whither to point and di-
rect all its endeavours, from whence to look for any steadfast
ground of consolation, any firm security, any rational object of
pursuit and confidence.
304, DIFFERENT DEGREES OF FUTURE
LV.
DIFFERENT DEGREES OF FUTURE REWARDS AND
PUNISHMENTS.
John W. 29.
They that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done
evil unto the resurrection of damnation.
THERE is a difference introduced into religion of this sort.
From the text, from the mention made of separation merely,
and placing one sort on the right hand and the other on the
left, from the familiar notions and method of speaking of
heaven and hell, of salvation and perdition, we are led to im-
agine that the human species at the day of judgment will be
divided into two kinds; that the one will be advanced in heaven
to supreme happiness, that the other will be consigned in hell
to extreme misery. This is a way of thinking we may easily
and naturally fall into ; but when we come to consider it further,
there are two or three principal difficulties attending this
opinion on the subject.
First; it seems a defect in the christian religion, that it
nowhere points out the precise quantity of innocence or virtue
sufficient for our salvation, or necessary to entitle us to admis-
sion into heaven. g
Secondly ; that there is no encouragement, according to this
account, to go beyond, or strive after a superior degree of ho-
liness.
Thirdly; that we cannot easily comprehend how it should
be a just dispensation of Providence to advance one part of
mankind to supreme happiness, and commit the other to ex-
treme misery, when there cannot be much to choose between
the worst of the one sort, and the best of the other ; between
the best who are excluded from heaven, and the worst who are
received into it.
Now for the satisfaction of these several doubts and difficul-
ties, I shall endeavour to show, that it is most agreeable to our
conception of divine justice, and also consonant to the language
of Scripture, to suppose, that there are prepared for us rewards
and punishments of all possible degrees and varieties, from the
most exalted happiness down to extreme misery; upon which
REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS. 305
plan satisfactory answers may be given to all the difficulties
just now stated.
First ; that it is in its nature impossible, and upon this plan
needless, to ascertain the precise quantity of virtue necessary
to salvation. -
Secondly ; that upon this plan our labor is never in vain,
that we have encouragement to proceed from virtue to virtue,
from one degree of goodness to another, till we attain the ut-
most which our ability and opportunity admit of. •
Thirdly; that this plan totally subverts all objection to the
divine economy, in not adapting the degrees of reward and
punishment, to the degrees of virtue and vice.
These points I shall speak to distinctly, and in their order.
It is most agreeable to our natural conceptions of justice to
suppose that there are prepared for us rewards and punish-
ments of every possible degree. It is hardly necessary to
contend that there exists an almost infinite variety of virtue and
vice, of merit and demerit, in different persons. The conduct
of any great number of persons is seldom alike or the same,
though they may be all virtuous, or all innocent, or all vicious;
but that is not the whole. The same conduct is capable of
very different degrees of virtue or guilt, according to the abili-
ties, the opportunities, and the temptations. In acts of good-
ness, the merit will be proportionably increased, as the abili-
ties to perform them are less, and as greater acts of selfdenial
and exertion are requisite. The opportunities, which happen
to different men of doing good, are also very various, and con-
stitute a proportionable variety in the character; for every op-
portunity neglected becomes a vice. In estimating the guilt of
criminal actions, it would be extremely unfair to have no con-
sideration by which the criminal was urged. A man who
steals for want is wrong, but it would be hard to place the
crime upon a level with his who steals to support his vices, to
indulge his vanity, to supply his pleasures. Now the actual
conduct of different persons being different, and the same con-
duct differing in merit and demerit, according to the daily op-
portunity and temptation which the agent, experienced, all
which circumstances are subject to a multiplied variety, it
must follow, that guilt and virtue in different individuals differ
in every possible degree; that whatever reason there is to ex-
pect from the Divine Being that he will reward virtue and
unish vice at all, we have the same reason to expect, as far
as the light of nature goes, that he will adapt his rewards and
punishments in exact proportion to the virtue or guilt of those
3
306 DIFFERENT DEGREES OF FUTURE
who stand at his judgment seat. Very true, it is not thus in
human judicature. The same punishment is inflicted upon
crimes of very different color and malignancy; and crimes of
the same denomination have very different guilt in different
persons and different circumstances. But this is a defect in
human laws, and proceeds from a defect of power. We have
no knowledge of each other's motives and circumstances, to be
able to ascertain with precision our mutual merit or guilt; or,
if we could, there exists not within the compass of human treat-
ment that precise gradation of punishment which is necessary
to a perfect retribution of so much pain for so much guilt; but
no such defect either of knowledge or power can be imputed
to the Deity. He knows the secrets of our hearts, the true
motive and the exact value of every virtue, all the circum-
stances of aggravation and mitigation which attend every
crime, and he can form and mould his creatures, so as to
make them susceptible of every degree of happiness, and of
every degree of misery. But in truth, this part of the subject,
the consistency of the plan with natural reason and justice, ad-
mits of little doubt. The only doubt, if any, is whether it be
sufficiently consonant with the several declarations of scrip-
ture.
I propose to show but three passages of scripture, which ex-
pressly affirm this difference and gradation of rewards and pun-
ishments, and that there are none inconsistent with it. Passages
to this effect are, first, Luke xii. 47. The servant which knew
his Lord’s will and prepared not himself, neither did according
to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes; but he that knew
not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten
with few stripes. Here different degrees of punishment are
plainly asserted. Both-were evil doers, but in a different de-
gree. Accordingly both were to be punished, but with a pro-
portionable difference; both were to be beaten, but one with
many stripes, the other with few. A diversity of rewards is
also to be collected from the parable of the ten pieces of money,
as recorded in the nineteenth chapter of St Luke. “And he
called his ten servants, and delivered unto them ten pounds;
and when he returned, the first came, saying, Thy pound hath
gained ten pounds; and he said unto him, Well done, thou
good servant; because thou hast been faithful over a very little,
have thou authority over ten cities. And the second came,
saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds; and he said
likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities.” Here, you ob-
serve, both were virtuous, both were rewarded ; but the virtue
REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS. 307
and diligence of the one was double that of the other, and his “
reward was double. When our Saviour speaks of the last in
the kingdom of heaven, it shows that there are greater and less
in that kingdom. When he says that it shall be more tolera-
ble in the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for Cho-
razin and Bethsaida, by reason of the different warnings they
had received, it shows that of the punishment to be denounced
at that awful day, some will be more tolerable and some more
severe. These are our Saviour's own declarations. St Paul
supposes different degrees of punishment in the tenth chap-
ter of Hebrews, twentyeighth, twentyninth verses; ‘He that
despised Moses's law died without mercy; of how much sorer
punishment shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under
foot the Son of God P’ And still more positively he notices
the difference, in the rewards we are to expect, proportioned
to our different merit, 2 Cor. ix. 6; “This I say, he which
Soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which sow-
eth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” These words are
directly to our purpose. We are authorized to say, therefore,
that there are passages of scripture which plainly suppose a
distinction of rewards, and a distinction of punishments.
And we further say, that there are none which contradict it.
It is true there are various passages of scripture which speak of
a place of happiness, and a place of misery, of being received
into, and sitting down in the kingdom of heaven, and of being
thrust out into outer darkness where the worm dieth not, and
the fire is not quenched; of the children of God, and the chil-
dren of the devil; of saving the soul and losing it. These
at first sight, and strictly taken, seem to intimate that there
are two, and only two states, one of great happiness, and the
other of great misery; and that one or other of these two
conditions is to be the destiny of every man. But if you come
to consider these expressions, what is there in them after all?
Do not we ourselves perpetually speak of the good and the bad,
of the righteous and the wicked, of virtue and vice, of well
doers and evil doers? Yet do these expressions imply, or are
the persons who use them understood to assert, that all the
good are equally good, and all the bad equally bad that be-
cause we mention only two distinctions of actions, of virtue and
vice, that there are only two? that there are not also degrees
and distinctions in different virtues and betwixt different vices?
In like manner we speak of happiness and misery, and of many
men as either enjoying the one or suffering the other; but do
these terms exclude all degrees of difference in happiness and
308 DEGREES OF REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS.
misery Do they import that the happy are equally blessed,
or the miserable equally wretched 2 If, therefore, no such con-
struction is to be put on the terms and phrases we are every
day using, is it to be insisted on, or supposed to be intended,
in similar terms and phrases when they occur in scripture ?
Having then shown that it is both reasonable and scriptural
to believe that there are prepared for us rewards and punish-
ments of every possible degree, from the highest happiness
down to extreme misery, I proceed to consider the uses to be
made of the doctrine, for the purpose of resolving the difficul-
ties and objections before stated. And first, as to the objec-
tion that is made to the scriptures, that they have not defined
with exactness the precise quantity of virtue necessary to sal-
vation, we conceive that this, so far as we can judge, was im-
practicable, and upon the plan we have explained unnecessary.
It is impracticable; for however a revelation be imparted origi-
mally to the prophet or apostle who receives the inspiration
from God, it must be communicated from him to others, by
the ordinary and natural vehicle of language. It behoves those
who make the objection to show that any form of words could
be devised, which might express this quantity, or that it is pos-
sible to constitute such a standard of moral attainments, accom-
modated to the almost infinite diversities which subsist in the
capacities and opportunities of different men. Would it be
equitable, according to our conceptions of equity, to exact the
same from an unbelieving Indian, that might reasonably be re-
quired of a well informed Christian 2 and if you attempt to
compute the degrees that exist between these two extremes,
they will soon be found too numerous and too various to be as-
certained by any description which words can convey. Second-
ly, it is unnecessary; for upon the plan of a gradation of re-
wards and punishments, whatever advancement we make in
virtue, we procure a proportionable accession of future happi-
ness; as on the other hand, any accumulation of vice is the
treasuring up so much wrath against the day of wrath ; which
is all that is needful for us to know or to act upon. And this
contains an answer to the objection, that there is no encourage-
ment to strive after superior attainments in virtue and holiness.
According to this account there is the greatest. In our Father's
house are many mansions, of different capacities for happiness;
and it is our business, as it is in our power, to promote and ad-
vance our good hereafter, by suitable endeavours and exertions
here. Again, we are thus enabled to reply to the difficulty
that has been started, that this distribution of rewards and pun-
THE BEING OF GOD DEMONSTRATED. 309
ishments into heaven and hell, into a state of happiness and a
state of misery, cannot easily be reconciled to practice, because
there must be little to choose between the worst who are re-
ceived into the kingdom of heaven, and the best who are ex-
cluded; for how know we but that there may be little to choose
in these conditions? It will be so upon the supposition, which
appears so agreeable to reason and scripture, that the various
conditions of our future life will descend by insensible steps
from extreme happiness to extreme misery.
Lastly; the whole doctrine, and these several observations
upon it, all meet in one point, tending to establish that one
magnificent conclusion, that be our endeavours after virtue ever
so vigorous, continued or well directed, our labor is not in
vain. We know in whom we trust; that from his righteous
judgment we may look for a full and complete reward, for a
crown of glory and bliss, not only proportioned to, but exceed-
ing, all we may, as well as can, either conceive or desire.
LVI.
THE BEING OF GOD DEMONSTRATED IN THE
WORKS OF CREATION. *
PART I.
HEBREws XI. 3. '
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God,
so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
THE belief of a God is the corner stone of all religion.
Whatever be a man’s persuasion, whether he be Christian, Jew,
Mahometan, or Pagan, this is the point assented to by all; be-
cause, without this, if there be in truth no God, all religions are
equally vain. It is said that there neither is, nor ever was, a
country or nation in the whole world that did not believe a God
in some way, how much soever disguised and corrupted. What-
ever senseless opinions and absurd and barbarous rites were
* The few following Sermons may seem placed out of their order; but they
are added as protographs of the Natural Theology and the Evidences of Chris-
tianity. They appear to have been written between 1780 and 1790. -
310 THE BEING OF GOD DEMONSTRATED
mixed up with it, whatever superstructure of superstition and
idolatry had been built upon it, still there was a belief of God
at the bottom. Whether this be exactly true or not, I do not
know; but it is undoubtedly true, that, if there be any tribe of
men without the notion of a God, it is some tribe so stupid and
savage, so destitute of all heed and consideration, as to be, in
the concerns of religion, precisely in the condition of a child of
two or three years old. There may be, perhaps, some few
who are taken up entirely with things present, with sensual and
animal gratifications, without any more idea of religion, or of
what is to become of them after death, or of a God, ruling and
existing above them, than an infant has among us; possibly
there may be a very few such. But of all others, of all the
civilized, of all the rational, of all the cultivated parts of the
world, it may be affirmed with certainty, that the belief in a
God is universal.
Now, undoubtedly, there must be some strong plain reason
for this opinion, that would strike the understanding of mankind
in all ages and countries so forcibly as to produce such a uni-
versal agreement amongst them. Distant regions and distant
ages could never all hit upon the same conclusion, if there was
not some evident proof that led them to it, some argument com-
prehended, that carried irresistibly to the same truth. Which
argument is no other than simply this; marks of contrivance in
nature abound every where about us, therefore there must have
Been a contriver; proofs of design and intention are to be
seen on all hands, therefore there must have been some one to
have designed and intended. But this we are clear in ; that
no human being, no being we see upon the face of the earth,
could be the author of these contrivances; therefore it must be
some other being, whom we do not see. This is the upshot of
the argument; and it is not an argument for scholars only, for
men of study and learning; it is an argument open and level
to every capacity in the world; a sensible husbandman and a
sensible mechanic, who think at all, will see thus far as per-
fectly as the best scholar in the world. Does any one doubt
that vegetation was a thing designed 2 The seed, the blade,
the stem, the flower, the ear ; the whole process, from the first
budding to final decay, was a process planned and laid down.
I say, that proofs of contrivance, and design, and intent, abound.
Does any man doubt but that the eyes in our head were de-
signed, intended, and contrived to see with ; that the tongue
was designed to speak, the teeth to eat, the hands and fingers
to handle and touch, the feet to walk with ? If there be a man
IN THE WORKS OF CREATION. 311
breathing who doubts of this, that man can be convinced of
nothing. Well, then, if they were so designed, they must have
been designed by some one ; if they were contrived for these
purposes, there must have been a contriver. Surely, this is
plain. But we are very certain that no being which we see
did make or contrive these things. Who could make or con-
trive them No man in the world, not all the men in the
world, could make the eyes of a single insect, the limb of a fly,
the feather of a bird, the scale of a fish, a grain of corn, or
even a leaf of the vilest weed that grows upon the roadside.
This, I think, will be allowed. Seeing these things were con-
trived and designed for the various uses which they serve by
some being or other, and since they certainly were not con-
trived or designed by men, or by any body that we see upon
the face of the earth, there must necessarily be some other
being, whom we do not see, that was the maker, author, and
contriver of all these wonderful effects.
I have said that this argument is intelligible to the simplest
man living ; it is no other than briefly this; Suppose, in walk-
ing upon a wide common, we should trip upon a stone lying
upon the ground. If we were asked how the stone came there,
possibly we might answer, that, for any thing we knew, it had
lain there for ever ; and it might not be very easy to show that
there was any absurdity in this answer. But suppose we had
met with a watch lying on the ground, and you should ask how
it came to pass that a watch was in that place, we should never
think of the answer we gave to the same question before ; that
for any thing that appeared to us, it might have lain there for
ever. And why might not this answer serve for the watch, as
it did for the stone * Why was it not as reasonable in the one
case as the other ? On this plain account; because, when we
examine the watch, we perceive that its several parts are
planned, contrived, and put together with design, and for a
purpose; that they are so constructed as to produce motion,
and that motion so regulated as to point out the hour of the
day; from whence we are perfectly certain that it must have
had a maker ; that there must have been Some one, at some
time, and in some place, who planned, and intended, and fash-
ioned it, in the manner and for the purpose for which we see
it planned and fashioned ; who governed, constructed, and
designed its use. Now, if there was no artist that we knew or
had seen who was capable of making such an instrument, that
surely would be no objection to the certainty of what we had
concluded, that it was made by art. It would only prove that
312 THE BEING OF GOD DEMONSTRATED
the artist, whoever he was, that fabricated this machine, existed
in some other country, or at some former time.
The brief statement of the case is this ; Whatever reason
we have to believe that every house must have had a builder,
that a watch must have had a maker, that a book must have
had an author; that very same reason we have to know that
the world must have had a Creator. The one is just as certain
as the other; the proof is the same in both. There is, indeed,
a difference in the two cases, which is this; that whereas, in
the works of men's hands, every individual piece of art is made
by its artist, every individual house has its builder, every single
watch has its maker, every particular book has its author and
printer; whereas, I say, this is the case with works of art, the
works of nature, on the contrary, produce one another. Plants
produce plants of the same kind; animals beget and bring forth
other animals of the same species; and thus the race and succes-
sion is kept up for ever. We must be all sensible of this differ-
ence between nature and art. One watch never produces another
watch, as one animal does another animal. Now this differ-
ence, I say, greatly magnifies the contrivance on the part of
nature, above all the attempts of art, and makes the proof of
contrivance proportionably stronger. Suppose a watch could
be so wonderfully made, as not only to go with perfect exact-
ness itself, but so constructed within as to produce in the course
of its motion other machines of the same kind ; to contain
within itself such mould and machinery as to cast and frame
individuals like itself; would not this add exceedingly to the
curiosity and art of the contrivance As this required a me-
chanism vastly more intricate, vastly more complete, so would it
proportionably raise our admiration of the maker’s skill and
ingenuity. And if the simple machine, of itself, proved unde-
niably, by the very examination of it, that it must have had a
contriver, and a contriver too of great skill and art, much
more, with this improvement, with this new and additional
property, would it demonstrate the same thing. Now what
we should so much wonder at in a piece of machinery or clock-
work, namely, the power of producing its like, and which
never has been compassed in any piece of machinery yet, is
the very fact in the works of nature, and is as much a part of
the contrivance, and surely as admirable and astonishing a part
of the contrivance, as any other. We will not, therefore, be
so absurd as to say that an animal or plant, for instance, with-
out this property, would be exactly like a watch or a clock, in
respect to its being contrived, and would equally prove that it
IN THE WORKS OF CREATION. 313
must have had a contriver, but that with this property, which
is indeed a prodigious improvement, it does not prove the same
thing. We cannot, I say, be so absurd as to argue thus. And
yet, in fact, the circumstance of animals and plants being pro-
duced from parent animals and parent plants, takes off greatly
our notice from the original maker and contriver of them all ;
because we do not see the artist, as it were, at work, as if he
delivered each individual from his own hand, or produced each
plant and animal by an immediate act of creation. We say
the parent bird produces its young; yet it is no more the pa-
rent animal that makes the young animal, than it is the hus-
bandman who sows the seed, that makes the young plant grow
out of it. It is not he that makes the corn spring up, first the
blade, then the stem, then the ear, then the seed in the ear ;
nor do we ever imagine it. Therefore I wish to have this well
impressed and understood ; that if the formation of a plant or
animal proves a maker and contriver, as much, at least, as the
mechanism of a watch or clock proves a maker and contriver;
not less certainly, but much more so, does it prove it, when
there is added to the plant or animal this new and surprising
power, which excels all the rest, namely, that of producing
another.
We conclude then, with most undoubting assurance, that all
things about us had a maker; because we have precisely the
same ground for our opinion that we have for saying every
house must have had a builder, or every watch a maker. The
plain mark of contrivance is the proof in both cases. But the
force and impression of the proof will, in a greatmeasure, depend
upon the observation we make of these contrivances ourselves.
A few instances that we discover, or even take notice of, of our
own accord, will strike us more powerfully than a hundred that
are related by others, and more powerfully a great deal than
any general argumentation upon the subject. And this brings
me to what I would most earnestly recommend to any one who
hears me, namely, a way and habit of remarking and contem-
plating the works and mysteries of nature. It is a delightful
and reasonable and pious exercise of our thoughts ; it is often-
times the very first thing that leads to a religious disposition.
The best, and greatest, and wisest men in all ages were they
who made this use of their understandings, and this application
of their studies. But what is more, it is in a sufficient degree
open to the level of every capacity. We are not to excuse
ourselves, by saying such things are above our comprehension.
This is not above any man’s comprehension. The very herbage
40
314 THE BEING OF GOD DEMONSTRATED
which he walks upon in his field, the grass he uses for his
cattle, the lambs of his flock, and the herds grazing around
him ; the birds of the air, and the very insects on the wing,
may discover evident marks of design, and undeniable tokens
of intention and contrivance; and it must and ought to be a
great consolation to us all, that this point at least is certain,
that whatever difficulties or disputes there be in religion, one
thing, however, is clear; that in this world of darkness, sorrow,
and confusion, we have this firm foundation to rest our foot
upon, that there is a God above, that there is a king, whom we
do not see, who is the artificer and framer, the author, cause,
and contriver, of every thing which we do see.
LVII.
THE BEING OF GOD DEMONSTRATED IN THE
WORKS OF CREATION,
HEBREws XI. 3.
Through faith we understand that the worlds were formed by the word of
God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do
appear.
IN a former discourse upon this text, I undertook to show
that we have as much reason to know that the world had a
creator as we have for knowing that every house had a builder,
or every watch a maker; and that as we are very sure that no
being, whom we see or are acquainted with, could make the
world, we rightly conclude that it must be some being whom
we do not see. This reasoning seems as short and plain as
any thing can be, yet the impression and force of it is not
always felt by us so strongly as might be expected. I will
therefore, in the following discourse, point out some of the
causes which shut out this argument, in some measure, from
our thoughts, or rather take off our observation from the proofs
and evidences of God’s agency and existence, which on every
hand surround us. ^*. -
Now one thing which diminishes greatly man’s conviction of
the being and power of God, especially with persons who do
not bestow much thought upon the subject, is, that they do not
IN THE WORKS OF CREATION. 315
see him. “No man hath seen God at any time;’ and the
want of this, of actually perceiving him with our senses, has a
very considerable effect upon the persuasion of all who are
not accustomed to reflection. The evidence of our senses, or
the testimony of other men's, is the strong and natural proof of
the reality and existence of most things, and with many, the
only proof they will attend to. To believe any thing to exist
and act, which yet cannot be seen or felt, and which no man
hath seen or felt, requires a reach of thought which many,
from want of habits of seriousness and meditation, do not attain
to. We see and hear one another, and therefore doubt not of
one another’s existence. We do not see God and hear him,
and therefore it is to reason and argument we must appeal, to
be satisfied of his existence. There are, I am confident, reasons
and arguments, so strong and plain, that no man can well with-
stand them, or not have his judgment convinced by them; yet
still the fact of never seeing this great being, or perceiving him
with our senses, brings upon the subject a kind of suspense and
hesitation. The most natural way of delivering our thoughts
from any doubts on this account, is to consider, that there are
many other things besides the Deity, of the existence and
reality of which we have no doubt, nor can have any doubt,
which nevertheless we do not see, nor can see, nor ever were
S661].
A stone drops to the ground. Something must draw it
thither; something must influence and act upon it, to cause it
to fall down rather than fly upwards, to urge it constantly to
seek and press towards the lowest place rather than any other
part, or in any other direction; yet no eye can see what it is
that thus acts upon the stone. Shall we therefore say that
nothing acts upon it? That this constant and powerful effect
has no cause to produce it, because we perceive none with our
senses? This is one plain instance. Here is something of
vast efficacy and activity, which is spread and diffused through
every part of space that we are acquainted with. Go where
we will, we meet with it; in ourselves, in every thing about us.
Whatever has weight, and all bodies have it more or less, feels
and suffers the influence of this universal agent; yet nothing is
to be seen all the while, no visible stream or fluid driving or
carrying all bodies to the centre, no discernible pull or hold
which drags them to it. e
Another similar example may be taken from the loadstone.
It draws a needle towards it. Something or other must pass
between it and the needle to produce this effect, yet nothing is
316 THE BEING OF GOD DEMONSTRATED.
seen. This property in the loadstone necessarily depends upon
some body communicating between it and the needle, yet no
communication is in the smallest degree perceptible. We can-
not deny the existence of this communicating substance, be-
cause we see effects which cannot be accounted for without
it; yet it is a substance as impossible to be found out by sight
or touch as the essence of the Deity. The same needle,
which is touched with the loadstone, immediately turns to the
north and south; if it has liberty to move, it will rest in no
other position. Now it must have received something from the
loadstone to give it this new and strange property; but what?
Nothing that we can discover by our senses. Examine the
needle as you will, you will find nothing in it different from
what it had before, no change, no addition is to be perceived ;
yet a great change is wrought, a great addition is made to the
former properties of the needle.
What is said of the loadstone is true also of another surpris–
ing quality of bodies, electricity. By the mºere rubbing of a
glass or plate, a metal may be made to gather from it a quan-
tity of something or other, so strong and violent in its effects
as to kill the person who touches it; yet nothing is seen to be
collected by the glass, or given to the metal, nothing is per-
ceived to cover the surface of either, or to rest upon it, till the
dreadful shock we receive from it informs us that there is
something present which cannot be seen, and which, though
unseen, possesses irresistible strength and efficacy. Certainly,
therefore, there are in nature, near us also, and about us, per-
vading and filling, likewise, every part of space we are ac-
quainted with, powerful and active substances which yet are
totally invisible to human eyes. What difficulty, then, in con-
ceiving that the great and mighty cause of all things should
exist, and perceive, and act, and be present through all nature,
and all regions of nature, and yet remain imperceptible to our
senses otherwise than by his effects; should see all things, yet
himself be unseen ; should be about our path and about our
bed, not far from every one of us, and yet invisible; should
know what passes both around us and within us, and yet him-
self be concealed from our eyes? We see not our own souls,
what it is within us which thinks, nor can we find it out by dis-
secting or scrutinizing human bodies ever so exactly ; much
less are our senses capable of piercing that infinite spirit which
fills and governs the universe.
Another cause, that hides the operations of God from our
thoughts, is a certain manner of speaking into which we have
IN THE WORKS OF CREATION. 317
fallen. We are accustomed to say that nature does this, and
mature does that ; that nature makes the earth to shoot forth
its vegetation in the spring, and to ripen its grains and fruits in
the autumn. If a person appear surprised at the way a bird
builds its nest, broods over its eggs, hatches its young, and
trains up its offspring, we think we satisfy him by telling him it
is all nature’s work and nature's doing; it is the law and ordi-
nance of nature. Or do we happen to admire the growth of a
plant, to see the seed appear, the blade spring out, the leaves
and flowers one after another open and unfold themselves, the
new grain or fruit gradually formed, fed, and matured by the
parent stem, all proceeding through their several changes in
due and constant order? Or are we surprised to see the same
plot of ground, the same lump of earth, at once producing
and supporting a hundred different kinds of plants, which
though so various and unlike, all draw nourishment and sub-
sistence from the same heap of mould We are told that
these things indeed are very curious, but it is nothing more
than natural ; it is the nature of such seeds to germinate
and grow, and it is the nature of the earth or the soil to
yield and bring forth herbs and plants of all variety and dis-
tinctions of color, form, and fragrance; and this is an answer
that lays asleep our curiosity and stops our inquiry.
Now what all the while does this same nature mean? What
does it amount to ? If, when we call a thing the work of
nature, we mean only to say that it is not the work of art, that
it is not a man’s doing, we speak rationally and truly. But if
we carry the matter farther, and by talking of, or considering
the works of nature, we begin to suppose there is such a thing
in reality as nature, which actually performs and produces the
works and effects we ascribe to it, we lead our inquiries into
the same error; for take any of the expressions we commonly
make use of, such as that nature teaches the parent bird to
build its nest, what else does nature in this sentence mean If
it means that God, the author and framer of all things, of the
least as well as the largest parts of the creation, that God, I
say, teaches, or prompts, or impels the bird to this office, or
that he used a train of causes to do this, it means what is very
true; but then we had better say so at once, or at least carry
this signification in our thoughts, though we clothe it in some
different form of words. So, in like manner, when we assert
that it is nature, or that it is the force of nature, that covers
the earth with verdure, makes trees and plants push out their
leaves with renewed vigor as the season of every year returns,
318 THE BEING OF GOD DEMONSTRATED
we should say that it is God who does this, that it is the power
of God which causes these effects; for if the word nature, in
these expressions, does not mean God himself, what does it
mean? What other different sense can be given it, to be intel-
ligible 2 To say that God does one thing or causes another, is
speaking what we can understand; because God is an actual
efficient being. There is a real agent for the operation, a real
cause for a real effect. But when we talk of nature as the
cause or doer of any thing, when, in truth, there is no such
being as nature at all, distinct and separate from God himself,
it is to set up a new word or name, or at least a mere imaginary
existence, as the actual worker and performer of natural pro-
ductions. In some other expressions, the absurdity, when
the expressions come to be examined, is more flagrant. By
way of accounting for any beautiful or curious appearance,
which we observe amongst the varieties with which the earth
is covered, we say it is the nature of the plant, or the nature
of the soil? What nature ? The nature of the plant. What
is this 2 If it stands for any thing, it stands for the law, and
order, and power of God, according to which he carries on the
increase and restitution of the plant; so that we should in
truth and propriety say, when we would give a reason, if it can
be called a reason, for the curious construction and beautiful
formation of a plant or animal, instead of saying it belongs to the
nature of such a plant or animal, that it is the method in which
God has contrived, and according to which he made and still
preserves it. Nature is nothing; is no real being ; has no
reality or existence. It is God who is all in all. The word
nature, when we use it, unless it means the power of God,
means nothing. We should therefore accustom ourselves to
say nothing but what is the plain truth, that God does make or
produce all things, instead of saying that nature does either the
one or the other. Or, if we conform to customary and estab-
lished ways of speaking, we should carefully bear in mind that
what we call nature is in truth God; that it is he whom we
mean, that he alone is the agent in all these things, and that
nature is only the method by which he chooses to act and
operate amongst us.
But, lastly, another circumstance, which takes off our atten-
tion from the works of God, is their regularity. All these, we
see, proceed in a regular manner. Day and night succeed
one another; the sun rises and sets at its own stated time and
place; the sea ebbs and flows as it has done before ; the sea-
sons, and the changes which belong to them, come round in
IN THE WORKS OF CREATION. 319
their stated order; this, I say, takes off the mind from remark-
ing that they are effected at all, or that there must be necessa-
rily some great being at work to bring them to pass. Should
we see a miracle, the Sun, for instance, to stand still, or the
tide cease to flow, we should not doubt but that there was a
power and cause from which to produce it; but it does not
strike us, what yet is very certain, that there is an equal neces-
sity for a power and a cause for carrying on the course of
things. “Since the fathers fell asleep, all things,’ we are apt,
as St Peter observes, to say, ‘continue the same from the be-
ginning of the world; ” but does this less prove the hand of a
master, because they go on truly and exactly 2 Because God
is pleased, in his general operations, to act regularly, shall we
think that he does not act at all 2 especially when that very
regularity is one great perfection of his works? How would
husbandry be carried on, if the seasons were not regular, and
to be depended upon beforehand? How could the navigation
of the sea be managed if its tides were not constant 2 This
circumstance shows, therefore, infinite wisdom; but it does
not show the less power, or any less certainty of that power
having been exerted. Without a cause, without a contriver,
without a maker, without a power to produce these things, they
could no more come to pass regularly than they could irregu-
larly. The sun could no more rise or set in a certain course
than in an uncertain one.
To sum up the whole. There cannot be a more sure proof
that a house must have had a builder, or a watch a maker,
than there is that a world had a Creator; and this proof is
neither more nor less valid, because that Creator, like many of
the great powers of the universe of whose existence we are
nevertheless convinced, is invisible to our eyes; nor yet be-
cause we have fallen into a way of attributing things to nature,
which, at the best, means nothing, instead of regarding things
as the operations of God; nor, lastly, because the general
works of the Deity, instead of surprising us by strange and un-
natural appearances, for the most part proceed in a constant
and regular order.
320 UNITY OF GOD.
LVIII.
UNITY OF GOD.
MARK XII. 29.
Hear, O Israel! the Lord our God is one Lord.
WE have been so much accustomed to think and speak of
one God, as the maker and governor of the universe, and to
hear all use the same language, and express the same persua-
sion about the matter, that we are not easily brought to suspect
that the notions of mankind upon the subject were ever differ-
ent from what they are ; whereas in truth, before the reception
of Christianity in the world, the people of almost every country,
the Jews excepted, maintained that there existed a great num-
ber and variety of gods, dwelling together in heaven, and
governing the world amongst them ; endowed with different
powers and dispositions; exercising different offices, and pre-
siding over different events; sometimes carrying on the affairs
of the universe, as it were, in conjunction, and sometimes striv-
ing and contending with one another about them. This was
the ancient belief of a great part of the world; and although
many are now brought to the same opinion upon the subject,
namely, that there is one, and only one God in the universe,
yet the case we find was not always so.
In pursuing this subject, of what is called the unity of God,
I shall first lay before you the ground of our assurance that
there is one only God, the author and cause of all things; and
then I shall add some reflections upon the doctrine of one God,
as applicable to the Jewish and Christian dispensations. Now
the argument which proves that there is but one Creator, is the
uniformity of counsel and design observable in the creation ; by
which is meant this, that in every part of the world that we are
acquainted with, the same laws and constitution of nature ob-
tains, and that one part is subservient and essential to another
part, so as to form together one plan, scheme, and system; and
if it appears that one plan, scheme, and system runs through
the whole of the creation, it affords clear and certain inference
that the whole is the conception, contrivance, and design of one
being; for had different beings formed different parts of the
universe, we should undoubtedly have seen throughout differ-
UNITY OF GOD. 321
ent parts different laws of nature, a different order of things,
never perhaps independent of one another, which is not by any
means the fact.
