Mir
 
 Ex Libris 
 C. K. OGDEN | 
 
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 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF 
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF ENTHUSIASM. 
 
 Ob >/ re'Xoc '/ ava 
 
 y i VETCH ynp crecci T-J;C e'fpye<oe. 
 
 LONDON . 
 HOLDSWORTH AND BALL. 
 
 MDCCC XXXII.
 
 II. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD-STREET-HILL, 
 CIIEAPSIDE.
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 ALTHOUGH the Author dedicates his pen to the ser- 
 vice of Religion, he would not seem (layman as he is) 
 to trench, either upon the season, or the office of 
 public instruction. But there remains open to him the 
 SATURDAY EVENING, which devout persons, whose 
 leisure permits them to do so, are accustomed to de- 
 vote to preparatory meditation. 
 
 The subject and spirit of some of the following pages 
 may perhaps convey the idea that the title of the 
 volume has a double significance, and is intended to 
 refer to the expectation, now so generally entertained 
 among Christians, that our own times are precursive 
 of the era of REST which has been promised to the 
 Church, and to the world. The Author does not deny 
 that an allusion of this sort has been present to his 
 mind; and he will grant, moreover, that his belief on 
 this head has at once furnished no small part of the 
 motive of his undertaking, and given direction, often, to 
 his thoughts. 
 
 1C 34
 
 C O N T E N T S. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. THE HOUR OF HOPE AND DIFFIDENCE. 
 
 " That day was the Preparation " . ... 1 
 
 II. THE EXPECTATION OF CHRISTIANS. 
 
 " And the Sabbath drew on " . . . . .. 13 
 
 III. THE COURAGE PECULIAR TO TIMES AND PLACES. 
 
 " I am not ashamed df the Gospel of Christ " . * 29 
 
 IV. LAXITY AND DECISION. 
 
 " That I may make manifest the mystery of Christ, as 45 
 I ought to speak " . . . . ., . 
 
 V. THE MEANS OF MERCY. 
 " The Gospel the Power of God to Salvation " . . 57 
 
 VI. THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. 
 
 " The world knoweth us not " . . . . .75
 
 Vl CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 VII. THE STATE OF SACRED SCIENCE. 
 
 " Thy Testimonies are my Meditation " . '.5* " A . 98 
 
 VIII. THE HIDDEN WORLD. 
 
 " The things that are unseen are eternal " . . .129 
 
 IX. THE STATE OF SECLUSION. 
 
 " The things that are seen are temporal" . . .138 
 
 X. THE LIMITS OF REVELATION. 
 
 " And we prophesy in part" ..... 153 
 
 XI. VASTNESS OF THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE. 
 
 " When I consider the heavens What is man ! " ; -. 168 
 
 XII. PIETY AND ENERGY. 
 
 " Add to your faith virtue " . . ., . . 200 
 
 XIII. THE LAST CONFLICT OF GREAT PRINCIPLES. 
 
 " The Son of man, when he cometh, shall he find faith 
 
 on the earth ?" . . -.- ' . . 220 
 
 XIV. LICENTIOUS RELIGIONISM. 
 
 " Add to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge tempe- 
 rance" . ; - ., , : . . . 232
 
 CONTENTS. Vll 
 
 XV. THE POWER OF REBUKE. 
 
 " If thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou 
 shalt be as my mouth ; and I will make thee unto 
 the people a defenced brazen wall " . . . 243 
 
 XVI. STRENGTH OF THE POWER OF REBUKE. 
 
 " Howbeit, in understanding, be men " . . . 2,50 
 
 XVII. THE RECLUSE. 
 
 " Add to Godliness, brotherly kindness " . ,. . 269 
 
 XVIII. THE MODERN ANCHORET. 
 
 " And to brotherly kindness charity " . . . 284 
 
 XIX. THE FAMILY AFFECTION OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 " Be kindly affectioned one to another, with brotherly 
 
 love" . . ,,. , % r A?*-^v v. v 294 
 
 XX. CHARITY AND CONSCIENCE. 
 
 " For meat destroy not the work of God " . .312 
 
 XXI. THE FEW NOBLE. 
 
 " Not many noble " * . . . . . 339 
 
 XXII. RUDIMENT OF CHRISTIAN MAGNANIMITY. 
 
 " Let him that glorieth, glory in the Lord " . . 357
 
 Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 XXIII. THE DISSOLUTION OF HUMAN NATURE. 
 
 " It is appointed to all men once to die" . . . 379 
 
 XXIV. THE STATE OF SOULS. 
 
 " They all live unto God " ... . . 394 
 
 XXV. THE THIRD HEAVENS. 
 
 " In thy presence is fulness of joy : at thy right hand 
 
 are pleasures for evermore " . :. . . 410 
 
 XXVI. THE PRECURSOR. 
 
 " Thou wilt shew me the path of life " . ' . . 433 
 
 XXVII. ENDLESS LIFE. 
 
 " Neither can they die any more " 444 
 
 XXVIII. THE PERPETUITY OF HUMAN NATURE. 
 
 " This mortal must put on immortality" . . 460 
 
 XXIX. UNISON OF THE HEAVENLY HIERARCHY. 
 
 " Christ the head of all principality and power" . 4~.>
 
 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 I. 
 
 THE HOUR OF HOPE AND DIFFIDENCE. 
 
 " THAT DAY WAS THE PREPARATION." 
 
 No position of the human mind is more pecu- 
 liar than the one it occupies when, at the same 
 moment, the reasons of hope are irrefragable, 
 and the motives for despondency are over- 
 whelming. It is indeed a circumstance of 
 common occurrence for a fond but ill- grounded 
 wish to be contending against the authority of 
 facts and truth, and striving to maintain its 
 place in contempt of all probability. So frequent 
 are these contests between our desires and our 
 sober sense, that a habit is generated, in all but 
 the most frigid minds, of thinking that a natural 
 antipathy exists between hope and reason. 
 A strange emotion belongs therefore to those 
 rare occasions when, although hope and reason 
 are seen to be consorted, neither can well be 
 listened to.
 
 2 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 Religious hopes, more often perhaps than any 
 other kind, have been liable to this sort of con- 
 flict ; and it has so happened because, while 
 religion presents the brightest and the most 
 extensive prospects, and possesses too the 
 firmest proofs the general and visible current 
 of human affairs sets in an opposite line, and 
 seems continually to be mocking every valid 
 and consolatory expectation. 
 
 More than a few signal instances might be 
 gathered from the pages of sacred history (an- 
 cient and modern) in which a belief that could 
 not be surrendered, because it rested on the 
 most solid ground, has been almost forcibly 
 expelled from the minds of the pious by the 
 contrary evidence of actual facts. And it has 
 usually happened that the stress of this contro- 
 versy between hope and fear, has fallen upon 
 the moment which immediately preceded the 
 triumph of the former. But again, this triumph 
 has very often been abated by the small resem- 
 blance which the happy reality, when it made 
 its appearance, bore to the expectation that had 
 been indulged concerning it. 
 
 The crisis of religious advancement the 
 very hour when a fading order of things has 
 become obsolete, and has given way to a 
 better the silent juncture of eras (o-uyreXem 
 Tvv aiwvojv) has usually, or perhaps in every 
 instance, combined these peculiar characteris- 
 tics, and has brought into collision hope and
 
 THE HOUR OF HOPE AND DIFFIDENCE. 3 
 
 dejection ; both to be succeeded by that 
 which hope could hardly recognize as its 
 archetype. 
 
 To name at once the most pertinent and 
 complete of all instances, we must fix upon 
 those dim hours of dismay to the scattered fol- 
 lowers of Christ, which immediately preceded 
 the bringing in of light and immortality for 
 mankind. The companions of the ministry of 
 Jesus knew far too much of his divine power 
 and majesty, to throw up their profession of 
 his Messiahship, even when it seemed utterly 
 irrational any longer to maintain it ; for their 
 Master, instead of scattering with a word the 
 mad hostility of his foes, had yielded had been 
 overcome had actually expired upon the tree of 
 ignominy. And yet these simple minds " slow 
 of heart," and unmindful of the plain forewarn- 
 ings they had received, and fraught with egre- 
 gious suppositions, knew far too little of the 
 economy of that kingdom of heaven of which 
 they were to be the ministers, fo put a true 
 interpretation upon the sad events they had 
 witnessed. Hope was overthrown ; and yet 
 could not be abandoned. The men of Galilee 
 had " trusted that this Jesus was he who should 
 have redeemed Israel." But how indulge this 
 belief, while he lay a mangled corpse in the 
 sepulchre? or how resign it, when his mighty 
 miracles and doctrine were fresh in their 
 recollection ? 
 
 B2
 
 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 That Sabbath was indeed a signal day; al- 
 / though all things shewed the same face as 
 heretofore in the thronged streets of the Holy 
 City, and in the courts of the Temple. But 
 among the worshippers upon the hill of Zion 
 there were not a few troubled hearts. Can we 
 imagine that the Rulers and the Rabbis were 
 content with their success, and quite at ease ? 
 Or did the Priest gaze without dismay upon 
 the torn veil, and upon the desecrated mysteries 
 of the Holiest ? This may not be thought : 
 the infatuation of crime dissolves, at the moment 
 when crime is perpetrated : and it is not impro- 
 bable that, in the mind of some, at least, a 
 ghasfly fear had already succeeded to the joy 
 of gratified revenge. And were there not multi- 
 tudes of the people who, though in favour and 
 affection more unstable than the sea, now re- 
 gretted that they had drawn upon themselves 
 the blood of one whom so lately they hailed 
 as the Son of David ? t 4 
 
 But in what spirit did John, and Peter, and 
 Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the other devout 
 companions of the Lord, attend the Temple wor- 
 ship on that Sabbath ? They joined in prayer 
 and praise like others ; but it was as with a 
 sword in the heart. And was it not a day of 
 doubt and alarm, or suspense, and of dread ex- 
 pectation, or of pallid, misgiving triumph, in the 
 unseen world, and among conflicting orders of 
 the spiritual economy ? On this ground we may
 
 THE HOUR OF HOPE AND DIFFIDENCE. 5 
 
 not admit surmises. But it was the day upon 
 which should hinge all former and all future 
 events in the history of man. It was the day in 
 which the Redemption of the world awaited its 
 consummation, and its proof. The sun of that 
 day went down in clouds ; but before it again 
 appeared, a Brighter Light than that of the sun 
 had arisen upon the nations ! 
 
 Instances less signal indeed, but bearing the 
 same character, might be chosen at several points 
 in the subsequent history of Christianity. As 
 when the rage of persecutors, Pagan, Mahome- 
 tan, or Popish, has so nearly effected the extinc- 
 tion of the Gospel, that nothing seemed more 
 likely, on the ground of natural probability, than 
 that the religion of which it was said that it was 
 to endure for ever, should almost immediately 
 cease to be spoken of among men. And yet, in 
 several ,of these hours of darkness, a new ex- 
 pansion of the Divine efficacy of the Gospel was 
 near at hand. 
 
 If, from the small number of instances which 
 the religious history of mankind presents, we 
 might at all gather a general rule, it would be 
 of this sort That the hour of Preparation for a 
 . better order of things is not a time of favour- 
 able appearances ; but the reverse ; and that 
 nevertheless, at such a time, human affairs 
 are actually tending towards the approaching 
 change. But shall it ever come within the 
 reach of the sagacity of man to discern, beneath
 
 6 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 the surface of events, the undeveloped initiatives 
 of good things to come ? Probably not. And yet, 
 if we look back to almost any of the instances to 
 which allusion has been made, we are rather 
 tempted to wonder that the men of those times 
 should not have anticipated the then bursting 
 revolution, than are disposed to think the ob- 
 scurity of their views inevitable. 
 
 We have, in fact, the highest authority for 
 attributing to a strange infatuation, the slack- 
 ness of the first disciples of Christ in discerning 
 the signs of that time of renovation. It is in- 
 deed amazing that, after having received, in the 
 most explicit terms, from their Master, a fore- 
 warning of his ignominious death, and a distinct 
 promise of his speedy resurrection, they should 
 at all have admitted (as it is plain they did) 
 despondency in regard to his Messiahship, when, 
 by the exact accomplishment, in all its prelimi- 
 nary circumstances, of his prediction, they re- 
 ceived a new and convincing proof of his divine 
 prescience ! It could not have been deemed a 
 blameworthy presumption, had they (instructed 
 as they were) exulted, though with tears, in 
 anticipation of his triumph over death and hell ; 
 and had even made the rocky garden of the 
 sepulchre to resound with songs. It was be- 
 cause they did not, in some such manner, 
 wisely meet the occasion, that they were up- 
 braided by their Lord, when again he appeared 
 among them.
 
 THE HOUR OF HOPE AND DIFFIDENCE. / 
 
 Or does it seem immensely to exceed the 
 compass of the human mind, if we imagine 
 that some at least of the helievers of the first, 
 second, and third centuries, even at the times 
 of the extremest depression of the Christian 
 name, had marked the evident symptoms of 
 decrepitude in the false worship of the Roman 
 world had calculated upon the natural conse- 
 quence of the universal scepticism of the higher 
 classes, and of the forced and hardly-sustained 
 fanaticism of the mass of the people ; and had 
 seen that the struggle of polytheism was an 
 expiring struggle ; and must ere long fail before 
 the Divine excellence and vigour of the doctrine 
 of Christ ? Because the immediate power of 
 God was engaged in the spread and triumph 
 of the Gospel, it is not less true that the efficacy 
 from on high took its course in the channel of 
 ordinary causes ; nor that, when the idols of 
 the empire were " cast to the moles and to the 
 bats," the event was, in an intelligible sense, 
 the consequence of the precursive movements 
 of the social system. And in these movements 
 there might have been discerned notwith- 
 standing all contrary appearances, the dawn of 
 the coming day. 
 
 The same, as every one must allow, is to be 
 said of the restoration of Christianity, in modern 
 times. An act of grace was it from above! 
 But not less the consequence of the anterior 
 condition of Christendom. The closing years
 
 8 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 of the sixteenth century were, in all senses 
 " a day of preparation," from end to end of 
 Europe ; as well in .the states that actually 
 received the least, as in those that received the 
 greatest benefits from the Reformation. And 
 there are, in fact, indications that the great 
 revolution was dimly anticipated by some who 
 lived not to see it achieved. 
 
 But in this, and other instances, it is to be 
 observed, that the actual preparatives were not 
 so much to be found on the side, or within the 
 circle of truth and piety ; as abroad; and on 
 the surface, and beneath it, of that wide field of 
 ruin that was to be the scene of renovation. 
 And at this point it is that human sagacity goes 
 astray. Our natural impulsion is, when happy 
 changes are contemplated, to look for some 
 promise of it to the quarters of light. Not there 
 are the true indications to be seen ; but rather 
 amid the thick gloom that is spread on all sides. 
 It is a stirring upon the face of the dark waters 
 that gives a prognostic of the breaking forth of 
 light, and life, and order. Does not the Divine 
 agent, as well in his acts of moral, as of material 
 creation, though he may take up some incon- 
 siderable existing element as the germ of what 
 is to come, yet produce that which none can 
 deem an expansion only of things that already 
 were in being ? 
 
 If partial or local improvements or reforms are 
 in question, we may safely refer to the probable
 
 THE HOUR OF HOPE AND DIFFIDENCE. 9 
 
 efficiency of existing and visible means. For in 
 the detail, God works by proximate causes. 
 Is it asked whether this or that particular circle 
 is to be renovated ? we look to the piety, and 
 energy, and devout fervour of any who may 
 be attempting to restore it. But on a larger 
 scale of things, human agency disappears. The 
 work, even though still effected by human in- 
 struments, belongs to another hand. The scheme 
 is here too immense, and too intricate, to be 
 devised and arranged by the understanding of 
 man ; and of such full-proportioned revolutions it 
 shall always be said " This is the Lord's doing ;" 
 to man belongs only devout amazement. 
 
 Is the conversion of all nations in question ? 
 We have then before us, first a practical, and 
 then a theoretic subject of inquiry. And in 
 reference to the former, no difficulty can be 
 started. The duty of every Christian to pro- 
 mote piety within his family and his neigh- 
 bourhood, is unquestioned ; and the most distant 
 missionary enterprise (if prudently undertaken 
 and conducted) is nothing else than an extension 
 of the charity which we severally owe to our 
 neighbour. A village of England, and a village 
 of India, are the same in the sight of Christian 
 zeal ; if it comes within our power to convey to 
 the inhabitants of either the knowledge of God 
 and his Gospel. 
 
 It is manifest that no opinions we may enter- 
 tain relative to the second, or theoretic question,
 
 10 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 concerning the conversion of the world, can 
 (properly) interfere, in the smallest degree, with 
 what we are called to do, personally, for the 
 conversion of those (far or near) who may 
 come within our circle of influence. Truly it 
 is a pitiable imbecility of mind that leads some 
 to withdraw from the field of evangelical labour, 
 because they surmise that the vast designs of 
 Heaven are soon to be accomplished in a man- 
 ner of its own choice. Shall not our own chil- 
 dren be taught to read, to praise, to pray, until 
 we know what is to be the fate of China and of 
 India ? But it is plain we might quite as rea- 
 sonably put to a stop the routine of domestic 
 instruction, on some such fantastic plea, as delay 
 or cease to send Bibles and teachers to the 
 children of China or of India, on the same 
 ground. To do so is indeed most miserably to 
 confound the practical with the theoretic the 
 certain with the doubtful. 
 
 A consideration of the theoretic question, con- 
 cerning the conversion of mankind, if rightly 
 interpreted, and wisely used, instead of tending 
 to enhance or to give colour to the indolent 
 delusions that are now abroad, would at once 
 greatly stimulate our zeal, and (which perhaps is 
 still more to be desired) would simplify every 
 motive ; free the heart from a too onerous soli- 
 citude ; render us more tranquil amid seeming 
 reverses ; and especially, lead us, with more 
 reverence, to wait upon God for the fulfilment
 
 THE HOUR OF HOPE AND DIFFIDENCE. 1 1 
 
 of liis promises. In the preparation, and 
 arrangement, and government of our evangelic 
 institutions, we have indeed too slenderly ad- 
 mitted the principles of human prudence ; while 
 in our expectations and surmises of what is to 
 be the issue of our endeavours, we have too 
 much gone on the ground of those secular 
 principles which in word we renounce. This 
 species of inconsistency besets the human mind 
 at every turn. 
 
 It may be who shall deny it ? that the zeal 
 which now animates a thousand bosoms, shall 
 ere long animate the bosoms of a million ; that 
 for every ten, who now devote themselves to the 
 service of the nations, there shall stand forth a 
 hundred ; that printing, and translation, and 
 teaching, shall fill, year after year, with rapid 
 increase, a wider circle. It may be, that the 
 Christians of this age, or the sons of the present 
 movers of missions, may become so devoted, 
 and so wise, and may so receive power from 
 above, as that obstacles and opposition shall 
 give way, and the field the field of the world, 
 be vanquished by their hands. Such may per- 
 haps be the order of the Divine compassion to 
 mankind. And assuredly we should act and 
 pray in hope of it. This is our circle ; here 
 is our part ; and whatever may be the issue, 
 faithful service, rendered on this ground, shall 
 not lose its reward. 
 
 But it is not in this direction we should look,
 
 .- 
 12 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 when we venture to inquire whether the present 
 era may be thought " a day of preparation," 
 precursive of the promised Sabbath of mankind. 
 A theme like this is far greater than that it 
 should connect itself with a catalogue of our 
 societies, or with the sum total of subscriptions, 
 or with the extent of our foreign labours : or, 
 in a word, with any circumstances that belong to 
 the present condition, or efforts, of the Christian 
 church. We are to look beyond the walls of 
 the sanctuary.
 
 II. 
 
 THE EXPECTATION OF CHRISTIANS. 
 
 " AND THE SABBATH DREW ON." 
 
 SHALL we then look for a moment to the 
 present religious condition of mankind? If it 
 were lawful so far to extend an apostolic axiom 
 as to apply it (beyond its proper scope) to the 
 actual state of polytheistic, mahometan, and 
 popish superstitions, in all quarters of the world, 
 the brightest hopes which Christians of late have 
 indulged, would be at once authenticated. 
 " That," says the writer of the epistle to the 
 Hebrews, " that which* has become antiquated 
 and decrepit with age, is nigh to its final disap- 
 pearance." 
 
 Nothing more remarkably distinguishes the 
 religious state of mankind in our own times, as 
 compared with any other eras, concerning which 
 history enables us at all to form an opinion, 
 than the air of DOTAGE which belongs, without 
 exception, to every one of the leading super- 
 stitions of the nations. There have been times 
 
 * To It iraXatovfievov KOI yripaffKov, eyyvg afyavitrpov.
 
 14 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 when, if some were on their wane, others were 
 in full vigour, or just starting forth from their 
 cradle with a giant strength. If we track the 
 course of time during the lapse of four-and- 
 twenty centuries, we shall find this to have been 
 the case in each period. In each there was, in 
 some quarter within the circle of historic light, 
 or its penumbra, one or more forms of religious 
 error which very firmly grasped the minds of 
 the nations that were its victims. 
 
 Although our knowledge of the human race is 
 now incomparably more extensive, and accurate, 
 than ever has been heretofore possessed, we can 
 descry, in no direction, a young and hale and 
 mantling religious delusion, such as threatens to 
 become invasive ; or which attracts the eyes of 
 mankind by the signal proofs it is giving of its 
 sway of the imagination and the turbulent pas- 
 sions of our nature. The contrary is the fact, 
 and it is so in every zone. It is conspicuous 
 that the demons are holding the reins of their 
 power with a tremulous hand. The spirit of 
 counsel and might has left them : the spirit of 
 adventure and bold imposture has also departed. 
 It seems as if there were neither courage nor 
 concert in the halls of aerial government. Not 
 only is every extant form of error ancient most 
 of them immemorially so ; but every form is 
 iyibecile, as well as old. Or if we would seek a 
 phrase that should at once describe the present 
 condition of false religion, universally, we find it
 
 THE EXPECTATION OF CHRISTIANS. 15 
 
 in the expression already quoted The errors 
 of mankind are now " antiquated, and in their 
 dotage." Dare we so far penetrate futurity as 
 to add " They are ready to vanish away ? " 
 
 A theme so copious as this, and one in con- 
 nexion with which a powerful impression on the 
 mind may readily and unconsciously operate to 
 mould facts to its own form, should perhaps 
 hardly find a place at all, where a page only can 
 he given to the subject. Nevertheless, its high 
 significance at the present moment must excuse 
 its introduction ; and if the writer exaggerates, 
 every reader, almost, has at hand the means of 
 reducing his statement to the dimensions of 
 truth. 
 
 But in taking this glance at the religion of 
 the nations, our special purpose must not be 
 lost sight of. We are not labouring to prove 
 that the human race, generally, is in a condition 
 which shall render our evangelic enterprises 
 easy and rapidly successful. This is a matter 
 we do not touch. Nor are we about to say that 
 some extraordinary revolution of the human 
 mind, in matters of religion, is now clearly 
 prognosticated, by certain visible symptoms of 
 change. This might perhaps be affirmed, and 
 made to appear probable ; but it is not our 
 purpose to affirm it. Our theme is simply 
 That if there be independent reasons for sur- 
 mising that a great and happy change, to be 
 brought about by unusual means, is not very
 
 16 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 distant then, the actual and unparalleled con- 
 dition of mankind, in matters of religion, is 
 worthy of profound attention ; and may well be 
 assumed as singularly corroborative of such an 
 expectation. In a word ; if it be conjectured 
 that now, at length, the Sabbath made for man 
 draws on, then does the aspect of the time we 
 live in, well suit the description of " a day of 
 preparation." 
 
 To the lowest stage of moral and civil ex- 
 istence in which man is anywhere found that, 
 for example, of the tribes of southern and central 
 Africa of the aborigines of Australia, and of 
 the rude occupants of the coasts of the Frozen 
 Sea; to the naked and wandering Troglodyte, 
 and the Ichthyophagus, find him where we may, 
 nothing properly historical belongs. Not only 
 have such races no records, and no tradition (or 
 none worthy of the name), but the whole of their 
 condition is the product of immediate physical 
 causes ; not of moral and political causes, 
 which, to be understood, must be followed up 
 through the ascent of time. An inheritance in 
 history is a rudiment of greatness, and of im- 
 provement too, of which such abjects are desti- 
 tute ; and if we must speak of the religion of 
 such tribes, nothing is to be named but the mere 
 germs of that instinct of Invisible Power which 
 neither misery nor vice can wrench from the 
 human breast. Nations of this lowest class are
 
 THE EXPECTATION OF CHRISTIANS. 17 
 
 always, and alike in every age, prepared for any 
 change of which their participation of moral 
 faculties may render them susceptible. And the 
 glory of the Gospel, in our day, is to have con- 
 ferred, even upon some such, the dignity of 
 virtue and immortal hope ! 
 
 The heroic savage who stalks through the 
 wilderness of America, and the pallid Mongul, 
 and the feverish Tartar, of central Asia, and 
 the luxurious islander of the Southern and Pa- 
 cific Ocean, are men upon whose visage, in 
 whose customs, and in whose belief, we read 
 the characters of a distant age : they all may 
 boast an ancestry, and they possess a memorial. 
 They are not the mere progeny of the desert, 
 born of oblivion, and destined to oblivion ; but 
 the descendants of MEN ; and the races they 
 belong to are the wrecks of primitive empires. 
 A personage of princely birth and education 
 has wandered far from his patrimony, has fallen 
 from his rank, has endured many degradations, 
 has forgotten his rights : nevertheless there is 
 an inalienable greatness about him ; and even 
 the trumpery of the ornaments he wears con- 
 tains proof of his noble lineage. Like every 
 thing else that distinguishes these fallen and 
 impoverished families, their religion is a RELIC. 
 And it is a relic, faded in colours, and decayed. 
 If the history of the subjugation of the empires 
 of Mexico and Peru, and if that of the Tartar con- 
 quests of the middle ages, and if the imperfect
 
 18 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 notices of the ancient Scythian nations, pre- 
 served by the Greek writers, may be taken as 
 affording the means of a comparison between 
 the present and the past religious condition of 
 those classes of the human family of which we 
 are speaking, it is quite manifest that the dim- 
 ness, and the incertitude, and the terrors of 
 extreme age have come upon all their supersti- 
 tions. The force of the fanaticism they once 
 engendered is spent. The demon is less the 
 object of terror, is less often and less largely 
 propitiated with blood ; the priest is less a 
 prince than he was, and more a mercenary. 
 Yes, and symptoms have appeared, even in this 
 class of incredulity and reason. No phrase 
 better describes these now fading errors, than 
 that already quoted they are all "superan- 
 nuated and decaying with age." 
 
 By civilization and industry, but not in mat- 
 ters of religion, the Chinese is entitled to take 
 rank above his northern neighbour, cousin, and 
 conqueror the Mongul. In truth it must 
 hardly be said that there is any thing of religion 
 in China, if we deduct, on the one hand, what is 
 purely an instrument of civil polity a pomp of 
 government ; and on the other, what is mere 
 domestic usage, or immemorial decoration of the 
 home economy. Ages have passed away since 
 mind, or feeling, or passion, animated the reli- 
 gion of China. The religion of China is now a 
 thing, not only as absurdly gay, but as dead at
 
 THE EXPECTATION OF CHRISTIANS. 19 
 
 heart, as an Egyptian mummy : it is fit only to 
 rest where it has lain two thousand years : 
 touch it shake it it crumbles to dust. Let 
 but the civil institutions of China be broken up, 
 and we might look about in vain for its religion. 
 But may not at least the dark and gorgeous 
 superstitions of India boast of undiminished 
 strength, as well as of venerable age ? Anti- 
 quated as they are, can we affirm that they 
 totter ? Less so, it may be granted, than any 
 other forms of false religion upon earth. They 
 were born for longevity ; they are the very 
 beings of the climate ; almost as proper to it 
 as its prodigious and venomous reptiles. But 
 can it be said of these illusions, firm as they 
 still seem, that they have not been placed in 
 jeopardy during the last fifty years, and espe- 
 cially of late? Is there not even now, in the 
 fanaticism of India, more of usage than of 
 passion ? And we well know that the very crisis 
 of a profound religious system, such as Hindoo- 
 ism such as Romanism, comes on, when the 
 enormities which once were cruel and sincere, 
 begin to be simply loathsome and. farcical. Be- 
 sides ; does not the strength of the religion of 
 India consist in the credit of the Braminical 
 order ? The beard of the Bramin is the secret of 
 its power ; but, like the locks of Samson, may it 
 not readily be lost? The credit of the Bramin 
 rests upon the unnatural partition of the people 
 by caste : and this partition is hastening to decay. 
 
 c 2
 
 20 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 If the question related to the probable facility 
 with which the Gospel, in our hands, would pre- 
 vail over the delusions of the Hindoo, it might 
 seem one of very difficult solution. But we ask 
 no more than this Whether the superstitions 
 of India, and of the adjacent countries, do not 
 (even admitting their actual hold of the peo- 
 ple) partake of that character of SUPERANNUATION 
 which now so remarkably belongs to every other 
 impiety and error in the world ? We scruple 
 not to assume the affirmative. 
 
 Those fanciful analogies which it has become 
 the fashion, abroad, to employ for the illus- 
 tration of the history of nations (much to the 
 hurt of all sound principles) are to be carefully 
 avoided. Or at least we should not build an 
 argument upon any such uncertain ground. 
 This caution premised, it must be confessed 
 that, in contemplating as a whole the history 
 of the two magnific superstitions which now 
 sway all the nations of the middle stage of 
 civilization embracing the south of Europe, 
 the south of Asia, the northern regions of Africa, 
 and South America, it is difficult (in regard to 
 both of them alike) to exclude from the mind 
 the resemblance which their history bears to the 
 course of human life, from the vigour of youth 
 to the decrepitude of age. Is it not as if the 
 many nations we have mentioned, were now in 
 tutelage, under the hand of a venerable pair 
 male and female, both equally stricken in years ;
 
 THE EXPECTATION OF CHRISTIANS. 21 
 
 and both equally petulant, jealous, rigid, and 
 effete ; and very likely to go to their sepulchres 
 in company ? 
 
 The grave and masculine superstition of the 
 Asiatic nations, which employed the hot blood 
 of its youth in conquering all the fairest regions 
 of the earth, spent its long and bright manhood 
 in the calm and worthy occupations of govern- 
 ment and intelligence. During four centuries, 
 the successors of Mahomet were the only men 
 the human race could at all boast of. In the 
 later season of its maturity, and through a long 
 course of time, the steadiness, the gravity, and 
 the immovable rigour, which often mark the 
 temper of man from the moment when his 
 activity declines, and until infirmity is confessed, 
 belonged to Islamism, both western and eastern. 
 And now, is it necessary to prove that every 
 symptom characteristic of the last stage of 
 human life, attaches to it ? Mahometan empire 
 is decrepit ; Mahometan faith is decrepit : and 
 both are so by confession of the parties. In 
 matters both civil and religious, those days are 
 come upon this superstition in which " The 
 sun, and the moon, and the stars, are darkened ; " 
 nor do " the clouds (of refreshment) return after 
 the rain. Andthe keepers of the house tremble ; 
 and the strong bow themselves ; and the grinders 
 (the powers of mechanic art and trade) cease, 
 because they are few. And they that look out 
 at the windows (the learned class) are darkened.
 
 22 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 And the doors are shut in the streets (by jea- 
 lousy and depopulation) and the wakefulness of 
 conscious danger is upon it ; and the daughters 
 of music (revelry) are brought low ; and fears 
 are in the way ; and desire faileth." 
 
 Is it indeed a gratuitous assumption, advanced 
 only to give completeness to an argument, when 
 we say That the religion of the Prophet is 
 now in its stage of extreme decrepitude ? 
 
 But in what terms are we fairly to describe the 
 present health and powers of the haggard Super- 
 stition of the West ? If the strength of immor- 
 tality indeed be in her, to what region has the 
 vital energy retired ? is it kindling about the 
 heart ? Is it within and around the pestilential 
 levels of the Tiber, that we are to find the 
 force, the concentration, the fervour, that should 
 belong to the centre of a living body ? Or may 
 we choose among the extremities? Is the Ca- 
 tholic faith otherwise than decrepit, as it exists 
 in the midst of the sceptical intelligence of the 
 north of Italy; or by the side of the mystical 
 unbelief of Germany ? Or shall we prefer the 
 mockery of France, to the debauchery of Spain, 
 and of Portugal, when we are thus in search 
 of the power and promise of popery ? But 
 perhaps Ireland is the asylum of the true and 
 indestructible religion ! Those who will console 
 themselves with such a supposition, shall not be 
 disturbed in their dreams ; and yet will we not 
 hold our conclusion in suspense That Popery,
 
 THE EXPECTATION OF CHRISTIANS. 23 
 
 like Mahometanism, and every other superstition 
 of mankind, is in its wane. Upon the Church 
 of Rome, most conspicuously, have come the 
 many loathsome infirmities that usually attend 
 the close of a dissolute life. She who once 
 lived deliciously, and courted kings to her 
 couch, is now spurned, and mocked, and hated, 
 in her wrinkles. Every ear into which she 
 would whisper an obsequious petition, is averted 
 from the steam of her corrupted breath ! 
 
 The Greek church should not be quite 
 omitted ; but if we affirmed that second child- 
 hood had come upon it, we should plainly err ; 
 for childishness has been its character, even from 
 its youth up. The offspring of a decrepit power, 
 it has known nothing, in its long life of fourteen 
 centuries but inanity ; has cared for nothing 
 but toys ! 
 
 The Protestant communities of northern 
 Europe are not to be spoken of summarily, 
 or in mass. Let them stand aside from our 
 survey. The course of affairs may probably, 
 at no distant time, decide upon their respective 
 merits, and shew which of them has lost, and 
 which retains, the Spirit of Life. 
 
 Three very distinct inferences might be drawn 
 from the remarkable fact (which will hardly be 
 disputed) of the now antiquated and infirm 
 state of every existing superstition. The first of 
 these might be termed the Atheistic inference ;
 
 24 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 the second, the Evangelic ; and the third, the 
 Prophetic. 
 
 There are those who, in looking abroad upon 
 mankind at the present moment, and in gather- 
 ing up the general result of all the facts to which, 
 hastily, we have alluded, would indulge the be- 
 lief that the instinct of religion in the human 
 mind is slowly wearing out ; that the habitude 
 of worship is being obliterated ; and that an age 
 or more to come shall see nation after nation 
 renouncing both the forms and the substance of 
 its regard to invisible power. Against such an 
 inference there lies the unbroken evidence of 
 experience in all ages, and all places: not to 
 say, the invincible proof of Christianity. 
 
 The second, or evangelic inference, from the 
 same facts, must be granted to be valid by every 
 Christian ; as well as, in the highest degree, 
 momentous. Although it will by no means 
 follow (facts prove the contrary) that because 
 the grasp of fanaticism is becoming less firm 
 upon the human heart than heretofore, therefore 
 men will now readily admit the better faith we 
 offer them ; nevertheless it is unquestionably 
 an enterprise of more promise, to assail the 
 nations in their hour of faintness and solution, 
 than at a time when magnificent and seductive 
 systems of worship were at their height of 
 energy and splendour. If probabilities drawn 
 from the state of the human mind are at all to 
 be looked to, should we not rather, for example,
 
 THE EXPECTATION OF CHRISTIANS. 25 
 
 carry a mission into the heart of Persia or 
 Turkey now, than in the age of Almamon, or 
 Almansor? Or should we not rather (personal 
 peril not considered) disseminate the word of 
 life in the Spanish republics of America in our 
 own times, than in the times of the zealous 
 Torquemada ? 
 
 In this sense, the present era may justly be 
 deemed the day of hope for the Gospel. No 
 such singular conjuncture of symptoms, through- 
 out the world, has ever before invited the acti- 
 vity and zeal of Christians. And if the pressure 
 of responsibility is at all times great upon them, 
 in this behalf, it has acquired now a treble 
 weight ; inasmuch as it seems as if the anta- 
 gonist powers were fast drawing off from the 
 field. Looking out to the long and many- 
 coloured array of ghostly domination, as it 
 stretches its lines across plains and hills, we 
 discern movement ; but it is the stir of re- 
 treat. Encampments are breaking up ; barriers 
 are trampled upon ; standards are furled ; the 
 clarion of dismay is sounded. This : this then 
 is the hour for the hosts of the Lord to snatch 
 their weapons, and be up ! 
 
 Ours then is " a day of preparation" in the 
 sense of missionary enterprise ; and on this 
 ground, notwithstanding all discouragements, it 
 may be hoped, not feebly, that " the Sabbath 
 draweth on." 
 
 But there is yet an inference distinct from the
 
 26 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 one we have named, which fairly may be drawn 
 from the present religious condition of mankind. 
 We term it a prophetic inference ; because its 
 validity rests altogether upon the ground of 
 those predictions scattered through the In- 
 spired Volume, which declare that true religion 
 shall at length be universal. This only being 
 assumed, we may attribute as much, or as little 
 value, as we think fit, to those special interpre- 
 tations which bring the lines of prophecy to 
 converge upon the present age. All such dis- 
 putable interpretations apart, it is impossible to 
 compare the general sense of prophetic Scripture, 
 with the movement the laxation of the human 
 mind, in all countries, without admitting a sen- 
 timent of awe and expectation. And this senti- 
 ment is rendered the more intense by the fact, 
 that the decrepitude of superstition has been 
 rapidly accelerated of late : the powers of its 
 life have sunk apace ; and mortal symptoms 
 have appeared in quick succession. 
 
 No sound mind would draw, from views like 
 these, definite surmises, which must almost cer- 
 tainly prove fallacious. But it does not follow 
 that we should not contemplate at large, that 
 which we may not scrutinize in detail. The 
 point of wisdom is to advance as far as it may ; 
 and there to stop. 
 
 And when sober conjecture has reached its 
 limit, let us turn the eye upon the Christian 
 body, and, with a much enhanced solicitude,
 
 THE EXPECTATION OF CHRISTIANS. 27 
 
 examine the soundness of its principles, its 
 temper, tendency, knowledge : in a word, its 
 state of preparation for that better day a day 
 of WORSHIP and of REST, which many reasons, 
 and many appearances, concur to indicate as 
 at hand. 
 
 Least of all should any (calling themselves 
 Christians) now feel, and speak, and act, as 
 if they abhorred advancement j or as if decay 
 and slumber were far less dreaded by them, than 
 change, even of the happiest sort.* 
 
 It were as rational to suppose that the sun, 
 and every planet of our system, might undergo 
 a vast change of form and constitution ; yet 
 leaving the earth unaffected and unaltered, as 
 it is to believe that a general and simultaneous 
 revolution in the religious state of all nations 
 could take place, which should produce no re- 
 flected and sympathetic influence upon existing 
 Christian communities. 
 
 Let the fond admirer of his own Church, 
 l whatever may be its pretensions, assure himself, 
 that the conversion of Asia, and Africa, and 
 Europe, and America, will so raise the tem- 
 perature spiritual and moral, of the world's 
 atmosphere, as must dissolve, to its very ele- 
 ments, every community now calling itself a 
 Church. All principles shall then invest them- 
 selves in new power, all notions of good and 
 
 KOI vavayiwv Tr\>;pot/rat
 
 28 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 evil be recast, all forms and constitutions be 
 new modelled. We shall indeed believe the 
 same things as now; but in another manner: 
 we shall practise the same virtues, but at a 
 different rate, with firmer motives, and under 
 the guidance of an extended exposition of every 
 precept. 
 
 Instead therefore of cherishing a blind attach- 
 ment to phrases, modes, usages, opinions, which 
 are separable from the substance of religion, 
 wise and docile spirits, though they may not 
 hope fully to anticipate, in imagination, the 
 changes that are to be effected, will at least 
 preserve with care a state of feeling, such as 
 shall prove the best preparative for joining in 
 with whatever may attend the expected " times 
 of refreshment."
 
 III. 
 
 THE COURAGE PECULIAR TO TIMES 
 AND PLACES. 
 
 " I AM NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST." 
 
 BY the believers of the first age it was under- 
 stood that the Gospel should, in the end, prevail 
 over all opposition ; and that all nations should 
 at length come and do homage to Christ. And 
 yet there were moments when the indulgence of 
 such a hope must have been difficult ; and when 
 any thing must have seemed probable rather 
 than the occurrence of those events which were 
 actually at the door. Justin Martyr, perhaps, 
 would have been scarcely less astounded than 
 Antoninus, if both had together been told that 
 two centuries only would see the religion of 
 Galilee the religion of Roman Emperors, and 
 of the Roman World ! 
 
 And let it be imagined that Justin, and the 
 faithful of his time, could have seen in vision 
 (and in its fair colours] the present firm esta- 
 blishment of the faith of Christ ; and could have 
 known that it should become the profession of 
 all highly-civilized nations, and be most honoured 
 in that country which was to take the lead in
 
 30 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 the world, by extent of power, by wealth, by 
 energy, liberty, and intelligence. In the midst 
 of such a revelation of the bright futurity, must 
 not the martyr have deemed it a whisper from 
 the False Spirit, had it been added, that, even 
 in the age and in the country of the greatest 
 triumph of the Gospel, there should be as much 
 room as at first, for the constancy of its cham- 
 pions, in maintaining their profession ; and that 
 they, like Paul, when he thought of opening his 
 ministry at Rome, should often have need to 
 animate their confidence by the declaration 
 " We are not ashamed of the religion of Christ?" 
 Christianity has very much ground to pass over, 
 and to conquer, before Christians may lay aside 
 their courage. And if what is most important in 
 their belief is to be spoken of, there is little 
 less necessity for such firmness of purpose now, 
 than in any age that can be named. 
 
 The false shame or timidity which may em- 
 barrass Christians when called upon to profess 
 the prime parts of their belief, will, it is evident, 
 attach in very different degrees to different per- 
 sons ; or to the same persons under different 
 \ circumstances, and in different places. It was 
 so among the apostles. If those passages of 
 the canonical epistles are compared, wherein the 
 writers profess the confidence they felt in the 
 goodness of their cause, no inequality whatever 
 can be detected in the degree of their persuasion, 
 severally, of the divine mission of their Master.
 
 COURAGE PECULIAR TO TIMES AND PLACES. 31 
 
 This is only what might be expected from those 
 who witnessed indubitable proofs daily of his 
 power and glory. Nevertheless, though the 
 tone of confidence be equable and undistinguish- 
 able (proceed whence it may) it has a specific 
 value in some instances, which does not belong 
 to it in others. And the reason of the difference 
 is obvious : 
 
 As for example. The disciple whom "Jesus 
 loved" (and we cannot doubt on account of a 
 kindred simplicity, purity, and elevation of tem- 
 per) occupied a sphere of meditative abstraction 
 which raised him above that level where faith is 
 most assaulted : in an emphatic sense, he lived 
 on high, and looked upon the things of earth, 
 as angels may look upon them. It is altogether 
 in harmony with this order of feeling that we 
 hear him calmly (and justly) and like a mes- 
 senger from heaven, challenging all truth for the 
 church ; and assigning all error to the world. 
 " We know that we are of God." 
 
 The confidence of Peter is as entire as that 
 of John ; but yet of a somewhat different cha- 
 racter. His native irresolution had merged in 
 stronger motives : yet his sympathy with doubt 
 or diffidence remained ; and his closer contact 
 with the common world led him to adapt him- 
 self more to the modes of thinking of mankind 
 at large. To the Jewish people, and to their 
 Rulers, he addresses reasons specifically proper 
 to the persons with whom he had to do ; and
 
 32 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 the stripes he received from the Sanhedrim were 
 the award of the pointed and unanswerable ar- 
 guments he had left to rankle in the consciences 
 of his judges. This sort of conviction, founded 
 on the common and intelligible ground of ex- 
 ternal evidence, shews itself even when he writes 
 to the faithful : " We have not followed cun- 
 ningly devised fables." And yet there is a pecu- 
 liar species of constancy of mind, for which we 
 must look to another of the apostles. 
 
 Who shall detect, either in the public speeches, 
 or private correspondence, of Paul, any indi- 
 cation of secret misgiving? Nothing more 
 distinguishes his manner, whether in courts of 
 justice, or among his friends, than the highest 
 degree of confidence and courage. It is one 
 and the same tone of decision, however modified 
 by the specific occasion, which we hear from 
 him at the tribunal of Roman governors in 
 the circle of Jewish Rabbis in the heart of a 
 frantic rabble, or among Stoics and Epicureans. 
 It is one and the same style of absolute convic- 
 tion, which belongs to all his epistles, whether 
 addressed to churches that fondly bowed to his 
 authority; or to those that factiously opposed 
 it; to his most intimate associates, or to the 
 Christian body at large. He is the same man, 
 in this respect, whether at large or in bonds ; 
 whether at the commencement of his apostolic 
 course, or expecting every day to seal it with 
 his blood. " Would to God that all who hear
 
 COURAGE PECULIAR TO TIMES AND PLACES. 33 
 
 me this day were altogether such as I am ! " 
 " I speak the words of truth and soberness." 
 " I know in whom I have believed." " I am 
 ready, not only to be bound, but to die for the 
 Lord Jesus." " Henceforth there is laid up for 
 me a crown of life." " We are always confident, 
 and willing to be absent from the body, that we 
 may be present with the Lord." 
 
 And if always fully assured of the certainty 
 of the message which he carried to the nations, 
 no peculiarity of circumstances could make 
 him diffident in proclaiming the most ob- 
 noxious parts of it. To some such circum- 
 stances Paul was alive far more sensibly than 
 Peter, James, or John could be. The Jewish 
 prejudice against a humiliated and suffering 
 Saviour, and a spiritual kingdom, having been 
 at length dispelled from the minds of the first 
 companions ' of Christ, nothing remained in 
 their native modes of thinking, which could 
 give peculiar force to the incredulity either of 
 their compatriots, or of the Gentile world. When 
 engaged in controversy with the former, the 
 argument was a serious one, on both sides ; and 
 it was an argument on the ground of principles 
 common to both parties namely, the divine 
 authority of the existing Scriptures. They 
 urged the testimony of the prophets, upon those 
 who reverenced the prophets. The Jew, how 
 corrupt soever in life or doctrine, was still a 
 religionist; he understood the terms of the 
 
 D
 
 34 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 Christian argument, was familiar with its modes 
 of reasoning, and especially he held no philoso- 
 phical notion which repudiated the supposition 
 of a miraculous attestation of religious doctrines. 
 This is a sort of contest which does not in the 
 most severe degree try the constancy of the 
 mind. Let but our antagonist be serious as 
 ourselves, and we need not care, though he be 
 infuriate. 
 
 And in another manner, even by their sim- 
 plicity and their want of erudition, the men of 
 Galilee were well-armed to encounter whatever 
 they might meet with abroad, in the polytheistic 
 world. Beside their miraculous powers, and the 
 Divine teaching they enjoyed, they carried forth 
 the great truths of the Natural and Moral attri- 
 butes of God, and the hope of immortality, and 
 the maxims of virtue, among nations whose 
 capital eiTors on all these points placed all 
 learned or barbarous, on one and the same level 
 in their view. To them the Athenian was as 
 the Scythian a worshipper " of stocks." Was 
 the difference between one idol and another, in 
 its fashion, a matter of any moment ? Not now 
 to speak specifically of the Christian teachers 
 the Jew of that age, by his conscious possession 
 of the most important truths, and by his want of 
 refinement, and taste, and philosophic sophisti- 
 cation, stood in the most favourable position for 
 looking down with just and undistinguishing 
 contempt upon all forms of idolatry. It is well
 
 COURAGE PECULIAR TO TIMES AND PLACES. 35 
 
 sometimes to be insensible of diversities which, 
 if discerned, are more likely to confuse our per- 
 ceptions of some essential difference, than to aid 
 our decision. To the devout Jew, one sculp- 
 tured folly was like another neither more nor 
 less offensive, on account of its workmanship. 
 What was the chisel of Phidias, what the pencil 
 of Apelles, to the man who had been taught to 
 adore the Living and True God ? Apollo was 
 as Dagon ; the temples of Greece, as the 
 pagodas of India. 
 
 We must not deny that the want of know- 
 ledge is a disparagement, lest we seem to take 
 part with the despotic advocates of ignorance. 
 Nevertheless it must be admitted that on special 
 occasions, when the most momentous truths have 
 to be manfully asserted in opposition to splendid 
 and erudite errors, there may be an advantage 
 in that sort of rude or blunt force which deprives 
 specious sophistry of all its power over the 
 imagination. Plain and insensitive vigour of mind 
 may perhaps trample heedlessly on some things 
 which deserved a measure of respect ; but it 
 takes the right course reaches an impregnable 
 position, and leaves a host of frivolous sophisms 
 in the rear powerless, though unrefuted. Thus 
 it was, in a still stronger sense, with the men of 
 Galilee ; for beside their national advantage, as 
 Jews, and the unblemished simplicity of their 
 understandings, .they knew and felt, far better 
 than did the doctors of the Sanhedrim, the
 
 36 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 infinite disparity of true and false religion. On 
 the banks of the Tiber, or of the Tigris, of the 
 Indus, or the Nile the Gospel of Christ was 
 always their glory ; and they saw nothing in the 
 world which, by comparison, could for a moment 
 make them ashamed of it. 
 
 There was somewhat more implied when 
 Paul, meditating a journey to Rome, declared 
 that " he was not ashamed" of the same doc- 
 trine. His possession of miraculous powers did 
 not nullify the natural influence of his original 
 habits of thinking, or of his education. The 
 human mind is so constituted as to admit freely 
 the play of independent and conflicting motives, 
 even if it obeys always the one motive that is 
 paramount. And high culture much increases 
 this susceptibility of the mind towards diverse or 
 contradictory impulses ; so that while the unin- 
 structed, when borne onward by a ruling prin- 
 ciple, forget all secondary considerations ; the 
 more intelligent, though not less steady and 
 consistent in action (perhaps more so), yet con- 
 tinue to hold converse with reasons they have 
 repudiated ; and to traverse again and again the 
 ground of their firmest convictions. The more 
 mind the more compass of motive. 
 
 And can we read the speeches recorded by 
 Luke, or the fourteen epistles of our canon, and 
 doubt whether Paul were open to the influence 
 of a world of things of which his colleagues were 
 quite insensible ? His general acquaintance with
 
 COURAGE PECULIAR TO TIMES AND PLACES. 37 
 
 human affairs, his familiarity with Greek litera- 
 ture and philosophy, his military habits, his 
 knowledge of the arts of sculpture and paint- 
 ing ; beside his native sensibility, and prompt 
 discernment of the nicer proprieties of time, 
 and place, and occasion, would altogether leave 
 him unconscious of hardly any of the emo- 
 tions that distinguish highly cultivated minds 
 probably of none. 
 
 A point of comparison, on this ground, be- 
 tween Paul and some of his countrymen, deserves 
 to be noted. It is well known that not a few of 
 the Hebrew nation, from the age of the Mace- 
 donian conquests, and during the course of the 
 four following centuries, ambitiously addicted 
 themselves to Grecian literature ; and in this 
 ambiguous course advanced as far towards a 
 treasonable admiration of polytheistic philoso- 
 phy, poetry, and art, as could well consist with 
 their professed attachment to the national faith. 
 Some went further than this limit. Scattered 
 indications of the incongruous mixtures of opi- 
 nion which thence resulted, are to be found in 
 some allusions of the New Testament in the 
 apocryphal books, and in the Rabbinical com- 
 mentaries. But evidence to the same purport, 
 and more at large, is presented in the writings of 
 the Jewish philosopher of Alexandria, and of the 
 Jewish courtier of Jerusalem. Philo and Jose- 
 phus show us, in their several modes, what a 
 Jew became when he would be more than a
 
 38 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 Jew ; or, in a word, what was the dfcpoftvcrTia of 
 the Hellenists. 
 
 But it is observable in all these instances, 
 whether full or scanty, that the superinduction 
 of Grecian modes of thinking upon the Hebrew 
 mind was, to the whole extent of it, a corrup- 
 tion of faith an abandonment, or an abatement 
 of the proper Jewish spirit ; Moses was disho- 
 noured, so far as Plato was admired. Philosophy 
 held a place furtively in the mind of the Rabbi, 
 and did him no service. In fact, no schooling 
 could make the Jew a Greek, either as sage, 
 rhetorician, or man of taste ; or only so far as it 
 made him a secret unbeliever, or an apostate. 
 Philo is but an Alexandrian Rabbi, and a barba- 
 rian philosopher. Josephus, little better than a 
 renegade. 
 
 Paul of Tarsus affords an instance of another 
 sort. He was as well read as Philo ; almost as 
 much conversant with active life as Josephus ; 
 he was a reader of the Greek drama, and a 
 great master of that mental management which 
 then was to be learned only within the circle 
 of Grecian dialectics and rhetoric. Nevertheless 
 he remains most completely national in his mode 
 of thinking, and his phraseology : it was at the 
 feet of Gamaliel that he sat, though he learned 
 lessons elsewhere. There is no alien spirit no 
 shrinking from Moses, no blending of things 
 incompatible, no affectation of doctrines more 
 enlarged and liberal, or more refined, than were
 
 COURAGE PECULIAR TO TIMES AND PLACES. 39 
 
 taught by the prophets, in the writings of Paul. 
 He is not now the Jew, now the Christian, now 
 the sophist ; but always both Jew and Christian ; 
 and as fully so as Peter, or as James. 
 
 Besides possessing more native ingenuousness 
 and vigour of mind than those of his country- 
 men to whom we have just referred, so that he 
 was free from the affectation and obsequiousness 
 that belong to them, St. Paul grasped, in a much 
 firmer manner than they, the vital principles 
 which were the glory of the Jewish people. 
 Even as a Jew, and still more as a Christian, 
 he was better qualified than they to estimate 
 justly the intrinsic value of Grecian philosophy 
 and refinement. He knew how to strike the 
 balance of merit between Plato, or Pindar, or 
 Menander, and David or Isaiah. He neither 
 repudiated the Grecian literature with a rude 
 fanatical arrogance, because it was at fault in 
 matters of religion ; nor laboured to deck him- 
 self in its flowers, at the cost of consistency : 
 but while he adhered, in spirit and letter in 
 form and substance, to that fashion of thought 
 and language which the divine oracles had set, 
 did not scruple to avail himself of whatever aid 
 might fairly be drawn from a foreign source. 
 
 Paul had seen nothing among the Greeks 
 which compelled him to be ashamed of the 
 prophets : and it may even be imagined that, 
 had he not embraced Christianity, his zeal and 
 intelligence, and his singular power of adapting
 
 40 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 himself to the notions and tastes of men of all" 
 classes, might have led him to plead the cause 
 of his national literature with the Greeks. His 
 eloquence, his ingenuity, and the intrinsic sound- 
 ness of his argument, might (it is not impro- 
 bable) have secured to him some signal success 
 in such an attempt ; or at least a blaze of 
 reputation. 
 
 And the attempt would have been a noble 
 one ; but the Lord had " set him apart " to a 
 task far more noble, far more perilous, and far 
 more mortifying. To preach " repentance and 
 forgiveness of sins" through faith in the pro- 
 pitiatory death of Jesus ; and to preach this 
 doctrine in the Grecian cities, and among the 
 schools of learning, this was the part assigned 
 to Paul. And in discharging it, he must have 
 felt, in all its force, the contempt that covered 
 him as the promulgator of such a dogma : he 
 felt this obloquy as his colleagues could not. 
 Not only in the single instance recorded by his 
 biographer, but no doubt often in his circuit 
 through Greece, and its colonies, he stood sur- 
 rounded by the sarcastic curiosity of Stoics, 
 Epicureans, and Academicians. He knew, on 
 such occasions, in what spirit he was listened 
 to, as a busy and babbling zealot of the Jewish 
 superstition. He could penetrate nay, he 
 could feel a sympathy with the erudite scorn 
 of his auditors : he understood the sentiment 
 with which men of high culture give ear, for a
 
 COURAGE PECULIAR TO TIMES AND PLACES. 41 
 
 moment, to a tale of wonder which they have 
 condemned as absurd, before it is commenced. 
 In the oblique glance of the half-closed eye, in 
 the sneer that played on the lip, he read the 
 mind and the malice of every sophist. He could 
 mentally change positions with his auditors, and 
 at the moment while uttering the " strange 
 things" of the Gospel, could feel as they felt 
 the harsh and abhorrent character, both of the 
 principles, and of the facts, which he had to an- 
 nounce Jesus, the Galilean teacher crucified 
 raised to life constituted Lord and Judge of 
 men, and now giving repentance for remission of 
 sins. This was his burden, at Antioch, at Ephesus, 
 at Nicopolis, at Corinth, and at Athens ! 
 
 And yet there awaited him, what perhaps 
 must be deemed even a still more severe trial 
 of his constancy : for he bore a commission to 
 preach the Gospel at " Rome also." A man 
 of cultured mind, whatever special disadvantage 
 he may happen to labour under, nevertheless 
 feels that, among men of his own order, he can 
 occupy a common ground, on which to gain the 
 respect, if not the assent, of his hearers. On 
 that ground he may be sure to put flippant scorn 
 to the blush. There is a sympathy among men 
 addicted to intellectual pursuits, of which any 
 one who is truly entitled to do so, may power- 
 fully avail himself. But no such advantage can 
 be looked for within the circle where wealth and 
 sumptuous splendour are in far higher esteem
 
 42 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 than learning or philosophy ; and where the 
 arrogance of military and civil rule crush every 
 pretension that might dispute honour with their 
 own. The proud and luxurious metropolis of 
 universal empire was the place where, most of 
 all, a man of intelligence would feel his im- 
 mense disadvantage, in having to broach a 
 doctrine such as Christianity must have seemed 
 at Rome in the age of Nero. 
 
 And yet not at Rome, any more than at 
 Athens, was Paul ashamed of the Gospel of 
 Christ. On the contrary, he " spoke the word 
 with all boldness," even " in the palace : " and 
 the fruits of his constancy were shown to the 
 world in that black night, when the imperial 
 gardens blazed with the torments of a crowd of 
 the adherents of the Gospel : the first-fruits 
 of martyrdom, offered to the gods by a fit 
 minister of such divinities ; and an earnest of 
 the unsparing oblations with which Rome 
 pagan and popish, should, through a long course 
 of ages, propitiate infernal powers ! 
 
 But what relation does this comparison be- 
 tween the constancy of Paul and that of his 
 colleagues bear to the position, or the conduct 
 of Christians in our own age and country ? 
 We think one that is significant, and in some 
 sense exact. 
 
 At certain eras the purity and lustre of the 
 evangelic doctrine the glorious truth of remis- 
 sion of sins through faith in Christ, has been
 
 COURAGE PECULIAR TO TIMES AND PLACES. 43 
 
 in the hands, almost exclusively, of men of the 
 simplest order ; of men who, in mental qua- 
 lities, and in want of culture, and in rude in- 
 genuousness of spirit, might not improperly be 
 deemed the very successors and representatives 
 of the Galilean teachers. To such the world 
 was the WORLD whether erudite or barbarous ; 
 and the full confidence they felt in the good- 
 ness and divine reality of their cause, was never 
 troubled by a misgiving recollection, that all the 
 intelligence, and refinement, and knowledge of 
 mankind, stood in array against them. Such 
 men, though they reached their conclusion as if 
 by a leap over the ground, nevertheless came to 
 a just conclusion, That, the wisdom of the world, 
 when opposed to the doctrine of Christ, is essen- 
 tial folly. They were not ashamed of this 
 doctrine therefore, even when philosophy, and 
 elegance, and titles and honours, were combined 
 against it. 
 
 Although there may be found among us now 
 (in corners) persons of this same class (ingenu- 
 ous, illiterate, and fervent) whose courage in 
 matters of religion costs them no extraordinary 
 effort ; the great body of Christians, in our age 
 and country, would be very improperly described 
 in any such terms ; for they have neither the 
 same merits, nor the same defects. The reli- 
 gious classes have admitted and imbibed just 
 that degree of general intelligence, which, by 
 laying them open to all influences, puts to the
 
 44 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 severest proof the integrity and simplicity of 
 their spirit, as messengers of the mercy of God 
 to mankind. We say just that degree of intel- 
 ligence. For it must not be affirmed (after a 
 very few instances are excepted) that the ac- 
 complishments and mental power of the reli- 
 gious body, or of its leaders, are so fairly on a 
 par with the learning and science of the times, 
 as to leave no room for the consciousness of 
 inferiority. 
 
 It is not with us now, as it was in the age of 
 the Reformation, when the champions of the 
 Gospel were men of gigantic understanding, and 
 of unrivalled attainments; men who had no 
 competitors or rivals to fear, in any walk of 
 learning; men who ruled the philosophy, as 
 well as the religion, of their times. Nor is it as 
 it was in the age of Jerom, and Augustine, and 
 Ambrose, and Gregory, and Chrysostom, when 
 the Church moved foremost on all grounds of 
 honour and merit ; and when pagan philosophy 
 had scarcely a laurel left on its brow. 
 
 We stand midway between the advantageous 
 post of rude ingenuous fervour, and that of real 
 or unrivalled eminence in matters of science 
 and learning. But a middle position is one of 
 jeopardy, incertitude, timidity. By all the 
 amount of our actual intelligence, we feel the 
 offence of the Cross ; and yet our intelligence 
 reaches not the point which should set us free 
 from anxiety in maintaining our profession.
 
 IV. 
 LAXITY AND DECISION. 
 
 THAT I MAY MAKE MANIFEST THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST, 
 AS I OUGHT TO SPEAK." 
 
 NOTHING would be more calumnious than to 
 say that the principal articles of Christian belief 
 are not now (and in very many quarters) 
 clearly, ably, and faithfully announced. There 
 is no room for any such allegation or complaint. 
 On the contrary, in a multitude of instances, 
 how much soever we may be perplexed by the 
 paucity of the fruits, we should be quite unable 
 to assign any considerable defect as the probable 
 cause of the want of greater success. 
 
 This being fully granted, there should be 
 noted (and the juniors of the clerical order 
 should especially observe it) a cause of abate- 
 ment which, in a greater or less degree, very 
 sensibly produces its effect within the circle of 
 what is termed evangelical ministrations. It is 
 the reflected influence of that middle rate of 
 intelligence to which allusion has already been 
 made. The Preacher of our day has advanced
 
 46 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 several steps beyond the position of his prede- 
 cessor ; and his hearers have advanced also. 
 They laudably wish for diversified instructions; 
 and he naturally desires to meet and satisfy this 
 wish. While therefore he adheres with care to 
 the accredited system of Christian truth ; and 
 always speaks of the chief points of divinity as 
 chief, and of the subordinate as subordinate, and 
 is " in doctrine uncorrupt;" while all this may 
 be said, and every ground of just exception 
 seems to be excluded, the actual result shall 
 we say the gross amount of his public labours, 
 gives the proportion of not more than one to 
 ten, to the prime truth of the Scriptures. The 
 glory of Christ, as Saviour of men, which should 
 be always as the sun in the heavens, shines only 
 with an astral lustre ; or as one light among 
 others. This is a natural, though indirect, con- 
 sequence of the intellectual progress which the 
 religious community has made. 
 
 The mode of preaching that has been affect- 
 edly termed the intellectual, will hardly be 
 made to consist with a bold, simple, and cordial 
 proclamation of the message of mercy. Its 
 intention is not the same ; its means are not the 
 same : and the fruit of it will be obtuse indif- 
 ference in relation to the most affecting objects 
 of Christian faith. The tendency, at the present 
 moment, towards intelligent frigidity is a grave 
 matter, and one especially which should lead to 
 a consideration of our several systems of clerical
 
 LAXITY AND DECISION. 4? 
 
 initiation. The cause of so great a practical 
 error should be known, if it be true, that num- 
 bers of those who come forth upon the church 
 as candidates for the Christian ministry, are 
 fraught with all qualifications, and all acquire- 
 ments rather than fervour and simplicity in 
 proclaiming the glad tidings of life. 
 
 There should here be mentioned an unhappy 
 consequence that has flowed from the natural 
 but very ill-judged ambition of young and aspir- 
 ing preachers to follow the train of thought, and 
 to imitate the style, of certain eminent religious 
 writers. Now besides that imitation is a dispa- 
 ragement, and a degradation, in a Christian 
 minister, especially if it springs from a motive 
 of vanity ; is it not evident that the pulpit and 
 the press ought to fill different spheres 1 The 
 writer forfeits his proper advantage if he does 
 nothing more than preach in print : and the 
 preacher forgets all that is serious and momen- 
 tous in his office, when he utters from the pulpit, 
 that which, to produce its due effect, must be 
 spread before the eye, and which therefore, when 
 listened to, will not move the conscience. A 
 religious writer may very properly (nay he ought 
 to do so) select subjects, and pursue a line of 
 thought, and employ a style, all of which are 
 unsuited to the ears of a promiscuous assembly. 
 Well would it be if, on the one hand, our writers 
 would always set themselves a task more specific, 
 and more difficult too, than that of printing
 
 48 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 pulpit exercises ; and on the other, if our 
 preachers would cherish an ambition far more be- 
 coming to them, and more truly noble, than that 
 of being esteemed masters of an elaborate style. 
 Do we then make void the utility of mental 
 acquirements and intellectual power in the 
 preacher of the Gospel ? Nay rather, we esta- 
 blish the necessity of both. The advancement 
 of the people generally, in knowledge, demands 
 that their teachers should move on at least at 
 an equal rate. But danger danger to the 
 simplicity of the spirit, springs from that meager- 
 ness of attainment, and that slenderness in the 
 mode of thinking, which lead the mind to 
 employ itself on secondary matters, and which 
 especially compel it to spread out scanty mate- 
 rials over as broad a surface as possible. There is 
 a natural process in the world of mind of which 
 men, whose engagements are intellectual, should 
 always be aware. The initial part of this process 
 consists in the expansion we might say, the 
 scattering of the faculties over a wide field, while 
 new ideas, from a thousand sources, are daily 
 coming in. The after-part, which is properly 
 the maturing of the mind, is, in its method, the 
 reverse of the first : it is the process of con- 
 centration, of condensation : it is the bringing 
 of all materials, and of all faculties, to a point, 
 upon that one principal matter which has been 
 already chosen as the worthy object of the man's 
 most energetic devotion. In this finishing of a
 
 LAXITY AND DECISION. 49 
 
 man for his work, it may seem as if the mental 
 dimensions he had just reached were contract- 
 ing ; as if he were drawing back from the 
 ground he had occupied ; as if he were resign- 
 ing what yesterday he eagerly grasped. But it 
 is not so. The spirit is only gathering itself up 
 to act. 
 
 Now if this process be arrested just at the 
 juncture of the initial and the conclusive part, 
 the consequence is a loss of the special advan- 
 tage of rude and simple fervour, and native 
 force, without the compensation which more 
 progress would have secured. If the young 
 preacher steps into the pulpit at the very 
 moment when all the blooming petals of the 
 mind have spread themselves out to the utmost, 
 to greet light and air, and if the scorching beams 
 of public life wither the blossom, the germ falls 
 to the ground. 
 
 No man of mature understanding, who has 
 seriously fixed himself in the great purpose of 
 devoting all the force he possesses to the work 
 of the Gospel, will think that any kind of know- 
 ledge he may have acquired, or any species of 
 mental labour to which he may have become 
 familiar, is absolutely unavailable for promoting 
 his design. There is nothing extrinsic or foreign 
 in literature, or science, there is nothing difficult 
 or profound in the region of abstruse philosophy, 
 there is no habit of meditation or of abstraction, 
 which he will look upon as worthless, in relation 
 
 E
 
 50 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 to the arduous and all-comprehensive work of 
 leading the spirits of men into the path of truth. 
 But then there are none of these acquirements, 
 none of these practised faculties, that he will for 
 a moment regard in any other light, than as a 
 means to the end which his soul has embraced. 
 To give honour to the Saviour of the world, and 
 to lead to the arms of Mercy the lost, is the 
 work he has put his hand to ; and he can please 
 himself in nothing, but success in this great 
 endeavour. 
 