Take, for instance, our globe, the earth on which we tread,
and compare the different regions of it with one another. A
stone falls to the ground in China just as it does in England;
Water runs to a level in both. The same sun rises and sets in
the most distant region of the globe as here; a grain of wheat
Springs up in the same manner in one quarter of the globe that
it does in another; a bird builds its nest in the same way in
whatever country it is found. The same laws of nature hold
in all. In general, the very same species of plants and animals
are to be met with in the several parts of the globe. Men, for
instance, inhabit any part. When a new plant or new animal
is found, the formation of it bears an evident similitude and
analogy to that of the plants and animals with which we are ac-
quainted. Every plant, for instance, has its root, its fibres, its
sap, its flowers, and seed; every animal has much the same
senses of sight, touch, taste, hearing, and smelling; every ani-
mal is male and female; every animal has blood, and is sus-
tained by food; every one has a heart and lungs, brain and
limbs, and this much similar prevails in all creatures; though
new creatures be continually discovered, new laws of nature
never are. The rain descends, the winds blow, the thunder
is heard, the lightning seen ; fire and water, earth and air, pos-
sess the same powers, hold the same place, produce the same
effects, act upon one another in the same manner, in the most
remote and hidden, the hottest and coldest tracts of the earth,
that they do and always have done with us at home.
Now what is the plain inference from hence, but that the
same being is the author of those effects in all these places;
that they have all come from the same hand, have all had one
origin, and one Creator 2 No one can doubt, but that the being
who founded and established the laws of nature here, was the
same being who founded and established the laws of nature in
America; because the laws are throughout the same. The
Creator, who gave to the sparrow that instinct by which it
builds its nest in this country, undoubtedly was he who gave to
the bird its instinct in the most distant parts of the earth ; be-
cause the bird, left to itself, in all countries, would build its nest
the same. This is only a trifling and particular instance; it is
only one example out of many thousands. Throughout the
whole order and economy of nature, in every part of the world
41
322 UNITY OF GOD.
that has been travelled over or found out, there exists a mani-
fest sameness of plan, and scheme, and design.
Then, if we ascend from our globe, which undoubtedly owes
its formation to one hand, to the globes which occupy the fir-
mament, the Sun, moon, and planets in particular, we find
amongst them a relation, a subserviency to one another, which
demonstrate that they are different parts of one system. For
instance; together with our earth, there revolve round the Sun
five, or perhaps six, other planets, all receiving light and heat
from the sun, in like manner as we do; and so influencing and
acting upon our earth, and upon one another, that if it, or any
one of them, was destroyed, the motions of all the rest would
be so disturbed that they would all fall into ruin and confusion.
This shows a system. He that made one made all ; for they
all mutually depend upon each ; the rest could not go on with-
out that one, nor it without them ; consequently they were pro-
duced together, and produced in pursuance of a common plan;
which plan must have existed in the same divine mind, and, as
far as the same plan continues, as far we are sure one and the
same Creator was concerned. To the very extremest limits to
which our knowledge or observation reaches, we find one and
the same God; because we find a uniformity of counsel and
design, a connexion of parts, a relation of things one to another,
which could not be expected to take place amongst the works
and productions of different, independent beings.
And what is a further and undeniable proof that the doctrine
of one God is the genuine dictate of reason, is, that all the rea-
soning part of mankind are now agreed upon it. Whatever
disputes or differences of opinion there may be among thinking
and learned men concerning other points, there is none upon
this; which shows, that however erroneous notions had former-
ly crept in amongst mankind concerning a multitude of gods,
the thing itself is sufficiently certain; for as reason and know-
ledge have made advances and gained ground in the world, men
have gradually come to a pacific agreement about the matter.
“The Lord our God is one Lord ; ' there is none other besides
him ; one and the same ; who made the heavens and the earth,
ourselves, all that is around us, all we see, all we know of.
We now proceed to observe from this doctrine, in regard to
the two great revelations under which we now live, the Jewish
and the Christian, the Old and the New Testaments. Now with
regard to the Old Testament, there is this remarkable undis-
puted fact; that at the time when every other nation and every
other religion in the world held that there were many gods,
UNITY OF GOD. 323
the Jews alone, in the religion of Moses, taught that there was
but one ; so that upon this, the greatest and most important
point in the world, that which is now found out, and allowed,
and agreed upon to be the truth, was contained and delivered in
the bible, at a time when no such opinion was to be met with
among any other persons, or in any other book; but contrary
opinions. How is it to be accounted for, that the people of
the Jews should hit upon the truth, when every other nation
mistook it ; that their nation alone should maintain that there
was one, and only one God, who first produced, and still
governs all things, when the various nations which surrounded
them, all fell into an opposite persuasion ; that Moses should be
the first, and, as far as we find, the only person who delivered
a doctrine which many ages afterwards, and not until many
ages afterwards, the whole world, in a manner, was to be con-
vinced was the truth ; how, I say, shall we account for this,
but by believing, what the scriptures teach us to believe, that
Moses and the fathers of the Jewish nation received it from
God; that it was upon selfevidence that God, in the Old Tes-
tament, expressly taught his peculiar people, and enjoined them
to maintain it; nay more, that this was that great truth which it
was the very end and purpose of this institution to keep in the
world For although it may appear to some to be indifferent
whether a man hold one God or many, besides that nothing
can be indifferent which relates to Almighty God, the fact is,
and always has been, that the opinion of a diversity of gods
leads directly to gross corruption in religion, and, in conse-
quence of this, to gross immoralities in practice ; so that the
knowledge of the one God, and the preservation of this know-
ledge, has always been essential to the preservation of virtue.
In the Old Testament it was preserved, when in was nowhere
else to be found. By the Jewish account it was not only pre-
served, but on many occasions communicated to the rest of the
world ; for as many countries as at any time became acquaint-
ed with this wonderful history, and with it their law, learned
from it that the gods of the heathens were nothing, that in truth,
there was but one God, and he the God of Israel.
But next and lastly, it comes to be considered how the mat-
ter stands in the New Testament, in the Christian dispensation,
under which we live now. I say, that the Christian dispensa-
tion entirely confirms and repeats what the Jewish scripture
of the Old Testament had before delivered ; “Hear, O Israel!’
saith our Saviour himself, ‘the Lord our God is one Lord.”
* We know,” saith St Paul to the Corinthians, ‘that an idol is
324. THE GOODNESS OF GOD PROVED FROM
nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one ;
that, though there be many that are called gods in heaven and
in earth, to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all
things, and one Lord Jesus Christ.’ And again; “There is
one God and Father of us all, who is above all, and in you all.”
These passages are very clear and express, and can never be
mistaken, to us Christians; that is, “There is one God, blessed
for evermore.” We hear, nevertheless, of three divine persons;
we speak of the trinity. We read of the “Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost.” Now concerning these, it is to be observed,
that they must all be understood in such a manner as to be
consistent with the above positive declarations, that there is
‘one only supreme God.” What is that union which subsists
in the divine nature; of what kind is that relation by which the
divine persons of the trinity are connected, we know little ;
perhaps it is not possible that we should know more. But this
we seem to know, first, that neither man nor angel bears the
same relation to God the Father as that which is attributed to
his only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ; and secondly,
that very thing does not break in upon the fundamental truth
of religion, that there is “one only supreme God,” who reigneth
and dwelleth in heaven and on earth, who is All in All, the
same spirit always, unchangeable, “who only hath immortality,
dwelling in light which cannot be approached, whom no man
hath seen, nor can see; to whom be glory and dominion for
ever. Amen.”
LIX.
THE GOODNESS OF GOD PROVED FROM THE LIGHT
OF NATURE AND REVELATION.
PART I.
PsALM XXXIII. 5.
The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
OF all the great and glorious attributes of the being whom
we worship, whose we are, and on whom we depend, none is
so endearing or so important to us as his goodness. That mag-
THE LIGHT OF NATURE AND REVELATION: 325
nificent power which laid the foundation of the earth, which
spread abroad the heavens as a curtain, which assigned for the
sea its channels and its bounds, saying it should not pass them;
who hath brought into being ten thousand worlds like our own,
rolling in the firmament, all of which are put in motion and
sustained in their orbs by his almighty hand ; that consummate
wisdom which created universal nature, which drew such regu-
larity as this out of chaos and confusion, which contrives, with
such exquisite skill, the largest as well as the least part of
creation, from globes of immeasurable magnitude down to the
limbs of insects too small for our eyes to perceive ; although
such are a just and never to be exhausted subject of astonish-
ment and adoration, yet neither of them is of that immediate
concern and consequence to ourselves as the benevolence, and
kindness, and goodness of his disposition; because, if we ever
find that these illustrious qualities are under the direction of a
good and gracious will, then, but not till then, they become a
solid ground of love, and confidence, and resignation, to all who
are to depend upon them besides. If God be not good, what
reason have we to believe that by doing good we please him *
So that the subject of the divine goodness lies at the root of all
morality and religion, of all our rules of conduct, and all our
hopes of happiness.
Now no man hath seen God at any time; we can know
him only by his works and his word. His works are to be taken
into consideration, both from this being the natural order, and
because it is from his works we collect that his word is to be
relied upon. We will therefore state, as briefly as we can, the
argument by which is made out the divine goodness and benevo-
lence to his creatures; for the main thing wanted, in an
argument of this sort, is, that it be short and intelligible, that
every one may retain and revert to it in his own thoughts.
When God created the human species, either he wished
their happiness, or he wished their misery, or he was indiffer-
ent and unconcerned about either; no other supposition is to
be made. If he had wished our misery, he might have made
sure of his purpose by framing our senses to be so many sores
and pains to us, as they are now instruments of gratification
and enjoyment, or by placing us amidst objects as ill suited to
our perceptions as to have continually offended us, instead of
ministering to our refreshment and delight. He might, for ex-
ample, if he had pleased, have made every thing we tasted
bitter, every thing we saw loathsome, every thing we touched
a sting, every smell a stench, and every sound a discord.
326 THE GOODNESS OF GOD PROVED FROM
If he had been indifferent about our happiness or misery,
we must impute to our good fortunes, as all design by this sup-
position is excluded, both the capacity of our senses to receive
pleasure, and the supply of external objects fitted to excite it;
but either of these, and still more both of them, being too much
to be attributed to accident, nothing is left for it but the first
supposition, that God, when he created the human species,
wished their happiness, and made for them the provision he
has made, with that view and for that purpose.
This is the argument in brief; but it deserves to be dis-
played somewhat more at large ; for, I trust, the more it is
considered, the more satisfactory it will be found. The world
about us was certainly made, and made by God, and there are
three suppositions, and only three possible suppositions, as to
the disposition and design with which he made it; either from
a delight in the misery and torment of his creatures, or with a
total unconcern what became of them one way or the other, or
with the good and gracious will and wish that they should enjoy
and be happy in the existence which he was giving them. If
these are the only three possible suppositions, and the first two
can be made out incredible, it will follow that the third is the
true One.
Now the supposition of a malicious purpose, like what
we sometimes hear of in eastern tyrants, a pleasure in the suf-
ferings of others, without any conceivable end and advan-
tage to be answered to themselves, though it be possible he
can do such a thing, is actual mischief, is the perverseness and
corruption of the human heart. Yet it is absolutely excluded
from being the case here ; because the same power which
framed and contrived our several faculties, and made us sus-
ceptible of so many pleasures, and placed so many pleasing
objects within our reach, could, if he had been so minded, have
converted any one of these into instruments of torment and dis-
gust. The power cannot be questioned, because he who could
do one could do the other; he who could make a creature
happy, or capable of happiness, could make it miserable and
destined to inevitable misery. The first supposition, therefore,
I think is clearly out of the question.
Some may think that there is more probability in the second,
namely, that our Creator was unconcerned and indifferent
about either our happiness or misery. I believe, upon inquiry,
it will be found that there is not much more likelihood in this
than in the other; for suppose the Divine Being to have had no
regard, or affection, or solicitude for the happiness of the crea-
THE LIGHT OF NATURE AND REVELATION. 327
tures he was producing, there was nothing but chance for it, or
good fortune as I may say, that we are so well as we are ; for,
as to design in our favor, you say there was none. Now re-
flect for a moment how the chances stand ; what likelihood
was there that such an organ as the eye, for instance, fitted and
contrived for so many valuable purposes both of convenience
and pleasure, should have been the effect of chance That is,
can we imagine that the author of all things, when he planned
and fabricated the useful and exquisite mechanism of this pre-
cious sense, did not forsee and contemplate the uses it was to
serve, and did not mean and intend that the creature to whom
he gave it should receive happiness and enjoyment from it
Was there but this instance in the world, it would be sufficient
to confute the notion that God meant and intended nothing
about our happiness and enjoyment at all. But the eye is but
one sense of five, seeing is but one faculty out of many ; our
hearing, speech, hands, feet, together with the several endow-
ments of our minds and understandings, all admit of the same
observation. If this alone was so small that we could acci-
dentally receive one such important faculty, how out of all pro-
portion and calculation is it, that we should thus find ourselves
in possession of so many | Nor is this all. Suppose we had
the several senses, still they had stood us in little stead, if we
had not been placed amidst objects precisely suited to them ;
our eyesight, for instance, might as well have been denied us, if
the objects which constantly surround us had been too great or
too small, too near or too distant to be perceived. Our taste and
smell had better have been out of the composition, if the meats
that had generally been presented to the one had been nauseous
or insipid, and the odors which exhaled from objects had con-
tinually offended us. It is only particular things that can, from
their nature, please and gratify our senses; and out of the in-
finite variety which the capacity of nature allowed us, how
extraordinary is it, suppose intention and design to have us.
happy to be laid out of the case, that the particular things
should have been created, and still more that we should find
ourselves in the midst of them . These instances appertain to
the human species, because it is the disposition of the Deity
towards his rational creatures which we are inquiring after, and
precisely concerned in ; but all nature speaks the same lan-
guage. Every animal may, to the lowest reptile, possess some
faculty or other, some means of gratification, which would not
have been given it by a malevolent being who delighted in
misery, and which it would not have received, without a degree
328 THE GOODNESS OF GOD PROVED FROM;
of good fortune of which we see no example, from a being
who produced it without any concern about its happiness or
misery at all. By the goodness of God, we see his kindness to
his creatures; and as the world, which we see now, could not
have been constituted at first, either with an evil design, or
without design at all, what other conclusion is left, but that our
Creator intended and wished our happiness when he made us,
and that the same will and wish continue, so long as the same
creation and order of things is upheld by him for any change
in his counsels and character, were it possible, would be im-
mediately followed by a corresponding alteration in the laws
and order of nature.
But after all is said, evil, and pain, and misery exist among
us still; diseases and sickness, and maladies and misfortunes,
are not done away by reasoning about them, or by any opinion
we entertain of the divine goodness; how are these to be
reconciled with the beneficence which we attribute to the divine
character Now I think there is one observation which will
go a great way to take off the edge of the objection ; namely,
that evil is never the object of contrivance. We can never
trace out a train of contrivances to bring about an evil purpose.
The world abounds with contrivances of nature ; and all the
contrivances we are acquainted with, will conduce to beneficial
purposes. As this is a distinction of great consequence, I will
endeavour to illustrate it. -
If you had occasion to describe the instruments of husbandry
you would hardly say, this is to cut or wound the laborer’s
hand, this to bruise his limbs, this to break his bones; though,
from the construction of several implements of husbandry, and
the manner of using them, these misfortunes commonly hap-
pen; the mischief that it does, however, is not the object of the
contrivance. Whereas, if it was necessary to describe engines
of torture, you would say of one, this is to extend the sinews,
this to dislocate the joints, this to search the flesh. Here pain
and misery is the very object of the contrivance, which is a
different case from the former one, though the same result may
actually follow it. Now nothing of this kind is to be found in
the works of nature ; nothing where there appears contrivance
to bring about mischief. Of the beneficial faculties, the con-
trivance is often evident. Ask after our eyesight, the anato-
mist will show you the structure of the eye, its coats, hu-
mors, nerves, and muscles, all fabricated and put together for
the purpose of vision, as plainly as a telescope or microscope
for assisting it, and in the very same way. Ask after the
as-
THE LIGHT OF NATURE AND REVELATION. 329
hearing, the same skill will teach you how sound is propagated
through the air, how the drum of the ear receives the stroke,
how the auditory passage carries it to the brain. There can be
no doubt either of the contrivance or object of it. The same
of our smelling, tasting, speech, hands, and feet, and all our
beneficial faculties. But now ask after any disease, or pain,
or infirmity, and I defy any man to show you the train of con-
trivance to bring about, or contribute to that end. Ask after
the gout, the stone; no anatomy could ever show you a system
of vessels or organization calculated to produce these. Can
any say, this gland is to secrete the humor which forms the
gout? this bag is to contain, this duct is to convey and disperse
it round the body ? And the like holds of any maladies of the
human body. Teeth are contrived to eat, not to ache ; their
aching may be incidental to the contrivance, perhaps insepara-
ble from it; or let it be called a defect in the contrivance, it is
not the object of it. And this observation, extends to many
evils which are beside our subject. It is true of earthquakes,
volcanos; they all show the effect of a visible train of contri-
vances. Now contrivance proves design, and the predominant
tendency of the contrivance indicates the disposition of the
designer. The disposition of the designer is to be judged of,
not from the accidental effects of the contrivance, not from the
inseparable consequences of the contrivance, nor from any other
defect where it may be supposed liable to any, but from the
end, aim, and object of the contrivance, which, in the works of
nature, or, in other words, in the works of God, are always
beneficial.
What I would add, by way of a concluding remark, is this;
that if there be other evils, which do not fall within the above
observation, if there be the unmerited misery of the good and
pious, and the still more unaccountable prosperity of the wicked,
is it not more than probable that there will come a time when
God will, as he certainly can, rectify the irregularity ? Are
not the thousand and ten thousand proofs of bounty and be-
nevolence, which we see about us, enough to found a persua-
sion that the few examples which seem of a contrary cast will
hereafter be cleared up, and contemplated so as to reduce the
whole to one entire and uniform plan of love, and kindness,
and good will to the work of his almighty hand
42
330 THE GOODNESS OF GOD.
LX.
THE GOODNESS OF GOD.
PAIRT II.
PsALM XXXIII. 5.
The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
HAVING explained the argument by which the goodness of
our Almighty Governor is proved from the light of nature ; or,
in other words, from those specimens of his intentions which we
are able to observe, connect, and comprehend, in the world
around us; I shall now proceed to state some of the many
declarations of revelation, in which the same divine attributes,
though under various forms, names, and modifications, are
repeated and described. And these are material to be known
and stated ; for whatever intimation and reasonable evidence
of God’s goodness the order of the universe may ſurnish to a
contemplative mind, it must be acknowledged that pointed
proofs of the same kind are to be found in the revealed word
of God, and the fidelity and certainty of that word is, in return,
also proved by the light of nature; for it is not conceivable,
nor contended indeed by any, that a being who, in such remark-
able instances, had testified his love to his rational creatures,
and care for their happiness, should go about, by mysterious
attempts, to mislead and deceive them in accounts of that which
most nearly concerns them, and in which it is impossible for
them to detect the deceit.
Now, the divine goodness, as it is excited towards the human
species, parts itself into six great branches, justice, bounty,
fidelity patience, placability, mercy ; these all spring from the
same root, the divine desire and provision for the happiness of
his creatures; in other words, the love of God. We will now
see what the scriptures have to tell us of each of them.
The justice of the Deity is the foundation of all religion; yet
this was a point in which the apprehensions of many in ancient
times labored under some uncertainty. Many of the vulgar,
and some of the wise men, conceived of the Deity as not regu-
lating the treatment of his creatures by any steady rules of
justice, but as bestowing his favors capriciously, and actuated
entirely by partial affections, such as we feel and conceive
THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 331
towards one another. The scriptures, however, of the Old
Testament strenuously combat this error, and describe him as
a God of perfect righteousness, equity and justice. The song
of Moses, as recorded in the thirtysecond chapter of Deu-
teronomy, and which some men have called the dying words
of that illustrious lawgiver, begins with the subject; ‘I will
publish the name of the Lord ; ascribe ye greatness unto our
God. He is the rock, his work is perfect; for all his ways
are judgment; a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and
righteous is he.” The book of Job was written expressly to
vindicate the justice of God in those trying circumstances in
which the impatience and infirmity of human nature is most apt
to question it; in the calamity and affliction with which he is
pleased to visit us. Certain expressions of that book are full
to our purpose. “Far be it from God that he should do wicked-
ness, and from the Almighty that he should commit iniquity ;
for the works of a man shall he render unto him, and cause
every man to find according to his ways. Yea, surely, God
will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert judg-
ment.”
“Justice and judgment,” saith David, “are the habitation of
thy throne.” The Jews had been led to suspect what may be
called the personal justice of God, in that he visited upon the
children the iniquity of the fathers, or, as the proverb expresses
it, “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s
teeth are set on edge.” The prophet Ezekiel, in the eighteenth
chapter of that book, is authorized in the name of Almighty
God so far to repel the charges, as to show that the final
destiny, the ultimate happiness or misery of each individual,
was to depend upon his own conduct and behaviour, and nothing
else; ‘Behold, all souls are mine ; as the soul of the father,
so also the soul of the son is mine ; the soul that sinneth, it
shall die. Yet, saith the house of Israel, the ways of the Lord
are unequal. Are not my ways equal, are not your ways une-
qual 2' - -
The New Testament I shall quote for the two fundamental
articles of divine justice, the future punishment of vice without
respect of persons or station, and the future reward of virtue.
“Thou treasurest up wrath,” saith St Paul, ‘against the day of
wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who
will render to every man according to his deeds; to them who,
by patient continuance in well doing, seek for glory, and honor,
and immortality, eternal life; but unto them that are conten-
tious, and who do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness,
332 THE GOODNESS OF GOD.
indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul
that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile ; but
glory, and honor, and peace, to every man that worketh good,
to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile; for there is no re-
spect of persons with God.” Again, in another place, ‘God is not
unrighteous, to forget your work and labor of love which ye have
shown.” These are satisfactory accounts of the divine justice;
and it may be observed, that there is no foundation, in these ac-
counts, for the opinion that justice is one thing in God, and
another thing in man; and though we understand what justice
means between man and man, we can argue nothing from that
concerning the divine justice. This may be exceedingly differ-
ent, though the expression describes the same quality in God,
which we call justice in man; for suppose you were describing
a just judge, or a just king, what else would you say of him,
but that he rendered to every man according to his labor, that
he forgot no man’s work and labor, that he conferred glory,
honor, and peace upon them that did good, tribulation and
anguish upon them that worked evil, and this without respect
or distinction of persons. This is the way you would describe
justice in a man, and this is what the scripture says of God.
Next to the justice of God is his bounty, which is ascending
one degree higher in the scale of goodness; for it is possible
to be strictly just without generosity; and generosity built upon
justice is an advance in moral excellence. But here I admit
that it is not in the word of God we are disposed to seek for
evidence of the divine bounty ; for no assurance, from however
high authority, can persuade us that God is bountiful to his
creatures, till we actually realize and feel this bounty; nor
need we look far; our bodies, our limbs and senses, our reason
and faculties, the field, the air, the ocean, every flower, every
animal; the lilies clothed with his vesture, the young raven fed
by his hand, the young of every animal delighted with its ex-
istence, sporting amidst the gratification which God has pro-
vided for them all, provided by his power, contrived by his
wisdom, fostered by his continual protection ; such unmerited
and unasked for instances, require no additional amplification
or authority from scripture. The scriptures, however, though
they cannot add to the evidence of nature, agree with it. He
is there a God abundant in goodness, of great kindness, who
will withhold no good thing from those who walk uprightly,
who exerciseth loving kindness in the earth, who giveth unto
all men liberally, and upbraideth not. One great addition, in-
deed, the Scriptures make to the appearance of nature; one
THE GOODNESS OF GOD, 333
instance they unfold of divine bounty; one gift they tell us of
which nature knows not; “in that he gave his only begotten
Son, to the end that all who believe in him should have ever-
lasting life;’ upon which St Paul remarks very reasonably and
justly, that “if he spared not his own Son, but delivered him up
for us all, how shall he not also freely give us all things º'
Another mark of the divine goodness, of infinite importance
to us, is the divine fidelity in performing his promises, and
bringing about what he has declared and threatened. This is
a branch of benevolence, for true benevolence will not deceive.
The divine constancy and veracity is finely expressed in that
exclamation of the prophet Balaam; “God is not a man that
he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent. Hath
he said, and shall he not do it; or hath he spoken, and shall he
not make it good?’ Moses was careful to represent the God
of Israel to that people, as a being in whose truth and faith
they might implicitly depend; ‘Know, therefore, that the Lord
thy God he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant
and mercy with them that love him.” This was before they
entered into the land of Canaan, and the arduous undertaking
of subduing the inhabitants. Afterwards, when that business
was accomplished, by a train of surprising miracles and assis-
tances, Joshua, in his exhortation before his death, reminds
them how signally and circumstantially the word of God had
been fulfilled, and his truth maintained through all the awful
scenes to which they had been witnesses; ‘You know in all
your hearts, and in all your souls, that not any thing hath failed
of all the good things which the Lord your God hath spoken
among you ; all things are come to pass unto you, and not one
thing hath failed.” “A God of truth,’ ‘a God of faithfulness,”
are titles perpetually ascribed to the Deity in the psalms and
prophets; ‘He will ever be mindful of his covenant; ” “He will
not suffer his faithfulness to fail, and his truth endureth to all
generations.” The New Testament speaks in the same strain,
with this difference, that it applies the faithfulness of God to
our spiritual concerns; whereas the Old Testament has chiefly
natural and temporal blessings and curses in view. “God is
faithful, by whom you were called unto the fellowship of his Son
Jesus Christ our Lord. God is faithful, who will not suffer
you to be tempted above that you are able.” But above all,
that divine consolation to all whose sufferings and needs tempt
them to mistrust God; ‘Let them that suffer according to the
will of God commit the keeping of their souls unto him as unto
a willing and faithful creator.”
334 THE GOODNESS OF GOD.
Another quality of the divine goodness to which the best are
indebted, and by which alone the bad are permitted to continue
in existence, is his patience and longsuffering. In that awful
conference upon the Mount Sinai, between the Lord and Moses,
when the commandments were delivered, God is pleased to
introduce himself with a description of his own nature, which
comprises this and many of the particulars we are now explain-
ing; “And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed;
The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abun-
dant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, for-
giving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no
means clear the guilty.’ ‘Thou, O Lord,” says the holy David,
‘art a God full of compassion and gracious, longsuffering, and
plenteous in mercy and truth.” After the building of the
second temple, in the time of Zechariah, the nation of the Jews
made solemn confession and thanksgiving to Almighty God, in
which they acknowledged, as well they might, his exceeding
bounty, forbearance, and longsuffering with that people. ‘Our
fathers,’ say they, ‘dealt proudly, and hardened themselves,
and hearkened not to thy commandments; but thou art a God
ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of
great kindness, and forsakedst them not.” But is he a God of
the Jews only * are not all mankind the objects of his charity ?
The Lord is longsuffering towards all; namely, to all his human
creatures, not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance. Again; ‘Despisest thou,” says St Paul
to the impenitent Jews, ‘the riches of his goodness, and for-
bearance, and longsuffering?”
Another propitious circumstance in the divine goodness is
his placability and readiness to forgive the offences which are
committed against him; but this must always be considered as
subject to one condition, the repentance of the offender; for
otherwise this attribute would undo and defeat all the rest; for
a perfect facility of unconditional forgiveness would prove such
an excuse for great wickedness, as would fill the world with
misery and disorder. But placability, such as is consistent
with the order of a moral governor studious for the happiness
of the whole, is ascribed to God in both Testaments. It was
not unknown to the Old, and the New is full of it; the
eighteenth chapter of Ezekiel is direct as to the first; ‘If the
wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and
keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he
shall surely live, he shall not die; all his transgressions that he
hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him; in his
THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 335
righteousness that he hath done he shall live. Have I any
pleasure that the wicked should die, saith the Lord God, and
not that he should return from his ways and live?” The New
Testament is full of it; Christ came to preach repentance and
remission of sins, to seek and to save that which was lost; his
baptism was the baptism of repentance; the great offer that
both Christ and his apostles held out to the converts was for-
giveness of the sins which were past, on faith and amend-
ment. The fifth chapter of St Luke sets forth the compla-
cency with which God receives returning sinners in a variety
of forms; it is with the satisfaction with which a father re-
ceives a miserable and repenting child; “Verily I say unto
you, there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth.’
The last branch of divine goodness we consider is his mercy;
mercy, in the common and general sense of the text, compre-
hends all those benevolent qualities which we have noticed. It
is another name for his goodness. But there is one particular
instance and exercise of mercy which is all I need name; and
this is his tenderness and compassion to our infirmities, and the
disadvantages of our state and condition; ‘Like as a father
pitieth his own children,” saith the psalmist, “so the Lord pitieth
them that fear him ; for he knoweth our frame, he remember-
eth that we are but dust.’ St Paul, in the second chapter of
the Ephesians, describes the future condition, both of himself,
and of those whom he wrote to before their call and conversion
to Christianity; “Among whom we all had conversation in
times past in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind ; but God, who is rich in mercy, for his
great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in
sins, hath quickened us together with Christ.’
Upon the whole, therefore, here is Almighty God described
in the words which he himself, and his holy spirit, dictate and
authorize. He is described as supremely good; and if any
one asks what his goodness consists in, we answer that the
scripture teaches us to place it in justice to his rational crea-
tures, in dealing with every one according to his deserts, pun-
ishing the impenitent and unrighteous, remembering and re-
warding our works and labors of love, in loving the whole cre-
ation; for, throughout the whole world, there is not a corner
in which some instance of kind contrivance and provision for
their happiness is not found ; in fidelity to his word, his pro-
mises and threats, in patience and longsuffering with our sins
and provocation, in placability, or a disposition to pardon
whenever pardon is consistent with the end and support of his
336 THE ILLS OF LIFE DO NOT CONTRADICT
moral government; and lastly, in compassion and mercy to our
infirmities and feelings, in condescension to the difficulties and
defects under which we labor, in accepting and remembering
our struggles with temptation, our feeble endeavours, if they
are sincere, after amendment, our progress, though but very
imperfect, in obedience and reformation.
IXI.
THE ILLS OF LIFE DO NO’F CONTRADICT THE
GOODNESS OF GOD.
Romans X. 23.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.
A CHILD, if it reflect, will often be at a loss to account for
the behaviour of its parents towards it; and a peevish and per-
verse child will often murmur and complain ; yet the same
child, when it becomes a man, and looks back upon its youth
and infancy, will see nothing in its parent’s treatment of it but
the greatest prudence and affection ; will then discover the
reason and the justice of what it once complained of, and dis-
cern the end and meaning of many things which at that time
appeared so intricate and unaccountable. This hereafter may
be our case, and probably will be so. We must wait for the
great day of Christ’s coming again, for the further enlarge-
ment of our understandings and more perfect comprehension
of these subjects. In the mean time, nevertheless, many con-
siderations which may conduce to set us at ease, and inspire
us with trust and confidence in God’s providence and good-
mess, are fit to be known and attended to.
To proceed, therefore ; many of the complaints which we
make against Providence are of such a nature as, one may say,
can never be satisfied, and are therefore manifestly unreasona-
ble; as, for instance, when we complain of the want of greater
strength than we have, or of superior knowledge, or longer life,
or immortality, or that we cannot move ourselves with greater
speed, or get through our work in less time or with less trouble;
what is this but, in other words, to wish that we had been cre-
THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 337
ated angels? which is all one as if a brute, a horse, for instance,
or a dog, should murmur that it was not born a man. The
absurdity of this we see immediately. In like manner, a su-
perior being, or an angel, might as well complain that it was
not formed an archangel; and the archangel itself would have
the same reason to complain that it was inferior to the Supreme
Being who made it. Now all these complaints are of a kind,
as I said before, never to be satisfied; for so long as there is
any thing above us, which there always must be, any perfec-
tion we do not possess, any, however, that we can form a no-
tion of, there would be the same reason for these complaints.
Suppose a brute to complain that it has not the faculties or
reason of a man ; in other words, that it is not a man. Sup-
pose its own complaint gratified, suppose it to succeed, and the
brute to become a man ; would it cease to complain P Might
it not still answer that it was without the properties and per-
fections of an angel? at least, it would have the same reason
for its murmuring that we have. The evils, then, complained
of, are called by divines the evils of imperfection ; and it is
agreed, I think, by all, that they are to be laid out of the case,
as conveying no possible imputation upon the divine wisdom or
goodness; for a complaint which cannot be satisfied, and
which you must go on for ever with, must evidently be ground-
less and unreasonable in its principle. So then, the defects and
imperfections of our nature are what Providence, so far as we
can judge, must permit, and should never be repined at, nor
any of the consequences of them ; which will take in a great
part of our complaints, for many of them may be traced up to
this.