 We are not then afraid lest the Gospel should 
 be spoiled by learning and intelligence ; but we 
 desire that both should be concentrated upon, 
 and devoted to the one worthy enterprise which 
 the Christian Ministry has in view. 
 
 It may seem to some persons that, if a ques- 
 tion is entertained relative to the supposed 
 abatement, at the present moment, of the evan- 
 gelic function, a prominent place ought to be 
 given to the influence open or concealed, of 
 the heresy which directly oppugns the doctrines 
 of the Gospel. This would have been proper 
 forty years ago : but not now. There was in- 
 deed a time (not yet forgotten) of faintness in 
 the evangelical bodies : there was a time when 
 a heavy mist, charged with death, hung over 
 many quarters of the Christian world ; when 
 not a few whose lips still uttered " right things," 
 were shaken in soul ; or had quite lost all inward 
 sense and feeling of the truth. But this season
 
 LAXITY AND DECISION. 51 
 
 has passed away : the victims of the infection 
 have either fallen from their places, or been 
 restored to life. And if it were asked how far 
 the Socinian error now checks the promulgation 
 and progress of the Gospel, it would be impos- 
 sible to make so small a matter palpable in our 
 reply. To affirm that the great principles of 
 Religion are at present endangered by the feeble 
 and expiring remains of Socinianism, were much 
 the same as to say that the throne and con- 
 stitution of Britain are in jeopardy by the lurking 
 attachment of the people to the house of Stuart ! 
 Socinianism no more makes us afraid for our 
 religion, than Jacobitism does for our liberties. 
 
 The contrary is the fact. We are strength- 
 ened by the puny heresy that yet gasps, here 
 and there, about us. The modern history the 
 fate, and the present actual condition of the 
 doctrine, absurdly called Unitarianism, is quite 
 enough to convince any man of sense that the 
 sceptical argument is a mere sophism, even if 
 he knew nothing of the merits of the question. 
 And this edifying history, and spectacle, does in 
 fact produce a proper effect upon the minds of 
 men, and does actually seal the theological 
 argument, as it ought. Is Unitarianism Chris- 
 tianity ? Read the story of its rise in modern 
 times, of its progress, and decay, and look at 
 the meager phantom as now it haunts the dry 
 places it has retired to ! is this pitiful shadow 
 Christianity ? 
 
 E 2
 
 52 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 It might be well if certain valiant persons 
 among us could find more profitable employ- 
 ment than that of hunting a spectre ! 
 
 Our dangers are of another sort. The long- 
 continued tranquillity which, notwithstanding 
 the rage of war and anarchy around us, the 
 British Islands have enjoyed; and the exemption 
 of all parties from the fact or the fear of per- 
 secution, and the peculiar temper also, which 
 belongs to highly-stimulated commercial habits, 
 have together produced upon our Christian cha- 
 racter a settled indisposition to give way to deep 
 or powerful emotions of any kind. We are 
 indeed fond of excitement ; but in the same 
 degree are afraid of agitation. The strong 
 workings of the prime emotions of the soul 
 we greatly dread. If we feel more than may 
 just serve to give animation to a public assembly, 
 we know not whither we shall be carried. If 
 we were to allow ourselves to fall back upon 
 serious convictions, we might be led so to act 
 and speak as would break in upon the con- 
 ventional serenity of the circle in which we 
 move. The surface of the waters may be 
 rippled ; but it must not be tossed with winds 
 and waves! 
 
 A different order of things around us would 
 presently bring into play the powerful and irresis- 
 tible elements of the moral life. Events may be 
 imagined which would mar our levity disturb 
 our complacency, and break up the polished
 
 LAXITY AND DECISION. 53 
 
 surface which reflects our ease. Events may 
 easily be thought of which would lead us home 
 to the first principles of the Gospel, and quite 
 sicken our taste of every thing but those prin- 
 ciples. Private troubles and common griefs, 
 how heavy soever, by no means affect us in the 
 same way, or to the same extent, as public 
 calamities. The imagination is much concerned 
 in the effect which the idea of danger or suffer- 
 ing produces on the mind; and so it is that, 
 although the cloud that rests over our single 
 habitation may actually be more dense than the 
 gloom which covers all the skies (hiding hope 
 and peace from nations) yet it is this general 
 gloom, more than the partial storm, that avails 
 to dispel the frivolity of the human spirit, and 
 teaches a solemn fear of the Divine Displeasure. 
 And it is under such an impression that the 
 Gospel will assume its just dimensions in our 
 sight. How soon may the glad tidings of mercy 
 be listened to with a new and genuine joy, amid 
 the loud peals of some wide-spreading judgment! 
 For the possible occurrence of such a season of 
 profound and powerful emotions, all Christians 
 should prepare themselves. Apart from any 
 actual indications of its approach (and which the 
 forbearance of God may yet turn aside) it would 
 not seem highly improbable, if we look to what 
 has been the ordinary series of events in the 
 history of Christian nations, that the inert ele- 
 ments of piety among us are ere long to be set
 
 54 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 at work in a more powerful manner than here- 
 tofore, not merely by an extraordinary effusion 
 of the Spirit of Grace, but by the operation of 
 unusual external causes. If there be a dispo- 
 sition in some minds to catch at every portentous 
 circumstance, and to make it the ground of an 
 appalling prediction, there is also a disposition 
 in others to close the ear against those precursive 
 murmurs of the anger of Heaven which ordina- 
 rily give notice of the approach of its judgments. 
 A caution should be entertained, as well against 
 the levity of the one party, as against the super- 
 stition of the other. Meanwhile it is a plain 
 and simple matter that, whatever measures we 
 should deem imperatively necessary if certainly 
 forewarned of impending calamities, are not 
 the less proper, because our actual forewarning 
 amounts only to the appearance of an ominous 
 concurrence of events. 
 
 Who will deny that, at this moment, there 
 is signally needed some extraordinary effort on 
 behalf of the outcast thousands of the people, 
 whom we have culpably suffered to grow 
 up in the heart of our Christian land, more 
 profligate and more perverted than Hindoos ? 
 The exigency of the time calls for a disregard 
 of every puny scruple, of every jealousy, of all 
 eccclesiastical reluctances, and of all sinister 
 views. The dense masses of our atheistic and 
 much-degraded as well as miserable population, 
 should be assailed and courageously entered,
 
 LAXITY AND DECISION. 55 
 
 by men thinking of nothing but how they may 
 turn the impenitent from the error of his way. 
 If ever it be wise and manly to sacrifice the less 
 to the greater, would it not now be wise and 
 christian-like to break through ordinary and 
 petty obstacles, and to contemn frigid calcula- 
 tions ; rather than that two, or more, millions of 
 the people should longer be left as they are 
 utterly destitute of religious knowledge, and of 
 every hope ? If certain personages are reluctant 
 to assign this work of popular evangelization to 
 the alleged indiscreet zeal of sectarists the path 
 is open to themselves : the crowded streets of 
 our great towns are not barred : and how noble 
 a spectacle would it be, to see men of the 
 highest order the SUCCESSORS OF THE APOSTLES, 
 supported by their colleagues of all ranks, 
 mingling kindly with the people, and inviting 
 the wretched to accept the consolations of the 
 Gospel ! Are precedents wanted to justify so 
 extraordinary a course ? Let then our protes- 
 tant church look to the church of Rome ; and 
 single instances, at least, will be found of epis- 
 copal zeal not less magnanimously irregular. 
 Alas ! the church of Rome may boast examples 
 of apostolic greatness and intrepidity, which 
 protestant churches have failed to imitate. 
 
 If there seem to be irony in such a propo- 
 sition whence does that irony draw its force ? 
 Assuredly no derision would have been sus- 
 pected if, in some hour of public fear, it had
 
 56 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 been asked of Cyprian, of Gregory, of Athana- 
 sius, of Hilary, of Ambrose, of Augustine., to set 
 a necessary example of evangelic charity, in 
 publishing abroad the hope of salvation, when, 
 to multitudes, that hope must instantly be re- 
 ceived, or not at all. Is it true then, that it 
 sounds like the most preposterous of all possible 
 suppositions to imagine a mode of proceeding in 
 our times, such as Cyprian, and Gregory, and 
 Athanasius, and Hilary, and Ambrose, and 
 Augustine, would certainly have adopted, under 
 similar circumstances ? Sad inference, if this 
 be the fact ! 
 
 But it is not warrantable absolutely to con- 
 clude that the line of conduct demanded by 
 extraordinary events, will not be adopted when 
 a vivid conviction shall be felt that such a 
 season is actually approaching. Nay, there is 
 reason to believe, that although much inertness 
 may have fallen upon all religious bodies, as the 
 consequence of long-continued repose, it will be 
 shaken off when that repose is effectively dis- 
 turbed ; and that whatever is worthy of Chris- 
 tians, and of men high in rank, shall indeed be 
 attempted, and performed, in the hour of trial.
 
 V. 
 THE MEANS OF MERCY. 
 
 THE GOSPEL THE POWER OF GOD TO SALVATION.' 
 
 To what extent the sacrifice once offered for 
 the sins of mankind has actually taken effect, 
 we neither know, nor have the means, in any 
 degree, of surmising. The world of spirits is 
 veiled. The inspired writers are silent ; and 
 theological rigidity, together with bold conjec- 
 ture, should be checked, on such a theme. 
 Meanwhile it is certain as certain as the Gos- 
 pel, that the mercy of God has had no other 
 channel ; and that to each of us, severally, there 
 is a hope in Christ ; and no other hope. 
 
 Nothing is more desirable than that each one 
 should bring this most important of all truths 
 very distinctly before the mind. This may 
 actually be done by a process that is not elabo- 
 rate, or difficult. Is there a human memory 
 that bears inscribed upon it no one act of 
 deliberate transgression of the plain and unques- 
 tioned maxims of virtue ? If there be, we will 
 exclude the immaculate instance from our pre- 
 sent consideration ; and will turn to those whose
 
 58 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 consciences forbid them to advance any such 
 pretension ; and ask them to single out, from 
 the entire course of their personal history, that 
 one occasion of flagrant misconduct which (by 
 right of its enormity) first starts to view, when 
 an inquiry of this sort is made. We speak of a 
 signal offence ; not because the most trivial sin 
 would not really, as well as the most grave, bear 
 the stress of our argument; but because the 
 mind, from the indistinctness of its perceptions, 
 does not act decisively, or promptly, unless it is 
 handling an object of some magnitude. And 
 now, having before us this one definite affair 
 this unpropitious transaction, in which we were 
 the chief party, or principal this matter of 
 history, which no power of oblivion can erase 
 from the page where it stands which no agony 
 of remorse can alter or alleviate, even in the 
 most minute particular, let us look to it, as 
 something (no matter how large a space of time 
 intervenes between it and our present self) 
 which has become inseparably linked to our 
 identity; so inseparably, as that it is, and shall 
 remain ours for ever and ours, even if we could 
 take wing and escape beyond the bounds of 
 creation. No power, no decree, human or 
 divine, no amnesty, can actually alienate from a 
 man his property in a crime he has perpetrated. 
 Let us then contemplate this companion of 
 our existence ; and let us extenuate, conceal, 
 adorn the un pleasing reality. How peculiar
 
 THE MEANS OF MERCY. 59 
 
 were the inducements ; how much did circum- 
 stances, in which we were not to blame, concur, 
 almost to necessitate the act ! Virtue, at the 
 moment, was not on the alert. And then the 
 actual injury that resulted was not nearly so 
 great as it might have been ; ourselves were 
 the chief sufferers : amends have been made : 
 the victim even, -has forgotten the wrong : the 
 world has pronounced a full pardon : no- 
 thing nothing remains ; but memory and 
 conscience: it is as if it were not. No; we 
 cannot ourselves fall in with this illusion. There 
 have been cases in which a man, disordered in 
 mind, has thought himself incessantly followed 
 by some ghastly phantom : he has mixed in 
 the crowd ; he has hurried from place to 
 place ; he has plunged into the heart of revelry, 
 and has fondly for a moment believed, that he 
 had actually eluded his pursuer : no ; at his 
 side the cruel persecutor still stands up, and 
 mocks his endeavours to escape. But the crime 
 with which conscience holds so much familiarity, 
 is a far more real and terrible companion. In 
 the one case, if the mind could but be disabused, 
 and restored to soundness, the shadowy form 
 would melt away, and be forgotten ; but in this, 
 the more the mind is sane, and vigorous, and 
 calm, the more palpably and vividly does our 
 grim attendant stand forth in our path. 
 
 Or in order to feel, the more sensibly, the 
 reality of our guilt, let it be placed by the
 
 60 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 side of a very possible supposition ; namely 
 that the temptation had been repelled the force 
 of evil passions withstood the voice of con- 
 science, which we well remember to have heard 
 listened to, and a victory actually obtained over 
 the trying seduction. Is then the difference 
 between compliance and resistance of no ac- 
 count ? is it a circumstance not worthy of 
 remembrance, whether a man stands or falls 
 before his enemy ? Victory, we should have 
 thought much of: is not defeat as notable an 
 event as conquest ? But if it may not be obli- 
 terated, in what light are we to regard this deep 
 stain of sin, which has sunk into the soul ? 
 
 Can we not bring ourselves to believe 
 that the common notions of mankind, and the 
 affirmations of religion, concerning invisible go- 
 vernment, and retribution, and the difference be- 
 tween good and evil, are a dream and a nullity ? 
 This, if it could be done, would rid us at once of 
 every uneasiness. True our crime stands on 
 record ; but we have no more to do with it than 
 with the forgotten deeds of antediluvians. Alas ! 
 no pains will avail to realize such a persuasion ! 
 Even if the positive and irrefragable proofs of 
 the truth of religion could be subverted, an un- 
 quenchable instinct of the soul remains to retain 
 hold of the notion of a moral system, and of law 
 and justice. This sense of the fitness of RETRI- 
 BUTION flashes upon us, in some form, every 
 hour. We cannot read a page of history, we
 
 THE MEANS OF MERCY. 61 
 
 cannot listen to the news of the day, we cannot 
 walk the streets, without forcibly admitting the 
 idea, that there must be a vindication of right : 
 nay, we often court the expectation of it; some- 
 times as witnesses, and sometimes as victims of 
 oppression, or of cruelty, or of rapacity, we fly 
 to the belief of ultimate justice ; and, even apart 
 from any vindictive feeling, are agonized if we 
 imagine that the controversy between the op- 
 pressor and the oppressed shall never never, be 
 adjusted. If, at any time, the films of false phi- 
 losophy have deceived us into the opinion that 
 vice and virtue are one and the same this 
 sophistry shares the fate of many other sophis- 
 tries, in practical matters; that is to say, it 
 is instantly and irrecoverably scattered by our 
 first brunt with some real affair of common life, 
 that appeals to the ordinary sentiments of huma- 
 nity : the illusion fades truth and nature stand 
 out, and speak aloud, and we dare not refuse to 
 hear them. 
 
 But if there is to be retribution at all, if any 
 crime or cruelty, the most atrocious which 
 history records, or which history has forgotten, 
 is to be brought to account in an after-life, and 
 is to receive its due award of chastisement; if 
 the authority of God, as Governor of men, is to 
 be in any manner asserted, and maintained, then 
 is it possible to believe that such retribution shall 
 be otherwise than ABSOLUTELY IMPARTIAL ? and 
 when we say impartial, we must mean that it
 
 62 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 shall be in the strictest sense UNIVERSAL. It 
 must bear alike, and equally, upon every respon- 
 sible agent, and must come close home to the 
 entire merit and demerit of each. Shall smaller 
 offences escape inquiry, while egregious sins only 
 are brought into court ? This could not be ; for 
 the perpetrator of enormous crimes might justly 
 turn round upon his exculpated companions, and 
 affirm that, if all circumstances of temptation 
 and original disposition were fairly weighed, the 
 actual balance of guilt would be in his favour ; 
 inasmuch as some who had seemed to sin less, 
 had actually sinned more, by sinning with fewer 
 inducements, or with more advantage for virtue. 
 Or shall Supreme Justice take notice only of 
 those offences that have in fact been peculiarly 
 pernicious in their consequences, and the occa- 
 sions of misery to others ? This mode of pro- 
 ceeding would be liable to an objection equally 
 conclusive. For the offender, so singled out on 
 account of the actual mischief he had caused, 
 would be entitled to complain that his fate was 
 ruled, not by law or intrinsic demerit ; but by 
 accidents, over which he had no control ; and it 
 would be easy to find instances of much worse 
 intention than his own, which, on this system, 
 would altogether escape unpunished. There is 
 in fact no justice, that is not universal justice. 
 Justice altogether is nullified, and disgraced, by 
 even a single, and the smallest instance of 
 oblivion, or inequality, or perversion of facts.
 
 THE MEANS OF MERCY. 63 
 
 Who would come forward and profess to wish 
 that the law, which is taking effect upon his 
 neighbour, should turn aside from himself? 
 
 If we here reason upon this subject on the com- 
 mon and intelligible principles of human nature ; 
 it is precisely because HUMAN NATURE is in ques- 
 tion ; and because God's proceedings towards 
 man will (more exactly than we often suppose) 
 justify themselves to all minds, on these same 
 intelligible principles. If then, on one hand, 
 we exhort the theologian not to assume more 
 than is contained in such simple rules, we adjure 
 the culprit not to assume less. 
 
 But now, may it not seem as if the offences 
 of men themselves insignificant as they are 
 were utterly unworthy of becoming the subject 
 of judicial proceeding in the court of Heaven ? 
 Unworthy of judicial proceedings ! Is any such 
 rule acted upon, or admitted on earth ? Let 
 us look to the mightiest empire that ever has 
 existed, the sovereign and the chiefs of which 
 have taken to themselves so vast an importance, 
 that the welfare of whole provinces might not be 
 weighed against their most trivial convenience 
 or pleasure. And then let us seek for the very 
 meanest of the degraded beings that lie obscure 
 in the quarters of want. Is the wretch ambitious 
 of distinction ? would he fain draw upon him- 
 self the eyes of the mighty ? does he covet to 
 stand among princes ? Then let him insult the 
 majesty of government : let him but commit a
 
 64 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 crime, and his wish is accomplished. Though 
 nothing else could possibly have given him im- 
 portance Treason shall do it. And it shall 
 presently be seen, that the highest personages of 
 state are busy with his interests : No affair of 
 the realm is deemed so urgent as that the hear- 
 ing of the cause should be finally neglected, or 
 the accused be suffered to make a jest of royal 
 power. Whether he is to be condemned or 
 absolved, punished or pardoned, he must at all 
 events be made amenable to law, and be dealt 
 with in some manner which shall leave no stain 
 either upon the principles, or the administration 
 of the empire. And this rule of procedure is 
 valid and constant, just in proportion to the ex- 
 cellence, the equity, and the firmness or vigour 
 of a government ; and of the very best govern- 
 ments this is the praise, that justice is carried 
 home to all persons alike, great or mean. In a 
 state the most free and wise that can be ima- 
 gined, the sovereign himself would never be 
 thought to forfeit his dignity, though he were 
 seen to be assiduously employed (if needful) day 
 after day, in ascertaining the guilt or innocence 
 of the very lowest of his subjects. Do we 
 approve this principle ? Unquestionably then 
 it shall be found to belong to that Government 
 which is absolutely good and just. 
 
 Yes, if nothing else can confer importance 
 upon man his crimes shall give him conse- 
 quence. If there were no other argument for
 
 THE MEANS OF MERCY. 65 
 
 a future life, SIN would furnish one, never to be 
 refuted. We need descend into no depths of 
 abstruse reasoning here : the simplest notions 
 are conclusive enough. There is a cause stand- 
 ing over between the Impartial Judge, and our- 
 selves ; and a time for the hearing and decision 
 of it must certainly come. If indefinitely de- 
 layed, and forgotten, all loyal orders must 
 harbour dissatisfaction and fear ; while all 
 who have actually been called to account and 
 punished, will protest against the partiality. If 
 conscience be but awake, the transgressor, as he 
 stands at the verge of the present life, may thus 
 properly decide upon his own fate. " I have 
 sinned and perverted that which was right. 
 Let me hide myself in the darkness of the grave! 
 No ; for God's ministers, and all beings good 
 and evil, shall demand me at the hands of Death, 
 and forbid I should be forgotten. The dust may 
 not screen me the clods may not cover me. 
 Corruption may not say I am lost and gone. 
 The highest tribunal is waiting my appearance ; 
 and unless I am made there to stand, the honour 
 of all government is blasted the perfections of 
 God impugned. True, I am insignificant ; but 
 yet am party in a cause in which the wisdom, 
 and purity, and power, of the Eternal God 
 are in question." 
 
 It is quite another matter to ask how the 
 crime and the culprit are to be treated. What 
 we have now to do with is only this That 
 
 F
 
 66 SATURDAY EVENIN.G. 
 
 every crime, and every culprit, must eventually 
 come under legal and retributive notice ; and 
 must, in some way, consistent with good govern- 
 ment, be finally disposed of. We must grant 
 this, or else throw out of our scheme of human 
 nature every notion, and impulse, and mode of 
 acting, that implies law and justice good and 
 evil. If we can actually do so, then let us 
 plunge at ease upon the unknown world, with 
 a thousand crimes upon our heads. 
 
 If not, the question comes How is the trans- 
 gressor to be dealt with ? And now, if we will 
 but adhere to those intelligible ideas which tacitly 
 regulate human affairs, we shall see that, if ever 
 any authority or tribunal winks at offence, or 
 allows the offender to elude its jurisdiction, or if 
 it remits all inquiry, such an evasion takes place 
 on one of these two grounds either first, That 
 the administrative power is felt to be too feeble 
 to go through with the cause, in the instance 
 of so formidable a culprit; and that therefore 
 it is better to put up with the first disgrace, of 
 not making inquiry, rather than endure the dis- 
 honour of declaring guilt, which it has no sword 
 to punish : or secondly, That the offence passes 
 up to a higher tribunal. This is a sound and 
 creditable reason for the remission of inquiry, 
 or for the non-exertion of judicial powers. 
 
 But when the cause has so been passed up, 
 through court after court, and comes at length 
 to the last and Supreme tribunal, shall it there
 
 THE MEANS OF MERCY. 67 
 
 be set aside ? It may, even there, if the Supreme 
 Power is infirm ; or if it be corrupt : in other 
 words, if the forms of law and justice are mere 
 pomps, of which all men make their mirth. We 
 do not indeed deny that the First Magistrate, 
 in a vigorous and equitable government, may, 
 if he so please, pardon the culprit ; far from it. 
 But we absolutely deny that he can (unless 
 feeble or corrupt) fail to take cognizance in some 
 manner, of each, and of every cause, which, after 
 having been remitted in turn by inferior courts, 
 is formally assigned to himself as supreme. To 
 pardon an offender upon his submission and 
 confession, is not to wink at crime, or to lay 
 oblivion upon law ; unless indeed pardon has 
 so become the standing rule of administration, 
 that men are fain to doubt whether there exists 
 at all the power or the will to punish. In such 
 a case penitence and pardon would both be 
 mockeries ; and neither to be respected more 
 than the motions of wooden figures, the one of 
 which always lifts the arm, when the other lets 
 it fall. 
 
 Can we actually bring together, or hold in 
 union, any such incongruous ideas, as those of 
 a system of law and retribution on the one 
 hand; and the practice of Universal Pardon, 
 dealt out to offenders by the ultimate and 
 Supreme Power ? If all are punished, and pu- 
 nished equitably ; none indeed can complain ; 
 and no confusion is brought in. But if all are 
 
 F2
 
 68 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 pardoned ; and pardoned as a mere act of cle- 
 mency, the very substance of government is 
 made nugatory. If pardon is the rule punish- 
 ment the exception, then law is blamed ; or 
 administration proved imbecile. In good and 
 firm governments, punishment will be the rule, 
 and pardon the exception : and yet even this 
 exceptive pardon sullies the brilliancy of power 
 and wisdom, unless clearly it is seen to spring 
 from some law higher or more comprehensive 
 than the law which has been violated. To 
 PARDON WITHOUT REASON is an error, on the part 
 of a sovereign, of which the same may be said 
 as is said of other errors that though a single 
 instance will not destroy a man's reputation, the 
 frequent repetition of it infallibly will do so. A 
 man may be weak once, or thrice ; and retrieve 
 his character ; but if he be weak daily, what is 
 thought of him ? 
 
 Yet what is it to pardon with reason, but to 
 act according to a rule ; only applying, in each 
 instance, the rule that is in fact most applicable 
 to it. On this principle, the idea of blind or 
 indiscriminate forgiveness will be quite excluded 
 from our conception of the Divine Conduct. 
 
 And now, whoever can persuade himself that 
 it is safe to do so let him go on to the point 
 where death is to meet him (that point is fixed) 
 with his sins, and take the chance of either 
 not meeting Justice in the next world, or of 
 being able to clear himself from its demands.
 
 THE MEANS OF MERCY. OL> 
 
 And let him go (would it not be wise?) well 
 schooled in all those abstruse and conclusive 
 arguments by which it has been shown that 
 there can be nothing formidable in the Divine 
 Character ; nothing inflexible, or firm in the 
 Divine Administration ; or that the Most High 
 must needs give way to the urgency of the case, 
 when the culprits are found to be millions of 
 millions in number ! Or that he will certainly 
 be moved to relent by a candid acknowledgment 
 of error. The tribunal of Almighty God will be 
 a fit place for discussing metaphysical principles 
 of government ! And the spirit, just shivering 
 in surprise as it has gasped from the body, will 
 doubtless be in mood to make the best of its 
 own cause, and to plead extenuations ! 
 
 But we should not accumulate terrors, or en- 
 deavour to carry our point unfairly, by kindling 
 the imagination. No ; let nothing stupendous 
 or appalling, nothing ghastly or horrific, be sup- 
 posed. Let nothing be thought of but what 
 cool reason, backed by every probability, must 
 anticipate. Reduce the idea or expectation of 
 the ultimate tribunal to the smallest possible 
 dimensions: let it be thought of as frigidly as 
 we can. The ministers of justice are calm, dis- 
 passionate kind even, and mindful only of their 
 duty. Yet assuredly they will do their duty. 
 If the methods of proof are to differ from those 
 which, of necessity, are resorted to on earth, 
 the substance of the proceedings will be the
 
 70 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 same. By what means soever made known - 
 it is the truth that will come out. None shall be 
 wearied by the tediousness of the trial ; leisure 
 enough shall be granted to carry it through. 
 A man's deeds, in due succession, shall be re- 
 counted ; and the most succinct and satisfactory 
 method, perhaps, will be for himself to recount 
 them. He may well be trusted to do so ; for he 
 feels, at every pore, that the atmosphere of truth 
 is about him. Nay, a blaze of light penetrates 
 his very nature, and the table of memory, like 
 the face of an obelisk, thickly inscribed, and 
 fronting the sun, may be read by all. 
 
 We need do nothing to fill up our idea of law 
 and justice in the future world, but take as our 
 pattern, the law and justice of earth ; freed 
 only from the imperfections that attend them. 
 These imperfections are that liability to error 
 which sometimes throws the punishment of the 
 guilty upon the head of the innocent ; and the 
 inapplicability of law to any but certain overt 
 acts of sin ; so that it is not more than a sample 
 of the wrongs actually committed by men upon 
 their fellows, that is cognizable to statutes, or 
 liable to punishment. How often does it happen 
 that there are found, among the grave assessors 
 of judgment, men far more odious in heart, and 
 incomparably more pernicious to society, than 
 the haggard and misguided wretch, who stands 
 trembling at the bar ! And how often, in the 
 crowd that presses around the scaffold, might
 
 THE MEANS OF MERCY. 71 
 
 hundreds be singled out, who deserve to die 
 five times, for the one death inflicted upon him 
 whom the sword of Justice (blind Justice) is to 
 pierce ! These disparagements of human law, 
 though great, are irremediable. But the in- 
 equalities and the errors that thence arise, shall 
 be rectified in the world of truth. Every 
 offender shall there take his turn at the bar ; 
 and every offence shall pass under inquiry ; and 
 the verdict in each instance shall be a true one. 
 Who can complain of such a course of things ? 
 
 Those then may be very bold who have no 
 sin: assuredly the tribunal of Almighty God 
 shall do them no harm ! Alas ! multitudes have 
 gone to that tribunal with the preposterous con- 
 fidence of innocence, who, in the eye of God's 
 impartial law, shall be found more guilty than 
 many an abhorred victim of human justice ! 
 
 But what say we of the penalty ? Shall we 
 amuse our leisure by showing the inconclusive- 
 ness of certain terrific and probable arguments 
 on this subject ? Shall we spend the hours of 
 life that remain, in gathering reasons which may 
 seem to make it less than absolutely certain, 
 that the very worst that has been affirmed or 
 thought of shall prove to be true ? Shall we 
 court those dreams concerning the lenity of the 
 Divine government, which the miseries even of 
 the present life are enough to dissipate ? Nay 
 rather, let us admit at once the belief, confirmed 
 as it is by sound reason, and established by
 
 72 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 
 
 religion, that there are purposes, far more ex- 
 tensive and profound than ordinarily we think 
 of, to be carried through upon the human race, 
 by the vigour of Almighty Power. Rather than 
 any longer debilitate the moral forces of the 
 mind, by giving ear to flatteries that breathe the 
 very nausea of sin, let us take up, as the first 
 axiom of our religious notions, the truth That 
 " it is indeed a fearful thing to fall into the 
 hands of the Living God ! " 
 
 But there is mercy for man. " The Gospel is 
 the power of God for saving all who believe ! " 
 Whoever will, let him convince himself, if he can, 
 that the Divine Mercy might flow in other chan- 
 nels than through the Mediation of His Son ; 
 or that it might, without any restriction or con- 
 dition, spread over the world of sin, as the ocean 
 covers its bed. Such an argument, and the idler 
 who pursues it, must be left in the rear. The 
 infatuations of the sensual and frivolous part of 
 mankind are amazing ; but the infatuations of 
 the learned and sophistical are incomparably 
 more so. Or the difference between the two, 
 is as the difference between folly and madness. 
 
 Every proof that could be made to consist 
 with the rules of evidence, establishes the truth 
 of the Christian Religion. The subject of the 
 Christian Religion is the controversy to which 
 sin has given birth, between God and man ; 
 the matter of the Revelation it contains, is the 
 announcement of absolute forgiveness, through
 
 THE MEANS OF MERCY. 73 
 
 the Mediation of Christ. And what is the com- 
 plexion or character of this Gospel remission ? 
 It is not the consequence of the abrogation of 
 law. It is not a repeal of penalties. It is not a 
 disparagement of Supreme Wisdom. It is not a 
 deduction from the supposed power of inflicting 
 punishment and especially, it is not such a 
 mere act of grace as, in the nature of the case, 
 must not stretch very far, lest the punishment 
 of any should seem a captious severity and 
 pardon an unavoidable compromise. 
 
 The pardon of the Gospel is PARDON FOR A 
 REASON ; that is to say, it is pardon granted 
 in compliance with a rule, higher, or more 
 comprehensive, than the law which was broken. 
 The pardon of the Gospel, therefore, may be 
 extended without reserve ; because the reason 
 whence it flows is greater than all other reasons. 
 Even if it were to appear at the last, that the 
 myriad has received pardon, and the thousand 
 has been left to endure punishment, the prin- 
 ciples of administration would not be sullied ; 
 because, while the demands of Justice are defi- 
 nite, the provision of Grace is unbounded. 
 Grace encompasses Justice. 
 
 And yet, if in any manner we surrender the 
 Divine dignity of the Mediator, the REASON OF 
 PARDON at once disappears ; and the government 
 of God is clouded. Or (and it is a certain in- 
 dication that the harmony of truth is spoiled) 
 the conscience of man receives no lasting peace.
 
 74 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 Conscience may indeed remain in its native 
 slumber, or it may embrace flatteries ; but when 
 once it is quickened ; when once the purity of 
 law, and the impartiality and vigour of the 
 Divine government have been admitted and 
 the thought of standing at the tribunal of God 
 has firmly lodged itself in the mind, the well- 
 founded fear of condemnation is in no way to be 
 allayed, until the SUBSTITUTE of the sinner, is 
 known to be THE VERY PARTY, whom the sinner 
 has insulted !
 
 VI. 
 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. 
 
 " THE WORLD KNOWETH US NOT." 
 
 THAT peculiar species of arrogance termed 
 Spiritual Pride, may probably still be found here 
 and there within the precincts of religion; for 
 we must not suppose that any evil incident to 
 human nature is absolutely extinct. Let it be 
 confessed then, that there are persons, calling 
 themselves Christians, who, confident that they 
 are the special objects of divine favour, look 
 abroad upon the impiety of mankind, and exult 
 to see they have so few competitors for the 
 honours they pretend to ! 
 
 But as it is usual for the most obtrusive or 
 singular property of any aggregate body to be 
 imputed to the whole, by those who care not to 
 inform themselves correctly of that of which 
 they speak, it happens that irreligious men 
 assume this same spiritual pride to be, not 
 merely a fault to which religionists are liable ; 
 but the universal characteristic of all such per- 
 sons ; and if called upon to explain the fact of 
 the segregation of a portion of the community,
 
 76 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 on the ground of purer principles than others 
 profess, they deem themselves to have reached 
 the depth of the mystery when they tell you, 
 that (incidental causes admitted) ghostly arro- 
 gance is the secret of all extraordinary pro- 
 fessions in matters of religion ; a theory this 
 which, to say nothing of it on the ground of 
 charity, will be found as consonant with truth as 
 those theories usually are, which a man frames 
 in impatience and vexation, merely to obtain 
 riddance of a perplexity that gives him frequent 
 annoyance, and some alarm. 
 
 But those who know human nature better, 
 and religion better, and the peculiar temper of 
 the age better, do not need to be told that, if 
 spiritual arrogance has prevailed among Chris- 
 tians (by profession) in certain eras, it has, in 
 our own times, very generally given place to a 
 feeling almost of an opposite kind. The same 
 melancholy facts which, a while ago, inflated, 
 perhaps, the pride of some self-styled favourites 
 of Heaven, are now contemplated by believers 
 in the Gospel with a painful emotion, not only 
 of pity and sorrow, but of timidity and discou- 
 ragement. A mode of thinking at once humane 
 and comprehensive, has, in greater or less 
 degrees, spread through the church ; a new 
 habit of reflection on the condition of mankind 
 has grown into use : and in the very proportion 
 that Christians have desired more ardently, than 
 heretofore, the propagation of their faith, and
 
 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. 77 
 
 have done more to effect it, they have the more 
 become liable to an emotion of sad amazement, 
 or misgiving, when they think of the millions 
 afar off, that know not the Revelation of God, 
 or of the thousands at hand, that hold it in 
 contempt. 
 
 This sedative and uneasy feeling (ineffably 
 abhorrent as it is of spiritual conceit or elation) 
 very naturally attaches most strongly to those 
 who have most general intelligence, and modesty 
 (the attendant of intelligence) and are most 
 conversant with the world ; and who are more- 
 over accustomed fairly to weigh peculiar claims 
 and professions. Such persons, and not a few 
 such are to be found, could as soon draw a 
 sinister and malign gratification from the dis- 
 obedience of a son the treachery of a friend, 
 or the false imputation to themselves of a crime, 
 as from the sad truth that multitudes of their 
 countrymen, and the great mass of mankind, 
 are destitute of piety. 
 
 The deep and genuine uneasiness that accrues 
 from this source is enhanced, or at least is ren- 
 dered more oppressive, by the considerations 
 that arise from an exact and impartial estimate 
 of the ostensible comparative merits of the reli- 
 gious and the irreligious classes : and while, in 
 surveying the latter, a feeling of scrupulous or 
 punctilious candour, and an anxiety to adhere 
 to philosophic justice, disposes them to reckon, 
 at its fullest value, whatever seems good and
 
 78 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 praiseworthy, and to listen to every extenuation 
 of what is evil ; in reviewing the former class, a 
 sensitive regard to the honour of Christianity 
 (in the abstract) a high conception of the 
 standard of piety and virtue, and a keen jea- 
 lousy of imposition, lead them into an excessive 
 or faulty caution, in the scrutiny of religious 
 profession ; and generate an over-wrought fear 
 lest they should attribute a particle of excellence 
 too much to the side for which the praise of true 
 wisdom and goodness is exclusively challenged. 
 
 Under the influence of feelings like these, 
 Christians are tempted to conceal, if it were 
 possible, from themselves, or to maintain silence 
 on that inference which their own hope in Christ 
 obliges them to draw, concerning the peril of 
 those who refuse the great and only salvation 
 which man can know. It is not arrogance, but 
 timidity, of which the Christian body should 
 now be arraigned by the world. But as the 
 world is in error in the capital principle so 
 always in the special points of its quarrel with 
 the church ; it blames that which is praise- 
 worthy, and if, at any time it applauds, makes 
 choice of some blemish, or laxity, as the subject 
 of its commendation. 
 
 A hearty recognition of that obnoxious truth 
 which the Scriptures often affirm, and every- 
 where suppose the partition of mankind, in 
 the sight of God, as his friends, or his ene- 
 mies, is more or less difficult, according to the
 
 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. 79 
 
 circumstances of the times we live in ; and will 
 be so in the highest degree precisely at those 
 moments when, in a peculiar manner, it is im- 
 portant ; namely, when the diffusive influence 
 of Christianity is so great as to lessen much 
 the apparent difference between Christians and 
 others ; by which means obscurity is thrown 
 upon the first principles of the Gospel. It is 
 plain that, in an age when the purifying doctrines 
 of the Scriptures have as yet had no operation 
 beyond the walls of the church, and when, 
 moreover, within those limits, the Gospel is 
 exerting its fullest influence, Christians, con- 
 scious as they are both of hopes and of virtues 
 to which none but themselves can pretend, are 
 liable to no embarrassment (whatever grief) 
 in taking up the apostolic profession " We 
 know that we are of God, and that the whole 
 world lieth in wickedness." While the church 
 and the world are in any such relative position, 
 each exhibits its proper internal quality, in the 
 most conspicuous manner. Purity belongs to 
 the one ; shameless corruption to the other. 
 
 The case is reversed when, even if the pri- 
 mary and efficacious power of religion be not 
 much abated, its secondary and diffusive influ- 
 ence has become slowly matured, and is very 
 widely extended. At the very season in which 
 Christianity is conferring the greatest benefits 
 upon mankind at large, by cleansing the at- 
 mosphere of the social system, by shedding
 
 80 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 abroad a general light, and by reproving and 
 repressing flagrant evils, its genuine adherents 
 are the most strongly tempted to suppose that 
 the difference between themselves and others is 
 not vital, or not of infinite consequence. So 
 fatal a surrender of the peculiarity of the Gospel 
 is little likely to take place while all the skies 
 are darkened by the Asmoke of idolatrous wor- 
 ship, and the church is beleagured by open 
 war. 
 
 But nothing less than a very distinct and 
 forcible conception of ^things' spiritual will avail, 
 in times like our own, to keep alive^on the mind 
 a truth equally certain and momentous in one 
 age as in another that whoever is not, in a 
 definite sense, a Christian, is "yet in his sins," 
 and in peril of the future judgment. The last 
 surviving Apostle, when, in the age of Trajan, 
 he looked abroad upon the Roman world, might 
 (inspiration apart) boldly decide as he did in the 
 controversy between the friends and foes of his 
 Master: but to do so now (unless we assume 
 the rule of the sectarist, who judges men by a 
 name) demands, not only all the firmness and 
 courage of true charity ; but an intimate know- 
 ledge of the REASON of such a decision. 
 
 And if the inducement silently to compromise 
 what is most peculiar, and most obnoxious, in 
 their profession, is, to all Christians, at the pre- 
 sent moment, strong ; it is so, in an especial 
 manner, to religious writers ; or we should
 
 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. 81 
 
 say, to those religious writers who, renouncing 
 the favour and patronage of any single body of 
 Christians (a bold measure) are tempted, as a 
 resource, to court the good-will of the world. 
 Besides ; writers of this order, in taking position 
 above the level of the petty eminences on which 
 others stand, and in adhering to the maxims of 
 absolute independence, and impartiality, and in 
 shewing their abhorrence of all sinister practices 
 in matters of religion, bring themselves into 
 correspondence or contact, with men whose 
 philosophic candour, and largeness of mind, 
 might afford the ground of a firm coalition 
 if it were not that, on the one side principles 
 are professed which the other looks upon as 
 matter of offence, or of scorn. Now in this 
 peculiar exigency, the advocate of the great 
 principles of the Gospel is fain to seek for any 
 means of conciliation, that may seem lawful and 
 available. How gladly would he come to agree- 
 ment with those whose intellectual simplicity 
 might lead him to choose them as his friends ; 
 or to look to them for the only praise he covets ! 
 With this view more expedients than one may 
 be resorted to. 
 
 The first, perhaps, is to employ his pen on 
 subjects indirectly connected with religion, or of 
 secondary importance ; cautiously abstaining 
 from every explicit allusion to those great 
 matters which the world " will not receive," 
 nor the church favourably listen to, unless 
 
 G
 
 82 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 pronounced in accredited terms. Or if he 
 attempts the higher themes of Christianity, he 
 may endeavour so to approach them through the 
 circuitous and subterraneous passage of abstruse 
 reasoning, that, while his meaning escapes the 
 notice of simple folk, the wise and knowing 
 shall be taken by surprise, and made suddenly 
 to emerge, to their amazement, in the open 
 court of the Temple or at the foot of Mount 
 Calvary ! Or such a writer may fondly think 
 that he shall succeed in so shedding around the 
 principal matters of faith the splendour of secu- 
 lar eloquence, as shall charm classic ears, and 
 enable him to beguile and detain those whom 
 he could not simply convince. 
 
 Much that is plausible might be said in behalf 
 of these, and similar methods of conciliation. 
 But even if they had not, in experiment, proved 
 of small or doubtful utility, a special objection 
 would rest against them, drawn from the pecu- 
 liar character of the times. The movements 
 and workings of the social system have become 
 too deep and potent, to leave room for opera- 
 tions of a slender, ambiguous, or insinuating 
 kind. We are come to no easy and gentle 
 mood of the world's history. This is no hour 
 of leisure and facility, and soft persuasion. 
 Whoever dares not speak explicitly, and boldly, 
 had better not speak at all. Nothing can now 
 avail the cause of truth but the courage which 
 truth ought to inspire. 

 
 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. 83 
 
 The middle region, or neutral ground, on 
 which a mild haze rests, and where men of 
 adverse parties might amuse each other with 
 . indistinct and interminable parleys, that having 
 no serious intention, could have no determinable 
 result, has been of late almost entirely deserted. 
 Stragglers, and the idle, remain there; the 
 frivolous and the infirm. But men of vigour 
 (of all parties) have gone off, and taken another 
 position have severally moved forward, at quick 
 pace, on the course toward which they had been 
 long looking, at leisure. The adherents of the 
 Gospel must then either forfeit all chance of a 
 hearing, or act with a correspondent energy and 
 promptitude. If at any time, during the course 
 of ages, there has been need, on the part of 
 Christians, of that boldness which walks abreast 
 with truth and wisdom, this is such a time. And 
 it is now that whatever is capital and essential 
 in Christianity should be clearly and strenuously 
 affirmed. And now it is (how unutterably de- 
 sirable!) that whatever overloads, encumbers, 
 defaces, our faith, should be thrown aside. The 
 .day we have to pass through will assuredly 
 prove that private loyalty to Christ is not 
 enough for the champions of the Gospel. 
 Whoever is loaded with the stuff of this world 
 whether interests or prejudices, will be chased 
 from the field, or fall there ingloriously. 
 
 Those must have allowed themselves to think 
 confusedly ; or have scarcely thought at all ; or 
 
 G 2
 
 84 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 have been doating upon dreams, who have not 
 learned what is the moral condition and ten- 
 dency of a vast mass of our countrymen, perhaps 
 the majority, of almost every rank, at the present 
 moment. And if indeed any are thus ignorant 
 of what it behoves all to understand, the next 
 evolution of the social body the natural and 
 (unless prevented) inevitable expansion of exist- 
 ing causes, will amaze them, as if it were the 
 most unheard prodigy. It is thus, usually, that 
 those sudden changes which the historian (bene- 
 fited as he is by his knowledge of after facts) 
 sagely speaks of as the simple consequences of 
 precursive events, astound the men of the age in 
 which they happen. 
 
 A certain order of intelligence (not founded 
 on principles, and open to impulse on any side) 
 has, as every one knows, spread rapidly through 
 all orders. And while none but the lowest or 
 most degraded class has failed to take a share 
 in this advancement, the classes next in eleva- 
 tion to the lowest have participated therein 
 in a degree which bears no proportion to any 
 improvement that has had place in the highest 
 class. Those who, within a brief period, have 
 stepped forward far in advance of their late 
 position, see well that the interval between them 
 and their superiors has been lessened, almost to 
 the whole extent of their own progress. The 
 upper rank has not become wise, in the propor- 
 tion that the inferior has become knowing. We
 
 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. 85 
 
 need be no great proficients in human nature to 
 divine the sentiments, unconfessed and latent 
 perhaps, which such a perception will engender ; 
 and yet it is not precisely with these sentiments, 
 or with the consequences they are likely to 
 involve, that we are here concerned. 
 
 The statement of the general fact of the intel- 
 lectual advancement of the people is now trite ; 
 nor can it well be called in question. But what 
 is the bearing of this state of things upon Chris- 
 tianity ? verily we believe it to be favourable ; 
 if those causes are taken into account which lie 
 quite beyond the range of secular calculation. 
 But far otherwise if secular and visible causes 
 only are to be looked to ; and it is with these 
 alone that human agency is connected. The 
 sad truth is most conspicuous, that though the 
 diffusion of knowledge has not alienated from 
 Christianity those who were already effectively 
 acquainted with it (far otherwise) and though 
 multitudes, to whom the recent light has scarcely 
 reached, remain nearly where they were, in 
 matters of religion that is to say, as ignorant 
 of it as Caffres ; there is a great body of the 
 people, of every class, whom it has served to 
 detach or to disaffect, or to prepare for any sort 
 of impiety. And yet men do not very readily 
 shake off even the prejudices they hold in least 
 esteem ; but retain them as habits, and look to 
 them wistfully, after the substantial surrender 
 has been made. And so it is that Christianity
 
 OO SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 its formalities at least, stands now on the 
 threshold of thousands and tens of thousands 
 of our English homes melancholy sight like 
 an offended or slighted inmate ready to depart 
 for ever ; and yet not quite resolved to go ! 
 
 Untaught, unguided, and in suspense on all 
 momentous subjects, myriads of the English 
 people, who have learned to think, but who 
 receive no sound instruction, listlessly contem- 
 plate the_speckled Christianity of jmr-iimBS 
 uncertain what part to choose ; and therefore 
 actually choosing the part of impiety, or of fatal 
 indifference. Whither should they resort ? Not 
 (or it is only the debauched who will do so) 
 not to the teachers of atheism : impudent and 
 frantic men, who have given the best refutation 
 to their folly, by their enormities ! The English 
 character must fall many many degrees below 
 its present level, before it can happen that large 
 masses of the community, or any thing but its 
 scum and dregs, shall be seen to circulate around 
 these vortices of impurity and blasphemy. 
 
 What then are the alternatives? Shall this 
 detached mass, rife as it is with conceit, as much 
 as with intelligence, quietly yield itself to be 
 moored back to the haven of established forms, 
 to which it has already become strange ? Shall 
 those whose prime lesson, in all that has been 
 taught them of late, is that whatever is ancient 
 is therefore faulty, accept anew, as good and 
 right, a system which the lapse of centuries has
 
 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. 87 
 
 not benefited by a single amendment ? It were 
 well if it could be so. Would to God that the 
 erring or dubious thousands of the people might, 
 even now, and under almost any condition, fall 
 back upon the Great Truths which the Reforma- 
 tion gave us, and which the National Church 
 preserves ! But alas ! can we seriously antici- 
 pate such a movement ? In a sense we grant it 
 to be probable : those who hope well for what 
 they term " The Church," are thinking only 
 of the most meagre and insincere conformity. 
 This is all they care for all they understand. 
 Now nothing absolutely forbids it to be supposed 
 that the classes of which we have spoken may 
 continue to yield an external and occasional 
 compliance with certain national religious usages 
 which, when so complied with, are of as much 
 value as beads and holy water, or as the praying 
 windmills of the Tartars. This sort of Church 
 of Englandism may perhaps endure a while 
 longer: Who shall say how long? But are 
 we so dull in understanding as to wish that 
 it should ? Do we not know that matters of 
 ritual which may have some real value and 
 wholesome influence (though not of the highest 
 kind) while a people are in a simple or primitive 
 state, that is to say, while they are ruled by 
 sentiment by venerable prejudice, and by asso- 
 ciation, cease to possess any utility after sentiment 
 has been dispelled by the spirit of incredulity 
 and mockery ? We have learned nothing of
 
 88 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 what has been taking place of late, if we imagine 
 that, either the 'squire, or the citizen, or the 
 artisan, who now comes up to the altar, or 
 attends his offspring to the font, is a being of 
 the same order as was his father or his grand- 
 father. Are we then satisfied, and do we think 
 that all is well and safe, merely because the 
 'squire, and the citizen, and the artisan, still 
 bring their bodily presence to church, even 
 though we know, or might know, that instead 
 of the heartiness and the reverence of the 
 past generation, the bosoms of these men are 
 harbouring contempt, repugnance, or a fixed 
 infidelity ? 
 
 Amazing inobservance ! if we can suppose 
 that, to the people such as they have actually 
 become, it can avail any thing in the way of 
 moral or religious influence to frequent church 
 five times in the year to be christened, con- 
 firmed, married, in due form; to receive the 
 sacrament at the last exigency, and to be buried 
 as believers. The nation has gone beyond the 
 power of these forms. The Parish Church 
 stands where it did ; but the mind of the coun- 
 try has escaped from between the sacred walls. 
 Not universally indeed ; far otherwise : we are 
 speaking, not of the passive and sluggish portion 
 of the community ; but of the active, and sen- 
 sitive, and intelligent or the half intelligent. 
 And ought the welfare of such to be a matter 
 of no solicitude ?
 
 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. 89 
 
 But even if the slenderest sort of conformity 
 were all that we cared for, the course we pursue 
 is very little adapted to secure it. What are the 
 simple facts ? In the hearing of the people the 
 original defects of the national forms, and the 
 abuses that have grown upon the establishment, 
 have lately been talked of with the utmost free- 
 dom. The people have listened, while men, the 
 best informed, and the most moderate (not the 
 enemies of the Church but its friends) have con- 
 fessed the necessity of revision have implored 
 attention to the great question from those who 
 should first take it in hand. But all this dis- 
 cussion, all these entreaties come to nothing ! 
 Nothing may be hoped for. Pertinacity is to 
 have its triumph perilous triumph! It is a 
 point of honour to spurn amendment. To 
 change an iota would be to acknowledge that 
 the Fathers of the English Church were not in- 
 spired were somewhat inferior to the Apostles. 
 That which indeed is venerable and good in the 
 national forms and modes (and it is much) must 
 be put in peril for the sake of enforcing from the 
 people an irrational homage to certain excres- 
 cences, which all men inwardly abhor ! 
 
 Such are the infatuations that control human 
 affairs ! Ruin thus wilfully produced, is no new 
 thing; it is the common order of events. 
 So much wisdom as might conserve, rescue, 
 restore, re-edify, belongs not to mankind ; and 
 for want of it, when the hour of peril comes,
 
 90 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 nations are thrown upon revolution and anarchy. 
 And yet every thing seems to invite and to fa- 
 cilitate that line of proceeding which the times 
 call for. In the English character there is not 
 only sobriety and moderation, but a singular 
 readiness to greet with applauses any proof of 
 good intention, and honesty, and intelligence, 
 in persons of high station. True faction is 
 always awake among us ; but there is also (and 
 in the great mass of the people) a prompt and 
 cordial approbation of whatever is manifestly 
 well meant by governing powers. The nation 
 that is, the thousand to the one, would bear 
 aloft upon its shields whoever would now act 
 for it the part of courage, and prudence, and 
 conciliation, in matters of religion. The nation 
 would put the violent and the captious to 
 shame yes, and it would return with joy to 
 the walls of a wisely re-established Church. 
 
 But the hope of any such restoration is fond 
 and vain ! While the people are daily falling off 
 from Christianity, because their highest welfare 
 is not thought of because their actual state is 
 not considered because the salvation of mil- 
 lions of souls is a trivial matter, if it implies the 
 giving up of this or that childish prejudice 
 while these things are happening, our creeds 
 and forms shall be preserved to a tittle : and 
 to secure so high and worthy an end to secure 
 it in the actual state of the country, all the cor- 
 rupt motives of acquiescence must be doubly
 
 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. 91 
 
 stimulated : the people, in the many modes 
 which state policy is skilled in, must be bribed 
 to quietness and silence. And especially, they 
 must be taught that, in matters of Religion, if 
 man be but pleased God is always easy. All 
 this must be done : yes, and it shall prosper 
 if the Almighty has consigned us to desolation ! 
 And is it so then, that our sons, and theirs 
 again, are to be driven down the steeps of un- 
 belief; because, forsooth, the jealousies of the 
 imbecile, and the emoluments of the corrupt, 
 must not be touched ! 
 
 But it is loudly asked in another quarter 
 Whether the intelligent thousands of the English 
 people might not do better, or have not an alter- 
 native, beside that of bowing to infidelity, or of 
 cringing to an establishment which will listen 
 to no reproofs ? Difficult question ! or difficult 
 unless we are willing, and able, fairly to place 
 ourselves for a moment in the position of the 
 persons of whom we are speaking the intelli- 
 gent, yet imperfectly informed, and irreligious, 
 of all ranks. If from that position we look 
 abroad upon the many- coloured array of our 
 religious parties, we shall instantly cease to won- 
 der that Christianity in England has as little 
 reason to boast of extensive triumphs under its 
 simplest, as in its most elaborate forms. The 
 grand mischief whenever we are endeavouring 
 to assail the prejudices of others is this that 
 we do not, or will not, consider the light in
 
 92 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 which ourselves, and our attempts, appear to 
 them. It is too much to expect that our unin- 
 formed neighbours, or our countrymen at large, 
 should make themselves conversant with that 
 prodigious mass of theological and historical lore 
 which must be known before any one can fully 
 and fairly appreciate the justificatory argument 
 of each of our sects. To exculpate each to 
 respect each, a man must be familiar with the 
 circumstances of the times wherein it origina- 
 ted ; he must be master of the merits of many 
 entangled controversies, and must fairly and 
 calmly estimate the mutual influence of sect 
 upon sect. Not a whit less labour and diligence 
 is necessary for correctly measuring the respec- 
 tive claims of religious parties, than would make 
 a man erudite in the most multifarious of the 
 sciences. Nothing of this sort can reasonably 
 be looked for. 
 
 Meanwhile the intelligent, and the half in- 
 telligent the few who are thoroughly well 
 informed on all subjects except religion ; and 
 the myriads who now know something of many 
 sciences, but nothing of this, can hardly be 
 blamed if they take up a notion which, though 
 substantially false, is apparently rational. Such 
 persons (lamentable case !) are impelled to sup- 
 pose, either that Christianity is so indeterminate 
 a system that its most careful and serious 
 adherents are unable to fix its meaning, and 
 therefore that it is well to keep clear altogether
 
 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. 93 
 
 of the anxious perplexities it involves ; or 
 that, by some fatality, it breeds a spirit of 
 trivial scrupulosity, productive of interminable 
 discords. It will be, for the most part, utterly 
 in vain to assure such misjudging spectators that 
 their idea of the religious parties is incorrect and 
 distorted. The ostensible fact will outweigh all 
 explanations. 
 
 Thus it is that the souls of men are sported 
 with on all sides ! How little do we consider 
 the infinite mischiefs we occasion when we give 
 indulgence to SMALL MOTIVES in matters of 
 religion ! Would to God that, at length, 
 good men might learn to calculate all the con- 
 sequences- remote and distant perhaps, but 
 immensely important, of that theological and 
 ecclesiastical inflexibility, by which they think 
 to prove their loyalty to Christ ! Alas, those 
 for whom Christ died are fixed in unbelief by 
 the spectacle of this same immovable purity ! * 
 
 * Our sects (the principal of them) are the product of the 
 same era that gave us our Establishment : and the one form 
 of Christianity is just the antithesis of the other. If the ad- 
 vancement of society in the course of three centuries renders a 
 revision of the one indispensable ; so does it of the other. 
 Rocked by the winds of discord in the same cradle ; though 
 always at variance, Dissent and Conformity are alike antique ; 
 and while both happily comprise the great and unchanging 
 verities of the Gospel ; both are what times and men have 
 made them. The dissident loudly speaks of this obsolete 
 character of the Church. But impartial men will be apt to 
 think that, if we ought now to see something better, or more
 
 94 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 Let it be granted, and it is unquestionably 
 true, that the entrance of the Gospel into the 
 human heart is vehemently opposed by that 
 hostility which is the product of the defection 
 of the race ; and that this hostility is inde- 
 pendent and irrespective of any exterior disad- 
 vantage under which Christianity may labour. 
 Yes ; but obstacles of this intrinsic sort, which 
 have always to be encountered, great as they 
 may be, are not found to prevent the triumphs 
 of religion, where its spread is not prevented by 
 other causes. The Lord vanquishes his own 
 foes : and he does so with omnipotent grace and 
 ease. To break and subdue the human heart, 
 with all its obduracy, and to cleanse it, notwith- 
 standing all its impurity, is his proper work. 
 And he glories to perform it. But when the 
 Gospel comes to a stand, or sleeps within its 
 limits, from age to age ; or only slowly spreads 
 along with the increase of population, the cause 
 of the stagnation is to be found, either in the 
 sluggishness, the feuds, or the follies of the 
 Church; not in the universal enmity of the 
 heart to God. The Lord does not interpose 
 to overcome that hostility or contempt which 
 the misconduct of his people calls forth. It is 
 the secondary or incidental, far more than the 
 primary prejudices, that hold mankind at a 
 
 mature, than was thought of, or could be effected, by Cranmer, 
 Jewel, Hooker; a bike revision should take place of the 
 notions and institutions of Brown, Prynne, and Owen.
 
 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. 95 
 
 distance from the truth. We refuse to see and 
 believe this ; and therefore marvel at the impiety 
 and obduracy of mankind ; when nothing is more 
 conspicuous than its proximate cause. 
 
 A candid review of the entire course of Church 
 history must convince any one, that very high 
 degrees of personal piety and virtue piety and 
 virtue even of the most exalted order, often con- 
 sist with a participation in egregious errors, of 
 that sort which attaches more to a body or com- 
 munity at large, than to individuals. This truth 
 has been lost sight of in every age ; and in our 
 own times. For example ; while we know by 
 personal consciousness, and by happy fellowship 
 with others, that Christianity exists among us in 
 much vigour and purity, and is bringing forth its 
 fruits in all quarters of the land, we repel indig- 
 nantly the supposition that the entire Christian 
 body may be capitally in fault. And yet, were 
 not the Jansenists, and the men of Port Royal 
 Christians ? Were not Pascal and Fenelon men 
 of God ? Well were it, if we could now match 
 them in elevation, devotedness, spirituality. Ne- 
 vertheless, did they not stand forth as the zealous 
 (not the passive) adherents of their Meretricious 
 and Idolatrous Church ? and in every age that 
 same Church collectively abominable in the 
 sight of Heaven, has embraced on her false and 
 foul bosom, worthies, in whom the apostolic age 
 might have gloried. 
 
 Is it not then a culpable delusion which would
 
 96 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 impel any party to resent suppositions of the 
 kind now in hand, merely because piety, fer- 
 vent, pure, and zealous, is seen to be flourishing 
 among us ? How much of that piety does the 
 world know any thing of? The world enters 
 not our closets : knows nothing of our hearts ; 
 and knows but little, even of the exterior be- 
 haviour of the obscure thousands who most 
 adorn their profession. But it sees, and knows, 
 and ruminates upon, our visible disagreements : 
 it measures our alienations ; listens to the din 
 when angry spirits wake the winds of strife ; 
 and, in a word, discerns whatever is discredit- 
 able ; is uninformed of, or incompetent to 
 appreciate, whatever is true and good. 
 
 Who can say what might now have been the 
 religious condition of England if our several dis- 
 sident communities had, a century ago, calmly 
 and wisely returned to the path which their free- 
 dom from political control left open to them 
 which the plain rule of the New Testament 
 points out ; and which common sense so dis- 
 tinctly approves ? Almost confidently it may 
 be affirmed, that an unbroken harmony among 
 its opponents, must have compelled, or would 
 have induced, the Established Church, both 
 to revise its forms and constitutions ; and to re- 
 scind its ill-omened demand of an unconditional 
 and universal approval of the same, as the 
 term of communion. And then, on the other 
 side, how must such a proof of the vigour and
 
 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. 9? 
 
 glory of the Gospel have affected the minds of 
 the mass of the people ! Our faith in Christi- 
 anity altogether is put in jeopardy, if we hesitate 
 to believe that a Harmonious Church freed 
 from all secular hostility, or restraint, would fail 
 to spread itself rapidly, and to prevail. 
 
 " The world knoweth us not:" sad truth; 
 for it means nothing less than this, that the 
 bulk of mankind still remains far from God and 
 hope ! Sad, even when the blame of this igno- 
 rance rests altogether upon its victims ; but 
 how ineffably afflictive, when the fault is shared, 
 in equal portions, between the world and the 
 Church ! If this age of dimness is soon to pass 
 away, it will ere long be seen that the Head of 
 the Church, either by the stupendous movements 
 of his providence, or by conferring in a signal 
 manner grace and wisdom on his people, re- 
 moves from it that reproach of culpable folly 
 which extenuates the impiety of the world. 
 
 H
 
 VII. 
 STATE OF SACRED SCIENCE, 
 
 " THY TESTIMONIES ARE MY MEDITATION." 
 
 AN obvious distinction leads us to distribute 
 the study of Holy Scripture under three heads ; 
 namely 1st, The devout and practical ; 2nd, The 
 critical, or verbal ; and 3rd, The scientific, or 
 theological. If the first of these be wanting, 
 there is no piety at all, and no virtue in the 
 church : if the second, no certitude ; no good 
 sense ; no barrier against extravagance, heresy, 
 or infidelity : if the third be at a low ebb, there 
 is no intelligence ; no advancement, and there- 
 fore, by necessity, a retrogression and decay in 
 that kind of knowledge which should furnish 
 guidance and motive, both to devout and critical 
 studies ; and which especially should gather in 
 the fruit of the latter. 
 
 Of the first of these branches of biblical 
 study, it may be said, that if it does not at 
 present signally flourish, neither is it remarkably 
 deficient. The second is the specific praise of 
 our times ; and waits only for the aid it should 
 receive from the third, to reach perhaps its
 
 STATE OF SACRED SCIENCE. 99 
 
 acme\ Of the last, nothing can be affirmed that 
 is very encouraging ; unless it be the negative 
 advantage (and this is a real one) that the room 
 it should occupy stands vacant. 
 
 It is a law of the intellectual world That the 
 mental connexion between words or customary 
 phrases, and the ideas or notions they represent, 
 tends incessantly to dissolution ; and that the 
 rate of this dissolution is accelerated, or retarded, 
 in proportion to the frequency with which such 
 words and phrases pass over the lips of mankind. 
 This gravitation, which brings the heavier sub- 
 stance (knowledge) down, as a residuum, and 
 leaves the lighter (language) to float as a frothy 
 crust on the surface, is to be counteracted only 
 by continual agitation of the mass. Illustrations 
 of this law are abundant in every department of 
 philosophy. Let it, for instance, be supposed, 
 that at a certain period, metaphysical studies 
 are eagerly pursued; that the energies of many 
 vigorous minds are intently concentrated upon 
 them ; that multitudes of the educated class 
 make themselves familiar with the rival systems 
 that are promulgated ; and that, as a conse- 
 quence (whether or not truth be ascertained) 
 the entire vocabulary of abstract science passes 
 under deliberate review, receives new modifica- 
 tions, and is issued afresh, like a coinage, in full 
 weight, duly assayed, and with a sharp image, 
 and resplendent surface. 
 
 Now if it should happen that this study, so 
 H 2
 
 100 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 revived and invigorated as to tighten anew the 
 bonds that connect words with ideas, does, after 
 being consigned to books, disappear in the very 
 next age ; or is cherished and transmitted only 
 by a small number of the learned class in that 
 case the men of an after-age may find it, as it 
 was left, and where it was left: and may bring 
 abroad the long latent science in all its beauty 
 and precision. 
 
 But let us imagine, on the contrary, that this 
 same metaphysical philosophy had gone down 
 to the next age, and then to the next, in all its 
 popularity ; and had continued, as at first, to 
 constitute the ordinary topic of converse among 
 well-informed persons ; and yet had not, in all 
 that time, drawn to itself any renewed energy, 
 from powerful minds ; but that each generation, 
 transmitting what it had received, imparted to it 
 no reanimation. The inevitable consequence 
 would be that the principles, axioms, deductions, 
 distinctions, and modes of proof which we should 
 find on all men's tongues, would be on their 
 tongues only. And not only would it appear 
 that distinct ideas and notions had, to a great 
 extent, subsided from the popular mind ; but 
 that such as were retained, bore extremely little 
 resemblance to those that belonged to the ori- 
 
 >o 
 
 ginal science. For though men had ceased to 
 work upon the philosophy, Nature and Time 
 had been busy with it, and had imposed upon it 
 many strange modifications.
 
 STATE OF SACRED SCIENCE. 101 
 
 The history of Science has many times veri- 
 fied the operation of these laws ; and indeed 
 the revolution only of a few years is often 
 enough to exhibit their influence. Let but some 
 hotly agitated question of policy, or political 
 economy, cease to be vigorously treated, and 
 yet continue to be matter of common conver- 
 sation ; and we shall find, in ten years, or 
 seven ; perhaps in three, that words, phrases, 
 and wonted forms of expression, on such sub- 
 jects, have slipped their meaning; and being 
 disburdened of the weight which once they 
 carried, have taken the wing, and float, vague 
 and idle, in upper air. 
 
 Scriptural knowledge is open to the same 
 influence ; but happily not to the same extent ; 
 or rather, not without powerful correctives. 
 For although religious principles undergo a far 
 more extended pervidgation than those of any 
 secular science, they arise fresh from the spring- 
 head more readily and copiously, than any other 
 truths. Nor should we omit to include, or fail 
 to take great account of, that perpetual and 
 invisible agency from above, which maintains 
 always the connexion (more or less complete) 
 between piety and truth ; so that, even when 
 sacred knowledge is at the lowest ebb, as a 
 science, or is almost wholly neglected by men 
 of intelligence, it lives essentially, wherever 
 faith, humility, and prayer, are found. 
 
 That portion of Heavenly Wisdom which,
 
 102 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 under such circumstances, survives and is che- 
 rished, will be just the first articles of belief 
 the SAVING RUDIMENTS* of spiritual life. Of 
 these the Head of the Church himself takes 
 care, lest faith should utterly disappear from 
 the earth. But beside the inestimable jewel of 
 elementary knowledge the price of which can 
 never be told ; does there not rest within the 
 folds of the Inspired Book an inexhaustible store, 
 which the industry of man (piously directed) 
 ought to elicit ; but which, if men neglect it, 
 the Lord will not force upon their notice ? It 
 is this hidden treasure which should animate the 
 ambition of vigorous and devout minds. From 
 such, at second-hand, the body of the faithful 
 are to receive it, if at all : and if not so obtained 
 for them, and dealt out by their teachers, 
 nothing will be more meagre, unfixed, almost 
 infantile, than the faith of Christians. 
 