The next consideration I shall propose, which makes a very
material part of the subject, is this; that God thinks fit, and
very wisely too, as we can in some measure understand, to
govern the world by general rules and laws, which, however,
like all general rules, must sometimes press hard upon individ-
uals, and produce particular inconveniences. I will explain, as
well as I can, what I mean by these general rules. There are,
first, what we call laws of nature, which are in general observed
to take place without interruption or regard to each particular
effect that they may produce. Thus, by the law of nature, the
sun rises and shines, though he shine perhaps on the fields of
the wicked as well as the good. By the same law, a certain
state of the air, which also is brought on by other regular
causes, produces rain; rain, when it falls, swells the rivers;
the rivers, when they swell, may overflow and damage or lay
43
338 THE ILLS OF LIFE DO NOT CONTRADICT
waste the neighbouring fields; and this falls equally on the vir-
tuous and the sinner. All this comes to pass in consequence
of the regular course of nature being suffered to take place ;
and God does not see fit to interrupt or suspend this course for
the particular prejudice that it may occasion to individuals. In
like manner the tide ebbs and flows according to the constant
order of its nature, though it may thereby obstruct, it may hap-
pen, the ships of the good and virtuous merchant, or carry safe
into port the wealth and property of those who little deserve it.
We perceive, then, reason in such things as are constant and
regular, as the flowing of the tides, the return of the seasons,
and the like; but do not see resemblances of it in the more
varied parts of nature, as winds and storms, hail and thunder
and lightning, though there is the same reason for it, because
these as much depend upon their causes, and are as much gov-
erned by a law, though unknown to us, as the other.
Now although great particular inconveniences may some-
times arise from these general laws of nature, yet I think it will
be found to be for the common benefit of the world that they
should be permitted to prevail; and for this reason amongst
others, that it is upon their prevailing, that is, upon the course
of nature going regularly on, that all the foresight we have of
future events depends. We act, and determine, we prepare,
we provide, in the expectation of those laws of nature going on
as they have done; nor is it conceivable how we could act,
prepare, or provide, if it was otherwise. How would the mari-
ner, for instance, order his navigation, or settle his voyage, if
the flowing of the tide or blowing of the wind was to depend
upon the convenience of the good and virtuous How would
the husbandman sow or plough either in hope or safety, if the
rain must fall and sun shine only when it suited the grounds of
the righteous and good 2 It is easy to imagine what confusion
must arise from so much irregularity and uncertainty. It is
evidently to the advantage of the whole, that such a general or-
der of things should be appointed and maintained in the world,
that in what concerns our conduct and subsistence, we may
look forward to, and form a judgment of, futurity. Though
here we must speak with caution. We intend not to say but
that God can control and suspend the ordinary course of nature,
direct the winds and storms, give or withhold the rain when he
pleases, and as he pleases; nor do we dispute but that he often
does so ; sometimes openly, oftener when we do not know it.
We may say, that he has appointed general rules and regular
courses of things, and permits it to a certain degree, so as to
THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 339
answer some beneficial purpose at least; thus enabling us to
form a judgment of the future. There may be other, and per-
haps stronger, reasons for God’s adhering, if we may say so, to
general rules; and who can say how far general rules extend ?
May we not refer to them, for example, diseases of body and
weakness of mind 2 for these have their causes, and follow their
causes as much as the tide does the moon. God can, no
doubt, remove these causes, or hinder them from operating;
but it is by the same power that he can hinder the tide from flow-
ing, or the moon from drawing it; a power, which, in this latter
instance, we do not expect he should exert often, nor perhaps
without good cause, in either case. Upon the whole, even a
single person, one out of many millions, an atom, compared
with the universe, can he wonder that he should be suffered to
labor under difficulties and inconveniences, rather than break
in upon those general rules, upon the operation of which the
happiness of the rest, of the whole, may in a great degree de-
pend ? Thus it appears to be in the natural world, and the
same respect to regularity in the effects and consequences of
things may hold probably in the moral world; that is, the ac-
tions and behaviour of men to one another. Thus one man,
by luxury or extravagance, reduces himself to beggary; his
poverty involves others in distress who are connected with him;
and yet it is still both fitting and necessary that luxury and ex-
travagance should be followed by poverty, and that there should
subsist those intercourses and communications between one
man and another that make their fortunes dependent upon one
another. This is the natural constitution of the world, and is
not to be departed from, because it will now and then produce
inconveniences to those who do not deserve to suffer them. In
short, what we call the course of nature, that is, the ordinary
train of cause and effect, is all we have to direct us in the con-
duct of life; and though the upholding it often presses hard
upon innocent individuals, yet it is necessary for the good of
the whole, and therefore perfectly consistent with divine wisdom
and goodness, that it should, in general, however, be maintain-
ed and upheld.
But thirdly; part of our difficulties are owing to this ; to
our expecting too much ; more than we have any reason or
authority to expect. -
If we find in ourselves any merit or virtue more than in
others, we instantly count upon being rewarded by Providence
with riches, and grandeur, and honor, and high station. Now
this is nowhere promised. Our Saviour indeed says, “If ye
340 THE GOODNESS OF GOD.
seek the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, these things
shall be added unto you.’ But what things Not wealth, or
power, or advancement, or such like, but food and raiment;
what Christ had been speaking of, and ‘what your Father,’ he
says, “ knoweth that you have need of.” The scripture no-
where bids us look for such things as riches or honors, or to
pray for them. We are directed to the right use of them,
when we have them, and to moderation in the pursuit of them ;
and that is all that is said about them. Certainly those receiv-
ed them not who were most in God’s favor, the apostles and
true followers of Jesus Christ; but quite the contrary. The
truth is, the scriptures seem to consider them as hardly of any
account or importance; hardly deserving attention, in com-
parison with the great and glorious objects it sets before us.
Or the case may have been this ; riches, and grandeur, &c.
may be a blessing or a curse, and are as often one as the other;
therefore for the scriptures to have proposed them absolutely
as either, would not have been just or proper. The established
course of the world, and the overruling hand of Providence,
are both, we trust, in favor of the virtuous and good; but
neither seems to promise or even permit that riches and honor
should always be their portion. Riches, for example, are
generally the earnings of industry, activity, or ingenuity; and
should be so ; for how else should there be any encouragement
for these qualities? Who, if it were not so, would be industri-
ous, active, or ingenious * Thus the world, and the business
of it, might stand still. But though industry, activity, and in-
genuity are sometimes accompanied with virtue, and sometimes
not, the persons who possess these qualities will obtain, and
from what has been said it seems proper they should do so,
those wordly advantages which the good and pious would en-
gross to themselves.
But fourthly and lastly ; a principal key to this subject of
providence, and the difficulties we are under about it, is con-
tained, in my opinion, in the words of the text, which you will
now observe. ‘We know,” says St Paul, “that all things work
together for good to them that love God;’ which I understand .
to be indirectly telling us, that even the best of us are not to
look for each event, separately and singly considered, being
either pleasant or useful to us; but that, be they what they
will in themselves or for the present, they will work together
for good; they will so far fall in with, and qualify one another,
as that together the amount and issue of them at last will pro-
mote our happiness and interest.
PROPHECIES. 341
This, in the nature of things, is just as possible as that a
bitter medicine should mend our health, or a severe discipline
or tedious education should be upon the whole beneficial or
even necessary. So that it is possible enough, and St Paul,
you hear, speaks confidently, that it would be so; “We know,”
says he, “that all things work together for good.”
Thus it was of old with the good and virtuous. They were
taught to expect and endure the chastisement of the Lord ; for
“whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth ;’ and consequently for
their good and happiness at last. They suffered afflictions;
many that we should think grievous ; but what then P ‘Their
light afflictions, which were but for a moment, worked a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” Such is the
sound and solid consolation the holy scriptures administer.
Now what is the conclusion from all these things 2 The
works of God prove his kindness as demonstrably as his word
assures us of his care and protection. Difficulties and disor-
ders in the world there are ; but they do not, when thoroughly
considered, at all contradict these arguments and assurances;
so that they should not shake either our hope or our trust in
him.
LXII.
PROPHECIES.
PART I.
Acts XXVIII. 23.
And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his
lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God; per-
suading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of
the prophets, from morning till evening.
THERE is one proof of Christianity as strong now as it ever
was, and which may be made in a good degree intelligible to
every capacity; I mean the proof from prophecy. Now,
therefore, that we are assembled to commemorate the coming
of Jesus Christ into the world, I know not how to engage your
attention better than by laying before you, and explaining,
342 PROPHECHES.
some of the principal places of the Old Testament where that
event is foretold, that you may be able to give one reason, at
least, of the faith that is in you, and carry home one considera-
ble argument of the truth and certainty of the religion we
profess.
I shall confine myself, as the occasion points out, to the
coming of Christ. There are other parts of this evidence, and
one in particular, much the most explicit of all; but which,
as they relate to the sufferings rather than the early history of
our Saviour, I cannot so properly produce at this time. This
I mention, that you may not think that what I now offer con-
tains the whole argument, or the proof complete. I will also
omit all such prophecies as are either of a more doubtful appli-
cation, or more difficult to be interpreted.
Before I proceed to exhibit any particular passages, I must
direct your attention to one very essential observation which
belongs to them all, which is this; that we are absolutely cer-
tain that the prophecies were written many hundred years
before the event. I say we are absolutely certain of this, be-
cause the prophecies have always been, and are at this day,
received and acknowledged by the Jews as genuine parts of
the Old Testament. They are found in their bible as well as
OUITS.
The Jews, we all know, are, and ever have been, the de-
clared enemies of Christ and his religion; we may, therefore,
be sure they never forge themselves, nor suffer others to foist
in their books, any thing that may favor a cause which they so
much hated. Had the books of the Old Testament been in
the hands of Christians, it might be suspected that they had
found means, after the event, to insert into them descriptions
that suited with it, in order to impose their prophecies upon the
world; but as the case stands, this was morally impossible, for
the copies of these books being always in the hands of the
Jews, any attempt to corrupt them must have been immediately
detected and defeated by their enemies, as evidently, and un-
exceptionably, as things which come out of the custody of an
enemy.
Now this being settled with certainty, viz. that the several
places to be quoted by us were actually written long before
the coming of Christ; the only question to be tried, and of
which, as hinted above, any plain understanding can judge, is,
whether these prophecies, thus compared with the events, do
not suit and fall in with them, and prove that they must have
been something more than the effect of guesswork. If, when
PROPHECIES: 343
you have the places read to you, and applied to the event, you
think the application so distant or obscure, that these things
might have happened by accident, then such passages must go
for nothing. If on the contrary, you think there is in any or
all of them put together, more than could reasonably be ex-
pected from random conjecture and accidental concurrence,
then it will follow, that the persons who delivered these pro-
phecies had some way of knowing they were then operated
upon, that is, were imbued and inspired, by the spirit of God;
and if it be once allowed that God in any way dictated the
prophecies of Christ’s coming, the consequence is plain that
Christ came from him and that the religion he established in
the world must be true.
In quoting the prophecies, I think it best to pursue the order
of time in which they were written. The first, because the
most ancient, that I shall mention, is that famous promise
which God made to Abraham, in the twentysecond chapter of
Genesis, and the eighteenth verse; “And in thy seed shall all
the nations of the earth be blessed.” Now it has never yet
been shown in what manner all the nations of the earth have
been blessed in the seed of Abraham, except it be by the
means of Jesus Christ, who was one of that seed. The seed
of Abraham were the Jews, and few I suppose will allow that
the Jews have been a public or universal blessing to nations.
Suppose then this prophecy to belong to Jesus Christ, it is true
that in him and consequently in the seed of Abraham, as he
was one of them, all the nations of the earth have been blessed.
The blessing of his religion has been held out to most of them.
Many have accepted it. The rest, in God's due time, we trust,
will. The prophecy speaks thus much, that ‘in the seed of
Abraham,” that is, that through some one or other of his pos-
terity, some blessing should be procured in which the rest of
mankind, as well as his posterity, might partake. This may
be applied with truth to Christ and his religion; and it does
not appear to what else it can be applied at all.
The second prophecy I would propose to your consideration
is to be found in the eighth chapter of Genesis, and the tenth
verse. We have an account in this chapter of Jacob, upon
his death bed, calling his twelve sons about him, and solemnly
declaring to each what should befall them, in their respective
tribes and families, in future times. When he comes to Judah,
he uses these remarkable words, which you are now to take
notice of; ‘The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a
lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and unto
344 PROPHECIES.
him shall the gathering of the people be.” Now in this pro-
phecy three things, I think, are plainly foretold ; first that the
sceptre should depart from the other tribes sooner; secondly,
that it should remain with the tribe of Judah until Shiloh came ;
thirdly, that it should then also depart from it. Now apply
this prophecy to Christ, and observe how it answers in all these
particulars. First, the ten other tribes were extirpated in
Assyria nine hundred years before Christ. Secondly, the tribe
of Judah continued a nation, and in possession of their own
country, till Christ came. Thirdly, they also were then de-
stroyed, and their nation and government were utterly demol-
ished by the Romans. It is said that the sceptre should not
depart from Judah till Shiloh came ; from this I infer, that it
was to depart from the other tribes sooner, otherwise it would
be saying little or nothing to Judah, and this is a promise made
to Judah in particular above his other brethren. Now, how
did the event answer to this 2 The event was, that ten out of
the twelve tribes, which formed, upon the division, the king-
dom of Israel, were carried away captive more than six hun-
dred years before Christ, and were never afterwards heard of;
so that the sceptre departed from them in every sense of the
expresson. The tribe of Benjamin was upon the division so
mixed and incorporated with the tribe of Judah, that the one,
if I may so say, was lost in the other, and it was afterwards
constantly called the land of Judah. The kingdom of Judah
returned after the seventy years’ captivity into their own land,
and continued in possession of their country, of their laws and
their religion, till Christ came. As it is evident that the sceptre
did not depart from Judah until Shiloh came, so it is in the
common use of speech or intimation, that when Shiloh did
come it should depart; accordingly, about that time, shortly
after Christ’s coming, that is, within forty years after his death,
the kingdom of Judah also was deprived of its sceptre; that
is, underwent a total destruction from the Roman armies; their
city and temple, as we all know, burnt to the ground, their
government overthrown, their country laid waste, the people
driven out to wander, as they do still, exiles and vagabonds
upon the face of the earth. Now there is, as I said before,
but one question; whether this correspondence of the event
and the prophecy could, reasonably speaking, be the effect of
chance ; and how small this chance is you may easily com-
prehend from hence. Suppose any of us to undertake to
foretell what may be the fate or condition of a particular family
a thousand years hence; what little probability is there, that in
PROPHECIES. 345
so wild and wide a field of conjecture we should hit on even a
single particular that turned out to be true, much less deliver
a prediction, which in all circumstances admitted of a clear
and reasonable application ; ‘The sceptre shall not depart from
Judah until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of
the people be.’ I lay no other stress upon the name of Shiloh
than just to observe that it must signify a person, and a person
of great eminence and importance to the world, or the Jewish
nation at least, which Christ undoubtedly was.
The description that is added, ‘and unto him shall the
gathering of the people be,” agrees well with the person and
character of Christ, who, as the founder of a new religion, did
actually gather together unto him an innumerable multitude of
all nations and languages, paying adoration to his name, and
professing obedience to his authority.
The passage I will next proceed to, omitting, as I said,
many that are of a probable, though more obscure application,
is the famous one of Isaiah, contained in the seventh chapter,
and beginning with the thirteenth verse. Two neighbouring
kings had conspired against Ahaz, king of Judah. The king
of Judah and his people being exceedingly alarmed with this
confederacy, Isaiah was sent to comfort and encourage them.
Before the king, and in the presence, it must be supposed, of .
a great assembly of the people, Isaiah delivers these solemn
words; “Hear ye now, O house of David, is it a small thing
for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign ; behold, a
virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name
Immanuel; butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know,”
or till he knows, “to refuse the evil, and choose the good ; for
before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the
good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her
kings.” Now that the former part of the prophecy, a virgin
conceiving and bearing a son, and that son being called Im-
manuel, or God with us, is applicable in the strictest sense to
Christ, and in the same sense to no other person ever heard
of, all see upon the bare reading of it. But there is a difficulty
in the latter part of the prophecy which we must endeavour to
remove before we can justly lay so great a stress upon it. It
is said that ‘before the child should know how to refuse the
evil, and choose the good,” that is, before he should come to
years of discretion, the land which thou abhorrest, viz. the
countries then in confederacy against Ahaz, should be forsaken
of both her kings. Now this happened a few years after so
44
346 PROPHECIES.
that the child here spoken of could not be Christ, who did not
appear till many hundred years after this; and yet the child
here spoken of seems, as the prophecy now stands, the same
child which the virgin was to bear. This is the difficulty; I
will now give you the explanation. In the third verse you read
that Isaiah, when he was sent upon this message, was com-
manded to take with him Shear-jashub his son, who was then
a little child. This explanation is the key to the whole prophe-
cy, and serves to explain it in this manner. Isaiah, in the
presence and audience of the king and people of Judah, who
were assembled to receive a message from God, announces
this august prediction of the future birth and coming of the
Saviour of the world; “The Lord himself shall give you a
sign; behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall
call his name Immanuel ;” which means, as you are told by
the prophet, “God with us.” The prophet then adds, “butter
and honey shall he eat, till he knows to refuse the evil and
choose the good;’ that, although his birth be miraculous, yet
shall he be supported by the ordinary means, till he comes to
man’s estate.
Here ends, as we apprehend it, the prophecy concerning
Christ, for the prophet then comes to a new subject, and turn-
ing himself to the king in particular, and pointing, we may sup-
pose, at his little son who stood by, “but before,’ says he,
* this child shall know how to refuse the evil and choose the
good,” that is, before the child standing by you shall attain to
years of discretion, “the country which thou abhorrest,’ the
two nations that have conspired thy ruin, “shall be forsaken of
both its kings;’ which, we read, accordingly happened, and
within the time limited by the prophecy. The whole passage
therefore contains, if we explain it right, two distinct, indepen-
dent prophecies; the one addressed to the whole nation at
large, “hear, O house of David,” and relating to the birth and
coming of the Messiah, an event of the utmost importance to
that whole nation ; the other addressed to the king in particular,
and relating to the overthrow of the two armies, which then
threatened him, and which was to take place in a few years.
Isaiah was introduced to the king and the assembly of Jeru-
salem, waiting with great expectations for a message from God.
This surely was a fit opportunity to announce to this nation the
future coming of the promised Messiah, and he describes him by
a circumstance in which he was distinguished from the whole
race of mankind, ‘ his being born of a virgin.” This, therefore,
was the first and great prophecy. But as the king Ahaz was
PROPHECIES. 34.7
then under apprehension from his combined enemies, who
threatened him with immediate destruction, the prophet pro-
ceeds, before he leaves off speaking, to satisfy him with respect
to them; and that the king might take no concern, and set
himself at ease with respect to the danger which he dreaded,
he assures him that in a very few years, before the child that
stood near him came to years of discretion, he should get rid of
them both.
There are two circumstances which confirm this interpreta-
tion, and so strong, that I cannot forbear mentioning them.
Isaiah, as I told you, was commanded to take with him upon
this message his young son Shear-jashub. Now this must
have been for some purpose; yet unless he was the child
meant as coming to man's estate, as we have explained it, it is
impossible to say what business he had there, or for what pur-
pose he was commanded to be taken. This is one most strik-
ing circumstance. Another is this. You read in the next
chapter that Isaiah had a son born, and it was solemnly record-
ed, that before this son could speak, this same event, namely,
the destruction of the two kingdoms, should take place. Now
the second son coming to his speech, and the first to years of
discretion, might very naturally be about the same time; and
Isaiah is made to cry out, ‘Behold, I and my children are for
signs and for wonders in Israel; ' ' my children,” that is, not
only the second child Maher-shalal-hash-baz, in the eighth
chapter, but his former son Shear-jashub in the prophecy we
have been explaining.
If you admit the explanation which thus goes upon so many
circumstances of probability, the plain and simple fact is estab-
lished, that six hundred years before the birth of Christ, it was
foretold that a divine person, Immanuel, God with us, should
be born, contrary to the course of nature, of a pure virgin. Is
not this what we are told of Christ : Is it believed, is it even
seriously professed indeed, of any other person in the whole
world 2 Let no one say that he is not qualified to comprehend
or judge of the proofs of this. Thanks be to God, who hath
given us the sure word of prophecy, which seems to require
only a little attention to apprehend it, who hath vouchsafed us
such means of conviction, as only ignorance could miss, or,
what is worse, obstinacy could withstand
348 PROPHECIES.
LXIII.
PROPHECIES.
IPART II.
ACTS XXVIII. 23.
And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his
lodging, to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God; persuad-
ing them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the
prophets, from morning till evening.
MANY prophecies of the Old Testament which admit not of
so clear, although of a probable, application to the coming of
Christ, I take no notice of, notwithstanding it should be observed
that these, from the number of them, and taken all together,
constitute a very considerable proof of the truth of our religion.
For throughout so large a volume as that of the Old Testament,
there might occur here and there an expression which bore by
accident an allusion to this great event, or was capable of some
figurative application to it; yet that many of them should point
the same way, that so great a number should admit of any
application at all, can hardly be accounted for without design.
There are also other prophecies which, was I to read them
to you, would not appear to you to have that relation, to Christ
which there is reason to believe they have, and that for want
of understanding the style and language of the ancient prophets,
which is very singular; and this is a knowledge not to be ex-
pected from the generality of an audience, nor to be taught in
the compass of a sermon. Confining myself, therefore, as I
proposed, to those prophecies which more apparently respect
the coming of Christ, the first which I would offer to your con-
sideration is that noted one of the prophet Micah, to be found
in the fifth chapter and second verse of this book; “But thou,
Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands
of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is
to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old,
from everlasting.” “Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little
among the thousands of Judah; the kingdom of Judah was
divided into districts, which were called thousands, as certain
districts are nowadays with us called hundreds. Bethlehem .
was the capital town of one of these districts, though small and
PROPHECIES. 349
inconsiderable, compared with many other capital towns. This
is what the prophet means by the expression, “though thou be
little among the thousands of Judah.” These districts were
likewise sometimes called principalities; on which account St
Matthew quotes it thus; “Though thou be little among the
princes,’ or principalities, ‘of Judah,” without any alteration in
the verses from the words as they are read in the book of Micah
itself.
But the main thing to be observed, is, the description that is
given of this extraordinary person, and the place he was to
come out of ; it was he that was to be ruler in Israel. Our
Saviour assumed to himself the title and character of king of
the Jews; that is, he whom his Father had appointed to give
new laws to that nation, and to whose authority many of the
Jews did, and all ought to have submitted themselves. ‘Whose
goings forth have been of old, and from everlasting ; ' this is
a most remarkable description. Who remembers not what is
said of Christ, that “he was in the beginning;' that ‘before
Abraham was, he is ; that he came forth from the Father; that
he was before all things, the first born of every creature ?' If
what is related of Christ be true, he existed with his Father
before the foundations of the world ; so that in the strictest
sense, it might be said that his goings forth were of old, and
from everlasting. Thus much is certainly true ; that Christ
laid claim to this character, asserted that he had his existence
with God before the creation; nor is there any reason to sup-
pose that he made this claim or assertion in order to bring him-
self within the scope and description of the prophecy, for this
prophecy is never quoted by him or any of his disciples with
that view, or for that purpose. There never appeared any other
person, either in Bethlehem or any where else, of whom the
same things can be said, even if you allow them every thing to
which they pretend. No man ever pretended to have his exist-
ence with God previous to his being born into the world. Our
Lord did ; and to his character and pretensions the words of
this prophecy clearly apply.
Nor is it inconsistent with Christ's character, what is said in
the fifth verse, “This man shall be our peace, when the op-
pressor shall come into our land,’ supposing, what the style of
prophecy and some similar examples will warrant us in suppos-
ing, that the prophet describes the future enemies of the Jews
under the denomination of the Assyrians, who were their ene-
mies in his time. “Out of Bethlehem shall come forth he that
is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been of old,
350 PROPHECIES.
from everlasting.’ Out of Bethlehem never came any one that
we have heard of, except Jesus Christ, to whom these words
could belong in any sense, nor any persons of eminence at all.
Bethlehem has for nearly seventeen hundred years been de-
stroyed. It would be difficult, I suppose, to point out the place
where it stood. It concerns the Jews therefore to show, if this
prophecy did not receive its completion in Christ, how it was
fulfilled, or is even possible to be fulfilled, at all. If you come
to compute the power of chance, which some call in on every
occasion, consider what the chance was, when one small town
in a kingdom was pitched upon for the birth of an extraordinary
person, that any extraordinary person at all should be born in
it; much less one whose character and pretensions especially
corresponded with so singular a description; ‘whose goings forth
have been of old, and from everlasting.’
Nothing more remains of this prophecy, than just to observe
by what curious and seemingly accidental means Divine Provi-
dence went about to fulfil its purpose. The parents of Jesus
Christ were not inhabitants of Bethlehem ; yet at Bethlehem,
according to the prophets, was Christ to be born. It so fell
out, or rather it was so ordered, that at that precise time a de-
cree was published from the Roman emperor, that the inhab-
itants of Judea should be taxed. This was the only city to
which his family belonged. Joseph and Mary, in pursuance of
this decree, repaired to Bethlehem, the city of David, of whose
Tineage they were; and during the few days of their sojourning
there, this illustrious event, the birth of Christ, took place.
I will next introduce to you a very celebrated passage of the
prophet Haggai. The circumstances to be explained concern-
ing it are these. Haggai lived after the return of the Jews
from the seventy years’ captivity in Babylon, just at the time of
the building of the second temple of Jerusalem. The first
temple, or the temple of Solomon, having been utterly destroy-
ed by their enemies, the condition of the Jews did not allow
them to erect a building equal by any means in magnificence
to that of Solomon. The old men, who remembered the for-
mer temple in all its splendor, when they saw the very inferior
plan and structure of the new edifice, were seized with that mel-
ancholy and concern which are always natural in such circum-
stances. This is described in the book of Ezra with much
simplicity; “But many of the priests and Levites, and chief of
the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first
house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their
eyes, wept with a loud voice.” Now the prophet Haggai was
PROPHECIES. 351
sent on this occasion to encourage those who were engaged in
rebuilding the temple, that they might not be cast down by be-
holding the inferior condition of the new building, in compari-
Son with the wealth and splendor of the old one ; and he ad-
dresses the governor, the high priests, and the people at large,
in these words, second chapter, third verse; “Who is left
among you that saw this house in her first glory; and how do
ye see it now ! Is it not in your eyes in comparison as nothing?
yet be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord ; and be strong,
O Joshua, the son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong,
O ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work, for I am
with you, saith the Lord of Hosts; according to the word that
I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my
spirit remaineth among you ; fear ye not. For thus saith the
Lord of Hosts,’ and here begins the prophecy we have been
proposing to introduce, ‘Yet once, it is a little while, and I
will shake terribly the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;
and I will shake all nations; and the desire of all nations shall
come, and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of
Hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the
Lord of Hosts; the glory of this latter house shall be greater
than of the former, saith the Lord of Hosts; and in this place
will I give peace, saith the Lord of Hosts.”
Now the first reflection is, that as the second temple had
been long since destroyed, if this prophecy be not already ful-
filled, it never can be. The opening of the prophecy, ‘Yet a
little while, and I will shake terribly the heavens and the earth,
and the sea, and the dry land,” is generally understood to de-
note the fierce civil commotions which were to precede the
coming of the Messiah. Wars and tumults are almost constantly
described by the old prophets under the figure of earthquakes,
as so many convulsions and discords in the course of nature.
It is here also more plainly said in what is added, ‘ and I will
shake all nations.” When the prophet speaks of the earth, and
all nations, it must, in common reason, be understood of those
nations and that part of the earth in which the Jews, the per-
sons to whom he spoke, were personally concerned. Now
this prophecy, according to this interpretation of it, was fulfilled.
The coming of Christ was, in fact, preceded by violent and
dreadful civil disturbances. The kingdom of Judea, after suf-
fering many combats between its own princes, was a little be-
fore this time subjected to the Roman yoke. The Roman em-
pire itself, which comprehended at that time the greatest part
of the known world, and in scripture sometimes comprehended
352 PROPHECIES.
the whole of it, was, from the death of Julius Caesar to near
the birth of Christ, torn and shaken with civil wars and con-
tests for the supreme power. ‘The silver and the gold is mine,
saith the Lord ;’ that is, I value not the splendor of silver and
gold ; just as in the fiftieth Psalm, God declares how little he
values their sacrifices, by the same sort of expression; ‘For
every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand
hills.’ When God declares that he values not the splendor of
silver and gold, in which the former house no doubt much ex-
celled, he in effect intimates that the glory and dignity of this
latter house should be of a totally different nature from this.
I will repeat to you the prophecy, with these two parts of
it interpreted. After violent wars and tumults amongst the
whole world, the desire of all nations shall come, and I will fill
this house with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts. The glory of
gold and silver, in which the former house so much excelled, I
value not. The glory of this latter house, which must conse-
quently be of a different nature, shall be greater than that of
the former, saith the Lord of Hosts; and in this place will I
give peace. Who sees not Jesus Christ pointed out in this
prophecy 2. ‘The desire of all nations shall come.’ Who was
the desire of all nations? He was a blessing to all, as in fact,
he was expected by most; for the expectation of some ex-
traordinary person being then about to appear in the world,
was at that time almost universal. Of what other Jew can
this, or any thing of this sort, be said :
The second temple frequently received under its roof this
divine person, and was the scene of his prodigious miracles.
Thus was it filled with glory, and that of the greatest and high-
est kind ; in this respect was the glory of the latter house
greater than that of the former.
‘And in this place will I give peace,” saith the Lord. Hear
St Paul ; ‘He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath
broken the middle wall of partition betwixt us, and that he
might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having
slain the enmity thereby; and came and preached peace to
you which were afar off, and to them which were nigh; for
through him we both have access by one spirit unto the Fa-
ther.” How exactly do the prophet and the apostle agree
The peace here meant is peace or reconciliation with God,
which it was our Saviour's declared purpose to preach and to
produce.
The last prophecy I will detain you with at present, is to be
found in the third chapter of Malachi, and the first verse.
PROPHECIES. 353
Here are these words; ‘Behold, I will send my messenger,
and he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom
ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger
of the covenant, whom ye delight in.” What is to be ob-
served of this prophecy lies in a very little compass. ‘Behold,
I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before
me.’ Here is an exact description of the office and character
of John the Baptist, who came expressly to prepare the way
before Jesus Christ; that is, to announce his approach, and
prepare mankind for his reception. “And the Lord, whom ye
seek, shall suddenly come to his temple; even the messenger
of the covenant, whom ye delight in ; ' that is, the Messiah
himself, whom they so earnestly expected, and from whom
they promised themselves so much, should suddenly appear.
‘Suddenly ; ” that is, after the messenger that was to prepare
his way. This is a very explicit prophecy, and has no diffi-
culty in it, if you take care not to be misled by the term, to
suppose the messenger that was to prepare the way, and the
messenger of the covenant, to be the same ; whereas, if you
examine the prophecy with attention, you will soon see that
the one means the Messiah himself, the other his forerunner.
For the messenger is to prepare the way before whom 2 before
nothing, unless the Lord whom ye seek, the messenger of the
covenant, be a different person from him. So that two distinct
persons are plainly foretold in the prophecy, who were to be
associated in the same plan and commission; who were, that
is, the one to be introduced to give notice of the approach
of the other; both indeed called messengers from God, but
of different degrees and denominations; the one the mes-
senger to prepare the way, the other the messenger of the
covenant; the one necessarily to precede the other; the
second, or greater messenger, to appear soon, or immediately
after his forerunner, to supersede his office, as being prepara-
tory to his own. No Christian, it may be hoped, is so ill
versed in the gospel history as not to perceive the corres-
pondence of all the circumstances, as to the appearance and
preaching of John the Baptist and of Jesus Christ. John the
Baptist assumed nothing, delivered nothing, in his own name.
‘I am not he.” His preaching and functions all referred to
another; himself was the messenger of God, but only to pre-
pare the way for a greater. That greater messenger suddenly
followed, the messenger of the covenant, who came into the
world to convey from the Father, and communicate to the
whole race of man, the knowledge and the condition of eternal
Salvation.
45
354 PROPHECIES.
LXIV.
PROPHECIES.
PART III.
ACT's XXVIII. 23.
And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his
lodging, to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God ; per-
suading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of
the prophets, from morning till evening.
THE next prophecy, in the order and manner I have pro-
posed to mention them, is from the ninth chapter of Daniel,
and begins at the twentyfourth verse, as follows; “Seventy
weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city,
to finish the time spoken of, and to make an end of sins, and
to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting
righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to
anoint the most holy. Know therefore and understand, that
from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to
build Jerusalem until Messiah the prince, shall be seven weeks,
and threescore and two weeks; and the street shall be built
again, and the wall, even in troublous times; and after three-
score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for him-
self; and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy
the city and the sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a
flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined ;
and he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week,
and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and
the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abomina-
tions he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation,
and that determined, shall be poured upon the desolate.”
Now in this prophecy, amongst some places that are dark
and obscure, there are others which point out the coming
and character of Jesus Christ in very plain words. I be-
lieve the best way of considering it will be, first to lay out of
the question that of the computation of the time, which forms a
material part of the prophecy. Now, that for the present
being omitted, it appears, I think, that at some future period,
the most holy, the Messiah, the Saviour should appear, and
that he should be cut off, that is, be put to death, but not for
himself, and that some future and foreign nation should then
destroy the city and the sanctuary.