 A consideration of many circumstances (some 
 secular, some ecclesiastical) and of circumstances 
 independent one of another, is involved in a 
 question relative to the present state of the 
 scientific, or theological knowledge of the Scrip- 
 tures. Without pretending to treat, at large, so 
 great a matter, we shall casually mention some 
 points that first present themselves. 
 
 At a time when the Christian community is 
 not in any sense secluded ; is not defended in 
 purity, or compacted by the overt hostility of 
 
 * Heb. v. 12.
 
 STATE OF SACRED SCIENCE. 103 
 
 the world, it is natural that the spirit of the 
 Church should be nearly one and the same with 
 the common spirit of the age. And if we ask, 
 Why do not the higher and more recondite 
 themes of sacred knowledge receive the pro- 
 found attention of distinguished men, and from 
 them descend to the mass of Christians ? it is 
 both just and natural to reply Because nothing 
 that is profound, recondite, or great and arduous, 
 in any line, commands much respect, or absorbs 
 the energies of eminent minds. 
 
 It has now become trite to announce the fact 
 that ours is the age of diffusion, abatement, 
 mediocrity : and while the philanthropist,, as he 
 justly may (to some extent) triumphs in the 
 course which the human mind is taking, few 
 stop to calculate the remote consequences of 
 that course ; or ask what may be its immediate, 
 but less obvious results. 
 
 If a complete analogy subsisted between the 
 worlds of matter and mind, there would be a 
 palpable reason always for exulting in the 
 levelling of eminences ; an operation which 
 (mathematicians tell us) elevates the general 
 surface whereon lately they stood : but the 
 inference from the one system to the other is 
 fallacious ; or at least imperfect. The fact is 
 certain, that this age of warfare upon whatever 
 is exclusive, or select, this day of " scattering," 
 not of " gathering," is singularly wanting, as 
 might have been anticipated, in those higher
 
 104 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 qualities and manifestations of the human mind 
 which refuse to be doled out and shared among 
 the many. The INDIVIDUAL POWER which his- 
 tory fondly looks to, disappears. The history of 
 our times, when it shall come to be compiled, 
 will be that of masses, not of persons ; of com- 
 munities, not of leaders. 
 
 Now after all has been granted that can be 
 said in recommendation of this order of things, 
 it remains to ask, whether an unbounded expan- 
 sion of the energies of the intellectual world does 
 not bring with it a probable decay and decline 
 of each power ? There are those who will affirm 
 the contrary ; and will tell us that, in matters of 
 mind, diffusion is accumulation ; and participa- 
 tion enhancement. Our sons will be able to 
 pronounce upon this problem more certainly 
 than ourselves : meanwhile it must be admitted 
 that those productions or discoveries which most 
 ennoble humanity, or enlarge our sphere of 
 thought, sentiment, or action, are not germi- 
 nated on the surface; are not concocted abroad; 
 rise not from the fermentation of rude masses ; 
 but come from the secrecy of individual bosoms ; 
 and do not bless the world until after they 
 have reached some maturity in their womb and 
 cradle. 
 
 Nature, it is probable, bestows upon mankind, 
 from age to age, a nearly equal measure of 
 intellectual power. But the splendid instances 
 of original endowment make their appearance,
 
 STATE OF SACRED SCIENCE. 105 
 
 or not ; rise to the surface, or remain buried 
 in the soil, according to the temperament of the 
 times. And if prevailing barbarism, and civil 
 anarchy, and a taste for war, repress or destroy 
 the germs of mind ; it is also true that, in eras 
 of boasted advancement, and universal or general 
 refinement, they may fail to be evolved, from 
 the want of shelter, of peculiarity, of privilege, 
 and of the concentration of exciting causes. 
 Genius, as it has often been said (and we may 
 include every species of high mental power) 
 flourishes most midway between the two ex- 
 treme points of social advancement ; or just in 
 that stage of its progress where the few possess 
 the greatest possible advantage over the many, 
 consistently with that degree of intellectual life 
 in the many, which opens a field, and affords 
 motive to the ambition of the few. Europe, as 
 it seems, has already gone through that bright 
 middle season ; has given birth to her comple- 
 ment of illustrious men ; has done with the 
 admiration of CHIEFS ; and will henceforth move 
 forward, in mass, by the force, and under the 
 guidance of the COMMON MIND. 
 
 The true character of the age is not incor- 
 rectly indicated (indeed is very fairly repre- 
 sented) by the style of our literature : and the 
 style of our literature, and the influences to 
 which it is subjected, are so intimately connected 
 with the state of theological studies, that they 
 demand special consideration.
 
 106 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 The extension of knowledge, and the incal- 
 culable multiplication of readers, has effected, in 
 an indirect manner, a revolution in literature as 
 complete as that produced by the invention of 
 printing, though less conspicuous. The simple 
 circumstance that books have become one of 
 the most considerable articles of commerce, has 
 reversed the direction of the influence of which 
 the press is the medium. Our literature is 
 commanded, or controlled, by the people ; and 
 only in a secondary sense commands them. 
 The READER has grown into an importance that 
 makes him lord of the WRITER. Authors furnish 
 (how should they do otherwise) that which 
 readers ask for ; or will receive. Until of late, 
 and in all informed communities, men of high 
 endowments have exercised, in their several 
 departments, a sort of domination perhaps more 
 exempt than any other from the reaction of 
 the governed upon the governing power. Not 
 absolutely, but yet in a great degree, mind has 
 wrought alone ; has produced its fruits spon- 
 taneously ; and has confided those fruits, with- 
 out fear and without care, to the admiration 
 and conservation of mankind. For the better 
 or the worse, writers have, in all ages but our 
 own, been the leaders of the intelligence of the 
 world. 
 
 We speak of this new order of things at 
 large, and in its essential character, without 
 denying the many exceptions and mitigations to
 
 STATE OF SACRED SCIENCE. 107 
 
 which it is open. But if a plain fact is to be 
 spoken of in plain terms it is this, that Books 
 have at last thoroughly come under the laws 
 that regulate the quantity, quality, fashion, form, 
 and colour, of silks, potteries, furniture, jewels, 
 and other articles of artificial life. Now who 
 does not know that the purchaser of any such 
 commodity must (whatever special circumstances 
 may seem to disguise the fact) stand in the 
 relation of Master to the manufacturer, the 
 artist, the workman ? The exceptions to the 
 rule are when the production is of so rare or 
 peculiar a kind that a monopoly is enjoyed by 
 the few who can appear as venders ; or when 
 the demand is so limited that the traffic escapes 
 the notice of the spirit of Trade ; and so enjoys 
 a sort of snug liberty, under shelter of its mere 
 insignificance. Both these circumstances have, 
 in former times, protected literature from the 
 interference of commercial motives. Neither 
 of them is now in operation. 
 
 Whatever is important enough to attract to 
 itself a large and fair proportion of the capital 
 of a country must, spite of the sensitiveness or 
 high sentiments of any of the parties concerned, 
 yield obedience to the paramount principles of 
 commerce. It is an illusion to suppose that 
 any very extensive or permanent exemptions 
 from the laws of trade, can have place in mat- 
 ters of trade. Mind struggles much against 
 these mighty powers ; and writhes under their
 
 108 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 tyranny : but its resistance is successful only in 
 single instances; or for an hour. Our modern 
 literature has ONE REASON, and of this reason the 
 buyer is the sovereign ; and the vender the 
 interpreter ; and the writer the slave. 
 
 When therefore a boast is made (and it is a 
 well founded boast) of the incalculable increase 
 of general intelligence, and of the spread of 
 taste and knowledge, two conditions of this im- 
 proved state of things should be kept in mind ; 
 namely, the present or immediate effect of it 
 upon the productive class; and its probable, we 
 might say certain effect upon the next age. As 
 it would be an absurd petulance to repine at 
 that course of things which none can turn, and 
 which confers benefits upon myriads ; so would 
 it be absurd to suppose that a literature thus 
 overruled by the myriad, should continue to be 
 the same in quality as it was in classic eras, 
 when it led the taste of the smallest and most 
 select portion of the community. Can we in- 
 deed believe that a revolution effected under 
 influences such as we have named, will be alto- 
 gether favourable in its results ? 
 
 The change that has occurred not only affects 
 the style of writing, and the choice of subjects ; 
 but the ultimate motives and purposes of au- 
 thors : controls their principles, or destroys 
 them : and even more, it determines, in a great 
 degree, what individuals shall exercise the func- 
 tion of authorship ; and what be restrained from
 
 STATE OF SACRED SCIENCE. 109 
 
 doing so. Those who, under the ancient order 
 of things, would have written from spontaneous 
 impulses, and at the call of direct motives, and 
 who would have occupied the arena almost 
 alone, stand now in a position essentially un- 
 like that of their more fortunate predecessors. 
 For not only have they to sustain a dubious 
 comparison with competitors, more likely than 
 themselves to win immediate applause ; but the 
 utmost degree of success which they are likely 
 to obtain, consisting in the admiration of a small 
 class in their own and other countries, now 
 appears so mean a thing by the side of vulgar 
 celebrity, that it takes to itself the shame of 
 positive failure. The peril of this sort of dis- 
 grace outweighs (it is probable) in some highly 
 gifted minds, the ambition of distinction, and 
 retains them in obscurity. 
 
 While we are rejoicing in the numerous band 
 of accomplished men who so ably occupy the 
 press ; we should pause and ask, whether some 
 of its legitimate masters are not holding back, 
 and refusing to exercise their function. It may 
 moreover fairly be questioned whether the order 
 of nature is followed, or abandoned, when the 
 contact of writers, in the highest departments, 
 with the imperfectly-educated classes, is imme- 
 diate. Heretofore it has been, that the slowly 
 matured products of great and tranquil spirits, 
 after passing through minds of the next rate, 
 have been disseminated over the wider surface
 
 110 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 of society by their means. Now it is plain 
 that what is written and intended for the class 
 of instructors, will be very unlike that which is 
 prepared directly for the instructed. It is in- 
 deed always well that writers should labour to 
 attain perspicuity, and simplicity, and vivacity ; 
 but is it well when they feel themselves com- 
 pelled (as in terror) to avoid whatever supposes 
 in the reader high culture and intelligence ? 
 
 It would however be a culpable inadvertency 
 not to mention the reaction, or rather inter- 
 action, which at present is going on between 
 readers and writers. If writers have, too much, 
 become the obsequious servants of a slenderly- 
 informed multitude, it is also true that while 
 they are anxiously mindful of their master's 
 wishes, and careful not to offend, and especially 
 not to perplex him, they reconcile themselves 
 to the degradation they undergo by striving to 
 dignify their labours with as much abstract ex- 
 cellence as may consist with popularity. By 
 this laudable ambition the taste of the public 
 is improved ; and, as a natural consequence, a 
 still better commodity than at first is asked for, 
 and favourably received. This amended taste 
 stimulates again the endeavours of writers; and 
 it is hard to say where the continual approxi- 
 mation to what is good, will find its limit. 
 
 Nevertheless the highest fruits of mind are of 
 a constitution far too delicate to be thus pro- 
 duced. Under the present mercantile regimen
 
 STATE OF SACRED SCIENCE. 1 1 1 
 
 the diffusion of knowledge may spread much 
 wider than yet it has ; and at a quicker rate ; 
 and a certain amount of intelligence may be- 
 come the common property of the people : 
 but is there not reason to predict the non- 
 appearance of works that might descend to 
 distant ages ? And as the experiment is new, 
 it remains to be seen whether, even general 
 intelligence can be long upheld while decay is 
 taking place in the higher departments of lite- 
 rature ; whether the mind of a people can 
 be kept alive at all, on the democratic prin- 
 ciple ; whether, in a word, the course we are 
 running on, though crowded with gaiety and 
 stir, is not leading to the depression of learn- 
 ing, taste, and philosophy. 
 
 Whatever may be the anticipations we form 
 on this subject, they would but imperfectly 
 hold good in matters of Religion ; for the rise 
 and fall of religious feeling and knowledge are 
 determined by powers (divine and human) that 
 lie quite beyond the sphere of the causes we 
 have adverted to. In reference therefore to 
 this class of literature, we are safe only while 
 looking to actual facts ; and must leave futu- 
 rity untouched. And even in reference to what 
 is under our immediate observation, great ex- 
 ceptions must be reserved in favour of what 
 does not shew itself on the surface of the reli- 
 gious world : we well know that all that is 
 purest and best lies in the deepest obscurity.
 
 112 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 If it were not so, it would be disheartening 
 indeed to remember that religious literature, 
 far from being exempt from the law of trade, 
 is, in some respects, more directly subject to 
 that infelicitous despotism than any other 
 branch. But counteractive causes are power- 
 ful, and always at work ; and it is happily by 
 no means true that religious books are nothing 
 better than what the commercial influence would 
 make them. 
 
 The actual operation of the existing economy 
 of the literary world upon religious books, is 
 to be discerned more in its negative than in 
 its positive effects. That is to say, though 
 our theological and devotional publications are 
 not so much vitiated by the interference of 
 commercial motives as might have been antici- 
 pated, these causes act directly (in combina- 
 tion with others) to discourage and repress that 
 higher order of composition which the Church 
 now most stands in need of, and which the 
 venders of books, with a sure foreknowledge 
 of their small success, are wont to frown upon. 
 Works which would slowly and surely benefit 
 the mass of Christians through the interven- 
 tion, and by the means of a few hundred 
 readers, are not produced, because, on the 
 existing system, they cannot be published ; 
 or if published would be lost sight of in the 
 crowd of more specious candidates for public 
 favour.
 
 STATE OF SACRED SCIENCE. 113 
 
 The higher class of religious composition is 
 moreover sensibly acted upon by another influ- 
 ence, of which it is hard to say whether it be, 
 on the whole, most sanatory or injurious in- 
 vigorating or enfeebling ; namely, the publicity, 
 we should say exposure which now attends the 
 expression of religious sentiments through the 
 press, A book is, of course, at all times ac- 
 cessible alike to all purchasers is open to all 
 eyes. But there have been few eras in the 
 Church (probably none) in which religious 
 writings were actually so much placed under 
 the eye of the irreligious as now they are. 
 The mode and organs of this exhibition are 
 not necessary here to be specified. But the 
 influence of so much exposure, though not 
 always obvious, is not unimportant. What- 
 ever in the circle of religious publications may, 
 by the aid of ingenious perversion, be em- 
 ployed to fortify unbelief to gratify spleen, or 
 to tickle the levity of irreligion, seldom escapes 
 the quick sight of those whose bread is earned, 
 from week to week, from month to month, 
 by catering for the malign passions of man- 
 kind, or its prurient frivolity. 
 
 Upon whom does this liability to exposure 
 press with the heaviest disadvantage ? Not upon 
 those to whom (rightly understood) it might 
 be the most serviceable. There are religious 
 writers who, far from being daunted by this sort 
 of publicity, seem rather enheartened by it to 
 
 i
 
 114 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 give the rein to their taste for enormous whims, 
 or virulent excesses; and who claim the praise 
 of pious valour in setting all contempt at defi- 
 ance. There are too, some, whose happy insen- 
 sibility, or whose sheer forgetfulness of things 
 around them, enables them to speak and write 
 before all the world, as if the walls of a monastery 
 were between them and mankind. 
 
 But it is not so with others ; and not so with 
 some who best might reanimate the church by 
 lofty strains of sacred eloquence. Feebleness and 
 over-caution a latent thought of the profane 
 world, check our course heavenward ; nothing 
 is so rare in religious literature as the boldness, 
 the freshness, the manly force, the profundity, 
 the elevation, which give a charm to our older 
 writers. It seems as if we had forgotten that as 
 the hope of the Gospel must, by the necessity of 
 the case, be an object of mockery to those whose 
 mad devotion to the present life, and rejection 
 of the future, imply contempt of whatever is 
 true and great, it is as well to meet this mockery 
 on higher, as on lower ground. 
 
 While the modesty and meekness of the Chris- 
 tian temper are preserved, what is so becoming 
 to the public advocate of religion as the highest 
 tone of confidence and fervour? If other men 
 are entangled in endless surmises, or deluded by 
 futile theories, he knows on what ground his 
 faith rests. He knows whom he serves : his 
 calculations are all formed on a clear foresight
 
 STATE OF SACRED SCIENCE. 115 
 
 of futurity. On the present scene of things 
 its eager frivolities its childish impetuosities, 
 and its turbulence and its virulence, he looks 
 with a feeling hard to designate ; for it is not 
 contempt ; not petulance ; not indifference ; not 
 misanthropic scorn ; but yet gathers something 
 from each of these emotions ; and has the force 
 of all, without the poison of any. Of whom 
 should the public and well-instructed advocate 
 of the Gospel be afraid ? He has the highest 
 truths in his possession ; and is hastening on 
 (with all around him, coadjutors and opponents) 
 to the hour which shall well vindicate the part 
 he has chosen, and well conclude the course he 
 has run ! 
 
 It is the want of a fearless and aggressive 
 
 /energy which, at the present moment, embol- 
 dens infidelity, staggers the wavering, and leaves 
 the ground open to the wantonness and the im- 
 pudence of visionaries. How great a revolution 
 
 in favour of Christianity might, under the con- 
 duct of the Divine Spirit, be now effected by 
 the intrepidity of even a single champion, whose 
 courage, firm as that of the apostles, should be 
 sustained by piety and wisdom like theirs ! 
 
 Partly in obedience to the law of mediocrity, 
 which rules the age, and partly in uneasiness 
 from the publicity that attaches to religious 
 literature, those who might be competent to 
 treat the loftiest themes, betake themselves to 
 lower ground, where, while their talents and 
 
 i 2
 
 116 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 accomplishments insure them distinction, little 
 is hazarded. Matters of fact and erudition; all 
 things minute, definite, and immediately appli- 
 cable; the fields of history technical criticism, 
 and ingenious elucidation, are safe and facile. 
 The ephemeral controversies that spring from 
 the collision of our religious factions, are also 
 free from the peculiar peril which weighs upon 
 us. And happily, too, the very humblest style 
 of devout or practical exposition is exempt from 
 the eye and interference of the giant criticism 
 we tremble at. These and similar topics employ 
 therefore superior minds. 
 
 But who ventures to rise toward the upper 
 region of celestial meditation ? Who forgets 
 the world its madness, and its scorn, while he 
 enters the gates of immortal hope ? Who is it 
 that, as if the contemners of Heaven were not 
 in hearing, converses with, and concerning, the 
 glories of the Supreme ? Who, with a reverent 
 yet uncurbed eloquence, fitting the occasion, 
 speaks of the mysteries of Redemption? Or 
 who, regardless of the powers of calumny that 
 keep their state as ministers of vengeance around 
 the throne of ancient Prejudice, explores anew 
 the half-hidden, half-revealed wonders that yet 
 couch beneath the words of Scripture ? Labours 
 like these, and enterprises so great, demand, 
 in times such as our own, an intrepidity equal 
 almost to that needed to profess the Gospel at 
 the stake !
 
 STATE OF SACRED SCIENCE. 117 
 
 While the rudiments of truth are happily pre- 
 served among us, there never has been an age, 
 perhaps, wherein less of the intensity of the 
 meditative faculty was concentrated upon sacred 
 themes, than at present. Our biblical industry 
 is all devoted to the letter : and it must be con- 
 fessed that exegetical erudition abounds in a 
 very fair degree. These lower studies (indis- 
 pensable indeed) fall in marvellously well with 
 the frigid timidity of the times, and with its love 
 of palpable utility : they run glibly by the side 
 of those practical and applicatory sciences which 
 are receiving universal homage. Professors and 
 students of theology feel to be quite in harmony 
 with the spirit of the age, while they thus con- 
 fine their attention to matters of fact to things 
 small and tangible, and which may instantly and 
 visibly be carried home to some specific point of 
 interpretation. 
 
 Shall we then, because we wish for what may 
 seem more great and substantial than we see, 
 invite the return of some one of the obsolete 
 forms of theology ? Better be meagre as we 
 are, than be so enlarged. And yet it must be 
 admitted that those ponderous schemes of sacred 
 philosophy, though they spoiled, in their turns, 
 the simplicity of the Gospel, did call into ex- 
 ercise a force of mind a sustained power of 
 comprehension, and discussion, which have 
 long ceased to appear within the precincts of 
 the Church. --The Platonic, or profound and
 
 118 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 meditative theology, after a long reign, fell be- 
 fore the activity and the tactics of the Aristotelian) 
 or logical and disputatious. This again, having 
 lived to its dotage, received a deadly wound 
 from the hand of the Reformers ; who erected 
 in its place its IMAGE, the Dogmatic theology ; 
 and to this all men did obeisance : and still in 
 measure do so ; for it has neither given place 
 to a successor, nor been formally consigned to 
 oblivion. Nevertheless it exists rather in ske- 
 leton, to fill an unclaimed chair of state, than 
 exercises any positive domination. Nothing 
 rises in the room of the ancient systems. There 
 is silence in the halls of Sacred Science, as if 
 all men were waiting, in anxious expectation 
 of the descent upon earth of the bright and fair 
 form of Celestial Wisdom. 
 
 And yet this meagerness of our theology has 
 its palliation, and even its praise. Who would 
 exchange the laborious benevolence of our times 
 for the intellectual power of past ages? It is 
 the just commendation of the (spiritual) Church 
 of the present day, that it prefers the propaga- 
 tion of the Gospel, and the service of humanity, 
 to every other pursuit. So long as the sad 
 reality is before us, of the ignorance and irre- 
 ligion of the large majority of mankind, nothing 
 (it is felt) should be much thought of, no- 
 thing much employ our energy, but the great 
 and exigent work of evangelizing the nations. 
 While our brethren of mankind are untaught,
 
 STATE OF SACRED SCIENCE. 119 
 
 unblessed, desolate, and without hope, our pri- 
 vate tastes must be foregone, and our personal 
 advantage delayed, or even abandoned. Charity 
 demands that, leaving untouched the hidden 
 treasures of the sacred volume, we hasten to 
 carry the necessary bread of life to all that are 
 famishing. There is a true magnanimity in this 
 determination, and a just praise, that ought to 
 shield from rebuke many deficiencies. Pro- 
 vided always, that such deficiencies are properly 
 and truly attributable to the perpetual assiduity 
 of our zeal. 
 
 Even if the labours of Christian beneficence 
 do not fill all hours, and all days, they scarcely 
 allow of the formation of those opposite habits 
 which are demanded by arduous studies, and 
 without which advancement will scarcely be 
 made beyond the rudiments of evangelical know- 
 ledge. The temper and the serenity of meditation 
 are disturbed. Amid engagements differing not 
 very much in their spirit from those of common 
 business, the soul is thrown from its centre, and 
 finds it hard to regain its equipoise. Meanwhile 
 (and it is to be noted) the public and sedulous 
 spirit of the religion of the day, although it 
 barely admits of the growth of celestial wisdom, 
 does not, in the same degree, forbid the acquire- 
 ment of matter-of-fact erudition. This sort of 
 learning may well enough be accumulated in 
 any temper of mind, or amid any distractions ; 
 nor can the utter want of it be well excused by
 
 120 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 any circumstances. There is therefore an intel- 
 ligible connexion between the increase of Biblical 
 or textural science, and the decay of the higher 
 kinds of sacred knowledge ; as both stand re- 
 lated to the distracting quality of our public 
 engagements. 
 
 The decline of Theology is favoured, more- 
 over, by incidental causes, which, as they are 
 inseparable from human nature, and not directly 
 blameworthy, may be adverted to without of- 
 fence. Men of sense, and of fair information, 
 well know that there are, within the range of 
 religious meditation, subjects which cannot with 
 much hope of advantage, or even with propriety, 
 be made matter of open converse until after 
 much patient and private consideration has been 
 bestowed upon them. They ask for days, or 
 months, of devout attention. Too ingenuous 
 to stand forward as moderator of serious dis- 
 cussions, upon matters of this sort, without the 
 prerequisite competency, he who is centre of his 
 circle, and who feels himself responsible for its 
 movements, deems it a point of discretion to 
 hush, or prorogue conversation. In this manner 
 religious intercourse, even in the best circles, 
 takes its range lower than well it might. On the 
 one part, it becomes tacitly a rule (and especially 
 while so much extravagance is abroad) to hold 
 all great or exciting themes under interdiction ; 
 and on the other part, a point of good-breeding 
 and deference, not to moot any such questions.
 
 STATE OF SACRED SCIENCE. 121 
 
 There is left open whatever is most trite, vapid, 
 or unimportant. 
 
 But that kind of Discretion which seeks safety 
 in ignorance and silence, is always short-sighted, 
 and fraught with peril : or if there have been 
 times when it might he put in practice, this is 
 not such a time. The remarkable tendency 
 to extravagance and exaggeration which distin- 
 guishes the present era, we may confidently say 
 is to be encountered, and held in check, only 
 by free, candid, intelligent, Biblical learning. 
 Cautions interdictions comminations, will not 
 serve us : such modes of treatment may retain 
 within the bounds of sobriety those who are in 
 little danger of being seduced from it, namely 
 the timid and the sluggish ; but will only hasten 
 the departure of those whom we shall most 
 grieve to see led away. It is not perhaps unfair 
 to regard the heresies, and the follies, and the 
 rancorous conceits that are now preying upon 
 the intestines of the church, as the natural 
 consequence of the unthoughtful, and unstu- 
 dious habits, that have grown upon us. During 
 now a long course of years we have been run- 
 ning hither and thither spending our days 
 in crowds ; have lost all relish for mental 
 labour ; have abhorred the toil of private 
 meditation have applauded only that which 
 tends to maintain and promote an artificial 
 agitation of the spirit. We deny a hearing to 
 writers who ask to converse with the Reader in
 
 122 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 his closet. We have become thoroughly super- 
 ficial, not to say frivolous, in matters of religion : 
 or, in a word, have reduced ourselves to a con- 
 dition in which we have no alternative, but to 
 follow every egregious phantasy that shews 
 itself, or to wrap ourselves in the thick mantle 
 of ignorance and apathy. Poor preparation this, 
 for arduous times ! 
 
 We do not look to all the consequences of 
 that movement which is rapidly going on. 
 Whenever the Christian community comes to be 
 pretty evenly divided between the adherents of 
 a servile " SOBRIETY," on the one side, and the 
 eager votaries of novelty on the other ; it must 
 soon happen that all high belief and credulity 
 will belong to the latter; while a disposition 
 hard to name but not altogether unlike Scepti- 
 cism, will characterize (or secretly influence) the 
 former. Visionaries and fanatics, of all classes, 
 feel, as if by instinct, that to admit any sort of 
 check in their course to listen at all to mere 
 reason or to grant that any dogma is less than 
 infallibly certain, is to lose hold of their prop : 
 the tumid expansion of the mind dwindles : 
 a mortal chill enters the heart ; and all is 
 lost ! Reckless belief, more and more voracious 
 every day, is the necessary mode of this order of 
 feeling. And it must be granted to find a pal- 
 liation or apology, in what is now happening 
 around us, when a bold Atheism in one quar- 
 ter, and the spread of an insidious theological
 
 STATE OF SACRED SCIENCE. 123 
 
 infidelity in another, seem to make unblenching 
 faith the capital virtue of a Christian. 
 
 Yet who does not know that exorbitant cre- 
 dulity, which overlays Christianity with absurdi- 
 ties, can never make head against unbelief? 
 Much rather does it promote the mischief it 
 oppugns. This at least is clearly seen by the 
 " discreet " party among us ; and the inward 
 disgust given them by the vehemence and in- 
 temperance of many, disposes them to entertain, 
 too favourably, the modern sceptical theory of 
 interpretation. It is not that this theory is 
 accepted or accredited ; but it lodges itself in 
 our closets ; is spoken with in secret ; advice 
 is asked of it under difficulties. Yes, we are 
 dealing with the German Infidelity, much as an 
 honourable man who has fallen into embarrass- 
 ments, holds a whispering parley at a private 
 door with a usurer, whom he knows to be plot- 
 ting his ruin. 
 
 The truth must be confessed, that the foreign 
 Biblical criticism severely tries our English 
 orthodoxy. It tries us not because it is strong 
 and sound ; but because we have not in readi- 
 ness either that exercised power of mind, or that 
 erudition, with which it should be encountered. 
 There is indeed a bluff pertinacity which is a 
 proper defence in a moment of surprise : but 
 it must be used only for a moment; that is, only 
 until we can assume our weapons. In adopting 
 a permanent mode of repelling those who assail
 
 124 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 our convictions, we must neither take a lesson 
 from the stupid and obdurate animal that rolls 
 himself up, and presents his globe of bristles to 
 his foe, nor from the timid one that runs to his 
 burrow at any alarm. If indeed we cannot rebut 
 German infidelity by reason and learning, our 
 prospects are deplorable. 
 
 Against the licentious impiety of France, 
 which, blown high by the winds of political 
 agitation, broke upon our shores forty years 
 ago, and threatened to shatter the entire struc- 
 ture of our Christianity, we were (as the event 
 proved) pretty well provided. We understood 
 the grounds of our faith, as then assailed ; and 
 adhered, not blindly, but intelligently, to our 
 principles. France, rife with profligate sophistry, 
 and bold by ignorance, challenged us tauntingly 
 to throw off, as she had done, the " obsolete 
 belief;" and to become, like her young sons 
 " gods, knowing good and evil." But we under- 
 stood, far better than herself, the merits of the 
 question : we looked to that question manfully ; 
 gained new convictions ; and under the aid of 
 the Divine Favour held (in the main) our glory, 
 as " a nation keeping the Truth." 
 
 And we still hold it; but are now put in 
 peril by a far more insidious attack upon the 
 first principles of faith. The strength of the 
 French infidelity consisted altogether (ribaldry 
 apart) in an endeavour to supersede the proper 
 question of historical evidence, by mooting
 
 STATE OF SACRED SCIENCE. 125 
 
 abstract controversies which, if determined in the 
 atheistic sense, would at once sweep the world 
 of the notion of immortality, in whatsoever 
 manner attested. This endeavour failed, partly 
 because of its intrinsic absurdities ; but chiefly 
 in consequence of the insuperable force of the 
 direct proof of the Gospel history, which men^ 
 unless infatuated, could not be induced to forget. 
 But we are now deterred from having prompt 
 recourse to the same rational and efficacious 
 means of defending our faith in miraculous in- 
 tervention, by our solicitude to listen to what 
 recommends itself by erudition which we wist- 
 fully admire, and dare not call in question. 
 Every particle of the German infidelity must be 
 scattered to the winds, when it is proved, that 
 Jesus rose from the dead. We fail, or delay, 
 to convince ourselves on this capital point; 
 because the men who will neither ingenuously 
 deny it, nor candidly admit it, are able to enter- 
 tain us with a thousand felicitous elucidations 
 of the evangelical records, such as we had not 
 dreamed of. 
 
 To refuse a hearing to these men would be to 
 forego an immense benefit : to expose their 
 error in the manner it demands, would seem 
 ungrateful : or it would ask for more energy and 
 promptitude than is found among us. Or let 
 it be said, that we are disheartened by the con- 
 scious want of that original erudition in which 
 the foreign professors excel. Alas ! we have to
 
 
 126 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 import learning from Germany, before we can 
 say any thing to its sophistry! 
 
 In this exigence some betake themselves to a 
 rude persistency in whatever they have here- 
 tofore thought to be true ; whether so or not ; 
 some to virulent declamation against, they know 
 not what Demon called Neology ; and some 
 to a timid, respectful, inconclusive armistice 
 with the adversary ; the result of which must 
 be advantage to the assailant, and loss and 
 damage to the weaker side. Meanwhile the 
 main problem of German Infidelity is not dealt 
 
 with ; and there is reason to fear that the full 
 FV 
 
 effect upon English Christianity of that idle 
 theory, has not yet displayed itself. 
 
 But it is not altogether improbable that 
 the course of affairs in the north and centre 
 of Europe may so set at large the German 
 infidelity as shall disabuse our English deference 
 towards it : Set it at large that is to say, 
 release the learned stipendiaries of the foreign 
 universities from the embarrassment they labour 
 under of holding their appointments as teachers 
 of Christianity. Here and there a fond dreamer 
 excepted, men will not go on toiling, year after 
 year, in the bootless task of reconciling things 
 which they well know to be incompatible 
 except from an imperative motive. Provide for 
 these professors liberally in another manner, 
 and we should soon cease to be either instructed 
 or annoyed by their biblical speculations. Give
 
 STATE OF SACRED SCIENCE. 127 
 
 them posts and, emoluments, on some other con- 
 dition, and they would for ever leave prophets 
 and apostles alone. Many of them, no doubt, 
 are honourable men, and loathe the part they 
 are acting. It is pity that their services were 
 not at once discharged from religion, of which, 
 with all their learning, they know nothing, and 
 concentrated upon general literature, which they 
 might promote and adorn. 
 
 Should such a revolution occur, and the 
 German Biblists become honest unbelievers ; 
 what is the course our English divines are to 
 take ? Shall they, to hide more speedily the 
 shame of their late deference to men who made 
 a jest of such homage, banish from their shelves 
 and their memories for ever the entire mass of 
 sceptical criticism ? This would be pusillani- 
 mous. Rather let them, with a manly energy 
 and industry, and in firm reliance upon the aid 
 of the Divine Instructor, move on, and occupy 
 the vacant and desolate ground of theology. 
 Let them so become MASTERS of whatever 
 relates (remotely or immediately) to religion, 
 that they may avail themselves of the ill- 
 directed learning of the modern foreign scholars, 
 and feel as secure from the mischief it con- 
 tains, as we do when we turn to the admi- 
 rable literary labours of the Benedictines, or the 
 Jesuits. 
 
 We must learn, by the aid of an invigo- 
 rated and well-informed industry, FITTING THE
 
 128 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 URGENCY OF THE TIMES, to combine the public 
 labours of Christian Charity, with arduous 
 studies ; and especially with the habit of pro- 
 found meditation upon the higher matters of 
 Divine Testimony.
 
 VIII. 
 THE HIDDEN WORLD. 
 
 " THE THINGS THAT ARE UNSEEN ARE ETERNAL." 
 
 THE main prerogative of the human mind is 
 its power of gathering general principles from 
 a multitude of diversified forms or appearances. 
 This faculty, to a greater or less extent, de- 
 velopes itself in all men ; but in some is so 
 vigorous that it predominates, and gives law to 
 the dispositions and pursuits : in such instances 
 its exercise is attended with a pleasurable emo- 
 tion of the most vivid sort. The preeminence 
 of the faculty of generalization constitutes what 
 is termed the philosophic character. 
 
 The delight wherewith minds of this class 
 contemplate universal truths, or abstract laws, 
 does not so much spring from perceiving that 
 some general principle holds good and reappears 
 in a great number of instances that very nearly, 
 or perfectly resemble, one the other ; as from 
 discovering the occult presence or efficacy of 
 some such principle in a multiplicity of cases 
 which have few points, or perhaps, no other 
 point of alliance beside this one of their obedi- 
 ence to the same general law. 
 
 The more there is of external diversity, or 
 K
 
 130 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 unlikeness, or of apparent contrariety among the 
 particular instances that are thus allied by their 
 subjection to a common rule, so much the more 
 of keen satisfaction or delight will be afforded 
 to the mind when it detects the hidden prin- 
 ciple of union. And not merely does diversity 
 of form enhance the pleasure of generalization, 
 but it is augmented, also, by mere remoteness of 
 time or place. Thus, if we could glance for a 
 moment at the surface of some world immensely 
 distant from our own, and there recognize the 
 operation of the same principles of life and 
 organization with which here we are familiar, 
 this perception of analogy would generate a 
 pleasurable surprise, made the more intense 
 by the recollection of the vast stretch, or wide 
 empire, of such common laws. 
 
 These elements of intellectual enjoyment are 
 richly furnished by the studies of the naturalist. 
 Now, it may be, he compares family with 
 family of the vegetable and animal world ; and, 
 after marking the ostensible peculiarities of each, 
 descends beneath the surface of their external 
 differences, and lays open those great and uni- 
 form principles of mechanical or chemical struc- 
 ture, to which all are conformed ; and (if the 
 figure may be used) he listens, and hears all 
 beings uttering, in their several dialects, one 
 and the same code of physical existence. Or, 
 turning from the present system of things, the 
 lover of nature explores the deep strata of the
 
 THE HIDDEN WOULD. 131 
 
 earth, gathers thence the fossil remains of long 
 extinct tribes, and, with more pleasure than the 
 vulgar can conceive of, or he express, brings to 
 light the unvarying laws of animal organization, 
 as they held their sway ages ago, among orders 
 the most strangely unlike to the species of the 
 recent world. Whether he looks to the extreme 
 distances of space, or of time, the naturalist, 
 after giving a moment to the obvious or com- 
 mon gratification that springs from novelty and 
 diversity, seeks and soon finds the more lasting 
 and substantial pleasures of reason, while mark- 
 ing the oneness and harmony of nature, even 
 where her clothing and her colours, and her 
 proportions have the least of uniformity. 
 
 If we might so speak, it is by her diversities, 
 her gay adornments, her copious fund of forms, 
 her sportive freaks of shape and colour, that 
 Nature allures the eye of man, while she draws 
 him on to the more arduous, but more noble 
 pursuit of her hidden analogies. Unlikeness 
 awakens his attention ; uniformity, or simplicity, 
 fixes and enchains it ; and, by the pleasure it 
 confers, ensures, on his part, the laborious in- 
 vestigation of abstruse principles. 
 
 While the human mind is thus employed, an 
 insensible process goes on, the effect of which is 
 gradually to invest general truths with a sort of 
 majesty, as well as beauty ; so that, at length, 
 this new charm rivals and prevails over the 
 graces and attractions of exterior diversity, and
 
 132 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 imparts more and more force and advantage to 
 that which is occult, until it quite overpowers 
 that which is visible. 
 
 Thus it is, that, in the course of philosophical 
 pursuits, abstract principles come forth more 
 into the light stand out with more distinctness 
 before the mind, and, ere long, the laws which 
 at first were apprehended with some degree of 
 painful effort, occupy it as pleasant and facile 
 matters in the hour of relaxation, as well as 
 engage it in the season of strenuous exertion. 
 At last, whatever is universal prevails altogether 
 over whatever is individual, and the rational 
 faculty, getting released from the disturbance 
 and fascination of things external accidental 
 trivial, contemplates with open eye all that is 
 great and permanent. 
 
 The whole evidence of our modern physical 
 science serves to establish the belief (a belief 
 in itself highly reasonable) that the mechanical 
 and chemical laws which prevail in our planet, 
 are common to other planets, and to other 
 systems even the most remote of them; so 
 that, in this sense, the inhabitant of any one 
 world would find himself at home in any other : 
 just as the traveller, how much soever he may 
 be, for a moment, perplexed by diversity of 
 climate, or strangeness of foreign manners, soon 
 confesses that nature and man are essentially 
 the same in the country he has reached, and 
 the country he has left.
 
 THE HIDDEN WORLD. 133 
 
 But, on the other hand, it cannot well be 
 doubted, that the same principle of inexhaustible 
 variety which, as we see, in our world, throws 
 out so many thousand forms of beauty, has also 
 its full play in other worlds, and takes its range 
 as freely in one district of the universe as in 
 another. If so, it follows that, could we visit 
 and explore other regions, or were permitted 
 to tread the fields of space, and to set foot, as 
 pilgrims, upon distant spheres, each newly dis- 
 covered world must amaze the eye, by its sin- 
 gular fashion, or peculiar aspect, or particular 
 mould of beauty : each would present its proper 
 and distinguishing style of symmetry and colour. 
 Nevertheless, beneath all these diversities, and 
 amid the confusion of these special graces, there 
 would still be couched (as the supposition im- 
 plies) the few great canons of organic combi- 
 nation ; so that each planet of all the skies 
 would at once challenge to itself an indivi- 
 duality, and confess its relationship, or bond of 
 alliance, with all the rest. 
 
 And who shall duly conceive of that emotion 
 of wonder and pleasure, with which the forms 
 and contrivances of so many dissimilar worlds 
 must present to a rational mind what may well 
 be called the majesty or awful force and sanc- 
 tion of those few canons to which we find sub- 
 mission is made in all regions of the material 
 system ? In returning to our abode from an 
 excursion such as we have imagined, the familiar
 
 134 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 objects that adorn it, ceasing to attract the eye 
 by their individuality, would henceforward stand 
 before us as the mere symbols of the abstract 
 truths that had now gained possession of the 
 mind. 
 
 We may safely employ the analogy which 
 we have thus drawn from the material world, 
 and transfer it, with its inferences, to the intel- 
 lectual and spiritual system. And we institute 
 our parallel as follows : It is not to be ques- 
 tioned that the laws of the Divine Government 
 (not less than the first principles of the material 
 world) are one and the same in all places of the 
 universe ; for these laws are nothing else than 
 expressions of the Eternal Excellence its good- 
 ness, and wisdom, and purity. As in the Supreme 
 Being there is no variableness, so neither can 
 there be contrariety or opposition of purposes 
 within the circle of his administration. Never- 
 theless, though the laws and ultimate issue of the 
 moral system must be one and unchanging, and 
 must challenge application to all possible cases, 
 yet is it reasonable to believe that the modes 
 under which this one purpose or rule of the 
 divine government reaches its accomplishment 
 are as various as the worlds wherein it is taking 
 its course are many. In other words, we are 
 compelled to suppose, on the one hand, that the 
 intelligent universe presents an absolute unity 
 of principle ; and on the other, that it offers 
 infinite dissimilarities of means and events.
 
 THE HIDDEN WORLD. 135 
 
 If each sphere or planet has its own physical 
 character its peculiar fashion and form ; so, 
 doubtless, has each family of intelligent beings 
 its special destiny its single and peculiar his- 
 tory, and its individual round of fortunes. The 
 ways of Him who sits on the throne of universal 
 dominion are " a great deep," and of his judg- 
 ments or dispensations " there is no end." 
 
 Now in the very same way that extensive 
 generalization in matters of physical science 
 imparts gradually to universal laws a predomi- 
 nance in the mind over visible appearances and 
 single instances ; so, by an analogy of principle, 
 would an extensive knowledge of the intel- 
 lectual and moral system, as it now exists, or 
 has heretofore developed itself, in other worlds, 
 produce a similar prevalence of abstract truths 
 over the impression of particular facts. If a 
 moral instead of a physical process of generali- 
 zation could be pursued by the human mind in 
 its passage from system to system ; and if it 
 could listen to the history, witness the condi- 
 tion, and learn the destiny, of thousands and 
 thousands again of immortal tribes, whatever 
 was uniform or fixed in the maxims of the divine 
 government, and which presented itself ever and 
 anew in every world, would, at length, assume 
 to itself a paramount importance, and fill the 
 faculty of rational contemplation almost to the 
 exclusion of lesser objects. 
 
 Let it be granted that, for a while perhaps
 
 136 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 long the spirit of the traveller through the 
 universe would be overpowered by its emotions 
 of amazement and curiosity, in contemplating 
 so many diversities of social constitution 
 so much strange magnificence, so many new 
 forms of greatness or splendour ; the ener- 
 gies revolutions adventures of innumerable 
 families. This must be : but it is certain that 
 a mind constituted like that of man, would, at 
 length (if we may so speak) collapse, or fall 
 in upon its centre ; it must return, and take up 
 its proper nature its innate usage of generali- 
 zation ; it must court the calmness of reason, 
 as a relief from the turmoil, and perplexity, and 
 fatigue, of looking so much abroad. Then 
 would commence that process of the under- 
 standing, which digests and simplifies multifa- 
 rious objects, and by which the burden and 
 distress of too much variety is relieved. Or 
 perhaps, suddenly, in the full course of eager 
 contemplation, the spirit would be arrested by 
 the thought of the universal law, which (amid 
 these changing scenes) was displaying its un- 
 changing force ; and, as with an instantaneous 
 revulsion, it would at once pass over from things 
 individual and visible, to things invisible and 
 permanent. 
 
 In like manner, as from physical generaliza- 
 tion, the beautiful (might we say, awful) sim- 
 plicity of the material world fills the mind with 
 a calm and elevated pleasure ; so, and with much
 
 THE HIDDEN WORLD. 137 
 
 more power, would a similar process, carried on 
 while the moral world at large was passing 
 under the eye, bring in upon the heart those 
 universal principles of the divine government 
 which are the expression of the Divine Nature. 
 These principles would gradually come forth 
 from amid the innumerable instances of their 
 efficiency ; they would slowly and silently pre- 
 sent themselves in a clearer and still clearer 
 light ; they would more and more be disengaged 
 from anomalies or exceptions. The unchanging 
 and unsullied glories of absolute purity, wisdom, 
 and benevolence, would, with an accelerating 
 augmentation, prevail over the glare and show 
 of individual objects. Whatever is limited, 
 partial, temporary, contingent, accidental, must 
 fade and become dim, or take its proper 
 place of comparative insignificance. Meanwhile, 
 though the SUPREME, who dwelleth in light 
 inaccessible, were not visibly revealed, never- 
 theless his actual presence, as Ruler of all 
 beings, would be declared in the brightness of 
 his attributes ; so that the issue of so large a 
 knowledge of the moral and intellectual system 
 must cause, to the rational spirit a vanishing of 
 the creation, with its diversities, and a mani- 
 festation of the Creator in his unchangeable 
 perfections. Or otherwise to express the same 
 thing, that which is " seen and temporal" would 
 be lost in that which is " unseen and eternal."
 
 IX. 
 
 I 
 
 THE STATE OF SECLUSION. 
 
 THE THINGS THAT ARE SEEN ARE TEMPORAL.' 
 
 A GLIMPSE of the immensity of the material 
 system is granted to the eye of man ; and the 
 industry of science at once certifies and greatly 
 extends our knowledge of the vastness of the 
 creation. But it is not so with the moral 
 system, of which absolutely nothing is seen 
 beyond the homestead of the human family. 
 And even of that small circle so small a segment 
 comes under the eye of any individual, and 
 there is in what is seen (itself a little portion) so 
 much apparent anomaly, so much confusion, 
 disorder, and variation, that GENERAL PRINCIPLES 
 are almost entirely hidden, or lost among am- 
 biguous instances, and exceptions. 
 
 This is so much the fact, that it is not 
 without painful and dubious efforts of abstruse 
 reasoning, that the invariable laws of the moral 
 world, or what may be called the axioms of 
 virtue, are to be gathered, in the way of in- 
 duction, from the course of human affairs. 
 Thus it is that divine philosophy, though her 
 cause is good, and her argument valid,, is driven
 
 THE STATE OF SECLUSION. 139 
 
 to plead anxiously for her rights in the world, 
 against the obstreperous voice of passion and 
 interest. Virtue, though reason be at her side, 
 speaks in the tone of the feeble and oppressed, 
 when surrounded by the powerful and the 
 unjust. It is true, that a testimony from hea- 
 ven has come to sustain the cause of virtue ; 
 and yet, even this testimony, this voice from 
 God himself, is uttered among men, not in peals 
 of thunder, which all must hearken to, but as 
 a whisper in the ears of those who will listen. 
 So it is that those canons, or first principles of 
 the moral system, by which eventually the 
 destinies of all worlds are to be determined, 
 here float about, as matters of speculation and 
 controversy, which now for a moment triumph 
 and prevail ; and now again are overborne and 
 discarded. 
 
 Were it otherwise, that is to say, were the 
 entire moral system, or a considerable portion of 
 it, always exposed to our inspection, so that 
 universal principles should constantly have that 
 advantage over partial instances, which naturally 
 belongs to them, in that case the dullest mind 
 must admit the inference which would thence 
 accrue in favour of wisdom. The heaviest ear 
 would then be awakened by those sounds, as 
 of thunder, which would assert the unalterable 
 obligations of virtue. A penetrating conviction 
 of the folly and damage of vice must possess 
 itself of every spirit. Our difficult methods of
 
 140 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 reasoning on questions of right and wrong 
 would be rejected and forgotten ; the dim 
 knowledge of duty which now guides us, must 
 fade ; the faultering motives of our unstable 
 virtue must be superseded ; the slumber of the 
 soul, with all the dreams and fantasies of that 
 slumber, must be broken, and henceforth an 
 incalculable enhancement of the emotions of 
 the moral life (whether for the better or the worse) 
 must take place. 
 
 A purpose wholly incompatible with any such 
 enhancement or intensity of those emotions, 
 is manifestly to be accomplished in the pre- 
 sent state ; and this plainly is the reason why 
 no acquaintance with the great world of intelli- 
 gent and accountable beings can be accorded 
 to man, so long as that purpose remains in 
 suspense. The constant rule of the existing 
 system, the common character of all its arrange- 
 ments is this That an equipoise of motives, a 
 doubtful conflict between antagonist principles 
 shall be maintained. None of the elements of 
 the moral life shall become so far paramount, as 
 absolutely to exclude their opposites. Disposi- 
 tions are to be formed, tried, and fixed, under 
 circumstances which shall allow no overwhelm- 
 ing force to any one class of inducements ; and 
 which shall throw much obscurity over abstract 
 rules, when applied to specific occasions. In a 
 word, a course of probation is to take place, of 
 which it is a necessary condition that Evil shall
 
 THE STATE OF SECLUSION. 141 
 
 often present itself under a semblance of Good ; 
 and Good, as often, be shrouded under a disguise 
 of Evil ; so that an ill choice may become pos- 
 sible to a rational agent, and a right choice be 
 rendered difficult. It is evident that the specific 
 intention of the system under which we are 
 acting would be defeated, or surrendered, if 
 Generalization, in matters of morality, could 
 advance so far as to prevail over the immediate 
 impression of particular inducements ; or, in 
 other words, if universal principles eternal truth, 
 stood always in the mental perception more pro- 
 minent than the reasons of each single occasion. 
 Even if we were ignorant of the actual con- 
 struction of the material world, we might antici- 
 pate that a moral system such as our own being 
 supposed the scene or theatre of exercise must 
 be A PLACE OF SECLUSION; a narrow and limited 
 area, shut out from the great world and general 
 assembly of intelligent beings. The probationers 
 must not see or know that, the knowledge of 
 which would at once dissipate the obscurity 
 that invests questions of right and wrong. They 
 may indeed receive a rule of conduct, and they 
 may be coldly informed of the distant conse- 
 quences of their present course of action ; but 
 this information must itself take its place quietly 
 among those reasons that are much more valid 
 than imperative. Furthermore, all free commu- 
 nication must be interdicted between the pro- 
 bationers and those other orders of accountable
 
 142 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 beings who, from a larger or longer experience, 
 and from a more extended knowledge of the 
 divine government, might be inclined to use 
 vehement dissuasions, or might even attempt 
 to compel submission to the unalterable laws 
 of that government. 
 
 Brief intimations may reach the proba- 
 tioners ; hints, and warnings, and encourage- 
 ments may be afforded to them ; but no open 
 correspondence must be allowed to be held 
 with the upper world : for such correspondence 
 would at once nullify the conditions of the 
 probationary system. 
 
 And are not such, in fact, the circumstances 
 of that abode to which the human family is con- 
 fined ? The place of our trial is as effectively a 
 prison, as if our sky were a hemisphere of brass. 
 We may indeed look out freely on every side 
 upon the populous regions of illimitable space ; 
 but with the inhabitants of those regions we can 
 hold no parley. Or if we look within the walls, 
 it is still, and it is always true, that " the things 
 eternal," that is to say, the permanent and uni- 
 versal principles of tlie moral system the constant 
 tendencies and ultimate issues of good and 
 evil, are hidden and unseen ; while those things 
 that are (Trpoa/taijoa) for a season "the things 
 temporal," do, by their irregularities, their com- 
 plexity, their very insignificance, as well as their 
 obtrusive glare, serve more to conceal than 
 to display more to confound than to illus-
 
 THE STATE OF SECLUSION. 143 
 
 trate, the great axioms of eternal virtue. The 
 attractions, the dangers, the urgent interests of 
 the present state, form (may we say) a screen 
 which, with its gaudy and various colours, its 
 painted pomps and trickeries, hangs on every 
 side before the eye of man, encircling his theatre 
 of exercise, and fencing out from his knowledge 
 the great world of intellectual life. 
 
 That the rule <//" seclusion is the law of the 
 divine government might be inferred, with 
 some degree of certainty, from what we behold 
 of the actual construction of the material uni- 
 verse. Why is it that the solid frame-work 
 of nature (the purpose and intention of which 
 can be nothing else than to sustain conscious 
 beings) instead of presenting a continuous sur- 
 face, that might be traversed from side to side, 
 is actually broken up into innumerable globes ; 
 and these globes suspended in thin space at 
 incalculable distances one from another? Why 
 is it that, to obtain standing-room for his intel- 
 ligent family, the Creator has taken a latitude, 
 a height, a depth, which to created minds is 
 equivalent to absolute infinitude ? Why, unless 
 it be to give effect to this necessary law of 
 seclusion and separation ? We say that there 
 is seen, legibly inscribed upon the breadth of the 
 midnight skies, a truth succinctly expressed in 
 the words, " The things eternal (universal) are 
 unseen." And that special arrangement of the 
 material system is peculiarly worthy of notice,
 
 144 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 which, while all intercourse between neighbour- 
 ing worlds is effectively prevented, allows the 
 vastness of the creation to be a spectacle to 
 each portion of it. In truth, nothing in phy- 
 sical philosophy is so amazing as the means by 
 which objects, much more remote one from the 
 other than the utmost range of calculation can 
 extend to, are made perceptible one to the 
 other. If the mere greatness of creation is 
 wonderful, there is even a higher, or a more 
 superlative wonder, in the fact that this great- 
 ness should be cognizable from every point ; 
 or that, at any point where a percipient being 
 may have his station, thither, as to a centre, 
 the lines of knowledge should converge, so that 
 the mind of that being should gather to itself true 
 and distinct notices of whatever floats within 
 the immeasurable sphere of stellar light! 
 
 And if so amazing an apparatus has been had 
 recourse to for the purpose of conveying to us a 
 knowledge of the greatness of the creation if 
 God, after extending his productive power incal- 
 culably, has superadded to the whole a lustre 
 which exhibits all to all ; so likewise has he 
 enabled us, by fair methods of inference and 
 analogy, to attain the belief that all worlds are 
 (like our own) the homes of life and intelligence : 
 and we are then, by the same rules of analogy, 
 led to suppose that the occupants of each of 
 these widely separated spheres are, like our- 
 selves, confined to their several birth-places
 
 THE STATE OF SECLUSION. 145 
 
 are, like ourselves, interdicted correspondence 
 with the universal realm, and denied (as we) the 
 benefit if indeed it were a benefit, that might 
 accrue from a more extensive experience than 
 that which belongs to their home history. 
 
 This same law of seclusion which we see 
 legibly written upon the material universe, 
 is also carried out through all the arrange- 
 ments of our own world, and in many modes 
 takes effect, until each individual of man- 
 kind is straitened in his sphere, and shut up 
 within a circle exceedingly small ; so that if 
 his particular experience be compared with the 
 entire experience, not indeed of the universe, 
 but only of the human race, or even of one 
 generation of the race, the disproportion is in- 
 calculable ; and so it is certainly true to him, that 
 " the things eternal (universal) are unseen ;" while 
 the things which he actually beholds are those 
 only that are partial, and " for a season." 
 
 To effectuate the purposes of the moral sys- 
 tem, and to secure the necessary conditions of the 
 exercise of principles, it is not enough that man 
 should be confined to one world; he must, 
 within that world, be again and yet again se- 
 cluded : and this is done by various means ; as 
 first The entire human family is parcelled out 
 through timej by the succession of generations : 
 and as the term of life barely measures two of the 
 periods wherein the race is renovated, each ge- 
 neration knows only its immediate predecessors ; 
 
 L
 
 146 , SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 and, except so far as tradition and history con- 
 vey to it (like fragments from a wreck) some 
 loose particulars of the knowledge of the more 
 ancient races of men, each generation, each 
 successive rank, comes forward as a novice upon 
 the stage of life, knowing absolutely nothing of 
 all that is to follow it, and almost nothing of 
 what preceded it. The rolling and swelling 
 flood of human life moves on in billows so brief 
 and proud, that, in rising to the brow 'of each 
 watery ridge, nothing of the general expanse is 
 beheld ; nothing seen, but the surge and fall 
 of the precursive wave. 
 
 Those peculiar physical sentiments that distin- 
 guish the several stages of life, or that naturally 
 spring from the circumstances attending each 
 stage, greatly intercept the transmission, or na- 
 tural descent of experience, from one generation 
 to another. The pride and heat of youthful 
 hope render the youth, conscious as he is of 
 vigour, impatient of paternal admonition ; and 
 then the pride and shame of the father, whose 
 experience is in fact the history of his own 
 follies, or crimes, again forbid, on nis part, a 
 true and candid delivery of the wisdom he has 
 so hardly gained. That knowledge of life which 
 the son receives from his father, is indeed valu- 
 able ; but it is scarcely more than a grain or 
 two in quantity. 
 
 Again, the human race of each generation 
 is divided, and effectively sequestered by
 
 THE STATE OF SECLUSION. 147 
 
 remoteness of geographical position ; by anti- 
 pathy of races ; by discordancy of tastes, and 
 modes of life ; and, most of all, by diversity of 
 speech. Speech, the prerogative and glory of 
 man, the instrument both of knowledge and 
 virtue, and the principal organ of advancement 
 in every line, has become jarred by so many 
 discords, that, though it subserves its purposes 
 within particular circles, it utterly refuses to 
 favour universal intercourse ; and on the con- 
 trary, enhances and perpetuates all those other 
 alienations that spring from remoteness of place, 
 or dissimilarity of habits. It is by language 
 (the very means of communion) that mankind 
 is severed and estranged, and almost as much 
 repelled, one from another, as if they were of 
 different species, or had come together from 
 different worlds. Who would have thought that 
 men the offspring of one womb, and parted 
 perhaps only by a river or chain of mountains, 
 should ever be reduced to the meagreness of 
 mute signs and gestures ! 
 
 But the law of seclusion does not here cease 
 to operate. By the perils, necessities, and straits 
 of ordinary life, by the pressure of every day's 
 burden, by the opposition of private interests, 
 and the contracted motives of selfishness, every 
 man (more or less) has his attention so con- 
 centrated upon the small surface of his parti- 
 cular advantages, his hopes and his fears, that 
 he is very far from being a free spectator of that
 
 148 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 circle or theatre of life which actually comes 
 within his range of observation. As his pur- 
 poses are partial, so are his habits of contempla- 
 tion : he walks in one path, and gathers all 
 the wisdom that he does at all gather, on the 
 narrow line of that one path. Not one man in 
 ten thousand is as wise as the facts he knows, 
 or might know, would make him. Then more- 
 over it is implied in the very supposition of 
 a system wherein many independent impulses 
 are incessantly traversing each other, that each 
 single train of events shall present as much 
 of intricacy, of confusion, and of apparent ano- 
 maly, as of order, or abstract principle : 
 every man, in his private sphere, has to do, not 
 with the average result of general rules ; but 
 with the special chances of single throws ; 
 the incidents and occasions that come athwart 
 him, for the trial of his motives, are fortuitous 
 combinations, more than instances that might 
 exemplify any given rule. Every man meets 
 with at least as many exceptions, or seeming 
 exceptions, as cases in point. Much ambiguity 
 attaches to the course of affairs, and ordinarily, 
 that which is most obtrusive, or is most impor- 
 tunate, and clamorous, in urging its pretensions, 
 is precisely what ought to be disregarded, and 
 put out of the question of right and wrong. 
 Comparatively few of the matters that come 
 under the hand of man, range themselves 
 clearly beneath general principles. Scarcely
 
 THE STATE OF SECLUSION. 149 
 
 does he catch a glimpse, amid every day's hurry 
 and care, of the working of abstract moral 
 laws ; but rather is tempted, every hour, to 
 believe that exceptions, if not more frequent, 
 are at least more valid than general rules. 
 
 The -faculty of generalization is indeed given 
 to man ; and he has also the propensity to 
 employ it ; and there are individuals who, in 
 the exercise of this power, gain acquaintance 
 with whatever is true and permanent : but in 
 looking to the mass of mankind, moral gene- 
 ralization does scarcely more than bud, or give 
 some inert indications of its existence, just as 
 the chrysalis does, of the possession of the in- 
 stincts of its future activity. Every circumstance 
 of vulgar life opposes the disposition of the soul 
 to spring upward, or stretch the wing of medita- 
 tion towards a higher sphere : the smallness 
 of common affairs, as well as their urgency ; 
 their uniformity, or sameness of recurrence ; 
 and their multiplicity ; the contaminations of 
 life, and its ridicule also ; the absurdity and the 
 folly that infest all parts of human conduct, as 
 well as the abjectness of the miseries that afflict 
 mankind, are all so many causes of depression, 
 or of limitation, that confine man to a spot 
 on the surface of earth, and hedge about his 
 prospect. 
 
 It is true that, in every age, the more in- 
 telligent and sagacious portion of mankind has, 
 amid the confusion and ambiguity of the moral
 
 150 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 system, rightly inferred universal principles ; 
 and, with more or less admixture of error, has 
 reached and defined the unalterable canons of 
 virtue. But (revelation apart) the process 
 through which this wisdom was gained has been 
 too abstruse, or difficult, to recommend itself to 
 vulgar minds ; and such, conversant always with 
 instances that seem to contradict the rule, have 
 been prone to believe that, to pay homage to 
 ABSTRACT TRUTH, is to worship a powerless or 
 a sleeping divinity. 
 
 It may perplex us to contemplate the con- 
 dition of man, as thus conversant as much 
 with the anomalies as with the rules of the 
 moral system : nevertheless the fact of his being 
 so, whatever purpose it may be destined to fulfil, 
 is manifestly only a part of the universal con- 
 stitution under the conditions of which, as it 
 seems, the innumerable families of the creation, 
 as well as ourselves, are placed : if men, in- 
 dividually, are confined to a narrow line of 
 things, and if nations are debarred much inter- 
 course, one with another, and if generations 
 come and pass away with little knowledge of 
 their precursors, and transmitting little of them- 
 selves to their successors, all this separation and 
 seclusion is only the ramification of that great 
 principle which, as we see. has broken up the 
 solid material of the universe into innumerable 
 gobules, and has swung each little sphere in 
 the centre of an impassable solitude of space.
 
 THE STATE OE SECLUSION. 151 
 
 But how much soever of ambiguity or con- 
 fusion may attend universal moral principles, 
 so far as they are to be gathered by each in- 
 dividual from his particular experience, neither 
 those principles, nor the method of establishing 
 them, are really invalid, or vague. The true 
 description of them is, that they are at once 
 demonstrable, or certain ; but not obtrusive. 
 This is the uniform character of every kind of 
 practical or theoretic wisdom in the present 
 state ; it is valid, and ascertainable ; but not 
 loud or importunate in its mode of challenging 
 attention. Whoever will, may acquaint himself 
 with truth and virtue : but neither truth nor 
 virtue stands on the highway, or forces herself 
 upon the notice of passengers. All this is only 
 in harmony with the apparent intention of the 
 visible world, considered as a framework for the 
 support of a moral system. The very same 
 law which divides the family of God into so 
 many separate communities, imposes (within the 
 circle of each community) a reserve, a silence, 
 upon wisdom and virtue. 
 
 Wisdom and virtue calmly utter their maxims ; 
 but compel no attention, no obedience: they are 
 not trumpet-tongued ; neither do they adduce, 
 as they might, in support of their doctrine, the 
 evidence of that great book of facts wherein is 
 written the complete history of man. Let it 
 only be imagined that, in every controversy be- 
 tween the inducements of evil, and the reasons
 
 152 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 of virtue, there were exhibited to the wavering 
 spirit all the cases in point, and all the issues of 
 those cases, that stand upon the faithful records 
 of the human family of all ages. What im- 
 petuosity of passion, what audacity, could resist 
 the inference in favour of virtue ; or rush upon 
 its guilty pleasures through the crowd of a 
 million of victims ? No such force is granted, 
 in the present state, to the reasons of virtue ; 
 and, turn which way we will, it is always true, 
 that " The things eternal are unseen the 
 things that are seen are temporal."
 
 X. 
 THE LIMITS OF REVELATION. 
 
 " AND WE PROPHESY IN PART." 
 
 DOES then Christianity fall in with the law of 
 reserve and seclusion which, as we see, is in- 
 scribed upon the front of the heavens, and 
 which we find to belong to all the arrangements 
 of the present state ; or does it stand in con- 
 trariety to this great rule : is it in harmony, 
 or out of harmony with the actual constitution 
 of the moral world? Does it come to us (as 
 the maxims of virtue come) unobtrusively, yet 
 validly? Like them, does it speak to those 
 who will listen, and convince those who give it 
 attention; or does it peal as thunder over the 
 heads of men, and compel all to confess its 
 authority ? 
 
 The question is answered at once by looking 
 to the actual position of Christianity in the 
 world : it convinces and satisfies all who give 
 heed to its evidence : but it leaves at their full 
 liberty all contemners. Nothing is more facile 
 than to remain in ignorance of God's revelation, 
 and under that ignorance to scorn it. This is
 
 154 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 as easy as to quench the light of natural virtue 
 by a course of profligacy ; and to acquire con- 
 tempt of all goodness, by familiarity with vice. 
 
 And if Christianity, like natural morality, 
 may readily be set at naught, so also does it 
 maintain its consistency with the apparent in- 
 tention of the construction of the material uni- 
 verse, by the parsimony of its revelations ; by 
 abstaining from the conveyance of any particle 
 of knowledge which is not strictly connected 
 with the interests and motives of human virtue. 
 Had it been the contrivance of man, it would 
 assuredly have overstepped this modesty, and 
 have challenged the wonder of mankind by many 
 amazing discoveries of things unseen. Or had 
 it been an accidental lifting of the veil of the 
 hidden world by the wantonness of some supernal 
 hand, it would have indulged human curiosity 
 with flashes or glimpses of things beyond our 
 sphere. But Christianity is a well-digested and 
 premeditated ACT of the Divine government ; 
 and therefore maintains strictly the secrecy that 
 sits awful mistress of creation, nor utters a 
 syllable of loose or gratuitous knowledge. 
 
 The veil of the Temple of the universal 
 kingdom is not rent is not raised, by the 
 coming of the Gospel. A voice from behind 
 that veil delivers to men the brief sentences of 
 the Divine will ; but neither does the speaker 
 invite interlocution, nor are the things spoken 
 of exhibited : the messenger from heaven does
 
 THE LIMITS OF REVELATION. 155 
 
 not abide with us ; does not spend his leisure in 
 our company ; is not to be surprised by ques- 
 tions of curiosity in moments of complacency : 
 he has imparted that which was to be given 
 and is gone ! 
 
 We may, if we please, quarrel with this rigour 
 in the communication of knowledge. How 
 easy would it have been, and how confirmatory 
 too of virtue, to have given us the history of 
 other races, and to have shewn, in the story of 
 their destiny, the force and sanction of the 
 unalterable rules of goodness ! Yes ; but first, 
 let us reprobate that mechanism of the universe 
 which has converted the abodes of intel- 
 ligent beings into prisons, and encircled each 
 family, as with a rampart of iron and of brass. 
 In the pride of speculation we repudiate Chris- 
 tianity, because, while professing to come from 
 the Creator of all worlds, it brings us not at all 
 into converse or contact with any world but 
 our own : the Gospel is as contractedly mun- 
 dane, as if its Author had been ignorant of any 
 other sphere than this. Christianity allies itself 
 not at all with the discoveries, and breathes 
 not the spirit of ASTRONOMY. No. But does 
 not the first and chief inference we derive 
 from the discoveries of this same astronomy 
 impel us to believe that God is now actually 
 dealing with the various tribes of his intelligent 
 family (as well as with ourselves) apart one from 
 the other? This very secrecy which so much
 
 156 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 offends us in the Scriptures, do we not read it 
 in the skies ? 
 