PROPHECIES. 355
I hardly need observe that, supposing Jesus Christ to be the
person meant in this prophecy, all this was punctually fulfilled.
I will repeat to you the former part of the prophecy, and you
will judge whether it is not as plainly foretold. ‘From the
going forth of this commandment to restore and to build Jeru-
salem until Messiah the prince, shall be seven weeks, and
threescore and two weeks; the street shall be built again, and
the wall, in troublous times; and after threescore and two
weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself; and the
people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and
sanctuary.’
The next thing to be represented is, from the description
that is given of what was to come to pass at this appointed
time, that it corresponds with the office and ministry of Christ.
* Seventy weeks,’ the prophecy begins, “are determined upon
thy people and upon thy holy city;” to do what? “to finish
transgression, to make an end of sin, to make a reconciliation
for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up the
vision of prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.” First ; at
this time transgressions were to be finished, and sins made an
end of. The epistle to the Hebrews twice describes the chris-
tian scheme in words borrowed from the prophet Jeremiah,
and which, in effect, say the same thing that is here foretold.
* For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins
and iniquities I will remember no more.” Secondly ; if this
reconciliation was to be made for iniquity, or as it might better
be rendered, iniquity to be expiated, who knows not that he is
the ‘propitiation for our sins;’ ‘that now, even at the end of
the world, he hath appeared, to put away sins by the sacrifice
of himself?' Again, everlasting righteousness was to be brought
in ; “This is his name, the Lord our righteousness.” “A scep-
tre of righteousness,’ says the epistle to the Hebrews, ‘is the
sceptre of thy kingdom,’ that is, the doctrine of the gospel.
The fifth chapter and thirteenth verse of the same epistle, it is
emphatically called ‘the word of righteousness.’ It does not
appear that any of these expressions were applied with a view
to the prophecy of Daniel; nor do I think it material to the
argument, whether they apply to Christ in a literal or figurative
sense, because if these bear any sense so easy and natural as
to lead his followers to apply these expressions to him after-
wards, they might in the same sense, no doubt, be predicted of
him before. The two remaining clauses of the verse, “to seal
up the vision of prophecy, and to anoint the most holy,” are
commonly supposed to signify the accomplishing the vision and
356 PROPHECIES.
consummating the prophecy, both which were done by the
death of Christ. “Jesus knowing that all these things were
now accomplished, that the scriptures might be fulfilled, said,
“I thirst;” and when he received the vinegar, he said, “It is
finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost.” The
great outlines of the prophecy generally, I think, must apply to
Christ.
We must now enter a little into the circumstances of the
times, which were assigned with great precision, and compose
a principal part of the whole prophecy. “Seventy weeks are
determined upon thy holy city.’ This is afterwards spoken of
under two distinct periods; “From the going forth of the com-
mandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, shall be seven
weeks and threescore and two weeks.” Now I believe it is
pretty generally allowed, both by Jews and Christians, that the
weeks here meant are weeks, not of days, but of years; a
week, that is, being seven years instead of seven days. This
way of reckoning, which seems odd enough to us, had nothing
in it unintelligible to a Jew. Every seventh year was with
them like every seventh day, a year of rest for the land and
husbandry, and called the sabbatical year. This made the pe-
riods of seven years a familiar division of time to them ; and it
is not unnatural to call it a week of years, as it consists, like
the common weeks, of seven parts, and the seventh in both was
a sabbath. But this is not all. A similar computation is used
in their book, which they are best acquainted with, the book of
the law. In the twentyfifth of Leviticus and the eighth verse,
the observation of the jubilee is enjoined in the following terms;
“And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee,
seven times seven years.’ Sabbaths of years, you observe, is
a plural very like the weeks of years spoken of in Daniel; but,
what is more, in the next chapter to this of Daniel, and about
the beginning of it, there are the following remarkable words ;
‘I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my
mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all till three whole weeks
were fulfilled.' Weeks of days it is in the original, though our
translators have improperly rendered it three whole weeks.
Now this expression, ‘weeks of days,’ is a plain indication that
the weeks he had been speaking of before were not weeks of
days. Reckoning then a week a week of years, or a term of
seven years, it was to be seventy weeks, or four hundred and
ninety years, from the going forth of the commandment to
restore and build Jerusalem, unto Messiah the prince. And in
fact in was so. It was four hundred and ninety years betwixt
PROPHECIES. 357
the Jews being reincorporated into a people after their captivity,
and a holy city, and the death of Christ. -
There are two other parts of the prophecy which seem to
answer according to this interpretation; verse twentyninth,
‘Yet he shall confirm this covenant with me for one week.’
For one week; that is, for seven years. Now, in fact, it was
for just seven years that the covenant was preached to the
Jews, and confirmed with many of them; for seven years after
the death of Christ was the first calling of the Gentiles, and
from thence we may date the rejection of the Jews. And again,
in the twentyseventh verse, “In the middle of the week,” or, as
it should be translated, in half a week, “he shall cause the sa-
crifice and oblation to cease.” Now the Roman army were
three years and a half, about half a week of years, from their
first invasion of Judea, to the final destruction of the city and
temple, when sacrifice and the oblation of necessity ceased.
At this distance of time, and with the disadvantages we are
under, it is not to be wondered at if there should be some diffi-
culty or some uncertainty in this computation ; but this single
expression, ‘Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself, and
the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city
and the sanctuary,” so plainly and precisely agrees with the
death of Christ, and the subsequent destruction of Jerusalem
by the Romans, that it can never, I think, be got over.
I have now laid before you all the prophecies I intended to
produce ; by no means, however, all the prophecies that are
generally understood to relate to Christ, nor, as some perhaps
may think, the clearest; but they are those which, in my judg-
ment, carry upon the face of them the apparent application to
Jesus Christ, and were the easiest to be explained. As a
sequel to the short exposition, if such it can be deemed, it may
not be unsuitable to the argument to collect, into one point, the
various particulars concerning Christ, described and comprised
in the prophecies we have quoted from the Old Testament.
First, then, I take it to be manifest that, according to these
prophecies, some extraordinary person or other was to be ex-
pected to appear. I take this to be manifest, not only from
the words and terms of the prophecies themselves, but because
the Jews universally, upon the strength of these prophecies,
did, in fact, expect such a person, and there was no difference
of opinion at all upon this head. Those who received Christ,
and those who rejected him, did all acknowledge that the Mes-
siah, an extraordinary person, was to arrive amongst them.
Christians and Jews are agreed also upon this head at this day.
358 pROPHECIES.
But the fact of an extraordinary person being foretold, and an
extraordinary person appearing, would not alone be sufficient
to build upon, unless some further and more appropriate cir-
cumstances be found in the prophecies to identify and describe
him.
These circumstances may be reduced to the following heads;
The time of his appearance, the place of his appearance, the
circumstances of his birth, his nature, and his office.
First, the time of his appearance. It was to be “whilst the
sceptre continued with the tribe of Judah; after it had departed
from the other tribes, and when it was about also to depart from
this ; it was to be during the standing of the second temple,
after violent civil commotions in the world; it was to be near
the time that “the people of the prince that should come would
destroy the temple and the sanctuary ; it was to be, seventy
weeks, “ or four hundred and ninety years,’ from the going forth
of the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem.” Exactly at such
a time Christ did in fact appear. -
Secondly, the place of his appearance. ‘He was to be of
the seed of Abraham and of David, and to come out of Bethle-
hem of Judea.” Christ was a descendant of Abraham’s and of
the house of David, and was born at Bethlehem.
Thirdly, the circumstances of his birth. He was to be pre-
ceded by a forerunner, and ‘to be born of a virgin.” Christ
was preceded by John the Baptist, and as is related of him,
born of a virgin.
Fourthly, his nature. ‘He was to be Immanuel, or God
with us.” His years, further, “were of old and from everlast-
ing.” He was the ‘anointed,” “the prince,” “the most holy ; ”
If we acknowledge his claims, he was all this, and in a sense
that no other man ever pretended to.
Fifthly, his office. He was to be a “blessing to all nations.”
“ Unto him was the gathering of the people to be.’ ‘He was to
be ruler in Israel; ' ' he was to be the desire of all nations; ”
“he was to excel in glory of a different kind from the splendor
of gold and silver; ” he was to be the person whom they so
earnestly expected, and from whom they promised themselves
so great things; he was to give ‘peace; ' ' he was to be cut off,
but not for himself; ” “he was to finish transgressions, to make
an end of sin, to extirpate iniquity, and to bring in everlasting
righteousness.” How truly all these may be said of Jesus
Christ, in a literal or scriptural sense, you must judge for your-
selves. I think I have shown that these things were all, in fact,
though in other words, said of him by his followers, who under-
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 359
stood his character and office best, and who wrote without any
views or desire to become public men.
There is but one objection that I can here take notice of,
which is, that it does not appear from the prophecies themselves
that these particulars were foretold of one and the same person.
I allow that it does not appear from the prophecies themselves;
but if they were all in fact fulfilled by, we presume it is an
evidence that they were all intended for, one person; for,
supposing that these particulars might, for any thing that appears
in the prophecy, belong to one or to different persons, their
uniting in one person is not less extraordinary or more likely to
happen by accident; and therefore such a union in the event
is good proof of the design and completion of the prophecy.
I conclude the whole subject with the observation I set out
with ; namely, that there is but one point at issue, but one
question to be tried, whether this circumstantial completion of
the prophecies, and in so many particulars, could or could not
merely happen by accident. If you think it might, why then
the argument must be given up. If you think it could not, or
that it is not probable it could, then you have one reason at least
for the faith that is in you, a solid and satisfactory proof of the
truth of our religion.
LXV.
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
IPA.R.T I.
John XX. 31.
But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
God, and that, believing, ye might have life through his name.
THE direct historical evidence of Christianity is contained
in three propositions, which, if they can each be made out
satisfactorily, amount together to a demonstration of the truth
of our religion. However, when I call them the direct histori-
cal evidence, you are not to suppose that it is the only evidence.
There are abundance of circumstances, both external and in-
ternal, which corroborate this evidence, which, however, I
360 -- EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
cannot enter upon now, because, in a subject so various and
comprehensive, we must be content to consider one part at
One time.
The three points are these :-
First; that the books of the New Testament were actually
written by the persons whose names they bear.
Secondly; that those persons could not be themselves de-
ceived in what they give an account of.
Thirdly; that they could have no reason, nor can it be
conceived that they should attempt, to deceive or impose upon
others.
The first of these propositions will be enough for one dis-
course; namely; The books of the New Testament were
actually written by the authors whose names they bear ; the
Gospels by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John ; the Acts of the
Apostles, by Luke; the Epistles by Paul, Peter, John, &c.
Now, as to this point, there is, first, the general evidence,
and there is, secondly, the particular testimony.
By the general evidence, I mean that by which we believe
and are assured, on reading any book, that it was written by
the author to whom it is ascribed, and which is no other than
its being ascribed to such an author so far back as we are able
to trace; which circumstance is sufficient, when no opposite
evidence appears, nor any thing in the writing itself contradicts
it, to convince any man. Upon this ground we believe, and
no one, that I know of, doubts it or contradicts it, that the last
great poem which bears his name was Milton’s; the History
Lord Clarendon’s ; and many years ago, that the Commenta-
ries were Caesar’s, the Orations Cicero's, the AEneid Virgil’s.
Now, to say the least, there is the same reason for believing
that the Gospel was Matthew’s or John’s, the Epistle Paul’s or
Peter's; and the reason upon which the belief of mankind pro-
ceeds in these cases is very satisfactory, and will seldom deceive
them; which reason is this, that a book could hardly have
gotten the reputation of belonging to any author, unless it was
acknowledged as such, namely, as the work of this author, by
his contemporaries in the age in which he lived; and that
the same contemporaries in the age in which the author lived
could hardly be deceived in ascribing it to him.
But this matter is best supported by instances. We of this
age and country know that such a particular history of En-
gland was written by Hume ; we know it, because it bears his
name, or because he mentions himself as the author in the end-
ing of the work; or without these, it is universally imputed to
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 361
him, and he sits quiet under the imputation of it. Now the
generation which comes next, after we and he are all dead and
gone, will believe and know that it is Hume's History; for
they will know that we, the predecessors, who were contempo-
raries of the author, believed it to be written by him, and that
this belief of ours, for the reasons abovementioned, could hardly
be mistaken. Their opinion is founded upon what they know
to have been ours, and the next generation upon theirs; and
this point, who is the author of the books? when it is once pub-
lic, and notorious, and agreed upon, is not much altered or di-
minished in its evidence by length of time. So far as I can
see, it will be as certain, or nearly so, three hundred years
hence, that Milton was the author of the poem, as it is now ;
that Cicero was the author of the Orations will be just as evi-
dent to the next generation as to this, and to a thousand genera-
tions after the next. And this is the general evidence, suppo-
sing there was nothing but credit and general reputation to go
upon, which tradition and reputation, as to the authors of books,
do not often deceive us; and we desire no other credit upon
this point to the books of scripture than to any other.
But besides the general evidence, founded upon the general
tradition, there is also a vast quantity of particular testimony,
that is, the certainty of other very ancient books existing, espe-
cially asserting the books of scripture to be authenticated and
of undoubted authority, and quoting passages from them as
such.
We have a great many books written, some fourteen or fif-
teen, some sixteen hundred years ago; some by disciples of
the apostles, others by their disciples, which speak of four Gos-
pels, Acts of the Apostles, thirteen Epistles, not only as credible
and excellent, but as never disputed, and such as never had
been disputed, as equal to the oracles of the Old Testament,
as divinely inspired, as the words of the Spirit, the law and the
oracles of God, the rule of faith, which cannot be contradicted
without great guilt, with many other expressions of the like
kind. This is direct testimony. But there is a species of
testimony which is not direct, but quite as satisfactory, if not
more so. It is this ; when ancient writers quote texts and
passages of the scripture, either noting the author or the book
without the author or neither, but borrowing the expression as
being that of authors applicable to the argument. Now such
quotations prove to an absolute certainty, both that the books
so used and so borrowed existed at the time, and were attributed
to the author at the time, whenever the author is mentioned,
46
362 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
and were received as books of authority, at least in the opinion
of the person who makes the quotation. If Hume, in his His-
tory, quotes a passage from scripture, or Lord Clarendon's
History, it is as full a demonstration a thousand years hence, if
both histories live so long, that Clarendon's History was written
at the time, and was acknowledged to be Clarendon’s History,
and was as such acknowledged, and believed, and received as
a history of authority; and this is the very sort of demonstra-
tion in which we abound; for there are more quotations of the
single gospel of St Matthew, in old books written within one hun-
dred and fifty years after the resurrection of Christ, than there
are of all the works of Cicero, from the time they were written
to this time; and the books in which these quotations are found
were written, one in Palestine, one in Italy, one in Africa, and
in different parts of Asia, which shows that those books were
known and acknowledged, not only in one particular place,
amongst one particular sect of men, but that they were spread,
comparatively speaking, over the world, and received by people
in all countries, who knew nothing of each other. Now, as I
said before, these quotations are, on one account, the most satis-
factory kind of proof. When a writer tells us expressly that
such a book was written by such an author, or that such a work
was of great credit and authority, he may tell us so with a de-
sign to deceive us; but in this sort of quotation there is no de-
sign at all. This proves the existence and capital authenticity
of the books from which they are extracted, without the authors
who made the extracts even suspecting that they would be ap-
plied to for that purpose. This argument in support of the au-
thenticity of the scriptures is common to the scriptures with any
or almost all other ancient books. There are, besides this,
several considerations peculiar to the scriptures, which greatly
corroborate the general argument, being more easily compre-
hended and retained. *=
First; if the books of the New Testament were the rule of
life and faith to the primitive Christians, and received by them
as such, it was exceedingly their concern, and it is but reason-
able to suppose that they would take care, to inform themselves
of the origin and authority of these books, and avoid being im-
posed upon by fraud or artifice, in matters in which they were
so highly interested. No one ever attempted to forge an act
of parliament, and the attempt is manifestly impossible; and
why? Because those who were to obey and be bound by it
would take care to have satisfaction of its authority before
they submitted to it. The same reason applies to the books of
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 363
scripture, which are as so many laws to the professors of
Christianity. - . . . . . . . . . . .
Secondly; these books from the first were read, as they are
now, in the churches and assemblies of the primitive Christians,
and these books only; which was both a strong and public
acknowledgment of their authority, and even of their exclusive
authority, and that by a great number of differing and distant
churches. A Russian traveller in Asia, made it his object to
inquire, and found the same books used in all churches; and
this was withal a complete security from any corruption or
alteration which could be introduced into them. I defy any
man living to make nowadays any alteration in our bible; be-
cause its being constantly read in public, and being by that
means both so dispersed and so well known, the alteration must
immediately be detected. - - -
Thirdly; from very early, may, perhaps from the first ages
of Christianity, there were disputes, sects, and divisions amongst
Christians. Now all sects appealed to these books for the
confirmation of their opinions. Those who found anything in
the books to confirm their opinion produced it to gainsay the
adversary; those who found any thing seemingly contrary to
their opinions reconciled and explained it as well as they could;
but they all agreed in referring themselves and one another to
the books. This is the strongest evidence in the world ; for
all those who agreed in nothing else agreed in reading these
same books; when they were disputing with the utmost vehe-
mence with one another, all sides left the disputes to be decided
by these books. It shows, I think, incontrovertibly, the high
esteem in which these books were, and that they could not be
controverted, whatever else they might be. If one party at-
tempted to forge a work in the name of an apostle, in order to
support a favorite opinion, the opposite party, we may depend
upon it, would search out the forgery and expose it ; or if one
party attempted to insert a text or passage, they would never
prevail upon the adversary to allow it, so as to obtain uncontes-
ted credit. The vigilance of contending parties is the best
security in the world against fraud and contradiction on either
side. * : * ~ *
Fourthly; the primitive Christians did not receive the books
of the New Testament in the lump, without distinction or 'in-
quiry; but appear to have exercised due caution and circum-
spection. The four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, thirteen
Epistles of Paul, one of Peter, and one of John, were received,
so far as appears, universally and without dispute. The Epistle
364, Evidences of CHRISTIANITY.
to the Hebrews, James, the second of Peter, the second and
third of John, Jude, and the Revelations, were for a while
dubious, though afterwards admitted as genuine.
Now, had none of them ever been doubted, it might have
been said it was because no one of them was inquired into ;
but some of them being doubted, shows there was inquiry, there
was caution; and this is, in my judgment, the strongest ima-
ginable confirmation of the rest. What were the reasons of the
doubts, or how they were afterwards cleared up, is not now
the question. It affords a fair presumption that there was no
room to doubt on any of the rest, because when there was
any such room, you find scruples, hesitations, and disagree-
ments. An historian who wrote an account and history of the
christian religion between two and three hundred years after
Christ’s death, speaking of the books in use amongst Christians,
divides them into three kinds; those which were pretended to
be written by the apostles or apostolic men, but rejected by
the church ; those which had been doubted, but afterwards
received ; and those, lastly, which had never, that he could
learn, by any of the almost innumerable christian churches or
societies, been doubted or disputed at all; which distinction is
exact and judicious, and settling the authority of the last set
beyond controversy, because it is established upon the uncon-
scious and unanimous consent of a vast number of christian
congregations, independent of one another, and who, as appears,
were sufficiently disposed to doubt and disagree, where there
was room for it. - -
I acknowledge that spurious pieces were published under the
names of the apostles; but I contend that they never were
received and acknowledged by the primitive Christians, in the
way and with the consent that these scriptures were. They
may be once or twice repeated by others; they were read and
perhaps quoted ; but those who read them and doubted of
them, or were inclined to doubt them, always made a vast dif-
ference betwixt these and the books of which there was no
doubt. *
I will add two reflections, which belong particularly to St
Paul's epistles. , St Paul appears to have generally employed
some one to write his epistles, either from his own mouth or
another copy he gave him ; but then to avoid the abuse of it,
he always wrote a little, probably his benediction, in his own
hand, expressly to prove it to be his own, and to guard the
people he wrote to against any imposition. ‘The salutation of
me, Paul, with my own hand, which is the token in every
Evidences of CHRISTIANITY. 365
epistle; so I write.” Generally the person by whom it was
sent is mentioned in the ending of the epistle. No one, there-
fore, would present the epistle but that person; and he must
be known as coming from St Paul. A great number of per-
sons are saluted by name, who, as well as the whole church,
would no doubt see the letter, and particularly the first epistle
to the Thessalonians is directed to be read in all the churches.
Now this very circumstance, in my judgment, made a forgery
impossible. Any such forgery during Paul’s lifetime must
have been discovered by his subsequent communication with
the church; and if such epistle was not produced till after his
death, then this plain objection must have overthrown its credit;
‘Here it is directed in the very body of the letter that it be
publicly read in the church, and the church has never heard or
seen, or been told of it, till now.’
My last reflection is this; in St Paul's epistles, there is an
earnestness and a vehemence, I might call it an enthusiasm, and
a passionate style, which I will undertake to say none could
counterfeit; nor could such be found in any man’s writings
who was not thoroughly and entirely convinced of the truth of
this religion. Let any one read St Paul's epistles with this
view, and I am convinced he will confess that the author of
these epistles, be he who he would, was really persuaded of
the truth of what he wrote ; not to mention the obscurity in
many, or in most indeed, of his epistles, which a forger would
have avoided.
Upon the whole, I trust that I have established this funda-
mental point to your satisfaction, that the books of scripture
were really written by the persons to whom they were ascribed.
The remaining points we must reserve.
366 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
LXVI.
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
PART - II,
John XX. 31.
But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of
God, and that, believing, ye might have life through his name.
HAVING proved, and I trust satisfactorily, that the books of
the New Testament were written by the persons to whom they
are ascribed, my next proposition is, that these persons could
not possibly be deceived in what they related ; and this will
necessarily introduce an inquiry how they stood connected, as
to opportunity of knowledge and information, with the matters
they relate, and of what nature those matters were. -
One of the four gospels, which contain the history of our
Saviour's life, the first, was written by Matthew. Who was
that Matthew The publican, whom Jesus Christ saw and
called at the receipt of custom, and afterwards ordained to be
one of the twelve apostles, who were to be with him as com-
panions in his journeying and ministry till his ascension. So
that you observe this author was an eyewitness himself, and
had actually seen the greatest part of the things which he re-
lates; attended upon Christ as he passed from one place to
another; was present upon the spot when he wrought his mira-
cles; heard his discourses; sat down with him at his last
supper; and, above all, saw him himself after his resurrection
from the dead. No authority can be stronger than that. If
this be not bringing the account to the fountain head, I know
not what is. St John, the author of the fourth gospel, was
another apostle, and consequently, like all the other apostles,
the regular companion of Jesus. He was likewise called be-
fore Matthew, therefore present at some things which Matthew
was not. He was not only one of the disciples, but the disci-
ple “whom Jesus loved,” whom he distinguished upon two
occasions by particular marks of regard; took and admitted,
along with Peter and James, into the house at the raising of
Jairus's daughter when no others were admitted ; was present
along with Christ, together with Peter and James at the trans-
figuration ; was found, with Peter and James, on our Lord's
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY, 367
passion, in the garden. These circumstances we mention
merely to show that he was not only a disciple, but a friend and
particular favorite of his master; consequently perfectly well
informed, we may be sure, of his history. He himself stood
by the cross when Jesus was crucified; and when he describes
that transaction, especially the piercing of his side and the
flowing out of blood and water, he adds these remarkable
words; ‘He that saw it bare record, and his record is true;
and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.”
Moreover he was present after Christ's resurrection, at the
conversation betwixt Christ and Peter, and was himself the
subject of that conversation. ‘This is that disciple,’ he adds,
‘which testifieth these things, and wrote these things, and we
know that his testimony is true.”
What we know of Mark is, that he lived and had a house at
Jerusalem ; was acquainted with the apostles; that he was a
disciple of some note and distinction, for it was to his house
that Peter went when he was miraculously delivered out of
prison, and where he found many gathered together and pray-
ing. Soon after this, he left Jerusalem to accompany Barnabas
and Paul in their expedition to the Gentiles. After residing
with them for some time, he left them and returned to Jerusa-
lem, which return afterwards occasioned a dispute betwixt
Barnabas and Paul ; Barnabas being desirous to keep Mark
with him, Paul, not thinking it good to take him, departed from
them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work.
St Paul, however, long after this, begged Timothy to bring
Mark along with him to Rome, ‘For he is profitable to me for
the ministry;” so that the offence, whatever it was, was made
up. The account delivered down to us by many historians is,
that Mark attended upon Peter, and wrote his gospel under
Peter's eye, and by his direction. However, we are the less
solicitous to ascertain any thing further concerning Mark,
because there is hardly any thing in his gospel which is not
contained in that by St Matthew. Thus much appears, that
although he might not perhaps have been an eyewitness of
many of the transactions he records, which, whether he was or
not, cannot now be known, he was a companion of apostles,
and apostolically aiding and assisting some of those in the
ministry. At his house the first disciples, according to their
custom, used to meet. He was probably the friend of Peter,
as Peter went to his house the first place after his deliver-
ance from prison ; and what is as material as any thing, he was
368 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
living at Jerusalem, the very spot where the most important
part of Christ's miracles were exhibited. -
St Luke wrote his Gospel, and the Acts of the Apostles.
He was the companion and fellow traveller of Paul, as appears
both from his speaking in the first person plural in his account
of St Paul’s travels, “We went,’ ‘it was determined that we
should sail into Italy,’ ‘it came to pass when we were gone
forth,’ and other passages of the same kind, which show that
the writer of the history was one of the company.
We find him also with St Peter at Rome, when St Paul
wrote the first chapter of his second epistle to Timothy. The
preface to St Luke's gospel is exceedingly worthy of notice;
* Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order
a declaration of those things, which are most surely believed
among us, even as they delivered them unto us, which from
the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word; it
seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of
all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most
excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of
those things wherein thou hast been instructed.”
Now this short preface informs us of a great deal. It in-
forms us, first, that the great facts of the gospel history were
most surely believed amongst the Christians of those times. It
informs us, secondly, upon what grounds they are believed,
namely, as they delivered them, which from the beginning were
eyewitnesses. It acknowledges, thirdly, that he himself was
not an eyewitness, but that he received the account from those
who were ; writing as they delivered the instances. It asserts,
fourthly, that St Luke had a perfect understanding of all
things from the first, or, as it should have been rendered, he
had penned and traced every account up to its source, to the
fountain head, and so as to have no doubt in his mind ; for he
professes, you see, to inform Theophilus of the certainty of
those things wherein he had been instructed.
In the Acts of the Apostles, St Luke having, as I said be-
fore, to attend and accompany St Paul, was eyewitness of
many things which he there relates; in particular, Luke was
with Paul in the ship when that extraordinary wreck hap-
pened, by which they were thrown ashore on the island of
Malta; he lodged with Paul in the same house when he mi-
raculously healed one of the family, and many other diseased
persons in the island. He must have known, therefore, with
absolute certainty, the truth or falsehood of what he relates
about it. W
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 369
The thirteen epistles of Paul, though not properly histori-
cal, contain incidents, in connexion with the transactions of his
life, of the miracles he saw or wrought, or references and al-
lusions to those, which is the same thing; and in various places
he refers to his miraculous conversion, particularly in the first
chapter of Galatians, where he says he received his doctrine,
‘not of man, nor was he taught of men, but immediately by
the revelation of Jesus Christ;’ and then, by way of proof of
it, reminds them of our Saviour being revealed to him at the
very time he was persecuting the church of Christ. The same
in the twelfth chapter of his second epistle to the Corinthians;
‘I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, whether in
the body I cannot tell, or whether out of the body I cannot
tell, God knoweth ; such an one caught up to the third hea-
ven.” And at the fifteenth chapter of the first epistle to the
Corinthians, speaking of the different appearances of Christ
after his resurrection, he adds, in reference to a vision he had
of Christ at his conversion, ‘Last of all he was seen of me
also, as of one born out of due time.” Upon other occasions,
St Paul speaks in his epistles of the miracles himself had
wrought. 2 Cor. XII. 12. ‘Truly,’ says he, “how the signs
of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs
and wonders, and mighty deeds.” To the Galatians, third chap-
ter and fifth verse ; ‘He therefore that ministereth to you the
spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the
works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?’ To the Co-
rinthians, in the first epistle, ‘I thank my God, I speak with
tongues more than you all.” Now here could be no mistake.
St Paul certainly knew whether he did or did not see Christ
at his conversion ; whether he did or did not show signs, or
wonders, or mighty deeds at Corinth ; whether he did or did
not work miracles in Galatia; whether he did or did not speak
with tongues. I lay the greatest stress upon the evidence of
St Paul's epistles, because the very matter and manner of com-
position of them carry with them the force of demonstration,
that the author of them was in earnest ; not to mention that
his appeal to the miracles he wrought, in the texts I have
quoted, was with no desire of publicity and authority, or hand-
ing down the memory of these miracles to posterity, but merely
for the sake of the argument in hand. The very mention of
them, one may say, was accidental; so far was he from any
design to impose the narrative of false miracles upon the world.
Next to St Paul's the epistle of St Peter may be produced in
testimony of this authenticity. St Peter, you all know, was an
47
370 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
apostle from the first to the last; a companion of our Saviour;
admitted, together with James and John, to more privacy and
intimacy with their master than the rest; and held a long and
remarkable conversation with Christ after his resurrection. If
any one had an opportunity of knowing the truth of the trans-
actions of Christ's life, it was he. Besides speaking in general
in his epistles of Christ's suffering, death, and resurrection, of
all which he must have known the truth or falsehood, he bears
witness in his second epistle to one memorable circumstance in
Christ's history, which he himself, he tells us, saw and heard;
and this was the transfiguration of Christ, at which, you read
in the gospel, he and James and John alone were present;
* For.we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we
made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty; for he received
from God the Father honor and glory when there came such
a voice to him from the excellent glory, “This is my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased;” and this voice, which came
from heaven, we heard when we were with him in the holy
mount.” No testimony can be more explicitly authenticated
and better founded than this.
James and Jude were both apostles; and, by their epistles,
bear testimony to the general truth of the christian religion,
and, consequently, to the certainty of the resurrection of Christ;
for I suppose it will not be disputed, but that any one who be-
lieved Christianity believed the resurrection of Christ. Of the
facts of the resurrection these two, together with the other
apostles, were eyewitnesses.
The miracles, therefore, recorded in the New Testament,
come down to us attested by Matthew and John ; in the Acts
of the Apostles, by Paul, Peter, James, and Jude, as eyewit-
nesses; by St Mark, to say the least of him, a companion and
friend of those who had been eyewitnesses of these miracles,
and being upon the spot when the greater part of them was
performed ; by St Luke in his gospel, an attendant upon Paul,
who sifted every thing to the bottom, and gave these accounts
as they were delivered by those who, from the beginning, were
eyewitnesses; and their being so circumstanced, there is no
possibility of mistake in any, or at least in the whole. It is
quite a different case from a set of rumors and reports handed
from one to another, and repeated after one another, of which
each reporter, if he knew from whom he had it, pretends to
know nothing more. It is different from accounts published in
one country of what has been done or is doing in another,
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 371
where the publisher of the accounts, from the very distance at
which he is situated, can know nothing for himself. It is still
more different from histories of travels, which appeared many
ages before the history we have, and of which the historian
could know very little of what he relates, and with little more
authority than ourselves. The gospel historians are sufficiently
acquainted with the truth or falsehood of any or most of the
facts they relate ; if the facts be not so, it is wilful and design-
ed deceit.
Again, and which is a second consideration; the facts
themselves were of such a nature that they were capable of
being known with absolute certainty; they were of such a
nature as, if the accounts be allowed, were unquestionably
miraculous. A diseased person, upon the application of a
supposed remedy, either natural or supernatural, may recover
from his disease; and it may remain in doubt how far the
remedy was successful in the cure, because it cannot be known
whether the disease would not have abated of itself, or whether
imagination might not contribute to it; but when a man, blind
or lame from his birth, is made to see and walk by a word in
an instant, there is no room for any supposition of other inter-
ference. Nor was the power of working miracles confined to
such cures. There are many acts wrought by miracles besides
cures, as turning the water into wine, feeding the five thousand
with a few loaves and fishes, blighting the fig tree, walking on
the sea, and, above all, raising the dead.
Lastly, which is a very material consideration, the miracles
of Christ were of a permanent kind, such as would be very
capable of being examined and inquired into afterwards. It
was not like a spectre, appearing and disappearing on a Sud-
den, and where, consequently, the whole proof must rest only
upon the credit of those who saw it at that moment. The
thing in that case was gone and vanished, and admitted no
search or investigation. When the blind man was restored to
sight, as related in the eighth chapter of John, he continued
upon the spot and to enjoy the use of his sight. We hear that
he was produced and examined after the miracle, as he had
all along lived and was known there before it. When the lame
man, at the gate of the temple, was cured by Peter and John,
the cure continued ; every one that pleased was at liberty to
inquire into and examine it, if they disputed the reality of it.