 Whether we speak of the Evidence of the 
 divine original of the Scriptures ; or of the 
 moral principles they contain, the same rule 
 holds good, which we have noticed to prevail 
 in reference to the maxims of natural virtue. 
 Those maxims may be ascertained and esta- 
 blished on the most satisfactory grounds : but 
 they never obtrude themselves upon our atten- 
 tion ; and it is always practicable to pass them 
 by, and go on in contempt of their voice. If it 
 were otherwise; that is to sav, if the principles 
 of integrity, of honour, of temperance, of bene- 
 volence, were loud and imperious, and were 
 wont to vindicate their authority by instanta- 
 neous retributions, falling on the head of every 
 transgressor, there could be no room for the 
 sort of trial human nature is actually under- 
 going ; and no place for such virtue, as human 
 virtue is required to be. Space, necessarily, 
 is given to the debauched to make mockery 
 of all goodness, and to call virtue hypocrisy, 
 if the virtuous are to be trained to constancy 
 in adhering to their principles, amid obloquy 
 and contempt. 
 
 The same rule demands that, if the calm- 
 ness and energy of faith are to be proved, 
 scepticism should have its play, and should 
 be permitted to run its round of scorn without 
 rebuke. This scope, given to disbelief, in
 
 THE LIMITS OF REVELATION. 157 
 
 regard to the truth of revealed religion, is 
 precisely parallel to the scope afforded to pro- 
 fligacy and fraud, in relation to the principles of 
 natural virtue. It is not that these principles 
 are in themselves ambiguous, or unfixed, for 
 the contrary is true : but the proof of them, with 
 their sanctions, does not flame out before our 
 eyes, does not ring in our ears ; in a word, is not 
 obtrusive, and therefore may readily be neglected 
 and forgotten. And so, as to the proof and 
 authority of religion ; it is complete ; it is irre- 
 fragable ; it is superabundant in quantity ; it is 
 perfect in quality : but it no more forces itself 
 upon the notice of men, than the magnificence 
 of the midnight skies constrains the vulgar mass 
 of mankind to adore the power and majesty of 
 the Creator. Of the myriads that, at night, are 
 thronging the streets of a populous city, perhaps 
 not more than one in ten thousand ever pauses 
 on his path to read the great lessons of theology 
 that are inscribed upon the skies : nevertheless 
 it is always true, whether that truth be heeded or 
 not, that "the heavens declare the glory of 
 God." And it is thus that the brighter glories 
 of the Divine Nature are spread forth upon the 
 page of Scripture ; but they attract only the eye 
 that freely fixes itself upon them : and whoever 
 turns away in listlessness, may do so at his 
 pleasure. 
 
 The imperative and overwhelming force that 
 might be brought in upon the side of virtue
 
 158 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 from an unreserved discovery of things uni- 
 versal and " eternal" is, as we see, rigidly denied 
 to man. Nature denies it, by confining him to 
 the acre of earth on which he is born ; and 
 Revelation denies it, by the stern reserve, the 
 paucity, and the incompleteness of its commu- 
 nications. This being our actual position (at 
 which it would be at once a folly and an impiety 
 to murmur) there are two courses for our 
 choice ; and not only must every man even- 
 tually choose between the two ; but every man's 
 present state, moral and religious, is practically 
 a choice of the one or the other. Before every 
 man, and on his right hand and on his left, 
 thronging, clamorous, and importunate, are the 
 things " seen and temporal ;" those single and 
 insulated facts, those special and individual occa- 
 sions, which urge themselves upon his regard ; 
 but always with a false argument, because it is 
 a partial argument. But there are also, within 
 the knowledge of every man, more or less dis- 
 tinctly, the things"" " unseen and eternal ;" or 
 those universal and unalterable truths which 
 must, in the end, rule his destiny, for the better 
 or the worse. To follow and to comply with 
 the solicitations of the things " seen and tem- 
 poral," is, in all cases, and with an infallible 
 certainty, to go on towards damage, overthrow, 
 misery. Nothing can avert the ruin, nothing 
 dissolve the connexion between the course and 
 its issue ; if that course be persisted in.
 
 THK LIMITS OF REVELATION. 159 
 
 But on the contrary, to draw our motives 
 from those principles that are universal, " un- 
 seen and eternal," is to follow a road which, by 
 a like infallible necessity, leads to perfection and 
 felicity. The line of truth and virtue is always 
 (find it where we may) a line drawn from the 
 circumference to the centre ; and to no other 
 centre than that of the Divine Purity and Bless- 
 edness. Now the office of Christianity is to 
 supersede the innumerable questions and per- 
 plexities that arise (even to the most upright 
 and perspicacious minds) in ascertaining the 
 path of eternal truth. The Scriptures, by a 
 multitude of categorical and intelligible deci- 
 sions, adapted to all occasions, distinguish be- 
 tween the things seen and temporal, and those 
 that are unseen and eternal. And to take them 
 always as our directory, is to walk upon a path 
 which, whether rugged or smooth, overshadowed 
 or illuminated, shall bring us at length to im- 
 mortality and joy. 
 
 Holy Scripture, we say, is an infallible guide 
 towards that which is unseen and eternal. But 
 it would be in no consistency with what we see 
 of the construction of the universe in none 
 with the actual position of man, such as we feel 
 and know it to be, if it afforded either sensible, 
 or demonstrative proof; or if, in its discoveries, 
 it went at all beyond the line of its immediate 
 purpose. The inspired writers avow the limita- 
 tion under which they acted " We know in
 
 160 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 part," say they, "and we prophesy in part." 
 Noble profession ! how well beseeming the true 
 and modest messengers of heaven ! How unlike 
 the vain style of impostors ! 
 
 But it behoves us distinctly to apprehend the 
 import of this apostolic profession : and in doing 
 so, we gain some real aid by turning to contem- 
 plate the vastness of the material universe, 
 whence may be drawn an inference highly signi- 
 ficant to our purpose. Our modern philosophy 
 establishes incontestably the doctrine, that the 
 material system, whatever may be its extent, or 
 even though it should be deemed to stretch 
 through the infinitude of space, is related in all 
 its parts to the whole ; or in other words, that 
 an efficient dependency or correspondence links 
 every globe to its system ; and also that every 
 system, or cluster of spheres, is, by the same 
 laws, connected with the great community of 
 worlds among which it moves, or is suspended. 
 The all-pervading principle of gravitation, the 
 transmission of light, and the traject of comets, 
 are manifest alliances, which give oneness, conti- 
 nuity, and relation, to the countless assemblage 
 of worlds around us. It is also more than barely 
 probable that there are other, perhaps many 
 other, influences or principles of interaction, 
 which, though absolutely imperceptible to the 
 senses of man, and far remote from the reach of 
 his philosophy, do, as well as gravitation and 
 light, bind together all the solid masses of the
 
 THE LIMITS OF REVELATION. 161 
 
 universe, and impart to each sphere an agency 
 that extends itself to all others. 
 
 Now it follows directly and inevitably from 
 this doctrine of the unity of the material system, 
 and of the relation of every part to the whole, 
 that, though the mechanism or constitution of 
 each world or system may be, to a certain 
 extent, understood and explained ; that is to 
 say, just so far as its constitution is private; 
 there must, in each world, be some elements, 
 or some energies, or contrivances, which have 
 relation to the universal system. Besides what 
 might be termed the local mechanism of every 
 planet, there must be, in each,- the mechanism 
 whereby it is linked to its system, and to the 
 universe. The very statement of this compli- 
 cated constitution precludes the supposition that 
 the whole of the mechanism of any world can be 
 understood by those, how sagacious soever they 
 may be, who are conversant only with that one 
 world. Let philosophy extend itself as widely 
 and as firmly as it may, it can never profess to 
 have divined the entire secrets of the universe. 
 For so much of the visible creation as is within 
 the circle of our observation, may be but a 
 small part of the whole ; and therefore must 
 offer to our calculations nothing more than par- 
 tial principles. 
 
 The unity of the visible creation a unity that 
 is demonstrable, carries with it, a fortiori, the 
 unity of the intellectual and moral system to 
 
 M
 
 162 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 which it gives support. Indeed, as the intel- 
 lectual and moral system is, by congruity of 
 nature, more directly related to the Divine 
 Being, than the material world can be, that 
 very relation to the FIRST CAUSE of life, and the 
 Centre of government, implies some sort of 
 dependency or correspondence among all the 
 parts : or even if the supposition of an absolute 
 insulation of the several tribes of rational agents 
 could be entertained, our inference would not be 
 destroyed ; for the relation of each tribe to the 
 Divine Infinitude in itself implies more of what 
 is incomprehensible and unattainable, than even 
 its relation to the universe of created beings 
 could do. 
 
 By the same rule then that, in the physiology 
 of each planet and sun, there must be something 
 local or private, and something also that serves 
 as the link of connexion with the rest of the 
 universe ; so, in the constitution and history of 
 every family of intelligent beings, there must be 
 found, not merely what belongs, to that family 
 singly or individually ; but what cements it to 
 the great community of moral agents ; and 
 moreover to the Supreme Disposer of all. 
 
 Now if there is to be conveyed to some one 
 of these families any portion of those eternal 
 principles that embrace the universe of moral 
 agents, and that take their reason from the con- 
 stancy and infinitude of the Divine attributes, it 
 is incontestably certain that such revelations can
 
 THE LIMITS OF REVELATION. 163 
 
 be nothing more than disjointed fragments, or 
 insulated applications of those celestial canons to 
 particular cases. By the very statement, these 
 notices of things eternal are portions of infinity, 
 and therefore are never to be comprehended and 
 digested, or reduced to system, until infinity 
 itself has been traversed and described. 
 
 And the very same reason which compels us 
 to believe that our own moral system (and every 
 other) has some bond of relationship to the vast 
 whole of the now-existing universe ; demands 
 also our belief that each successive era of the 
 creation has a connexion, of effect and of cause, 
 with the past and with the future. Thus, while 
 there may be certain circumstances in the condi- 
 tion of an intelligent and moral community which 
 find their reason in the present relation of that 
 race or family to the universal family, there may 
 be other circumstances, affecting it, which are 
 not to be explained without having reference to 
 the most remote transactions (past or future). 
 The infinitude of space, and the infinitude of 
 duration boundless extent, and unlimited eter- 
 nity, must both have their share in determining 
 the actual condition of whatever exists in space 
 and time. 
 
 What created mind then shall undertake to 
 calculate these two intersecting orbits, or give 
 us the position of our own system upon both ? 
 Powers immeasurably greater than those of man 
 must fail here. Created minds the very highest 
 
 M 2
 
 164 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 in excellence and power, must confess themselves 
 always to be mastered by problems like these, 
 that embrace the relations of infinity. This is a 
 knowledge which can belong only to the Infinite 
 Mind. 
 
 Yet it is true that some particular bear- 
 ings of things eternal and infinite, upon things 
 finite, may be expressed, and conveyed by 
 the Supreme Mind, even to inferior orders of 
 intelligent beings. And it is these special 
 relations of the infinite to the finite that 
 will form the principal topics of a Divine 
 Revelation. But need it be said, that such 
 communications must come in the form of cate- 
 gorical affirmations, and can, by no possibility, 
 be given to us in their native magnitude and 
 proportions, as universal truths ? The precise 
 sense of the apostolic confession "we pro- 
 phesy in part," meets us here ; and we must 
 admit, not merely the fact that the Scriptures 
 convey a partial or very limited knowledge of 
 things eternal, or (to vary the phrase) of the 
 universal government of God ; but also acknow- 
 ledge, that this paucity and limitation is matter 
 of inevitable necessity, arising from the very 
 nature of the case. 
 
 If this be the fact, two opposite and very 
 common faults in the treatment given to the 
 Scriptures make themselves apparent. The 
 first is that of the SCEPTICAL EXPOSITOR ; the 
 second is that of the SYSTEMATIC, or dogmatical.
 
 THE LIMITS OF REVELATION. 165 
 
 The practice of the sceptical expositor is pre- 
 cisely parallel to that of a physiologist, who, 
 having made himself well acquainted with the 
 mechanism and laws of his native planet ; 
 its geology, its chemical constitution, and its 
 vegetable and animal organizations, should repu- 
 diate or neglect all those more mysterious and 
 inexplicable phenomena which indicate the rela- 
 tion of that planet to the great system of the 
 universe. Or if he did not treat such phenomena 
 with contempt, should persist in the endeavour 
 to explain them in connexion with the private 
 or home economy of earth. On the contrary, 
 he ought always to keep in mind, that this 
 single world is an inconsiderable member only 
 of a system far more extensive than human 
 philosophy can embrace ; and that therefore it 
 is probable nay certain, that the relation of 
 the part to the whole, overrules the private 
 mechanism of each planet throughout. 
 
 It is thus that the sceptical expositor of 
 Scripture, having gathered to himself (very in- 
 correctly it is probable) a system of divine and 
 moral philosophy, from the homestead of the 
 human family, resolves to receive from God's 
 Revelation not a jot or tittle that does not natu- 
 rally find a place in some compartment of his 
 mundane science. Whatever, in the Scriptures, 
 seems to pass on elliptically beyond the orbit 
 of our world whatever stretches itself out to 
 greater dimensions than the human mind can
 
 166 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 readily compass whatever dimly declares the 
 relation of the human system to the universe of 
 moral agents, or to the infinitude of the Divine 
 Nature all such things, because no place or 
 nook can be found for them in the previously- 
 manufactured philosophy of this terrene theo- 
 logian because they can be but imperfectly 
 understood, or must be received (if at all) as 
 bare affirmations, all these things, we say, he 
 discards and contemns ; and in high scorn, casts 
 them out for the acceptance of the superstitious 
 vulgar. This is the wisdom of scepticism ; and 
 who must not admire it 1 
 
 The dogmatist, or framer of systematic theo- 
 logy, vehemently denounces the impiety of the 
 sceptic ; and seems to take a position at the 
 farthest possible remove from such presumption. 
 His presumption is in fact of another sort; but 
 the hypothesis the false supposition, on which 
 he proceeds, is essentially the same as that of 
 the sceptic. Both the dogmatist and the 
 sceptic commence their exposition of Scripture 
 with the assumed principle ' That there ought 
 to be nothing in Revelation which may not be 
 exhibited in all the proportions and relations it 
 bears to other parts of our theology.' They 
 are both equally impatient of whatever refuses 
 to go to its destined place in their philosophy : 
 neither the one nor the other can tolerate those 
 seeming anomalies which of necessity present 
 themselves when the bearing of the infinite
 
 THE LIMITS OF REVELATION. 167 
 
 upon the finite is to be set forth. But the two 
 (though animated by the same spirit of folly) 
 have recourse to opposite means for ridding 
 themselves of the annoyance of what is intrac- 
 table in Scripture. The sceptic takes the easy 
 course of simply discarding all such materials. 
 The dogmatist, with more reverence indeed, but 
 not more modesty, retains the entire mass of 
 Scripture ; but puts in movement the irresistible 
 engine of his logical apparatus ; and nothing can 
 resist the stress and power of this machinery. 
 In fact, absolutely nothing retains its native 
 form after it has passed under the tooth and 
 lever of metaphysical compression. Forth comes 
 orthodox Divinity! not indeed the sublime and 
 mysterious Divinity of the Scriptures ; but that 
 of the Chair. 
 
 Meantime, with the modest majesty of Truth, 
 with the awful grandeur that belongs to what 
 is universal and eternal, the Scriptures hold 
 forth their insulated revelations of things neces- 
 sary to be known, or partly known, by man- 
 kind. Silently, yet intelligibly, by their style 
 and method, the inspired writers everywhere 
 profess that they are conveying only some sepa- 
 rate elements of Divine Science ; and each, in 
 his manner, makes the acknowledgment " We 
 know in part, and we prophesy in part."
 
 XI. 
 
 VASTNESS OF THE MATERIAL 
 UNIVERSE. 
 
 WHEN I CONSIDER THE HEAVENS WHAT IS MAN!' 
 
 AN inference, either for the better or the worse, 
 urges itself irresistibly upon the mind of man 
 when he contemplates the nocturnal heavens ; 
 and if mere contemplation gives place to the 
 extended knowledge and to the accuracy of 
 conception which are the fruit of science, that 
 inference, whether true or false, is incalculably 
 strengthened in its power over the mind. With 
 an emphasis of meaning it may be said that 
 Night has three daughters Religion, Supersti- 
 tion, and Atheism. 
 
 It much imports us, who adhere to those just 
 and natural impressions which lead the mind 
 from the contemplation of the visible creation 
 to adore the Creator, that we draw our devout 
 inferences in a manner that shall be liable to no 
 reasonable objection ; and the more so in the 
 present age, when Atheism is hastening to oc- 
 cupy the ground which Superstition long ago
 
 VASTNESS OF THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE. 169 
 
 vacated, as if in fear lest Religion should at 
 length come in, and fill the space that rightfully 
 belongs to her. 
 
 There can be no doubt that if the understand- 
 ing of man (as well as his other faculties) were 
 in a state of unimpaired simplicity, the spectacle 
 of the universe would teach him piety, even if 
 he had not learned it in some more direct way. 
 First the exterior magnificence of the skies, so 
 brightly symbolizing as it does the wealth and 
 splendour of Almighty Regal Power, and then 
 those severer calculations and rational conjec- 
 tures, wherein the mind penetrates beyond the 
 mere beauty and grandeur of the scene, and 
 eagerly makes its path athwart the unmeasured 
 spaces, and subjoins to what is visible, its own 
 vigorous conceptions of magnitude, number, dis- 
 tance ; from both these sources, a mind retain- 
 ing its integrity, would infer the great truth of 
 the Divine Existence ; and its power, and wis- 
 dom, and beneficence. 
 
 But in the actual state of human nature, 
 wherein the rational faculties are often uncer- 
 tainly balanced between the most obvious truths, 
 and the most enormous errors, not knowing 
 which to choose, piety must always be first 
 imparted by other means, and the emotions be 
 fixed upon their proper objects, before man is 
 qualified to admit the lesson written upon the 
 skies, and to adore the Creator in the sensible 
 manifestations of his glory.
 
 170 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 Piety, we say, being first imparted, the spec- 
 tacle of the material universe must be consi- 
 dered as the principal means available for aiding 
 both the reasoning powers and the imagination, 
 in their painful efforts to conceive worthily of 
 the Divine Nature. Though it be well under- 
 stood that matter, divisible as it is, and separable 
 into elements, and measurable, can bear no true 
 proportion to that nature which is spiritual, 
 uncaused, and infinite, nevertheless the actual 
 extension of matter through a space whereto no 
 methods of human calculation can give expres- 
 sion, does very sufficiently serve as an exemplifi- 
 cation, or intelligible display of real infinitude. 
 Effectively, though not strictly, the visible hea- 
 vens are of infinite magnitude ; and they convey 
 therefore to the mind an impression, if not a 
 distinct idea, of absolute infinity, such as other- 
 wise it could never have received. Moreover, 
 the visible infinitude of the heavens is not a 
 vacuum not a bare abstraction ; but, on the 
 contrary, is so richly fraught with existences, 
 that we receive thence at once, and in the 
 closest combination, the ideas of power, and of 
 intelligence, along with the notion of unbounded 
 extension. In this manner, more than one or 
 two of the elements of theology are made osten- 
 sible to us ; and while we are becoming familiar 
 with them, are learning to pass on with some 
 facility to other, and more abstruse principles 
 of Divine science. It is in this process that " the
 
 VASTNESS OF THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE. 171 
 
 invisible things of God" are made manifest by 
 " the things that do appear." The nocturnal 
 heavens at once symbolize and demonstrate the 
 concealed existence and attributes of God, just 
 as the presence and symmetry of a man are 
 made known to a distant spectator, when the 
 shadow of his person, in sharp outline, falls upon 
 a brightly illuminated surface : we see not in- 
 deed the man, nor in strictness of argument is it 
 more than his exterior form of which we have 
 direct evidence : nevertheless we do not scruple 
 to fill up in idea what is wanting in formal 
 proof; and we think almost as distinctly of the 
 person as if he stood, without a screen, fronting 
 us in the blaze of light. Thus is it that, both in 
 the vastness and in the richness of the visible uni- 
 verse, the Invisible God is adumbrated. If the 
 eye be but clear, we can never gaze upon the 
 expanse of stars without descrying, as it were 
 filling all the bright abyss of worlds, the great 
 lines, or contour, of the Supreme Majesty. 
 
 This must always be the doctrine derived by 
 sound reason from the spectacle of the universe. 
 But if reason be corrupted and depraved, it 
 brings thence some absurdity, proportioned in 
 folly to the greatness and excellence of the 
 truth it rejects. The ancient prostitution of 
 astronomy to the purposes of superstition and of 
 sacerdotal despotism, is a trite subject, not ne- 
 cessary here to be enlarged upon. Neverthe- 
 less, it may just be observed, that the Tsabian
 
 172 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 worship of the Asiatic nations was far more in 
 harmony with the proper impulses of the human 
 mind, and did much less violence to the moral 
 constitution of man, than the atheism which, in 
 modern times, has taken its place. And if, in 
 remote ages, the worshippers of the true God 
 were in great peril from the bewitching error 
 which then led captive the mass of mankind, 
 and laid them prostrate at the feet of idols; 
 there is not now a less danger (a danger 
 suited to the spirit of our times) resulting from 
 the impiety of our astronomical and physical 
 sciences. 
 
 This impiety assumes two distinct forms ; the 
 one bold, the other modest ; to both of which a 
 moment's attention is due. Bacon, who origi- 
 nated our modern philosophy, and Newton, who 
 established its authenticity the two minds that, 
 more than any others, have ruled the world of 
 mind, and ruled it by a just title, both of them 
 believed that they saw the proof of Supreme 
 Intelligence in the construction of the material 
 universe. But it is otherwise with their suc- 
 cessors, who have learned to look upon these 
 masters of knowledge with contempt, as having, 
 in childish docility, espoused the vulgar belief of 
 the existence of a Creator. Posterity will give 
 its verdict in this disagreement between our ear- 
 lier and later philosophers ; and will decide on 
 which part the folly actually lies. Meanwhile 
 we have to make an observation (pertinent to
 
 VASTNESS OF THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE. 1 73 
 
 our immediate subject) upon this fact of the 
 very prevalent atheism of our modern professors 
 of natural philosophy. 
 
 It has been thought by some persons, and 
 acknowledged with uneasiness (we think a 
 groundless uneasiness) that the mere fact that 
 atheism is avowed by men of high intelligence, 
 virtually nullifies, or at least brings under a 
 cloud, the alleged demonstrative force of the 
 two lines of argument a priori and a posteriori, 
 in proof of the being of a God. For (as it is 
 said) if these lines of reasoning were indeed con- 
 clusive, and if in the rejection of them there 
 were contained a conspicuous absurdity, they 
 must of necessity preclude dissent ; at least 
 among well-informed and intelligent men. But 
 this difficulty will not prove to be substantial. 
 To remove it, we need not insist upon the very 
 fair answer which might be given to it, by 
 saying, that no process of reasoning of which 
 language is the medium (in fact none but that 
 which is mathematical) can exert this peremp- 
 tory power of excluding controversy ; because 
 the signs employed, being ambiguous, may 
 always be evaded by sophistry. Instead of 
 urging this reply to the objection, though valid 
 and sufficient, we shall look somewhat more 
 closely to the nature of the case, and in doing 
 so, shall find that the facts resolve themselves 
 into an instance that is not uncommon of men- 
 tal illusion ; and that no real enfeebling of the
 
 174 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 foundations of religion is implied in the atheism 
 of scientific men. 
 
 Those will most readily follow our elucidation 
 of this matter, who themselves are conversant 
 with mathematical or physical studies. We 
 have just above* (though for a different pur- 
 pose) adverted to that insensible process which 
 takes place during the course of philosophical 
 generalizations, and in consequence of which 
 universal laws gain ascendency in the mind, and 
 at length stand out conspicuously in front of the 
 mass of particular instances whence they have 
 sprung ; so that, ultimately, they assume to 
 themselves a sort of POSITIVE EXISTENCE, almost 
 a personal reality, and come to be thought of as 
 something distinct from the individuality and 
 passiveness of matter. Especially in the regions 
 of the higher mathematics, certain abstruse prin- 
 ciples and relations, by the simplifications that 
 result from them, by the facilities which, when 
 once mastered, they afford ; and especially, by 
 the revelations they dimly make of boundless 
 fields of investigation worlds of unexplored 
 mystery, quicken the imagination which, with- 
 out asking leave of reason, invests them in 
 shadowy majesty, and, by a prosopopoeia, grants 
 to them something like the graces and dignity 
 of so many divinities. 
 
 The now well-ascertained correspondence be- 
 tween the laws of motion and gravitation, and 
 
 * Page 1 32.
 
 VASTNESS OF THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE. 1 75 
 
 the abstract truths of mathematical science, 
 seems to impart to the latter (especially after 
 they have possessed themselves of the under- 
 standing) a sort of domination, or active effi- 
 ciency. And from this prejudice, or illusion, 
 the mind unconsciously slides into the farther 
 error (which it never distinctly examines) of 
 attributing to these universal and eternal truths 
 the prerogatives of Intelligence. The two no- 
 tions of intelligence and power become so closely 
 associated with certain abstruse mathematical 
 principles, and these principles, in presenting 
 themselves again and again as the RULING 
 CAUSES of all that is taking place in the universe, 
 supplant the higher truth of a FIRST CAUSE, and 
 reconcile the mind (from other motives easily 
 persuaded) to the most enormous of all absur- 
 dities the denial of that truth. 
 
 But it is most especially to be noted that this 
 perversion of right reason, how great soever it 
 may be, does not imply that there is no irresis- 
 tible and invariable impulse in the human mind, 
 obliging it always to look up from effects to 
 causes, and leading it from the contemplation of 
 the universe, to the belief, yes, the persuasion 
 of a First Cause and Intelligent Creator. On 
 the contrary, this primary instinct of reason is 
 as truly at work in the bosom of the philoso- 
 phical atheist, as in that of the theologian. But, 
 like every other instinct, it is liable to misdi- 
 rection, or perverted action. The atheist, let
 
 176 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 him boast as he may, though an impious, is not 
 a godless man (for no one can be such) ; but 
 the deity the invisible and potent intelligence 
 that floats before him, and which he unnaturally 
 worships, is the system of abstract truth he seems 
 to see sitting mistress of all worlds. Meanwhile 
 the various and highly embellished superstruc- 
 ture of the material world its multiform pro- 
 visions speaking as much of moral intention, 
 as of wisdom, and which can be traced to no 
 other cause than Intelligent Beneficence, do not 
 occupy the attention of this mathematical rea- 
 soner; they are, in his apprehension, only 
 trivial and vulgar adjuncts of the great system 
 of things : they belong not to his department ; 
 and he finds no difficulty in rebutting the evi- 
 dence they afford of a truth to which his own 
 studies do not compel him to assent. 
 
 But there is, we have said, a mild and modest 
 form, as well as this bolder one, of that impiety 
 which takes its rise from the circle of our mo- 
 dern astronomy ; and it may be thus described. 
 It admits freely the Divine Existence, and the 
 attributes of wisdom, power, and benevolence : 
 but in musing upon the vastness of the material 
 system in calculating the incalculable numbers 
 of visible worlds, in adding to those the higher 
 numbers which probably he quite beyond our 
 prospect ; in thus conversing with infinity, and 
 in surcharging the mind with the greatness of 
 nature, man and his destinies disappear, or seem
 
 VASTNESS OF THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE. 177 
 
 to hide themselves under a veil of utter insigni- 
 ficance. " If, when our eyes are confined to 
 " earth, and if, when the pomp of human power 
 " and the pride of human knowledge are full 
 " in our view, man shows himself to be great, 
 " and asserts an immeasurable superiority over 
 " the inferior tribes, this exaggerated impression 
 " is utterly dispelled when we turn our gaze 
 " upward, and bring (as we ought) into our 
 " estimate, the real magnitude of the system in 
 " which we are moving. It is then that we are 
 " taught to think soberly of ourselves : it is 
 " then that the apparent distance between man 
 " insect as he is, and the insects he proudly 
 " tramples on, sinks into nothing ; and we are 
 " compelled to confess that no folly can be so 
 " enormous as that which attaches any sub- 
 " stantial importance to a being that might, with 
 " all his millions, be blotted from creation with- 
 " out more loss or notice than is occasioned by 
 " the crushing of a moth. If things be so, how 
 " preposterous are those religious dogmas which 
 " place man in immediate correspondence with 
 " the Creator, and imply that the Sovereign 
 " Power actually occupies himself with the in- 
 " dividual welfare of men ; or that they are 
 " destined to act a part that shall make them 
 " conspicuous among high and intelligent orders ! 
 " What is man," says a reasoner of this class, 
 " what is man, when viewed in his just propor- 
 " tions on the scale of the universe ? "
 
 178 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 This mode of thinking is natural, and the pre- 
 judice whence it springs is hard to be entirely 
 dislodged from the mind : hut it is a prejudice ; 
 and it peculiarly infests spirits that are at once 
 meditative, modest, and feeble. Nevertheless 
 its influence is of the most pernicious kind ; 
 nor will religion of any sort (Christianity espe- 
 cially) adhere at all to the heart until the illusion 
 be dissipated. 
 
 On which side soever we turn, we may find 
 a direct confutation of this false modesty. It is 
 quite evident that the whole (great as it may be) 
 must at length be annihilated or made unim- 
 portant, when we annihilate, or reduce to insig- 
 nificance, one by one, its several constituent 
 parts. And the reason which would lead us 
 thus to scorn one part, ought to have the same 
 effect in relation to another, and another, until 
 the whole is disposed of. The material universe 
 consists throughout of portions, apparently simi- 
 lar to that on which ourselves are placed : nor is 
 this our world, however diminutive in comparison 
 with the universe, immensely diminutive in com- 
 parison with other worlds. It is not as if, from 
 our remote and petty globe or islet, we looked 
 up to some central and immeasurable continent 
 of matter, wherewith we could place ourselves in 
 no sort of comparison, and which we might sup- 
 pose the abode of beings as much more excellent 
 and important than ourselves, as that continent 
 was more vast than this world on which we
 
 VASTNESS OF THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE. 179 
 
 tread. On the contrary, the greatness of the 
 universe is nothing else than the greatness of 
 accumulation. The visible system is indeed im- 
 measurably wide and deep ; and it is stocked 
 with innumerable worlds. But (so far as science 
 gives its evidence) the stupendous structure is 
 reared throughout of the same material, and 
 consists of parts which bear a relation of sym- 
 metry, one to the other. 
 
 If, in imagination, we stretch the wing to 
 distant quarters of the realm of nature, and if 
 we take with us the sober expectations which 
 philosophy authenticates, what shall we find 
 east or west, above or below, but suns and 
 planets, much diversified, no doubt, in figure 
 and constitution ; yet nothing more than solid 
 spheres, of measurable diameter, and fraught, 
 like our own, with organization and intelligence. 
 Let us indulge as freely as we choose, in prodi- 
 gious conceptions of magnitude and splendour ; 
 still we must (unless we discard all probability, 
 and all actual appearances) keep within certain 
 bounds. Suns are but suns ; planets only pla- 
 nets. This vastness of the universe, therefore, 
 which, when thought of collectively, overpowers 
 the mind, reduces itself, when rationally ana- 
 lyzed, to what we have already stated namely, 
 the greatness of accumulation. Who shall count 
 the stars, or who number the worlds that are 
 revolving around those centres of light ? No one 
 attempts this arithmetic ; any more than he sets 
 
 N2
 
 180 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 about to reckon the sands of the shore : but the 
 infinitude of grains makes not each grain either 
 more or less important than it would be, if the 
 number of the whole were much fewer than it is. 
 
 And certainly, if our earth may retain its in- 
 dividual importance, notwithstanding the count- 
 less infinity of the worlds among which it moves ; 
 it may do so notwithstanding its comparative 
 diminutiveness. True, its disk is barely per- 
 ceptible from planets which, by the breadth of 
 their own, dazzle our sight. But no such rule 
 of valuation can ever be assented to ; for it is 
 favoured by no analogy. If the earth is to be 
 deemed insignificant, merely because it is vastly 
 less than Jupiter, or Saturn, we ought to judge 
 that Greece, Italy, and England, merit no at- 
 tention, in comparison with Africa and Asia : 
 and yet in fact it is these petty regions, not the 
 continents adjoining them, that have concen- 
 trated, successively, the intelligence of the world. 
 
 But in looking more narrowly to this preju- 
 dice, and in tracing it to its elements, it resolves 
 itself altogether into a natural infirmity of our 
 limited faculties. What then is this conception 
 of vastness, and what is the emotion of sublimity 
 that attends it, and with which we so much 
 please ourselves ? It is nothing more, and it is 
 nothing better, than the struggle or agony of the 
 mind under the consciousness of its ignorance, 
 and of its inability to grasp the object of its con- 
 templation. Whatever far surpasses the reach
 
 VASTNESS OF THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE. 181 
 
 of the intellectual powers, whatever can be 
 conceived of only imperfectly, and vaguely, is 
 thought of as stupendous, sublime, infinite ; and 
 while we entertain the ever-swelling, but never 
 perfected idea, an emotion that is partly plea- 
 surable, and partly painful, inflates the bosom. 
 Now the notion of insignificance, or diminutive- 
 ness, though it may seem to be independent of 
 any other, is in fact a correlative of the notion 
 of magnitude. And a mind that had no idea of 
 greatness or sublimity, would never form one of 
 meanness. But as the notion of vastness is di- 
 rectly the offspring of the limitation and feeble- 
 ness of the human mind, its opposite the notion 
 of insignificance, has nothing in it of reality : 
 it is an idolum tribus, or prejudice which, though 
 common to mankind, is so in consequence of 
 the poverty of the human faculties. 
 
 But can we for a moment suppose that the 
 Supreme Intelligence looks abroad upon his 
 works in this manner, as vast in the whole, and 
 petty in the parts ? Does HE know them as we 
 do a portion perfectly, and the rest vaguely ? 
 does HE think of them, in part with ease and 
 familiarity ; and in part with labour and diffi- 
 culty ? Does HE see the universe in perspec- 
 tive, as from a central station ? Is HE moved, 
 as we are, by the conception of the sublime ; or 
 does HE, as we, look down at single atoms of 
 the material system, and call them minute, re- 
 mote, or inconsiderable ? Any such supposition
 
 182 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 as this were most egregious : on the contrary, 
 we may boldly affirm that, as the Divine Know- 
 ledge is absolute, and extends itself equably and 
 invariably, over the entire surface, and through 
 all masses of the universe, so it utterly excludes 
 the notion (proper to finite minds) of any part 
 being insignificant and unimportant, in conse- 
 quence of its disproportion to the immensity of 
 the whole. There is perhaps no instance more 
 striking of the influence of those imbecile con- 
 ceptions which attach to the human mind, than 
 this notion of the comparative insignificance of 
 the earth, and its inhabitants, because it is a 
 mere point in the vastness of the heavens. The 
 man of frigid and infirm temperament, who, with 
 an affected or a puling modesty, after gazing 
 upon the sky, turns and contemns his planet, 
 and his species, and says " What is man, that 
 he should think himself worthy to be noticed, 
 or specially cared for, by the Creator ? " may, on 
 the soundest principles, be charged with making 
 God altogether such a one as himself : the deity 
 he conceives of is finite, not infinite. 
 
 If we wanted sensible proof that this prejudice 
 concerning comparative vastness and insignifi- 
 cance, is not at all recognised on high, and 
 enters not into the operative principles of the 
 Creator, we should only have to look beneath 
 us, adown the scale of magnitude. Does it 
 appear then, as if the Divine power and intelli- 
 gence could please itself only, or deign to be
 
 VASTNESS OF THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE. 183 
 
 occupied with stupendous masses ; and that it 
 holds in contempt the minute ? Is it true, or 
 does the microscope give this evidence, that 
 there is only a rude or hurried finishing be- 
 stowed upon diminutive beings ? Is there found, 
 when we pass from the greater to the less, 
 among organized bodies, a regular decrease of 
 ingenuity, and of nicety of workmanship ? 
 Every one knows that the contrary is the 
 fact ; and every one must confess that this 
 puny supposition of the comparative insigni- 
 ficance of the parts of the material system, is 
 abundantly refuted by the tints and texture of 
 every petal that drinks the dew, and by the 
 wings and antennas of every gnat that hums 
 in the evening air. 
 
 Those who think they discern in the vast- 
 ness of the material universe a reason which 
 weighs against all religion, and which espe- 
 cially excludes the belief of the facts affirmed 
 in the Bible, surrender themselves, as we have 
 seen, to one of the most unsubstantial of all 
 the illusions that infest human nature : and as 
 they neglect to observe what is the manifest 
 law of the divine operations in the organized 
 system namely, an equable regard to parts, 
 and to beings, whether small or great ; so do 
 they overlook one of the first principles of the 
 sentient and intellectual orders, which is, that 
 no faculties, either of knowledge, or emotion, 
 or action, are bestowed upon any animal but
 
 184 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 such as have some direct bearing upon its own 
 well-being ; or upon its destiny in relation to 
 other species of the animated world. When 
 the objector has produced one unquestionable 
 exception to this rule, he will be fairly en- 
 titled to maintain his enormous dogma That 
 the power and propensity of the human mind 
 to contemplate the extent of the universe, 
 and its habitude of referring all things to an 
 Intelligent First Cause, and its constitutional 
 dread of Invisible Power, and its inextinguish- 
 able sense of right and wrong, and its inherent 
 forethought of an after life, are all so many 
 vague and inane instincts, which have no more 
 intention, no more ulterior significance, than 
 the chance forms and gigantic figures that are 
 often assumed by the clouds, or seen upon a 
 stained wall. Man, according to these phi- 
 losophers, is no better than a monster, com- 
 bining all sorts of powers and means of action; 
 but without any scope for their employment. 
 He has wings, and all the muscular apparatus 
 proper for flight ; but his invincible destiny is 
 to crawl upon the ground : he has the interior 
 structure which might enable him to exist in 
 two elements ; but he is actually confined to 
 one. To look at his limbs, you would say he 
 might outstrip the winds ; but watch him, and 
 you find that he is passive and motionless 
 as the oyster. This is, in substance, that 
 natural history of man which the persons
 
 VASTNESS OF THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE. 185 
 
 we speak of embrace, and which they deem 
 philosophical. Just because the stature of the 
 human species bears an incalculably small pro- 
 portion to the distance between one star and 
 another, they conclude that human nature is 
 far too insignificant to allow of its assuming 
 the importance which Christianity assigns to 
 it! To these philosophers it is as nothing 
 that man has mind enough to conceive of God, 
 and is actually alive to powerful emotions of 
 which the Supreme Being is the object : all 
 this weighs not with them, and is entitled to 
 no consideration ; or, at any rate, cannot com- 
 pensate, in their view, the capital disadvantage 
 of the diminutiveness of the human form. If 
 they could visit other regions of the universe, 
 and discover some world, a thousand or ten 
 thousand times more bulky than this, and find 
 upon it intelligent animals, proportionately 
 gigantic, they would then at once grant you 
 that creatures so TALL, might properly chal- 
 lenge for themselves the right to be immortal 
 and religious ; but not so the insect man ! 
 This is the real meaning of the sentiment that 
 so powerfully represses the piety of certain 
 persons, who, while with the aid of modern as- 
 tronomy they contemplate the vast magnitudes 
 and distances of the heavenly bodies, exclaim 
 ' What is man that he should presume to think 
 of God, or hope to be regarded by Him?' 
 
 If we reject with scorn all such false and
 
 186 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 preposterous inferences from the vastness of the 
 stellar system, we are left to seek an inference 
 which reason can assent to as consonant with 
 the known principles of the Divine operations. 
 We have to ask What is that sentiment which 
 the human mind should imbibe when it stands 
 upon its turret of observation, and looks this 
 way and that, over the resplendent and illimit- 
 able fields of space ? 
 
 Boldly we affirm that earth is not too small 
 a globe to be thought worthy of giving birth to 
 the heirs of immortality. Nor is man too dimi- 
 nutive to hold converse with his Creator, or to 
 be amenable to the Divine government. He 
 does not therefore arrogate to himself too much 
 importance when he speaks and acts as one who 
 stands in immediate relationship to God. Never- 
 theless there are principles which should impose 
 upon him a modesty and restraint in the range 
 of his religious speculations. These are plainly 
 such truths as That the destinies of man have 
 some bearing upon the welfare of the universe ; 
 or are related to its general laws ; and that the 
 universe (being so vast as it is) and governed 
 unquestionably by rules which draw their reason 
 not from a part of the system, but from the 
 whole of it, they must always, and especially in 
 the present state, surpass the comprehension of 
 man. In other words, it must be believed, that, 
 in the fate and fortunes of the human race, scope 
 is given to the operation of laws which man
 
 VASTiNESS OF THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE. 187 
 
 must always fail to discern the reason of, since 
 it embraces, or has respect to the immeasurable 
 realm of the Universal King. He alone whose 
 thought grasps all worlds, and all orders of 
 being, and all duration, can digest or com- 
 prehend the canons by which all must be 
 governed. 
 
 It may be well to pursue in meditation these 
 truths ; and to rest upon them awhile, and at 
 leisure ; and it must be remembered that the 
 inference we have in view will be equally valid, 
 whether it be assumed as certain that the des- 
 tinies of mankind are related to the universe ; 
 or whether it be only granted as possible, or 
 in some degree probable, that such a depen- 
 dency exists. For it is one and the same thing 
 to say ' Such and such inexplicable facts have 
 a relation to certain unknown principles ; or 
 merely that they may, for aught we know, have 
 some such relation.' In either case the infe- 
 rence stands firm that we should suspend our 
 judgment of matters which, perhaps, are only 
 to a small extent exposed to our view. 
 
 On these premises let the immeasurable ex- 
 tent of the material system be, for a moment, 
 steadily contemplated ; and though vague con- 
 ceptions may generate emotions of sublimity, 
 the solid fruits of thought will always best spring 
 from the most distinct ideas : but these, on a 
 field so arduous, are not to be obtained without 
 some labour.
 
 188 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 That degree of power and facility in con- 
 ceiving of distance which the mind acquires by 
 its acquaintance with the surface of the earth, 
 may, without any very extreme effort, or at 
 least such an effort as tortures and paralyses 
 the mental faculty, be extended to the distances 
 of the planets of our own system. Not indeed 
 as if even the shortest of these distances could 
 be held before the mind, in its component parts, 
 or correctly reckoned ; for if compelled to divide 
 a hundred millions of miles into such portions 
 as we can distinctly think of separately ; and 
 then to add part to part, until all were num- 
 bered ; still retaining hold of our starting point, 
 we should find ourselves utterly exhausted, and 
 breathless, long before one of those millions had 
 been completed. Nevertheless a mental traject 
 from world to world may, in some sort, be 
 accomplished. The glass brings, for example, 
 the disk of Jupiter before us ; so that we may 
 fix the eye on this side, or on the other, of his 
 cloud-belted surface : we clearly distinguish 
 the forms of these wreaths of lurid vapour ; or 
 we catch the transit of one of his moons follow 
 the speck of shadow in its hasty course along 
 the equator of the stupendous planet, very much 
 in the same way in which we watch the shadow 
 of a cloud, as it moves across the bosom of a dis- 
 tant sunny hill. Although the road thither baffles 
 us in the attempt to mete it out into portions, 
 we can just imagine ourselves to have achieved
 
 VASTNESS OF THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE. 189 
 
 the passage, and to set foot upon that vast ro- 
 tund ; and can faintly conceive of the scene that 
 would there present itself, where, athwart pro- 
 digious valleys (each capacious enough to receive 
 an Atlantic, or through which the waves of all 
 our oceans might quietly flow, as the Ganges 
 glides in its bed) the deep shadows of the over- 
 hanging mountains are flitting with giddy haste, 
 from side to side ; while the sun rushes through 
 the ample skies to accomplish his five hours of 
 day. Or we remain at our post of observation 
 through the brief moments of night ; and are 
 dizzy while we gaze upon the shining multitude 
 of moons and stars, that, bursting up from the 
 horizon, chase each other with visible celerity, 
 from east to west, like a routed host, hotly fol- 
 lowed by the foe. 
 
 Thus, and with these aids which the telescope 
 affords us, or which the imagination (authenti- 
 cally informed by facts) supplies, may we make 
 a stage outward through^the skies : nor are such 
 efforts of the mind to be accounted vain and 
 fantastic, like those waking dreams wherein^we 
 combine extravagant images of things nowhere 
 existing, and in themselves preposterous : for we 
 are now endeavouring to fix the faculty of con- 
 ception upon objects that are palpable, and real, 
 and which (remote as they may be) are as truly 
 cognizable by the sight as are the cliffs of an 
 adjacent continent. There is no extravagance 
 in this attempt ; but a real utility, inasmuch as
 
 190 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 an important, lesson is obtained from the vivid 
 impression of the extent of God's visible do- 
 minion. The same force of conception which 
 has carried the mind to the orbit of Jupiter, 
 will transport it to that of Saturn, where is seen 
 a sombre splendour, suffused on all sides, less, 
 apparently, from the distant and diminished sun, 
 than from the broad surfaces of the adjacent 
 rings, which almost blend night and day, by 
 overshadowing the one, and illuminating the 
 other. Or taking once again an adventurous 
 flight, further than before, we reach the outer- 
 most limit of our system, and stand upon that 
 vast and solitary planet which, as if guardian of 
 the whole, slowly walks the rounds of the solar 
 skies, while it fulfils its term of fourscore years 
 and more. The sun has now shrunk almost to 
 a comparison with the stars ; or looks only like 
 the chiefest and most resplendent of them : so 
 that the mild twilight of that noon does not 
 quite exclude their rival radiance. 
 
 Here indeed the power of distinct conception 
 of space and distance falters. But if we remain 
 awhile at the remote stage we have reached, 
 and pass along the circuit of that farthest planet 
 of the solar system, we may gain, obscurely, an 
 idea of the solitariness of our system, in the 
 starry heavens. It is possible that the diameter 
 of that orbit, which is scarcely traversed within 
 the longest term of human life, affords just a 
 sensible parallax, for the measurement of the
 
 VASTNESS OF THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE. 191 
 
 distances of the nearest stars, so that an in- 
 telligible means is afforded for computing the 
 breadth of that fearful gulf which divides the 
 sun and his planets from the coasts of other 
 systems. Thus, instead of the ignorance or un- 
 certain conjectures which here on earth oblige 
 us to rest satisfied (or dissatisfied) with a vague 
 conception of the distance of system from sys- 
 tem, there, in that Georgian planet, perhaps the 
 astounding reality is reduced to figures ; and it 
 is authentically shown that this outer circle of 
 our system, vast as it is, circumscribes a space 
 that would be not discernible otherwise than as 
 a point, from even the nearest of the neigh- 
 bouring stars : so that though our sun would 
 be seen thence, as those stars are seen by us, 
 the apparent disk of its little sparkling light 
 would include sun and planets together, as one 
 blended radiance. It is thus, where facts are 
 greater far than imagination, that in proportion 
 as we ascertain those facts, or exchange imagi- 
 nation for knowledge, the mind is so much the 
 more filled with amazement or awe. 
 
 From the extreme boundary of the solar 
 system, could we gain that outpost of obser- 
 vation, we should look with more distinctness 
 of perception into the abyss, in the centre of 
 which the sun, with his planets, is suspended. 
 And there, it is probable, a much brighter 
 lustre may shed itself from the starry hea- 
 vens, and perhaps, (yes it must be believed)
 
 192 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 innumerable stars, which from earth are not at 
 all perceptible, or discerned only by the highest 
 powers of art, are individually seen : and those 
 luminous streams too, and many nebulous 
 splendours, which hang as wreaths or folded 
 curtains of light, across our skies, show them- 
 selves to be what they are crowded hosts 
 of worlds, thick and numberless as the sparks 
 that rush up from a fiercely blown furnace. 
 Perhaps, at the verge of our system, the hours 
 of day may seem dull and sombre ; while the 
 night flames out with a radiance that darts 
 from every span and interstice of the sky, like 
 the fretted roof of a palace, which the osten- 
 tation of the artist has overloaded witli spark- 
 ling ornaments of gold. Nay, sober truth and 
 calculation oblige us to believe that, if we 
 could reach a spot nearer to the confines of 
 the more densely occupied fields of space, and 
 be exempt from all atmospheric obscurations, 
 the entire surface of heaven would seem to be 
 evenly and thickly studded with the stellar 
 glory, in its many gradations of magnitude ; 
 for though the nearer suns would appear dis- 
 tant, one from the other, the spaces between 
 would be filled up by those more remote ; and 
 these again by the still more distant, until 
 nothing were discerned but a luminous ether; 
 and yet this ether is luminous only by its 
 innumerable suns ! 
 
 After the mind has lost itself, and become
 
 VASTNESS OF THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE. 193 
 
 fatigued by the labour of attempting to traverse 
 the distances of the visible universe, it may 
 return (not for rest but for change) to the 
 still more astounding conception of the num- 
 bers of the heavenly bodies. The telescope 
 has put these numbers quite beyond calcula- 
 tion : and then it fails to give any account of 
 the many luminous clusters that bedeck the 
 sky ; much less of the spaces that may be not 
 less replete with creation, on all sides beyond 
 the passage of light. And these numbers, 
 could they be actually expressed, must be 
 multiplied who shall say how often, to in- 
 clude the bodies, not natively luminous, that 
 are circulating around each sun. Our own 
 system, it is conjectured, may comprise many 
 planets, either too diminutive, or too obscure 
 (from the quality of their elements) to be dis- 
 cerned at all from the earth. The invisible 
 material creation, therefore, it is probable, vastly 
 outnumbers the visible; and it may justly be 
 thought that the worlds made known to us by 
 their inherent splendour, are, to the unseen, 
 only in the proportion of the chiefs of an army 
 to the thousands that fill rank and file : it is 
 as if from the summit of a tower we were 
 looking, by night, upon a boundless plain, 
 filled with the array of war ; and could discern 
 nothing but the gemmed crests of the captains, 
 gleaming amid the countless and unseen mul- 
 titudes they are leading on.
 
 194 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 A metaphysical necessity compels us to deny 
 absolute infinity to matter : and for the saving 
 of the first principles of theology, we affirm 
 that creation has its limits. But who shall say 
 when, and where, this abstract necessity begins 
 to take effect ? A problem like this we must 
 leave untouched ; meanwhile the whole evi- 
 dence of sight, and of science, tends to render 
 it a probable supposition, that that sphere of 
 the universe which the velocity of light brings 
 within our knowledge is a small portion of the 
 whole ; and that the verge of this visible sphere 
 is the verge of another beyond it, or embracing 
 it.; and that again of another. Nothing, in 
 such suppositions, let them be extended as they 
 may, can be deemed incredible or extravagant, 
 while the inconceivable truth stands always 
 before us of the distances and numbers of the 
 worlds that are actually visible. The demon- 
 strated wonders of astronomy deprive us of the 
 right to affirm that any supposition concerning 
 the greatness of the works of God is too vast 
 to be admitted. 
 
 What then is the just and unexceptionable 
 sentiment which should come home to the heart 
 after a contemplation of the inconceivable extent 
 of the Creation ? Not, as we have said, this 
 That man and his welfare are unimportant. 
 The very multiplicity of worlds, instead of fa- 
 vouring such a conclusion, refutes it, by showing 
 that the Creator prefers, as the field of his cares
 
 VASTNESS OF THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE. 195 
 
 and beneficence, limited and separate portions 
 of matter, rather than immense masses : it is 
 manifest that the omnipotent Wisdom and Power 
 loves to divide itself upon the individuality of 
 its works. 
 
 But if we must not indulge this feeling, the 
 tendency of which is to quash every aspiring 
 thought, and to reduce us from the rank we 
 hold to the level of the brute ; our alternative 
 is another, which, without checking any noble 
 emotion, at once imposes a restraint upon pre- 
 sumption, and leads us to estimate more highly 
 the consequences of our present course. Whe- 
 ther then it be positively affirmed that man, in 
 virtue of his moral constitution, stands related 
 to all other parts of the moral system ; or it be 
 only admitted as possible, that he is so related, 
 it must equally be felt That, to exist at all as 
 a member of so vast an assemblage of beings 
 to occupy a footing in the universe, such as it is, 
 involves incalculable probabilities of future good 
 or ill. And then our argument is briefly this : 
 The material system, so far as it is open to our 
 knowledge, surpasses all power of conception. 
 Yet this immensity is but the immensity of mat- 
 ter : and we know by consciousness of an order 
 of existence incomparably more excellent than 
 matter, even in its most admirable combinations. 
 Is it not probable therefore, not only that this 
 higher order of existence actually spreads itself 
 over the entire surface of the material system ; 
 
 o2
 
 196 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 but that it is developing itself in some manner 
 proportionate to its intrinsic superiority and 
 dignity ? Is it not probable that events in the 
 universe of mind are moving on that fortunes 
 are rising and falling that destinies are burst- 
 ing forth, blossoming and bearing fruit, which, 
 when known, shall make the material frame- 
 work of nature to appear (great as it is) nothing 
 more than a stage for their accomplishment and 
 display ? 
 
 Sober reason, in looking abroad upon space 
 and matter, will surely believe that this universe 
 of solid and luminous globes does not stand 
 merely for itself ; but rather that it is the inert 
 means of a higher end ; and moreover, that this 
 end, or ultimate purpose, must transcend im- 
 mensely the means. Although therefore we 
 have ocular demonstration only of that which is 
 material, we have rational demonstration of far 
 more than that ; and we may well conjecture 
 that, if the immaterial or intellectual universe, 
 with its destinies, were laid open, the material 
 would shrink and fade, and scarcely again claim 
 our notice. 
 
 We have only to add to this reasonable sup- 
 position the belief of immortality ; or of ENDLESS 
 EXISTENCE, in the most absolute sense of the 
 words ; and having placed in combination ideas 
 so vast, it may be inquired whether the rules or 
 principles upon which a machine so stupendous 
 as the material and intellectual universe, can be
 
 VASTNESS OF THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE. 197 
 
 supposed to fall within our knowledge ; or to lie 
 in the compass of our minds ? In other words, 
 whether our actual qualifications for judging of 
 the destinies of our own species, or of the pro- 
 cedures of the Divine government, are in any 
 degree commensurate with the magnitude of 
 the subject ? 
 
 Every reflecting mind entertains at times dif- 
 ficulties concerning the condition and destinies 
 of man, which all the ingenuity of philosophy 
 fails to solve. To avoid the stress of such per- 
 plexities, on the one side, we are fain to shift 
 our ground ; but find that, though we have 
 changed the position of our burden, we have not 
 at all lessened its weight. We run for relief, 
 perhaps, to scepticism, and some run to atheism. 
 But greater and more formidable doubts meet 
 us there ; and forbid our progress. Revelation 
 grapples not with any such antagonists ; but it 
 speaks in a tone firm and calm, which implies 
 that they are, or that they may be, readily dis- 
 posed of. Now we need wish, if rightly minded, 
 for nothing more (when once convinced that the 
 Bible is from God) than to rest quietly upon its 
 implicit disregard of the doubts which so much 
 disturb our peace. For we may very safely infer 
 from the manifest ease and tranquillity of the 
 messengers of Heaven that all is well, if looked 
 upon from a point sufficiently high. Just as 
 when a father, stationed on an eminence, is 
 watching the progress of his sons through a
 
 198 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 labyrinth, they may confidently presume that 
 their course is the right one, so long as they see 
 that a cheerful smile is on his face. 
 
 This kind of humble acquiescence is, we say, 
 both safe and reasonable. But let it be granted 
 that it is lawful to seek some independent con- 
 firmations of our passive faith. Then surely we 
 may find what we need, as often as we look to 
 the starry heavens. And is there indeed no 
 motive of modesty is there no reason for sus- 
 pension of judgment is there no awe justly to 
 be derived from the spectacle of the universe ? 
 Must not even the most audacious mind confess 
 a reverence while standing thus in the open 
 presence of all worlds ? Or let the scenery be 
 somewhat changed, and instead of seeing, at a 
 distance, these innumerable habitations, let us 
 imagine that all the rational orders that fill them 
 (not a race excepted) were, by a sovereign sum- 
 mons, gathered from their several homes, and 
 brought down to fill our nearer skies, and to 
 come (were that conceivable) within a circle to 
 which articulate sounds might reach. Who is 
 there then that, in the presence and hearing of 
 such an assembly, would choose to utter aloud 
 the petulance and the impiety of his secret 
 meditations ? Who would not be conscious that 
 those complaints against the principles of uni- 
 versal government which he harbours while 
 actually acquainted with only some few of its 
 acts, must, if uttered, bring upon himself the
 
 VASTNESS OF THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE. 199 
 
 just resentment and scorn of all ? But what- 
 ever it is that we should not have courage 
 to utter in presence of the assembled rational 
 universe, we ought to expel from the concealed 
 recesses of our hearts. For it is an absurd pre- 
 sumption even to think that, which we should 
 ourselves feel it to be both presumptuous and 
 absurd to utter aloud. The reason of the 
 modesty demanded of us remains always the 
 same ; and it is this That we are members of 
 a government which extends over a surface in- 
 conceivably greater than any finite mind can 
 measure, and of which we are acquainted only 
 with a single spot.
 
 XII. 
 PIETY AND ENERGY. 
 
 "ADD TO YOUR FAITH VIRTUE." 
 
 ALMOST every excellence in the science of 
 morals has been attained by sages except 
 completeness and consistency : the complete- 
 ness and consistency of its morality is the 
 peculiar praise of the ethics which the Bible 
 has taught. Often, if we might so speak, the 
 strength and the materials of six parts of mo- 
 rality have been brought together, wherewith 
 to construct a seventh part ; and so much of 
 magnificence and elevation has, by this means, 
 been obtained for the single virtue, whether it 
 were fortitude, courage, patriotism, or benefi- 
 cence, that mankind, in their admiration, have 
 forgotten the cost at which it has been produced. 
 
 The morality of the Bible excepted, there has 
 never appeared an ethical system oriental or 
 western, which might not fairly be described as 
 a splendid enormity or a glittering fragment, 
 which owed all its value to the spoliation of 
 some spurned and forgotten qualities. What-
 
 PIETY AND ENERGY. 201 
 
 ever energy has been gained on the one part, 
 will be found to have been deducted from ano- 
 ther : or if the man formed on these models 
 is examined, the eminence he displays in a 
 single line of action, impoverishes or enfeebles 
 other of his moral powers. 
 
 Every one who is conversant with history 
 will readily call to mind abundant illustrations 
 of our meaning. The ancient world often 
 enough displayed (and in some instances which 
 justly demand admiration) a stern subjugation 
 of the animal appetites ; or an arrogant for- 
 titude ; or a proud public virtue ; or an am- 
 bitious patriotism ; or a bland and gay, but 
 dissolute humanity, and a voluptuous elegance. 
 Or after that Christianity had exploded the 
 philosophic and polytheistic virtues, and had 
 imparted the power and solemnity of the future 
 life to ethics, mankind were called upon to ad- 
 mire a new order of extravagance in morals, 
 while saints and anchorets, instead of heroes, 
 sages, and statesmen, ran the course of glory. 
 Meanwhile the completeness and consistency of 
 true virtue, as taught by the Apostles, was 
 wholly lost sight of. 
 
 Our own times, though it be after a new 
 model, have shown us notable examples of 
 the brilliancy and vigour that may belong to 
 partial systems of piety and morals ; and we 
 have now as great need as ever, to revert to 
 the source the only source of a consistent
 
 202 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 morality. The absolute symmetry, the exact 
 counterpoise of parts, in the apostolic ethics, 
 is sometimes conspicuous, and sometimes occult. 
 In one passage it must insure the notice of 
 the least observant reader; in others it may 
 demand, for its full exhibition, a reference to 
 the deep-seated principles of human nature. 
 But there are no instances more remarkable 
 than those in which the admonitions or dehor- 
 tations of Scripture are not to be understood 
 in their specific propriety, until we have looked 
 through the page of church history, and have 
 found occasions which seem to have been vi- 
 vidly in the prospect of the inspired writers 
 when selecting their emphatic phrases. There 
 are, we say, certain ethical portions of the Scrip- 
 tures, which must be granted to have in them 
 much of the prophetical quality ; and to which 
 we have not done critical justice until we have 
 shown, by the aid of history, their signal adap- 
 tation to the evils that, at different eras, have 
 prevailed in the church. 
 
 It must be acknowledged that the Gospel, 
 while by its direct agency it has elevated and 
 purified the morality of mankind, has also, as 
 an oblique cause, generated, or brought into ac- 
 tivity some peculiar forms of evil. This could 
 not but happen. Christianity (corrupted and 
 debased) has had its specific vices, as well as 
 produced unexampled virtues. But what human 
 sagacity could be sufficient, while the system
 
 PIETY AMD ENERGY. 203 
 
 was yet in its infancy, and long before it had 
 collapsed upon itself, or had come into contact 
 with foreign influences, to forecast these dis- 
 tant and accidental novelties of sentiment and 
 behaviour ? Truly the penetration of man 
 reaches not nearly so far ; and when, on the 
 pages of writers so inartificial, so devoid of the 
 keenness and comprehension of the philoso- 
 phical spirit, as were PETER, JAMES, and JOHN, 
 we find special provisions against abuses that 
 were not at all developed till later ages, we 
 must, in all candour, confess, that, though the 
 phrases and the style are those of men, the 
 latent intention, and the foreknowledge, must 
 have been from God. 
 
 The epistles of Peter eminently exhibit that 
 sort of ostensible consistency of moral precepts, 
 which even the most ordinary understanding 
 perceives, and admires. Moreover this writer 
 shows himself to be master of that practical 
 harmony of principles which, on difficult occa- 
 sions, and under peculiar excitements, adheres 
 to the nice line of moderation, humility, and 
 firmness. Of this kind are those passages 
 wherein he guides the conduct and feelings of 
 Christians when suffering under persecution. 
 Nothing more admirable than these precepts 
 of meekness and constancy is any where to be 
 found : nothing so great had been seen in the 
 world before Christ imparted to his disciples 
 the elements of true magnanimity.
 
 204 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 But this is not all : these epistles contain 
 in their ethical portions some extraordinary 
 instances of the kind just above alluded to, 
 wherein a knowledge of the workings of human 
 nature, much more profound than the writer 
 would seem natively to be master of, is con- 
 joined with what one is fain to think a pro- 
 spective caution, directed against the corruptions 
 of after Christianity. The exordial paragraph 
 of the second epistle affords a signal example 
 of this, more than human skill and foresight. 
 We venture to affirm that this passage is fraught, 
 at once, with philosophical justness of classifi- 
 cation, and with prophetic truth. 
 
 It were surely a rude style of exposition to 
 regard the catalogue of virtues, now before us, 
 as merely a vague and fortuitous series of moral 
 qualities, each of which, though singly impor- 
 tant, is not specifically linked to its neighbour, 
 and does not derive any definite significance 
 from its location in the list. So clumsy a sup- 
 position may perhaps be favoured by the loose- 
 ness of our English translation ; but in turning 
 to the language of the Apostle, far more of 
 meaning is clearly conveyed, than such a sup- 
 position takes account of. 
 
 In order to dismiss the frigid interpretation 
 to which our ears have been accustomed, and 
 to convey the full sense of the apostolic lan- 
 guage, it is necessary to resort to a paraphrase 
 of the passage. " Divinely endowed," says the
 
 PIETY AND ENERGY. 205 
 
 Apostle, " with whatever is important to (spiri- 
 tual) life and piety ; enriched also with those 
 inestimable promises which insure to us a par- 
 ticipation in the Divine Nature a participation 
 we derive from our acquaintance with Him who 
 has challenged us to so high a glory ; and having, 
 by the same means, gained freedom from the 
 defilement of mundane passions, my brethren, 
 take heed (that you beseem yourselves worthily 
 of your vocation) using the utmost assiduity 
 (in the pursuit of Christian excellence) see 
 that your faith (in these promises) is always 
 associated with manly energy (or vigour) ( that 
 your faith be not pusillanimous) and then, that 
 your courage (virtue) be duly informed by evan- 
 gelical principles (knowledge). Again, take heed 
 that your knowledge (of the Gospel) be not 
 abused to licentiousness ; but rather be united 
 with self-command and temperance. Nor must 
 this control of the appetites spring from a 
 haughty and fanatical temper, but must consist 
 with humility and submission. Yet let your 
 humility be religious (not stoical). Then re- 
 member that your piety is not to be unsocial 
 (or anchoretic) but fraught with brotherly affec- 
 tion ; and lastly, that your affection towards 
 your fellow-christians is not to be sectarian, but 
 expansive, and that it is to spring from the 
 principle of universal love."* 
 
 * The precise value of the principal terms employed in this 
 remarkable passage it is important to understand : our English
 
 206 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 This passage then, if not unfairly paraphrased, 
 and if its ellipses are truly supplied, resolves 
 itself into an ethical canon, in three parts, of 
 which the first enjoins the due connexion of a 
 religious reliance upon the Divine promises, with 
 energy of character ; an energy that is not 
 to be secular, but evangelical. The second 
 describes genuine personal virtue, or continence, 
 as related, on the one hand, to the principles 
 whence it should spring ; and on the other, to 
 
 version is here less happy and exact than usual. 
 Traerav Traptiflreveyicavrce, iiuypp^yfoaTt ..... these compounds 
 fully carry the sense of bringing together, or into combina- 
 tion and correspondence, the several virtues enumerated. It 
 is not merely an adding one to the other, as unconnected 
 items ; but the commixture of one ingredient with some other 
 that is specifically necessary for the production of the de- 
 sired result. The phraseology would be proper if the articles 
 to be brought together were remedies, the effect of which 
 depended upon their due combination. 'Ev rrj Trtorei vpSiv 
 riiv apen/v .... with this faith of yours, admix the constancy 
 and courage of manly vigour : apenj has this specific sense. 
 'H yvwerte is neither human enidition, nor general intelli- 
 gence ; but that specific knowledge of which the Gospel is 
 the subject. 'EyKparaa is not moderation in eating and 
 drinking merely; but self-command, or command over the 
 appetites. "YTropovfj, as used by the writers of the New Tes- 
 tament, might be rendered by the word submissiveness : or it is 
 the patience of humility. Evalfteia, piety. $t\a^\^ta is the 
 species ; dycuKri the genus. This is the principle ; that, the 
 special exercise of it: and the caution of the Apostle is 
 directed against such an affection for the brotherhood as does 
 not spring from a genuine and universal love. *, For the sense 
 of the verb eTrt^op^yew, see verse 1 1 . 
 
 V 4, 
 
 X,--
 
 PIETY AND ENERGY. 207 
 
 the temper that should attend it. The third 
 lays down the twofold rule of social piety. 
 
 Or we might well seek our illustration of the 
 apostolic injunction by taking a view, at large, 
 of church history ; and then we shall find, 
 beneath the significant phraseology of the pas- 
 sage, a condensed but comprehensive caution 
 against each of those prominent corruptions 
 that have developed themselves in the course 
 of eighteen centuries. They are readily enu- 
 merated, and may be thus designated ; 1st, 
 pusillanimous or inert faith ; 2d, the licen- 
 tious abuse of the Gospel ; 3d, a fanatical or 
 haughty subjugation of animal desires ; 4th, an- 
 choretic pietism ; and 5th, sectarian or factious 
 sociality. Thus our apostolic canon is seen to 
 hold up, as in a mirror, the history of the dege- 
 nerate Christianity of all ages. 
 
 We may take the members of this canon in 
 their order ; and at present consider that which 
 relates to the due combination of faith and 
 manly energy. 
 
 There is manifestly something which requires 
 to be balanced or adjusted, and kept in equi- 
 poise, between the principle of faith, and the 
 principle of action. The one has a tendency 
 to exclude the other; 1 or to overpower it. But 
 Christian excellence consists in the preservation 
 of this balance ; and the preservation of it, we 
 must add, greatly depends upon the circum- 
 stances of the times. Now perhaps, for a
 
 208 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 season, faith and energy are both strongly sti- 
 mulated ; and the highest style of Christian 
 heroism is reached. Again, the inducements 
 of action being slackened, faith is deprived of 
 the invigoration it had received from the con- 
 test with its antagonist principle : it triumphs, 
 or rather seems to triumph, for a moment; 
 but presently becomes extravagant ; then im- 
 becile ; and at length utterly inert. We need 
 not be surprised to find that Faith, though 
 heaven-born, can neither live nor be productive 
 alone. Excellence of all kinds, physical, intel- 
 lectual, and spiritual, is the product, not of the 
 single operation of some one principle ; but of 
 the oppugnant forces of two or more powers, 
 which have a natural fitness to counteract each 
 other. And the higher we look in the scale of 
 being and action, so much the more shall we 
 find this principle holding good ; and shall per- 
 ceive that exalted and resplendent qualities have 
 always become what they are, by the vehement 
 interaction of conflicting elements. 
 
 The faith of the primitive age owed its vigour, 
 not merely to the miraculous attestations that 
 then abounded; nor to the personal teaching 
 of apostles the men who had themselves " seen 
 the Lord ;" nor merely to the plenitude of that 
 heavenly influence which then so largely de- 
 scended upon the church ; but in an equal de- 
 gree to the perils and pains of the time to the 
 agitations, and heavy storms of trouble, which
 
 PIETY AND ENERGY. 209 
 
 beat upon the infant religion. That vivid con- 
 viction of the reality of things unseen which 
 the first Christians enjoyed, might naturally 
 have abstracted them altogether from mundane 
 interests, and have led them forth, heaven- 
 ward, in holy contempt of whatever belonged 
 to the insignificance of their mortal course. 
 But this supremacy of the powers of immor- 
 tality, if unbalanced, must soon (calculating on 
 the constant principles of human nature) have 
 wrought its own decay and corruption ; and 
 Christianity would quickly have seemed nothing 
 better than a madness or a folly. The perse- 
 cutions of the first age constituted the coun- 
 teractive power, which gave consistency and 
 reason to so lively a faith. Christians were 
 daily brought upon a path of danger which 
 made them as much men of action of promp- 
 titude, and of courage, as they were men of 
 meditation. While more than any others they 
 lived in correspondence with things "unseen 
 and eternal," more than any others also, they 
 wrestled with things earthly ; being embar- 
 rassed amid common cares, exhausted by hunger, 
 thirst, and toil ; distracted by fears ; and often 
 actually engaged in encountering the anguish 
 of cruel deaths. Thus were they compelled, 
 by the position they occupied, to mingle with 
 " their faith, virtue." 
 
 It might be matter of question whether the 
 laws of the human mind at all admit of a high
 
 210 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 degree of force being imparted to the principle . 
 of faith (consistently with the soundness and 
 vigour of the character) in any manner essen- 
 tially different from that of a strenuous conflict, 
 such as the first Christians were exposed to. 
 We may perhaps hereafter entertain a conjec- 
 ture on this subject : meanwhile it must be 
 confessed, that the history of the church ex- 
 hibits frequent examples of the natural process 
 which takes place when Faith, being released 
 from the grasp of its antagonist, becomes, first 
 preposterous ; then childish ; and ere long ex- 
 pires in the arms, either of superstition or of 
 sensuality. 
 
 Secular men can scarcely at all conceive of 
 the great power of those motives that are drawn 
 from the objects of religious belief. As the 
 most amazing of all infatuations is that which 
 blinds man to his own immortality ; so the 
 greatest of all revulsions is that which takes 
 place when this infatuation is dispelled. Can it 
 be called any thing less than " a new birth " when 
 the being who yesterday was the creature of mo- 
 mentary interests, becomes to-day the claimant 
 of an endless existence the inheritor of abso- 
 lute happiness, and an associate of the Infinite 
 Majesty ? The power of meditation, apart from 
 piety, may indeed, on the boundless field of 
 these hopes, take its course at large. But the 
 faith of Christianity is something far more 
 vivacious than any mere ravishment of the
 
 PIETY AND ENERGY. 211 
 
 imagination can ever be. It is not so much the 
 idea of eternity that constitutes the difference 
 between the secular and the spiritual man ; but 
 rather the consciousness and the sensitiveness 
 that are proper to the moral life. It is not a 
 vivid conception of the awful greatness of God 
 that makes the Christian what he is ; but the 
 apprehension (an apprehension that has no al- 
 liance with the imagination) of the absolute 
 purity, justice, and goodness of the Divine Being. 
 It is the entrance of these notions that quickens 
 the soul : it is in their vividness that the life of 
 the soul consists ; and the faith of Christianity, 
 far from revelling in gorgeous conceptions of 
 heavenly splendour and immortal pleasure, is 
 a sense (attended with weeping and joy) of 
 GOOD and EVIL, and of personal implication in 
 the one, and participation of the other. 
 
 Nor does this faith want its definite excite- 
 ments : it is neither a mere phantasy of future 
 glory, nor a vague ebullition of feeling. The 
 mysteries of the redemption effected by the 
 Son of God concentrate the emotions of fear 
 and hope, of compunction and gratitude, of joy 
 and sorrow, upon distinct objects. The " Me- 
 diator between God and man" his personal 
 qualities, his acts, his purposes, his affection 
 to his people, and the future exertion of his 
 power and grace on their behalf, are so many 
 special sources of emotion, and combine to 
 render Faith in the Gospel, a congeries 
 
 p2
 
 212 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 of various sentiments, that may well occupy 
 every faculty of the intellectual and moral na- 
 ture. 
 
 Yet this is not all : for the elementary prin- 
 ciple of Faith receives an enrichment, a diver- 
 sity of colour, and an individual form, from its 
 combination with the peculiarities of the mind 
 wherein it lodges. Shall we say, that as, when 
 the pure splendour of the sun falls upon the 
 unequal prism of crystal, it undergoes decom- 
 position, and while losing a portion of its in- 
 tensity, yet throws off its severed elements of 
 beauty its seven colours, that diversify all the 
 face of nature ; so, when the brightness of the 
 Divine glory, and the unsullied beams of eternal 
 life, come in upon the soul, and are there im- 
 bibed, the finite substance, with its limitations 
 of faculty, its personal figure, its individual 
 constitution, imparts diversity to the celestial 
 element, and gives birth to new and special 
 forms of emotion. It is at least certain that 
 the faith of each Christian is a faith which is 
 specifically his own, and takes up, as adjunctive 
 qualities, whatever is peculiar to the personal 
 character, and whatever has sprung from its 
 particular history. Thus at once from its 
 objects, and its subject, does Faith derive a 
 copiousness that serves to occupy and animate 
 the soul. 
 
 Nevertheless it is a truth which all expe- 
 rience confirms, that the human mind cannot
 
 PIETY AND ENERGY. 213 
 
 with impunity surrender itself to the constant 
 domination of any one class of emotions, even of 
 the calmest and the purest kind. The perpe- 
 tuity of a single emotion is insanity ; whether 
 mild or turbulent, melancholic or impetuous ; 
 and it may safely be affirmed that human na- 
 ture must be dissolved to its elements, and 
 reconstructed on a different model, before it 
 can either suffer the wretchedness of incessant 
 passion, or inherit the bliss of perpetual love 
 and joy. The Divine providence speaks this 
 truth aloud by the ordinary course of its dis- 
 pensations ; and indeed by the entire construc- 
 tion of the social system ; an hour only is 
 indulged to contemplation ; the day is de- 
 manded by care and toil. 
 
 There are two notable and ordinary results 
 of that state of things which prevails in tran- 
 quil times, when Faith, deprived of the invi- 
 gorating influence of a strenuous conflict with 
 antagonist forces, takes its residence indolently 
 in the heart of the Christian. The first, is 
 its transmutation into pusillanimous sentiment. 
 The second, is its gradual expulsion by prin- 
 ciples of secular action. A period like that in 
 which we live, naturally abounds with instances 
 of both kinds ; and a brief consideration of 
 both may well occupy a few moments of our 
 attention. 
 
 The unsearchable the incomprehensible skill 
 of the Divine administration of human affairs
 
 214 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 is shown in the perfect adaptation of causes 
 belonging entirely to the permanent constitution 
 of nature (nature, material and intellectual) to 
 the accomplishment of the purposes of the moral 
 and spiritual system ; so that the movements of 
 the higher economy of God's government coincide 
 most precisely with those of the lower eco- 
 nomy of the natural world. It is not that there 
 are several systems of movement physical, 
 intellectual, and moral, which are perpetually 
 jostling each other, or which clash whenever 
 they come in contact, and which move on by 
 the one vanquishing the other. But, on the 
 contrary, each of these economies takes its un- 
 interrupted course, as if there were no other 
 moving within the same space ; and each finds 
 the means of attaining its ends, without offer- 
 ing the smallest disturbance to the other. All 
 things are physical (using the term in its most 
 extensive meaning) and all things are spiritual, 
 in a not less absolute sense. 
 
 A due understanding of this exact coincidence 
 of the several circles of the Divine agency is of 
 no small importance ; and to a misunderstand- 
 ing of it we may trace many of the errors and 
 perplexities that infest the region of religious 
 sentiment. Now in times of action and of peril, 
 the daily experience of the Christian effectively 
 teaches him (far more effectively than can be 
 done by abstract explanations) that the Divine 
 providence, and the spiritual economy, which
 
 PIETY AND ENERGY. 215 
 
 are the objects of his faith, do not in any wise 
 interfere with the ordinary or physical course of 
 events : in other words, that the latter is not 
 broken in upon, or disturbed (miraculous in- 
 stances excepted) by the former. With this 
 evidence of experience constantly pressed upon 
 him, his faith ascends into its proper sphere : 
 while he confidently reposes upon the Divine 
 declaration " That all things shall work to- 
 gether for good to those who love God." 
 
 It is possible and probable, that many per- 
 plexities may harass the Christian in moments 
 of reflection, while he vainly endeavours to 
 reconcile the combined movements of the 
 natural and spiritual system, between which he 
 feels himself to be placed. But though these 
 difficulties may not be solved by meditation, 
 they are ere long dispelled by the presence of 
 danger, or by the pressure of suffering: he is 
 brought back to the energy and consistency of 
 common sense, and manly courage, by perils 
 that must be warded off ; or by pains that must 
 be endured. Meanwhile the powers of prayer 
 and faith, and all the emotions that belong to 
 a healthy piety, are brought into action ; and 
 abstruse difficulties are forgotten. 
 
 But it is otherwise in the case of one who, 
 from the commencement to the close of his 
 course, steers his bark upon the bosom of a 
 tranquil sea. No sea indeed, ploughed by the 
 keel of mortality, is exempt from winds and
 
 216 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 billows. Yet it is a truth that the ordinary cares 
 and sorrows of life, though they may oppress 
 the heart, and fill the eyes with tears, do not, 
 in many instances, so quicken the energies of 
 the soul as to break up its illusions. Just as 
 one who slumbers, may be annoyed by sounds 
 and movements near him, and may turn un- 
 easily from side to side ; and often seem as if 
 about to start from his couch ; and yet may 
 not be actually awakened. The human mind 
 is prone to rest within the circle of a single 
 order of sentiments : the soul loves its home 
 of familiar emotions ; and will endure a thou- 
 sand inconveniences rather than consent to be 
 dislodged and driven to seek new quarters. It 
 is thus that, when religious feelings have gained 
 supremacy in the mind, and have come to hold 
 the first place in the heart, the circumstances 
 of an ordinary lot fail to exert any effective 
 antagonist influence, such as shall impart to 
 religious emotions a necessary degree of vigour. 
 The man of faith sincere and devout as he 
 is, has become exclusively conversant with the 
 movements and principles of that spiritual eco- 
 nomy within which all his hopes circulate. 
 This one order of ideas rules his mind. Mean- 
 time he is but confusedly conscious of the 
 vulgar realities of the physical economy, in the 
 midst of which he stands. He can think of its 
 movements only as anomalies, that perplex the 
 spiritual world: its just demands he resents
 
 PIETY AND ENERGY. 217 
 
 as importunities : the irresistible operation of 
 its laws amazes him, as often as he finds him- 
 self borne onward by their power : he thinks 
 of the world as his enemy, not so much by its 
 corruptions, as by its very constitution : and in 
 imbecile alarm, he betakes himself to the Divine 
 succour, on occasions when nothing is actually 
 to be feared but some just consequence of his 
 own cowardice or indolence. 
 
 It is manifest that one who in any degree 
 believes, or who darkly surmises that the laws 
 of nature the very constitutions of the Creator, 
 are so many instances of sedition and anarchy, 
 is altogether unfitted for acting his part in 
 conformity with these laws : every occasion of 
 life (wherein mere habit and the force of custom 
 and example does not bear him passively onward 
 in the track of common sense) must find him 
 embarrassed, inconstant, pusillanimous; and he 
 fails, and forfeits reputation, from mere incer- 
 titude or irresolution ; though his principles are 
 as firm as those of a martyr. Meanwhile he is 
 looked upon in contempt by the men of the world, 
 who, understanding nothing of the natural history 
 of the case before them, draw an inference which 
 confirms them immovably in their irreligion. 
 
 This transmutation of religious faith into 
 pusillanimous sentiment, supposes always some 
 degree of natural feebleness of understanding ; 
 and we have next to consider that other transmu- 
 tation which takes place (especially in tranquil
 
 218 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 times) in the case of men whose intellectual 
 faculties are vigorous. 
 
 Men of energy and intelligence, sincere in 
 their religious convictions (at least at the com- 
 mencement of their course) who are pressing 
 forward on the busy and gainful paths of public 
 life, soon become far too well acquainted with 
 the principles and machinery of the natural 
 world, and (by their success in adapting them- 
 selves to its laws) are too well content with 
 its constitutions, to entertain the mystical belief 
 of the religionist, as above described, who can 
 reconcile himself to nothing but what is spi- 
 ritual ; and who thinks nature an invasion upon 
 the economy of grace. These, on the contrary, 
 fully persuaded as they are of the reality, the 
 permanence, and the invariable regularity of 
 the natural world, and yet retaining the dog- 
 mas of their religious belief, look upon what- 
 ever seems peculiarly to belong to the Divine 
 and spiritual system, as an anomaly, or special 
 interposition, brought in on rare occasions, just 
 for the purpose of maintaining piety in the 
 world. Meanwhile, from their own conduct and 
 motives they rigidly exclude whatever is not 
 purely secular. 
 
 But when religion has once yielded the 
 supremacy which is its right, it quickly fades 
 into a thin shadow, and a name. These men 
 therefore, of secular habits, and meagre reli- 
 gious belief, insensibly surrender, point after
 
 PIETY AND ENERGY. 219 
 
 point of their first convictions, until they be- 
 come in all respects like others ; except the 
 disadvantage of a profession which serves only 
 to overcloud their hours of reflection, and to 
 sully their public conduct. Yet it is such, in 
 an age like our own, that, by tens of thou- 
 sands, extend the front, and give splendour to 
 the array of visible Christianity. May it not 
 be conjectured that, at the present moment, 
 where we shall find one man who is both 
 sound-minded and truly spiritual, we shall meet 
 with three pusillanimous religionists, and twenty 
 secular believers ? 
 
 It may now be curious, and perhaps profi- 
 table, to imagine such a course of events as 
 might restore energy to faith : this subject 
 we shall next pursue.
 
 XIII. 
 
 THE LAST CONFLICT OF GREAT 
 PRINCIPLES. 
 
 -" THE SON OF MAN, WHEN HE COMETH, SHALL HE FIND 
 FAITH ON THE EARTH?" 
 
 THE general expectation of Christians at the 
 present moment, supported by considerable 
 evidence, is, that a wide diffusion and visible 
 triumph of the Gospel draws on apace ; and 
 that now, without any new or remarkable pause, 
 truth and piety shall advance shall receive the 
 homage of larger and larger portions of man- 
 kind, until " all the earth is filled with the 
 knowledge of the Lord." 
 
 This, we say, is the common belief of the 
 church : and many reasons may be adduced 
 that "give strength to so cheering a hope. Ne- 
 vertheless a contrary opinion may assuredly be 
 entertained ; at any rate some advantage may 
 be drawn from following, for a moment (as 
 matter of hypothesis and meditation) such a 
 supposition. We do so therefore, without giving 
 suffrage to the opinion, as if it were more pro- 
 bable than its opposite. But in fact it is only
 
 LAST CONFLICT OF GREAT PRINCIPLES. 221 
 
 by a calm attention to both sides of a doubtful 
 alternative, that we can be prepared to rest 
 securely in the one we after all prefer. 
 
 A rise and fall, or alternation, of antagonist 
 forces takes its course in all human affairs. 
 History is the narrative of the prevalence, by 
 turns, of the counteractive powers that sway 
 the world ; and ordinarily it happens that, at the 
 moment when a certain power reaches the acme 
 of its supremacy, and when, as with a flourish 
 of trumpets, it proclaims its undisputed triumph, 
 it does, in that very blast of pride, announce the 
 re-appearance of its rival. Despotism, civil and 
 religious, and all the foul forms of political and 
 ecclesiastical corruption, have, on many signal 
 occasions, thus boasted and fallen in one and 
 the same day. And thus too (holding other 
 considerations for awhile in abeyance) it must 
 be granted as possible That the contest which 
 is now actually taking place on the stage of 
 European affairs, between the principle of reli- 
 gious belief (a belief which, owing to the cir- 
 cumstances of the times is too little energetic) 
 and the secular or atheistical spirit a spirit of 
 vigour, intelligence, contumacy, and levity ; may 
 go on to the advantage of the latter, until its 
 languishing opponent lies in the dust, or is 
 driven into the wilderness. If a better issue 
 may reasonably be hoped for, this, sad as it 
 is, seems to accord naturally enough with the 
 course of recent events.
 
 222 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 It is not the argumentative, or documentary 
 proof, which reposes on the shelves of our 
 libraries (how good soever it may be) that will 
 ever effectively maintain the ground of Religion 
 against its adversaries. The Author of Chris- 
 tianity has indeed consigned his doctrine to 
 paper; but the defence and propagation of it 
 is committed, age after age, to living deposi- 
 taries. Celestial truth is a jewel in a pix ; but 
 which, unless it be worn by its possessor, might 
 as well have rested in its quarry. There is a 
 written, and there is a Living Testimony, ad- 
 dressed by Heaven to men. But the former 
 becomes only a passive organ of transmission, 
 whenever the latter fails in energy and purity. 
 Meanwhile, if the power of religion decays, the 
 power of irreligion does not at the same moment 
 decline ; but, on the contrary, starts up then 
 into tenfold activity. 
 
 If therefore, at any time, the question be 
 asked ' Is Christianity about to advance, or 
 to recede ? ' the answer must turn (so far as 
 human probabilities are implied) upon the re- 
 lative vigour, at that moment, of the Living 
 Testimony, and of the spirit of impiety and 
 atheism. If, for example, at any season, while 
 unbelief and irreligion are inert, after a long 
 period of undisturbed empire, the spirit of Re- 
 ligion be gathering to itself inward strength, 
 be rising and mantling in dignity and purity 
 of sentiment, be more sincere and fervent,
 
 LAST CONFLICT OF GREAT PRINCIPLES. 223 
 
 and more deeply moved, and seem to be mus- 
 tering force for some achievement greater 
 than itself distinctly foresees ; then may an 
 expansion of truth be looked for, and an over- 
 throw of the powers of evil. Such was the 
 relative position of the antagonists in the first 
 age of Christianity; and such again at the 
 bursting forth of the Reformation. 
 
 On the contrary, if at any period, the secular 
 spirit be peculiarly rife with intelligence and 
 power ; and at the same time the Living Tes- 
 timony seem to have spent its force ; if, with 
 the faith of Christians, there be combined little 
 of virtue, or manly vigour and constancy ; and 
 if, moreover, the Witnesses for God be fac- 
 tiously divided, brother against brother, then 
 nothing less than some extraordinary inter- 
 position from on High will prevent the stronger 
 power from trampling on the weaker. This 
 stands certain without argument. 
 
 We do not here either affirm or deny this 
 to be now the relative position of Christianity 
 in Europe : but we go on with our hypothetical 
 meditation, and imagine a triumph of impiety ; 
 a triumph which, even should it actually be in 
 the womb of time, shall endure only for an hour ; 
 and it shall be the " LAST HOUR" of darkness. 
 
 The covert scepticism of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury, has become open atheism in the nine- 
 teenth. It may be hard to determine whether 
 this is a desirable ripening of Evil or not ; but
 
 224 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 on the supposition of the contemporaneous 
 decline of religion, it is peculiarly significant; 
 for we can be at no loss in imagining the scene, 
 when this bolder impiety shall believe itself, at 
 length, free from all constraint and fear. The 
 spread of unbelief, after so signal a restoration 
 of Christianity as we have seen take place in 
 our day, may indeed appear highly improbable. 
 But in truth, if the matter be looked at atten- 
 tively, we shall be compelled to grant, that 
 the future increase of infidelity, to any extent, 
 is not a whit more difficult to suppose than its 
 existence at all is hard to account for, in an 
 age like our own, when, as matter of argument, 
 it has been beaten from all its positions ; and 
 when, after the severest possible contest, Chris- 
 tianity has remained in possession of the whole 
 of its evidence, and has received the benefit of 
 having that evidence purged of dross, and freed 
 from suspicion. On hypothetical grounds it 
 might well have been supposed that the con- 
 troversies of the last forty years, and the uni- 
 form triumphs of Christianity in every contest, 
 must, by this time, have rendered infidelity the 
 object of contempt among all well-informed men. 
 If reason held sway in the world, nothing else 
 could have taken place. But it is otherwise ; 
 and if so, then the spread of that which, under 
 such circumstances, dares at all to exist, must 
 not be deemed incredible, or indeed improbable : 
 if it can live, it may grow.
 
 LAST CONFLICT OF GREAT PRINCIPLES. 225 
 
 It is true that, for some time past, atheism 
 has held its place in this, and other European 
 countries, by its sinuosity, its mobility ; by its 
 affected modesty, and its graceful evasion of 
 open warfare ; and by the malicious courteous- 
 ness of the obeisance it offers to religion, as if 
 she wished that her claims should be reverenced, 
 but not examined. Meanwhile it industriously 
 pursues speculations which, though in their ap- 
 parent tendency they have no bearing upon the 
 question of Christianity, are always brought to 
 a conclusion that silently implies its nullity. By 
 a similar craftiness, an invading or a rebel force, 
 which has again and again been beaten on the 
 fair and broad field of war, holds its existence, 
 year after year, in the bosom of a distracted 
 country. Well knowing its weakness in arms; 
 and yet relying upon the aid of a disaffected 
 and disloyal faction in the land, it disperses 
 itself through every district; is no where to 
 be seen in array ; is no where to be encoun- 
 tered ; and is not to be destroyed, because 
 not to be met with in the field : yet does it 
 keep alive treason and anarchy through the 
 realm. 
 
 Shall we place our reliance upon those bul- 
 warks of religion which the vigilance and muni- 
 ficence of our ancestors reared for its defence, 
 and which we venerate as conservative of all 
 that is most precious ? Alas ! such artificial 
 barriers may disappear more suddenly than the 
 
 Q
 
 226 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 morning mist. Nothing is permanent, belong- 
 ing to man, but his inconstancy. The weeks 
 of one summer the brief interval between the 
 springing of the blade, and the putting in of the 
 sickle on our fields, may see pass away, as a 
 forgotten dream, what we had believed to stand 
 firm as a mountain. Nor are the means to 
 which recent religious zeal has given existence 
 much more to be trusted, than the venerable 
 institutions of other times. Two powers only 
 are entitled to be considered as grounds of con- 
 fident calculation, in forecasting future events : 
 these are, on the one hand, the bad passions of 
 man his sensuality, his levity, his virulence, 
 his ferocity ; which infallibly, and alike in every 
 age, and in every hour of every age, are in move- 
 ment, and actually ready to break forth, and to 
 rage, just so far as they are not repressed. And 
 on the other hand, that strong arm of Divine 
 and conservative Providence, which (governed 
 by reasons inscrutable) now withdraws itself 
 almost from the theatre of human affairs ; and 
 now again, with irresistible force, interposes to 
 rescue the ark of Religion, and to renovate the 
 corrupting mass of the human system. These 
 two permanent antagonist powers excepted, 
 nothing that belongs to man is invariable ; and 
 at all times, whatever of evil the first of them 
 can produce, may justly be feared short of 
 that utter desolation which the second will 
 assuredly prevent.
 
 LAST CONFLICT OF GREAT PRINCIPLES. 227 
 
 It may most confidently be prognosticated 
 that the atheism which is now bland, submis- 
 sive, respectful, crafty, will become a creature 
 altogether of another temper, should it ever 
 reach the point of supremacy and visible tri- 
 umph. To all powers it belongs to change 
 their external character, as well as their rate of 
 movement, when they spring up, or burst away 
 from the grasp of an antagonist. So would it 
 be with Christianity; so shall it be, when it 
 gains the ascendant. Nor would the spread of 
 atheism be slow, if a decided advantage were 
 once obtained over religion ; nor would its 
 deportment be moderate. If there be an im- 
 prudence greater than that of placing reliance 
 upon any existing institutions for the preserva- 
 tion of religion, it is to believe that the suavity, 
 the tolerance, the bland indifference, and the 
 enlightened liberality, which now are the garb 
 of the infidel spirit, belong to it by nature, or 
 would be retained a day after it had nothing 
 to fear from its rival. 
 
 The whole history of man makes it certain, 
 that sensuality, frivolity, and cupidity (which 
 are the close companions always of atheism) 
 connect themselves with ferocity, as surely as 
 superstition and fanaticism do so. If false reli- 
 gion has always been sanguinary ; so likewise 
 has lust ; so has voluptuous levity ; so has 
 covetousness : the alliance is deep seated among 
 the very roots of passion in the human heart. 
 
 Q2
 
 228 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 Shall we affirm that none but the priest is 
 by nature persecutor ; and that the atheist has 
 no fang ? Vain conceit ! The priest indeed 
 curses this or that rival sect ; and would fain 
 exterminate his foe : but the atheist holds man- 
 kind at large in contempt ; and would be ready, 
 with a jest, to blot out all life from the world. 
 Besides ; as the atheist cannot expunge from 
 human nature its latent instincts of religious 
 fear and hope, these principles will be alvvays at 
 work to trouble his security ; and therefore to 
 provoke his resentment. Let but the day come 
 when it shall be fearlessly and commonly pro- 
 fessed that " Death is annihilation," and that 
 therefore the pleasures of appetite, graced by 
 intelligence, are the whole portion of man, and 
 this horrible opinion shall quickly become pa- 
 rent to a Giant Cruelty, loftier in stature, and 
 more malign than any the earth has hitherto 
 beheld. Even the most sanguinary superstitions 
 have had some profession of sanctity to main- 
 tain ; a reserve, a saving hypocrisy, a balance 
 of sentiments, which has set bounds to their 
 demand of blood. But atheism is a simple ele- 
 ment : it has no restraining motive ; and must 
 act like itself, with a dreadful ingenuousness. 
 And with what vehemence of spite shall this 
 monster, should he ever win the sceptre of the 
 world, turn, and search on all sides for the 
 residue of those who, by their testimony in 
 favour of the future life, sicken his gust of
 
 LAST CONFLICT OF GREAT PRINCIPLES. 229 
 
 pleasure, and make palid his joyous and florid 
 health. 
 
 It were not well (as it is not needful) to 
 imagine in particulars the ingenuities of brutal 
 rage which, in such an era of triumphant im- 
 piety as we are supposing, shall be brought into 
 play by the chiefs of sensuality and atheism, for 
 the purpose of breaking the constancy of the 
 few who shall still maintain the faith of religion. 
 With what zeal shall it be attempted to purge 
 the world, once and for ever, of the fear of God, 
 and the belief of immortality ! The ruling spirit 
 of delusion the invisible, but inveterate enemy 
 of man far better taught in the mysteries of 
 the spiritual world than are his agents and minis- 
 ters on earth, and not free from an appalling 
 forescent of his own near approaching discom- 
 fiture, shall nevertheless be so flushed with 
 success (though racked by inward despair) that 
 he shall put in movement the entire force of his 
 kingdom, to bear upon this last hour of conflict. 
 If, when the obsolete and childish fables of the 
 Greek and Roman worship were approaching 
 their fates, the father of error breathed so much 
 of infernal rage into the bosoms of Diocletian, 
 and Galerius ; and if again, when the decayed 
 follies of Popery were shaking to their fall, he 
 inspired, with a still more intense ferocity, the 
 hearts of the Austrian Charles, and of Philip, 
 and of Henry, and of his daughter, and of her 
 bishops, how much more shall he be furious,
 
 230 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 when it is not some single form of impiety that 
 is in peril ; but when the great and compre- 
 hensive controversy the question of all ages, 
 between SENSE and FAITH, shall draw to a crisis ; 
 and when it shall seem as if now a single 
 convulsive effort might overthrow for ever the 
 belief of immortality. No : that is a triumph 
 which shall never be boasted. Let atheism 
 prevail as it may, some shall remain firm to the 
 hope of life, and loyal to the honour of God. 
 These shall indeed have been long forsaken by 
 multitudes that once made common cause with 
 them. The congregation of Christ shall have 
 thinned daily. The visionary religionist shall 
 have gone out, hand in hand with the wrangler, 
 and the leader of faction. The cloaked hypo- 
 crite, the plausible conformist, the sanctimonious, 
 and the rigid, together with the licentious, shall 
 have walked away. Nor must we fail to men- 
 tion the fattened depredator on the goods of the 
 church, who, at the first alarm at the first 
 approach of affliction, shall effect his escape, and 
 very quickly shall be seen to have taken his 
 place and a sop, as pensioner at the royal table 
 of impiety. Yes, all shall have gone off but the 
 few learned or ignorant great or mean, who 
 heretofore had truly held converse with Heaven, 
 and whom Heaven will not forsake. Such shall 
 be strengthened to maintain a good profession. 
 In the day of trouble there shall be added, " to 
 their faith virtue." Faith itself shall reach
 
 LAST CONFLICT OF GREAT PRINCIPLES. 231 
 
 assurance of things unseen : every misgiving 
 thought shall be scattered ; and while it shall 
 seem as if God had indeed withdrawn himself 
 from the earth, the persuasion of his presence 
 shall be the most vivid. 
 
 As it is true that, in a time of laxity and ease 
 the disruption of Faith and Virtue is the prin- 
 cipal occasion of leading men into infidelity, by 
 teaching them to call in question, first their own 
 religion, and then that of their neighbours ; so 
 is it found that, in a time of affliction, the in- 
 vigoration of Faith by Virtue directly operates 
 to augment the number of believers. Thus may 
 we suppose it to be again. Even when the 
 victims are bound, and the fires are kindling, 
 some perhaps not a few, of those who had 
 thoughtlessly followed in the train of impiety, 
 shall be smitten to the heart, and shall loudly, 
 though at the peril of life, profess themselves 
 one with the faithful. The LIVING TESTIMONY 
 shall suddenly revive, and spread itself, and 
 shall daunt the adversary. The Atheist Power 
 shall quail, and confess his fears or his incer- 
 titude : and perhaps, at that very moment, 
 when the hostile parties are confronting each 
 other in suspense yes, in the depth of that 
 " hour of darkness" at midnight, a cry shall be 
 heard " Behold, the Bridegroom cometh !"
 
 XIV. 
 LICENTIOUS RELIGIONISM. 
 
 ADD TO VIRTUE KNOWLEDGE, AND TO KNOWLEDGE 
 TEMPERANCE." 
 
 To renounce all energy and consistency of 
 conduct on the plea of Faith, is easy : and so 
 is it easy to profess and practise secular virtue, 
 in contempt of Faith. These two extremes 
 have in all ages been of common occurrence. 
 But Christianity requires (as it is condensely 
 expressed in the second member of our apo- 
 stolic canon) that Virtue, or energy of character, 
 should spring from evangelical principles ; and 
 that these principles, moreover, should insure 
 personal purity, and the government of animal 
 appetites. 
 
 The extremes we have mentioned, between 
 which the well-instructed Christian holds the 
 mean, are correlatives, directly influencing each 
 other. It is what they see of the laxity, the 
 imbecility, the instability of many religionists, 
 which indurates secular men in their impiety, 
 and leads them, with an avowed contempt of 
 religious principles, to rest the motives of their
 
 LICENTIOUS RELIGIONISM. 233 
 
 conduct upon the lower ground of expediency, 
 utility, honour, and a regard to reputation. On 
 the other hand (as there is too much reason 
 to fear) the lax religionist, seeing, as he does, 
 that secular principles often produce a sort of 
 consistency and virtue of which he knows him- 
 self to be entirely destitute, and finding that his 
 doctrine of faith has no efficiency of a similar 
 kind, arrives tacitly at the conclusion that the 
 honour, truth, integrity, candour, ingenuousness, 
 and self command, in which some worldly men 
 excel, are nothing better than " worldly virtues," 
 or false semblances of goodness, with which " a 
 spiritual man" should have little or nothing to 
 do. Thus the secular man is made the more 
 profane by his neighbourhood to the religionist; 
 and the religionist more relaxed, by his contact 
 with the worldling. 
 
 The virtue taught by the Apostles, and ex- 
 emplified also in every age by a good number 
 of ingenuous followers of Christ, is incomparably 
 more complete, and more sound, and more animate, 
 than that of the worldling; because it reaches 
 to the deepest motives flows out equably from 
 the very centre of the soul, and derives its force 
 always from reasons that are big with the powers 
 of infinity. And then the consistent Christian, 
 when compared, on the other side, with the 
 mere religionist, has a great advantage, inas- 
 much as the first element of his spiritual ex- 
 istence is an unsophisticated perception of the
 
 234 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 evil of sin, and a sincere belief of the peril 
 that thence accrues to himself; and because 
 its second element is an equally unsophisticated 
 and affectionate gratitude to Him to whom he 
 owes deliverance. His nice sense of honour, 
 therefore, draws its acuteness and its vivacity 
 from a perpetual consciousness of the presence 
 of One, whose eye penetrates the spirit, and 
 whose displeasure is the greatest of all evils. 
 
 " Add to knowledge temperance :" or, in 
 other words, let evangelical principles operate to 
 produce self-command, and the due government 
 of animal appetites. The admonition, then, 
 bears directly against that licentious abuse of 
 the Gospel which, to some extent, has always 
 accompanied the proclamation of Divine mercy, 
 and which it must be confessed has, in a peculiar 
 degree, abounded in modern times. 
 
 Those enormities of conduct which, from time 
 to time, connect themselves with religious pro- 
 fession, are not of any very extensive ill con- 
 sequence to Christianity, unless they spring, by 
 some mode of theological sophistry, from its 
 capital doctrines. The flagrant vices and gross 
 scandals that may break forth for a moment, 
 and disappear, being rebuked, as by the accla- 
 mation of all men, inflict only a transient injury 
 upon the cause of truth. It is otherwise when 
 debauched principles and flagitious practices 
 link themselves, by means of bad logic, with 
 the abstruse points of religion, and gravely
 
 LICENTIOUS RELIGIONISM. 235 
 
 demand for themselves the respect that should 
 be paid to well -digested and well-defended 
 systems. In such cases a disease, fatally viru- 
 lent, touches the vital powers of Christianity, 
 and bespeaks a general corruption, without 
 which the malady could not have advanced 
 so far. 
 
 It is characteristic of evils of this order, that 
 they are found to exist, first, in a state of sub- 
 limation, or apparent purity ; and afterwards, 
 by a very quick transition, in a state of gross 
 deformity and putrescence. We say the one 
 precedes the other : but when produced they 
 continue to be coeval ; and are always nearly 
 associated. The false glory of the one, hovers 
 over the foul corruption of the other ; just as 
 the decay of animal matter is indicated, during 
 the blackness of night, by a phosphoric corus- 
 cation, than which nothing is seemingly more 
 etherial or unsullied. But in the order of ge- 
 neration, we must say (reversing the apostolic 
 phrase), " That which is first is spiritual ; after- 
 ward that which is natural." 
 
 All the laws of the intellectual world must be 
 subverted before it could ever happen that things 
 gross and corrupt should bring into existence 
 things elevated and refined. The reverse is, as 
 we have said, the order of nature. Principles 
 that are recondite, subtile, unearthly, become the 
 germinating causes of flagrant evils, that appal 
 mankind, and that especially excite wonder on
 
 236 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 account of their parentage or origin. It follows, 
 if gross corruptions be the product of spiritual 
 errors, that when the process of cure is in 
 question, little good will be effected if, while 
 we attack the offspring, we observe tenderness 
 and reverence toward the parent. This method 
 of procedure must always prove itself nugatory. 
 
 To come to the instance before us, of the li- 
 centious abuse of evangelical principles. If the 
 vulgar who, with so greedy a relish of whatever 
 is rank and fleshly, drink in corrupt doctrine, 
 and actually avail themselves of the indulgence 
 that flows from their creed, could be entirely 
 deprived of all the countenance and aid they 
 receive from those of their leaders whose error 
 is altogether of an intellectual kind, and whose 
 conduct is better than their doctrine, they must 
 almost instantly fall back from their standing 
 within the pale of Christianity, and must very 
 quickly merge, without distinction, in the ge- 
 neral mass of irreligion. It is to the wily and 
 perverse intelligence, the ingenuity, and chicane, 
 the false sublimity, and pathos, of a few divine 
 sophists, that the licentious vulgar of the Chris- 
 tian polity owe their very existence, as profes- 
 sors of the Gospel. Could we but withdraw 
 these leaders, we should at once dissolve the 
 body, at the head of which they stand. 
 
 Those thunders of commination which, not 
 unfrequently, roll from orthodox pulpits over 
 the quarters of licentious religionism, die away
 
 LICENTIOUS RELIGIONISM. 237 
 
 (for the most part) in fruitless echoes. The spi- 
 ritual or intellectual heretic scorns such rebukes, 
 as calumnious (at least in his own case) while, 
 if listened to at all by the sensual crowd, they 
 are either jeered at, as proof of ignorance in 
 the mysteries of the Gospel ; or they operate 
 directly to cherish and to flatter the capital de- 
 lusion of which these persons are the victims. 
 The vindicator of morality has already receded 
 from his vantage ground, and has virtually sur- 
 rendered the matter in dispute, when he opens 
 the controversy with flagrant offenders against 
 virtue in a specific style, which confesses their 
 right to be treated as religionists. By so doing 
 he transfers what belongs immediately to com- 
 mon sense and good feeling, to the hazy ground 
 of polemics. Now the very core and secret of 
 the delusion which envelopes the licentious reli- 
 gionist, is this same habit of escaping from the 
 ground of common sense and conscience, into 
 the mysticism of abstruse and absurd theology. 
 Theology, with its abstractions, does but inflame 
 evils of this order. What have the covetous, or 
 the impure, or the unjust, or the cruel, to do 
 with questions of theoretical religion questions 
 which divines themselves neither comprehend, 
 nor are able to adjust ? 
 
 Nevertheless the immoral, to whatever class 
 they may belong, are not to be abandoned to 
 their error ; but must, by all means, if pos- 
 sible, be entreated and reclaimed. Some kind of
 
 238 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 illusion attends always the indulgence of vicious 
 desires ; and whatever may be the peculiarity 
 of that illusion, or its strength, it ought never 
 to be deemed indissoluble. The debauched re- 
 ligionist, how deeply soever infatuated, has not, 
 we may be assured, severed himself from the 
 conditions of his moral nature. The heir of a 
 future life, and the subject of Divine govern- 
 ment, might as easily lay down, at the last, his 
 immortality, or evade the search of the ministers 
 of Divine justice, as now quench that light of 
 conscience which is the " candle of the Lord" 
 in the bosom of man. Man may indeed render 
 himself brutish ; but it is in vain that he would 
 seek to take the rank and destiny of the brute. 
 
 We have said that the spiritual or intellectual 
 form of religious corruptions should be first as- 
 sailed ; inasmuch as it is the parent of the gross 
 or flagrant form. This being remembered, we 
 remit, to another occasion, that primary subject, 
 and turn to the secondary ; or the consideration 
 of the means to be employed for awakening and 
 reclaiming those of the lower sort, who abuse 
 the Gospel. 
 
 It is evident that if a peculiar strength or 
 tenacity belongs to any vicious infatuation, there 
 must be found a proportionate force in the power 
 that assails it. Now it will be grante.d that, if 
 there be at all such an infatuation, which, more 
 than any other, is firm, even as the thick folds 
 of leviathan, it is the one we have now to do
 
 LICENTIOUS RELIGIONISM. 239 
 
 with. Here are men, conversant with the purity 
 of the Scriptures, who can persuade themselves 
 that they may draw thence a licence for every 
 enormity of the fleshly and malignant passions ! 
 Amazing perversity ! Who shall deem himself 
 qualified to contend with an error so prodigious ? 
 This is not the place for bringing into calcula- 
 tion the irresistible efficacy of the Divine Spirit; 
 an efficacy equally indispensable in all cases ; and 
 to which all difficulties are the same : but we are 
 estimating the proportion between the strength 
 of the evil to be assailed, and the power of 
 the human means, that are applied to effect its 
 removal. 
 
 No argument is needed to prove that, so far 
 as human agency is at all implied, and so far 
 as the wished -for result is dependent upon 
 that agency, a disorder so grievous as the one 
 in question, is not to be subdued by ordinary 
 means. Certainly it will not yield to the efforts 
 of those who themselves are lax and enfeebled 
 in spirit whose own moral perceptions are ob- 
 scure whose hearts are not ingenuous whose 
 purposes are sinister, and whose conduct is fri- 
 volous. Such may indeed vent their spite, or 
 may display their mastery of language in copious 
 streams of indignant rhetoric ; but not a breeze 
 will be stirred by all this eloquence upon the 
 surface of the stagnant pool which we desire to 
 see cleansed. The evil is a substantial one, as 
 well as inveterate ; and must be contended with
 
 240 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 by a power that has in it a proportionate degree 
 of fervour and energy. 
 
 The degree of audacity that belongs, at any 
 era, to flagrant abuses within the pale of Chris- 
 tianity, may be assumed as a datum, whence to 
 calculate the vigour, integrity, and fervour of 
 the Christian ministry, at the same time. The 
 Christian ministry may fairly be considered as 
 constituting, in every age, the LIVING POWER OF 
 REPROOF, by which the constant tendency of 
 human nature to licentiousness and corruption 
 is to be held in check. This tendency to dis- 
 order, and this Power of repression, are anta- 
 gonist forces, of which the one will rise, as the 
 other falls ; or the one recede, as the other 
 advances ; and which, therefore, may, in their 
 relative state of exaltation or depression, be 
 taken as means of measurement, the one for 
 the other. For example ; do we find an age 
 in which pride, luxuriousness, impurity, rapacity, 
 are suffered to come near to the altar of God, 
 and to receive thence, either by the connivance 
 or timidity of the ministers of that altar, the 
 sacred symbols of the faith ? We have then, 
 unquestionably, found a time in which, though 
 there may be much eloquence in pulpits, much 
 learning, much suavity, and some fair quantity 
 of the higher excellencies of Christian morals, 
 there is little or no energy, or integrity, or sim- 
 plicity, in the body that wields the Living Power 
 of Rebuke.
 
 LICENTIOUS RELIGIONISM. 241 
 
 Whoever then loudly and petulantly com- 
 plains of the impudent front which religious 
 licentiousness is showing within his circle, should 
 first be prepared satisfactorily to prove that 
 these disorders (which so much annoy him) 
 do not at all indicate the inefficiency, or the 
 unsoundness of his own mode of contending 
 with them. It is the more necessary to admit 
 impartial examination on such an occasion, 
 because the actual fault in every such case is 
 very likely to attach, not specially to the indi- 
 vidual ; but rather to the general spirit of the 
 body to which he belongs ; or to the prevailing 
 style of public instruction in the age ; or to the 
 false assumptions, or fanatical dogmas, or meta- 
 physical crudities, of the theological system to 
 which the individual has bowed. Now we may, 
 at any time, find ten men who have discernment 
 and ingenuousness enough to discover and to 
 acknowledge their personal faults ; sooner than 
 one man who has the greatness of mind requi- 
 site to perceive and confess the faults of the 
 system under which he has been reared, and 
 which he stands pledged to support. This is 
 a point reached only by a high order of intelli- 
 gence ; and therefore attained (spontaneously) 
 only by an exceedingly small number of man- 
 kind. 
 
 So powerful is the influence of long-existing 
 mental usages, and habits of thought, and 
 forms of expression, that almost any degree of
 
 242 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 aberration from reason and truth may take place 
 (so that it does but advance upon us gradually) 
 without exciting the attention, even of intelligent 
 minds. Let but a numerous body descend, with 
 a well-timed step, upon an easy declivity, and 
 the lowest depths may be reached before any 
 one pauses to ask " whither are we tending?" 
 Hence it is that, when at distant intervals, 
 men are sent forth by Heaven to reinstate the 
 church, or to reclaim mankind from general 
 corruptions, they find that the labour of half 
 their allotted term of years hardly suffices to 
 convince their contemporaries (even the reason- 
 able portion of them) that all things are not 
 sound and right. 
 
 It appears then, that when we come to ask by 
 what means that corruption and licentiousness 
 which is always apt to prevail within the church 
 may be checked, we are led directly to an 
 inquiry concerning the vigour and efficiency of 
 that Living Power of Rebuke, whence it is to 
 receive its counteraction.
 
 XV. 
 THE POWER OF REBUKE. 
 
 IF THOU TAKE FORTH THE PRECIOUS FROM THE VILE, THOU 
 SHALT BE AS MY MOUTH; AND I WILL MAKE THEE UNTO 
 THE PEOPLE A DEFENCED BRAZEN WALL." 
 
 IT is by the gracious words of Divine Mercy 
 that the hearts of men are to be subdued : these 
 must always be the prime means of affecting and 
 of vanquishing the impenitent. The human 
 mind is framed to be influenced far more by 
 hope and tenderness, than by terror and rebuke. 
 This great truth may be assumed as one that is 
 fully established, and universally confessed. 
 
 But the Christian ministry includes also an 
 office of commination ; and if the messengers of 
 Heaven, when they go forth among outcasts and 
 strangers, who, in utter ignorance of God, have 
 gone far astray from virtue, are to speak much 
 more of mercy than of wrath ; it is also true 
 that, when they stand up among those who, 
 being well informed in matters of religion, use 
 the grace of the Gospel to palliate their vices, it 
 is especially the message of wrath, which they 
 are called upon to proclaim. The abusers of the 
 
 R2
 
 244 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 Gospel are not to be treated as men theologically 
 wrong ; but in the ostensible and common cha- 
 racter, of Evil Doers, and open contemners of 
 the awful authority of Heaven. 
 
 In what spirit then, and from what inward 
 force shall this difficult duty be discharged we 
 proceed to inquire. The tendency of the Chris- 
 tian ministry is always to move down from the 
 high and arduous place which belongs to it, of a 
 Remedial Function, to the lower and more 
 grateful position of an office of delectation ; 
 either intellectual, or spiritual. Wherever much 
 refinement and good taste prevail, the preacher 
 is likely to become the organ of that species of 
 grave and graceful entertainment which beseems 
 " the Sunday :" and so long as he keeps in view 
 the rule which, by a tacit compact, he is bound 
 to observe that of furnishing an hour of plea- 
 surable, meditative excitement ; he may take a 
 wide range, as to style and subject : he may 
 be argumentative or imaginative ; epigrammatic 
 and familiar, or lofty and ornate : he may 
 assume a low position, or a high one, in theo- 
 logy : he may be emblematical, or literal ; 
 mystical and profound, or neological and per- 
 spicuous : the wide world is all before him, so 
 that he is but skilful in gathering blooming 
 flowers always from the surface over which he 
 passes. But how shall any such honeyed lips 
 utter (except as matter of gorgeous eloquence) 
 the appalling verities of Divine Justice ? Nature
 
 THE POWER OF REBUKE. 245 
 
 forbids the incongruity : and more The Reno- 
 vating Spirit refuses to yield the energy of His 
 power to the sway of a mere minister of public 
 recreation. 
 
 If, as is a far more frequent case, intelligence 
 and taste be wanting in the preacher's circle, he 
 must learn to furnish spiritual, instead of intel- 
 lectual entertainment ; such as may be drawn 
 from the conceits and ingenuities of mystic expo- 
 sition from the enigmas and tropes of the 
 Rabbinical school ; or from the soothing adula- 
 tion which, after painting in the brightest colours 
 the honours and privileges of the believer, allows 
 professors of all sorts to appropriate the fulsome 
 description. There may, it is true, be heard 
 from the pulpits of this class of preachers, much 
 louder and more frequent thunders than roll 
 from those of the intellectual class. But the 
 peals of wrath, though often hoarse, are directed 
 always at some distant adversary; at opponents 
 of the sect ; or at mankind at large ; or at 
 the occupiers of the high seats of secular great- 
 ness : but never, or very rarely, at the impure, 
 the unjust, the rapacious, the malicious, who 
 may be filling the pews around. A vigorous 
 and impartial application of the law of God, 
 backed by its tremendous sanctions, to the con- 
 duct and temper of the preacher's audience, 
 would break up his method ; violate his tacit 
 compact, and turn at once the whole tide of his 
 popularity.
 
 246 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 The preacher whom we designate the spiritual 
 (in the want of a term which might better dis- 
 tinguish him from the intellectual) surrenders 
 his last means of arousing the drowsy, inebriate 
 conscience of the dissolute religionist, when (as 
 often happens) he takes his standing within the 
 lines of the old metaphysical theology. Upon 
 that circle of crude and audacious logic, where 
 hoary sophistry sets at defiance Scripture, rea- 
 son, and charity, even the most ingenuous minds 
 quickly lose all their simplicity, and the most 
 sensitive all their compunction. To enter this 
 school, where nature is trampled on, and torn, is 
 to lay down humanity ; and to take up the most 
 amazing sort of MENTAL INDURATION of which the 
 world has ever seen examples. The assertion 
 may be hazarded, that a long course of profane 
 and reckless sensuality, does not more effectu- 
 ally obliterate from the heart its native avve of 
 the Divine Authority, or its reverence for the 
 justice, sanctity, and power of God, than does a 
 thorough initiation in the brazen abstractions of 
 the antique logical theology. Men and their 
 systems are always to be thought of apart. A 
 man, when on the ground of his system, is com- 
 monly found altogether a different being from 
 what he is on the walks of common life. To- 
 day, and at home, he is perhaps sensitive and 
 kind-hearted : to-morrow, and in his officials, 
 he speaks of the awful justice of the Supreme, 
 and of its consequences, with the grave indif-
 
 THE POWER OF REBUKE. 247 
 
 ference, the monotony, and levity, of one who, 
 though he has the human form and tongue, 
 possesses neither conception of what he utters, 
 nor the feelings of our nature. 
 
 How strange is the power of accustomed 
 phrases to conceal from the mind the ideas they 
 are intended to convey ! This narcotic reaction 
 of language upon the understanding is, in truth, 
 a disadvantage common to the race, and for 
 which allowance should be made on many par- 
 ticular occasions: the inward sentiments of 
 men are neither to be condemned, nor approved, 
 in strict accordance with the obvious import of 
 the conventional phrases they employ. Yet 
 does it behove public men to be aware of the 
 indurating effect of words, when digested into 
 constant forms, and when sanctioned by imme- 
 morial usage ; and they should continually en- 
 deavour to break up, what may be called, the 
 mental incrustations, which are always spreading 
 themselves over the sensitive surface of the soul. 
 This is most especially necessary in reference 
 to those matters wherein the drowsy formalities 
 of language tend directly to augment that 
 stupifying influence that belongs to all vicious 
 indulgences. A mind already rendered callous 
 by sensuality, receives, every week, a new, and 
 again a new insensibility, from the heavy mono- 
 tonies of the pulpit. How would both speaker 
 and hearer be startled, if the former were, on 
 a sudden, compelled to pause, and to translate
 
 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 into plain and colloquial terms, the appalling 
 affirmations which have just been gliding unno- 
 ticed from his lips ! 
 
 Nothing (it need hardly be said) is gained on 
 the side of good morals, when the theological 
 stupor of which we have now r spoken, is ex- 
 changed for the vehemence of a bad ambition to 
 stimulate, by terrors, the dull ear of the multi- 
 tude. Nor can we hope any better effect from 
 the rancour of the sincere fanatic malign spirit ! 
 that finds its home, and seems to revel in the 
 awful scenes of future punishment ; and coolly 
 drives its car curious and at ease, through the 
 regions of perdition ! Though the instances are 
 race, thej;e . have actually b.een minds by which 
 the' place of retribution has been looked upon as 
 a field of triumph ! the lost regarded as fallen 
 foes, who might be trampled on and mocked, 
 and to which the sinner, much rather than sin, 
 is the object of hatred ! 
 
 It is beneath the roar of some such fanatical 
 rancour, or in sound of the boltless thunders 
 of the mere man of rhetoric, or it is upon the 
 bewitched circle of scholastic theology, that 
 the licentious religionist enjoys his profoundest 
 sleep. All men feel instinctively, that there 
 is nothing of substance, nothing of sincerity, 
 nothing, in a word, which need cause serious 
 alarm, in either the virulence of the one de- 
 claimer. or the profundities and sublimities of 
 the-, other.
 
 THE POWER OF REBUKE. 249 
 
 Every part of the duty of the minister of 
 religion is more easy than to maintain, in vigour 
 and purity, the spirit he needs as The Reprover of 
 Sin, and guardian of virtue. It is easy to teach 
 the articles of belief, and easy to illustrate the 
 branches of Christian ethics ; it is easy to pro- 
 claim the Divine mercy ; and easy to meet and 
 assuage the fears and sorrows of the feeble and 
 afflicted. But to keep in full activity the .POWER 
 OF REBUKE, demands moral qualities of the rarest 
 sort. It is utterly fruitless to turn from side to 
 side in search of substitutes for these qualities. 
 The preacher may, for example, avail himself of 
 abstract demonstrations, by which to vindicate 
 the unalterable rigour of the Divine govern- 
 ment ; and he may prove irrefragably, that the 
 Supreme Ruler of the moral system can never 
 pass over transgression ; but must needs exact 
 the appointed penalty, either from the trans- 
 gressor or from his Substitute. The erudite 
 argument, for any substantial effect it will pro- 
 duce, might as well have related to the motions 
 of the planets. Or feeling the incongruity of 
 abstruse reasoning, when addressed to the com- 
 monalty of mankind, he musters the means, and 
 brings together all the resources of eloquence. 
 He is, in turns, descriptive, pathetic, indignant ; 
 he flames ; he weeps ; he astounds the hearer, 
 by the prodigious accumulation of his terms and 
 figures of terror. Idle labour! Even while the 
 walls are ringing with these sounds of alarm, the
 
 250 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 covetous man, in his corner, is mentally counting 
 his gold : the eye of the vain and prurient is 
 darting from object to object of illicit attrac- 
 tion : the envious and malign is brooding on 
 new calumnies, to be propagated at the church 
 door : the ambitious is plotting the destruction 
 of his rival ; and the fraudulent and rapacious 
 are, in cogitation, stretching the net for the 
 feet of the unwary. And yet every rule of 
 the most approved systems of rhetoric has 
 been observed : yes, and every intelligent hearer 
 goes away amazed at the skill and power of the 
 preacher: and this preacher too, was sincere in 
 his endeavours ! 
 
 Ah ! but to speak efficaciously of the holiness 
 and justice of Almighty God, and of its future 
 consequences ; to speak in modesty, tender- 
 ness, and power, of the approaching doom of 
 the impenitent, is altogether another matter ; 
 and one that must be left to those whose spirits 
 have had much communion with the dread 
 Majesty on high. As the punishment of sin 
 springs, by an ineffable harmony, from the first 
 principles of the Divine Nature, and infringes 
 not at all upon Benevolence, so must he who 
 would rightly speak of that punishment, have 
 attained to a far more intimate perception of 
 the coincidence of holiness and love, than lan- 
 guage can convey, or than can be made the 
 subject of communication between man and 
 man. This knowledge belongs entirely to the
 
 THE POWER OF REBUKE. 251 
 
 inner circle of the soul, the centre which the 
 rational faculty does but imperfectly penetrate : 
 it is a sense or emotion of the immortal essence : 
 it is conveyed to the spirit by the Father of 
 Spirits ; and only conveyed, in any considerable 
 degree, where much meditation, and prayer, and 
 abstraction from earthly passions, opens the way 
 to its reception and entertainment. All other 
 elements of devotional sentiment may lodge in 
 the heart sooner than this. Hence it is that, 
 on this point, more conspicuously than on any 
 other, ordinary teachers are at fault ; and not 
 a few, honest to themselves, and abhorrent of 
 pretension or artifice, avoid almost entirely a 
 subject on which they feel themselves to be 
 unprepared to speak with feeling and energy. 
 
 An indispensable qualification for the vigo- 
 rous exercise of the Power of Rebuke, by the 
 Christian minister, is such a conviction of the 
 truth of Christianity, as shall render him proof 
 against all assaults from within, and from with- 
 out. And is there not reason to fear that, in 
 this qualification multitudes of Christian teachers 
 are wanting ? Every one who has reflected ma- 
 turely upon the workings of the human mind, 
 perceives that, whether the fact be confessed 
 or concealed the stress of the controversy 
 concerning the divine mission of Christ pends 
 upon the doctrine of future punishment. The 
 affirmations of our Lord and his Apostles on 
 this subject, though they fall in with the
 
 252 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 smothered forebodings of conscience, in every 
 man's bosom, give a distinct form to apprehen- 
 sions from which the mind strives, by all means, 
 if possible, to escape ; and which it will never 
 cordially admit until the moral faculties be rec- 
 tified. The quarrel of the world with Chris- 
 tianity comes to its issue upon this doctrine 
 of future retribution. And as often as any 
 mind recedes from the spirituality of its per- 
 ceptions, it falls back upon this disagreement ; 
 and at such times, if the argumentative con- 
 viction of the truth of Christianity be imperfect, 
 the darkness and perplexity of scepticism will 
 come in upon the soul like a flood. 
 
 While we are meditating, at ease, upon those 
 illuminated scenes of future joy which the Gos- 
 pel spreads before us, and while we admit, in 
 simplicity of heart, the consolations it affords 
 us amid our present sorrows, we demand with 
 little solicitude the reasons of our faith. Joy 
 and hope are emotions indigenous to the human 
 mind ; they are so because they belong to 
 its original destiny, which was to happiness ; 
 and when they enter the soul, they bring with 
 them a noble disdain of suspicions. But the 
 very same law of our nature which makes joy 
 and hope spontaneous, and unsuspecting, impels 
 us to doubt, when the dark and appalling pre- 
 sentiments of conscience are authenticated. As 
 often as we set foot upon the region which 
 sin has replenished with terrors, we have need
 
 THE POWER OF REBUKE. 253 
 
 of all the strength we can derive from the very 
 firmest convictions. 
 
 Fatal to his influence as Reprover of Sin, 
 must be a lurking scepticism in the breast of 
 the public teacher. No care will avail to con- 
 ceal the inward misgiving of the mind : the 
 tongue of the speaker will falter; and the 
 reserve the indecision the vagueness of his 
 manner ; or, still more, his artificial vehemence, 
 will betray the secret of his doubts ; and the 
 infection of these doubts will pass into the 
 heart of the hearer, and will serve to harden 
 each transgressor in his impenitence. 
 
 But supposing his preliminary convictions to 
 be firm, there is then another feeling of which 
 the minister of Religion will find the need, 
 when he labours to affect the hearts of the 
 licentious with fear. It is what may be termed 
 a resolute LOYALTY to the Divine administra- 
 tion. This sentiment is in some measure dis- 
 tinguishable and separable from those intimate 
 perceptions of which just above we have spoken. 
 It rests itself upon the rectitude and perspi- 
 cacity of the understanding ; takes its force 
 from genuine piety, and affection to truth ; 
 and is, if we might so speak, a robust emotion, 
 less liable to fluctuation than some that are 
 of a more exalted kind. It was in the spirit 
 of this loyalty that the father of the faithful 
 said " Shall not the Judge of all the earth 
 do right ?" and in his question assumed the
 
 254 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 conspicuous certainty of the affirmative. It 
 was in the same spirit that the royal poet 
 uttered his worthy persuasion "I know, O 
 Lord, that all thy judgments are right." And 
 it was with a similar force of healthy piety 
 that Paul exclaimed " Yea, let God be true, 
 but every man a liar." 
 
 This loyalty will break through the mazes of 
 much sophistry ; will support the servant of 
 God in his position, when assailed by more 
 fallacies than he is able at the moment to re- 
 fute ; and will strengthen him to cleave, even 
 under all obloquies and embarrassments, to 
 what he inwardly and firmly knows must, in 
 the end, prove itself the better cause. 
 
 Not less necessary to the minister of truth 
 is an unaffected and sensitive compassion to- 
 wards his fellow-men a compassion of that 
 efficient kind which nothing has ever produced 
 in the world but the Gospel. The servant of 
 heaven can execute his commission only so far as 
 he gains access to the human heart; and there 
 is no other path of access, no other law of affi- 
 nity, no sympathy, but that of love. The rugged, 
 the severe, the petulant, will in vain arm him- 
 self with thunder, or fill his mouth with im- 
 precations; truth, if indeed he has it on his 
 side, retains neither edge nor temper in his 
 hand. By such stern vindicators of Divine 
 Justice it seems to be forgotten that the special 
 reason why men, not angels, are sent to preach
 
 THE POWER OF REBUKE. 255 
 
 repentance, is, that the proclamation of mercy 
 may always be heard in that tone of tender- 
 ness and humiliation which it naturally receives 
 when it issues from the lips of one who himself 
 has sinned, and received pardon. The benevo- 
 lence of angels is, no doubt, perfect in its kind ; 
 but the compassions of man have a special 
 property, which imparts pathos and persuasion 
 to the awful announcement of God's displeasure 
 against sin. The end of all Reproof is Mercy. 
 If there were no Redemption at hand, it were 
 idle, or cruel, to talk of Judgment. But the 
 Reprover is the very same as the- herald of 
 peace ; and must draw his arguments whether 
 of terror or entreaty, from his own blended 
 conviction of the certainty of . the future pu- 
 nishment, and the reality of the means of escape. 
 But the expulsion of licentiousness from the 
 Sanctuary of religion, includes other considera- 
 tions, to which attention may well be given.
 
 
 XVI. 
 
 
 
 STRENGTH OF THE POWER OF 
 REBUKE. 
 
 " HOWBEIT, IN UNDERSTANDING, BE MEN." 
 
 CONTEMPT of common sense has been the 
 special characteristic of debauched pietism in 
 every age : hence, of course, an indispensable 
 quality in the Reprover of such evils, is much 
 of that prompt and vigorous intelligence to 
 which the epithet Good Sense is applied. 
 
 The mystic sophisms wherein religious pro- 
 fligacy wraps itself are better cut through at 
 once, than removed as if they were entitled to 
 respect. Our Lord, with a vigour and warmth 
 of manner that were unlike his ordinary style, 
 set the pattern of this mode of dealing with 
 dissolute hypocrisy, when he assailed the Jewish 
 doctors and their vicious casuistry. " Fools 
 and blind ! how can ye escape the damnation 
 of hell ? " The whole strain of the Apostolic 
 writings bespeaks the same manly force, in 
 scattering, as at a blow, the pretences of sancti- 
 monious knavery. The method of rabbinical
 
 STRENGTH OF THE POWER OF REBUKE. 257 
 
 exposition, which consisted for the most part 
 in the construction of evasions whereby the law 
 of God might be made of none effect, and by 
 means of which a corner might be saved for 
 every sin, within the meaning of every prohi- 
 bition, has been repeated, age after age, with 
 variations. But the masters of the synagogue 
 held their bad honours unrivalled, until, at 
 length, the Jesuit bore away the palm of wicked 
 ingenuity. Yet, even under the hand of the 
 Jesuit, the refinements of hypocrisy did not 
 reach their perfection ; and it remained to be 
 shown that the Spaniard and the Italian might, 
 in this work, be outdone. Both have actually 
 been surpassed by the mystic and debauched 
 antinomian of our day, who has given incom- 
 parably more depth and force of colour to the 
 doctrine of pious impurity, than either the Rabbi 
 or the Jesuit had dreamed of. 
 
 The strength of the Reformers was precisely 
 the strength of good sense, as opposed to wiles, 
 and doating inanities, and ingenious knavery. 
 In every dispute between them and the Romish 
 doctors, (if we subtract its particular terms, and 
 nominal subject,) the real point at issue was the 
 preservation of common sense in the world, or 
 its destruction : the controversy was between 
 corrupt refinements in the theory and practice 
 of religion, on the one hand ; and on the 
 other, the perspicuous demands of right reason. 
 The Reformation was a return of mankind to
 
 258 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 integrity, and simplicity of understanding, and a 
 rejection of intellectual subtlety, imbecility, and 
 fraud. 
 
 But the manly vigour of the Reformation 
 spent itself in a century ; and there sprang up 
 on all sides, within its circle, various repetitions 
 or revivals of the sacred follies of earlier ages. 
 Some other of these follies may have produced 
 as great, or a greater amount of evil ; but not 
 one of them has so much scandalized the Refor- 
 "mation itself, or so much vilified Christianity, 
 or has indicated nearly so fearful an audacity, 
 as that which, by learned argumentation, has 
 taught men that the commands and prohibi- 
 tions of Scripture are nothing more than mythic 
 revelations of Gospel mysteries, which it would 
 be a childish simplicity to understand in their 
 grammatical sense ; and still more absurd prac- 
 tically to regard in that sense. 
 
 The angry controversies, with their jargon 
 and empty profundity, which raged in protes- 
 tant countries at the time of the Reformation, 
 and downward, though they called upon the 
 stage of the church much intellectual power, 
 transmitted to the next century not that 
 power (which seemed to have been all spent in 
 the conflict) but what may be termed a prepa- 
 rative of theological perversity, which opened 
 the way, or made smooth the path, for the 
 advance of the antinomian heresy. The un- 
 derstandings of the sons, it might be imagined,
 
 STRENGTH OF THE POWER OF REBUKE. 259 
 
 inherited the exhaustion and the debility which 
 naturally succeeded to the excitement that had 
 maddened the fathers. 
 