It did not depend upon what the apostles or any one said; his
condition before the miracle was notorious, and he was there
for them to examine as to his condition after it. When Laza-
372 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
rus was raised from the dead, he did not die again immediately,
merely speak or move, then sink into his former state; but he
lived, and ate, and conversed like other people. The Jews
and all had the opportunity, and many of them, we read, did
go down to Bethany to see him, sat at table with him, and at
length the rulers formed a design of ruining and putting him
to death for it.
Upon the whole, the facts are of such a nature, the persons
who related them so prepared with knowledge and informa-
tion, that I think we may rest satisfied in holding that they could
not be imposed upon or deceived in what they tell us; that we
have all the assurance of the truth of these reports which the
number, credit, character of any witnesses or allegations can
give us. gº
LXVII.
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
PART III.
John XX. 31.
But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
God, and that, believing, ye might have life through his name.
THE only remaining supposition is, that the evangelists, the
apostles, and many writers and preachers of the gospel, have
all entered into a confederacy of imposing their story upon the
world; for if the facts they relate, and their relation with re-
spect to them, were of such a nature that they could not by
any possibility be mistaken, that no enthusiasm or even madness
will account for their being deceived in them, there is nothing
left but either to admit these facts to be true, or to say that the
disciples purposely joined and went about to cheat and deceive
men. Now before we proceed any further, I would observe
that this may always be said. In any cause or trial, let the
fact be proved ever so clearly by witnesses ever so positive or
many, or of ever so good character, it is easy to say that they
have combined to impose upon the court; it is easy to say so,
but nobody believes it, nobody attends to it, or is affected by
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 373
it. The cause is decided upon the testimony of these witnesses,
and every one can rest satisfied with the decision, and can have
no doubt about the matter; whereas those who were interested
on the other side, when they had nothing else left to say,
would have insinuated that the witnesses were all forsworn, and
that it was all a story not to be believed.
But to return ; let us now inquire into the probability, or
even the possibility, of the supposition, that it was a conspiracy
in the friends of Christianity to carry on a cheat.
Now the first impression which this supposition includes, and
which alone, I conceive, would stagger the belief of any reason-
able man, is, that a handful of fishermen in a small town, near
the lake of Galilee, should take into their heads a scheme of
covertly setting up a new religion, and converting the whole world
to it, and should leave their homes, families, and business, upon
this errand, and should expect success in it by means of a tale
made up of lies and forgeries. Is this credible 2 Is it con-
ceivable 2 Is it consistent with any principle in human nature
or in the nature of things? Is there any instance of such an
attempt in the history of the world 2 That Mahomet at the
head of a victorious army should set up pretensions to a divine
commission, and endeavour to establish a religion which re-
dounded so much to the interest and glory of himself and his
family, is nothing unnatural. With these advantages Mahomet
appealed, as did the apostles, to public miracles. Had the
apostles been statesmen or philosophers, there would have been
more likelihood of such contrivances amongst them, as such
men may some of them entertain ambitious views, and from
their influence and celebrity might imagine themselves qualified
for such an undertaking; but that a set of low and illiterate
mechanics, for from such it is allowed both by friends and ene-
mies that Christianity originated, should conceive a plan of this
kind, knowing all the while the falsehood of what they were
delivering, is too wild and extravagant a supposition to account
for any of these stories; for, always active in finding out what
may supply their wants, in carving and contriving at all times,
the lower, laborious part of mankind have enough to do to sup-
port themselves and their families; their wants, their occupa-
tion, their domestic duties and affections are sufficient to en-
gage the whole of their attention and employment. Is a scheme
of setting up a religion in the world very likely to interest or
engage such as these ? or is it - probable that such as these
should plot and contrive together to do nothing less than to
overturn the established religion in. all countries of the world,
374, EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
and introduce into the place of it a fabulous tale of their own
contriving? I know that we have examples of people of very
low estate and little education quitting their own calling to turn
preachers of religion; but that bears no resemblance to the
present case, for these persons are most, or all of them, I think,
sure of what they go about; whereas the apostles, evangelists,
and first founders of Christianity must, according to this ac-
count, have been impostors, and have known in their own
breasts that they were so. Besides, these persons are led to
what they do by the example of others in superior station, and
after all do not aspire at founding a new religion, but only an
unusual method of explaining or propagating the old one.
But secondly, what was it that all the apostles went about to
overturn ? the attachment of men to virtue and holiness It
must be allowed, whether what they wrote and preached was
true or false, that the behaviour and morality which they incul-
cated were excellent, since all acknowledged, even those who
were inclined to question the religion most, that whatever they
inculcated, they required. They insisted upon the most per-
fect purity, benevolence, justice, obedience, piety. Now, what
would this accomplish P Was it from a virtuous motive that
they enjoined on all their followers these virtues, as they cer-
tainly did 2 Such a motive excludes the supposition of im-
posture. In many instances the best motives may be mistaken ;
but it is impossible that with these motives any one could carry
on a continued deliberate plan of deceiving and cheating others.
Read those passages of the epistles especially, which exhort to
virtue and holiness; with what a strain of lively earnestness
and zeal the exhortations run with what threats and denun-
ciations they warn men from vice with what entreaties they
invite them to virtue ! how they over and over again declare
and protest the worth of a life of virtue, that religion without
such a life is nothing, that nothing else, that nothing besides
holiness in heart, principle, and practice, would conduct them-
selves and their followers to Salvation l and then reflect, how
we are to believe that the authors of the epistles were all the
while themselves carrying on a cheat and an imposture, know-
ing in their hearts that what they were telling their followers
was all falsehood and fable.
Thirdly, what had the apostles to gain by the scheme * did
they distinguish themselves or their families 2 did any of them
advance thereby their posterity to honors, and favors, and high
states? was there any prospect or probability of such advance-
ment? Here is an infallible rule; an impostor has always
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 375
something to get by his imposition ; he may not get it; that is
another thing; he aims at some advantage to himself or friends;
and thus it becomes a natural consideration and inquiry, was
there any interest to bias them 2 Now if ever men were dis-
interested, the apostles were ; upon all occasions they-declined
and reprobated the idea of taking any thing of their converts.
‘I have coveted,” says St Paul in his pathetic farewell to the
church of Macedonia, ‘I have coveted no man's silver, or gold,
or apparel; nay, ye yourselves know that these hands have
ministered to my necessities, and to them that were with me.”
When Simon Magus offered them money for some of their
supernatural powers, “Thy money,” replied Peter, ‘perish with
thee, because thou hast thought the gift of God may be pur-
chased with money.” “Did I make a gain of you,” says St
Paul to the Corinthians, ‘by any of them whom I sent unto
you ; did Titus make a gain of you?” The apostles, it is true,
had all an opportunity of making themselves masters of the
fortunes of their followers; and that was when the disciples at
Jerusalem, as you read in the fourth chapter of the Acts, in
the height of their zeal sold their lands and houses, and brought
the prices of those things that were sold, and laid them down
at the apostle’s feet. How did the apostles behave upon this
occasion ? So far from taking advantage of the unlimited con-
fidence of their followers to their own interest and use, they
embraced the first opportunity of getting rid of their charge,
only receiving the contributions of the rich, and distributing
them amongst the poor, and transferring it to some men ap-
pointed for that purpose, not by themselves, but by the people
at large, as you find in the sixth chapter of Acts. So that
there is no pretence for charging them with seeking their own
profit, or following a profession which promised gain. If it be
said that they might be drawn in by the expectation of honors
and advancement from the Messiah himself, under the notion
which they probably in common with the other Jews entertained
of the Messiah himself, I answer, they could not be so drawn
in, if they knew him to be an impostor, which they must have
known, if he was one, and which is the supposition we are now
arguing upon ; for the question now is, what they were to gain
or look for from a scheme which they knew to be founded in
falsehood and deceit.
Fourthly, this is not all; the apostles and first teachers of
Christianity had not only nothing to gain by the lie, supposing
it to have been one, but had every thing to fear and every
thing to suffer in support of it. Here indeed is the great
376 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
strength and stress of the christian evidence. It is certain that
the founder of the christian religion suffered death upon the
cross for the undertaking; it seems equally certain that the
apostles and first of his followers underwent all manner of per-
secution; and many of them martyrdom, for their opinions.
This is expressly stated in scripture. It is confirmed by cor-
responding accounts of heathen writers, who, being enemies to
Christianity, cannot be suspected of giving false testimony in
its favor, and who described the first Christians as resolutely
undergoing stripes, imprisonment, and death, rather than re-
nounce or impugn the truth of their religion; and these accounts
come near to the times of the apostles, if not to their times.
Add to which, that the thing itself was in the highest degree
probable, and, morally speaking, certain, that the setters-up and
maintainers of a religion which overthrew all other religions,
diverse and irreconcileable to, or, as it were, directly against,
the established tenets and prejudice of both Jews and Gentiles,
should meet with opposition from the rulers and teachers of
this world, who were all interested in the support of their own
establishment. We know what fate and usage the first pro-
moters of the Reformation met with, and there is all likelihood
that the first publishers of Christianity would share the same.
‘I think,’ says St Paul, “that God hath set forth us the apostles
last as it were appointed unto death ; for we are made a spec-
tacle to the world, to angels and to men ; even in this present
hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffet-
ed, and have no certain dwellingplace, and labor, working
with our hands; being reviled, we bless; being persecuted,
we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat ; we are made as the
filth of the world, as the offscouring of all things unto this day.”
Was all this, think you, from any liking for an imposture ? for
what they knew in their hearts to be a falsehood of their own
contriving : The epistles, all of them, abound with exhorta-
tions to patience ; some of these were written for no other
purpose than to encourage their new converts to sustain the
struggle they had together ; ‘Call to remembrance,” says the
epistle to the Hebrews, ‘the former days, in which, after ye
were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions, partly
whilst ye were made a gazing stock both by reproaches and
afflictions, and partly whilst ye became companions of them
that were so used ; for ye took joyfully the spoiling of your
goods, knowing in yourselves that ye had in heaven a better
and enduring substance.’ ‘Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 377
famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword P Nay, in all these
things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved
us; for I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to
come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be
able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord.’ And they not only suffered these things, but
foresaw that they should suffer them. It was what might ea-
sily enough be foreseen from the nature of the undertaking
they were engaged in. Besides that, they were expressly
forewarned of it from the very first by their divine master;
“And ye shall be betrayed both by parents and brethren, and
kinsfolk and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be
put to death, and ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s
sake.” Now if the fact be established, which appears to me
unquestionable, that the first teachers of Christianity suffered
great extremities, and some of them death in the cause, and for
the sake of their religion, it carries with it the strongest possible
proof of the truth of that religion. One man relates a story. It
appears to me so improbable in its own nature, that I could not
bring myself to believe it. Five or six others join with this man
in the same agreement. This staggers, but by no means satisfies
me. They protest over and over again; they declare it with
every possible mark and expression of seriousness and earnest-
ness. This also has some weight; but to come to the truth and
certainty of the matter, I pretend that the relaters of this are, and
treat them all as, impostors. I threaten them with imprisonment
if they do not confess the truth, and retract the story. My
threats have no effect; they answer they cannot but declare what
they have seen and heard. I carry my threats into execution;
confine them in prison, beat them with stripes, try what hun-
ger, or cold, or nakedness, will do. Not one of them relents;
spite of all I can do, or all I threatened, they persevere in their
original story. I consider that perhaps these people may be
mistaken; nay, but I reflect, that is impossible; what they re-
late is not opinions and notions, but matters of fact, and of
such a nature that they cannot be mistaken ; what they tell us,
they saw with their own eyes, and heard with their own ears;
they must know the truth or falsehood of what they say ; either
they are the most obstinate, deliberate impostors, or what they
say, notwithstanding all its seeming improbabilities, must be
true. I will make, however, a decisive experiment. I will
make this short proposal to them; either disown and give up
your story, or prepare to suffer death, to seal your assevera-
48
378 PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
tion with your blood. Some of them do so. What shall I
now say? I can no longer refuse conviction.
Now this description agrees in all its points with the case of
Christianity. And upon this I rest; produce me an example
of any one man, since the beginning of the world, voluntarily
suffering death for what he knows to be false, and I give up
the cause. If no such instance was ever heard of, I cannot
see upon what grounds, or in what way, we can know right
from wrong; or on what pretence we can reject the evidence
of the apostles, martyrs, and first preachers of Christianity.
LXVIII.
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
PART I.
RoMANs X. 10.
But I say, Have they not heard? Yes, verily, their sound went into all the
earth, and their words into the ends of the world.
THE spreading and propagation of Christianity has always
been deemed a proof of its truth; because it is said that a
false or fabulous religion could not, under the same circum-
stances, have so sped and gained credit in the world. To do
the argument justice, it will be necessary just to state the fact
how Christianity did really spread and make its way, though it
will be necessary to take notice of the circumstances under
which Christianity was practised, whether they were such as
that no imposture could have made its way under the same.
When this is done, you will judge for yourselves of the degree
of weight and credit which the argument deserves.
The account of the preaching and spreading of Christianity
must set off from the ascension of Christ into heaven; for it
was from that time that the apostles were commissioned to
publish and teach it to the world ; and before that time the
world could not be said to know perfectly what it was.
Now a few days after Christ's ascension, we find the disciples
assembled in Jerusalem to the number of one hundred and
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 379
twenty. Acts i. 15. “And in those days, Peter stood in the
midst of the disciples; the number of the names being about a
hundred and twenty.’ This number will appear to you ex-
tremely small; but I think it is not to be supposed to be the
whole number of those who believed in Christ. For first,
you will observe, this was only in one city, of Jerusalem.
Secondly ; it was the number of those who where assembled;
and it is not necessary to suppose, nor probable, that all should
be collected upon that occasion who believed in Christ. Third-
ly; these were not yet formed into any regular society, so as
to be known to, or associate much with, one another. It was
not yet either settled or known that the believers in Christ
were to meet, or where, or when, or how. The one hundred
and twenty, the little knot and association who had gathered
themselves together, and joined themselves to the apostles,
were probably not merely met together as believers in Christ,
but as personally known to and connected with the apostles and
one another; all the believers in Jerusalem it could not be, if it
was true what St Paul asserts, that Christ appeared to five hun-
dred brethren at once. I can very well conceive that the death
of Christ had staggered many of his followers; not that they
distrusted the reality of the miracles which they had seen or
been informed of, but because they did not see what it tended
to ; what was to be done, or what was to be the end and event
of all these extraordinary appearances. It did not as yet appear
that a new religion was to be set up in the world, or how the
professors of that religion were to act, or to be distinguished
from the rest of mankind; so that they ceased to be his disci-
ples, because his departure out of the world left them nothing
more to do, and nothing more to hope. This assembling of
one hundred and twenty was held a few days after his ascen-
sion; for forty days after that event was the day of Pentecost,
when the Holy Ghost descended upon the apostles, accompa-
nied with miraculous effects; the appearance of fire resting upon
them, and the speaking in the audience of the people in a vari-
ety of languages, which it was known they understood nothing
of before. Upon this memorable day, three thousand were
added to the church. But here, as before, I would remark,
that it is not to be taken that these three thousand were con-
verted by this single miracle, but rather that many who were
before believers in Christ became now professors of Christianity;
that is, when they found that a religion was to be established,
a society formed and set up in the name of Christ, governed
by his laws, professing belief in his name, united amongst them-
380 PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
selves, and separated from the rest of the world by many visible
distinctions, as baptism, the Lord's supper and the like ; when
they found such a community established there, by virtue of
their former conviction of what they had seen and heard and
known of Christ whilst on earth, they declared themselves
members of it. A very little after this, we read in the fourth
chapter of Acts, that the number of the men was about five
thousand; so that here is an addition of two thousand in a
very little time. Christianity continued to advance at Jerusa-
lem by the same progress; for in the next chapter we read
“ that believers were the more added to the Lord ; multitudes
both of men and women.” In the sixth chapter we meet with
another instance of the increase of the disciples; for we read
that “the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem great-
ly, and that a great company of the priests were obedient to
the faith.”
This I call the first period in the propagation of Christianity.
It contains scarcely more than one year from the ascension of
Christ; during which year the preaching of the gospel was
confined, so far as we learn, to Jerusalem. And how did it
prevail there? They set off with one hundred and twenty; in
one day three thousand were added ; in a short time after that
they were increased to five thousand; multitudes, both of men
and women, continued to be added; disciples multiplied greatly,
and many of the Jewish priesthood, amongst others, became
obedient to the faith. This was the first year’s increase, and
this was upon the spot where the things were transacted upon
which the religion rests.
Christianity now began to spread. By reason of a great
persecution against the Christians of Jerusalem, they were all,
except the apostles, driven from thence, and scattered through-
out the regions of Judea and Samaria; and wherever they
went they carried their religion with them. “They that were
scattered abroad, went every where preaching the word.” We
read that the gospel was preached with great success in Sa-
maria; first by Philip, and then by Peter and John. Some
time after this, namely, three years from Christ's ascension,
Paul was converted, and found many others professing Chris-
tianity at Damascus; three years after which, that is, six years
after the ascension, the churches throughout all Judea, and
Galilee, and Samaria, were multiplied in the comfort of the
Holy Ghost. This I call the second period; and contains four
years, as the first did. First; during the first period, Chris-
tianity was confined to Jerusalem; in the second, we hear of
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 381
it in Samaria and Damascus; and by the end of that period
churches, that is º and societies of Christians, were
multiplied throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria.
It is worth observing likewise, that there is reason to believe
this is far from a full and complete account of the spreading of
Christianity; for although the work from which we fetch our
information be called the Acts of the Apostles, it is not, nor
was intended to be, a history of all the apostles; only of
a few of the most remarkable transactions of Peter, and the
travels and the persecutions of Paul, which after his conversion
chiefly indeed employ the history. It is not credible, nor is
there the least reason to suppose, that the other apostles, of
whom little or no mention is made in this history, were idle all
the while, or that their labors wanted success. w
Hitherto the preaching of the gospel had been confined to
the Jews or Jewish proselytes, and to the Samaritans. It was
not known, except to the apostles, that they ought to propose
it to any others, or admit any others into their religion. That
great mystery, as St Paul calls it, and as it then was, was im-
parted first to Peter, in the case of Cornelius, afterwards to
Paul, upon various occasions, and by the report of the preach-
ing to the Gentiles, and God vouchsafing to accompany the
preaching by miracles, it came to be known at length to the
other apostles and the whole company of disciples, ‘ that God
to the Gentiles also granted repentance unto life.” This being
understood, and the way being thus opened, the progress of the
gospel became rapid and extensive. It was about seven.years.
after the ascension of Christ that the gospel was first preached
to the Gentiles at Caesarea. Acts x. 44. A year after this, a
great multitude were converted at Antioch, as you read in the
eleventh chapter; and at Herod's death, which happened in
the next year, the word of God grew and multiplied. Two
years afterwards, great multitudes, both of the Jews and Gen-
tiles, were converted at Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, as you
read in the fourteenth chapter. Three years after this, which
brings us to the fourteenth after the ascension, the apostles sent
a letter from Jerusalem to the Gentile converts in Antioch,
Syria, and Cilicia, through which countries Paul travelled,
and found the churches established in the faith, and increasing
in numbers daily. Two years after, great numbers of devout
Greeks were arrested at Thessalonica and Berea, and the
next year at Corinth. See the eighteenth chapter of the Acts.
Five years after this, and twentytwo after the ascension, we
find Demetrius complaining at Ephesus, that not only there, but
382 PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
almost throughout Asia, Paul persuaded and turned away much
people. Besides these, notice is incessantly made of converts
at fifteen of the principal cities in the ancient world. This is
the third period; and sets off in the seventh year after the as-
cension, and ends at the twentyeighth, and includes nearly
nineteen or twenty years, during which there was hardly a city
or place in the most populous and flourishing part of the Ro-
man empire which the gospel had not visited, and where it had
not converted ‘great multitudes,” a “great number,’ ‘much
people;’ for these are the expressions almost constantly made
use of.
Now lay these three periods together, and see how the mat-
ter stands. The institution which began after its author’s re-
moval from the earth with one hundred and twenty disciples,
assembled in a small room at Jerusalem, by the end of thirty
years had spread itself much throughout Judea, Galilee, and
Samaria ; now passing over amongst the Gentiles, and, amongst
them, converting numbers, and continually spreading at Iconium,
Lystra, Derbe; in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia ; at Thessalo-
nica, and Berea; persuading and turning away much people
from the religion of their ancestors, at Ephesus, and throughout
all Asia; founding churches or regular societies of professed
Christians in Alexandria, Athens, Cyprus, Cyrene, Macedonia,
Philippi, Perga, Phoenice, Ptolemais, Puteoli, Rome, Lydda,
Saron, Tyre, which were all considerable cities, and accounts
of converts at all these occur in the Acts of the Apostles, though,
as observed above, this book contains little besides the history
of Paul, and a small part of Peter's. Six of these societies, it
may be presumed, were considerable, as St Paul addressed an
epistle to them. Seven ancient churches are also distinguished,
or accosted by name, in the book of Revelations; so that St
Paul might truly say, as he did about this period, that the gos-
pel had been preached to every nation under heaven, that is,
throughout every part of the Roman empire, by themselves or
others. -
First, then, the scriptures cannot well be suspected of exag-
geration in these matters; for they never profess to set off, or
even describe, the extent of the religion, but are led to mention
these particular incidents; such as St Paul’s coming to a place,
and finding the converts ordaining elders, or comforting and
establishing the churches, or on some such occasions. Besides
that, it would have been a fruitless imposture to have published
epistles to christian churches which never existed, or accounts
of the establishment of Christianity in places where it had never
been heard of."
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 383
The scripture history of the propagation of Christianity is
followed up, as might be expected, by corresponding accounts
of succeeding writers. Clement, of Rome, having known St
Paul, and been mentioned in St Paul’s epistles, speaking of
that apostle, says, “In the East and West he became a preach-
er of the word, instructing the whole world in righteousness,
and penetrating to the extreme regions of the West.” This au-
thor wrote about sixty years after Christ’s ascension. Justin
Martyr, who wrote just about one hundred years after the as-
cension, has these remarkable words; “There is not a nation,
either Greeks or barbarians, or of any other name, even of
those who wander in tribes or live in tents, amongst whom
prayers and thanksgivings are not offered to the Father and
Creator of the universe by the name of the crucified Jesus.”
Tertullian, a famous writer in defence of Christianity, and
who lived about one hundred and fifty years from the ascen-
sion, thus appeals to the great men and governors of the Ro-
man empire; “We were but of yesterday,” says he, ‘and we
have filled your towns and boroughs, the very camp, the senate,
and the forum.” He then enumerates the several countries al-
ready mentioned as believing in Christ, so far following up the
scripture account. To this he adds the Moors and Gaetulians
of Africa, the borders of Spain, several nations of France, and
parts of Great Britain inaccessible to the Romans, the Sama-
tians, Dacians, Germans, and Scythians.
Origen, who wrote about two hundred years after the ascen-
sion of Christ, delivers the same account; ‘In every part of
the world,” says he ; ‘throughout all Greece; in all other na-
tions, they are innumerable ; an immense multitude, who having
left the laws of the country, and those whom they esteemed
gods, have given themselves up to the law of Moses, and the
religion of Christ; and this not without the bitterest resentment
against them from idolaters, by whom they were frequently put
to torture, and sometimes to death. And it is wonderful to
observe how, in so short time, the religion has increased,
amidst punishments, and death and confiscation, and every kind
of torture.”
It is a satisfaction also to find that these accounts are con-
firmed by the testimony of heathen writers, who either knew
nothing of Christianity, or were bitter enemies to it. Four
principal writers, who were contemporaries of the apostles,
complain in their works of the vast increase of Judaism about
their age. There is no doubt but that this was Christianity,
which they naturally enough confounded with Judaism. Taci-
384 PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
tus, who writes thirty years after the ascension, mentions ‘this
superstition,” as he calls it, being repressed for awhile by per-
secution; then breaking out again, not only in Judea, where it
began, but in the very city of Rome itself. But the most
memorable testimony to our purpose is a letter from Pliny, the
governor of Bythinia, to the Roman governor, requesting his
advice how to treat this new sect. ‘Their number,’ says he,
* makes it worthy of advice; for many of every age and order,
and of both sexes, are accused of maintaining this religion ;
for the infection of it has spread, not only in cities, but in vil-
lages, and many places. The temples,’ says he, ‘of their gods
have been deserted, the sacred rites intermitted, and nothing
can we find to offer in sacrifice.” This same governor wrote
about seventy years after Christ's ascension. Upon this evi-
dence, the fact itself, of the rapid progress and propagation of
Christianity may be depended upon. The circumstances
under which Christianity was propagated remain yet to be
considered. One reflection, however, is striking ; that a
handful of men, of no learning, mean in character, obscure
and friendless wanderers, should prevail on such numbers to
turn from a loose religion to a strict one, from vice to virtue,
from indulgence to selfdenial; should persuade them to quit the
religion in which they had been educated and were at ease,
to forego the enjoyment also of worldly pleasures and conve-
nience, to give up ample fortunes, and oblige their dearest
friends and relations to leave their country, to offend rulers
and magistrates, to suffer all kinds of temporal evils, and in
many cases even the loss of life, and this among Jews and
Gentiles, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, savage nations
and polished people; that they should do this without having
any proof to offer of the truth of what they taught, is altogether
incredible. Human nature is undoubtedly the same in every
age and in every country; to suppose therefore, that thousands,
and tens of thousands, should do then, what no man in his
senses would do now, is to set aside every rule of reason and
probability.
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 385
LXIX.
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY,
FART II.
2 PETER I. 16.
For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known to
you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
HAVING given some account of the first preaching and
spreading of Christianity in the world, and shown from infalli-
ble testimony, that the credit it gained, and the progress it
made, was rapid and extensive, we will now proceed to con-
sider the circumstances under which the religion was propa-
gated, with a view to prove that its success, under these cir-
cumstances, can fairly be attributed to nothing but its truth.
Christianity, in our-way of considering it, is a history; for
it would be received or rejected, according as those to whom
it was proposed thought the history of Christ’s life and mira-
cles to be true or false. It will be our business, therefore, to
note the circumstances which principally distinguish true his—
tory from false, supposing the last to have obtained some credit
in the world ; and then to observe how these circumstances
are applicable to the history of Christianity as contained in the
gospel, and published in the very country and days of the apos-
tles and early teachers of the religion. -
Now the first important circumstance to be looked for in the
history is, that the account be published at or near the time in
which the thing related is said to have happened. A celebra-
ted Roman historian, of great reputation for truth and exact-
ness, describes in his history of Rome several prodigies and
miracles which attended the first foundation and early ages of
that city; but these accounts, notwithstanding the character
and abilities of the author, are universally suspected, because
those prodigies confessedly happened, some two, others three,
and all some centuries before the writer’s own time ; so that
we see the writer of the history could know little or nothing
more of the matter than we do. Whatever, therefore, be the
integrity of the historian, a very slender deference is due to
history so circumstanced ; in like manner, was an author of
this time of day to publish the original history of one of our
386 PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
Saxon kings, few probably would pay much regard to it;
whereas, was the same man to publish a history of the last
reign, every one would pay it implicit credit. Of such conse:
quence it is, that the original account of the fact be published
near the time in which it is said to happen. Now we are
assured that this is the case with the history and first propaga-
tion of Christianity. There is some difference amongst learned
men in the account of the dates of the gospels and epistles ;
but by the best accounts, they were within thirty years after
Christ’s ascension ; St Matthew’s gospel probably within nine.
As they were most of them written by persons who were pre-
sent at the transactions they relate, their dates could not be long
after ; and even if some years had passed after they had hap-
pened, it was not so long after, but that many who had it in
their power to detect the fraud and falsehood, if there was any,
were still living.
St Paul, in the fifteenth chapter of the first epistle to the
Corinthians, says that “Christ after his resurrection was seen of
about five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part
remain to the present, but some are fallen asleep.” All those
who did remain, remained to contradict the assertion if it was
not true. I believe it will be impossible to produce so fair, so
sublime an appeal to living witnesses in any thing which is not
founded in truth. But to return to the authority of the New
Testament, especially the epistles, suppose the religion to be
already preached and known in the world ; the preaching,
therefore, and the publishing of Christianity, and of the facts
upon which it depends, must have commenced some time
before the books were written, and consequently very soon
after Christ's death. We are told by Tacitus, a heathen writer
of great credit, and a stranger, or rather an enemy, indeed, to
Christianity, that Christianity began in Judea, that it had spread
as far as Rome, that there were Christians there in great num-
bers. Tacitus relates this about thirty years after Christ's
crucifixion; if this religion therefore could have spread so far,
and converted such numbers, within thirty years after Christ's
death, it must have been begun and set forward presently after
his death; and this is the testimony of a heathem.
But independent of testimony, there is a circumstance in the
nature of the thing, which proves that the preaching and pub-
lishing of the gospel facts, must immediately have followed the
facts themselves, as it is related to have done in the Acts of the
Apostles. The preachers of Christianity, start where they
would, must have set off with this story; that a person who
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 387
had demonstrated his authority by miracles had left behind him
certain precepts, and tenets, and instructions, and commanded
his disciples to teach them to the world. Now, had they lain
by forty or fifty years, and then begun to hold forth this ac-
count, every man’s answer and every man’s reflection would
have been, If you were commanded to teach the world in this
man's name, why did you not what have you been doing all
this while ; this is the first time you have spoken of these mat-
ters; wherefore conceal it so long? A story, I say, thus cir-
cumstanced, and first set up at this distance of time, would
have carried its own refutation upon the face of it.
A second material circumstance in the history is, that it be
published near the place which is the scene of the transactions
related ; and what makes that circumstance material is, that at
a great distance from the place, an historian may relate what he
pleases, and such relation may pass current, as those near can
contradict little. We in England might be easily imposed
upon by stories of pretended wonders in the South Sea, of cities
Swallowed up in Persia or China, or men of gigantic stature, or
of particular forms of body, at either of the Capes; I say such
stories may be credited and acquiesced in without any founda-
tion, but I defy a man to pass off, for any continuance, an ac-
count of a city being swallowed up in any county in England,
or of a race of giants, or preternaturally formed people in any
part of these islands; such stories would hardly be seriously
attempted, or if attempted, would presently be exploded.
How, therefore, is it in the result with the gospel ? I desire
that it may be recollected that the witnesses of Christianity did
not run to a distance to put off the story. Jerusalem and Judea
were the scenes of the miracles, in Jerusalem and Judea were
the first christian churches established ; the church at Jerusa-
lem was the central and mother church of all the rest, whither
the converts in all parts of the world sent their contributions,
referred their doubts and difficulties, and with which they
carried on a constant correspondence. We have the testimony
of Tacitus, as observed before, a heathen and an enemy, that
the christian religion began to be published in Judea. It ap-
peared again, says he, not only throughout Judea, the origin of
it, but in the city of Rome.
And Irenaeus, an ancient father, who was himself a disciple
of one of St John's disciples, and therefore not far removed
from the fountain head, tells us that the gospel of St Matthew
was written for the Jews; and it is plain indeed, from the
gospel itself, that it was so, being calculated by quoting the
388 PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
prophecies, to convince the Jews, and taking it for granted that
the reader is acquainted with the Jewish rites, customs, and
CereIſl On 16S.
St James directs his epistle to the Jews, St Paul to the He-
brews, and in all the epistles argues with the Jews, and appeals
to them. The churches in Palestine acknowledged and allowed
all the books of the New Testament the same as other churches.
Therefore the proofs and writings of Christianity were set forth
upon the spot where the history and miracles are related to
have passed, and are addressed to the people among whom
they passed.
But what comes the closest to the circumstances of time and
place is some of St Paul's epistles. Paul, writing to Corinth, a
populous, learned, and flourishing city, called the light, pride,
and glory of Greece, finds fault with them for the misapplica-
tion of spiritual and miraculous gifts, in one epistle; in another
he tells them that the signs of apostles were wrought among
them in signs and wonders and mighty deeds. Here, there-
fore, he publishes his epistles upon the very spot, addressed to
the very people, where and amongst whom that epistle pretends
that miracles had just been wrought. Now the most enthusi-
astic sort would forsake their founder, if he was to write these
long and grave letters, full of facts which they knew to be false,
appealing to miracles amongst them, which he never wrought,
and directing them to a discreet use of powers which they
never had. The same thing may be said of his epistle to the
Galatians, in which he appeals to their receiving of the Holy
Ghost, and his own working of miracles among them.
The third great article to be looked to in the history is,
whether the subject of the narrative be of importance to the
person to whom it it related. If a thing be of little or no sig-
nification whether it be true or false, if no concern to the per-
sons that see it, there is an indolence and credulity in mankind
which acquiesces in most stories upon the slenderest testimony;
or, perhaps also, there is a love of the marvellous which in-
clines people to receive them. I assert it may be as a matter
of course; it is not worth while to inquire, think, or dispute
about it. But let the intelligence any how affect a man’s cir-
cumstances, or prospects, or condition, or conduct, or profession,
and it becomes quite a different case; you will see him bestir
himself about it in good earnest, be as wary, inquisitive, and sus-
picious, as you please; searching into the bottom of the story,
bringing things to the fountain head, and fully satisfying himself
of the grounds before he take any measure, or make up his mind
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 389
about it. Curious articles of intelligence from time to time
may be given to the public, and they again may publish ac-
counts of monstrous animals, or strange adventures ; and other
marvellous stories may pass current without a syllable of truth
in them. They may continue uncontradicted, and being un-
contradicted, will in some degree be credited ; and all for this
reason, that they concern nobody, no one is interested to inquire
into them. But if an event be publicly asserted, which affects
individuals or the public, or trade, or taxes, or occupations, or
professions, as that a law has been passed, or peace concluded,
a victory obtained, a defeat suffered, or war broken out betwixt
neighbouring nations, or a plague or infection, distemper or
epidemic, rages in countries carrying on intercourse with our
own; such events, and such narratives, if they be asserted and
believed for any length of time, you may be almost certain
they were true ; and the foundation of them certainly is, that
having others concerned in the truth or falsehood of these
articles, they would be investigated, and if false, detected ; and
also, that those who were from their interest able to inform
themselves of the truth, would do so before they proceeded
upon them as truths; men not being accustomed to act upon
slight or slender evidence, and without inquiry.
Now let us see how it stands in this respect with the gospel
history. What were the miracles of Christianity ? They were
of infinitely more importance to all to whom they were preach-
ed and related than any thing which affects a man's property
and business can be ; for upon these facts and accounts being
true, depended all their hopes of everlasting happiness.
Nor was this all; a convert to Christianity would and must
reason with himself in this manner ; ‘If these accounts be true,
what then P why, if they be true, I must give up the opinions
and principles I have been born and brought up in. I must
quit the religion in which my forefathers lived and died, and
which I have all along believed and practised. I must take up
with a new course of life, part with my old pleasures and grati-
fications, and begin a new set of rules and system of behaviour.”
This is never easily done, and it is not conceivable that the
first believers in Christianity should do it upon any idle, blind
report, or frivolous story; or indeed without fully satisfying
themselves of the truth and credibility of the history which was
related to them, and upon the sole strength and credit of which
they took the steps, and underwent the difficulties they did.
There are further considerations of a similar nature to those
already proposed, together with some objections to the argu-
ment, which we must defer to another opportunity.
390 PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY..
LXX.
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
PART III.
AcTs V. 38, 39.
If this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought; but if it be of
God, ye cannot overthrow it.
HAVING observed three principal marks and tokens, by which
a true history is known and distinguished from a false one ;
namely, that the history be published near the time in which
the facts related are said to have happened, near the place
which was the scene of the transactions, and that they be of a
nature to interest and concern those to whom the history is ad-
dressed ; and how or in what manner these circumstances
apply to the case of the gospel history; I now proceed to de-
scribe a fourth particular, of as much weight and moment in
the scale of credibility as any of the others; and that is, whether
the story coincided with the prevailing opinions and prejudices,
or was supported by the authority of the time and place where
it was delivered.
We are all sensible that a story, which falls in with our own
previous sentiments and passions, gains an easy admission.
When parties run high, on the contrary, the most incredible
things told against one side will go down with the other; ru-
mors and reports will be received and repeated upon the slight-
est foundation, if they confirm the notion one party has taken
up of the adversary, or serve to humor their resentment against
them; but it is not only where faction and factious passions are
concerned, which confound and prevent every rule of reason
and justice, but any prevailing opinion whatever will espouse
and embrace accounts which support and favor it, with very lit-
tle examination into the testimony, and, consequently, often
with little testimony at all. It is upon this principle that the
many stories, which are handed down to us from the early parts
of the last century, concerning witches and apparitions, find
few people to believe them at this time of day, because we
know that such stories might be a mere fabrication, or cred-
ited upon the slenderest evidence; for there was no more
doubt entertained at that time of the reality of witchcraft and
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY.. 391
apparitions than we have of our own ; and therefore accounts
of them were received, not as we should receive them, with
surprise and caution, or any curiosity to see into the bottom of
them, but with open ears, with more greediness and less dis-
trust than any common transactions or ordinary circumstances
whatever. Of a like nature were the popular stories that were
formerly told of Jewish barbarities to Christian infants. Such
stories were put forth at a time when the populace were before-
hand enraged against that people ; and, by their falling in with
the public prejudice and hatred, disposed people to believe
and repeat them against all reason and probability. The same
observation holds with respect to the Popish miracles, which
were pretended to be wrought in the dark ages of Christianity.
They proved nothing but what was already allowed. They had
the popular cry and persuasion on their side to set off with ; and
it is remarkable that these miracles were never pretended in
Protestant countries, or amongst enemies, where one would
think they were not wanting ; but the case was, that such pre-
tences would there have been investigated and examined into
more than they could brook. Whilst these miracles were only
produced as vouchers for tenets and principles already professed
and believed, no one was interested to inquire into them, or
detect the imposition, if there was any. Every one found him-
self disposed to credit them himself and pass them to others;
but when miracles attempt to make converts to new opinions,
and are produced to overturn old and favorite opinions, they
will find unbelievers enow; every man to whom they are pro-
posed is inclined to question them; and if they are done upon
the spot, they must have the opportunity, as well as the inclina-
tion, to know the truth of the matter on one side or the other.
Public authority, also, by stifling inquiry or silencing contra-
diction, may frequently hold up the reputation of a story that
has little else to support it. This remark is also applicable to
the Popish miracles nearer these times, when it was as much as
a man’s life was worth to question or dispute them.
On the contrary, therefore, if a story make its way in oppo-
sition to prejudice, passion, established opinion, and public au-
thority; if every adversary to the principle it is calculated to
establish confess the truth of it, or, what is still more, be con-
verted and drawn over, by having in their hands the means of
discovering the falsehood if there be any there, then you may
depend upon the truth of such a story, because nothing but the
truth would force from men acknowledgment against the bent
of their wills and inclinations.
392 PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
Now under the impression of these remarks, let us investi-
gate the scripture history of Christ. Was it backed or upheld
by prejudice, by preconceived opinion, by passion, by any pub-
lic authority? The very reverse of every particular was the
case. The gospel had to contend with all these. So far, in
the first place, from falling in with the established prejudices
and opinions concerning the Messiah, it directly contradicted
the opinion that had almost universally been taken up of him;
that of a temporal prince. All the false Messiahs knew the
importance of complying with the prejudices, and conforming
their pretensions to this opinion; and they drew followers after
them for a season by virtue of it. Christ, so far from humor-
ing their prejudices, cut off the hopes they had for ages flat-
tered themselves with ; he pulled down the dependence they
placed, and the value they set, upon their ceremonies and tra-
ditions; he taught that even publicans and sinners and harlots
should enter the kingdom of heaven before them, with all their
pretended sanctity and strictness; he gave no encouragement
to assert or claim deliverance from the Roman yoke, or to ex-
pect the independence of their nation, which was the passion of
the Jews; he took away, what the Jews could never forgive
him for, the superiority they supposed they had in God’s favor
over the Gentiles and the Samaritans; he called idolaters, with
whom they would not so much as eat or drink, and told them
that these should sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
whilst they should be cast out. Was this the way to make
friends, to root and conciliate them all to his cause, amongst
whom he might pass off false and uncertain stories of miracles
and wonders, whilst he gained over their good will and affec-
tion by the flattering doctrine he had held out to them : When
the gospel came among the heathem, it was no very palatable
lesson to them to be told that they must forthwith quit those
lusts and pleasures to which they were universally addicted, and
take up for the future with constant purity of manners, to be
taught that idols and temples, and splendid shows and daily
ceremonies, were folly and absurdity. Nor was this history,
whether contained in books or in the preaching of the apostles,
likely to fare much better with the priests and philosophers of
those times, for the plain tendency of it was to ruin one profes-
sion and discredit the other.
As to the article of authority, that was all in opposition to
the new religion. Pharisee and Sadducee, lawyers and Scribes,
synagogues and sanhedrims, their own kings and Roman gov-
ernors, princes and priests, philosophers and populace, were in
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 393
arms against it. It was full three hundred years before Chris-
tianity became the religion of the state, or at all supported by
civil government; so that there is not a color for saying that it
was a state contrivance, or a measure adopted by the rulers and
great men of the world to keep the inferior part of mankind
in awe. Christ never courted favor of the rulers or powerful
men of his own time and country. He dealt upon all occa-
sions plainly and roundly with them. The event was what
might be expected, that he drew down upon himself their in-
dignation and resentment. They put him to death, persecuted
his disciples, reviled, threatened, imprisoned, beat, punished,
stoned; declared all who took a part infamous and excommu-
nicated ; yet we find the force of truth and evidence fought its
way through the temper and disposition of the powers which
Christ and the apostles had to contend with ; and this a tem-
per and disposition ready to make a handle and advantage of
every thing which might influence the minds of the people
against miracles which had no foundation. Was this any thing
like the case of a credulous multitude, already disposed to the
matter which is delivered, and prepared to carry away with
them whatever any one may please to tell them in confirmation
of it? Is it not more like one who lives amongst vigilant ene-
mies, eager to spy out any infirmity, and ready to publish them,
to go on in spite of ill grounded and idle reports, believing that
any evidence short of improbability would gain credit?
To sum up the argument in a few words. We desire no
other credit or favor to the gospel history than what is due to
any other history under the same circumstances. If it be found
in experience that various accounts of facts published close
upon, or near to, the time in which the facts are alleged to
have happened; at the very place and in the country where
they are alleged to have happened; addressed to the people
among whom they happened; facts upon which much depend-
ed, or in consequence of which much was to be done and great
alterations made, and in which, consequently, those to whom
they were proposed were highly interested to inquire and inform
themselves; facts, also, the belief of which was recommended
by no previous inclination or favorable sentiments towards
them, or upheld by authority and the sanction of great men;
if, I say, accounts so circumstanced have been found by expe-
rience to gain credit without foundation, there might then be
no foundation for the credit which was certainly given to the
Scripture accounts. If, on the other hand, accounts or circum-
stances, almost unprecedented in human life, be credited for
50
394, PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY:
this reason, that they are found by experience not to deceive ;
then with what reason can we expect any deception in the
accounts of the gospel? Why should we withhold from it
that assent which, I believe, every one of us would readily give
to another history in the same circumstances of credibility ?
I will now apply myself to an objection, which many seem
to think enough to balance the force of the argument which
arises from the actual credit which Christianity obtained in
the first ages of the propagation of it; which objection, in two
words, is this; If the miracles were really wrought as related,
how is it possible that any one should resist them How could
those, however, who saw them, withstand the evidence they
afforded ? If Christ restored the blind, healed the sick, re-
covered the lame man who had lain for years at Jerusalem,
raised Lazarus from the dead without the walls of the city; if
Peter and John restored a cripple to perfect soundness, who
had long begged at the gate of the Temple, and was well
known to all who resorted thither; if the persons cured, and
the circumstances of the cure, were there at hand to be exam-
ined, if they were actually examined by the Pharisees, and
priests, and rulers, as they are related to have been, how comes
it to pass that the whole nation was not converted, that the
inhabitants of Jerusalem at large did not one and all fall down
and confess the hand and authority of God? The answer to
the objection is this; That they did not dispute the reality of
the miracles, but they did not attribute them to the finger of
God, but to the agency and assistance of evil spirits. In one
word, it was by Beelzebub the prince of the devils, they insimu-
ated, that he cast out devils, and performed all other miracles.
We are now sensible that every such insinuation is absurd.
For once admit the truth and reality of a miracle, and nobody
nowadays disputes but that it comes from God. But it was
not so then. Their antipathy to Christ, owing, as before stated,
to his disappointing the eager expectation of being a temporal
prince, destroying their favorite hopes and opinions, reproving
their vices, and exposing their hypocrisy, put them upon every
imaginable device to avoid the proofs of his mission; and this
was the way they did avoid it; and, according to the notion
which then prevailed concerning the activity and operation of
evil spirits, it was likely enough to go down with many. Hence
arose their perpetually calling for a sign, or, as it is sometimes
expressed, a sign from heaven, that is, some display of glory
and wonderful appearance in the heavens, as they thought be-
came the Messiah, and which they supposed was above the
ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF RELIGIOUS TRACTS, 395
power of inferior spirits to produce. And the Jewish authority
afterwards, down to the third century, goes upon the same
foundation, imputing Christ's miracles, which they do not deny,
to magic and secret arts, which he had learned in Egypt.
The candid, the humble minded and well disposed were
above such foolish shifts and prejudices which gave birth to
them ; but these are in every age and every country a small
part of the whole.
CH A R G E S.
I.
DELIVERED TO THE CLERGY OF THE DIOCESE OF
CARLISLE, IN THE YEAR 1785, ON THE DISTRI-
BUTION OF RELIGIOUS TRACTS.
REVEREND BRETHREN, -
THE choice of our venerable diocesan, dictated, no
doubt, by great partiality to me, but not without a hope, I
trust, of providing for the care and government of his dio-
cese, having called me to succeed your late excellent chancel-
lor, I approach a station which hath been occupied by abilities
so conspicuous, under a just conviction of my incapacity to
replace, by any qualifications I possess, the loss you have sus-
tained of the talents and services of that valuable person. His
consummate professional learning, his unwearied diligence, the
reputation of his writings, the accuracy, method, and perspicuity
by which they are distinguished, not only conferred honor upon
the office which he held in this diocese, but have rendered
his name familiar to every part of these kingdoms.
There is no branch of my duty in which I regret my own
deficiency more than on those occasions in which the clergy,
especially the younger and less experienced part of them, were
wont, upon any doubt or emergency that arose, to resort to
my predecessor for counsel and advice. I can only promise,
that they shall meet in me with the same attention to their
396 ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF RELIGIOUs TRACTs.
inquiries, the same readiness to communicate the information
that is asked for; whilst I lament that they cannot place upon
that information a like reliance, or find in it equal satisfaction
and security. f
The ecclesiastical laws of the realm having undergone no
alteration that I am acquainted with during the course of the
last year, and being yet too recent in my office to advert with
sufficient exactness to any irregularities that may prevail within
the cognizance of this jurisdiction, I cannot, I conceive, employ
the present opportunity better than in suggesting two recom-
mendations, of different kinds, indeed, and of very different
importance, but neither perhaps undeserving of consideration.
The first thing I take the liberty to propose relates to the
registering of baptisms. It has been intimated to me, by very
high legal authority, that, in the investigation of pedigrees from
parish registers, great uncertainty has been found to arise from
the want of the family surname of the mother appearing in the
entry. It is well known, that one half of the controversies
which occur upon the subject of descents, result from the con-
fusion of whole blood and half blood, and the difficulty of
tracing back genealogies in the maternal line. Doubts of this
kind can seldom be ascertained by the register, in which moth-
ing at present is found but the christian name of the mother;
they are rather indeed increased by consulting the register,
whenever it appears, as it frequently may happen, that an an-
cestor has married two wives of the same christian name, and
has had children by both. It is evident that this ambiguity
may be completely obviated, by so easy an expedient as the
addition of the maiden name of the mother to the rest of the
record ; it is a single question to ask, and a single word to
write down. At present the entries stand thus ; ‘John, the
Son of Richard Peters,’ for instance, ‘of such a place and pro-
fession, and of Mary, his wife.” What I propose is, to add a
parenthesis, containing the name which the mother bore before
her marriage ; so that the whole entry may run in this form ;
‘John, the son of Richard Peters,’ particularizing, as before,
the father’s profession and place of residence, ‘and of Mary,
his wife, late Johnson.” For the better exposition of this plan,
though it can hardly, I think, be mistaken, I have caused to be
circulated, together with the book of articles, a printed formu-
lary, which, mutatis mutandis, may serve as a direction where
any such is wanted. I understand that this alteration has been
adopted in the diocese of Norwich, and perhaps in some others,
with great approbation; and if it appear likely to promote in
ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF RELIGIOUS TRACTS. 397
any degree the purposes of future peace and justice, I am per-
suaded the little trouble it may occasion will not be grudged or
declined, though the generations are yet unborn which will reap
the effects of it.
The next particular to which I am desirous of inviting your
attention is the distribution of religious books in our respective
parishes. What I before mentioned belongs to the formal or
technical part of a clergyman's duty, which, however, cannot
be left undone, nor ought at any time to be done negligently ;
but what I now take the liberty of suggesting, is a matter of
higher character and of more serious importance, as appertain-
ing to that which composes the substance and object of the
pastoral office, the edification of the people in christian know-
ledge. I am apprehensive that it is not so generally known
amongst us as it ought to be, that there exists in London a so-
ciety for the propagation of christian knowledge, by the best
method, according to my judgment, in which a society can act,
by facilitating the circulation of devotional compositions and of
popular treatises upon the chief subjects of practical religion.
The annual subscription to this society is one guinea; in con-
sideration of which, the subscriber is entitled to receive what-
ever books he may select out of a very numerous catalogue, at
about half the price which the same books would cost in any
other way of procuring them. The whole collection is furnished
to subscribers for eighteen shillings; which, beside that it sup-
plies a clergyman with no mean library in this species of read-
ing, enables him to select, for the use of his parish, what he
may deem best suited to the particular wants and circumstances
of his parishioners. In my opinion, this expedient of subscrib-
ing to the society, and of procuring books for the use of our
poorer parishioners, upon the terms of the society, admits of
the strongest argument in its favor by which any mode of
charity can be shown to be preferable to another, that of doing
much good at a little expense. But beside its general utility,
there are two descriptions of clergy to whom the recommenda-
tion I am now urging seems to be peculiarly applicable. It
was in old times much the practice, and is at all times, as far
as it can be attempted with probability of success, the duty, of
the parochial clergy to hold personal conferences with their
parishioners upon religious subjects; nevertheless, it is very
true, that many clergymen of great worth and learning find
themselves unapt for this exercise; they find a want of that
presence of mind and promptness of thought which enable a
man to say at the proper instant what he afterwards discovers
398 ON THE DISTRIBUTION of RELIGIOUS TRACTs.
ought to have been said, or to discourse freely and persua-
sively upon subjects of importance, and yet with truth and
COTrectness.
Amongst many excellences, it is one defect of a retired and
studious life, that it indisposes men from entering with ease and
familiarity into the conversation of the mixed ranks of human
society. Now the only substitute for religious conversation is re-
ligious reading. A clergyman, therefore, who believes some ap-
plication to the consciences of his parishioners, more appropriate
and domestic than addresses from the pulpit, to be his duty,
and that some instruction is wanting more minute and circum-
stantial than befits the decorum of public discourses, but who
finds himself embarrassed by every endeavour to introduce
conferences with them upon serious topics, will receive some
contentment to his thoughts from being able to supply, in a good
degree, the place and effect of such conferences, by putting
into the hands of his parishioners plain and affecting treatises
upon the subjects to which he wishes to draw their medita-
tlonS.
The next class of parochial clergy who, I think, may avail
themselves of this expedient with singular propriety, is that of
nonresident incumbents; it is a mode of instruction in their
power, and the only one that is so. By this means, though
absent in body, they may in some measure, as the apostle
speaks, be present in spirit; not entirely forgetful of their
cure, or so regardless of the charge that hath been committed
to them, as to consider themselves under no other relation to
their parish than as having an estate in it. It is not my design
to examine the legal or conscientious excuses of nonresidents;
it is enough for my present purpose to observe, that even where
both exist, and under the most justifiable circumstances, some-
thing is not done by the minister for the advantage of his flock,
which might be done if he was living amongst them. This de-
ficiency a good man will desire to make up ; and after due
care and circumspection in the choice of a curate, I know not
by what better method the incumbent of a parish can compen-
sate for his absence than by a judicious distribution of religious
books amongst his parishioners.
ON THE OATHS OF CHURCHWARDENS. 399
CHARGE II.
ON THE OATHS OF CHURCHWARDENS.
REveREND BRETHREN,
I KNow nothing in which the obligation of an oath is so
egregiously trifled with, or rather in which that obligation is so
entirely overlooked, as in the office of a churchwarden; and
in no part of their duty is this inadvertency more observable
than in the answers which are returned in the book of articles.
It does not seem to occur to the apprehension of churchwardens
that this is a business in which their consciences are at all con-
cerned, or to which their oath extends. I must entreat, there-
fore, my Reverend Brethren, your concurrence with me in
endeavouring to remind your respective churchwardens of this
branch of their office, and your and their attention for a few
minutes, whilst I attempt to show how churchwardens stand
obliged by their oath in filling up, as it is called, the book of
articles, to deliver careful, well considered, true, and explicit
answers to the questions proposed to them.
The churchwarden's oath, after some controversy and much
deliberation between the best civilians and common lawyers of
the age, was settled in its present form, with a view, on the one
hand, of binding the churchwarden to every thing that properly
belongs to his office, and with due caution, on the other, not to
leave it in the power of the ordinary to cast upon him what
burthens he pleased. The concluding clause of this oath is
that by which the churchwarden swears, ‘according to the best
of his skill and judgment, to present such things and persons as
are presentable by the laws ecclesiastical of this realm;’ but
lest his skill and judgment should not be sufficient to inform
him what things are and what things are not presentable by the
laws of the realm, a book of articles is put into his hands to
supply that information; so that it is, in truth, a book of instruc-
tion to the churchwarden in the discharge of his duty. A con-
scientious man, who remembers that he has sworn to present
such things as are presentable, will be led in the first place to
inquire what things are presentable ; and this inquiry the
contents of the book of articles satisfy, by enumerating and
disposing, under different titles, the matters which are ordina-
rily presentable, and to which, consequently, his oath extends.
400 ON THE OATHS OF CHURCHWARDEN.S.
Emergent cases may arise which are not comprehended in the
book, but they are few ; the plain account of the connexion
between the oath and the articles is this ; the oath obliges the
churchwarden to present such things as are presentable, the
articles let him know what these things are. There are a few
chapels within this district which do not receive books of articles
at all. I am sorry there are any such ; for since the chapel-
wardens of these places swear to present such things as are
presentable, unless they can take upon themselves to judge
what things are presentable, and will frame presentments ac-
cording to that judgment, they ought not to refuse the assist-
ance that is held out to them ; it is not consistent with their
oath to do so. It was expected, I have no doubt, that they
should resort to the mother church, and return their present-
ments in the general articles of the parish ; but this is neither
convenient nor often practised. Suppose, for instance, there
being any irrepair in the fabric of the chapel, the fence of the
chapel yard, or of any of the buildings belonging to its estate,
or any insufficiency in any article employed about divine service,
such defects are things presentable; yet how is the chapelwar-
den to present them, if he neither receive a separate book of
articles, nor join in answering the book sent to the parish church,
nor return written presentments of his own The expense of
a book of articles is trifling, and what the chapelwarden is un-
doubtedly entitled to bring into his accounts.
These instances, however, are not numerous. A subject of
much more general complaint is the heedlessness and negli-
gence with which answers are returned ; upon which account I
wish to impress upon the minds of churchwardens this one
weighty reflection, that every answer they give is an answer
upon oath. I am afraid this is little attended to, or hardly
indeed understood to be the case, by reason that the oath is not
taken at the same time that the answers are put down, and
because the churchwarden is not separately sworn to the truth
of each answer; but where is the difference, in a view of reli-
gious or moral probity, whether a person swears distinctly to
the truth of each answer, or swears beforehand and once for
all, that he will make true answers to the questions that shall
be asked him ; or where is the difference whether this oath be
taken at the time or some months before ? Now observe how
this applies to the case of a churchwarden ; upon his admission
to his office he solemnly swears ‘that he will present such
things and persons as are presentable, according to the best of
his skill and judgment.” Near the conclusion of his office, at
ON THE OATHS OF CHURCHWARDENS. 401
the distance of almost a year, but still under the continued
obligation, and as it ought to be, under the consciousness of his
oath, he comes to make his presentments, by subscribing an-
swers in the margin of the book of articles, when the several
matters presentable are enumerated, and proposed to his con-
sideration in distinct interrogatories. Can any thing be plainer
than that the force of the oath attaches upon these answers ?
and that every false, and, what is a species of falsehood, because
it is a suppression of truth, every imperfect answer that is
returned, must be deemed, in the consideration of reason and
religion, and why may we not say in the sight of God, a viola-
tion of the oath ; and moreover, that every heedless or negli-
gent answer that is returned, though certainly not to be placed
upon a level with deliberate misrepresentation, is yet heedless-
ness and negligence under the most solemn of all human
obligations. I should not willingly believe that this point is
known to churchwardens, when I remark the irregular, uncon-
sidered, and defective returns that are made in the book of
articles, or the slovenly hurried manner in which the business
is executed; sometimes, I believe, in the very morning of the
visitation, or at setting off upon their journey to it, in a few
minutes when the churchwardens can be got together, or at
the close of a parish meeting, without time, without inquiry,
without consultation. Is this the conduct of serious men under
the obligation of an oath, or of men concerned for the honest
discharge of their duty 2 The effect of this inadvertency I
have frequent occasion to witness. To many articles, and
sometimes to whole pages or to whole titles in the book, no
answer whatever is returned. This is always wrong, for if
things are as they should be in the matter inquired after, there
can be no objection to the saying so; if they be not, of which
this silence indeed is a negative confession, they ought to
present, at once ; that is, the case ought to be stated fully,
truly, and exactly as it is. At other times a short answer of
yes or no is given, when a circumstantial specification is neces-
sary to convey the information that is sought for by the inquiry;
this holds particularly of those parts of the inquiry which relate
to the state of the church, of the churchyard, of the articles
employed in the celebration of divine service, or of the build-
ings upon the glebe. At other times the question is not answer-
ed by the reply, but eluded ; such as by saying ‘as usual,” “as
it has been,’ ‘as formerly;” from which it is impossible for the
ordinary to form any correct opinion, much less to found
upon it any judicial cognizance ; all which arises, partly from
51
402 ON THE OATHS OF CHURCHWARDENS:
the easiness with which men sign what they would not say;
partly, as hath been observed, from their unconsciousness of
their oath; and partly from the fear of bringing blame or trouble
upon themselves, by giving occasion to further proceedings;
motives which cannot be justified upon any principles of moral
integrity.
Amidst the various duties of churchwardens, that which more
particularly belongs to the design of my visitation, and that in-
deed which composes one of the most useful, at least one of
the most practicable parts of their function, is the care of the
church, and of the decency, order, cleanliness, and sufficiency
of every thing within it and belonging to it. To this branch of
their office the provisions of law are perfectly adequate; there
is neither any defect in their powers, nor any obscurity in their
duty; the whole of both may be comprised in almost one sen-
tence. Repairs the churchwarden may always make of his
own authority, and the parish in vestry assembled is bound upon
his requisition to lay an assessment to defray the expenses, and
if they refuse, he may lay one himself, and the persons charged
may be compelled by the process of the Ecclesiastical Court
to pay their quota. Under this word repair, is included every
thing that is necessary to keep up, or restore to their former
condition, the fabric of the church, its roof, windows, plaster,
floor, pulpit, reading desk, and seats, where the seats are re-
paired by the parish at large, and also the fence of the church-
yard; likewise the replacing of books, surplices, bier and bier
cloth, communion cloth and communion linen, plate, chalices
and cups, when any of them are damaged or decayed. For
the supply of these, as occasion requires, the churchwarden
wants no authority but his own; and for the defect, if they be
not supplied, he is personally answerable, and subjects himself
to ecclesiastical censure. Alterations and improvements stand
upon a different footing; before these can be undertaken, the
consent and resolution of a vestry must be had, and it must be
a general vestry of the parish, assembled in pursuance of pub-
lic notice, specifying the occasion upon which they are to meet ;
but even here a majority binds the whole. In strictness and
for the purpose of enforcing the payment of the rate to any
alteration, the faculty or consent of the ordinary is further
necessary; and where the alteration is either considerable of
itself or likely to be opposed, that consent, in prudence as well
as regularity, ought to be applied for. The example of many
parishes in this diocese, in some of which churches have lately
been rebuilt, and in others new seated, newly fitted up, shows
ON PARISH CLERKS. 403
that these improvements are so sanctioned and countenanced
by law, as to be entered upon with ease and safety by the per-
sons who engage in them; and also shows that there is not
entirely wanting amongst us a sense of religious decency and
decorum, and a disposition to have the public worship of Al-
.g God conducted with reverence, solemnity, piety, and
OFOREIT,
CHARGE III.
ON PARISH CLERKs.
My REVEREND BRETHREN,
I DESIRE it to be distinctly understood, that the delay of
the visitation, which, I am sensible, must be attended with in-
conveniency, both to the churchwardens who have been detain-
ed in their office, and to all who attend here at this advanced
season of the year, is occasioned solely by the change that has
taken place in the see ; which change frustrated the late
bishop’s intention of visiting the diocese himself in the course
of the summer, and suspended my authority to hold any visita-
tion at all.
As it hath been usual upon this occasion to notice any alter-
ations that may have taken place in the laws relating to the
church or to religion, I mention what, no doubt, is well known
to most of you, that in the last session of parliament an act
passed in favor of the Roman Catholics, which, upon the con-
dition of their taking an oath therein prescribed, consolidating
what may be called the civil part of the several oaths of alle-
giance, abjuration, and supremacy, places them nearly upon a
level with other dissenters from the established church, except
in the capacity of voting for members of parliament, or of sit-
ting in either house of parliament themselves. It repeals the
penal laws which passed against them in the reigns of Eliza-
beth and William and Mary; which laws had been dictated by
the fears that were entertained, in one case for the reformation,
in the other for the revolution. It authorizes their public wor-
ship, and their places of worship, in like manner as the meet-
ings of dissenting congregations, provided the places be what is
404 ON PARISH CLERKS.
called licensed ; that is, described and recorded in the entries
of the quarter sessions. . It authorizes, subject, however, to the
same condition, their schools and schoolmasters, provided they
do not receive into them the children of Protestant fathers;
but it prohibits any foundation or endowment of such schools.
. It lays open to the Roman Catholics the profession of the law,
in its several descriptions of counsellors, proctors, and attorneys,
by substituting the new oath in the place of another, by which
they found themselves excluded from these employments. In
the same way, it renders them capable of serving upon juries.
But the part of the act which it more immediately concerns me
to notify to you, is that which puts them in the situation of Pro-
testant Dissenters in regard to their eligibility to parish offices,
and amongst these, to that of churchwarden. It directs that
Roman Catholics may be appointed to these offices in common
with the other inhabitants of the parish; and that if they, being
so appointed, object to any thing in the oaths, or the duties be-
longing to the office, they shall and may substitute a deputy,
who is to be approved, admitted, and sworn as the principal
would have been. This is all that I think it in any wise ma-
terial to remark in this act; which, so far as it extends the just
principles of toleration, will be received, I hope, both by the
clergy and the laity, with approbation.
As I last year laid before the clergy such advice as I was
able to give them, and that somewhat more at large than usual,
I know not whether I can employ the present opportunity better
than in recommending to the consideration of the churchwar-
dens and parishes the situation of many of their parish clerks,
and of a certain description of schoolmasters in country villages.
The change in the value of fixed payments, which in many
cases is felt severely by the clergy, has absolutely ruined the
provision that was intended for parish clerks. The small pay-
ments, arising in most places from houses, in some from com-
municants, and in some from tenements, and which, when they
were fixed, might in a good degree be adequate to the trouble
of the office and the station of the person who held it, are be-
come hardly worth collecting; the consequence of which is,
that some parishes within this jurisdiction have no parish clerks
at all. I am hardly able to judge how the service proceeds
without this assistance, where the minister and the congregation
are accustomed to the want of it; but I have found, when the
clerk has been occasionally absent, and his office not supplied,
great confusion to arise from the want of the responses and the
alternate parts of the liturgy being regularly supported; and I
ON PARISH CLERKS. 405
am afraid that some part of this inconveniency is felt where
the congregation and their ginister are obliged to go on as they
can, without the attendance of any parish clerks at all. I am
sorry, therefore, to see this defect in any parish; because it is
a defect which impairs, in some degree, what we are all con-
cerned to maintain, the decorum of public worship. There is
reason also to apprehend, that the extreme scantiness of the
income, which leaves some parishes without any parish clerk
at all, in others obliges the minister, or whoever has the ap-
pointment, to take up with insufficient or improper persons.
The remedy which I would recommend for this evil, for so I
must call it, is, that, in parishes in which the income of the
parish clerk is extremely small, an allowance should be made
to them by the parish, of an annual stipend, to be paid out of
the church rate. I have no doubt that a vestry is authorized
to do this. From the earliest times of our legal history, and
long anterior to any statutes upon the subject, parishes or their
vestries were corporations for the purpose of providing for
public worship, and the assigning a competent salary to a parish
clerk; like providing books, vestments, furniture for the com-
munion table and the church, which the law casts upon parishes
in all places. This method, I am very glad to observe, is
already adopted in some parishes in the diocese. I am now
only expressing my wish that it may be extended to others, in
which it is equally wanted.
The description of schoolmasters to which I refer is that of
schools in country villages, endowed with fixed salaries of from
ten to twenty pounds a year; in consideration of which they
are obliged, or supposed to be obliged, to teach all the children
of the parish or township that may be sent to them. The con-
sequence of which is, that the schoolmaster is not maintained
as the decency of his character and the importance of his ser-
vice require that he should be; that his school is crowded with
more children than the care of one man can superintend ; and
that he has no emolument from the number of his scholars, to
reward or stimulate his exertions; and thus, upon the whole,
these well intended benefactions do more harm than good.
Wherever this is the case, and cases of this sort abound in the
diocese, I would earnestly recommend, that, in addition to the
fixed salary, the scholars should pay half quarterage.