 Perhaps no occurrence recorded in the his- 
 tory of human nature none of the ancient 
 whims or enormities of superstition, is more 
 truly amazing than what we have seen take 
 place, during the last seventy years, among 
 ourselves. The case deserves to be distinctly 
 stated in its peculiar circumstances. The 
 English people, compared with their neigh- 
 bours, may fairly claim the praise of soundness 
 and vigour of understanding, and of much prac- 
 tical deference to truth. The course of events, 
 moreover, has tended, in a remarkable degree, 
 both to excite the mental faculties to strenuous 
 exercise, and to bring idle and absurd specula- 
 tions, of all kinds, into contempt. It is by such 
 a people that the Scriptures are received, and 
 diligently studied. And what is the prominent 
 character of these Sacred Writings ? Even if 
 it were granted that, in their mode of revealing 
 certain articles of faith, or in their allusion to 
 subjects of polity and ceremony, such a degree 
 of obscurity attaches to them as calls for in- 
 dustry and learning in the interpreter ; it is not 
 less true that, in whatever relates, either to the 
 great principles whence virtue should emanate, 
 or to the detail of the virtues and the vices to 
 the application of general rules to particular re- 
 lations, or occasions, the inspired writers leave 
 
 s2
 
 260 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 nothing to be desired, or even imagined, in the 
 way of perspicuity, definitiveness, iteration, or 
 diversified expression, and exemplification. Con- 
 sidered merely as a book of morality, the Bible 
 is incomparably a more complete, intelligible, 
 and popular Manual, than any other composi- 
 tion. In this respect, though the teacher may 
 find room for the enforcement of rules, he is 
 scarcely at all called upon to exercise his skill 
 as expositor. The Bible, in the plain matters 
 of duty, of temper, and of social behaviour, 
 comes home at once to the understanding of 
 the rudest part of mankind ; and is very nearly 
 the same book to the peasant, as to the doctor 
 of divinity. And yet this is the volume which 
 a portion of the most sober people in Europe 
 has actually transmuted into a collection of 
 sacred riddles ; and has robbed, in the most 
 absolute manner, of the whole of its force or 
 application, as a divine directory of the con- 
 science and conduct of men ! ' The Bible,' say 
 they, ' affirms nothing or nothing which is 
 significant to Christians, on points of justice, 
 temperance, purity, charity, meekness. What- 
 ever it seems to say on these subjects, is in truth 
 (under the guise of a divine trope or apologue) 
 addressed to those who have become spiritually 
 wise to discern the mystery beneath the letter of 
 the written word.' 
 
 This, with variations, and palliations, and 
 fraudulent subterfuges, is the substance of that
 
 STRENGTH OF THE POWER OF REBUKE. 261 
 
 delusion which has spread through the religious 
 body in all directions, and has had to boast 
 among its adherents, not merely crowds of the 
 simple and vulgar, but more than a few of the 
 rich and the educated ; and has been defended 
 by erudition and eloquence ! Such is the human 
 mind, even when enjoying the most signal ad- 
 vantages, if once it severs itself from common 
 sense, and falls under the influence, either of 
 some dream of intellectual bliss, or of the soft 
 and yet impetuous force of voluptuous desires ! 
 
 Shall we then labour to dissipate delusions 
 such as these by the method of scholastic 
 argumentation ? Shall we be learned and acute 
 in our refutations of them ? The man who 
 would proceed in any such manner is simple 
 as a child ; or has himself already inhaled a 
 debilitating influence from a poisoned atmo- 
 sphere. On the ground of theory and specula- 
 tion, the victims of such errors will be found to 
 have lost irrecoverably the power of distinguish- 
 ing truth from falsehood : the faculties of the 
 understanding are all in solution, and no longer 
 affect one the other, according to the laws of 
 the rational constitution ; the mind does not 
 float on the surface of intelligible notions, where 
 it might be detained, or steered toward the 
 hemisphere of light ; but it plunges vaguely 
 hither and thither, in the profoundest depths 
 of night, to reason and to knowledge it is 
 lost.
 
 262 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 Yet, as we have said, Conscience is not ex- 
 tinguished ; and a hope of recovery remains 
 with the possibility of suddenly arousing this 
 conservative power by the direct means of ap- 
 plying to each particular instance of immorality 
 the Divine denouncements of future retribution, 
 with all the appalling descriptions which the 
 Scriptures furnish. Experience has abundantly 
 proved that such awakening declarations, when 
 addressed to the untaught profligacy of the mass 
 of mankind, and when accompanied with the 
 exhibition of mercy, have, in innumerable in- 
 stances, proved efficacious. It is indeed granted 
 that the moral and intellectual condition of the 
 licentious religionist is far more complicated and 
 desperate than that of the ordinary transgressor ; 
 yet it must not be deemed absolutely hopeless. 
 
 Nevertheless it is manifest that so peculiar an 
 infatuation demands an extraordinary vigour in 
 the instrument employed to effect its removal ; 
 and having already adverted to some general 
 causes which tend, either to corroborate or to 
 enfeeble this instrument, we have now to con- 
 sider some of a more specific kind. Whoever 
 would overthrow subtle casuistry, must be clear 
 from the charge of ever having recourse to it 
 himself. We must know no style but that of 
 intrepid honesty, if we would at all use it with 
 advantage ; and we shall fail in the attempt 
 (without perhaps suspecting the cause of our 
 defeat) to speak with firmness and authority, as
 
 STRENGTH OF THE POWER OF REBUKE. 263 
 
 men, and as the servants of God, to one class 
 of opponents, if, when called upon to address 
 some other class, we find it necessary to de- 
 scend from that lofty position, and to subtilize, 
 to avail ourselves of the tricks of controversy, 
 to be adroit, disingenuous, ingenious ; to evade 
 conclusive arguments by wit, or violence ; and 
 to conceal, beneath a many-coloured cloak of 
 idle declamation, that which, if exposed to view, 
 we should be ashamed to call our own. 
 
 The highly difficult work of reclaiming the 
 infatuated religionist demands a simplicity of 
 mind, which must unfit a man for the delicate 
 task of recommending and palliating the dogmas 
 and practices (entire) of a party let that party 
 be as pure as it may. When, in obedience 
 to certain maxims of policy or discretion (which, 
 however learnedly excused, fall immeasurably 
 short of true wisdom) we step forwards as the 
 apologists of things that all right-minded men 
 feel (whether they say so or not) to be utterly 
 indefensible, we sever the nerve of our moral 
 and intellectual strength, by the very act. 
 No expectation can be more egregious than 
 that of finding ourselves men to-morrow, if 
 we must be sophists to-day. There is a law 
 of continuity, of homogeneity, in the human 
 mind ; there is an equalizing of powers, which 
 makes it take its permanent character from the 
 humiliations to which at any time it submits, 
 and which demands that it shall go to its place
 
 264 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 on the scale of dignity and power, not according 
 to the highest elevation it ever reaches/ or may 
 aspire to, nor even midway between the highest 
 and the lowest point ; but near to the lowest. 
 Spontaneously and consciously to submit to 
 degradation, even for an hour, is for ever to 
 be degraded. 
 
 We need not then be much amazed if, in 
 looking abroad over the Christian community, 
 we see, in some quarters, the authority of God 
 and the dictates of common sense set at defi- 
 ance, notwithstanding the faithful, and laborious, 
 and perhaps intelligent endeavours of worthy 
 and able men to put the contumacious to 
 silence. The truth, probably, is, that these 
 good and sincere men have surrendered, in 
 some manner, the fulness of their integrity and 
 energy. The evil they are contending with is 
 too ponderous to be moved by the shoulders 
 that are set to it. To-day, you find them zea- 
 lously protesting against the sophistries of sin ; 
 but yesterday, perhaps, they were performing 
 some needful service for the interests of the 
 party they stand connected with ; and there 
 is no religious party that has not work to per- 
 form in which no man can engage and come 
 forth as he went into it. 
 
 It is asked (vauntingly by some persons) 
 " What is the great evil of our religious diver- 
 sities, seeing that the matters in debate are 
 comparatively unimportant ?" Alas ! it is this
 
 STRENGTH OF THE POWER OF REBUKE 265 
 
 very non-importance of the controversies that 
 divide the church, which imparts to them their 
 debilitating influence on the minds of Chris- 
 tians. So long as men disagree on questions 
 of great moment, they will continue to be men ; 
 though they may be injuriously inflamed. But 
 allow them to divide and to wrangle on trifles, 
 and all infallibly will become frivolous. No- 
 thing can arrest this consequence. A century 
 of foolish discord will be found enough to dis- 
 sipate all the force of mind which the bounty 
 of nature may, in that period, have afforded 
 to the service of the Church. 
 
 Let it then be impartially asked, whether the 
 existing divisions which keep asunder the body 
 of true Christians, have not a direct influence 
 in withdrawing from that body the internal 
 vigour which should enable it to throw off the 
 enormous evils that infest it. 
 
 But there are milder forms of religious laxity, 
 the growth of which demands some notice. 
 
 In every religious circle there exists and 
 grows (it is to be feared) a sad amount of 
 immorality in conduct, or temper, under fa- 
 vour of that indefinite, and drowsy mode of 
 enforcing the preceptive part of religion, which 
 is too common. The Law and the Gospel, 
 divinely wedded pair, have been lamentably 
 divorced among us. Under one sacred roof 
 the Commandments are spoken of as if they 
 comprised the whole of God's message to
 
 266 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 man ; while, under another, the Gospel imposes 
 silence upon the Commandments. The result, 
 though different in appearance, is substantially 
 the same: the hearers in the one case con- 
 tinue in their sins, because they are furnished 
 with none of the motives of spiritual life ; and 
 in the other, because they are left to expound 
 the code of Christian duty in their own way ; 
 or are allowed to forget it altogether. 
 
 It is true, that both these preachers make 
 occasional allusion to the class of truths which 
 each ordinarily neglects. The first speaks of 
 the free provisions of the Gospel very much 
 in the manner of the debtor, who mentions 
 his obligation in the presence of his creditor ; 
 or as the culprit speaks of the evidence which 
 convicts him ; or as the proud man confesses 
 his dishonour, or the ambitious man his over- 
 throw. But never does he utter himself cor- 
 dially on subjects of this kind ; and never to 
 the smallest discernible good purpose. 
 
 And it is much in the same manner that 
 the preacher of grace (too often) while he 
 grants that personal virtue is a proper and 
 indeed necessary accompaniment of faith ; and 
 while once and again he declares, that 'holi- 
 ness should be the fruit of pardon,' makes this 
 declaration the beginning and the ending of 
 his exposition of the ethical portions of the 
 Scriptures. What this ' holiness ' implies or 
 contains, none can tell you : or if they can
 
 STRENGTH OF THE POWER OF REBUKE. 267 
 
 tell, they have not been taught that the parts 
 of it are indispensable to the constitution of 
 the whole ; or that it can exist only by the 
 presence of every one of its parts. Even if 
 an indirect inference from the preacher's doc- 
 trine does not belie his bald affirmations in 
 favour of virtue, they pass upon the drowsy 
 ear of the sensual, the malignant, or the frau- 
 dulent, as a mere pulpit usage an Amen, or 
 a Gloria, which is to come in at a pause ; but 
 which no one heeds. 
 
 Truly it is not by the use of certain abstract 
 phrases, just where the symmetry of the dis- 
 course may seem to call for them, that the 
 mass of mankind inert, corrupted, and soli- 
 cited by bad passions, and bad customs, is to 
 be taught the particulars of morality, of self- 
 command, truth, and justice ; or restrained from 
 illicit indulgences. It is not in any such vague 
 and listless style that flagrant offenders are to 
 be put to open shame : it is not thus that secret 
 transgressors are to be brought out from their 
 concealments ; nor thus that the wavering pur- 
 pose of the young is to be determined to the 
 better side, or fortified by the recollection of 
 judgment against the hour of temptation. Nor 
 is it thus, in a word, that a vivid and abiding 
 sense of the awful majesty of God, and of the 
 exact rectitude of his government, is to be 
 maintained in the minds of the people. There 
 are, it is true, in every congregation, a few
 
 268 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 individuals two or three, perhaps, in a hundred, 
 whose private meditations, and whose serious 
 study of the Scriptures, may, in great measure, 
 supply to themselves the deficiencies of public 
 instruction. But it is certain that the morals 
 of the mass of the people will correspond very 
 nearly with what is done by their teachers to 
 inform them in the principles of virtue. 
 
 One who is well acquainted with human 
 nature who knows its infirmity, its incon- 
 sistency, its laxity of purpose, its proneness to 
 admit the illusions of passion and self-love, must 
 shudder when he finds in what way certain 
 congregations are entertained, year after year, 
 with topics that scarcely at all affect the con- 
 science : they are made theologians, perhaps ; 
 or they are moved to emotion ; or they are 
 impelled to take their part in ostensible works 
 of mercy ; but " the great matters of the law " 
 are hidden from their eyes ; and multitudes, 
 without any deliberate purpose of abusing the 
 grace of God to licentiousness, without any 
 extraordinary impulsion towards vicious prac- 
 tices, slide unconsciously into whatever evil 
 most solicits them ; because their minds are 
 fortified by no explicit warnings, and are un- 
 furnished with any definite principles of conduct. 
 
 We say, a wise and considerate man will be 
 fain to make his escape from such a scene of 
 things, sorrowfully exclaiming " Surely, THE 
 FEAR OF GOD is not in this place ! "
 
 XVII. 
 THE RECLUSE. 
 
 'ADD TO GODLINESS, BROTHERLY KINDNESS.' 
 
 THE principle of the Apostolic injunction may 
 be thus expressed ' Genuine piety is social ; 
 and this social piety is not affection to a party ; 
 but universal love ! ' 
 
 There is, perhaps, no order of sentiments 
 which reason cannot approve, and which Chris- 
 tianity condemns, that more strongly recom- 
 mends itself as innocent and excellent, than 
 that of a secluded meditative piety. We speak 
 not, of course, of the morose and misanthropic 
 spirit of the ascetic ; but of that milder sort 
 of anchoretic religion which, without admitting 
 any particle of ill-will towards mankind, leads 
 the subject of it to withdraw himself from so- 
 ciety, that he may drink, without interruption, 
 of the still stream of delight that springs from 
 holy contemplation. 
 
 The man who tastes, in a high degree, the 
 pleasures of abstracted thought, may perhaps 
 owe to circumstances something of the perfection
 
 270 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 of enjoyment he attains : but he must have 
 received his primary qualifications from nature. 
 There is a serenity might we say a lentitude 
 of the physical temperament ; there is a na- 
 tive translucency of mind ; there is a correct 
 keeping of time a rhythm and melody in the 
 movements of the passions ; there is a steady, 
 tranquil flight of the fancy ; and there is a habit 
 of abstraction (not philosophical but imaginative) 
 which, altogether, supply to the mind that com- 
 bines them a far higher and more constant 
 happiness than is ever, even under the most 
 favourable circumstances, to be drawn from the 
 ordinary external sources of pleasure. The 
 man of meditation is happy, not for an hour, 
 or a day, but quite round the circle of his 
 years. 
 
 As there are powers in human nature 
 faculties, rational and imaginative, which lie 
 dormant while man continues in a savage state ; 
 so is there much in the circle of the tranquil 
 emotions which does not come at all into play, 
 and is absolutely latent, in the bosoms of the 
 mass of mankind. The turbulent and turbid 
 passions, and the urgent solicitudes of the mul- 
 titude, allow nothing that is not vivid and im- 
 portunate to gain their attention. And it is 
 so, that the hidden treasures of the soul- 
 the secret delights of the heart, become the 
 unenvied portion of a few meditative spirits. 
 In these, the intellectual life is quick in all
 
 THE RECLUSE. 2?1 
 
 its parts. It is as when the waters of a lake 
 are suffered to deposit their feculence, and to 
 become as pure as the ether itself; so that 
 they not only reflect from their surface the 
 splendours of heaven, but allow the curious eye 
 to gaze delighted upon the decorated grottoes 
 and sparkling caverns of the depth beneath. 
 
 Or might we say, that the ground of the 
 human heart is thickly fraught with seeds which 
 never germinate under either a wintry, or a too 
 fervent sky : but let the dew come gently on 
 the ground, and let mild suns warm it, and let 
 it be guarded against external rudeness, and 
 we shall see spring up a garden of gaiety and 
 fragrance. The Eden of human nature has 
 indeed long ago been trampled down, and de- 
 solated : storms waste it continually : never- 
 theless the soil is rich with the germs of its 
 pristine beauty ; all the colours of Paradise 
 are sleeping in the clods: And a little favour, 
 a little protection, a little culture, shall show 
 what once was there. Or if we look at the 
 human spirit in its relation to futurity, we shall 
 have to acknowledge that, as an immortality 
 of joy is its proper destiny, so is it moved by 
 instincts which are the prognostics of eternal 
 life. But earthly passions quench these fore- 
 scents of happiness : meditation fosters them ; 
 and the life of the religious recluse is a delicious 
 anticipation of those pleasures that shall have 
 no end.
 
 272 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 Yet may the course of life adopted by the 
 solitary religionist be partially excused on more 
 solid ground. Self-knowledge is the chief or 
 initial part of true wisdom. But self-knowledge 
 is the result of an analysis that never absolutely 
 reaches simple elements. Let human motives 
 be examined with as much precision as may 
 be, it is natural to them to coalesce, and form 
 new combinations ; and this without end : the 
 work of analysis has always to be renewed, and 
 is never achieved. Moreover there is a high 
 sensibility of conscience attending the diligent 
 inspection of the heart, which becomes con- 
 tinually more and more exquisite, the more it 
 is exercised : the perception of good and evil 
 acquires a fineness of apprehension a power 
 of discrimination, such as incites it always to 
 advance and to apply itself anew to every cir- 
 cumstance of the moral life. This vivid and 
 ever-growing sensitiveness therefore, and this 
 power of scrutiny, find full occupation for the 
 meditative spirit, and seem to deny it time or 
 liberty to be engaged with the interests of the 
 common world. 
 
 We may advance a step further. Religion, 
 or the devotional part of it, is nothing else but 
 the communion of the soul with God; and 
 therefore by its necessary condition is seclusive. 
 There is no piety of a multitude. The wor- 
 ship of a congregation is the worship of so 
 many hearts, each rendered a degree more
 
 THE RECLUSE. 273 
 
 fervent than otherwise by the power of sympathy. 
 But if the elements of worship have not been 
 brought together from the depth of individual 
 spirits, they exist not at all. In all true wor- 
 ship, whether the scene be the place of public 
 convocation, or the closet, the soul brings its 
 immortal substance, and its personal destiny, 
 and its particular interests ; its recollections 
 its hope, and its fear ; yes, itself, as if it were 
 the only created existence, or in oblivion of all 
 others, before the throne of God. How vivid 
 soever may be the emotions that spring in each 
 heart from its sympathy with others, they can 
 never come into comparison with those that 
 belong to its own ultimate welfare. In the so- 
 litude of true worship the human spirit avails 
 itself of, and confesses, two most momentous 
 truths ; first its original homogeneity with the 
 Divine Nature ; without which there could be 
 no communion ; since none but like things can 
 blend : and secondly, the assumption of the 
 human nature by the Divine, in the person of 
 the Son of God ; which is the only means and 
 medium of communion between Heaven and 
 earth. Both these ineffable doctrines imply 
 that the soul may approach so near to the 
 Majesty on high as to forget all things but God 
 and itself. 
 
 The habit of meditative intercourse with 
 Heaven being once formed, and its expansion 
 also favoured, as we have supposed, by the 
 
 T
 
 274 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 sensibility of the imagination, there is opened an 
 unbounded field of delicious contemplation, in 
 the natural world. The power and wisdom of 
 the Creator are indeed vaguely discerned, and 
 formally confessed, by ordinary minds, as often 
 as particular specimens of both are produced : 
 but the man addicted to devout meditation, is 
 not only alive to such indications of the Divi- 
 nity, at all times, and in all places ; he sees 
 in them much more than the bare attribute of 
 which the instance before him yields a proof: 
 he sees there (if so we might speak) the entire 
 personality of the Divine Being, with all the 
 glories of his moral attributes ; for the habit of 
 his soul forbids that he should think of God at 
 all otherwise than personally. It is not power, 
 and wisdom, and beneficence, abstractedly, that 
 are displayed to him in the visible Creation ; 
 but rather God himself his Friend, and Father. 
 Each work of the Divine hand is a symbol, 
 indicative of much more than can be rigidly 
 demonstrated by its means. The tones of a 
 voice a voice familiar in a perpetual me- 
 lody, fall upon his ear, as he walks among the 
 creatures ; and whatever emotion may be then 
 stirring in the depth of his soul, is ready to be 
 called up by these celestial notes. 
 
 And here ought to be noted a peculiarity be- 
 longing to the habit of devout meditation upon 
 the scenes of nature ; a peculiarity which in 
 part explains the fondness of religious recluses
 
 THE RECLUSE. 275 
 
 for wild and desolate regions. There is a purity, 
 or abstinence, in the tastes of the man of medi- 
 tation. He by no means desires to be placed in 
 the midst of the gaudy magnificence of nature, 
 before he can fill his soul with the pious ravish- 
 ment he delights in. He would not, even if he 
 might choose, walk through groves of luscious 
 and spicy pleasure, where every colour and 
 every fragrance satiates the sense. He does 
 not covet, as his home, a valley of the east, 
 where the sun seems to linger and shed all his 
 favours. On the contrary, he would much 
 rather draw his devout inferences from the slen- 
 derest or most modest examples : he chooses 
 to dwell upon instances wherein the parsimony 
 of nature gives the larger space to the diligence 
 of reflection ; and where the premises are always 
 less obtrusive than the conclusion. Yes, it is 
 most true, that the pious contemplatist finds, in 
 the sear herbage of the wilderness, and finds 
 on the rugged and scorched surface of granite 
 rocks, symbols enough of God ; and he thinks 
 himself richly furnished with book, and lesson, 
 and teacher, when he descries on his solitary 
 way, only a blade of grass ! 
 
 Or even if the prospect on earth be absolutely 
 void of life ; the skies are still open to the gaze 
 of the recluse ; and are they not laid open for 
 his peculiar benefit ? who but himself draws 
 thence the principles of divine philosophy ? who 
 else renders back, as he does, the tribute of 
 
 T 2
 
 276 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 praise due to the Infinite Architect ? The 
 crowd of men see not God in the stars ; and 
 hold back the revenue of deserved adoration 
 which the heavens challenge for their Maker. 
 But the meditative man separates himself from 
 the world that he may discharge this duty, and 
 perform, on the behalf of others, the office 
 they neglect. The mass of men could hardly 
 be more sordid than they are, hardly more re- 
 luctant to admit ideas of greatness and power, 
 hardly more dull and gross, if a perpetual screen 
 of vapours concealed entirely from our know- 
 ledge the splendour of the universe. 
 
 The transition is easy from the brightness 
 and extent of the visible heavens, to the magni- 
 ficence and stately array of the invisible world 
 the intelligent progeny of the Universal Father. 
 The conceits of a puerile fancy excluded, and 
 nothing assumed which the severest reason 
 ought to condemn, or which Scripture does not 
 authenticate, the meditative mind readily finds 
 a range of thought in this region, such as may 
 at least compensate for the absence of all the 
 earthly pomps which empires might bring to- 
 gether. 
 
 Nor must it be forgotten that there are cir- 
 cumstances of a humiliating kind in the actual 
 condition of man, which tend greatly to enhance 
 the pleasures of the solitary life, or to corrobo- 
 rate the purpose of the recluse in his separation 
 from the world. By the very constitution of
 
 THE RECLUSE. 277 
 
 human nature a contrariety exists between the 
 principles of the higher and lower life the in- 
 tellectual and the animal, which, though it may 
 he gracefully concealed by elegance of manners, 
 and the artificial modes of civilized life, is never 
 absolutely reconciled, and presses always as an 
 annoyance and a burden upon the high-wrought 
 sensibilities of serious meditative minds. The 
 susceptibility of such minds, and their want of 
 active energy, expose them painfully to this un- 
 easiness. Nor can they avail themselves of the 
 aid which, in the gay and busy world, is sup- 
 plied by levity and joyousness and the velocity of 
 affairs. It is not so much the pains, and wants, 
 and heavier woes of our corporeal nature, as its 
 humiliations, which afflict the sensitive recluse. 
 On his principles and with his habits of feeling, 
 he can be far happier amidst sufferings and 
 necessities, than when solicited and disturbed 
 by trivial cares, or ignoble occupations. For 
 the former impel and aid him to abstract him- 
 self, more and more, from the body : the 
 latter, against all his tastes, implicate him in 
 its meanness. 
 
 To hide himself from the world, is not, it is 
 true, to escape from the humiliations of the 
 body : nevertheless it is to be exempt from all 
 but those of his own : it is to be free from the 
 annoyance and the disgusts of that vulgarity 
 which, in the world, obtrudes whatever is fleshly 
 upon observation. The recluse, if at any
 
 278 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 time he be exposed to the grossness, the fri- 
 volity, or the petulant selfishness of common 
 life, recoils with impatience ; and, with an eager 
 preference, embraces anew the immunities and 
 calm delights of his cell. There, almost for- 
 getting that he is tenant of mortality, he con- 
 verses with perfection and infinitude. Safe 
 safe, with the pleasures of meditation all his 
 own pleasures of which none can deprive 
 him; he is indifferent to all things else; a 
 dungeon, or a desert, is to him a paradise. 
 
 A sensibility too highly excited, and which 
 has become too much the habit of the mind, 
 distinguishes the recluse : and this again impels 
 him, with an inconsistency he cannot justify, to 
 hide himself from the crowd of men, and even 
 to get absolution from the ties of private affec- 
 tion : for it is thus only that he can be exempt 
 from the pains of excessive sympathy. Hence 
 it happens that the very man whose firm per- 
 suasion of things invisible might well give him 
 serenity amid the vicissitudes of the present life, 
 exhibits far less composure than those often do 
 who, when they lose wealth, and friends, and 
 reputation, lose absolutely all which they have 
 ever thought of, or desired. 
 
 But perhaps there is nothing which so much 
 determines the man of meditation in his purpose 
 of hiding himself in solitude, as that spirit of 
 rude intrusiveness, of intolerance, and of dog- 
 matism, which prevails in the world, and which,
 
 THE RECLUSE. 279 
 
 moreover, seems often to draw around the 
 inoffensive and the modest, and to make such 
 their sport and victim. It is the peculiar delight 
 of vulgar arrogance, not merely to violate the 
 substantial rights of those who are feeble and 
 unarmed ; but to carry their practice of inva- 
 sion if it be possible, into the very souls of 
 men. To rule in the visible and tangible world 
 is not enough : the despot must sway the 
 private sentiments, and disturb the meditations 
 of all who dare not repel his usurpations. 
 The most innocent tastes are regarded as mat- 
 ters of personal quarrel, by the obstreperous 
 tyrant "While you cloak your thoughts, I 
 assume that you are harbouring the purpose 
 of resistance to my will. When you express 
 them, you openly defy my power." This is the 
 real meaning of the language of arrogant and 
 overbearing tempers. What wonder is it if the 
 meek and the modest should escape, when they 
 can, from the circle of such tyranny ; or that 
 when so escaped, their hearts should passion- 
 ately cleave to the freedom of the monastic life ? 
 A feeling very similar to this is common even 
 to men of far more intellectual vigour than we 
 attribute to the Recluse ; and actually exerts 
 a great influence over the manners and habits 
 of some of the most superior minds. Such 
 are compelled to confess that it is only within 
 the sanctuary of their own bosoms they can 
 enjoy free converse with Truth and Reason.
 
 280 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 The open world is too impatient, too wilful, 
 too capricious, and too intolerant, to give place 
 to the liberty in which Truth and Reason 
 delight. In the very choicest society there is 
 not enough of simplicity, not enough of inte- 
 grity, not candour, not knowledge, not perspi- 
 cuity enough, to allow scope for an unanxious 
 expression and copious interchange of thought. 
 There are truths, or we should say there are 
 indications of truth, which are not to be enter- 
 tained without much delicacy of handling. 
 Bring them into dispute haul them forth upon 
 the arena of controversy, and they vanish from 
 the sight. It is far from being an axiom that, 
 whatever is true or important, or in a degree 
 intelligible, may be brought out and submitted 
 to the judgment of any sort of minds. The 
 very reverse is often the fact. Beyond the 
 bounded circle of things which may be mea- 
 sured on all sides, and categorically spoken of, 
 and which form the homestead of minds of 
 little leisure or comprehension ; there is a 
 wide and uncircumscribed sphere, wherein spi- 
 rits excursive, and philosophically modest, take 
 their range ; and whence they bring home, if 
 not certain and irrefragable conclusions, at 
 least scattered particles of wisdom, which they 
 more highly esteem than all the stamped coin- 
 age whereof dogmatism makes its boast. It 
 is precisely to save these elements of imperfect 
 knowledge, that the man of comprehensive
 
 THE RECLUSE. 281 
 
 mind often hides himself in silence, or with- 
 draws altogether from society. 
 
 If the characteristic difference between strong 
 and feeble minds were asked for, it might be 
 replied It is found in the habit (in the former 
 case) of adhering firmly to truths which have 
 once been settled on satisfactory evidence ; 
 and (in the other) in that of calling such princi- 
 ples into question, ever and again. But if it 
 were required to distinguish great minds from 
 strong ones, we must say, that the latter so 
 hold their system of established truths, as to 
 shut out their prospect of what may lie beyond 
 it ; while the former, without quitting the 
 ground of demonstration without confound- 
 ing the known with the hypothetical, never 
 lose sight of that more distant range of things, 
 which the human eye is permitted dimly to 
 discern, though not distinctly to explore. 
 
 To return from this momentary digression, it 
 may be affirmed that a man much addicted 
 to religious meditation, comes into the pos- 
 session of a rich and hidden treasure of unde- 
 fined sentiments, and indistinct conceptions, 
 which he is by no means prepared to explain 
 and defend before all ; and which he feels to 
 be safe from spoliation, only when he himself 
 is far removed from the impertinence and the 
 insolence of the open world. 
 
 If the Recluse' be thus strongly confirmed 
 in his choice of a life of retirement ; he is
 
 282 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 also, if single-hearted and sincere, freed, by his 
 higher principles, from those motives which, 
 in secular minds, counteract the desire of se- 
 clusion. It has not been a rare occurrence 
 to see men of extraordinary intellectual sta- 
 ture, who yesterday were pressing through the 
 crowd, and challenging to themselves all eyes 
 and ears, to-day betaking themselves, in high 
 disgust, to some valley of silence : and yet 
 to-morrow they will be found again in the 
 very midst of the uproar of the world. A simi- 
 lar inconsistency has often marked the course 
 of the self-admiring anchoret, who, after he 
 has actually acquired the power of enduring 
 the most intolerable of evils absolute soli- 
 tude, at length reverts to natural motives 
 strolls back towards the borders of his wilder- 
 ness towards the skirts of the profane world ; 
 and there gives it to be understood that he 
 _ consents to be gazed at ! 
 
 But the genuine recluse, by his converse with 
 absolute excellence, and by the firmness and 
 distinctness of his hope of immortality, has 
 gained a real mastery over the desire of human 
 applause ; and is truly content to live and die 
 unknown of men : the motives therefore which 
 retain him in solitude are not counterpoised 
 by any other sentiments. 
 
 Yes ; but there remains a difficulty an 
 insuperable difficulty, in the way of the Re- 
 cluse. This very Christianity, whence he has
 
 THE RECLUSE. 283 
 
 derived the various elements of his solitary 
 bliss this very book, which opens to him an 
 inexhaustible treasure of ineffable meditation, 
 itself peremptorily refuses to give its sanction 
 to his purpose of seclusion : it follows him to 
 his cell with the most imperative commands ; 
 and requires him, instead of thus seeking to 
 please himself, to return into the very heart 
 of every social relation, and to encumber him- 
 self with every office of common life ! 
 
 Among the many unobtrusive, yet convincing 
 evidences of the divine original of the Scriptures, 
 the one now presented to us must not be over- 
 looked, or deemed of small value. Christianity, 
 which very far excels any other system of re- 
 ligion the world has seen, in furnishing the 
 means, and in presenting the objects, and in 
 enhancing the motives, of solitary meditation, 
 nevertheless takes the better course of good 
 sense and benevolence, and enjoins (whatever 
 may be the impulse of personal tastes) that 
 " Godliness " should add to itself " brotherly 
 kindness. " In other words, declares, that no 
 piety is authentic, which is not social.
 
 XVIII. 
 THE MODERN ANCHORET. 
 
 'AND TO BROTHERLY KINDNESS, CHARITY. 
 
 Too much fondness for meditative retirement 
 is not the crviner sin of our modern Christianity. 
 
 > Q / 
 
 The mildness and modesty of monasticism is 
 little likely to gain "admirers among those whose 
 activity, and whose frivolity ; whose disputatious 
 spirit, and whose tendency to scepticism ; whose 
 mercantile habits, and whose preference of phy- 
 sical science ; leadthem to hold in contempt 
 
 ^ ra iwr"ii JMili J ~ ***" *"*'" "* "* '^*<^^ r " -f| **'* fi ^^ h *** - ' -* 
 
 whatever has no exchangeable value in society. 
 But it does not follow because we do not 
 tolerate monasticism, and do not hold contem- 
 plative modesty in honour, that we should find 
 no room at all for unsocial, malign, and selfish 
 pietism. Facts prove the contrary. Nevertheless 
 it is true, as might well be supposed, that the 
 modern seclusive style of religion, adapts itself to 
 the spirit of the age ; and is altogether unlike the 
 trembling, solitary taste of early ages. If there is 
 to be in England, and in the nineteenth century,
 
 THE MODERN ANCHORET. 285 
 
 an abhorrent or repulsive system of religion, 
 it must be abstruse, ratiocinative, stern, and in 
 some sense philosophical. It must assume the 
 form of erudite and metaphysical theology ; and 
 will be found no lover of shade, and silence, 
 and peace as inoffensive as imbecile ; but 
 bold, arrogant, full of defiance, rancour, con- 
 tradiction ; it will be loud, intolerant, severe, 
 exclusive, and aggressive : it will be inexorable, 
 and factious. Such must be the style of anti- 
 social godliness in our times, and for our country. 
 
 Is then this description altogether hypotheti- 
 cal; or may we actually trace it in the fea- 
 tures of some existing party ? This is to be 
 inquired ; and having already adverted to the 
 principal perversion of Christianity, in our times, 
 as exhibiting the twofold form of a higher, and 
 a lower an intellectual, and a vulgar corrup- 
 tion ; we now name this higher and intellectual 
 heresy, as identical with the modern anchoretic 
 style of pietism. 
 
 The laborious task of nicely weighing and ad- 
 justing abstruse distinctions may very properly 
 be renounced, when the common and intelligible 
 principles of good feeling and sympathy between 
 man and man, are in question. We shall there- 
 fore pay no regard whatever to those metaphy- 
 sical propositions by which the ultra -calvinist 
 may endeavour to repel the charge of being a 
 fatalist : but assuming as fair, the obvious sense 
 of the phrases he is accustomed to employ, shall
 
 286 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 describe and treat him as such. Now we affirm 
 that although the amiable dispositions of an in- 
 dividual ; or the happy inveteracy of the better 
 instincts of our nature ; or a prudent deference 
 to common notions, and common modes of 
 speaking, may greatly modify or disguise the 
 fact ; it is always true, that the fatalist, whether 
 he be a philosophical or religious one (if he 
 understands and truly believes his dogma) is 
 a being insulated from the communion of the 
 active and sympathetic world. He may, if he 
 pleases, borrow the wings of Night, and pass 
 beyond the bounds of the visible universe ; or 
 he may abide still in the precincts of the living ; 
 it is equally certain that his fatalism encom- 
 passes him with solitude : he is always alone, 
 though in the midst of the busiest crowd. That 
 man must assuredly be so, who has no faith in 
 the reality of the principles and motives upon 
 which the mass of mankind are acting who 
 holds the entire machinery of the moral world 
 to be an illusion, and who, though he may in 
 courtesy smile and weep when others do so, 
 inwardly jeers that complicated farce of hopes 
 and fears of which, as he thinks, mankind is the 
 dupe. 
 
 The atheistical fatalist, and the theological 
 fatalist the man of abstract demonstrations, 
 and the man of texts and polemics he who 
 makes mockery of his fellow-men profanely, 
 and he who does the same thing in perverted
 
 THE MODERN ANCHORET. 287 
 
 phrases of Scripture, alike are UNIVERSAL SCOF- 
 FERS. Or if there be any thing excepted from 
 the range of their contempt, it is just the little 
 circle of their private welfare (for no philosopher 
 of this class pretends to think his own pains 
 and pleasures a jest). In the view of the fa- 
 talist, though there may be a thousand petty 
 absurdities on earth, nothing is half so absurd 
 as the entire constitution of the moral system; 
 nothing so preposterous as man, and his des- 
 tinies ! Or if the religious fatalist, when com- 
 pared with the atheistical, seems to possess the 
 merit of respecting the language and decencies 
 of piety ; it is only that he may commit a worse 
 outrage upon the first principles of religious fear 
 and love, by horridly distorting every attribute 
 of the Divine Nature. Better were it at once 
 to say " there is no God," than admit a Deity 
 such as the fatalist supposes. The atheist saves 
 a thousand impieties, by the one impiety of de- 
 nying boldly the greatest and most certain of 
 all truths. The religious fatalist can never 
 speak honestly and consistently of either God 
 or man, without uttering a blasphemy ; or a 
 ^ calumny. 
 
 And when he goes about to digest his notions 
 of the moral attributes of the Supreme Being, 
 he is compelled to impose a sense altogether 
 novel and peculiar upon the terms Benevolence, 
 Mercy, Justice, Holiness ; so that they no longer 
 retain any analogy with the sense they bear
 
 288 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 when applied to human sentiments and actions. 
 In other words, he excludes the notion of the 
 Divine character entirely from the circle of 
 human ideas ; and this is one and the same thing 
 as to deprive the mind of man of the only con- 
 ceptions it can form of God ; it is atheism all 
 but a name. When therefore a theologue of 
 this school reverts to the precincts of human 
 affections, he finds that the notions commonly 
 entertained of kindness, beneficence, rectitude, and 
 so forth, have nothing in them that is divine or 
 spiritual (on his principles), and he looks upon 
 such emotions, or modes of conduct, with sus- 
 picion, or with contempt, as merely natural. 
 and therefore proper objects of reprobation. A 
 poor preparation, truly, for the faithful, and ge- 
 nerous, and upright discharge of social duties! 
 To think injuriously of God, is always to de- 
 prave or to nullify morality. 
 
 We are granting that our man of abstruse 
 theology intellectualist as he is, does not stand 
 chargeable with violating the common rules of 
 justice, or temperance : we consider him only 
 as necessarily anti-social in his religious senti- 
 ments ; and he is so (if indeed his principles 
 take hold of his mind) bec^pe his theological 
 ideas of moral qualities are altogether inappli- 
 cable to the human system ; and can never be 
 brought to work in with ordinary feelings of 
 good-will, and charity. He is taught to shun, 
 as false, if not pernicious, the entire body of
 
 THE MODERN 7 ANCHORET. 289 
 
 these mundane emotions, and natural virtues. 
 His religion is not an amendment, a purification, 
 a restoration of things that have fallen into 
 decay and corruption : it does not mingle 
 itself therewith, as a congenial leaven ; but it 
 is altogether a foreign element, abhorrent of 
 all other principles, and exclusive of all others. 
 The theologue feels that, in conversing at all 
 with his fellow -men on the ground of their 
 notions or feelings, he is holding his own in 
 abeyance, or forfeiting consistency : such 
 communion is a concession to folly and error, 
 like that of a man, who, for an hour, makes 
 himself a party in the sports and prattle of 
 children. 
 
 But though our religious sophist is thus shut 
 out from free and ingenuous converse with 
 mankind at large, and is condemned to look in 
 disdain upon the movements and sympathies 
 of the wide world ; may he not, at least, find 
 scope for his benevolence within the pale of the 
 church ? If the bulk of mankind are to him 
 estranged ; what forbids him to " love the 
 brotherhood ?" Alas ! he is as much beset with 
 difficulties in this narrower circle, as he was in 
 the wider one. The cause of these new em- 
 barrassments may readily be found. There is 
 an important difference between a perfect science, 
 which admits nothing but what is demonstrable ; 
 and that sort of general, or loosely compacted 
 knowledge, of the same subject, which may 
 
 u
 
 290 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 float at large among men. For while the latter 
 allows of much variety and diversity of opinion, 
 and admits many degrees of proficiency or ad- 
 vancement, the former is absolute and peremp- 
 tory : it must be received entire, or rejected : 
 it can no more grant indulgence to difference 
 of opinion, than the elliptic arch can allow of 
 a broken irregularity of line. 
 
 Now while the generality of Christians, as 
 they modestly pursue their different paths of 
 Scriptural inquiry, are conscious, and are ready 
 to confess, that it is but a portion of divine 
 knowledge which they severally attain ; and 
 that therefore it is most reasonable to exercise 
 toward each other the indulgence of which each 
 has need in his turn the professor of abstract 
 or philosophical theology, challenges for his 
 system the prerogatives of a finished science. 
 In truth it were preposterous, on his part, to 
 take any lower ground. If fatalism of any 
 kind is to be admitted, it must be yielded to 
 because it is impossible to resist it. Seeing 
 that the entire evidence of common experience, 
 and the irresistible consciousness of men turns 
 directly against any such doctrine, it can, of 
 course, maintain its ground only by force of 
 logic. Fatalism must needs be dogmatic and 
 intolerant ; if it would exist at all. 
 
 In perfect consistency with his claim of in- 
 fallibility, the theologue professes to have come 
 into possession of his scheme of religion, not in
 
 THE MODERN ANCHORET. 291 
 
 the slow, painful, and uncertain method of an 
 induction of principles from Scripture ; but by 
 climbing the height of the Eternal throne by 
 looking into the records of universal govern- 
 ment and by having gained the climax, or 
 apex, of divine science, whence he can look 
 down on all sides, and contemplate, at leisure, 
 the great movements of the sentient system. 
 In fact, sophists of this class are perpetually 
 ascending to universals ; are always reaching 
 the infinite ; are taking position at the centre of 
 truth. Their method is that of synthesis and 
 comprehension ; not of analysis and induction. 
 Hence results, by a natural consequence, the 
 paucity and uniformity of their themes, and 
 the monotony of their discourses. The highest 
 circle of abstraction can never admit of copious- 
 ness or variety. 
 
 But the special consequence we have now to 
 do with is that intolerance which, by an unavoid- 
 able necessity, attends hyper-theology. In the 
 reason of things it can admit of no freedom, 
 no internal play of parts : it is iron-bound on 
 every side. You must receive it as it is ; or 
 reject it : there can be no middle course. It 
 were folly to talk of diversities of opinion, or 
 shades of difference, in relation to that which, if 
 it be absolutely true, is utterly false. 
 
 And then, because no two human minds can 
 be brought into perfect unison ; and because 
 language, which is the vehicle of metaphysical 
 
 u 2
 
 292 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 dogmas, is a very faulty organ of conveyance ; 
 and moreover, because there will arise a thou- 
 sand discordancies of opinion when a system of 
 abstract theology comes to be adjusted to the 
 various and unanxious language of the inspired 
 writers, therefore it happens, that the metaphy- 
 sical theologue never finds one whom he can 
 deem to have reached the very line of truth 
 that trembles on perfection. There can be no 
 space for brotherhood, in this region of points 
 that have no extension. 
 
 An appearance of exaggeration unavoidably 
 attaches to every attempt to define and describe 
 an abstract error like the one in question ; be- 
 cause, in fixing and exposing the secret principle 
 of such errors, and in marking them so distinctly 
 as not to be afterwards confounded, we must 
 affirm somewhat more than is perhaps actually 
 to be found in any single example of the sort. 
 But the fair question returns Have we, or not, 
 detained and held in our grasp a real existence ? 
 have we so gone about it as to fix its relative 
 position, and to give it truly a name, and place, 
 in our circle of ideas ? And is it true, or not, 
 that there is found among us a religious system 
 that is characteristically sullen, arrogant, intole- 
 rant, exclusive ; a system that impels its adhe- 
 rents to frown upon mankind at large, to refuse 
 aid and fellowship in all labours of evangelical 
 benevolence, and to denounce, as heretical, 
 everv form of doctrine that does not reach a
 
 THE MODERN ANCHORET. 293 
 
 certain point of abstract perfection ? Is there, 
 we ask, among us, a doctrine which, beyond any 
 other, is anti-social and uncharitable ? If not, 
 we have been beating the air : or if hyper-cal- 
 vinism T5e not that doctrine, we are chargeable 
 with calumny. 
 
 It need not be proved that Christianity is the 
 religion of brotherhood, and of good-will to 
 mankind at large. The inference only remains 
 to be noted that the doctrine we have spoken 
 of is not Christianity. 
 
 a
 
 XIX. 
 
 THE FAMILY AFFECTION OF 
 CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 UK KINDLY AFFECTION ED ONK TO ANOTHER, WITH BRO- 
 THERLY LOVE." 
 
 THE Christian sentiment of affection towards 
 those whom we believe to be sharers with us 
 in the hope of eternal life, and fellow-pilgrims 
 through an unfriendly land to the same region 
 of peace and joy, is of a peculiar kind ; nor to 
 be entirely resembled to any feeling common to 
 mankind. Nevertheless it has a near analogy to 
 the love that cements the domestic relations ; 
 and in comparing the one emotion part by 
 part, with the other, we shall gain a distinct 
 idea, both of the approximation of the two, and 
 of their difference. 
 
 There meets us then, at the outset, that dif- 
 ference between family affection and Christian 
 love, which springs from the primary constituent 
 of the latter namely, the high and immeasur- 
 able importance with which Christianity invests 
 every human being, and by which it incalculably
 
 THE FAMILY AFFECTION OF CHRISTIANITY. 295 
 
 enhances whatever affects his weal, or his moral 
 condition. The affections of earth, how vehe- 
 ment soever, are transitory, as itself: but the 
 love which has become combined with the idea 
 of immortality, is firm, profound, and inda 
 structible. Atheism, in all its forms, desiccates 
 the affections. To believe that man perishes in 
 death, as the grass of the field, is to rob the 
 benign emotions of all that essentially distin- 
 guishes them from the grossest animal instincts. 
 But on the contrary, when we extend our con- 
 ceptions of human nature so as to embrace an 
 unlimited futurity, we give, in the same propor- 
 tion, force and enlargement to every feeling of 
 which human beings are the objects. It is only in 
 religion that we can find the true philosophy of 
 love : for love, apart from the belief of an after- 
 state, has neither substance, nor purity. It will 
 be found, as a matter of fact, that the faith of 
 immortality, and the feeling of Christian love, 
 are always in direct relation, one to the other, 
 as to their intensity : if the one be in great 
 force, the other is so : if the first languishes, in 
 any age, the second disappears. And, at any 
 moment, if the belief of eternal life could be 
 suddenly invigorated, the spirit of faction and 
 jealousy would instantly be exhaled from the 
 church ; and of Christians it would once more 
 be said " See how they love one another." 
 
 In this primary element of Christian affection, 
 we readily find a reason sufficient to explain its
 
 296 SATURDAY EVENING-. 
 
 comprehensiveness, and its universality, and its 
 power of rising above those checks that might 
 spring from the imperfection of individual cha- 
 racter. The greater motive overpowers the less, 
 in all the exercises of true love ; and in Christian 
 love, when simple and sincere, it is much more 
 so. The brightness of immortality obliterates 
 fainter impressions ; and when any one is indeed 
 believed to be a Christian, the idea of dignity 
 that connects itself with that persuasion, out- 
 weighs every other feeling. In each heir of 
 heaven we see heaven itself, more than the 
 qualities or merits of him who is on the road 
 thither : much in the same way as when some 
 extraordinary occasion kindles the enthusiasm 
 of an assembled nation, and the multitude, with 
 joyous shouts is moving on, in procession ; the 
 high-wrought patriotism that floats in the air, 
 binds heart to heart, even among those who 
 are personally strangers : every man, without 
 question or scrutiny, grasps the hand of his 
 neighbour, in frank and cordial good-will. 
 
 No other principle can generate an emotion 
 comparable to Christian love, for the plain rea- 
 son that no other principle has at command 
 so vast an idea as that of endless existence. 
 It is by the means of this great idea that the 
 brotherly kindness taught by the Gospel arms 
 itself against the disgusts and disappointments 
 that will belong to whatever is human. Be it 
 so, that the objects of our regard are ignorant
 
 THE FAMILY AFFECTION OF CHRISTIANITY. 297 
 
 (like ourselves) of much which it would well 
 befit them to know : and be it also that the 
 better and purer motives that work within them 
 are (as with ourselves) much disturbed and 
 thwarted by the unextinguished propensities of 
 an evil nature. All this, or more, may be 
 granted ; and though human virtue, in its best 
 specimens, is infirm, and much sullied, it is 
 nevertheless true that every Christian, because 
 he is such, and whatever may be his relative 
 excellence, is treading the ascent of wisdom 
 and goodness ; and shall at length, notwith- 
 standing many delays and repulses, reach an 
 elevation on that upward path where he shall 
 fairly challenge all our esteem. Yes, and it is 
 trlie, that an era in his course shall arrive when 
 supernal beings themselves ancient proficients 
 in virtue, shall count him their worthy com- 
 panion, and delight in his converse. If it were 
 only on the strength of such anticipations, he 
 might well now command our regard, who are 
 subject to precisely the same conditions, and 
 have need of the same indulgence. 
 
 Christian love has its most obvious analogy 
 with the domestic affections in its sense of rela- 
 tionship, as brethren, through one who is related 
 equally to all, as Head. But the emotion we 
 are treating of draws a peculiarity from the 
 absence and invisibility of the Head of the 
 family. There is a sense in which the mem- 
 bers so represent the head, that He whom the
 
 298 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 mortal eye cannot discern, is brought, by their 
 means, under the cognizance of the eye. So 
 far as Christians truly exhibit the characteristics 
 of their Lord, in spirit and conduct, a vivid 
 emotion is enkindled in other Christian bosoms, 
 as if the bright Original of all perfection stood 
 dimly revealed. This emotion, perhaps, would 
 hardly be generated by a single instance, or by a 
 very few instances of the temper and behaviour 
 that become the Gospel : for the divine image, 
 in any single example, is too faint, or too much 
 blemished, to bring with it forcibly the idea of 
 Supreme Excellence to which it is related. But 
 in the multitude of instances there may clearly 
 be seen a concurrence a harmony a conver- 
 gence of evidence, such as leaves no doubt of 
 the truth, that all are copies after the same 
 pattern. The conclusion comes upon the mind 
 with accumulated power, that we are not en- 
 tertaining an illusion, while we believe that this 
 family resemblance, this homogeneity of character, 
 springs from a common centre ; and that there 
 exists, as its archetype, an invisible Personage, 
 of whose glory all have in a measure partaken. 
 The Christian brotherhood is therefore to each 
 individual of the community (reicpripiov) a sen- 
 sible proof of the reality of his faith ; and each 
 embraces all, not merely with affection ; but 
 with that peculiar solicitude and satisfaction 
 wherewith the soul, at all times, grasps an as- 
 surance of the substantiality of its dearest hopes.
 
 THE FAMILY AFFECTION OF CHRISTIANITY. 299 
 
 Christian love and the domestic affections may 
 very appropriately be compared on the ground 
 of that enhancement which both receive from 
 the assured and familiar knowledge that prevails 
 within their respective circles, of the character 
 and dispositions of each. It is not perhaps com- 
 monly considered how much the strength, per- 
 manence, and vivacity of love depend upon 
 the simple circumstance of an intimate ac- 
 quaintance with the spirit of its object its 
 habits, purposes, infirmities, burdens, sorrows. 
 The very reverse of this might have been ima- 
 gined, as more probable ; for it would have 
 been natural to suppose that mankind being 
 such as they are, mutual esteem and affection 
 would have borne proportion directly to our 
 ignorance one of another. But it is not so ; 
 on the contrary, ignorance of each other's cha- 
 racter, more than any other cause, represses 
 the social sentiments, and checks every benign 
 emotion. It does so, first, by giving room to 
 suspicion, and to the chilling fear (a fear which 
 pride enhances) of becoming the dupes of hypo- 
 crisy ; and next, by depriving the imagination 
 of its means of vividly conceiving of the actual 
 feelings or sorrows of those around us : and 
 this lively impression is, by the laws of the 
 human mind, indispensable to the vigorous 
 movements of sympathy. That which the ima- 
 gination does not realize, the heart does not 
 heed. It is this principle that explains much
 
 300 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 of the apparent insensibility and indifference 
 to the sufferings of others, which is shown by 
 the mass of mankind. 
 
 But the intensity and tranquil permanence 
 of love most of all depend upon the exclusion 
 of all lurking doubts concerning the secret dis- 
 positions or real sentiments of the objects of 
 our regard. Now human nature is so mystical 
 a thing, its external characteristics are so vari- 
 able, or at least so intricate in their combina- 
 tions, and the outward and ordinary symbols 
 of inward emotion are so fine, or so fallacious, 
 that nothing can give us the certain assurance 
 we need, except the close and intimate fami- 
 liarity of domestic life : and it is an admirable 
 provision of the divine wisdom which affords us 
 the opportunity of knowing best those whom 
 we ought most to love and succour. The 
 unlooked for incidents of family history, and 
 its sudden excitements, and its arduous occa- 
 sions, bring the individuals of the home circle 
 within the sanctuary of each other's bosoms. 
 And then, there is always going on in each mind 
 an unobserved process of induction, wherein the 
 listless actions, and trivial expressions of every 
 hour, go to form an estimate, in the mind of 
 each, of the worth and quality of the others ; 
 until each feels that he has almost as perfect 
 a knowledge of the heart of brother, sister, 
 parent, child, husband, wife, as of his own. 
 It is on the solid ground of this familiar know-
 
 THE FAMILY AFFECTION OF CHRISTIANITY. 301 
 
 ledge that the domestic affections take their 
 tranquil standing ; and unless the companions 
 of our lives are absolutely unworthy of our 
 love, or ourselves are incapable of pure and 
 generous emotions, we shall love them with 
 more vivacity, and with more steadiness, when 
 the depth of their faults has been sounded, 
 than we could while ignorance (mother of jea- 
 lousy and fear) stood in the way between heart 
 and heart. To harbour the thought that there 
 is yet at all in the soul of one near to us a 
 concealment we have not explored, is the same 
 thing as to hold the whole of our affection in 
 abeyance. 
 
 It is this home familiarity this domestic 
 perfection of knowledge, that opens the sluices 
 of sensibility, that vivifies every sympathy, that 
 makes the sentient principle of each common 
 to all ; so as in a manner to blend identities, 
 and to suffuse consciousness through the social 
 body. The many become one, by the mutu- 
 ality of every power of enjoyment, and of suf- 
 fering. There is, even in the most benevolent 
 minds, an instinctive revulsion from the sight 
 of pain, which compels it to escape from the 
 scene of woe, and which has to be overcome 
 by higher motives. But in relation to those 
 who are within the immediate circle of our 
 affections, this instinct is not in operation ; or 
 gives way to an opposite impulse, which irre- 
 sistibly detains us by the side of the object of
 
 302 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 our passionate fondness, in the hour of dis- 
 tress. This sympathy is little less than a per- 
 fect image, or counterpart of the sorrow or 
 anguish that are its cause. Just as when the 
 clear and glowing sunbeams of a sultry day 
 fall upon the bosom of a reeking cloud, there 
 is seen a second bow, embracing the first, and 
 it is hard to say whether the tender colours 
 of the reflection are not as distinct as those 
 of the primary arch ; at least the one faith- 
 fully corresponds to the other. 
 
 And now must we indeed run back to the first 
 era of Christianity in search of illustrations of 
 our parallel between Christian love and family 
 affection ? Let it be granted that the diffusion 
 of a lax or false profession of religion has, to 
 a great degree, slackened the fervour of that 
 brotherly kindness which the Gospel generates 
 and enjoins; for no one well knows who is 
 indeed his "brother in Christ." Nevertheless 
 it is still true that this fruit of the Spirit is 
 produced, is ripened, is gathered, within the 
 church. It is now, as always true, that the 
 Gospel so opens the heart of man to man, that 
 the benign affections take their start at once 
 from the vantage ground of intimate acquaint- 
 ance. It is true that Christians know each 
 other in a sense which is altogether peculiar 
 to Christianity. 
 
 This affirmation may readily be made good. 
 Man, while he continues unregenerate, does not
 
 THE FAMILY AFFECTION OF CHRISTIANITY. 303 
 
 know his brother, for this conclusive reason 
 that he does not know himself. The inbred 
 infatuation which prevents his seeing his re- 
 lation to God, and his destination to another 
 life, spreads itself as a spirit of blindness through 
 his soul ; and brings with it endless confusions 
 and mistakes. Nothing of the inner world is 
 simply and correctly understood : the heart is 
 a maze of preposterous suppositions, the var- 
 nished motives, and idle conceits of self-love. 
 The world reflects itself on the mirror of the 
 mind in distorted proportions ; or appears in 
 phantasm ; and the imagination, erroneously 
 moved by these images of things unreal, or 
 exaggerated, breeds an abundance of vanities. 
 Moreover the conscience, turbid with hidden 
 evils, and not appeased by the flattery itself 
 prepares, refuses to have the abyss of the soul 
 exposed and explored ; and the mind betakes 
 itself to any diversion that may interrupt the 
 dreaded inquiry. There is indeed a knowledge 
 of the profundities of corruption which is called 
 " knowledge of human nature ; " but falsely so 
 called ; for it is both incomplete, and extra- 
 vagant : it is satire ; not truth : it is palliation ; 
 not charity : and while it imputes more evil 
 intentions than actually exist ; it puts a glozing 
 of fair colours upon what is really odious. How 
 should any one know and confide in another, 
 who neither knows, nor ever heartily confides 
 in himself?
 
 304 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 But the light that attends the entrance of the 
 divine word diffuses itself through all conceal- 
 ments of the heart. The motive of secresy being 
 destroyed, nothing can long remain hidden ; and 
 that new ingenuousness which has been imparted, 
 and which has issued in an unfeigned confession 
 of guilt, becomes, more or less, the habit of the 
 mind. Pride, heretofore faithful guardian of the 
 evil arcana of the soul, is expelled from his trust, 
 and made to leave all things open to scrutiny. 
 The time is the time of inquiry, and of judg- 
 ment; and the result is that peace and con- 
 fidence that stillness of the spirit, which is 
 never to be enjoyed until the heart of man 
 has dealt plainly with itself. 
 
 Now it is manifest that whoever has in this 
 manner come into familiarity with himself, has, 
 by the same means, obtained a way of access to 
 the heart of those whom he believes to have 
 reached the same point of self-knowledge. The 
 hidden world has been explored by both parties ; 
 and many thick clouds of doubt and, suspicion 
 are rolled away from between two spirits, each 
 of which has become permeable to the same 
 beams of light. The Christian, in meeting his 
 fellow Christian, tacitly says " This is one who 
 knows himself has made frank confession of 
 his hidden faults who has renounced the pride 
 of concealment, and who sincerely invites the 
 eye of God, and of his brethren. We may 
 differ much in temperament ; and may have
 
 THE FAMILY AFFECTION OF CHRISTIANITY. 305 
 
 run through a different course ; but the con- 
 clusion we have reached is substantially the 
 same : nor does his heart contain any capital 
 or ruling motive with which mine can have no 
 sympathy." Thus are the tedious and uncertain 
 preliminaries of worldly friendship abridged, or 
 superseded ; and the path at once laid open to 
 the kindliness and familiarity of affection. 
 
 Moreover, on this same principle of the effi- 
 cacy of knowledge to enhance mutual love, 
 the affection of Christians, one for the other, 
 derives freedom and force from that simplification 
 of motives which genuine piety produces. The 
 love of God is a paramount affection, that 
 forcibly carries in its train other inclinations, 
 and leads captive a host of petty wishes and 
 ephemeral desires. This is the meaning of that 
 axiom " Ye must, to enter the kingdom of 
 heaven, become as little children." Simplicity 
 of spirit, singleness of intention, harmony and 
 unison of all emotions, is the law of the hea- 
 venly world, and must belong, in measure, to 
 all who claim part therein. There can be al- 
 lowed no anarchy of the passions in the bosom 
 that is to lodge the Divine Spirit; and it is 
 always true that where Omnipotent Grace takes 
 possession of a human heart, it expels in its 
 very entrance the legion of lawless desire. The 
 Christian, therefore, conscious as he is in him- 
 self of this new simplification of his own motives, 
 imputes it without fear to every one whom he 
 
 x
 
 306 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 believes also to be a Christian. Thus again the 
 familiarity of mutual knowledge is attained by 
 the riddance that is made of the crowd of 
 inferior principles. The dark surmises and 
 threatening storms of ordinary friendship are 
 scattered, as the gales of spring drive away the 
 vapours and congelations of winter. 
 
 But this is not all : for the love which is 
 founded on knowledge must have its delicacy, 
 and its peculiarity, arising from the individual 
 sentiments and personal interest of the parties. 
 And it is so in Christian love ; for while the 
 great motives of the Gospel reduce the mul- 
 tiplicity and confusion of the passions by their 
 commanding force, they do, by the very same 
 energy, expand all sensibilities ; or (if we might 
 so speak) send the pulse of life with vigour 
 through the finer vessels of the moral system : 
 there is far less apathy, and a far more equable 
 consciousness in the mind after it has admitted 
 Christianity, than before ; and, by necessary con- 
 sequence, there is more individuality, because 
 more life. Christians, therefore, while they 
 understand each other more readily than other 
 men do, have far more of sentiment to make 
 the subject of converse than others. The com- 
 parison of heart with heart knits heart to heart, 
 and communicates to friendship very much that 
 is sweet and intense. 
 
 The domestic affections derive a good part 
 of their power, as well as constancy, from the
 
 THE FAMILY AFFECTION OF CHRISTIANITY. 307 
 
 recollection that the ties of nature are indis- 
 soluble : and again, from this feeling, there 
 springs another, which, when love is genuine, 
 acquires an intensity of force, and the property 
 of which is to reject, with agony, the supposition 
 of final separation, even at the most distant 
 period. We have already observed, and it is 
 a most important truth, that the immortal in- 
 stincts of the human spirit its destination to 
 a future life, are brought out into activity by 
 the social sentiments : and no one will question 
 this who has in truth known the tenderness 
 and vivacity of love. The beneficent inten- 
 tions of the Author of our nature are eminently 
 \ y seen in this part of our moral constitution. 
 The social affections have a precarious season of 
 / growth, during which they are exposed to much 
 injury ; or sometimes to absolute extinction, 
 from the disgusts, indiscretions, and caprices, 
 that, even in the most favourable instances, in- 
 fest the family circle : and if it were not for the 
 appointment of God, and the usages of society, 
 which cement the domestic body, nothing would 
 be more frequent than those eruptions of passion 
 which would in a moment scatter and desolate 
 families. To the strength of the ties of nature, 
 society at large owes its order and repose, even 
 where love scarcely exists, or has little influence. 
 But on those sunny spots where the tender 
 emotions bloom and reach their perfection, the 
 indissoluble bond, which is not at all felt as a 
 
 x 2
 
 308 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 yoke, is regarded with delight; and the senti- 
 ment connected with it is fondly cherished, as 
 if it afforded security both against the chances 
 of fortune, and the power of the grave. " We 
 are one for ever one ! neither the storms of 
 life, nor the hand of death, shall part us ! " 
 This is always the fond emphatic language of 
 true love. 
 
 The analogy holds good in Christian affec- 
 tion ; although the comprehensiveness of this 
 emotion, or its partition among many objects, 
 abates proportionately, at present, its intensity. 
 But future circumstances may perhaps raise it 
 to the highest imaginable degree of force. 
 
 The relative condition of the Christian body, 
 as hitherto it has existed in the world, gives 
 it always much of the feeling that belongs to a 
 family, or a small and distinct community, barely 
 tolerated, and unkindly received, in a foreign 
 land. Everywhere a small minority, and every- 
 where, if not outraged, scorned, and holding in 
 common a bright hope which the mass of man- 
 kind treats with contempt, Christians (in propor- 
 tion to the vivacity of their faith) cannot but cling 
 together as partners in obloquy and danger. 
 This feeling is distinctly seen in operation, even 
 where external circumstances most tend to re- 
 press it ; nor is there any sphere within which 
 spiritually-minded persons do not feel that they 
 need each other's aid and affection, as a support 
 against the hostility that surrounds them. It is
 
 THE FAMILY AFFECTION OF CHRISTIANITY. 309 
 
 no misanthropic sentiment which compels them 
 to close their ranks, and present a front of 
 defence against the malignant crowd that hems 
 them in. " Behold/' said their Lord, " I send 
 you forth as sheep among wolves;" nor has 
 any age yet passed over the church, which 
 afforded no exemplification of the truth thus 
 emphatically conveyed. 
 
 And moreover Christians, when vividly im- 
 pressed with the momentous facts on which 
 their faith is fixed, are conscious of their part- 
 nership in the awful transactions of the invisible 
 world. The men whose thoughts are bounded 
 by the present life, hurry along upon the broad 
 way of pleasure and business, exchanging, as 
 they go, the trivial courtesies of the moment ; 
 but mutually indifferent, as those must needs be, 
 who soon are to part, by plunging, severally and 
 alone, into the shoreless oblivion of death. Not 
 so with the followers of Christ. They stand in 
 close order, as a phalanx that has yet a foe to 
 meet a victory to achieve, and a triumph to 
 enjoy. A common solicitude, and a common 
 hope, bind their hearts together. Death divides 
 them, but it is only as the successive ranks of 
 a host are divided, when summoned, in turn, 
 to advance and pass singly a perilous defile. 
 Beyond that strait of momentary gloom and 
 danger, all are again to be marshalled ; and every 
 one to join his commander. Christian affection, 
 therefore, has the permanency it derives from
 
 310 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 an indissoluble bond ; the vigour given it by 
 a participation in sufferings and reproaches ; 
 and the depth it receives from the prospect of 
 an unbounded futurity. 
 
 And may we not (adhering still to sound 
 principles of calculation) look even into that 
 futurity, and imagine faintly the enhancement 
 which shall be given to the principles that are 
 now in their stage of germination. Let it then 
 be remembered, that to remove from any energy 
 its antagonist, is the same thing as to impart 
 to it a new force. Only remove from the affec- 
 tions of earth all dregs of malignity, all chills 
 of apathy, all suspicions, all indiscretions, all 
 errors in matters of fact, and all oppositions of 
 interest, and how brightly would they burn ! 
 Heaven shall effect this liberation of love from 
 its thraldoms. Nor is this all ; for if love is to 
 get purity and elevation from its expansion or 
 enlargement, it must owe its intensity to its 
 direction towards specific objects : and it may 
 well be conceived that when the ransomed 
 myriads of mankind shall come to take their 
 station in the great circle of a far larger and 
 more ancient community, and shall, in degree, 
 be blended in the universal family of Heaven, 
 a fresh sanction shall be given to the relation- 
 ship that originated on earth ; that the progeny 
 of Adam, yes, and much more, the brethren of 
 the Second Adam the " Lord from heaven," 
 shall be bound together anew, in office, neigh-
 
 THE FAMILY AFFECTION OF CHRISTIANITY. 311 
 
 bourhood, and destiny ; so that the fondness of 
 a tie strictly indissoluble shall be communicated 
 to the affection that originated in their primeval 
 abode. 
 
 Not improbably (if we regard the great laws 
 of the world of Mind) the speciality as well as 
 the imiversality of love shall have place in the 
 future economy. And the personal tenderness 
 of immemorial attachment shall go along with 
 all spirits, through interminable eras. The re- 
 deemed of the earth, known perhaps on all the 
 plains of joy, and at once distinguishable, by 
 the specific contour of their celestial forms, shall 
 be companions of eternity. May we not then, 
 while forgetting the imperfections, and the ob- 
 scurity, and the feebleness, that attach to this 
 present wintry season of the heart, fairly impute 
 to our Christian friendships a value drawn from 
 the treasures of futurity ? This at least is cer- 
 tain how much soever we may err in matters 
 of particular conjecture that while earth and 
 its ephemeral interests are hastening to oblivion, 
 whatever is divine, whatever partakes of the 
 nature of the immutable attributes of God, must 
 be indestructible ; and must grow until it attains 
 perfection. Every article of human knowledge 
 may be deemed untrue, sooner than this 
 " That Love is of God," and " shall never fail."
 
 XX. 
 
 CHARITY AND CONSCIENCE. 
 
 ' FOR MEAT DESTROY NOT THE WORK OF GOD. 
 
 WHILE we are looking on the one side of 
 human nature, we are too often impelled to 
 believe that the principle of conscience is, of all 
 the powers that have any influence over the 
 conduct of men, the most lax, nugatory, and 
 inefficacious : but then if we turn to another 
 side, it as often appears peremptory, intractable 
 and stubborn. In those matters of morality 
 which are comprehended under the heads of 
 justice, temperance, moderation, and mercy; it 
 seems as if human ingenuity were never to be 
 baffled in its attempts to reconcile the impulses 
 of appetite, or the suggestions of interest, with 
 the dictates of conscience ; or, in other words, 
 as if conscience were the most bland, patient, 
 and compliant of all authorities. Yet how can 
 we grant it this praise when we see with what 
 rigour, with what precision, with what sternness, 
 this same dictator gives sentence in questions 
 relating to the doctrine, or the ritual ; to the
 
 CHARITY AND CONSCIENCE. 313 
 
 substance, or the forms; the theory, or the 
 polity, of religion ? It is as if the word Conscience 
 were the appellative of two unconnected per- 
 sonages, of whom the one is as austere as the 
 other is indulgent. 
 
 But_it is_jiot_sjQ. Man, with all his incon- 
 sistencies, has but one faculty, or sense of right 
 and wrong. Nor is the supposition of sarcastic 
 and irreligious men well founded, who, in con- 
 templation of such facts, draw the caustic con- 
 clusion That the severity of conscience, in 
 matters of religion, is proved to be hypocrisy, 
 by its laxity in matters of morality : or that 
 there can be nothing sincere in the zeal and 
 scrupulosity of those who show themselves to 
 be far from punctilious in the simple and intel- 
 ligible instances of common life in fair deal- 
 ing, truth, or purity. But there is as much 
 of rude inaccuracy, as of malice, in decisions 
 of this sort ; and if those who thus give judg- 
 ment upon their fellow-men, and who ordina- 
 rily pride themselves not a little upon their 
 penetration, could only see somewhat deeper 
 beneath the surface of human motives, they 
 would stand convicted of ignorance, as well as 
 harshness. 
 
 The human mind, even in the best samples, 
 is far from being equably quick, or sensitive, 
 in all its faculties ; or equally sentient towards 
 all the objects that are presented to it : and 
 if we might adopt any general rule, by means
 
 314 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 of which to foreknow when, or on what occa- 
 sions, the intellectual and moral powers will 
 be alive, and when inert, or torpid, it might 
 perhaps be this That they are stimulated 
 most certainly, and most instantaneously, by 
 what is definite ; and less so by whatever is 
 vague, or indistinct. Now, if we exclude from 
 our account, instances of absolute knavery, 
 and conscious hypocrisy, it will be found that 
 religious persons are in fault (a hundred in- 
 stances to one) in those multifarious matters of 
 imperfect obligation (as they have been termed) 
 to which the rules of right and wrong are 
 not readily applicable, and which come under 
 the jurisdiction only of pure and elevated ha- 
 bits of feeling. But the religious man is not 
 justly to be condemned as a knave, or hypo- 
 crite, because he has made small advances in 
 the higher morality of the spiritual life. Yet 
 it is precisely the obtuseness, shall we say the 
 vulgarity, of his soul, that leaves him liable 
 to commit hourly offences against the maxims 
 of honour, kindness, candour, or personal vir- 
 tue. And if the interior of his heart could be 
 exposed, it would probably not exhibit any 
 vivid sense of culpability on such occasions ; 
 nothing, in fact, but a confused conscious- 
 ness of having been rather too little on his 
 guard, against his besetting sins. Nay, such 
 persons will often be found (from the want 
 of efficient instruction in matters of morality)
 
 CHARITY AND CONSCIENCE. 315 
 
 altogether unconscious of the evil of certain 
 habits and practices, which expose them to 
 the most grave imputations. 
 
 Meanwhile the case is quite otherwise in 
 reference to points of theology, or to questions 
 of ritual, or polity. And on this ground, beside 
 that the matters in debate have all the distinct- 
 ness which the anxiety of sacred logic, or which 
 the synodical wisdom of statutes and canons can 
 secure to them, they are imagined (by a most 
 strange perversion of right reason) to stand 
 much more closely related to the Divine autho- 
 rity, than do the articles of vulgar morality : as 
 if God, notwithstanding His solemn affirmation 
 of the contrary, were far more intent upon the 
 accuracy of creeds, and the legality of rites, than 
 upon the observance of the rules of virtue. 
 Belief and worship are things of Religion; and 
 therefore more sacred than justice, truth, and 
 temperance. This has been, in all ages, the 
 current delusion of religionists. 
 
 Every man's style, or rate of morality, at any 
 given period of his life, is the slowly ripened 
 product of his entire course up to that moment, 
 influenced, as it has been, by personal tempera- 
 ment, by secular engagements, by social alliances, 
 and, especially, by the salubrity, or the infected 
 condition, of the moral atmosphere he has 
 breathed. Now it is not of a product so gra- 
 dually formed, so intimately related to the habits 
 of the soul, and so familiar to it, that ordinary
 
 316 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 minds are qualified to form an impartial estimate. 
 In fact very few men judge themselves, on the 
 several points of morality, with any high degree 
 of precision, or fairness. And then, if we are 
 speaking of the religious the eager discussions 
 that are always rife in the Church on articles of 
 belief, or ceremony, engross all the attention 
 that is at command ; so that little or no leisure 
 is found for entertaining the comparatively vapid 
 questions of right and wrong, in the things of 
 common life. No energy of mind, no zeal, is 
 directed towards subjects of this class ; they are 
 therefore but too indistinctly discerned by the 
 generality of good folks. 
 
 But this want of vigour in the moral life is 
 not hypocrisy ; is not knavery ; and is perfectly 
 consistent, not only with general sincerity in 
 religion, but with a vivid and honest zeal for 
 what is deemed " divine truth," and " divine 
 authority," in the creed, and the ritual. 
 
 The minds of men are alive, to the extent of 
 the particular excitements that are acting upon 
 them : and when the principle of conscience, 
 and fear, and the sentiments of public consis- 
 tency, or party obligation, are called into activity 
 on some special question, all the religious emo- 
 tion of which the individual is susceptible, draws 
 towards it, as a centre ; and the man's piety, 
 entire, just goes to fill out that circle of contro- 
 versy. It is when the mind is in this state, that 
 there takes place a perilous opposition between
 
 CHARITY AND CONSCIENCE. 317 
 
 the two principles which ought always to har- 
 monize namely, those of love toward the 
 brotherhood, and of zeal and fidelity towards 
 God, and his truth. In too many instances the 
 latter motive prevails over the former ; the defi- 
 nite over the indefinite obligation; and, as an 
 inevitable consequence, rancour, maledictions, 
 and schisms, burst out, and devastate the pre- 
 cincts of celestial peace. 
 
 It is very true, and must never be forgotten, 
 that the factions which have divided the Chris- 
 tian body, have owed their vivacity, and aspe- 
 rity, to the ill tempers, or the ambition, of a 
 few individuals those demagogues and fanatics 
 whom the Scripture designates as " grievous 
 wolves." But it is not less true, though less 
 regarded, that Religious discords have always 
 rested upon the broader foundation of a mis- 
 taken, or ill-informed conscientiousness, on the 
 part of the people at large. Without this firm 
 bottom, factions quickly become mere personal 
 feuds, and die away, and are forgotten in a 
 summer. The heresiarch well understands this 
 principle, and acts upon it advisedly. To make 
 himself simply, or his personal interests, or 
 credit, the object of popular zeal, were an enter- 
 prise that must soon fall to the ground. So 
 must the attempt to keep malign passions in a 
 state of irritation without a specious occasion. 
 Conscience conscience, is the word, that is 
 to be employed. The " truth of God" is to
 
 318 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 be asserted, and defended, at all risks; and 
 " the enemies of Heaven," the contumacious 
 impugners of " Divine authority," are to be 
 cursed, avoided, extirpated ! 
 
 We do little if we just depict and inveigh 
 against the temper and proceedings of the few 
 fanatical agitators. Such men would have no 
 influence at all, if they did not find the means 
 of pending upon certain powerful motives, that 
 are common to human nature, and that are 
 peculiarly vigorous when animated by religious 
 ideas. We ought therefore to endeavour to 
 follow home the principle, upon the working 
 of which the spiritual demagogue calculates, and 
 upon which the stress of his power rests. He 
 breeds animosity among brethren, and brings 
 the worst of all scandals upon Christianity ; but 
 he does so only by putting into activity a mo- 
 tive which all must confess to be, in itself, not 
 only lawful, but an indispensable element of 
 piety ; namely, zeal for the purity of faith, and 
 for the authority of Christ. Here then one 
 sound principle is seen to overpass and trample 
 upon another. The two are waging war, and 
 the one triumphs by the destruction of the other. 
 But so deplorable a contrariety can never have 
 taken place without the previous admission of 
 some capital error. Our question then is, where 
 does it lie ; and what is its definition ? 
 
 Nothing in Christianity is more conspicuous 
 (nay, it is the one conspicuous article from
 
 CHARITY AND CONSCIENCE. 31,9 
 
 which the whole system derives its character) 
 than that Christians are to love each other un- 
 feignedly, as brethren ; and moreover to live 
 in the constant interchange of all the outward 
 and visible tokens of affection. This being an 
 absolute and primary rule, there must exist a 
 capital fault, on one side, or both, as often as 
 it is violated. But then it is also true that, of 
 every Christian it is" demanded, as the test of 
 his allegiance to Christ, that he should always 
 be ready, without fear, or favour, or calculation 
 of personal consequences, to profess and defend 
 what he believes to be the Divine Will in matters 
 of belief and practice : in other words, that, in 
 the things of religion, he should maintain fealty 
 to God, at whatever cost or risk of things tem- 
 poral. Now in the actual state of the world, 
 and of religious profession, it must often happen 
 that the Christian's fidelity to his Lord will 
 place him in opposition (not to say hostility) to 
 the great body of those who call themselves 
 by the same sacred name. Such occasions seem 
 to bring into contrariety the two great principles 
 of Love and Fidelity : at least they demand a 
 special exercise of discretion in order to prevent 
 the clashing of the two. 
 
 Or a case of another sort may easily arise, 
 namely that of individuals, or of small bodies, 
 who, in much seriousness, and with entire sin- 
 cerity, having unfortunately adopted an initial 
 erroneous position, from which they correctly
 
 320 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 derive inferences that would be quite valid if 
 their first principle were sound, are drawn on 
 to think themselves obliged both to denounce 
 the body of Christians as grievously corrupted in 
 doctrine, and to separate themselves from their 
 fellowship. Such individuals, or parties, may 
 fully persuade themselves that, any longer to 
 associate with the Church at large, would be to 
 violate their consciences. In instances of this 
 kind we have the double mischief of schism, 
 and of schism without occasion; a feud is 
 generated, with all its inseparable virulence ; but 
 it is a feud devoid of reason ; it is therefore an 
 evil not compensated by any beneficial result : 
 it is not remedial ; not conservative. And yet 
 has it sprung from a sound principle ; and more- 
 over the authors of it are men sincere and 
 devout. Where then is the false assumption, 
 or false inference, by means of which a pure 
 evil has derived itself from good ? It would 
 be well indeed if this could be ascertained. 
 
 No shadow of ambiguity can rest upon the 
 course to be pursued by one who receives reli- 
 gious principles at large, or particular instruc- 
 tions, immediately from Heaven, in the way of 
 unquestionable miraculous interposition ; and 
 who is commanded to promulgate ..what he has 
 so learned. Whoever bears a commission of 
 this sort, may calmly discharge his duty, and 
 may leave all consequences to the disposal of 
 Him who has foreseen every contingence. This
 
 CHARITY AND CONSCIENCE. 321 
 
 being obvious, it seems not less so, that the 
 absence of miraculous attestations ought to make 
 some difference in the conduct, or at least in 
 the style, of those who, within the pale of the 
 church, go about to announce new truths, to 
 enforce novel practices, or to condemn that 
 which exists. If the man who derives his pe- 
 culiar religious opinions simply (and by his own 
 confession) from his personal study of the Scrip^ 
 tures, and who has enjoyed none but ordinary 
 aids, and who can advance no pretension which 
 other men may not also challenge, is entitled 
 to speak in the tone, and to exercise the autho- 
 rity of a prophet or apostle, then what was the 
 necessity for the extraordinary powers where- 
 with prophets and apostles were endowed ? Or 
 to view the matter on another side : it is evident 
 that there can be no right of speaking and 
 acting, in the name of Heaven, which does not 
 imply a correlative duty, on the part of the 
 people, to yield submission to such authority. 
 But the church will then often be placed in the 
 dilemma of having its submission demanded by 
 hostile teachers a dilemma which has never 
 attended the ministry of men who indeed con- 
 firmed their testimony by miracles. 
 
 We should not for a moment hold controversy 
 with the originator of a separate communion on 
 the question whether he ought or not to pro- 
 mulgate the will of Christ when he knows it, 
 and to challenge the obedience of all men to 
 
 \
 
 322 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 that will. This duty is granted. But we may 
 surely ask him to exhibit his credentials. We 
 shall be the first to submit to his dictation 
 the first to become his sectarists, when we have 
 actually seen the seal of heaven in his hand, 
 and are satisfied on the capital point of his 
 divine legation. 
 
 Times of extraordinary fanatical excitement 
 excepted, the leaders of sects do not allow to 
 themselves the use of language which, by its 
 arrogance, would supply its own refutation. 
 But the occult and fundamental principle of all 
 ecclesiastical despotism on the one side, and of 
 all factious separation on the other of all reli- 
 gious rancour and hostility, whether it be avowed 
 or not, is this assumption of Divine authority on 
 behalf of what is simply an individual opinion. 
 " I THINK so," is the whole residuum that can 
 be found after evaporating the prodigious pre- 
 tensions of the zealot-demagogue. What is 
 this " will of the Lord" this " authority of 
 Heaven" this " sacred cause of truth and 
 righteousness?" Nothing, absolutely nothing 
 more than " I think so." Strip the schismatic's 
 declamation of its finery and its sublimity ; of 
 its thunder and its fire ; and there remains just 
 this meagre, and scarcely visible particle, the 
 intrinsic value of which it would be impossible 
 to express. 
 
 Yet no delusion is more natural, or more 
 easily fallen into, or more hard to be dissipated,
 
 CHARITY AND CONSCIENCE. 323 
 
 than that of the sincere and devout, though 
 arrogant dogmatist, who persuades himself (and 
 others) to feel, and to speak, and to act, with 
 more confidence and intolerance than those ever 
 showed who were intrusted with the power 
 of raising the dead. The enthusiasm and the 
 spirit of exaggeration which attend always a 
 long-continued and exclusive attention to a 
 single subject, and which, so often, render the 
 mathematician, the physiologist, the artist, or 
 the man of letters, absurd, are incalculably en- 
 hanced by the more profound emotions that 
 belong to religion. Now though this feeling of 
 the infinite importance of religious truth is per- 
 fectly reasonable when religious truth in the 
 aggregate is its object, and which can never 
 become exorbitant when any one of the great 
 principles of faith is in question, is ineffably 
 preposterous when attached to the private ex- 
 positions of this or that individual. The dog- 
 matist is not wrong in believing and affirming, 
 that the pure sense of the Inspired Writings is 
 of more price than much fine gold ; nor wrong 
 in bestowing his zealous labours upon the wor- 
 thy employment of seeking to obtain this pure 
 sense ; nor wrong in giving utterance to the 
 results of his studies, and his prayers ; and 
 whoever would interrupt him in this work, or 
 would dare to restrain him in the promulgation 
 of his opinions, is guilty of the most atrocious 
 of all outrages. But alas ! it is neither the 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 private and personal enjoyment of the true sense 
 of Scripture, that contents the dogmatist ; nor 
 the full liberty to prosecute his inquiries ; nor 
 the unbounded tolerance of his public labours. 
 None of these things satisfy his zeal : nor is 
 the fervour of his spirit at all assuaged by what 
 (one would think) the pleasing spectacle of the 
 general church (though erroneous, as he thinks, 
 in particulars) yet possessed of the fundamental 
 principles of piety. All this is as nothing, so 
 long as submission is withheld to his exposition, 
 which is indeed " The sense of Scripture." 
 
 To allay in some measure the uneasiness which 
 the obstinacy and contumacy of the Christian 
 world occasions him, the dogmatist first en- 
 hances, by all means, his own inward conviction 
 of the truth of his doctrine : and for this pur- 
 pose he has recourse to the excitements of devo- 
 tion, as well as to the corroboration of argument. 
 Then he surrounds himself with coadjutors, 
 flatterers (if he can); and after kindling the 
 lights of their zeal from his own candle, com- 
 forts himself in the general warmth that is 
 thus produced. Furthermore he confirms both 
 his faith and his courage, by uttering aloud his 
 contempt and condemnation of all gainsayers : 
 and lastly, to prove ostensibly the depth and 
 sincerity of his convictions, he cuts himself off 
 from the corrupt body of the church ; and so- 
 lemnly turning to the train of his adherents, 
 says, " Come out, and touch not the unclean."
 
 CHARITY AND CONSCIENCE. 325 
 
 But it will be said ; and we would not wait to 
 be reminded of the fact That there is a proba- 
 bility, perhaps a high probability, that the man 
 whom we have termed a dogmatist, and spoken 
 of with reprobation, is one whom the Lord has 
 taught, and sent forth, to inveigh against pre- 
 vailing corruptions. Was not Wickliffe such ? 
 Were not Huss, and Luther, such ? Or if we 
 were to pass by the few signal instances, con- 
 cerning which no -dispute can well arise let 
 what may be called the average probability, in 
 the case of the reformer, and the innovator, be 
 thus stated That he has got possession of 
 some single truths, more or less important, 
 which the church has forgotten, or discarded, 
 and which he asserts : but in doing so, mingles 
 with them a considerable proportion of mere 
 extravagance and folly. Even the illustrious 
 Chiefs of reformation must take their part in 
 such an acknowledgment : much more the host 
 of less noble innovators. 
 
 Now if we are to speak of this ordinary case, 
 as it stands between the general body of Chris- 
 tians, and the man who denounces particular 
 errors ; it is quite plain that an adherence, on 
 his part, to the modest course of plainly de- 
 claring his opinion, and quietly setting forth 
 the reasons of it ; and entreating the attention 
 of his brethren, promises to be productive of as 
 much good as is likely to result from his petu- 
 lant separation. If indeed the general body
 
 326 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 will not tolerate any such expression of private 
 opinion if it attempts to impose silence upon 
 him, to crush him ; if, in the true spirit of 
 obdurate folly, it will " hear no reproofs," and 
 casts forth the troublesome member; then the 
 whole blame of division rests with the body, 
 not with the dissident individual. The church 
 is the Schismatic, when it has no ear, and no 
 indulgence, for diversities of sentiment. 
 
 But, in the great majority of the instances 
 which church history presents to us, the leader 
 of factions has not asked has not seemed to 
 wish, for that sort of indulgence which would 
 imply, on his part, a corresponding modesty 
 and moderation. He demands unconditional 
 submission to the points he insists on, as if he 
 could claim divine authority for each article of 
 his private creed. And indeed this supposition 
 runs through all his ideas inflates all his lan- 
 guage exaggerates the whole of his behaviour 
 stiffens his inflexibility, and animates his 
 courage in suffering. 
 
 Is it denied that the dogmatic sectarist ordi- 
 narily assumes any such divine authority to 
 attach to his peculiar opinions ? He is, we 
 grant, rarely guilty of so much presumption in 
 explicit words. Nevertheless he proceeds as 
 far in act as he could do if every syllable of 
 his creed had been authenticated by signs from 
 heaven. First he scorns and lays aside the 
 modest phraseology of one who simply declares
 
 CHARITY AND CONSCIENCE. 327 
 
 a private opinion, and as modestly shows his 
 reasons. Prophets and apostles have done 
 no more than thus use the absolute style of 
 infallible knowledge. Then he excommunicates 
 all who do not submit to his peculiar notions, 
 and declares them unworthy of his fellowship. 
 What more than this could be done by him who 
 said " If I come, I will give a proof of Christ 
 speaking in me " ? Those numerous passages of 
 Scripture which at once enjoin mutual forbear- 
 ance, and forbid division on any points not 
 manifestly essential to Christian belief, are so 
 thoroughly perspicuous, that, being confessedly 
 of divine authority, they must demand nothing 
 less than an equally clear announcement from 
 the same source, to abrogate or hold them in 
 abeyance. Whoever therefore does so treat 
 them as a nullity, virtually pretends to an un- 
 questionable conveyance of the divine will to 
 himself in that particular. 
 
 The will of Christ is That his followers, 
 notwithstanding many diversities of opinion, 
 should remain in love and communion. Who- 
 ever then, on pretence of obedience to Christ, 
 breaks up this communion, assumes to himself 
 a direct commission from Heaven to that effect. 
 The prohibition of church divisions is as ex- 
 plicit and intelligible as the prohibition of mur- 
 der ; and if a miraculous attestation must be 
 demanded of the manslayer who violates the 
 one, so must it of the separatist who contemns
 
 328 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 the other. This principle is in fact tacitly 
 acknowledged, and has always been assumed, 
 on both sides of religious discords : the de- 
 spotic holders of ecclesiastical power, in their 
 persecutions, and the separatists in their resis- 
 tance and remonstrance, have, in every case, 
 claimed for their doctrine and practice the 
 weight of DIVINE AUTHORITY. 
 
 The world (and the church) is incalculably 
 indebted for the degree of repose that is actu- 
 ally enjoyed, to the conservative inertness of 
 the human mind, which holds it always far 
 short of the goal of extravagance to which 
 otherwise it would often run. And both are, 
 to the same effect, indebted to those motives 
 of interest^andjfear, which hush evil passions 
 more effectually than reason or humanity ; and 
 (once more) to that under-current of common 
 sense, which sets strongly athwart the course 
 of agitators, and gives a great degree of stea- 
 diness to the general movements of the social 
 system. What would man be if it were not 
 for his happy inconsistencies ? What, if he 
 fulfilled every hasty resolution, and acted in 
 entire accordance with every abstract principle ? 
 The peace of the church (it is to be feared) 
 is attributable almost as much to the sedative 
 causes we have just named, as to the operation 
 of better principles. It is manifest that if every 
 Christian followed up, completely, the doctrine 
 which is advanced to justify separation on
 
 CHARITY AND CONSCIENCE. 329 
 
 secondary points, every Christian must be, a 
 church to himself; at once the teacher, and 
 the taught. With a volume in his hand so 
 large and multifarious as the Bible ; an ancient 
 book too, which is known only by interpreta- 
 tion ; a book which contains, as history, very 
 much that is not rule or code with such a 
 book in his hand, and with his ignorance, his 
 inclinations, and his fancy, as his assessors 
 in judgment, what would be the consequence 
 if every one actually attributed to the whole of 
 his sense of the meaning of Scripture, the 
 solemn authority and importance which, as a 
 Sectarist, he attributes to certain points of it ? 
 And yet he would be much perplexed if re- 
 quired to show why certain private interpre- 
 tations, of which he says little or nothing, 
 should not have as much honour done them 
 as those other points that divide him from the 
 communion of the general church. He would 
 probably reply " These are nothing more 
 than my private opinions, concerning which it 
 becomes me to be very diffident." And what 
 more or better are those matters of strife which 
 distinguish his sect ? They are precisely 
 private opinions, concerning which it does in- 
 deed behove him to be very diffident unless 
 he is prepared to claim for them the sanction of 
 immediate revelation. Let him but narrowly 
 sift his ideas, and he will certainly find that 
 the opinions of which he speaks with caution,
 
 330 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 and for the sake of which he would shudder 
 to break communion with his friends, differ 
 absolutely in nothing (but their subject) from 
 those other articles which, by some fatality, 
 have come to be inscribed in crimson letters 
 upon the banners of faction. Nevertheless the 
 awe and power of the Divine sanction have 
 been arbitrarily attached to the one set of in- 
 terpretations, and not to the other. He may 
 perhaps persuade himself that the opinions that 
 make him a sectarist have stronger evidence 
 than those which he holds in silence : but he 
 will be compelled, in many instances, at least, 
 to confess that this is not the fact. Or he 
 may allege that the one are intrinsically more 
 important than the other. But here again he 
 would find himself grievously embarrassed if 
 urged to establish the nice point of relative 
 value in matters of doctrine or practice. 
 
 The plain fact is, that the course of events, 
 political and ecclesiastical, the progress or de- 
 pression of religious knowledge, at different eras ; 
 and, not least, the intellectual peculiarities and 
 passions of some few prominent individuals, have 
 combined to bring under discussion (as it were 
 by chance) particular interpretations of Scrip- 
 ture ; leaving in the shade innumerable other 
 points which might as well have been thrown 
 upon the stage of strife ; while to the one, and 
 not to the other, though all are alike precious 
 as portions of the same Revelation, there has
 
 CHARITY AND CONSCIENCE. 331 
 
 been attributed the authority of God, so that it 
 became matter of conscience to insist upon them, 
 as conditions of fellowship. 
 
 But it is a truth which should never be lost 
 sight of, that sectarianism is always what eccle- 
 siastical despotism makes it. This has found its 
 verification in our own country ; nor is there 
 any general principle, perhaps, that more ur- 
 gently demands, at the present moment, the 
 attentive consideration of enlightened and liberal 
 minds. Let it be granted that, both in the 
 order of nature, and the order of time (to use 
 a scholastic distinction) the sectarist moves be- 
 fore the despot ; or that the former is the 
 originator of church feuds. We will grant this, 
 though instances might be adduced which have 
 quite a contrary aspect; just as the petulance 
 and rigour of a father is often the first cause of 
 rebellion in his family. But let the concession 
 be assumed as true ; it may still safely be 
 affirmed that the lust of spiritual domination 
 (foul passion enormous crime !) has imparted 
 almost all the mischievous force it has actually 
 exerted to religious factions. Thus the explo- 
 sion of combustible matter is rendered fatal by 
 confinement and compression. 
 
 Among the many evil consequences (too 
 many to be soon enumerated) of that most 
 flagitious of all outrages the outrage that is 
 committed by ecclesiastical power upon the 
 souls of men the one we have now to do
 
 332 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 with peculiarly claims to be noticed, inasmuch 
 as it especially affects the spirit of religious 
 parties in the British empire ; nor only so ; 
 but has needlessly transmitted its agency to 
 the new world, where it can have no pretence 
 for exerting any influence. 
 
 The despotism of the Romish Church a 
 despotism which, without any heat, or any im- 
 proper extension of the meaning of words, may 
 be called DIABOLICAL, was indeed successfully 
 withstood ; and yet was not discerned, or for its 
 own sake abhorred, by the Reformers. They 
 fought the tyranny of Rome ; but they fought 
 not with spiritual tyranny in the abstract. That 
 same church-usurpation, headed up during the 
 course of many silent ages, to a prodigious 
 height, within the Papal enclosure, broke as a 
 deluge over all the ground of the Reformed 
 Church, and filled, to the brim, every cavity of 
 the foundations on which the new structures 
 were to be reared. The arch-enemy of mankind 
 consoled himself under the loss of so many fail- 
 provinces and kingdoms of his visible empire, 
 by contemplating the extension, through every 
 one of those dissevered realms, of the first 
 principle of the ancient corruption: and less 
 than satanic sagacity might foresee that, church 
 tyranny pure or impure in creed and worship, 
 would soon bring true religion again to its 
 lowest ebb. 
 
 The transferred spirit of despotism, which
 
 CHARITY AND CONSCIENCE. 333 
 
 was allowed to animate the whole of our new 
 and reformed ecclesiastical institutions, encoun- 
 tered at once, as was inevitable among a people 
 like the natives of the British soil (when quick- 
 ened by knowledge and piety) an unconquerable 
 resistance. Let every nation of the continent 
 bow, one after another, and kiss again that 
 iron sceptre the iron whereof " entereth the 
 soul." Let all Christendom beside, in feigned 
 humility, drink again the cup of the stench of 
 priestly debauchery and pride : the men of the 
 British islands or the Christians among them, 
 would no more become thus vile in the sight of 
 Heaven, and in their own estimation. Nay, this 
 is but half the truth ; for God would not permit 
 that all the earth should be enslaved anew ; 
 1 and to prevent it, He gave courage to multi- 
 \ tudes of the Christians of Britain, that they 
 \ might contend (through the tedious years of 
 \ two centuries) with the palid, mitred, inhuman, 
 monsters of Church Power ; and with a succes- 
 sion of ferocious or dotard queens and kings. 
 They did so contend, and at the last blood was 
 stayed : the priest was foiled ; and England 
 was freed ! 
 
 England was freed ! and what does it not owe 
 to the men (with all their faults) yes, and to the 
 women too, and the babes (for the priest loves 
 always the most delicate victims) whose tears, 
 and groans, and patience ; whose imprisonments 
 and desolate wanderings ; whose torments and
 
 334 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 lamentable deaths, were the price of its deliver- 
 ance. This debt is strictly incalculable ; not 
 only because the benefits so obtained are more 
 than can be distinctly reckoned ; but because 
 the happy consequences are even now in full 
 flow over our own, and other countries ; and 
 are promising to run down with a swollen stream 
 to all future times. Fairly may it be questioned 
 whether, if in that long struggle the Priest had 
 vanquished the Puritan, England would not at 
 this moment have been as Spain ! Fairly, we 
 say, and on solid ground of philosophical calcu- 
 lation may it be surmised, that if Church Power 
 had then prevailed over its victims, not a residue 
 of English liberty would have been saved. But 
 the liberty of religion being once rescued, that 
 most potent of all the elements of freedom, 
 drawing with it, by an indissoluble alliance, all 
 other elements, has preserved for our use and 
 enjoyment whatever ennobles us among the na- 
 tions knowledge and philosophy commerce 
 and courage, with their attendant wealth and 
 power; as well as that political framework 
 whTch~has been the admiration and envy of the 
 world. 
 
 England, we say, has, by the indulgent pro- 
 vidence of God, been delivered from the worst 
 of all evils : the worst, because big with every 
 other. Yet has it not been absolutely purged 
 of the inveterate poison of spiritual arrogance. 
 And how much soever the course of events, and
 
 CHARITY AND CONSCIENCE. 335 
 
 the temper of the age, may seem to secure us 
 against the return of the old usurpation, there 
 is room to affirm that vigilance in this behalf 
 should not for a moment be intermitted ; and 
 that all men, irrespectively of their regard to re- 
 ligion, should be awake and ready both to repel 
 its insidious advances, and to drive it continually 
 on to narrower and still narrower ground, until 
 itself is fain to take a last leap into the pit 
 whence first it issued. 
 
 But we return to our position That the well 
 remembered struggle between Conscience and 
 Church Power, to the issue of which we owe all 
 our liberties ; and the still extant murmurs and 
 restless movements of the same vanquished 
 tyranny, operate very powerfully, and in a man- 
 ner much to be lamented, upon our religious 
 parties. The Dissident, habituated, and taught, 
 to think of his dissidence as a laudable and ne- 
 cessary opposition to ecclesiastical usurpation, 
 and feeling, too, the close and constant con- 
 nexion between religious and civil liberty, loses 
 sight, almost entirely, of the religious miscJii&fs 
 of division. A bold assertion of the rights of 
 Conscience is his praise, his pride, and his no- 
 bility ; for he deems it a bright nobility to stand 
 as successor to the men who, at the dearest 
 price, bought religious liberty for England. 
 Separation, in his view, is decked with a nimbus 
 of glory. Nothing can dissolve in his mind the 
 association between the recollection of worthies,
 
 336 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 more illustrious than dukedoms could have made 
 them, and this same separation, which it has 
 now become his turn to support. 
 
 Thus advantaged by its association with the 
 most animating emotions, the idea of restricted 
 and party communion contains little or nothing 
 which shocks the Christian sentiments of the 
 pious dissident; much less of the irreligious 
 one : and even in reference to other bodies, 
 where no plea remains for calling up the virtue 
 of resistance to tyranny, the same feeling ex- 
 tends itself. Division, if indeed granted to be 
 abstractedly an evil, is seen always through the 
 golden mist which exhales from many not-for- 
 gotten fields of glorious triumph ! 
 
 A very easy and natural confusion of thought 
 persuades any one who holds the doctrine of 
 the right of men to think and act for themselves 
 in matters of religion, with the most absolute 
 freedom that this civil privilege contains within 
 itself, or conveys, a religious right, or a right as 
 member of the Church of Christ, to act with the 
 same disregard of the opinions, or the welfare, 
 or the prejudices, of his brethren. On all occa- 
 sions where forbearance might be called for, the 
 Briton kindles, and the Christian gives way. 
 " Is not," he will say, " the right of private judg- 
 ment surrendered, or made nugatory, when it is 
 asked of me to hold a private conviction in 
 abeyance, or to remit its agitation, for the mere 
 preservation of external harmony ? "
 
 CHARITY AND CONSCIENCE. 337 
 
 The English feeling of absolute personal in- 
 dependence, both in opinions and conduct, has 
 so thoroughly dislodged from the minds and 
 hearts of many the Christian feeling of submis- 
 sion, for the sake of love and peace much 
 more of submission or deference to pastoral 
 authority, that the greatest imaginable revolu- 
 tion must take place in the religious community, 
 before it can be hoped that the capital and 
 simple principles of church communion will be 
 generally recognised and bowed to. Nothing 
 seems at present to indicate the approach of any 
 such favourable change among us. 
 
 Meanwhile it is natural to ask Why should 
 not the Christians of the New World avail 
 themselves of the signal advantages they enjoy 
 for reconsidering those faulty principles of com- 
 bination which their good ancestors carried 
 with them, when they fled from strife and 
 cruelty to the wilderness ? Were those times 
 such as ought to warrant the belief that the 
 principles of church order were well under- 
 stood ? Would a man choose to take to him- 
 self any opinion, unexamined, from the age 
 when church tyranny made wise men mad? 
 But although the ecclesiastical doctrines of the 
 Puritans have received, in modern times, some 
 practical corrections, this system parent of 
 division, has never yet been subjected to full 
 and calm examination. What is the fact in 
 America ? not that all who profess and love 
 
 z
 
 338 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 the main articles of the Gospel are one and 
 undistinguished, and are exercising vigorous 
 and charitable discipline against evil doers, and 
 declared heretics ; but that they are still 
 segregated Christians from Christians, under 
 odious designations ! In England insuperable 
 difficulties, or difficulties too great for our mea- 
 sure of grace and wisdom, stand in the way of 
 any comprehensive movements : or our habits 
 and notions are too Jnveterate to be meddled 
 with. We must move on, and dwindle in 
 petty companies. But what apology can be 
 framed for the perpetuation of schism in Ame- 
 rica ? none that is not trivial. 
 
 We hear with joy (or hope) of certain rapid 
 advances of piety among the transatlantic 
 churches. No misgiving will haunt our joy, 
 or damp our hope, when it shall be reported, 
 that the Christians of the United States have so 
 received the " unction from above," as to bring 
 them to concord visible as well as cordial.
 
 XXI. 
 THE FEW NOBLE. 
 
 " NOT MANY NOBLE." 
 
 THE most conspicuous or notable praise of 
 Christianity is its fitness to benefit the undis- 
 tinguished mass of mankind. How, indeed, 
 could we recognise that as a message from the 
 Supreme Beneficence which seemed to address 
 itself principally to those who already hold the 
 advantages of intelligence and refinement ? On 
 the contrary, how can we fail to admit that 
 the Gospel is " from heaven," when we see that 
 it turns away from the illustrious to the ignoble ; 
 from the rich to the poor ; from the wise to the 
 ignorant ; in a word from the few to the many? 
 
 Furthermore, the doctrine of Christ challenges 
 a peculiar commendation, inasmuch as it is seen 
 to confer the substantial benefits of virtue and 
 wisdom upon the vulgar multitude of mankind, 
 (if indeed a phrase like this ought to find a place 
 at all when THE GOSPEL is mentioned,) without 
 being solicitous to rid itself of the humiliations 
 and the contumelies we might almost say, the 
 contaminations, it meets with, while allying itself 
 
 z2
 
 340 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 to the ignorance, the rudeness of manners, and 
 the many ungracious prejudices that ordinarily 
 deform the lower conditions of life. Chris- 
 tianity does not stand on high ground, and 
 aloof, and say to the abject, the illiterate, and 
 the impure " Put off your unseemly garb 
 of misery, and learn civility and courteousness, 
 before I can approach your company." But 
 rather, with the courage of true goodness, it 
 consents to sustain a thousand disgraces so that 
 it may, by any means, bring salvation to the 
 homes of the wretched. Nor is this all ; for 
 the Gospel makes men good and wise (effec- 
 tively so) without removing always the unsightly 
 adjuncts of poverty and ignorance ; and after 
 it has fixed its abode with the poor, continues 
 to disregard the mortifying circumstances that 
 so much annoy fastidious pride. 
 
 But is then this doctrine which consorts so 
 commonly with the ignoble, as if by affinity of 
 tastes, or incapacity to occupy a higher sphere 
 in itself ignoble, or destitute of the elements of 
 grandeur ? Who will say that the purity of its 
 ethics has no greatness or dignity; or that its 
 discovery of eternal life has no sublimity ; or 
 its exhibition of Mercy mercy purchased so as 
 it was, no beauty ? Or has the only faultless 
 theology that mankind has known, no glory ? 
 All, even its enemies, confess, in these several 
 particulars, that the religion of the Scriptures 
 displays a majesty unrivalled. The common and
 
 THE FEW NOBLE. 341 
 
 familiar converse, therefore, which it holds with 
 the lowest conditions, instead of being justly 
 alleged as proof of a kindred abjectness, should 
 be used as an argument of that genuine mag- 
 nanimity that might be expected in what de- 
 scends from heaven, and is scarcely or never 
 found in what is born of earth. 
 
 And yet, while the Gospel, ordinarily, so much 
 shrouds its intrinsic dignity, and embraces many 
 humiliations (as its Author veiled his proper 
 glory when he dwelt in flesh) it does not fail, 
 in some few instances, to expand itself more 
 at large, and to develope, in full symmetry, its 
 essential greatness. Not indeed that the doc- 
 trine of Christ can owe any illustration to the 
 native excellencies of human nature, as if to an 
 independent power; or can derive advantage 
 from a foreign source. But "every good and 
 perfect gift" coming from above, and the original 
 faculties and the endowments of the mind being 
 immediately from God, when many gifts of va- 
 rious kinds original, adventitious, and heavenly, 
 meet in the same subject, those of each kind 
 receive from their combination with the others 
 a new and extraordinary splendour : natural 
 intelligence, and greatness or nobility of soul, 
 advantaged by culture and secular embellish- 
 ments, shine, as with a divine light, when made 
 luminous by the indwelling of the Spirit; and 
 this Spirit shows the more conspicuously His 
 presence and power, when the " living temple "
 
 342 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 is of spacious construction, and is adorned 
 with costly materials and many offerings. Here 
 and there is found one who admits the religion 
 of heaven in its own manner, and imbibes its 
 sublimity and beauty without detriment, and 
 glorifies God, the giver of all, by displaying the 
 triple nobility of Nature, Culture, and Faith. 
 
 Might it be said that the royal Image and 
 Superscription which, by the trituration and 
 corrosion it undergoes in the common world, 
 becomes continually less and less distinct, is 
 from time to time issued afresh, and from a 
 new die ; and all men, in the sharp impression 
 and inimitable skill of the work, recognise the 
 fine gold of the realm ; and are much embold- 
 ened in their reliance upon the vigilance and 
 good faith of the unseen Administrator of affairs? 
 Certain it is that the style and tone of piety, 
 in every age (or in private circles) is in great 
 degree dependent upon the character and the 
 impulse that are imparted to the mass of Chris- 
 tians by a few distinguished men ; or perhaps 
 by one such. How often have the deep and 
 secret conflicts, purposes, conquests, of an illus- 
 trious spirit, when divulged after it has quitted 
 earth, spread like a leaven of new life through 
 the entire commonwealth of Christianity ; and, 
 as a means, or second cause, has enhanced (in 
 various degrees) almost all the then existing 
 piety of the church ! Nor should we be safe in 
 affirming that even the most obscure or remote
 
 THE FEW NOBLE. 343 
 
 portions of the general body receive no advan- 
 tage in such instances; for moral and religious 
 influence, like a subtile ether, attenuates itself 
 until it is no longer noticeable by human obser- 
 vation. Much less can we set bounds in time 
 to this influence ; for piety is, if we might so 
 speak, peculiarly traditive, and perpetuates and 
 repeats itself, through the longest lines of trans- 
 mission, from age to age. 
 
 Not one of the common prejudices that spring 
 from the pravity of the heart, is more notably 
 absurd than that which attributes to the indi- 
 vidual, as ground of arrogance and vanity, his 
 natural endowments of mind or body. The 
 secret motives that dispose mankind to boast 
 more of those advantages which they have had 
 no part in procuring for themselves, than of 
 those which have been the fruits of industry, are 
 indeed not hard to be analyzed, or accounted 
 for. Nevertheless, though the error be easily 
 fallen into, it is manifestly preposterous for a 
 man to assume as a merit those distinctions, 
 which he could no more win for himself, than 
 confer upon another. 
 
 The very proper jealousy which Christian 
 minds entertain of this error, which is at once 
 a proud prejudice, and a folly leads them 
 somewhat too far, when, in order to cut off 
 effectually the occasions of vain-glorious self- 
 love, they almost refuse to give due praise and 
 credit to God's own bestowments. There is a
 
 344 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 peril and a difficulty, it is true, in this quarter ; 
 nevertheless it must never be forgotten, much 
 less denied, that great mental capacity, and the 
 power of accumulating knowledge, and noble- 
 ness of spirit as well as the graces and em- 
 bellishments of the exterior man are gifts, and 
 inestimable gifts of God. And if we all saw 
 things, whether spiritual or natural, with a clear 
 eye an eye purged of the films of earth, none 
 would be in danger of becoming vain on ac- 
 count of endowments or powers the rudiments 
 of which he brought with him into the world. 
 Shall indeed a reasonable being challenge to 
 himself, as author, any distinction or advantage 
 which was elaborated in the womb, and is older 
 than his consciousness ? The future life shall 
 root out this prejudice, effectually and for 
 ever ; and then all spirits, with open eye be- 
 holding the Fountain of good, shall glorify the 
 Creator in whatsoever he bestows upon the 
 creature. 
 
 And besides : the largest capacity, and the 
 most noble dispositions, are but an approxi- 
 mation to the proper standard and true sym- 
 metry of human nature; and if they seem to 
 reach perfection in one or more points, never 
 fail to fall far short of it in others. It is true 
 that, if men generally did only conceive of the 
 grandeur of their destiny as immortal, every 
 human being would at once become noble and 
 magnanimous, both in sentiment and conduct.
 
 THE FEW NOBLE. 345 
 
 A conception so large as this in fact, enters few 
 minds ; and very few attain that greatness of 
 mind which, even when carried to the utmost, 
 is still less than reason would well authenticate. 
 But is not the want of that elevation of soul 
 which should naturally spring from a con- 
 sciousness of immortality, and of relationship 
 to God, to be accounted an unspeakable de- 
 fect ? Small praise then, surely, just to possess 
 that, which not to possess is a preposterous 
 fault! This is in fact the rule whereby great 
 minds are accustomed to estimate their own 
 superiority; and while employing their power 
 of comprehension and abstraction in conversing 
 with ideas of absolute perfection, they acquire, 
 from the comparison thence arising, a modesty 
 like that of childhood ; and are, notwithstanding 
 any comparisons with other men, always alive to 
 a genuine sense of imperfection and ignorance. 
 
 Although there are noble dispositions that do 
 not imply so much, yet the true ideal of mag- 
 nanimity demands an original predominance of 
 the two faculties that are the prerogative of 
 man, and which, by their developement, dis- 
 tinguish one race of men from another ; or, one 
 man from another ; namely, the powers of 
 Abstraction and Imagination ; and these, not 
 single or disproportioned, but duly balanced 
 and blended. It is the first which disengages 
 the mind from those partial aspects of things that 
 fix the attention of inferior understandings. It
 
 346 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 is the power and disposition to discern, in every 
 fact or event, not so much its single import, as 
 its universal meaning, and its relation to general 
 principles, which fills the mind always with the 
 most comprehensive conceptions. It is this 
 power which leads on always from the less 
 perfect, towards the more perfect; from the 
 accidental and adjunctive, to the universal; or 
 from the exterior to the interior; from the 
 specious to the real; and in so doing, not 
 merely gives the reasoning faculty its proper 
 and necessary advantage, but dispels and puts 
 out of view a thousand distracting motives. 
 Calmness and intellectual courage, not less than 
 perspicacity, are the fruit of the power of al> 
 straction. 
 
 And yet if alone, or if it be the paramount 
 faculty of the mind, this power makes a man 
 nothing more than an intellectualist of a parti- 
 cular class ; a mathematician, physiologist, or 
 dialectician. And as such he may be altogether 
 wanting in greatness of mind. But the philo- 
 sophic faculty becomes, if we might so speak, 
 luminous, and expands itself too over an incom- 
 parably larger surface, and moves with far more 
 celerity, when it is commingled, in a just pro- 
 portion, with the powers of imagination. It is 
 the sense of BEAUTY (in the extended meaning 
 of the word) and of sublimity, it is the percep- 
 tion of harmony, of richness, of magnificence, 
 and of symmetry, which elevates the man of
 
 THE FEW NOBLE. 347 
 
 abstruse reasoning, to a range whence he con- 
 templates all circles of human knowledge, and 
 avails himself of the fruits of all: he is then 
 aborigin of all spheres of thought; and finds 
 himself at home and at ease in every region. 
 On the other hand, destitute of the power of 
 abstraction, or the philosophic faculty, the man 
 of imagination is an artist only; a caterer of 
 transient delights ; or a mere sentimentalist, 
 whose entire existence is as unimportant as the 
 pleasures of a summer's evening. But the two 
 faculties in combination as congenial, yet anta- 
 gonist powers, exert, one upon the other, an 
 influence of enhancement, as well as of refine- 
 ment. That faculty of which the object is 
 TRUTH, imparts to tHat of which the object is 
 BEAUTY, severity of taste ; and so renders every 
 pleasure it approves at once intense and perma- 
 nent : while in return, the latter conveys to the 
 former all the elasticity, and force, and gust 
 of enjoyment, which are characteristic of ripe 
 manhood, when compared with withered age. 
 It has been the men of one faculty to whom 
 mankind stands indebted for particular benefits 
 in art or science ; but it is those alone who have 
 combined the two, whom all mankind regards 
 with grateful reverence. 
 
 And yet these are mere rudiments of genuine 
 magnanimity ; indispensable indeed, but insuffi- 
 cient if alone. For human nature is not com- 
 plete unless it be enamoured of Goodness, as
 
 348 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 well as of Truth and Beauty ; but this can be 
 only when its own moral senses are sound : 
 virtue, therefore, is a proper element of great- 
 ness (rov a>$ aKyOois apa ^eyaXo^v^ov, Set ayadov 
 elmt.) Destitute of the sense of rectitude, 
 'and of the emotions belonging to that sense, 
 or deprived of them by actual pravity of soul 
 Mind could hardly be deemed more than a 
 brute power; a mere mechanism of cogita- 
 tion. Or if it be in active hostility to those 
 sentiments, it is monstrous ; and the more there 
 should be of intelligence in such a being, the 
 more also of horrid deformity. In fact, if we 
 take as a whole whatever may be known by the 
 human mind, one half, and the most important, 
 cannot be discerned without the aid of the 
 moral faculty. Love which is virtue in act 
 opens upon the mind the perception of truths 
 as real and valid as any of the principles of 
 mathematical science. Or Love may be termed 
 the mode in which the highest and most univer- 
 sal truths subsist in the soul; how then can 
 any spirit be great from which must be deducted 
 that world of things that is understood only by 
 virtue and love ? Selfishness is an incalculable 
 error: malignity, or sensuality, is a thick dark- 
 ness. We must then utterly deny the praise 
 -of magnanimity to one, whatever his capacity, 
 whose whole existence lies within the compass 
 of his personal desires ; or whose ambition 
 ; grasps nothing greater than his single advantage.
 
 THE FEW NOBLE. 349 
 
 There is a sort of energy, leading to enter- 
 prise and achievement, and giving support also 
 to fortitude, of which it is hard to say whether 
 it most belongs to the_body or the mind; it 
 has perhaps its roots in the former, and thence 
 draws its supplies, and there holds its grasp; 
 but yet rises and spreads, and displays itself 
 in the higher intellectual element. Without 
 this force (whether it is to be accounted physi- 
 cal or mental) the soul may indeed conceive 
 of that which is great, and may sigh and yearn 
 after it; but still will be left in the rear 
 of action, to contemn itself for its continual 
 failures. 
 
 The adventitious advantages of personal dig- 
 nity, bodily strength, and equable health, must 
 not be spoken of in the same absolute terms, as 
 conditions of greatness of soul ; any more than 
 nobility of birth ; or the habits that belong to 
 high station and affluence. Nevertheless it were 
 an equal error to affirm of these advantages, on 
 the one hand, that they are indispensable to 
 magnanimous sentiments ; or on the other, that 
 they have no affinity therewith ; or no influence 
 in enhancing generous emotions. Nature and 
 history contradict both suppositions. In many 
 signal instances . that might be named, MIND, 
 as if purposely to disparage, or put contempt 
 upon its humble companion MATTER, has burst 
 through the restraints and humiliations of~a 
 feeble, diseased, or distorted form, by force of
 
 350 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 a plenitude of the highest qualities : or again, 
 as if to make mockery of exterior graces, it has 
 withheld every virtue and every gift from those 
 whose symmetry and dignity of person seemed 
 to fit them for thrones. And yet the uneasiness 
 or painful sense of unfitness of which every one 
 is conscious while such instances are before the 
 eye, is itself a proof that nature teaches us to 
 look for some correspondence between the inte- 
 rior and the exterior man ; or that it is her 
 general rule to make the visible a true symbol of 
 the invisible. 
 
 Actual concernment with important affairs 
 a real conflict with difficulties, as well as some 
 achieved enterprises of danger or labour, though 
 not of course to be enumerated among the 
 elements of magnanimity, must be peremptorily 
 affirmed as indispensable to its existence other- 
 wise than as a mere rudiment, or germ. The 
 collision of the mind with the perils and toils 
 of real life, may fairly be assumed as a test of 
 true greatness ; because our definition of it 
 includes both power, and the propensity to 
 exert it; for without this ingredient we retain 
 nothing that might serve to distinguish between 
 the idle contemplatist, or the mere poet, or 
 the retired man of abstraction, and him whom 
 we deem magnanimous. Energy that achieves 
 nothing, is a febrile restlessness ; not the 
 power of health. Greatness that can establish its 
 pretensions by no ostensible and commensurate
 
 THE FEW NOBLE. 351 
 
 performances, is hardly to be known from 
 imbecile ambition. 
 
 Yet is there always a counterpoise in great 
 minds between the desire of action the vigorous 
 passion for achievement, on the one part, and 
 that tendency, on the other, to repose tKaT 
 taste for peace that calm residence of the 
 soul upon its centre, which impels it (with an 
 apparent inconsistency) now to stand forth, 
 and now to recede from the noise and confusion 
 of the world. We might find plenty of great 
 minds, if we could but relinquish, in our defi- 
 nition, this special characteristic a tranquil 
 taste, and the capability of repose. In every circle 
 one may meet with men of prodigious energy, 
 and of indefatigable zeal ; but they are such 
 as can exist only exteriorly, or in action : 
 rest, when it must be taken, is with them an 
 abrupt cessation of their intellectual life ; 
 it is not another and a graceful mode of it. 
 Will it seem romantic to affirm that the cha- 
 racteristic serenity of minds truly great is an 
 instinct of the soul, indicating its destiny to 
 a future and endless life ? for even though that 
 life were believed to consist of a perpetuity 
 of action ; nevertheless the anticipation of it, 
 fraught as it is with the notion of infinity, 
 and of absolute perfection, must always be 
 attended with the idea of peace and stillness. 
 If it yet seems as if some one infallible 
 characteristic of genuine magnanimity were
 
 352 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 wanting, we should at once name unalterable 
 modesty, as that mark. That it is so might 
 be argued, not merely from the evidence of 
 facts, establishing the point that great men 
 have always shone with this grace, as assume 
 it a priori, inasmuch as elevation and gran- 
 deur of soul consists in, or is derived from, an 
 habitual contemplation of universal principles. 
 This habit of the mind contains a tacit com- 
 parison which is of the very essence of humility. 
 The spirit that has no modesty, manifestly has no 
 sense of abstract excellence ; and therefore can 
 have no greatness ; or, at least, is not holding 
 converse with things greater than itself; hence 
 it grasps nothing that might aid it to spring up, 
 or to rise above its actual level. 
 
 The modesty of great minds, like their ten- 
 dency to rest, generates an apparent inconsis- 
 tency at which vulgar observers are amazed : 
 it is a dissonance, full of sweetness and power ; 
 but pleasing to well-taught ears. For just as 
 there is (as we have already said) an alternation 
 between the love of repose and the desire of 
 action ; so is there also in noble spirits a coun- 
 terpoise between the consciousness of superior 
 power and native high quality, and this cha- 
 racteristic humility or meekness. Such are the 
 changes of a spring day, when the sun, returning 
 to our hemisphere and about to put forth anew 
 the generative fervour of summer, is seen .con- 
 tending with the heavy exhalations of earth. For
 
 THE FEW NOBLE. 353 
 
 awhile these vapours gather over the heavens 
 and darken the landscape ; but at length they 
 divide, and even while tepid showers are falling, 
 the source of light is revealed in all his efful- 
 gence : and yet only to be soon again veiled in 
 the mists his own rays have drawn into the sky. 
 
 False or affected greatness, which consists in 
 the tumid expansion of a meagre substance, may 
 assume all appearances of the true sooner than 
 this of modesty ; which either it will not attempt, 
 or attempting, will utterly fail to reach. Or while 
 acting the part of modesty, will so exhibit its rest- 
 lessness and impatience, as to forfeit the praise 
 of serenity. Thus the two inseparable charac- 
 teristics of genuine magnanimity are denied to 
 all pretenders. 
 
 In nothing are great and inferior minds more 
 certainly distinguished, than in that peculiar 
 composite sentiment with which the former 
 habitually contemplate mankind at large. We 
 say composite sentiment ; because it brings to- 
 gether, with singular harmony, all the separate 
 ingredients of magnanimity which we have just 
 enumerated. In the analogous feeling of pre- 
 tenders to greatness, some one or more of these 
 ingredients is wanting. The man of enormous 
 ambition, splendid as his qualities may seem, 
 can make out no valid claim to the affection of 
 his fellow-men, even if he may compel their 
 admiration ; for he looks upon them simply as 
 the means or materials by which to effect, or 
 
 A A
 
 354 SATURDAY EVENIN 7 G. 
 
 upon which to build the spacious edifice of 
 his pride. Or if beneficence takes its turn in 
 his emotions, it is taught to give way instantly 
 when it might embarrass the dominant passion. 
 The vague theorist too, whose schemes are as 
 large as continents, and who, one would say, 
 has built his nest high as the clouds, so that he 
 looks down upon empires as a man does upon a 
 colony of ants ; he is great only in his closet : 
 he legislates for nations not a few : schools 
 senates ; rebukes kings ; revises all that is 
 faulty in the institutions of all lands ; throws 
 the blame of every human woe upon statutes. 
 Yes, his pen is quite a paternal sceptre, wielded 
 for the benefit of the species ! AlaSj,__all this 
 sovereign philanthropy is bottled in his inkhorn ! 
 look for it elsewhere ; in his conduct or his self 
 denials ; you find it not. This huge good-will 
 to men is nothing better than the mode of an 
 immeasurable vanity ; and if you want a proof 
 that it is so, see how cunningly the sage avails 
 himself of the slender knowledge of the men of 
 his country or age, so as to make himself appear 
 the author and inventor of that which he has 
 just known how to steal from foreign quarters. 
 
 The philanthropy that is genuine and great 
 yearns to act, and must spend itself in some 
 effort, effectual or not, to diffuse benefits. The 
 habit of abstraction, which is the primary rudi- 
 ment of his character, informed by the bright 
 conceptions, and animated by the emotions
 
 THE FEW NOBLE. 355 
 
 which his imagination furnishes, leads him to 
 meditate, as his favourite theme, upon the wel- 
 fare of communities ; or of his species at large. 
 And he is enough of the philosopher to look 
 wjth indulgence upon the errors and faults of 
 man ; but not so a philosopher as to make 
 these errors and faults the subject of caustic 
 merriment. He is poet enough to feel a kind- 
 ling sympathy with whatever is beautiful or 
 gracious in the social system ; but not so a 
 poet as to turn away his eye from the un- 
 pleasing realities of human degradation. He 
 is the man of action, energy, courage, fortitude ; 
 but his velocity is not that of a machine, which 
 is serviceable or destructive blindly, for he has 
 long pondered whatever he attempts, and his 
 motive is always so sound and so admirable, 
 that even his failures or defeats are brighter 
 than other men's successes : and when thwarted 
 in his endeavours, men see in his serenity that 
 it was good-will to his species, not ambition, 
 that moved the attempt. 
 
 Nothing can be less like arrogance or conceit 
 than the feeling with which a great mind in- 
 wardly confesses its unquestioned superiority. 
 Such is that respect for humanity which the man 
 of magnanimous sentiments entertains, that it is 
 with sincere pain he recognises at any time in 
 other men those deficiencies, or that meanness, 
 or baseness, or frivolity, whence he might draw 
 a comparison in his own favour. As often as 
 A A 2
 
 356 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 any such comparison obtrudes itself, gratulation 
 gives way to shame, or compassion for others. 
 It is to him a heavy grievance that men should 
 be blinded by prejudice, perverted by passion, 
 corrupted by interest ; that they should be 
 ignorant ; infirm in judgment ; sordid in 
 conduct. The levity of mankind, and their cor- 
 ruption, alike distress him, for they controvert 
 that feeling he would fain always cherish, of 
 complacency towards all things, and of esteem 
 for all. Tell him to think with pleasure of his 
 own expansion of mind and nobility of temper : 
 this is but in another manner to enumerate the 
 dishonours of his fellow-men ! 
 
 Conceptions and emotions of this order are 
 justly deemed romantic when not found in com- 
 bination with energy and consistency of con- 
 duct : that is to say, when they are mere 
 conceptions, and mere emotions. But the man 
 who thinks them so, however recommended by 
 the active virtues ; the man who secretly con- 
 temns the humility and humanity of great minds 
 as if it were a weakness, may be sure that there 
 is a region of thought of which he has no more 
 knowledge than the mole has of the vastness 
 and splendour of the upper skies, where the 
 eagle soars.
 
 XXII. 
 
 RUDIMENT OF CHRISTIAN 
 MAGNANIMITY. 
 
 " LET HIM THAT GLORIETH, GLORY IN THE LORD." 
 
 AND yet the greatness of man, at the best, 
 is but greatness fallen and restored : and the 
 utmost he can attain to in the present state is 
 so much of dignity as may beseem one who, 
 rightfully challenging the honours of high birth 
 and illustrious destiny, is rescued from a degra- 
 dation he has sustained, and is replaced in a 
 condition of hope and advancement. In such 
 a case, every sentiment should have respect to 
 the history and to the true circumstances of 
 the person. Genuine magnanimity will never 
 prompt a man to hush up his past misfortunes, 
 or disgraces ; much less to deny the obligation 
 he is under to whoever has saved him from 
 penury, obloquy, or danger. On the contrary, 
 true generosity most shows itself in the readiness 
 with which such confessions are made, and the 
 debt of gratitude acknowledged. It is the part 
 only of the basest spirits to affect oblivion of
 
 358 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 humiliating facts which all the world is ac- 
 quainted with. 
 
 It must then be deemed a great disparage- 
 ment when the subject of any signal misfor- 
 tune or benefit, is himself unconscious of the 
 fact ; or very imperfectly sensible of it ; and 
 such ignorance is always to be deplored in pro- 
 portion to the native generosity or nobleness of 
 the individual in question.- When vulgar souls 
 are unapprised of signal services done them, 
 we think the less of it, inasmuch as, if known, 
 there would probably be little acknowledgment 
 of the favour; nay, perhaps, some offensive 
 expression of ingratitude. But we long to in- 
 form the magnanimous of their obligations, if 
 it were only that the most generous emotions 
 of which human nature is susceptible, might 
 be set in flow. 
 
 Ignorance of the cause and extent of his 
 misery is the aggravation, universally, of the 
 mischief that has happened to man ; and, con- 
 trary to what might have been imagined, this 
 ignorance attaches to the most elevated spirits, 
 not less than to the most rude. Indeed those 
 very qualities and powers of mind which might 
 lead such to feel and deplore the deterioration 
 of their moral state, and to accept frankly and 
 joyfully the succour offered from above, seem 
 rather to form a blind, intercepting the prospect 
 of things greater and more excellent, that might 
 be attained.
 
 RUDIMENT OF CHRISTIAN MAGNANIMITY. 359 
 
 If facts did not prove the contrary, how con- 
 fidently should we expect that all vigorous and 
 generous minds would, with an instantaneous 
 conviction, or as if by the instinct of a native 
 sympathy, embrace the great principles of re- 
 ligion ! how natural that such should rush 
 toward the hope of immortal happiness ; should 
 be foremost to accept the proffered friendship 
 of the Most High ; should yearn to get released 
 from the defilements of sin ; and especially that, 
 from the impulse of a kindred generosity, and 
 with the ingenuousness that distinguishes noble 
 tempers, they should admire and receive the 
 grace divinely free that has been obtained for 
 mankind by the vicarious work of the Great 
 Deliverer! All this would naturally happen if 
 the moral mischief that infests us were less than 
 it is ; or did not include a derangement or 
 obscuration of every faculty, and a perversion 
 of every sentiment. 
 
 This obscuration, both of the intellectual and 
 moral powers common to all men, and not less 
 gross in the instance of highly-gifted individuals 
 than in others ; but often more so, is to be dis- 
 pelled in one manner only: that is to say, 
 when Sovereign Power from on high restores 
 the soul to soundness of health, and brings it 
 back to the place and dignity whence it has de- 
 clined. That this restoration is properly attri- 
 butable to a Divine Agency, is confessed by 
 every one who is the subject of it : nor is the
 
 360 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 confession made merely in deference to the 
 inspired testimony ; but springs from the im- 
 pulse of consciousness, which dares not cannot 
 attribute so great and happy a change to any 
 inferior cause. 
 
 Whatever therefore may, in any case, be the 
 measure of intelligence, how noble soever the 
 pre-existing dispositions, how entire soever the 
 ingenuousness and simplicity of the mind, when 
 a cordial submission to the grace of the Gospel 
 is spoken of, there is included, without excep- 
 tion or distinction, the presence and agency of 
 the Divine Spirit. The explicit affirmations of 
 Scripture demand as much ; and the concur- 
 rence of all, who by experience are qualified 
 to speak on the subject, corroborates the same 
 truth. 
 
 But when once this renovation is effected, 
 and when the many prejudices, and the crude 
 suppositions which the pride of the heart, or its 
 vicious propensities, have generated, are dis- 
 persed, the gifts of nature, whether intellectual 
 or moral, will make themselves apparent. And 
 first of all superior mental power shows itself in 
 the preliminary of a full conviction of the truth 
 of Christianity. Alternations of doubt and con- 
 fidence, where evidence is complete, are charac- 
 teristic of a feeble understanding ; and it belongs 
 too to a confused one, to rest, from year to year, 
 in a sort of equable haze of semi-persuasion ; 
 as it were on the very borders of light, when
 
 RUDIMENT OF CHRISTIAN MAGNANIMITY. 361 
 
 certainty is attainable. Multitudes of Chris- 
 tians, it may be feared, are Christians of this 
 degree ; occupants of the penumbra of faith ; 
 and believers or sceptics, according to the direc- 
 tion in which they happen at the moment to be 
 looking towards the region of day or of night. 
 A vigorous mind is impatient of any such state 
 of incertitude : it acquiesces indeed calmly in 
 the necessity of the case, when evidence is im- 
 perfect or inconclusive ; and will then be as 
 jealous of dogmatism, as otherwise it would of 
 indecision. But how should it restrain its active 
 force, or how repress that irresistible desire 
 the desire of knowledge, when ample materials 
 are before it; when every species of proof in 
 redundance offers itself to examination ; when 
 circuitous and coincident testimony is seen to 
 run on in the same general direction with that 
 which is explicit ; so that to remain in ignorance, 
 or to be the victim of delusion, is a culpable 
 weakness, preposterous as it is unhappy ? 
 
 On a subject like that of the Christian evi- 
 dences, a man of powerful and comprehensive 
 mind, after he has once made himself master of 
 the argument, feels on all occasions that the 
 approach of doubt or hesitation is nothing but a 
 symptom of some momentary debility or torpor 
 of the reasoning faculty ; and in alarm, not for 
 the question, but for the integrity of his own 
 powers, he rouses a manly strength, and shakes 
 oft' the drowsy impotency that had crept upon
 
 362 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 him. That this sort of vigorous faith does not 
 more often show itself among Christians, is be- 
 cause the two elements whence it should spring 
 are but rarely united : for, on the one hand, 
 those whose fervent piety gives them an interior 
 or experimental conviction of the truth of the 
 Scriptures, are not very often, in any good de- 
 gree, familiar with the documentary argument ; 
 or perhaps have not the intellectual power re- 
 quisite for appreciating its force. And on the 
 other hand, the few who do possess these ad- 
 vantages, too often labour under a coldness at 
 heart, or a secularity of character, which makes 
 Christianity and its principal doctrines distaste- 
 ful, or unintelligible; so that their rational con- 
 viction, how strong soever it may be, never rests 
 within them at ease ; but is always in conflict 
 with this or that prejudice, or lurking suspicion. 
 Or it may be, that the irksome familiarity of 
 professional engagements in religion has choked 
 every spiritual sense ; or that an enfeebling of 
 the judgment, produced by the accumulation of 
 ponderous erudition, actually disables the mind 
 from grasping or retaining its hold of great and 
 serious truths. 
 
 And is there not room to say, that what 
 may be termed secular vigour of mind vigour 
 trained and exercised either on the theatre of 
 public life, or within the precincts of natural 
 science, when animated by genuine piety, pro- 
 duces an unblenching faith which those might
 
 RUDIMENT OF CHRISTIAN MAGNANIMITY. 363 
 
 envy whose duties in religion at once demand 
 the most unshaken persuasion, and tend to 
 impair it. 
 
 The same intellectual energy, governed and 
 enlivened by the fervour and ingenuousness of a 
 cordial faith, carries the mind forward in full 
 course, clear of all frivolous sophisms, to the 
 great facts, whether more or less mysterious, 
 that are distinctly affirmed or implied in the 
 Scriptures. Convinced that these books bear 
 with them the authority that must attach to a 
 miraculous communication of knowledge from 
 God to man, a sound, philosophic, and upright 
 mind dares not for a moment hesitate to regard 
 them as altogether trustworthy in their mode 
 and style of conveying the principles they were 
 actually intended to impart. There is an alert 
 sagacity there is a fine and mobile penetration, 
 which we naturally call into exercise when we 
 have to do (as we suppose) with any who are 
 endeavouring either to perplex or to deceive us. 
 But to open the Bible in this spirit to take the 
 Book as from the hand of God, and then to 
 look at it aloof, and with caution, as if through- 
 out it were illusory and enigmatical, is the worst 
 of all impieties, as well as the greatest possible 
 inconsistency. 
 