By this means, with a very moderate charge upon the inhab-
itants, the income of the schoolmaster will be advanced to
something like a provision for his decent support; and he will
find, in the profits of his school, what every man ought to find,
406 ON AFTERNOON LECTURES.
an advantage proportioned to his abilities and diligence, by an
increase of which parents will be apply repaid for the expense
that they incur. The endowment will not be thrown away,
but, on the contrary, made to answer a better purpose to all
persons interested in it than it does at present; the school-
master will receive the benefit of it, in having a certainty to
depend upon; and the inhabitants will save one half of what
they must otherwise pay for the same instruction.
I cannot conclude this charge without adding one more to
the miscellaneous subjects which compose it. It may be ex-
pected that the bishop will next year hold a public confirmation.
This solemnity may become the instrument of many good pur-
poses; but its utility depends entirely upon the preparation
that is made for it, and, in my opinion, upon another circum-
stance, which is little attended to, that of not bringing young
persons to it too soon; I should think the age of fourteen was
quite as early as any impression could be received from it that
was likely to last. But what I wish to recommend upon this
subject is, to distribute among the catechumens a tract published
by the present bishop of Landaff, entitled “An Address to
Young Persons after Confirmation,” and which appears to me
to be by much the best adapted to the occasion of any that I
have seen. Such of the clergy as may not find it convenient
to distribute the pamphlet at their own expense, will do well to
put their parishioners in the way of procuring it for themselves.
CHARGE IV.
ON AFTERNOON LECTURES.
REveREND BRETHREN,
OF every ecclesiastical constitution the essential part is
the parochial clergy; so much more important, indeed, do they
appear to me than any other parts of our establishment, that
other parts, in my judgment, are only so far valuable, and so
far worth retaining, as they contribute, or can be made to con-
tribute, to the good order, the reward, or the encouragement
of this. The incumbent of a parish, resident among his flock,
and engaged in the quiet and serious exercise of his duty,
ON AFTERNOON LECTURES, 407
composes one of the most respectable characters of human
society; and, notwithstanding that insensibility both to public
merit and to religious concerns which is complained of, and
justly complained of amongst us, a character of this description
will never fail of obtaining the sincere esteem and veneration
of mankind.
The duty of a christian teacher is of two kinds. One kind
consists in a regular performance of the various services which
are prescribed by the laws and canons of the church ; this may
be called the technical part of our office. The other kind
consists in such a laying out for opportunities of working by
every means upon the consciences and understandings of those
committed to our care, as is prompted by a firm conviction in
ourselves of the truth of Christianity, and a corresponding
Solicitude to bring men to the knowledge and practice of its
duties; this may be called the effective and substantial part of
our occupation. Of the former it may be observed, that whilst
it is indispensable, in point of decency and order, whilst it is
all which any form of church government, or any system of
ecclesiastical discipline, can enforce, it may yet fall far short of
a faithful discharge of our public trust. A man may comply
with every article of the rubric, and every direction of the
canons; and yet perform to his parishioners a cold, reluctant,
and ineffectual service. On the other hand, where the princi-
ple I have described has taken due possession of the mind, a
clergyman no longer asks concerning any expedient which
occurs, or which is suggested to him, whether it be required by
law, or whether he can be censured for the neglect of it; but
whether the expedient itself be likely to produce any solid effect
upon the religious character of the persons with whom he has to
deal. I have premised this reflection, in order to introduce to
your notice the recommendation of a practice, which I have rea-
son to believe would be attended with beneficial consequences
to many congregations. The practice I wish to recommend
is the expounding portions of scripture after evening service ;
and I must request your indulgence, whilst I lay before you
what has occurred to me concerning the use and practica-
bility of this expedient. The advantages which I apprehend
would result from such interpretations of scripture are either
direct or consequential. The end immediately aimed at is to
produce amongst the people a more general and familiar ac-
quaintance with the records of our religion than is at present to
be met with. I am one of those who think that the christian
scriptures speak, in a great measure, for themselves; and that
408 ON AFTERNOON LECTURES.
the best service we can render to our parishioners is to induce
them to read these scriptures at home, and with attention.
Now the way to induce men to read, is to enable them to un-
derstand. When a private person, reading the scripture, is
stopped by perpetual difficulties, he grows tired of the employ-
ment; on the other hand, when he is furnished as he proceeds
with illustrations of apparent obscurities, or answers to obvious
doubts, the attention is both engaged, sustained, and gratified.
There are difficulties in scripture, in common with all ancient
books, which cannot be resolved, if resolved at all, without a
minute and critical disquisition, which will end probably at last
in a dubious or controverted explication. Topics like these
cannot be accommodated to the apprehension of a popular
audience, or be successfully agitated in a public discourse.
Again, there are difficulties which a simple recourse to the
original, to a parallel text, to circumstances of time, occasion,
and place, or a short reference to some usage or opinion then
prevailing, or to some passage in the history of that age and
country, will render clear and easy. Points of this sort may be
set forth, to the greatest part of every congregation, with ad-
vantage to their minds, and with great satisfaction. I am apt
also to believe, that admonitions against any particular vice may
be delivered, in commenting upon a text in which such vice is
reproved, with more weight and efficacy than in any other form.
This describes the direct purpose to be aimed at in the ex-
ercise I am recommending; but there is also a secondary ob-
ject, of no small utility, which it will be found in a good mea-
sure to promote, and that is, the increasing of the afternoon
congregations. Some expedient for this end is peculiarly
necessary in this diocese, in most parishes of which the inhab-
itants are dispersed through a wide district, living, some one,
Some two or three miles distant from their church, which is
commonly situated in a small village, or within the vicinage of
a few straggling houses. Where the parishioners must go so
far to church, if nothing but evening service be performed,
they do not go at all; and their vacant afternoons are often so
ill employed, that I am afraid it may be said, of a numerous
part of many parishes, that Sunday is the worst spent day of
the week. This thinness and desertion of the afternoon con-
gregation, no incumbent of a country parish can be insensible
of ; and there are two ways of treating the evil; one, in dis-
continuing evening service entirely, the other, in endeavouring
to bring our parishioners to it. Which of those resolutions is
more conscientious, and more satisfactory, judge ye. Now, I
ON AFTERNOON LECTURES. 409
have reason to believe, that this want of due attendance would
be remedied by some such exertion, on the part of the minis-
ter, as that I am now suggesting. As I did not think myself
at liberty to recommend an experiment to others which I had
not tried myself, I have for some short time past attempted
these expositions in my own parish church, and I will tell you
the result. The afternoon congregation, which consisted of a
few aged persons in the neighbourhood of the church, seldom
amounted to more than twelve or fifteen ; since the time I
commenced this practice, the congregation have advanced from
under twenty to above two hundred. This is a fact worthy
your observation ; because I have not a doubt but every cler-
gyman, who makes a like attempt, will meet with the same suc-
cess, and many, I am persuaded, with much more. The in-
crease of the congregation was greater than I looked for, and
some abatements are to be made ; some effect must be attribu-
ted to novelty, which, of course, will not hold long; perhaps,
also, there exists some small diminution of the morning congre-
gation; but, with both these deductions, it still shows, as far as
a single instance can show it, the complete efficacy of the ex-
pedient for the purpose of collecting a congregation. I am
ready to admit, that much of the same benefit would arise from
many other modes of instruction; from lectures upon the
catechism, upon the creed, the Lord’s prayer, the command-
ments, the thirtynine articles; and if any clergyman prefers
any of these matters to that which I am suggesting, or judges
himself better prepared for one than the other, he certainly
ought to exercise his discretion in adopting what he thinks best.
All that I mean to advance, is, that something should be done.
This opportunity could not be less usefully employed than in
setting one good thing in competition with another good thing ;
or, where both are excellent, in contending which is best.
Nevertheless, I may be allowed to remark, that expositions of
scripture possess manifest advantage over other schemes of
teaching; that they supply a more extensive variety of subject;
as one short chapter, or half of a long one, will always be suf-
ficient for one occasion. A lecturer may hold on for a consid-
erable length of time before he be brought back to begin his
course anew, or to repeat what has been heard before.
Having thus stated what I apprehend to be the use of this
expedient, it remains that I add something to show its practica-
bility; for whatever was the advantage or merit of the plan, if
it was only practicable by men of extraordinary attainments, I
should not have proposed it in this place ; such men want no
52
410 ON AFTERNOON LECTURES.
directions from me ; but unless I am much deceived in my no-
tions of this measure, it will be found as easy in the execution
as it is laudable in the design. Any one commentary upon the
New Testament will supply materials for the work, and is in-
deed all the apparatus necessary for undertaking it. I say any
one ; because those subtle and recondite criticisms, in which
different commentators hold different opinions, cannot be
brought within the compass of this design. Grotius, Whitby,
Hammond, Clark, and, above all, Doddridge, will any of them
be found to contain what is sufficient for the present purpose.
I mention this last author in preference to the rest, because his
paraphrase, beside that it for the most part exhibits a sound
and judicious interpretation of the text, is both more copious
and expressive, in clearer and better chosen terms, than any
other I have met with ; qualities which render it peculiarly
adapted to the province of public expounding. His notes like-
wise discover great learning, and in many instances much Sa-
gacity and acuteness. But in recommending this author, it is
necessary to warn you against a part of his work, extremely un-
like and unworthy of the rest; and that is, what he calls his
improvements of the several sections, into which he divides the
text. These improvements betray such a straining to raise re-
flections out of passages of scripture, for which there is often
no just place or real foundation, and are delivered in a style so
impassioned, not to say fantastical, at least so inconsistent with
the sober and temperate judgment which pervades the para-
phrase itself, that no account can be given of the incongruity,
but that this excellent person found it necessary to accommo-
date his language to the prevailing tone of the dissenting con-
gregations of those times. All that I mean to guard against is,
that I may not be thought, in praising the work itself, to recom-
mend to your imitation this part of it.
I have said that any one commentary will furnish what is
necessary for expounding scripture to a mixed congregation ;
nevertheless, I must take the liberty of adding, to the younger
clergy especially, a recommendation, which, whether applied to
this purpose or not, will be found a useful direction in the
conduct of their studies; and that is, to provide themselves
with an interleaved Greek Testament, into the blank pages of
which they may not only transcribe the substance of such com-
mentary as they regularly go through, but in which they may,
from time to time, insert such occasional remarks on any text
as they happen to collect in the course of their reading. This in
time will grow into a commentary, in some measure, of a man's
ON AFTERNOON LECTURES. 411
own; it will possess more variety and selection, as well as be
more familiar and commodious to the compiler himself, than
any published commentary can be.
For the purpose of public expounding, a different prepara-
tion will be necessary for different persons, and for the same
person in the progress of the undertaking ; one may choose at
first to write down the greatest part of what he delivers; another
may find it sufficient to have before him the substance of the
observations he means to offer, which will gradually contractit-
self into heads, or notes, or commonplaces, upon which he will
dilate and enlarge at his discretion. In the mode also of con-
ducting the work great room is left for difference of choice;
one may choose to expound the second lesson ; another, the
gospel of the day; another, portions of scripture selected by
himself; and to another, it may appear best to begin with a
gospel and go regularly forward; which last method I have
practised, as the most simple and connected. But in this last
method I should propose, after having finished one gospel, to
proceed to such portions of the rest as contained something dif-
ferent from what was found in the first, which portions are
pointed out in every harmony. The congregation would find
themselves greatly assisted if they could be prevailed upon to
bring their bibles along with them to church, that they might
have their eye upon the text whilst the minister was delivering
his exposition. I hardly need observe, that in country parishes
this scheme is only practicable during the summer season,
when the length of the day and the state of the roads easily
admit of the parishioners’ coming twice a day to church.
I have made this recommendation the subject of my present
address, because I know not any by which I could detain you,
so well worthy your consideration and regard. The best and
highest purpose of these meetings would be answered, if, by a
communication of sentiment and observation, we could be made
to profit by one another's experience and by one another's
judgment; that, by cheerfully imparting to our brethren what-
ever any of us may have found conducive to the object of our
common profession and our common endeavour, we may pro-
voke one another to love and to good works, and carry on
the great business of public instruction with united zeal, infor-
mation, and ability.
412 ON THE STUDIES SUITABLE TO THE CLERGY.
CHARGE W.
oN THE STUDIES SUITABLE TO THE CLERGY.
REveREND BRETHREN,
ADDREssing an audience of clergymen and scholars, I
cannot be improperly employed in pointing out to their atten-
tion, especially to that of the younger and less experienced, a
few plain rules for the conduct and assistance of their profes-
sional studies. And these rules I may in some sort call me-
chanical; because as to the more important qualities, which are
the foundation of success in literary pursuits, taste, judgment,
and erudition, they are very imperfectly, if at all, the subjects
of rules, and certainly cannot be taught by any which it is in
my power to deliver. -
It may seem the tritest of all trite topics to recommend study
to clergymen; but I am persuaded that very few who have not
fallen into studious habits are sufficiently sensible how condu-
cive they are to satisfaction. And to no person can they, in
this view, be of so much importance as to us; I mean to such
of us as have no other employment than our profession. The
chief fault of a clergyman's life is the want of constant engage-
ment. There is no way of supplying this vacancy so good as
study, because there is hardly any other method of spending
time which does not oblige or tempt us to spend also money.
They, and they alone, who have experienced the difference,
can tell how rapidly, how smoothly, and how cheerfully the
time passes which is passed in study, and how tedious and
wearisome leisure oftentimes becomes without it. I must be
understood, however, to speak of something which deserves the
name of study, for mere reading, without thought, method, or
distinction, does not come up to this character. In truth, it
may be rendered so much an amusement as to be entitled to
no other name, rank, or merit; and what is worse, when fol-
lowed merely as an amusement, it ceases to be even that.
Light entertaining reading ought to be the relaxation, not the
employment of a vigorous mind ; not the substance of our in-
tellectual food, but the seasoning or the desert.
Supposing, therefore, a clergyman to be conscious of a great
deal of unoccupied time, and desirous of applying it to the
improvement of his knowledge and his usefulness, and that
ON THE STUDIES SUITABLE TO THE CLERGY. 413
more particularly in discharging the duties of his office, I would
strongly recommend to him the revival of two old fashioned
but excellent helps to learning, an interleaved bible and a com-
monplace book.
In the last age, when study was more in fashion than it is,
and when the studies of clergymen were more appropriated to
their calling than they are, no man of character in the profession
was without a bible, or at least a Greek testament interleaved
with blank pages. It was usual to divide the page into two
columns, in one of which he inserted from time to time such
comments and remarks upon each text as struck him in the
course of his various readings, and as struck him by their value
and probability; for it was not intended by the person who
provided himself with this apparatus to transcribe into his
manuscript any continued comment, merely for the purpose of
reading in his own handwriting what he might read in the ori-
ginal, but to enable him to find at once, and in its proper place,
what lies dispersed in different authors. The other column
was set apart for observations, or perhaps conjectures, which
had at any time occurred to himself whilst reading the scrip-
tures or hearing them read. When a number of years had
replenished this collection, it became a treasure; for it became
both a grateful and edifying employment to peruse a chapter,
the lesson for instance of the day, with the remarks and inſor-
mation before him which former thoughts or researches had
suggested.
That excellent prelate, with the close of whose studious life
it was my lot to be intimately acquainted, for many years took
great delight in these recollections. Old age never appeared
more venerable than when so employed.
Another useful contrivance was a commonplace book. This
may be serviceable in every branch of science, and in every
species of study; but it is for me only at present to render it
as applicable to the studies of a clergyman, and especially to
what every clergyman must wish to be provided with, a due
choice and variety of subjects for his public discourses, and an
assortment of topics suitable to each. Mr Locke long ago
observed, that the most valuable of our thoughts are those
which drop as it were into the mind by accident; and no one
exercised in these matters will be backward to allow, that they
are almost always preferable to what is forced up from the
mind by pumping, or as Milton has more strongly expressed it,
‘wrung like drops of blood from the nose,” that is, in plainer
terms, to such as we are compelled to furnish at the time.
414, ON THE STUDIES SUITABLE TO THE CLERGY,
This being so, it becomes of consequence to possess some
means of preserving those ideas which our more fortunate mo-
ments may cast up, and to preserve them in such order and
arrangement that we can turn to them when we want them. I
recommend, therefore, for this purpose, a commonplace book
for sermons, so contrived as to answer two ends; first, to
collect proper subjects, and secondly, under each subject to
collect proper sentiments. Whenever, which will happen more
frequently than we expect, reading, meditation, conversation,
especially with persons of the same class and rank of life as
our congregations are composed of, what we hear them say, or
what we perceive them to think, shall suggest any useful subject
of discourse, of explanation, advice, caution, or instruction, let
it be marked down at the time. We may not want it at the
time, but let it be marked down. A distinct subject should
stand at the head of a distinct page, and have a whole page
left to it, in order that when afterwards any thing relating to
the same subject is presented to our minds, it may be inserted
under its proper head. By which means, when we sit down
to the composition of a sermon, we have only to go to our book
for a subject, and not only for a subject, but for many of the
sentiments which belong to it, and the division of argument into
which our doctrine will run. And these are more likely to be
natural, solid, and useful, from the very circumstance of having
occurred spontaneously and occasionally, instead of being sought
by labor and straining.
In the office of composition, to which the remainder of my
address will relate, there are three directions which appear to
me to comprehend all that can be laid down as to artificial
assistance. These are repeated transcribing, repeated revis-
ions, and revisions with intervals of considerable length. The
late Mr Hartley, whose knowledge of human uuderstanding no
one will dispute, whenever he saw a faulty composition, was
wont to say it had not been written over often enough. What-
ever be the cause of it, there is no position of the mind which
brings the attention so closely and separately to the words of a
composition, both to their choice and arrangement, or which
enables a writer to descry so readily his own mistakes and
oversights, as that in which the act of transcribing places him.
No man ever sketches over his composition without mending
it. By reading, he may judge perhaps better of the texture
and disposition of the argument, than by writing ; because he
takes in more parts at once, his eye surveys a larger field ;
but for the language, for a minute, and, as I have called it, sepa-
ON THE STUDIES SUITABLE TO THE CLERGY. 4.15
rate attention to sentences, expressions, and even words, and
for all the advantage which a vigorous scrutiny can give, in
point of correctness and propriety, one writing is worth many
readings. It may be said, perhaps, that so much anxiety about
diction will destroy one of the best properties of popular writ-
ing, ease of style and manner. The very reverse of this is the
truth, unless we choose to call slovenliness ease. There are
no compositions in the language which have been so admired
for this very quality of ease as those of Mr Sterne, yet none, I
believe, ever cost their author more trouble. I remember to
have seen a letter of his, in which he speaks of himself as
having been incessantly employed for six months upon one
Small volume. I mention this for the sake of those who are
not sufficiently apprised, that in writing, as in many other things,
ease is not the result of negligence, but the perfection of art.
But, secondly, I would recommend frequent revisals of every
thing you write. This advice is more particularly necessary
to young composers, and it is necessary on this account ; of
most men it may be said, that the genius is ripe before the
judgment. The imagination is at its perfection about thirty.
It opens with the bloom of youth, and sometimes does not
survive it; on the contrary, the judgment seldom attains its
, maturity till much later. Being in a great measure the fruit of
experience, it is of slow growth, and is in a state, perhaps, of
constant progress, at least so long as the powers of the under-
standing remain entire. He, therefore, who addresses himself
to any species of composition in the earlier part of his life,
comes to it with the advantage of a fertile and glowing imagina-
tion, but often with great imbecility and unsoundness of judg-
ment. Any man who peruses, after a lapse of years, his early
productions, will be sensible of this. This danger, arising
from the constitution of the human mind, can only be guarded
against by two precautions; patience in writing and industry in
revising. Upon the question of slow or rapid composition, I
have nothing to deliver; every man must be guided by the
experience of his own faculties. In general, I think, slow
composition does not answer well, for what is composed slowly
must necessarily be composed a little at a time, the conse-
quence of which is, that the piecing and joining will be numer-
ous and difficult to unravel ; perhaps, also, the flow of thought
ought not to be interrupted too often. But in proportion
as the first sketch or draught of any work is hastily struck off,
a more careful and rigorous correction ought to be applied.
In the process of composition a man puts down every thing.
When he comes, therefore, to exercise a second and severer
416 ON THE STUDIES SUITABLE TO THE CLERGY.
judgment, a large crop of weeds will fall before him. And it
is not one revision nor two that will be sufficient. Many faults
will escape a first, many a second scrutiny, and it is only by a
successive application of the attention, that accuracy, I mean
such a degree of it as every one would wish to give to his
compositions, can be finally attained.
But, thirdly, it is necessary that these revisions be made at
due distances of time. A very simple example will show the
reason of this rule. In the easiest operation of arithmetic, the
casting up an account, a person may do it twenty times together,
and twenty times together commit the same mistake. But if
he should repeat the process at due distances of time, it is
scarcely possible that that should take place. So it fares with
our critical sagacity ; very gross improprieties may elude ex-
amination, and if they once escape our attention, it is probable
they will continue to escape it at that time, let us read over our
composition ever so often. It is necessary, therefore, that the
mind should come fresh to the subject, that the taste be not
blunted by too much exercise, the thought too much implicated
in the same trains and habits; and above all, that the famili-
arity of words and ideas be passed off, which, whilst it lasts,
renders the perception of faults almost impossible. To me it
appears, that this principle was very well known to the classic
ages of literature. The monum prematur in annum was not
merely for the purpose of frequent revisions, for which surely
a much less time would have been sufficient, but to allow such
space also and distance between them, as that they might be
made with the best effect. It is also of consequence to view a
subject in different states of spirits, different moods of temper,
and different dispositions of thought. That can hardly be
wrong which pleases under all these varieties of mind or situa-
tion ; that may be very much so which pleases only in one.
For instance, an inflated diction, fantastic or extravagant bold
conceits, violent or daring expressions, may gratify a mind
heated or elated with its subject, which, when the animal spirits
were subsided and the enthusiasm gone, would appear intoler-
able even to the same person.
If it be asked what use may be expected from these direc-
tions, I answer, that neither these nor any other rules will of
themselves form a good writer, either for the pulpit or for any
thing else, but they will do that where the great essentials of
genius and knowledge are present; they will prevent these in-
estimable qualities being thrown away, as they sometimes are,
either upon crude and negligent, or upon offensive, hurtful,
extravagant, or injudicious productions.
AMUSEMENTS SUITABLE TO THE CLERGY. 4.17
CHARGE VI.
AMUSEMENTS SUITABLE TO THE CLERGY.
REVEREND BRETHREN,
I HAVE repeatedly said from this place, that if there be
any principal objection to the life of a clergyman, in regard to
the sources of personal satisfaction, it is this ; that it does not
supply sufficient engagements to the time and thoughts of an
active mind. I am ready to allow, that it is in the power only
of a few to fill up every day with study; with studies solely of
a theological kind, it is still less so. I do not, however, by
granting this, mean to admit that it is not necessary to employ
a solid portion of our time in the proper studies of our calling.
On the contrary, I contend, and ever shall contend, that with-
out a due mixture of religious reading and researches with our
other employments of mind, be what they will, and of profes-
sional studies strictly and properly so called, the character of a
clergyman can neither be respectable nor sufficiently useful.
When I state the want, or rather defect, of engagement, as
forming the principal inconvenience in the life of a clergyman,
I must be understood to speak of our profession in its general
nature, under which view it may be said, that if this difficulty
were removed from it, we should not have much to repine at
in other lines of life; for the safety which it affords, compared
with the great risk and frequent miscarriages of secular em-
ployments, and of almost all attempts to raise fortunes, com-
pensates in a great measure for the mediocrity, or perhaps
something less than mediocrity, with which most of us, both in
our views and possessions, must be content. What clergyman
recollects the disappointments and distresses, the changes and
failures, which the disturbed state of commerce hath lately
brought upon those who are engaged in it, without seeing rea-
son to be satisfied with, might I not say thankful for, the secu-
rity and repose, the exemption from dread and anxiety, if not
from actual losses and privations, by which so many have suf-
fered 2
In a clergyman's, however, in common with all other situa-
tions, a succession of agreeable engagements is necessary to
the passing of life with satisfaction; and since the profession
does not of its own accord supply these, or supply them to all,
53
4.18 AMUSEMENTS SUITABLE TO THE CLERGY.
with sufficient copiousness and variety, and since it is of great
consequence to the character of a clergyman, not only that his
duties be properly performed, but that his occupations be inno-
cent and liberal, I think it may be useful to suggest to him some
pursuits and employments which will fill up his leisure with
credit and advantage. -
Amongst the principal of these, I should recommend, in the
first place, each and every branch of natural history. The
cultivation of this study has not only all the advantage of invit-
ing to exercise and action, of carrying us abroad into the fields
and into the country, of always finding something for us to do,
and something to observe, of ministering objects of notice and
attention to our walks and to our rides, to the most solitary
retirement, or the most sequestered situation ; it has not only
this advantage, but it has a much greater ; it is connected with
the most immediate object of our profession. Natural history
is the basis of natural religion; and to learn the principles of
natural religion is to prepare the understanding for the recep-
tion of that which is revealed. In every view, therefore, it is
a subject of commendation. As a mere amusement, it is of all
others the most ingenuous; the best suited, and the most rela-
tive, to the profession of a clergyman. As a study, it is capable
of producing the most beneficial effects upon the frame and
disposition of the mind which entertains it.
Of the several branches of natural history I can only so far
take notice as they are adapted to our particular situation or
local opportunities. Botany is an extremely important and
entertaining part of the science of nature; and there is no situa-
tion in the world'more favorable to the prosecution of this study,
than those which many clergymen enjoy in this diocese. All
mountainous regions, and none more so than ours, supply a
variety of plants which are little known where the face of the
country is less broken and diversified. Botanists come from
a great distance to visit our mountains, and think themselves
repaid for the expense and trouble of a long journey, by the
opportunity of climbing amongst them for a week or a few
days; yet for obtaining a knowledge of the vegetable produc-
tions of a country, for the searching out of rare plants, for the
acquainting ourselves with their seasons, growth, their appear-
ance in different states, the soil, aspect and climate which they
delight in, together with their other properties or singularities,
what are the few weeks, or perhaps few days of a stranger's
visit, to the opportunities of a clergyman residing the year round
upon the spot, and exercising his observation in every season 2
AMUSEMENTS SUITABLE TO THE CLERGY. 419
A wise man, in any situation into which he may be thrown,
tries to compensate the inconveniences with the advantages, and
to draw from it what peculiar materials of satisfaction it may
happen to afford. In the present instance, the deepest and
most secluded recesses of our mountains, are the best fitted for
the researches I am recommending; and he who does not turn
his mind to the subject when he finds himself placed in the
midst of a magnificent museum, not only neglects an opportunity
of rational recreation, but neglects the best thing, in some cases
perhaps the only good thing, which his situation affords.
Natural history easily ascends from vegetable to animal life.
No one who is a botanist, is a botanist alone. The turn of
thought which directs a man to remark the structure of plants,
will of course carry him to the economy of animals; and here,
no doubt, is the widest space for observation, and for observa-
tion immediately tending to establish the most important truth
which a human being can learn, the wisdom of God in the
work of the creation. Instead of expatiating, however, upon
the general utility of natural history, of which no person can
think more highly than I do, it will be more to our present
purpose to point out how applicable it is, and how properly it
may be made to mix with those occupations into which we
usually fall. We most of us become gardeners or farmers. It
is not for me to censure these employments indiscriminately,
but they may be carried on, the latter especially, to such an
extent as to be exceedingly degrading ; as so to engross our
time, our thoughts, and our cares, as to extinguish almost en-
tirely the clerical character. Now, what I am recommending,
namely, the scientific cultivation of botany and natural history,
that is, the collecting and reading at least the elementary books
upon the subject, and afterwards forming for ourselves a course
and habit of observation, and, which will greatly assist and im-
prove us, a habit also of committing our observations to writing,
is the precise thing which will dignify our employments in the
field and the garden, and will give to both the appearance,
and not only the appearance, but the real character, of an in-
tellectual and contemplative, as well as of an active and manual
employment. If a clergyman will farm, he should not be a
common farmer ; if he will garden, he should not be a mere
delver; let him philosophize his occupation, let him mix science
with work. If he draw from his farm or garden any improve-
ment in the knowledge of nature, he draws from it the greatest,
in many cases the only, profit he will receive.
Beside natural history, or rather together with it several
420 AMUSEMENTS SUITABLE TO THE CLERGY.
branches of natural philosophy, especially those which consist
in experiment and observation, are within the reach of a country
clergyman's means and opportunities, and will contribute greatly
to fill his time with satisfactory and useful engagement. Elec-
trical experiments are of this kind. These I have seen exe-
cuted in the greatest perfection in the back shop of a linen
draper, with an apparatus which did not cost forty shillings.
The use of the microscope is also another endless source of
novelty, and by consequence, of entertainment and instruction.
More, and more beautiful, discoveries of this kind I have seen
made by a private clergyman in Wales, who fabricated all his
own apparatus, than by any other person whom I have known
or heard of in these times. Those who display philosophical
experiments to the public are wont to gratify the eyes of the
spectators with the show of a costly apparatus; but a philoso-
pher knows that almost the whole of this is embellishment; that
the real effects are produced, the real instruction is gained,
with a few simple instruments in a closet, as completely as at a
dressed up lecture.
Astronomy, at least so much of it, and that is a great deal,
as requires only a telescope and a quadrant, is a proper, I had
almost said the most proper, of all possible recreations to a
clergyman. The heavens declare the glory of God to all ; but
to the astronomer they point it out by proofs and significations
most powerful, convincing, and infinitely sublime. In common
with all science, and more so, I think, than any one branch of
it, the contemplation of the heavenly bodies tends to lift up the
spirit of man above those entanglements of cares and difficulties
with which we are all of us more than enough encumbered and
weighed down. Chemistry, however, the popular part of it,
may be pursued at very moderate expense, and with great
advantage.
It is not my intention to run round the Encyclopædia in
order to show the subjects of engagement, and the sources of
information which almost every branch of natural philosophy
may afford to an active, intelligent, and inquisitive mind, fur-
nished with the leisure which our profession naturally supplies
to us. I will rather content myself with briefly pointing out
two articles, not so much of science, strictly so called, as of
useful investigation, and suggested to our attention by the natu-
ral circumstances of the country in which we live; the ad-
measurement of the height of mountains, by the application of
the barometer and thermometer, is very practicable in the opera-
tion, unexpensive in the apparatus; and in no part of the island
LOCAL AND OCCASIONAL PREACHING. 421
do more, or more curious, subjects for trial offer themselves
than in ours. Meteorological observations, that is, observations
upon the phenomena of the atmosphere, such as the quantity
of rain which falls in a year, the course of the winds, the de-
pendency of the rain upon the state of the barometer, or upon
other appearances and prognostics, which in mountainous coun-
tries are always irregular, are very deserving of being known,
and can only be known by a long continued and attentive
course of observation. This is more particularly true in this
very neighbourhood; in which great singularities of the kind I
am speaking of are said to exist, of which neither the cause
has been explained, nor even the appearances themselves suffi-
ciently ascertained.
I will beg leave to conclude with two short reflections.
First, that the various sources of intellectual and active occupa-
tion which have been pointed out, prove that there is no man
of liberal education who need be at a loss to know what to do
with his time; that leisure need never be a burden ; that if we
sink into sloth, it is our fault, and not that of our situation ; and
secondly, that whatever direction we give to our studies, I
mean those collateral and adscititious studies which have been
described, we are contributing our proportion to that which is
of great importance to the general diffusion of knowledge, and
thereby to the interest of religion, and the credit and usefulness
of our order; the furnishing of every portion of the country, as
well as of every class of the community, with the presence and
society of a well informed clergy.
CHARGE VII.
USE AND PROPRIETY OF LOCAL AND OCCASIONAL
PREACHING.
REVEREND BRETHREN,
THE late archbishop Secker, whose memory is entitled to
public respect, as on many accounts, so especially for the
judgment with which he described, and the affecting serious-
mess with which he recommended the duties of his profession,
422 USE AND PROPRIETY OF
in one of his charges to the clergy of his diocese,” exhorts
them “to make their sermons local.’ I have always considered
this advice as founded in a knowledge of human life, but as re-
quiring, in its application, a more than ordinary exercise of
christian prudence. Whilst I repeat therefore the rule itself,
with great veneration for the authority by which it was deliver-
ed, I think it no unfit employment of the present opportunity,
to enlarge so far upon its use and meaning, as to point out some
of the instances in which it may be adopted, with a probability
of making salutary impressions upon the minds of our hearers.
But, before I proceed, I would warn you, and that with all
the solemnity that can belong to any admonition of mine,
against rendering your discourses so local, as to be pointed and
levelled at particular persons in your congregation. This spe-
cies of address may produce in the party for whom it is in-
tended, confusion perhaps and shame, but not with their proper
fruits of penitence and humility. Instead of which, these sen-
sations will be accompanied with bitter resentment against the
preacher, and a kind of obstinate and determined opposition to
his reproof. He will impute your officiousness to personal en-
mity, to party spirit, to the pleasure of triumphing over an ad-
versary without interruption or reply, to insult assuming the
form of advice, or to any motive rather than a conscientious
solicitude for the amendment and salvation of your flock. And
as the person himself seldom profits by admonitions conveyed
in this way, so are they equally useless, or perhaps noxious, to
the rest of the assembly; for the moment the congregation dis-
cover to whom the chastisement is directed, from that moment
they cease to apply any part of it to themselves. They are
not edified, they are not affected; on the contrary, they are
diverted by descriptions of which they see the design, and by
invectives of which they think they comprehend the aim.
Some who would feel strongly the impropriety of gross and
evident personalities, may yet hope to hit their mark by covert
and oblique allusions. Now of this scheme, even when con-
ducted with the greatest skill, it may be observed, that the allu-
sions must either be perceived, or not. If they be not per-
ceived, they fail of the effect intended by them; if they be,
they are open to the objections which lie against more explicit
and undissembled attacks. Whenever we are conscious, in the
composition of our discourses, of a view to particular charac-
*Archbishop of Canterbury's Third Charge to his Clergy. Abp. Secker's
Works, vol. iv.
LOCAL AND OCCASIONAL PREACHING. 423
ters in our congregation or parish, we ought to take for granted
that our view will be understood. Those applications there-
fore, which, if they were direct, would produce more bad emo-
tions than good ones, it is better to discard entirely from our
sermons; that is to say, it is better to lay aside the design alto-
gether, than to attempt to disguise it by a management which
is generally detected, and which, if not seen through, defeats
its purpose by its obscurity. The crimes, then, of individuals
let us reserve for opportunities of private and seasonable expos-
tulation. Happy is the clergyman who has the faculty of com-
municating advice and remonstrance with persuasion and effect,
and the virtue to seize and improve every proper occasion of
doing it; but in the pulpit, let private characters be no other-
wise adverted to, than as they fall in with the delineations of
sins and duties which our discourses must necessarily contain,
and which, whilst they avoid personalities, can never be too
close or circumstantial. For the same reason that I think per-
sonal allusions reprehensible, I should condemn any, even the
remotest, reference to party or political transactions and dis-
putes. These are at all times unfit subjects, not only of dis-
cussion in the pulpit, but of hints and surmises. The christian
preacher has no other province than that of religion and moral-
ity. He is seldom led out of his way by honorable motives,
and, I think, never with a beneficial effect.
Having premised this necessary caution, I return to the rule
itself. By ‘local’ sermons I would understand, what the rev-
erend prelate who used the expression seems principally to
have meant by it, sermons adapted to the particular state of
thought and opinion which we perceive to prevail in our con-
gregation. A careful attention to this circumstance is of the
utmost importance, because, as it varies, the same sermon may
do a great deal of good, none at all, or much harm. So that
it is not the truth of what we are about to offer which alone we
ought to consider, but whether the argument itself be likely to
correct or to promote the turn and bias of opinion to which we
already perceive too strong a tendency and inclination. With-
out this circumspection we may be found to have imitated the
folly of the architect who placed his buttress on the wrong
side. The more the column pressed, the more firm its con-
struction, and the deeper its foundation, the more certainly it
hastened the ruin of the fabric. I do not mean that we should,
upon any emergency, advance what is not true ; but that, out
of many truths, we should select those, the consideration of
which seems best suited to rectify the dispositions of thought,
424 USE AND PROPRIETY OF
that were previously declining into error or extravagancy. For
this model of preaching we may allege the highest of all possi-
ble authorities, the example of our blessed Saviour himself.
He always had in view the posture of mind of the persons
whom he addressed. He did not entertain the Pharisees with
invectives against the open impiety of their Sadducean rivals;
nor, on the other hand, did he soothe the Sadducee’s ear with
descriptions of Pharisaical pomp and folly. In the presence of
the Pharisee he preached against hypocrisy; to the Sadducees
he proved the resurrection of the dead. In like manner, of
that known enmity which subsisted between the Jews and Sa-
maritans, this faithful teacher took no undue advantage to make
friends or proselytes of either. Upon the Jews he inculcated
a more comprehensive benevolence; with the Samaritan he
defended the orthodoxy of the Jewish creed.
But I apprehend that I shall render my advice more intelli-
gible, by exemplifying it in two or three instances, drawn from
what appears to be the predominant disposition and religious
character of this country, and of the present times.
In many former ages of religion, the strong propensity of
men’s minds was to overvalue positive duties; which temper,
when carried to excess, not only multiplied unauthorized rites
and observances, not only laid an unwarrantable stress upon
those which were prescribed, but, what was worst of all, led
men to expect, that, by a punctual attention to the ordinances
of religion, they could compound for a relaxation of its weighty
and difficult duties of personal purity and relative justice. This
was the depraved state of religion amongst the Jews when our
Saviour appeared ; and it was the degeneracy, against which
some of the most forcible of his admonitions, and the severest
of his reproofs, were directed. Yet, notwithstanding that
Christ's own preaching, as well as the plan and spirit of his re-
ligion, were as adverse as possible to the exalting or overvalu-
ing of positive institutions, the error which had corrupted the
old dispensation revived under the new ; and revived with dou-
ble force, inasmuch as it went to transform Christianity into a
service more prolix and burdensome than the Jewish, and to
ascribe an efficacy to certain religious performances, which, in
a great measure, superseded the obligations of substantial vir-
tue. That age, however, with us, is long since past. I fear
there is room to apprehend that we are falling into mistakes of
a contrary kind. Sadducees are more common amongst us
than Pharisees. We seem disposed, not only to cast off the
decent offices, which the temperate piety of our church hath
H.OCAL AND OCCASIONAL PREACHING. 4.25
enjoined, as aids of devotion, calls to repentance, or instru-
ments of improvement, but to contemn and neglect, under the
name of forms and ceremonies, even those rites, which, foras-
much as they were ordained by the divine founder of our reli-
gion, or by his inspired messengers, and ordained with a view
of their continuing in force through future generations, are en-
titled to be accounted parts of Christianity itself. In this situ-
ation of religion, and of men's thoughts with respect to it, he
makes a bad choice of his subject, who discourses upon the
futility of rites and ordinances, upon their insignificancy when
taken by themselves, or even who insists too frequently, and in
terms too strong, upon their inferiority to moral precepts. We
are rather called upon to sustain the authority of those institu-
tions which proceed from Christ or his apostles, and the rea-
sonableness and credit of those which claim no higher original
than public appointment. We are called upon to contend with
respect to the first, that they cannot be omitted with safety any
more than other duties; that the will of God, once ascertained,
is the immediate foundation of every duty; that, when this
will is known, it makes little difference to us what is the sub-
ject of it, still less by what denomination the precept is called,
under what class or division the duty is arranged. If it be
commanded, and we have sufficient reason to believe that it is
so, it matters nothing whether the obligation be moral or na-
tural, or positive or instituted. He who places before him the
will of God as the rule of his life, will not refine, or even dwell
much, upon these distinctions. The ordinances of Christianity,
it is true, are all of them significant. Their meaning, and even
their use, is not obscure. But were it otherwise, was the
design of any positive institution inexplicable, did it appear to
have been proposed only as an exercise of obedience, it was
not for us to hesitate in our compliance. Even to inquire, with
too much curiosity and impatience, into the cause and reason
of a religious command, is no evidence of an humble and sub-
missive disposition ; of a disposition, I mean, humble under the
Deity’s government of his creation, and submissive to his will
however signified.
It may be seasonable also to maintain, what I am convinced.
is true, that the principle of general utility, which upholds moral
obligation itself, may, in various instances, be applied to evince
the duty of attending upon positive institutions; in other words,
that the difference between natural and positive duties is often
more in the name than in the thing. The precepts of natural
justice are therefore only binding upon the conscience, because
54
426 USE AND PROPRIETY OF
the observation of them is necessary or conducive to the pros-
perity and happiness of social life. If there be, as there cer-
tainly are, religious institutions which contribute greatly to form
and support impressions upon the mind, that render men better
members of civilised community; if these institutions can only
be preserved in their reputation and influence by the general
respect which is paid to them; there is the same reason to
each of us for bearing our part in these observances, that there
is for discharging the most acknowledged duties of natural
religion. When I say “the reason is the same, I mean that it
is the same in kind. The degree of strength and cogency
which this reason possesses in any particular case, must always
depend upon the value and importance of the particular duty ;
which admits of great variety. But moral and positive duties
do not in this respect differ more than moral duties differ from
one another. So that when men accustom themselves to look
upon positive duties as universally and necessarily inferior to
moral ones, as of a subordinate species, as placed upon a dif-
ferent ſoundation, or deduced from a different original, and
consequently to regard them as unworthy of being made a part
of their plan of life, or of entering into their sense of obligation,
they appear to be egregiously misled by names. It is our
business, not to aid, but to correct, the deception. Still, never-
theless, is it as true as ever it was, that ‘except we exceed the
righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, we cannot enter
into the kingdom of heaven;’ that “the sabbath was made for
man, and not man for the sabbath ;’ that “the weightier matters
of the law are faith, justice, and mercy;' but to insist strenu-
ously, and, as some do, almost exclusively, upon these points
at present, tends to diminish the respect for religious ordinances,
which is already too little; and, whilst it guards against dangers
that have ceased to exist, augments those which are really for-
midable.
Again; upon the first reformation from Popery, a method
very much prevailed in the seceding churches, of resolving the
whole of religion into faith; good works, as they were called, or
the practice of virtue, holding not only a secondary but even
distant place in value and esteem; being represented, indeed,
as possessing no share or efficacy in the attainment of human
Salvation. This doctrine we have seen revived in our own
times, and earried to still greater lengths. And it is a theory,
or rather perhaps a language, which required, whilst it lasted,
very serious animadversion; not only because it disposed men
to rest in an unproductive faith, without endeavours to render
LOCAL AND OCCASIONAL PREACHING. 427
themselves useful by exertion and activity; not only because
it was naturally capable of being converted to the encourage-
ment of licentiousness; but because it misrepresented Chris-
tianity as a moral institution, by making it place little stress
upon the distinction of virtue and vice, and by making it require
the practice of external duties, if it required them at all, only
as casual, neglected, and almost unthought of consequences of
that faith which it extolled, instead of directing men's attention
to them, as to those things which alone compose an unquestion-
able and effective obedience to the divine will. So long as
this turn of mind prevailed, we could not be too industrious in
bringing together and exhibiting to our hearers those many and
positive declarations of scripture which enforce, and insist upon,
practical religion; which divide mankind into those who do
good, and those who do evil; which hold out to the one, favor
and happiness, and to the other, repulse and condemnation.
The danger, however, from this quarter is nearly overpast.
We are, on the contrary, setting up a kind of philosophical
morality, detached from religion and independent of its influ-
ence, which may be cultivated, it is said, as well without Chris-
tianity as with it; and which, if cultivated, renders religion and
religious institutions superfluous. A mode of thought so con-
trary to truth, and so derogatory from the value of revelation,
cannot escape the vigilance of a christian ministry. We are
entitled to ask upon what foundation this morality rests. If it
refer to the divine will, and, without that, where will it find its
sanctions, or how support its authority? there cannot be a con-
duct of the understanding more irrational, than to appeal to
those intimations of the Deity’s character which the light and
order of nature afford, as to the rule and measure of our duty,
yet to disregard, and affect to overlook, the declarations of his
pleasure which Christianity communicates. It is impossible to
distinguish between the authority of natural and revealed reli-
gion. We are bound to receive the precepts of revelation for
the same reason that we comply with the dictates of nature.
He who despises a command which proceeds from his Maker,
no matter by what means, or through what medium, instead of
advancing, as he pretends to do, the dominion of reason, and
the authority of natural religion, disobeys the first injunction of
both. Although it be true what the apostle affirms, that, “when
the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things
contained in the law, they are a law unto themselves,’ that is,
they will be accepted together with those who are instructed in
the law and obey it; yet is this truth not applicable to such,
428 |USE AND PROPRIETY OF
as having a law, contemn it, and with the means of access to
the word of God, keep themselves at a voluntary distance from
it. This temper, whilst it continues, makes it necessary for us to
assert the superiority of a religious principle above every other
by which human conduct can be regulated, more especially
above that fashionable system, which recommends virtue only
as a true and refined policy; which policy in effect is, and in
the end commonly proves itself to be, nothing else than a more
exquisite cunning, which, by a specious behaviour in the easy
and visible concerns of life, collects a fund of reputation, in
order either to cherish more securely concealed vices, or to
reserve itself for some great stroke of selfishness, perfidy, and
desertion, in a pressing conjuncture of fortunes.
Nor less justly may we superinduce the guidance of Christian-
ity to the direction of sentiment, which depends so much upon
constitution, upon early impressions, upon habit and imitation,
that unless it be compared with, and adjusted by, some safer rule,
it can in no wise be trusted. Least of all ought we to yield the
authority of religion to the law of honor; a law, if it deserve
that name, which, besides its continual mutability, is at best but
a system of manners suited to the intercourse and accommoda-
tion of higher life ; and which consequently neglects every duty,
and permits every vice, that has no relation to these purposes.
Amongst the rules which contend with religion for the
government of life, the law of the land also has not a few who
think it very sufficient to act up to its direction, and to keep
within the limits which it prescribes; and this sort of character
is common in our congregations. We are not to omit, there-
fore, to apprise those who make the statutes of the realm the
standard of their duty, that they propose to themselves a mea-
sure of conduct totally inadequate to the purpose. The boun-
daries which nature has assigned to human authority and con-
trol, the partial ends to which every legislator is obliged to
confine his views, prevent human laws, even were they, what
they never are, as perfect as they might be made, from becom-
ing competent rules of life to any one who advances his hopes
to the attainment of God Almighty’s favor. In contradistinc-
tion, then, to these several systems, which divide a great por-
tion of mankind amongst them, we preach “faith which worketh
by love,’ that principle of action and restraint which is found in
a Christian alone. It possesses qualities to which none of them
can make pretensions. It operates where they fail; is present
upon all occasions, firm upon the greatest; pure, as under the
inspection of a vigilant Omniscience; innocent, where guilt
LOCAL AND OCCASIONAL PREACHING. 429
could not be discovered ; just, exact, and upright, without a
witness to its proceedings; uniform amidst the caprices of
fashion, unchanged by the vicissitudes of popular opinion;
often applauded, not seldom misunderstood, it holds on its
straight and equal course, through ‘good report and evil re-
port,’ through encouragement and neglect, approbation and dis-
grace. If the philosopher or the politician can point out to us
any influence but that of Christianity which has these proper-
ties, I had almost said which does not want them all, we will
listen with reverence to his instruction. But until this be done,
we may be permitted to resist every plan which would place
virtue upon any other foundation, or seek final happiness through
any other medium, than faith in Jesus Christ. At least whilst
an inclination to these rival systems remains, no good end, I
am apt to think, is attained by decrying faith under any form ;
by stating the competition between faith and good works, or by
pointing out, with too much anxiety, even the abuses and ex-
travagances into which the doctrine of salvation by faith alone
has sometimes been carried. The truth is, that, in the two
subjects which I have considered, we are in such haste to fly
from enthusiasm and superstition, that we are approaching to-
wards an insensibility to all religious influence. I certainly do
not mean to advise you to endeavour to bring men back to en-
thusiasm and superstition, but to retard, if you can, their pro-
gress towards an opposite and a worse extreme ; and both in
these, and in all other instances, to regulate the choice of your
subjects, by the particular bias and tendency of opinion which
you perceive already to prevail amongst your hearers, and by
a consideration, not of the truth only of what you deliver,
which, however, must always be an indispensable condition, but
of its effects; and those not the effects which it would produce
upon sound, enlightened, and impartial judgments, but what are
likely to take place in the weak and preoccupied understand-
ings with which we have to do.
Having thus considered the rule as it applies to the argument
of our discourses, in which its principal importance consists, I
proceed to illustrate its use as it relates to another object, the
means of exciting attention. The transition from local to occa-
sional sermons is so easy, and the reason for both is so much
the same, that what I have further to add will include the one
as well as the other. And though nothing more be proposed
in the few directions which I am about to offer than to move
and awaken the attention of our audience, yet is this a purpose
of no inconsiderable magnitude. We have great reason to com-
430 USE AND PROPRIETY OF
plain of listlessness in our congregations. Whether this be
their fault or ours, the fault of neither or of both, it is much to
be desired that it could by any means be removed. Our ser-
mons are in general more informing, as well as more correct
and chastised, both in matter and composition, than those of
any denomination of dissenting teachers. I wish it were in our
power to render them as impressive as some of theirs seem to
be. Now I think we may observe that we are heard with
somewhat more than ordinary advertency, whenever our dis-
courses are recommended by any occasional propriety. The
more, therefore, of these proprieties we contrive to weave into
our preaching, the better. One which is very obvious, and which
should never be neglected, is that of making our sermons as suita-
ble as we can to the service of the day. On the principal fasts
and festivals of the church, the subjects which they are designed
to commemorate ought invariably to be made the subjects of
our discourses. Indeed, the best sermon, if it do not treat of
the argument which the congregation come prepared to hear,
is received with coldness, and with a sense of disappointment.
This respect to the order of public worship almost every one
pays. But the adaptation, I apprehend, may be carried much
farther. Whenever any thing like a unity of subject is pursued
throughout the collect, epistle, and gospel of the day, that
subject is with great advantage revived in the pulpit. It is
perhaps to be wished that this unity had been more consulted
in the compilation of this part of the liturgy than it has been.
When from the want of it a subject is not distinctly presented
to us, there may, however, be some portion of the service more
striking than the rest, some instructive parable, some interesting
narration, some concise but forcible precept, some pregnant
sentence, which may be recalled to the hearer’s attention with
peculiar effect. I think it no contemptible advantage if we
even draw our text from the epistle or gospel, or the psalms or
lessons. Our congregation will be more likely to retain what
they hear from us, when it, in any manner, falls in with what
they have been reading in their prayer books, or when they are
afterwards reminded of it by reading the psalms and lessons at
home. g
But there is another species of accommodation of more
importance, and that is the choice of such disquisitions, as
may either meet the difficulties or assist the reflections which
are suggested by the portions of scripture that are deliver-
ed from the reading desk. Thus, whilst the wars of Joshua
and the Judges, are related in the course of the lessons which
LOCAL AND OCCASIONAL PREACHING. 431
occupy some of the first Sundays after trinity, it will be very
seasonable to explain the reasons upon which that dispensation
was founded, the moral and beneficial purposes which are de-
clared to have been designed, and which were probably
accomplished, by its execution; because such an explanation
will obviate the doubts concerning either the divine goodness
or the credibility of the narrative, which may arise in the mind
of a hearer, who is not instructed to regard the transaction as
a method of inflicting an exemplary, just, and necessary pun-
ishment. In like manner, whilst the history of the delivery of
the law from mount Sinai, or rather the recapitulation of that
history by Moses, in the book of Deuteronomy, is carried on
in the Sunday lessons which are read between easter and whit-
sunday, we shall be well engaged in discourses upon the com-
mandments which stand at the head of that institution; in
showing from the history their high original and authority, and
in explaining their reasonableness, application, and extent.
Whilst the history of Joseph is successively presented to the
congregation during the Sundays in lent, we shall be very
negligent of the opportunity, if we do not take occasion to
point out to our hearers, those observations upon the benevo-
lent but secret direction, the wise though circuitous measures,
of Providence, of which this beautiful passage of scripture
supplies a train of apposite examples. There are, I doubt not,
other series of subjects dictated by the service as edifying as
these ; but these I propose as illustrations of the rule.
Next to the service of the church, the season of the year
may be made to suggest useful and appropriate topics of medi-
tation. The beginning of a new year has belonging to it a
train of very solemn reflections. In the devotional pieces of
the late Dr Johnson, this occasion was never passed by. We
may learn from these writings the proper use to be made of it,
and by the example of that excellent person, how much a pious
mind is wont to be affected by this memorial of the lapse of
life. There are also certain proprieties which correspond with
the different parts of the year. For example, the wisdom of
God in the work of the creation is a theme which ought to be
reserved for the return of the spring, when nature renews, as
it were, her activity; when every animal is cheerful and busy,
and seems to feel the influence of its Maker’s kindness; when
our senses and spirits, the objects and enjoyments that surround
us, accord and harmonize with those sentiments of delight and
gratitude, which this subject, above all others, is calculated to
inspire. There is no devotion so genuine as that which flows
4.32 USE AND PROPRIETY OF
from these meditations, because it is unforced and selfexcited.
There is no frame of mind more desirable, and, consequently, no
preaching more useful, than that which leads the thought to
this exercise. It is laying a foundation for Christianity itself.
If it be not to sow the seed, it is at least to prepare the soil.
The evidence of revelation arrives with much greater ease at
an understanding, which is already possessed by the persuasion,
that an unseen intelligence framed and conducts the universe,
and which is accustomed to refer the order and operations of
mature to the agency of a supreme will. The influence also of
religion is almost always in proportion to the degree and
strength of this conviction. It is, moreover, a species of in-
struction of which our hearers are more capable than we may
at first sight suppose. It is not necessary to be a philosopher,
or to be skilled in the names and distinctions of natural history,
in order to perceive marks of contrivance and design in the
creation. It is only to turn our observation to them. Now,
besides that this requires neither more ability nor leisure than
every man can command, there are many things in the life of
a country parishioner which will dispose his thoughts to the
employment. In his fields, amidst his flocks, in the progress
of vegetation, the structure, faculties, and manners, of domestic
animals, he has constant occasion to remark proofs of intention
and consummate wisdom. The minister of a country parish is
never, therefore, better engaged, than when he is assisting this
turn of contemplation. Nor will he ever do it with so much
effect, as when the appearance and face of external nature
conspire with the sentiments which he wishes to excite.
Again; if we would enlarge upon the various bounty of
Providence, in furnishing a regular supply for animal, and es-
pecially for human subsistence, not by one, but by numerous
and diversified species of food and clothing, we shall be best
heard in the time and amidst the occupations of harvest, when
our hearers are reaping the effects of those contrivances for
their support, and of that care for their preservation, which
their Father which is in heaven hath exercised for them. If
the year has been favorable, we rejoice with them in the plenty
which fills their granaries, covers their tables, and feeds their
families. If otherwise, or less so, we have still to remark how,
through all the husbandman's disappointments, through the
dangers and inclemencies of precarious seasons, a competent
proportion of the fruits of the earth is conducted to its destined
purpose. We may observe also to the repining farmer, that
the value, if not the existence, of his own occupation, depends
LOCAL AND OCCASIONAL PREACHING. 433
upon the very uncertainty of which he complains. It is found
to be almost universally true, that the partition of the profits
between the owner and the occupier of the soil, is in favor of .
the latter in proportion to the risk which he incurs by the dis-
advantage of the climate. This is a very just reflection, and
particularly intelligible to a rural audience. We may add,
when the occasion requires it, that scarcity itself hath its use ;
by acting as a stimulus to new exertions and to farther im-
provements, it often produces, through a temporary distress, a
permanent benefit.
Lastly ; sudden, violent, or untimely deaths, or death ac-
companied by any circumstances of surprise or singularity,
usually leave an impression upon a whole neighbourhood. A
christian teacher is wanting in attention to opportunities who
does not avail himself of this impression. The uncertainty of
life requires no proof. But the power and influence which this
consideration shall obtain over the decisions of the mind, will
depend greatly upon the circumstances under which it is pre-
sented to the imagination. Discourses upon the subject come
with tenfold force, when they are directed to a heart already
touched by some near, recent, and affecting example of human
mortality. I do not lament that funeral sermons are discon-
tinued amongst us. They generally contained so much of un-
seasonable, and oftentimes undeserved panegyric, that the hear-
ers came away from them, rather with remarks in their mouths
upon what was said of the deceased, than with any internal re-
flections upon the solemnity which they had left, or how nearly
it related to their own condition. But by decent allusions in
the stated course of our preaching to events of this sort, or by,
what is better, such a welltimed choice of our subject as may
lead our audience to make the allusion for themselves, it is pos-
sible, I think, to retain much of the good effect of funeral dis-
courses, without their adulation, and without exciting vain cu-
riosity.
If other occurrences have arisen within our neighbourhood,
which serve to exemplify the progress and fate of vice, the
solid advantages and ultimate success of virtue, the providen-
tial discovery of guilt or protection of innocence, the folly of
avarice, the disappointments of ambition, the vanity of worldly
schemes, the fallaciousness of human foresight ; in a word,
which may remind us, ‘what shadows we are, and what
shadows we pursue,” and thereby induce us to collect our
views and endeavours to one point, the attainment of final sal-
vation; such occurrences may be made to introduce topics of
55
434 LOCAL AND OCCASIONAL PREACHING,
serious and useful meditation. I have heard popular preach-
ers amongst the Methodists avail themselves of these occasions
with very powerful effect. It must be acknowledged that they
frequently transgress the limits of decorum and propriety, and
that these transgressions wound the modesty of a cultivated ear.
But the method itself is not to be blamed. Under the correc-
tion of a sounder judgment it might be rendered very benefi-
cial. Perhaps, as hath been already intimated, the safest way
is, not to refer to these incidents by any direct allusion, but
merely to discourse at the time upon subjects which are allied
to and connected with them.
The sum of what I have been recommending amounts to this ;
that we consider diligently the probable effects of our discourses,
upon the particular characters and dispositions of those who
are to hear them, but that we apply this consideration solely
to the choice of truths, by no means to the admission of false-
hood or insincerity; * secondly, that we endeavour to profit by
circumstances, that is, to assist, not the reasoning, but the effi-
cacy of our discourses, by an opportune and skilful use of the
service of the church, the season of the year, and of all such
occurrences and situations as are capable of receiving a reli-
gious turn, and such as, being yet recent in the memory of
our hearers, may dispose their minds for the admission and in-
fluence of salutary reflections.
My reverend brethren, I am sensible that the discourse with
which I have now detained you is not of that kind which is
usually delivered at a chancellor’s visitation. But since, by
the favor of that excellent prelate, who by me must long be
remembered with gratitude and affection, I hold another public
station in the diocese, I embrace the only opportunity afforded
me of submitting to you that species of counsel and exhorta-
tion, which, with more propriety perhaps, you would have re-
ceived from me in the character of your archdeacon, if the
functions of that office had remained entire.
* This distinction fixes the limits of exoteric doctrine, as far as any thing
called by that name is allowable to a christian teacher.
SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 435
CHARGE VIII.
SUNDAY SCHOOLs.
REveREND BRETHREN,
THE absence of your chancellor from the kingdom upon
a mission connected with the interests of learning and with
religious inquiry, and for this reason excused by his diocesan,
as I hope it will be thought excusable by you, has led me to
supply his place upon the present occasion.
I know of no late alteration in our ecclesiastical laws, or in
the state of the church, which requires to be noticed ; but I
think that there is a new and growing opinion, which, if it should
come to prevail in the public mind, would be injurious, not only
to the ends proposed by the establishment of a national church,
but to the general improvement of civilized life; and that
opinion is, that it is not for the advantage or safety of the state
that the children of the poor should receive any kind of educa-
tion, or be even taught to read. This opinion I have found by
experience to have been taken up of late, not as a pretence to
fence off from subscribing to Sunday or charity schools, not
merely as a doubt thrown out at random, but advanced politi-
cally as a grave proposition. Did I believe that there were
any just foundation for this opinion, I can only say that I should
lament it most extremely; because it is in the highest degree
both dishonorable to human reason, and disparaging to the
institutions of social life; it, in fact, insinuates that the bulk of
mankind can only be governed by the suppression and debase-
ment of their intellectual faculties; and it likewise insinuates
that the institutions of civil life rest for their support upon the
ignorance of the greatest part of those who live under them.
Both these opinions I believe to be false ; and yet they are
both implied in the doctrine of those who would alarm us with
the danger of instructing the poor. It has been said, that when
the poor are once taught to read, bad books may be put into
their hands; to which it might be sufficient to give the answer
which has often been given, namely, that not only liability,
but proneness to abuse, adheres to every faculty, to every at-
tainment, to every energy of our nature. But in the case
before us, a more particular answer may be returned to the
objection ; which is this. Let parents and masters be what
they will, they always wish to have their children and servants
good. I think that this admits of few exceptions; consequently
436 SUNDAY SCHOOLS.
the books which come into the hands of young persons, so long
as they are under the superintendence of others, will generally
be of a kind favorable to virtue; and these are the books which
influence the disposition, because this is the time of life when
deep and strong impressions are made.
In after life, bad books can always be met by good ones.
If we should concede to the adversaries of education the supe-
rior activity of those who circulate noxious writings to that of
those who wish to diffuse wholesome knowledge, or the avidity
and relish with which one sort are received more than the
other, the consequence would only be diversity of sentiment;
and this is agreeable to experience. When men read and
think, diversity of opinion ensues, more perhaps than might be
desired. Where men neither read nor reason, there is little
diversity of opinion at all. Now what I contend for, is, that
amidst diversity of opinion, though it be an evil, public authority
can support and maintain itself. The asgendancy which neces-
sarily belongs to it, added to the reasons which strike every
man in favor of order and tranquillity, will usually confer upon
it strength sufficient to meet the difficulties which arise from
diversity of sentiment. I have said that where the bulk of the
common people are kept in profound ignorance, there is seldom
much diversity of sentiment amongst them; whilst, therefore,
government continues in possession of this sentiment, all is well.
But how if this sentiment take an opposite direction ? how if it
set in against the order of things which is established It then
actuates the whole mass, and that mass moves with a force
which can hardly be encountered. This is the case of most
real danger, and this is a case most likely to arise where the
common people are in a state of the greatest ignorance. $.
It has been alleged as another objection, that any intellectual
attainment which others have not, though it were only the
being able to read, indisposes the person who is conscious of it
for bodily labor, for submission, for the offices which the poor
are required to perform. The answer is, that were there any
truth in the observation, of which I doubt extremely, it would
form an objection, not to the instruction of the poor, but to the
imperfectness and partiality with which that instruction is com-
municated. I should be glad to see the day when every child
in the kingdom was taught to read; and then, besides other
advantages, there would be an end of the pretence for this ob-
Jection.
I know not whether the opinion we are considering may not
have arisen from the extraordinary events which have taken
place in the age in which we live; but I am convinced that
SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 437
these events lead to a conclusion the very opposite of that
which is thus drawn from them. The transactions nearest to
us and the freshest in our memory, are those of our sister king-
dom. And what do they teach us? If ignorance could have
secured the quiet of a country, Ireland had remained at rest;
for in no country of Europe were the poor in a state of lower
degradation, or under a more complete absence of every spe-
cies of rational education. The friends of public order in that
kingdom bewailed this circumstance, both as the source of the
calamities which they endured, and as rendering the evil almost
impossible to be remedied. When the people were once de-
luded, the delusion was incurable; such was their ignorance,
that they were not only liable to be practised upon by the
grossest impositions, but there was no way of setting them right;
no approach could be made, no access could be gained to their
understanding; no argument could be addressed to them but
at the point of the bayonet. Let the case of Ireland, therefore,
stand for ever as a warning against the system of ignorance.
The convulsions in France did not arise from any care that
was taken to teach the poor. I believe that in no civilized
country, Ireland perhaps excepted, was the education of the
poor more neglected. The genius of the religion tended to
interdict reading and books to the common people, and the
ancient government did not counteract that tendency. We have
seen the consequence. A sentiment hostile to the established
government spread amongst the people, and that happened,
which we have already said will happen under like circum-
stances, when they did move, they moved in a mass. Here,
therefore, is a second instance against the system of ignorance.
The ignorant system has for ages been the principle of the
Turkish government; so much so, as till within a very few
years, to forbid the introduction into their dominions of the art
of printing. Yet the countries subject to that government have,
more than any others with which we are acquainted, been the
scenes of insurrection and disturbance. This, therefore, though
not properly a modern, is another and a third strong instance
against the system of ignorance.
I do not compare our country with foreign nations; but if
we may compare one part of the island with another, it is un-
derstood, I believe, that there is no part in which reading is
so universal as in Scotland; yet I never heard that any danger
arose from thence to government, or any loss of public indus-
try in the various branches of manufactures which are carried
on in that country.
Reading, also, is much more general in the northern than
438 SUNDAY SCHOOLS.
the southern parts of the island. Has any inconvenience been
from thence perceived, any disadvantage to the state, either
political, moral, or commercial P
From instances we pass on to authorities.
The government of Russia, though notoriously a despotic
and jealous government, has, in the hands, both of its present
and late sovereign, applied itself industriously to the erecting
of village schools, and to other methods of promoting, at least
as far as reading, the education of the very lowest order of its
subjects.
The present king of Prussia, as tenacious as his ancestors
of the prerogatives of his station, has nevertheless imitated his
neighbour, in supplying what he found and considered as a
defect, in this respect, in the economical institutions of the
country, and has formed various regulations and provisions for
that purpose.
The proprietors and planters of estates in the West Indies
have, by a resolution of their assembly in several of those
islands, lately established a fund for the procuring of clergymen
from England, for the purpose of instructing the children of
negroes.
The late General Washington, who appears to have bent his
mind to the subject of public education with peculiar attention,
made provision in his will both for the education of the poor
children of his neighbourhood, and the neighbourhood of his
estates, and also for the education of the young slaves until the
period of their legal manumission should arrive.
These are all so many concessions in favor of the expedi-
ency of educating the poor, and carry with them an answer to
those who imagine that they see in it danger to the stability of
government. The last two instances are particularly strong,
because if education was not deemed to disqualify children for
slavery, it cannot be inconsistent with any, even the most ser-
vile, station which subsists in a free country.
To conclude; if there be any weight in the reasons, or in
the instances, or in the authorities which have been alleged,
the inference is, that the new suspicions which have been con-
ceived of education, as it relates to the poor, are unjust,
unfounded, neither supported by argument nor verified by
experience.
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