 The Creator, having already spoken intel- 
 ligibly to man by the display of His wisdom 
 and power in the visible world, which sets forth 
 conspicuously the first truths of theology, would
 
 364 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 seem Himself to inculpate or disparage that 
 existing mode of instruction if, when He con- 
 descends to teach us mouth to mouth, He were 
 to tell us of nothing that had not already been 
 imparted in the elder method. The Scriptures, 
 because attended with an operose economy of 
 supernatural attestations, are to be presumed 
 to contain high matters, and such, that no 
 less an apparatus could properly have conveyed 
 them. Nor will an enlarged and generous spirit, 
 already awakened to discern the glory of Him 
 the Incomprehensible Being, with whom we 
 have to do, deem those things to be unworthy 
 of Heaven which the inspired writers, in the 
 calm simplicity of truth, open to our faith and 
 gratitude. 
 
 In like manner as it may readily be conceived 
 that, when the human spirit enters upon the 
 untrodden fields of a higher world, though the 
 economy of that sphere, and the stupendous 
 objects or movements belonging to it, are all as 
 amazing as they are new ; nevertheless, not one 
 of those objects not one of those novel acts, 
 fails to find some principle of sympathy or 
 alliance in the native ideas or emotions of the 
 new-born child of immortality ; and this for 
 the plain reason, that an absolute harmony or 
 unity of principle pervades, as well the intellec- 
 tual, as the material universe : so, for the same 
 reason, whatever elements, or whatever trans- 
 actions of that upper world are now brought
 
 RUDIMENT OF CHRISTIAN MAGNANIMITY. 365 
 
 within our knowledge by the Scriptures, though 
 invested, as we might well anticipate, with the 
 majesty and awful greatness of infinity, are yet 
 found to have a thorough analogy with our 
 human nature ; and meet, in its original prin- 
 ciples, with corresponding rules of thinking, or 
 modes of feeling ; and (if the phrase might be 
 permitted) instantly make themselves at home 
 in our bosoms. 
 
 Whoever has freely and gratefully admitted 
 into his heart the first truth of Christianity 
 the atonement for sin, accomplished by the Son 
 of God, will grant that he finds in it nothing 
 that does not recommend itself to his reason ; 
 when reason is the most serene, and the most 
 happily in correspondence with pure and inge- 
 nuous emotions. If ever he doubts the reality 
 of this doctrine, or loses his perception of its 
 excellence, it is precisely when the vivacity of 
 every better sentiment has been hurt by the 
 prevalence of earthly passions, or the influence 
 of secular engagements. 
 
 The great principle of the vicarious sufferings 
 of Christ, and the correlative truth of his pro- 
 per divinity, may either be thus confessed as 
 congruous with our most ennobling emotions ; 
 or may be acquiesced in, as the consequence 
 of an intimate perception of the unalterable 
 rectitude of the Divine nature ; and then this 
 perception, though it deepens the emotions of 
 contrition and humiliation, is felt, in the very
 
 366 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 same degree, to impart to it a qualification, 
 and a taste, fitting it to rise into a sphere of 
 existence ineffably higher than heretofore it 
 had at all imagined ; much less attained to. 
 A true knowledge of God, as unchangeably 
 just and absolutely holy, while, in a sense, it 
 oppresses the spirit, exalts it far more. But it 
 cannot have any such influence until the means 
 are discerned by which Justice and Mercy may 
 be reconciled. The very same spiritual per- 
 ceptions that cast the soul into the depth of 
 contrition, awaken it also to a consciousness 
 of celestial excellence and glory. The agonies 
 of penitence are nothing else than a bursting 
 forth in the heart of those higher principles 
 (originally planted there, but long subverted) 
 which, when fully expanded, shall place man 
 in communion with the most exalted natures ; 
 and not only so, but open to him free access 
 to the Source of all Good. Destitute of these 
 genuine elements of greatness, the magnanimity 
 of man is false, or frustrate, or spends itself 
 and exhales in momentary efforts, and on un- 
 worthy occasions. 
 
 And yet how shall any such true and inti- 
 mate perception of the Divine purity and inflex- 
 ible rectitude, bringing with it, as it must, a 
 proportionate sense of personal guilt, peril, and 
 degradation, be at all entertained by the human 
 mind, much less be cherished, until the hope 
 of pardon, and of friendship with God, has
 
 RUDIMENT OF CHRISTIAN MAGNANIMITY. 367 
 
 been seen to rest upon the most solid ground ? 
 That this harmony of spiritual principles exists 
 nowhere but in the doctrine of the atonement, 
 might be sufficiently argued from the fact, that 
 the rejection of that doctrine is always coin- 
 cident with indistinct and derogatory notions 
 of the moral attributes of the Deity. Nothing 
 can sever these rudiments of the religious life 
 a consistent and elevated conception of the 
 Divine character a genuine compunction on 
 account of guilt and depravity ; and (if hope 
 is entertained at all) a grateful acquiescence 
 in the doctrine of substitution. 
 
 The affirmation of this necessary connexion 
 may be deemed gratuitous, and nugatory ; and 
 will so be deemed by those who themselves 
 are destitute of the primary element of piety. 
 Nevertheless it would not be difficult to embar- 
 rass the oppugner (unless he took the ground 
 of Atheism) in a thousand contradictions ; 
 much in the same manner that a man who 
 had been blind from his birth might, espe- 
 cially if conversant with science, have it de- 
 monstrated to him, that there is actually a 
 faculty by means of which knowledge is gained 
 of remote objects ; though for him in any de- 
 gree to conceive of such a faculty would be 
 utterly impossible. In such a case the blind 
 man would be hedged in between abstract de- 
 monstration, and the involuntary scepticism 
 that belongs to ignorance.
 
 368 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 The capital truth of the propitiatory sacrifice 
 offered for mankind by the Son of God, gives 
 scope to the greatest intellectual power, by a 
 peculiarity that distinguishes the higher themes 
 of religious meditation. In the several depart- 
 ments of secular philosophy, the objects of 
 abstract thought lie compactly within the range 
 of the faculty they are to exercise ; and this 
 faculty, so far from being aided in its efforts by 
 the sensitive principles of the soul, demands 
 that these should be quiescent while it is in 
 action. Hence arises that common partition of 
 minds into the two classes of the ratiocinative, 
 and the sensitive ; nor is any thing more rare 
 than a combination of the two, in any very 
 eminent degree. 
 
 But the peculiarity of the primary truth of 
 the Christian system is this That though it 
 be a matter of abstraction, the materials of 
 cogitation wait to be presented to the reasoning 
 powers by the moral sense ; and this sense 
 must first be spiritually quickened before it can 
 perform its office. It is only when an intimate 
 perception is had of the Divine rectitude and 
 purity ; and only in proportion to the vivacity 
 of such perceptions, that the relations of justice 
 and goodness can be discerned, or be subjected 
 to reason. Apart from this spiritual discern- 
 ment, the mental process, although it may 
 be carried on with a semblance of logical con- 
 sistency, has lost its substance (just as real
 
 RUDIMENT OF CHRISTIAN MAGNANIMITY. 369 
 
 quantities are forgotten in the working of alge- 
 braic signs) and the current of ideas quickly 
 subsides into the lower channel of mere spe- 
 culation. Nothing less than the highest sensi- 
 bility of the soul its plenitude of feeling, 
 its participation of that Divine Nature which 
 is Love, can give it fully the power to draw 
 conclusions, on this high theme, from premises, 
 or to measure the true bearing of its abstract 
 notions. 
 
 There are certain trains of reasoning on 
 abstruse matters, wherein either the subject is 
 so ethereal, or the connexion of principles so 
 evanescent, or so recondite, that they are not 
 at all to be pursued except when the intellectual 
 powers are in a state of the very highest vigour. 
 Hence naturally, it happens, that the conclu- 
 sions which have been reached or assented to 
 in the hour of mental strength and perspicacity, 
 come to be questioned, or very dimly appre- 
 hended, in the season of languor that suc- 
 ceeds : there is a vacillation or an alternation 
 of knowledge and doubt ; just because the mind 
 cannot permanently keep its position on the 
 height which sometimes it attains. But in these 
 cases the rise and fall of conviction takes place 
 exclusively within the circle of the reasoning 
 powers. 
 
 The mental variation, or parallax, of which 
 now we are speaking, is quite of a different 
 sort. For it is not that the objects in question 
 
 B B
 
 370 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 are in themselves subtile, or unsubstantial, or 
 that the relations that connect them are slender 
 or flickering : yet are they not to be seen by 
 the native lights of the human mind. The soul 
 must, in this case, be illuminated from above 
 before reason can do its work. It is as when 
 the traveller who has reached an alpine height, 
 at the breaking of day, looks around him upon 
 a far extended sea of shapeless mists. Shall 
 he believe that nothing is on the right hand 
 and on the left but vague obscurity and unim- 
 portant vapours ? No ; for the sun soon scat- 
 ters these exhalations ; and the stupendous 
 masses of the mountains stand out in all their 
 proper strength of colouring, and their breadth 
 and solidity of form ! Now nothing is indis- 
 tinct or questionable ; and although, even while 
 he is gazing, the clouds should reassemble upon 
 the bosom of the hills, and leave him, as if 
 insulated, on his pinnacle of observation, he 
 would not, any the more, assent to one who 
 should tell him that what lately he had contem- 
 plated was an airy phantasm. 
 
 Uncultured and ingenuous minds happily 
 escape certain perplexities which, groundless as 
 they are, often obstruct the course of excursive, 
 and even of powerful understandings ; nor is 
 there any way of escape from such embarrass- 
 ments except that which a radiance from heaven 
 makes known. If, for example, the mind falters 
 at the ineffable doctrine of the divine dignity of
 
 RUDIMENT OF CHRISTIAN MAGNANIMITY. 371 
 
 Him who was " Son of man " and " Son of God;" 
 faith is reassured when a perception is obtained 
 of the unalterable glory of the moral perfections 
 of God ; and while that perception enkindles 
 penitence and fear, it is most distinctly felt 
 that, if the fallen are indeed to be rescued 
 and the guilty absolved, nothing of less mag- 
 nitude than the Christian economy can recon- 
 cile the demands of rectitude with the course 
 of mercy. Not one of the correlative notions 
 on which the Gospel turns can possibly be sur- 
 rendered, or at all abated. To give up the first 
 of them, is nothing less than for the soul to 
 dismiss its high conception of purity and bliss ; 
 it is for itself to fall back into that abyss of 
 darkness and dismay whence lately it emerged. 
 Most distinctly is it discerned that the only 
 tenable hope of progressive happiness, and the 
 only worthy idea of the future expansion and 
 perfection of the powers of human nature, coin- 
 cide precisely with an enlargement of this same 
 spiritual knowledge of the Divine purity, and 
 with an increasing intensity of the emotions 
 that thence arise. Now without presuming to 
 ask whether the salvation of man might in 
 any other way than by the propitiatory work of 
 Christ have been reconciled with the Divine attri- 
 butes ; it is enough that the stupendous scheme 
 of mercy opened in the Gospel a scheme which 
 human minds would never have devised, mani- 
 festly brings every contrariety to unison, and 
 BB 2
 
 372 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 may cordially be embraced, as the true harmony 
 of heaven. 
 
 Not indeed as if the field of divine science 
 could so be traversed and surveyed by the 
 human faculties, or as if the actual procedures 
 of the Supreme Intelligence could so be made 
 matter of antecedent calculation, as that men 
 might be qualified to say " Thus, and thus 
 only, could Infinite Wisdom attain its pur- 
 poses." All argumentation that rests on any 
 such ground merits reprobation. But, as natural 
 philosophy presents many arrangements in the 
 material system of which the use and ex- 
 cellence may be distinctly seen, although, a 
 priori, no such combinations would ever have 
 been thought of as possible ; or have been 
 deemed fit, even if possible ; so, in divine 
 science, may we very intelligently consent to 
 the wisdom of known rules and principles ; 
 though the higher, or abstract reason that de- 
 termines them, and whence they might have 
 been foreknown, far surpasses our powers of 
 thought. In these sacred themes distinct con- 
 victions may be attained which, because they 
 result from a spiritual sense of the perfections 
 of God, are not at all to be conveyed from mind 
 to mind, or embodied in any forms of language. 
 Nevertheless they are as valid as the best of 
 those conclusions that are drawn from the first 
 elements of knowledge. 
 
 But if extraordinary intellectual powers may
 
 RUDIMENT OF CHRISTIAN MAGNANIMITY. 373 
 
 find a scope in the principal themes of religion, 
 and if the exercise of them to good advantage 
 demands always the accompaniment of spiritual 
 convictions ; there is also need of that generous 
 simplicity of sentiment which distinguishes a 
 magnanimous spirit from the mere reasoner. 
 When the process of rigid analysis is applied to 
 subjects that stretch far beyond the range of 
 human knowledge, nothing but embarrassment 
 can be the result ; and to gain freedom we must 
 return to those simple sentiments that are, on 
 many occasions, better guides than abstruse 
 reasoning. Thus it is that a frigid scrutiny of 
 the ideas brought together in the scheme of 
 human redemption generates, often, a misgiving, 
 as if there must be a want of substance in the 
 ingenuous expressions employed by the Apo- 
 stles, when they speak of the grace and love of 
 the Saviour in " giving himself a ransom for 
 many ;" or as if, after the several shares of the 
 Divine and human natures are allotted, nothing 
 remains which can distinctly be held as adequate 
 motive of affectionate gratitude. Any such idea 
 is the consequence of attempting to analyse that 
 of which none of the elements come within our 
 grasp. A feeling of this sort may be surmised 
 to lurk beneath a certain style of pulpit exag- 
 geration, employed perhaps sometimes, to con- 
 ceal the perplexities of the mind, or to hide 
 that chasm in the heart which should be filled 
 by devout affections.
 
 374 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 A cold scientific distribution of the parts of 
 the satisfaction once offered for sins by the 
 Divine Mediator, and which so much annoys 
 ingenuous minds in books of divinity, finds no 
 precedent in the style of the Apostles. They 
 (better taught than logicians could teach them) 
 spoke on all occasions of their Lord, as the 
 Saviour of the world, in a manner which has no 
 reason if we forget his humanity ; and no piety 
 if we deny his divinity; and no force, if we 
 attempt in any manner to sever the one from 
 the other. The polemic term 6<=dv6pwiros, happy 
 and comprehensive as it may seem, was not 
 used by them, because they felt no need of it ; 
 or had never thought of so distinguishing their 
 conception of the Person of Christ as is implied 
 in the construction of a phrase of this sort. 
 Like some other terms, now unhappily become 
 almost indispensable, it points to heresy ; and 
 would fall out of usage if there were no sophistry 
 in the world, and no gainsayers. 
 
 The inspired writers never pause when they 
 speak of Christ, as if they must use caution in 
 rightly assigning the terms they employ. The 
 characteristic of their manner is unity, rather 
 than abstruse precision. Unconscious of em- 
 barrassment, they ascribe, in the fullest and 
 clearest terms, to the Saviour of men, emotions 
 and modes of action which metaphysical severity 
 refuses to predicate of the eternal and unchange- 
 able Deity ; and in the same breath, and without
 
 RUDIMENT OF CHRISTIAN MAGNANIMITY. 375 
 
 a note of surprise, attribute to him perfections 
 which it were blasphemy to challenge for any 
 but the Possessor of omniscience, omnipotence, 
 and eternity. 
 
 This harmony of style on a point where scep- 
 ticism always stumbles, and where superstition 
 always runs into extravagance, ought to be 
 deemed a signal proof of the presence of a 
 wisdom more than human. A vigorous under- 
 standing, and a temper that spurns the sinuosi- 
 ties of unbelief, when guided by the same Spirit 
 of Truth, confidently follows on the path trod- 
 den by Apostles. No unsound sentiment need 
 be imputed, when it is said, that a great mind 
 informed from above, will, in a peculiar manner, 
 catch by sympathy the greatness the magna- 
 nimity, which belongs to the character and 
 actions of the Saviour of the world. In this 
 character, and in these actions in these words 
 of grace, and deeds of mercy, scope is found, and 
 more than scope, for the profoundest emotions 
 which the spirit of man may at all sustain. The 
 mind reaches no limit on this ground : the 
 objects of its meditation, by a combination 
 mysterious truly possess at once all the dis- 
 tinctness and vivacity that belong to what is 
 human, and all the depth and height that attach 
 to what is divine. Although indeed the attempt 
 must always be fruitless to penetrate the incom- 
 prehensible union of the divine and human 
 nature the actual harmony which that union
 
 376 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 produced is forcibly and clearly perceived by 
 the moral sense ; and eminently so by minds 
 of extraordinary power. Scarcely a sentence 
 recorded by the evangelists, and scarcely an 
 action narrated, fails to present, with more or 
 less distinctness and in wondrous unison, the 
 divine and human attributes of him who spake 
 " as never man spake." Remove from the 
 discourses of Jesus, and from his conduct, the 
 mystery of his Person, and every just idea of 
 fitness is shocked ; nay, the entire narrative 
 becomes incredible ; or rather let us say, that 
 if the mind be vigorous and sane, it is incom- 
 parably easier to admit the divinity of Christ, 
 than to reject it, and read the Gospels without 
 being confounded and perplexed. 
 
 Controversy (inevitable though it be) spoils 
 whatever it affects. The Controversy of the 
 Church with the impugners of the first truth 
 of Christianity has, if we might use the allusion, 
 quite chafed the resplendent surface of Revealed 
 Religion, so that the impression we should other- 
 wise have received from the Gospel narrative is 
 vastly impaired. Our long continued litigation 
 with sophists has drawn us away from the native 
 force, to the bare grammatical value of certain 
 words and phrases. But the native force of 
 language is nothing more than its true value, in 
 all cases when an ingenuous writer adapts him- 
 self only to ingenuous readers : and the denuded 
 meaning which criticism evolves, bears much the
 
 RUDIMENT OF CHRISTIAN MAGNANIMITY. 377 
 
 same relation to the genuine sense of the writer, 
 which a sear anatomical preparation, with its 
 shrivelled fibres, and blanched bones, bears to 
 the living man. If the believer suffers by this 
 means, the heretic much more : and it will 
 seldom (perhaps never) be found that the naked 
 grammatical power of language will avail any 
 thing with a mind that has lost, or thrown 
 aside, all its sensibility to natural impressions. 
 The language of legal instruments is indeed 
 constructed on the principle of insuring a de- 
 finite sense, against the utmost endeavours of 
 chicanery : and yet, with all its redundancies, 
 it often fails to effect this object. Knaves find 
 a flaw and triumph over common sense and 
 justice. Truly it was in another spirit that the 
 Apostles wrote and spoke ; and whoever will 
 not listen to them in their own spirit, must go 
 away with his error as his punishment. 
 
 Has not a punitive debility invaded the mind 
 that can meditate upon the character of Him 
 whom the evangelists describe can muse upon 
 his pregnant words, can imagine the aw,ful sere- 
 nity and gentle mercy of his tones can stand 
 by while he calls the dead from the bier, or 
 the grave can behold him stilling the winds 
 can hear him remit sins, or announce the judg- 
 ment which himself is to administer or claim 
 and accept the adoration of his followers; 
 can follow him at length to the mount of 
 death ; can listen when, about to ascend to his
 
 378 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 throne, he challenges to himself universal domi- 
 nion ; and after thus walking side by side with 
 one such as was Jesus, can profess to have 
 seen nothing, to have heard nothing, but what 
 is on the level of mere humanity ? No blind- 
 ness is like the blindness of such a mind ! 
 Infatuation, when it extends so far, is not 
 simple error; but disease. 
 
 Once discerned, accepted, and devoutly enter- 
 tained the mediatorial character and vicarious 
 work of Christ becomes an exclusive object, and 
 generates an exclusive motive. All admiration, 
 all gratitude, all affection, must converge upon 
 this one centre. And if he who so believes is 
 indeed susceptible of magnanimous sentiments, 
 and capable of magnanimous conduct, then will 
 he, the more gladly than others, forget every 
 pretension, and deny every ambition ; and 
 though, in the circle of his fellow -men, he 
 might glory, will " glory only in the Lord." 

 
 XXIII. 
 
 THE DISSOLUTION OF HUMAN 
 NATURE. 
 
 " IT IS APPOINTED TO ALL MEN ONCE TO DIE." 
 
 WE are free to assume that the separation 
 of the elements of human nature at death is 
 a regular stage in the economy of the moral 
 world. This may be believed, notwithstand- 
 ing the fact of its having supervened in con- 
 sequence of the offence of the first man. Death 
 is indeed penal, and therefore must in one 
 sense be deemed an after-act in the order .of 
 the Divine procedures : nevertheless it was not 
 merely foreseen, but no doubt predetermined 
 for the accomplishment of some specific purpose. 
 It is true that the breaking up of the animal 
 machinery under the appalling circumstances 
 that attend it, does more than dimly display 
 its primary reason, and speaks of transgression, 
 and of the anger of Heaven. But many analo- 
 gies in nature, as well as what we know of the 
 rules of the Divine government, lead us to 
 suppose that there is a further purpose appended
 
 380 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 to the primary one of declaring the displeasure 
 of God against sin. 
 
 If death be punitive, so likewise is the ne- 
 cessity imposed upon man of toiling for his 
 subsistence : and so is that constitution which 
 secures the perpetuation of the species. And 
 yet the most signal of all the natural benefits 
 which he receives from his Maker are, directly 
 or indirectly, consequent upon both the law of 
 labour, and the sexual relationship. These 
 appointments were a curse in form; but a 
 blessing in fact. Or if it be still true that each 
 of the three preserves and displays its punitive 
 character, it is not less true of the second and 
 the third (the entire operation of which we can 
 observe) that the penalty crowns itself with 
 praise, in the good it confers; a direct analogy 
 would lead us then to presume as much con- 
 cerning the first. Or it would authorize the 
 conclusion that, as the necessity of labour, and 
 the mutual dependence of the sexes, are found 
 to be the occasion of advancement and of de- 
 light, when man is wise and humane; though of 
 misery, when he is ignorant and ferocious ; so 
 death secures some special advantage to the 
 good ; though to the bad it can show none but 
 its primary vindictive intention. 
 
 The many intimations we gather from the 
 Scriptures on this subject forbid it to be thought 
 that death is a blank pause in the course of the 
 human system, or a fruitless arrest and inter-
 
 THE DISSOLUTION OF HUMAN NATURE. 381 
 
 ruption of the process of that intellectual and 
 moral life which had so lately commenced. On 
 the contrary, the notices of the inspired volume 
 imply that it is rather the means of evolving 
 certain higher principles of that life, with a view 
 to the ultimate advancement of our nature. If 
 we might speak, for a moment, of that state of 
 which death is the introduction, as a stage in 
 
 the NATURAL HISTORY OF MAN, W6 should pre- 
 
 sume it to be a season of germination, during 
 which preparatives are going on for a new con- 
 struction of the elements of life, to more advan- 
 tage, or on a more expanded model. If the 
 spiritual and the physical parts of our nature are 
 to be thus severed, and to be held in disunion 
 during an extended period, and yet are after- 
 wards to be re-composed ; it would seem pro- 
 bable that the spiritual part (which survives) 
 will then be occupied in bringing to maturity 
 some of those powers, or in cherishing those 
 habits, that were the most obstructed by the 
 movements of the physical machinery (which 
 falls to the dust) ; or in other words, that a new 
 balance of the powers of human nature is con- 
 templated, for which preparation must be made 
 by allowing a long and uninterrupted play to 
 certain faculties, as freed from others. 
 
 In attempting, for a moment, an inquiry on 
 this subject, it will be neither necessary nor 
 proper to advance upon the arduous ground 
 of abstruse or metaphysical science ; since,
 
 382 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 except with a view to practical inferences, a 
 theme like this would not here be introduced. 
 And assuredly practical inferences in matters of 
 religion must be drawn from facts or principles 
 known to all men ; or at least familiarly intel- 
 ligible to all, when clearly stated. 
 
 Every one then, how little soever he may be 
 conversant with Intellectual Philosophy, must 
 be conscious of the reality of the distinction 
 commonly made between those emotions that 
 belong to the imagination, and those that spring 
 from what is termed the Moral Sense. Nothing 
 is much more trite or simple than this classifica- 
 tion of our feelings. As for example ; at one 
 moment we apply to the objects which may be 
 actually or mentally before us, the terms beau- 
 tiful, or deformed; sublime, or mean; graceful, 
 magnificent, terrific, harmonious, discordant. And 
 these words connect themselves instantly with 
 the sensations, whether pleasurable or uneasy, 
 which such objects awaken. But it is on occa- 
 sions altogether of another sort that the terms 
 good, or evil ; benign, or malignant; generous, or 
 base ; pure, or corrupt ; are employed ; and our 
 feelings of complacency or repugnance, in these 
 latter instances, manifestly belong to a faculty 
 quite distinct from the imagination. 
 
 The rudest understanding perceives the essen- 
 tial dissimilarity of these two classes of our 
 emotions. And even the illiterate and the vulgar 
 so far observe the difference in their use of
 
 THE DISSOLUTION OF HUMAN NATURE. 383 
 
 language, as to prove that it is broad and real ; 
 not nice or theoretic. 
 
 Now no one can need to have it proved to 
 him, that piety and virtue take their range alto- 
 gether among the emotions of the latter, not 
 among those of the former class. No one 
 imagines that the conceptions he may form 
 (how just soever they may be) of the Immensity, 
 the Eternity, or the Omnipotence of the Supreme 
 Being, will of themselves make him a religious 
 man : he may conceive all that is sublime, or 
 magnificent, or awful, quite independently of 
 any affections that ought to be called virtuous. 
 We must think of God as absolutely HOLY as 
 Just, and Good, if we would worship, love, and 
 serve Him : that is to say, the emotions of the 
 moral sense must be awakened, if we are to 
 become religious. 
 
 The Imagination and the Moral Emotions are 
 not only very distinct ; but they are very dif- 
 ferently related to the physical organization : 
 and this difference few persons can h'ave failed 
 to notice. Both alike are attended with ^ome 
 correspondent movement in the animal frame, 
 more or less conspicuous. And both alike are 
 liable to be enhanced or repressed by causes 
 that belong to the animal structure : in both 
 classes there is action and reaction, between 
 Mind and Matter. But the difference is this 
 That the emotions which strictly attach to the 
 moral sense, or to the notion of good and evil, of
 
 384 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 right and wrong, and which have no connexion 
 either with the imagination, or the selfish pas- 
 sions, though they affect the physical frame, 
 when intense, and either quicken or retard the 
 ordinary movements of life, do so in a manner 
 that is tranquil and safe, both to the body and 
 the mind : excitements of this sort are always 
 limited; nor are they liable to rapid augmen- 
 tations, such as would endanger either health 
 or reason. Indeed in most cases the animal 
 excitement or agitation is greater in the first 
 moments of moral emotion, than afterwards ; and 
 though, on a sudden occasion of this sort, the 
 pulse may be accelerated, and the spirits hurried, 
 this movement subsides, even while the inward 
 sentiment is becoming more and more acute. 
 
 It is otherwise with those emotions that 
 quicken the imagination; especially with such 
 of them as are very vivid and profound. These 
 stand so much more intimately connected with 
 the laws of animal life, or in other words, the 
 affinity or sympathy between mind and matter 
 is, in this department, so immediate, that a 
 dangerous correspondence takes place between 
 the mental emotion and the bodily excitement. 
 And not only so ; but as long as the emotion 
 continues, the excitement goes on to heighten; 
 and if the former be at all enhanced, the latter 
 mounts up with fearful rapidity. Strong imagi- 
 native emotions at once shake the structure of 
 animal life, and endanger the integrity of reason ;
 
 THE DISSOLUTION OF HUMAN NATURE. 385 
 
 and they do so, as it seems, because, instead of 
 spending their force outwardly (as the affections 
 of the moral sense do), they bear inwardly, more 
 and more, upon the centre of the soul; and 
 so accumulate their force every moment, and 
 aggravate its physical effects. 
 
 All this is well understood by persons of a 
 highly-sensitive temperament ; who, if they are 
 prudent, carefully abstain from surrendering 
 themselves to any feelings that include impres- 
 sions of wonder, terror, or sublimity ; or even 
 of admiration, or dramatic sympathy. That 
 rapid progression which is characteristic of these 
 feelings quickly bears away the resistance of 
 reason, and gains a mastery over the will. 
 Damage to the mind, or to the body, or to 
 both, ensues, unless the exciting cause be pre- 
 sently removed. And while the milder and 
 more agreeable imaginative sentiments debilitate 
 the intellectual and animal systems if too fre- 
 quently indulged, or indulged to excess ; the 
 stronger and more painful emotions rend and 
 distract both. Ideas of vastness, infinity, and 
 irresistible power, are to be admitted only with 
 caution, if the mind be highly susceptible of 
 their influence. Such minds are conscious, 
 often, that they are approaching the brink of 
 an abyss, whence they must hastily retire or 
 be lost. The eye, the ear, the heart, must be 
 diverted, and filled with whatever is common, 
 familiar, or trivial. 
 
 c c
 
 386 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 These well-known facts are all we need now 
 have to do with ; nor are we obliged to descend 
 beneath the surface, as if to explore the occult 
 conformation of human nature. Instead of 
 doing so, we must note another remarkable 
 difference between the Moral and Imaginative 
 emotions, resulting from their connexion severally 
 with the body. It is this that, when both are 
 in activity together, the latter, in consequence, 
 as it seems, of their stronger affinity with animal 
 life, almost always, and very quickly, prevail 
 over the former, and expel them from the soul : 
 the moral fades, and the imaginative brightens. 
 
 Nothing is more frequent than such combina- 
 tions : the structure of the visible world, in 
 all its parts, produces them. Impressions of 
 grandeur or beauty, of sublimity, of power, of 
 destructive force, or of malignant violence, are 
 conveyed often by the very same objects, or 
 on the same occasions, which excite either the 
 gentler affections of love, gratitude, or pity ; or 
 the more stern sentiments of rectitude, and truth. 
 In such instances, ordinarily, the first species 
 of feeling intimately combines itself with the 
 second ; so that to sever the two is almost 
 impracticable : as a giant closely grasps him 
 whom he is about to throw to the earth, and 
 crush. But when in combination, the better 
 element is apt to merge or disappear. Hence 
 arises the fatal facility wherewith imaginative 
 spirits pass over from the solid ground of piety
 
 THE DISSOLUTION OF HUMAN NATURE. 387 
 
 and virtue, to the illusory region of enthusiastic 
 excitement. It is not true that the religious 
 and virtuous affections have to make head only 
 against animal desires, or malignant passions; 
 for they must also maintain their ground in 
 opposition to the more insidious encroach- 
 ments of imaginative impressions; and these, 
 intimately mingled as they are with all our 
 feelings (to subserve an important purpose) 
 give no warning of inimical intention. 
 
 If we would duly appreciate the advantage 
 or power, possessed by imaginative emotions, 
 in consequence of their close alliance with the 
 animal frame, we must reflect upon what 
 not seldom takes place in sleep, when the 
 voluntary functions being suspended, and the 
 susceptibility of the nervous system greatly 
 diminished, images of sublimity or terror, such 
 as, while waking, the mind dares not dwell 
 upon, pass in still pomp before the mental 
 vision. -Through the hushed palace of fancy 
 a vast or threatening pageant moves on 
 powerless and innoxious. Or if some faint 
 excitement accompanies the dream, it is in- 
 comparably less than would be produced by 
 the same spectacle, attended by the same im- 
 pression of reality, in a waking hour. In pre- 
 sence of the most appalling ideal objects, the 
 spirit conscious, yet quiescent, and as if it 
 knew itself to be a secure spectator of the 
 scene, looks on, or even takes its sport in 
 c c 2
 
 388 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 freakish mood, with fantastic or ludicrous con- 
 ceptions ; and seems to enjoy a pastime now 
 with laughable absurdities, now with gigantic 
 horrors ! 
 
 Thus it appears that the Imagination, though 
 not a whit less active during sleep than at other 
 times (perhaps more so) has lost then, by the 
 quiescence of the animal functions, its power 
 of domineering over the system. In truth we 
 ought here to admire the beneficent contrivance 
 which has so blended the human frame as that, 
 when the controlling faculty of reason is sus- 
 pended, the liability to perilous agitation from 
 ideal objects is also in abeyance. If it were 
 otherwise, our dreams would be our masters ; 
 nay, the most cruel tyrants ; and we should be 
 liable to start from sleep to madness. 
 
 And now let it be supposed (we advance 
 merely an hypothesis) that it is an indispensable 
 part of the education of the spirit, with a view 
 to its ultimate destiny, to bring it, if we might 
 so speak, within and among the stupendous 
 inner-movements of the universe ; or to afford 
 it a full view of objects, personages, and actions, 
 the merest glimpse of which, constituted as we 
 are of matter and mind, would dissever the 
 frail structure of nature ; or would at least so 
 excite the imagination as to overpower entirely 
 the moral sense. But it is this very sense of 
 good and evil this moral perception, and the 
 tranquil affections attaching thereto, that are
 
 THE DISSOLUTION OF HUMAN NATURE. 389 
 
 to be brought into activity, and to be employed 
 upon the amazing scenes of the INTERIOR 
 WORLD. 
 
 By our alliance with matter we are detained 
 on the surface of things ; and are conversant 
 only with semblances, and with effects. But it 
 remains for us, perhaps, to become conversant 
 with substances, and causes : we must go and 
 contemplate the deep secrets of God's empire. 
 We must be led up and down among the works, 
 and gaze upon the reason of things. And yet 
 this intuition is to produce its whole effect, 
 undisturbed and unmixed, upon the faculties 
 which constitute man a moral and responsible 
 being. These faculties, therefore, are to be set 
 at large from their affinity with all those inter- 
 mediate sentiments which, in the present state, 
 form the amalgam of mind and matter. 
 
 The separate spirit is then (on this supposi- 
 tion) to be thrown upon the play of its AFFEC- 
 TIONS, whether these be benign or malign pure 
 or depraved; and it is moreover to be thrown 
 upon them in presence of objects of the most 
 stupendous magnitude. In place of the mea- 
 sured and mingled emotions of the present life, 
 there are to be encountered, in the next stage 
 of our existence, excitements of overwhelming 
 force ; and all of one quality. And amid them, 
 the soul quiescent in regard to what might 
 move it to wonder, or terror, is to be nakedly 
 sensitive to the MORAL QUALITY of what it
 
 390 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 beholds. The notions of right and wrong of 
 good and evil; the emotions of love or hatred 
 of joy or sorrow of complacency or compunc- 
 tion which here take turns for a moment, or for 
 an hour, with a thousand divers affections, and 
 so are always abated, and very quickly diverted, 
 shall' there hold undisputed empire shall be 
 countervailed by no rival, no antagonist power. 
 Human nature, thus reduced to its most simple 
 element, shall exist in one mood only that of 
 an intense consciousness of its own moral con- 
 dition ! 
 
 The whole economy of revealed religion 
 hinges on the doctrine that the commixture of 
 good and evil we see around us, belongs to the 
 present state alone ; and shall quite disappear 
 in the next. That is to say, that the abhorrent 
 principles which here, by a sort of violence, are 
 held in combination, shall, when the temporary 
 purpose of their union is accomplished, divide, 
 to right and left, and with irresistible avulsion 
 fly off to opposite quarters. If so, it is only 
 natural to suppose that each new comer upon 
 that region of separate elements shall pass, as 
 if by a physical necessity, to the side he is allied 
 to, whether for the better or the worse. The 
 sphere that encircles whatever is holy, and that 
 which embraces all evil, must draw to them- 
 selves, severally, all particles of kindred quality. 
 Nothing can there float at large ; but must fall 
 in upon its proper centre and so abide.
 
 THE DISSOLUTION OF HUMAN NATURE. 391 
 
 But an absolute partition of human spirits, 
 like this, may seem not to bear analogy with 
 the present order of things, wherein no such 
 conspicuous distinction offers itself to our per- 
 ceptions, as might be made the ground of a 
 classification so simple. What soul is so base 
 as to retain no particle of goodness ? or what 
 so pure, as to be free wholly from alloy ? The 
 Scriptures solve this difficulty ; and while they 
 affirm, in the most positive manner, the future 
 division of the good and evil, indicate plainly 
 the rule on which it shall proceed. If merits 
 and defects, virtues and vices, were, in the 
 instance of each human spirit, to be summed 
 up and balanced, (the supposition is absurd) 
 and the fate of each to be determined according 
 to the preponderance of good or evil, it must 
 happen in innumerable cases that a decision so 
 momentous would turn upon an incalculably 
 minute excess of the preponderating quality. 
 
 The scriptural doctrine of two states good 
 and evil, can never be conceived of as the issue 
 of the human system, without admitting some 
 rule far more absolute and simple than that of 
 a balance of merits. No controversy can arise 
 concerning this necessary rule. Of every human 
 spirit it may be said that it possesses, or not, 
 that affection to God which, when freed from 
 the embarrassments that here surround us, will 
 spring up toward its object will break away, 
 exultant, from every defilement ; and connect
 
 392 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 the created to the uncreated Spirit, between 
 which a real alliance had already taken place. 
 Has then the soul, at the moment when its 
 active powers are broken up, and when it is 
 launched upon the severed elements of good and 
 evil, been quickened toward the Moral Perfec- 
 tions of the Supreme Being ? Has it yet enter- 
 tained, or not, the rudiment of love, of loyalty, 
 and of submission to the divine government? 
 Is it affiliated to God ; or is it estranged and in 
 rebellion ? Does it abhor the contamination of 
 its present state ? Has it sympathy with the 
 worship that encircles the throne of the Most 
 High ; or is it destitute both of the emo- 
 tions, and of the habits, of grateful and joyous 
 adoration ? 
 
 What is the conception which, individually, 
 we entertain of future felicity ? Is God the 
 desired centre and fountain of the happiness we 
 think of; or does the mind draw its idea of 
 heaven (if at all it thinks of heaven) with 
 atheistic perversity, from those elements of 
 pleasure which the present life affords ? Is the 
 soul alive to God or not ? The answer to these 
 questions must discriminate spirit from spirit, 
 when each, in its moral element only, enters 
 the world where moral elements are parted. 
 
 Every one might then readily imagine the 
 state into which the dissolution of the body 
 must plunge him, by conceiving of himself as 
 stript of all faculties, and all emotions, but those
 
 THE DISSOLUTION OF HUMAN NATURE. 393 
 
 that belong to the moral sentiments ; and as so 
 confronted with the unsullied brightness of the 
 Divine Majesty. To die, is to come denuded 
 of all but conscience, into the open presence of 
 the HOLY ONE.
 
 XXIV. 
 THE STATE OF SOULS. 
 
 " THEY ALL LIVE UNTO GOD." 
 
 THE Christian doctrine of the resurrection of 
 the body implies far more than was ever con- 
 tained in the conjectures of sages, or of poets, 
 who thought of nothing better, in their concep- 
 tion of an afterlife, than a dream-like leisure 
 dim and unproductive, which has no affinity 
 with the actual principles of human nature. 
 
 We must say almost the same of the common 
 notion of Christians on this subject, who, although 
 they are right, so far as they follow the sugges- 
 tions of the devout sentiments, fall very far short 
 of that idea of the ultimate state of man which 
 the Scriptures authorize, when they think of 
 immortality only as an elysium more pure and 
 bright than that of the Greeks. Piety seizes 
 upon the principal element of eternal life, and 
 neglects all beside. But this notion which con- 
 tains one idea merely, though the principal, is 
 strictly applicable only to that preparatory state, 
 in which the rudiment of human nature alone 
 survives : it very imperfectly corresponds with
 
 THE STATE OF SOULS. 395 
 
 the ultimate, or restored and mature state, 
 wherein the rudiment gathers around it again 
 the various constituents of intellectual, moral, 
 and physical existence. 
 
 The tendency to subtilize in whatever is future 
 and unknown, has carried the meditations of 
 Christians wide of the track upon which the 
 intimations of Scripture, fairly pursued, would 
 lead us. The reorganization of the body implies 
 the restoration of the mutual dependency of 
 mind and matter ; implies, that man shall 
 again, as at first, conform himself to the laws 
 of an external world ; shall blend in his own 
 nature the diverse elements of the natural and 
 the spiritual system ; shall entertain, once more, 
 those mixed sentiments that result from such a 
 union ; shall, in a word, become again, and 
 for ever, a creature of action, desire, advance- 
 ment; of knowledge, enterprise, and achieve- 
 ment. He shall move in a sphere that will 
 demand from him forethought, courage, and 
 wisdom j as well as give play to his affections. 
 
 All this might be distinctly inferred from those 
 passages of the Inspired Volume which speak of 
 the afterlife. But nothing of the sort belongs 
 to the state of dissolution, which retains only the 
 first rudiment of existence, and in which active 
 powers, as well as wants, are suspended. The 
 season of denudation must certainly possess a 
 character altogether unlike that which precedes, 
 or that which follows it ; nor can it well be
 
 396 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 thought to include action, or progression, or 
 change ; which imply the working of the parts 
 or functions of human nature, one upon the 
 other; and therefore demand complexity, and 
 construction of elements. 
 
 Something, clearly, must be assumed as con- 
 stituting the ultimate principle of our nature ; 
 or that towards which all other faculties tend, 
 and to which they stand related as means. It 
 were most irrational to name as an ultimate 
 principle, any power which is subservient, and 
 which is exerted always with a reference to some 
 ulterior purpose. For example ; the senses, the 
 appetites, and the instincts of the animal frame, 
 are plainly nothing more than instruments, of 
 which no explanation can be given until some- 
 thing beyond themselves is taken into account. 
 The reasoning faculty, also, not less than the 
 senses, or the bodily instincts, is always subser- 
 vient to some end. Reason labours to achieve 
 a particular purpose, or to resolve a given doubt, 
 and is impelled by a motive derived from that 
 purpose. Reason then is not the rudiment of 
 human nature. With even less appearance of 
 truth could we assign any such honour to 
 Memory, or Imagination. As well affirm that 
 a man exists and acts, only that he may keep 
 a diary of his movements ; or that the record 
 is the motive of the life. 
 
 We can come home to nothing in our survey 
 of human nature, but to the affections and
 
 THE STATE OF SOULS. 397 
 
 moral emotions, which are not subservient ; and 
 are not governed by ulterior purposes. It is 
 upon these that the soul may repose. We ad- 
 vance a step then. If the moral sentiments 
 and the affections are the prime principles of 
 our nature, and if their actual condition, or the 
 habits that attach to them, determine the cha- 
 racter, they must, in a sovereign manner, decide 
 the fate of every one for the better or the 
 worse, in that moment when the spirit enters 
 upon the region where no susceptibilities are 
 awake ; or, which is the same thing, where no 
 objects are found but such as affect the moral 
 powers. If, when the connexion with matter is 
 dissolved, an immediate consciousness is to be 
 had of the Divine Presence, there can be no more 
 room left for mixed or ambiguous moral senti- 
 ments. The spirit, quick throughout with the 
 feeling of good and evil, is surrounded on every 
 side with the GREAT OBJECT of all such feelings ; 
 even as the mote that swims in the brightness 
 of the upper skies, is encompassed with the 
 effulgence of noon. To DIE, is to burst upon 
 the blaze of Uncreated Light, and to be sensitive 
 to its beams ; and to nothing else ! 
 
 Among those numerous passages of the Sacred 
 Volume which bear upon the separate state, 
 few, if any, will be found, that do not directly 
 convey, or indirectly authenticate the belief, 
 that the realm of the dead of the pious dead, 
 is in a special manner the scene of PERPETUAL
 
 398 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 WORSHIP. It is there that the devout affections, 
 undisturbed by other faculties, are incessantly 
 in efflux. Adoration and love, it is true, are 
 found in all states or stages of intelligent exist- 
 ence ; but in the place of souls, worship is the 
 one occupation ; shall we say, that it is the 
 unchanging mode of that rudimental life ? Of 
 the pious dead it may, on this supposition, be 
 affirmed, in a sense peculiar or characteristic, 
 that they "all live unto God. " Whatever 
 may be the special ground of argument in our 
 Lord's reply to the Sadducees, the emphatic 
 phrase he employs when he speaks of the pa- 
 triarchs, must be granted to convey the idea we 
 now assume. " Abraham and his faithful sons 
 are not extinct, as your doctrine supposes ; for, 
 long after their disappearance from earth, Jeho- 
 vah affirms his actual relationship to them, and 
 uses it as the motive of his gracious procedures 
 towards their descendants : they all LIVE UNTO 
 GOD. Shall God then, in whose presence they 
 exist, fail to fulfil the promise he had made 
 them ?" 
 
 The many dim phrases that are scattered 
 over the surface of the Hebrew Scriptures, and 
 of which the reader of modern versions takes 
 little or no account; but which make allusion 
 to the Invisible World, are all in harmony with 
 the same notion. The fathers are "gone into 
 Peace :" they abide "under the shadow of the 
 Almighty" -who is "the dwelling-place" of
 
 THE STATE OF SOULS. 399 
 
 his people, "through all generations:" they 
 remain "in His secret chamber" (the holy of 
 holies) : they dwell " in his Tabernacle ; " or 
 " stand in his Pavilion ; " and are there " the 
 expectants of Jehovah," continually watching 
 the movements of his hand." 
 
 The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews 
 favours, by obscure intimations, as well as by the 
 purport of his argument, the Jewish opinion that 
 the Tabernacle, and the worship established by 
 Moses in the Arabian desert, was a symbolic model 
 of the invisible economy of spirits. In framing it, 
 Moses was commanded to keep in mind in every 
 particular the pattern (model) " shewed him in 
 the Mount ; " and it is not improbable that a 
 careful and erudite consideration of the Mosaic 
 Liturgical Institute might give some distinctness 
 to our conceptions of that state the state into 
 which the few brief days of mortal life are to 
 bring every " true worshipper." It is very easy 
 to discern in the Tabernacle service first, a 
 proximate, or external and secular intention, 
 which reached its end in its immediate influence 
 upon the people. But beside this, and com- 
 patibly therewith (as all expositors but the most 
 sceptical admit) the same worship held forth, 
 from age to age, a mute prophecy of "good 
 things to come ; " that is to say, of the media- 
 torial scheme, afterwards to be brought into 
 effect, and made known. Yet a third intention 
 (as we suppose) ran through every article of
 
 400 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 the "worldly sanctuary" adumbrating the 
 unearthly and spiritual system. Thus in the 
 farthest recess of that Sacred Pavilion of the God 
 and King of Israel, was displayed the visible 
 splendour of the Divine Presence : high above 
 it, without, and in view of all, towered the 
 cloudy column, alternately dark and resplendent. 
 Before the Shechinah crouched the Cherubic 
 symbols of the incessant adoration of the celes- 
 tial orders. The tokens of the mediatorial 
 covenant the insignia of the spiritual kingdom, 
 rested at the foot of the throne. To this inner 
 chamber the Mediator alone had access ; and 
 there, by his intercession, mantained propitious 
 intercourse between the Divine Majesty and the 
 remoter worshippers. Without the veil were 
 seen the seven lamps the cheering radiance of 
 Spiritual Illumination ; and thence also went up 
 the perpetual incense of prayer. Far spread 
 around this " House not made with hands" 
 not raised by labour, or of solid materials, were 
 ranged the assembled thousands of Israel, in 
 devout expectation, while they took part in the 
 loud and responsive anthem of praise. " Thither 
 the tribes went up every one of them appeared 
 before God in Zion." 
 
 To this invisible Tabernacle, and to this 
 perpetual liturgy, and to this expectation, St. 
 Paul, as we believe, made allusion when, before 
 Agrippa, he spoke of the " twelve-tribed body 
 (the complement of true Israelites) as intently
 
 THE STATE OF SOULS. 401 
 
 and incessantly worshipping God in hope of a 
 happy resurrection, promised to the Fathers" * 
 a promise never made, or never officially made 
 to them on earth: (it was reserved for the 
 Messiah to promulgate authoritatively, in this 
 world, the doctrine of the life to come) but 
 conveyed to them, on their entrance upon the 
 world of souls ; and there they, " not having 
 yet received the promise," but waiting through 
 the destined lapse of ages, "keep their Sabbath," 
 until He " whose memorial is with them," shall 
 arise suddenly from his Throne within the veil, 
 and come forth to accomplish the " redemption 
 of the body." 
 
 The worship of the world of spirits is declared 
 to be subjected to the conditions of the Media- 
 torial scheme. Christ "lived, and died, and 
 revived" that is to say, passed in due course 
 over all the ground of human existence, that 
 he might, as an experienced Leader, " exercise 
 domination both over the dead and the living." 
 He too is emphatically styled " Shepherd and 
 Bishop of souls ;" and the Lord of Paradise 
 " holding the keys of Hades ;" and having over- 
 thrown the tyrant of the invisible world. In the 
 apocalyptic visions He appears, once and again, 
 
 * " And now I stand accused on account of a hope in the 
 promise given by God to the fathers : even the very same 
 which is the object of the expectation of the twelve tribes (our 
 Church) now employed in perpetual and intent worship "-~ 
 rvKTd mi fi/jiepav \arpivov, 
 P D
 
 402 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 surrounded by the great company of expectant 
 spirits, to whom he administers consolations. 
 Nevertheless, though the Divine Majesty is in 
 that world to be approached through him who 
 is the " way unto the Father," it is reasonable 
 to believe that the state after death will be one 
 of great advancement in relation to the sensible, 
 or rather unambiguous perception of the Divine 
 Being. Let it be granted that the office of 
 MEDIATOR implies, necessarily, so long as it 
 endures, a reserve and concealment on the 
 part of God : so, while the priesthood of 
 Aaron came between Jehovah and the people, 
 the Shechinah abode within the veil ; yet do 
 the worshippers enjoy such evidence of the pre- 
 sence of God as sets them free entirely from 
 the discouragements of earthly worship. The 
 ancient Israel, though they might not gaze upon 
 the " excellent glory" that blazed upon the 
 mercy-seat and the cherubim, beheld at all times 
 the pillar of cloud and fire, which declared that 
 the King was with his people. 
 
 And it may well be believed that the human 
 spirit, disengaged from animal organization, be- 
 comes conscious of God in a manner that leaves 
 no room thenceforward, either for testimony in 
 proof of the great truth, or for argument. If 
 these two theorems could be proposed to us an- 
 tecedently to experience, and the question put 
 " Whether is easier, for an intelligent nature to 
 become immediately conscious of the Supreme
 
 THE STATE OF SOULS. 403 
 
 Intelligence ; or for it to be consciously con- 
 joined with matter, and its properties ?" would 
 not reason determine in favour of the first ? 
 And yet, if this connexion with matter is ac- 
 tually to be effected, there seems to be neces- 
 sarily implied therein a loss, for the time, of the 
 immediate perception of God. That is to say 
 in descending to a close alliance with matter, 
 so as to be affected by its properties, and to 
 affect them by its volitions, MIND surrenders its 
 native perception of Him who is a Spirit. If it 
 be so, then of course a physical impossibility 
 stands in the way of our truly conceiving of that 
 immediate perception of God which our present 
 alliance with matter intercepts. A spirit not 
 yet embodied might as well conceive of weight, 
 hardness, colour, sound, as a spirit not yet dis- 
 embodied imagine the sense it is ere long to 
 have of the SPIRITUAL BEING. Yet analogy 
 would lead us to suppose that, if the conviction 
 we now possess of the reality of the external 
 world be strong so strong that we never 
 seriously entertain a doubt of it, the future con- 
 sciousness of the Divine existence the know- 
 ledge of His presence, will be incomparably 
 more vivid and more potent. Yes that this 
 consciousness shall encircle and absorb the 
 soul. If mind could so intimately converse 
 with a subsistence foreign to itself, how inti- 
 mately shall it converse with that subsistence 
 with which it is natively homogeneous ! 
 
 D D2
 
 404 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 There shall we " know, even as we are 
 known." 
 
 And yet, though we must always fail in at- 
 tempting to conceive of the future mode of 
 existence, there must belong to the present state 
 certain connective rudiments of the next. And 
 we have assurance that when the devout affec- 
 tions informed, enlivened, elevated, by the 
 Spirit who " helpeth our infirmities," are imme- 
 diately concerned with their proper objects the 
 Moral Perfections of the Divine Nature, a true 
 approximation is taking place to that intimate 
 converse to which the dissolution of the body 
 shall give room. Christians, though they can 
 offer no external demonstration of the fact, or 
 such as they might spread before others, are 
 entitled to say " Truly our fellowship is with 
 the Father and the Son :" and this genuine 
 persuasion, more vivid than any argument, bears 
 them through the sorrows and fears of the pre- 
 sent state. It is by this consciousness that they 
 " endure as seeing Him who is invisible." 
 
 We must here note, in passing, the essential 
 folly of the enthusiast, who, contemning the true 
 and purifying discernment of God in the bright- 
 ness of his moral attributes, seeks in its stead 
 certain flashes of the animal spirits, which he 
 deems to be better proof of the presence of God 
 than "joy, and peace, and assurance, in the 
 Spirit." He turns away from the divine con- 
 verse of the heart with its Regenerator ; and
 
 THE STATK OF SOULS. 405 
 
 reverts, as a child or novice, to the earthly 
 elements of turbulent or passionate emotion. 
 Give him but a bauble, and he will at any time 
 throw away the jewel. He would be more 
 delighted could you promise him a dazzling 
 vision, which should have nothing in it but a 
 blaze, than with that glory which shineth into 
 the hearts of the children of God, admitting 
 them to behold the true image of God, in the 
 person of his Son. And if you call in question 
 the genuineness of this, his bad preference, he 
 says " You deny all that is divine and peculiar 
 in the Gospel, and oppugn the truth that Christ 
 manifests himself to his people as he does not to 
 the world." 
 
 The ordinary process of knowledge, or that 
 natural order whereby, in the present state 
 (revelation apart) we attain any conception of 
 God, is an ascent from the natural to the moral 
 attributes. In following certain abstract notions 
 we infer his Eternity, and Infinitude ; then we 
 read the displays of his power, and wisdom, 
 and bounty in the visible world ; and we go on 
 to assign to him Holiness and Goodness. This 
 method regulates, in great measure, all our 
 theological notions and religious sentiments. 
 We dwell much upon that which in truth is 
 secondary, or mediate ; and see only at a dis- 
 tance that which is primary and essential. By 
 the ladder of reason we have gone up to behold 
 the Most High ; and so are we apt to frequent
 
 406 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 the same artificial line of approach, even when 
 we draw near for worship. 
 
 The Spirit of Grace takes us by another path, 
 and shews us that the Moral Perfections are the 
 end and reason of the Natural. And who can 
 doubt but that, when matter and its dark sym- 
 bols are done with that which is principal shall 
 seem so? In bursting from the confinement 
 of the body, the spirit shall (with amazement 
 perhaps) in a moment reverse the order of its 
 old conceptions ; and almost cease to think of 
 Omnipotence, Eternity, Infinitude, while the 
 more dominant notions of Purity, and Blessed- 
 ness, and Love, fill the soul. This revolution 
 must (if we might so say) immensely reduce 
 the apparent distance between the created and 
 Uncreated Mind : for so long as the first-named 
 class of notions have principal possession of our 
 thoughts, the impression that prevails is that 
 of immeasurable disparity ; and of course, the 
 more we meditate on these themes, the more is 
 such an impression enhanced. But though the 
 disparity between God and his intelligent crea- 
 tures is as absolute in the attributes of Goodness 
 or Holiness, as in those of power and wisdom, 
 there belongs to the former a homogeneity 
 which affords ground of communion between 
 God and man. The conversion of the heart 
 to God is a bringing God near to us ; for this 
 reason, that we thenceforward think of Him 
 more in His moral than His natural attributes.
 
 THE STATE OF SOULS. 407 
 
 We approach the throne by a direct path, and 
 in the stead of the mute awe which heretofore 
 had held us far from the Incomprehensible 
 Being, we admit an intimate and personal affec- 
 tion, not untruly symbolized by the relationship 
 of children to a father. 
 
 The dissolution of the body must consummate 
 this same approximation, if it has already had 
 its commencement. Love, casting out fear, will 
 then reach its climax; and all reclaimed souls 
 shall drink of the " river of pleasures that 
 makes glad the city of God." "All shall live 
 unto God." 
 
 It were presumptuous and culpable to con- 
 struct theories concerning that which is un- 
 known, upon the ground merely of abstract 
 analogies : nevertheless, so long as a due mo- 
 desty is observed in such attempts, and espe- 
 cially while the dim intimations of Scripture 
 are kept constantly in sight, mischief will hardly 
 accrue from endeavouring to follow our medita- 
 tions a step farther. 
 
 What then, we may ask, shall be the rule of 
 rank or order in that invisible world? What 
 the law of relative position ? Shall an arbitrary 
 or an accidental location be admitted ; or shall 
 there be an invariable prevalence of some prin- 
 ciple, founded upon the reason "of things, and 
 the qualities of the subject ? The latter, does it 
 not seem the preferable supposition ? At least 
 it may be affirmed that all apparent confusion
 
 408 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 or irregularity results, in the present state (as 
 might soon be proved) from the interaction 
 of several causes upon more than one element. 
 On the contrary, absolute uniformity takes place, 
 or which is the same thing the juxta-position 
 of things unlike and unequal is excluded, where 
 one or two causes operate upon a simple and single 
 substance. Now if there be truth in this maxim, 
 (and corroborations of it might be drawn from 
 all parts of nature, and from all the sciences) 
 then it would seem more than barely probable 
 that, in the region to which souls are consigned, 
 (those denuded rudiments of life) each spirit 
 shall fall into its rank, as if in obedience 
 to the law of its actual affinity with the Divine 
 Nature. Or as if the concentric circles of 
 worship that embrace the Tabernacle of Glory 
 should determine the position of all spirits, 
 according to the rule of love and purity. How 
 many those circles may be, or how vast the 
 space they enclose, we know not. Perhaps 
 the disparity in light and joy between the inner 
 circles, and the remotest orbits, may be immense. 
 These matters are all beyond surmise. Mean- 
 while, and until truth and knowledge burst upon 
 us, we may each revert to the secrecy of the 
 soul ; and each may ask how such a law of rank 
 as we have imagined, would affect his particular 
 case ? Or whether the habits of the mind, 
 its ordinary and characteristic emotions, would 
 bring it near to the Majesty in the heavens,
 
 THE STATE OF SOULS. 409 
 
 or remove it to the very verge of the sphere 
 of joy and hope. 
 
 Yes, and who shall not put to himself the 
 previous question, momentous as it is, whether 
 the soul has yet at all acquired fitness for that 
 state, which has no alternative, but to join in 
 perpetual worship, or to look to the Father of 
 Spirits as a Stranger, and to the Omnipotent 
 as an Adversary !
 
 XXV. 
 THE THIRD HEAVENS. 
 
 IN THY PRESENCE IS FULNESS OF JOY : AT THY RIGHT 
 
 HAND ARE PLEASURES FOR EVERMORE." 
 
 As without evangelical principles there can 
 be no sound morality ; so, without the aid of 
 heavenly meditation, morality, even if it be 
 stanch and consistent, must want greatness, 
 dignity, purity ; nor can recommend itself by 
 those shining graces that ought to adorn the 
 religion of Christ. Our ordinary conduct is 
 determined much more by the general tone of 
 our feelings, than by the direct force of pre- 
 cepts and prohibitions. The heart is in a 
 perilous state when the vulgar solicitations of 
 appetite, interest, or pride, are encountered and 
 opposed only by the ultimate or strongest mo- 
 tives that may be applicable to the occasion. 
 Virtue ought to be defended at a greater dis- 
 tance from its centre than when it wrestles, 
 hand to hand, with its opponent vices. 
 
 It is the frequent and intimate converse of 
 the heart with things heavenly, that must im- 
 part to the soul higher tastes, and shed upon
 
 THE THIRD HEAVENS. 411 
 
 its stern principles the lustre of a pure and 
 generous elevation. And if meditation of the 
 future and invisible worlds be liable to any 
 abuse, or may be likely to degenerate into in- 
 sipid or presumptuous conceits, it is only when 
 the first principles of the Gospel are lost sight 
 of. The contemplatist goes astray when he 
 forgets himself, and his Guide ; that is to say, 
 when he muses idly of heaven, as if there had 
 been no transgression, and were no Redemption. 
 And the difficulty also, as well as the hazard of 
 such attempts to rise above the present scene, 
 or to penetrate the invisible world, is enhanced, 
 or is indeed rendered insuperable, when our 
 actual position as those who have been restored 
 is not kept in mind ; but, on the contrary, is 
 obviated while we look to Him who, as PRE- 
 CURSOR, has trodden all the path of existence, 
 even from the low starting-point of humanity, 
 through death and Hades, to the upper region 
 of perpetual pleasure. 
 
 Even supposing faculties and powers to be 
 the same, far more may be achieved, in any 
 line, by the aid of a capital invigorating motive, 
 than without it : of this every one is conscious ; 
 and the truism is signally exemplified in the 
 instance of the Christian, who, in proportion to 
 his personal assurance of salvation, finds that he 
 can soar upward, or bring home to his concep- 
 tions matters which once seemed too high to be 
 approached. Apart from the hope of the Gospel,
 
 412 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 who is there that ruminates upon the felicity of 
 heaven ? Even if the human mind were better 
 qualified than it is to engage in meditations of 
 this sort, and were more disposed than it is to 
 dwell upon such themes the labour would 
 want impulse, and would be idle and fruitless in 
 its issue, unless connected, in some distinct and 
 satisfactory manner, with a personal expectation 
 of becoming a sharer in the future happiness. 
 Why do not men at large think of heaven ? 
 Why do not poets make immortal joy their 
 constant theme ? Alas, because neither men at 
 large, nor the most gifted minds, discern the 
 way thither, as open to themselves ! 
 
 Reason assures us that the Supreme Being is 
 (in the phrase of Scripture) " Blessed for ever- 
 more." He to whom belongs all power, wisdom, 
 and goodness, doubtless exists in the unchange- 
 able fruition of absolute felicity. And reason 
 may also, on the most probable grounds, assume 
 that the Sovereign Beneficence sits surrounded 
 by myriads of beings, participating, so far as 
 finite minds may do so, in that felicity. Or to 
 use the language of the Hebrew poet, it must 
 be granted as a natural or necessary suppo- 
 sition " That in the presence of God there is 
 fulness of joy, and at his right hand perpetual 
 pleasures." 
 
 Be it so : but what is this to man ? If in 
 contemplation we ascend at any time to the 
 high orbit of light and joy, how far must we
 
 THE THIRD HEAVENS. 413 
 
 lower the wing when we would return to earth ! 
 The human race seems to stand almost on the 
 extreme confines of happiness ; nor is there to 
 be discerned any such general progression in 
 the species toward a higher and better stage, as 
 might assure us that we are drawing nearer 
 (however slowly) to the centre of good. The 
 bright conjectures of reason and imagination 
 can only trouble us the more, when we bring 
 them into contrast with whatever we see and 
 know around us. Nothing relieves this gloom 
 until HE appears, who, laying aside uncreated 
 glories, " was made flesh and dwelt among us." 
 It is this Christian Mystery, and nothing else, 
 that gives substance and reason to the medita- 
 tion of things purer and better than earth. 
 
 It may be conjectured that the Royal Poet 
 had in view the entire circle of the universal 
 realm, from its utmost verge to its centre, when 
 (as in the person of Messiah) after surveying 
 the long path of life, he looks to its termination 
 on high, and thus concludes " in thy presence 
 is fulness of joy ; at thy right hand are plea- 
 sures for evermore." The language is tropical, 
 and perhaps has more than one allusion. But 
 the most obvious of these (if indeed there be 
 more than one) is to a kingdom or polity, con- 
 sisting of many gradations or ranks, spread 
 over an extensive surface, and in the metro- 
 polis of which are held the incessant festivities 
 of Regal State. The condition of oriental
 
 414 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 monarchies better illustrates the figure than 
 any thing that is seen in modern and western 
 countries. Let us look then to the widely- 
 severed ranks of an Asiatic empire. There is 
 first its wretched and vilified class, upon which 
 the superincumbent structure of the social sys- 
 tem presses so heavily as almost to crush 
 existence ; often actually to crush it ; and 
 always to render life undesirable. The urgent 
 wants of nature, never provided for beyond the 
 present moment the most abhorrent suste- 
 nance, furtively snatched from the dust ; while 
 contempt, servitude, and pain, stand by to 
 imbitter the insufficient meal ! Shall these 
 abjects these victims these outcasts know 
 any thing of pleasure ? Yes, even these shall 
 snatch a joy; for human nature does not readily 
 throw off its instinct of happiness. But plea- 
 sure to such must be intemperate and frantic ; 
 because hurried and stolen : the hour of 
 enjoyment (if enjoyment it should be called) is 
 as murky as it must be hemmed in before 
 and behind by necessities and woes. Or we 
 may turn aside to gaze upon the hovel which 
 serves as the last retreat of wretchedness, and 
 where indolent misery, bred by Vice upon De- 
 spair, finds a home : to such (alas that in fact 
 there are such) to such the common air has no 
 balm the light of day no brightness nature no 
 boon. Spring, with its bright mornings and its 
 flowers, and summer with its noons of fervour,
 
 THE THIRD HEAVENS. 415 
 
 and fruits, and pastimes, and autumn with its 
 golden abundance and luxuries, bring no smile, 
 no change : the round of the year is a winter. 
 What is that word joy to such ? they know it 
 not even afar off, by sight or hearing : or if 
 ever they taste a reckless bowl, it is one in 
 which death has shed some new anguish for 
 to-morrow. 
 
 To these unfortunates the helots of mankind, 
 more or less numerous in every community, 
 according to the viciousness or rectitude of its 
 principles (absolutely wanting in none) succeeds 
 the class that, as a broad foundation, sustains 
 the edifice of society. But of this higher class 
 all that can well be said is, that the most 
 terrible evils are just kept at bay by incessant 
 efforts. Now for a moment, perhaps, the Foe is 
 driven to a little distance ; and a breathing-time 
 is secured. Hope alights at the threshold in 
 her hurried course to bless more favoured 
 homes. Comfort makes a longer stay. But 
 we dare hardly speak of happiness as belonging 
 to this stage of life ; for life is still a warfare 
 that has no truce. 
 
 In the third stage of society, as we ascend, 
 man is found so far to have gained advantage 
 upon want, as that his home is no longer its 
 residence. Woe and fear do indeed visit his 
 home ; but existence is not the prey of either. 
 Enjoyment is seen there, and courted daily. 
 Pleasure and comfort are entertained. Ease
 
 416' SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 and Indulgence are not unknown ; and take 
 their turn with serious cares. 
 
 But we must look higher for the climax of 
 earthly good; and shall find it when we visit 
 the palaces and halls where reside beauty, ho- 
 nour, favour ; with art, splendour, revelry ; 
 where the elastic power which high privilege 
 draws from security and abundance gives grace 
 to the human form, and seems to animate every 
 faculty. In these mansions of delight, if Sorrow 
 (treasonable intruder) ever sets his foot, he is 
 instantly disguised in pomps and drapery, that 
 his pallid visage and shrivelled form may not 
 offend the eye. Even Death comes to palaces 
 in an obsequious livery of plumes, and velvet, 
 and cloth of gold ! 
 
 In truth, PLEASURE is always the law of life, 
 wherever power to make it so is possessed : and 
 though this order of things has justly become 
 an object of reprobation to the moralist, because 
 the pravity of man ordinarily brings pride, 
 cruelty, and sensuality, to be the attendants 
 upon pleasure ; yet may there be read beneath 
 this very perversion, great as it is, the native 
 tendency or original purpose of our confor- 
 mation. We learn to fear or to frown upon 
 pleasure as an enemy, and to entertain joy with 
 suspicion or caution ; and we deem self-denial 
 a prime part of wisdom. But this happens only 
 because the world (and our hearts with it) has 
 gone astray from the road of genuine felicity.
 
 THE THIRD HEAVENS. 417 
 
 It is not as if man was not made for felicity ; 
 but he was made for another sort than he now 
 actually chooses. The lawless or frivolous plea- 
 sures of mankind are only an ill sense, put upon 
 the language of nature. Let but the joy we 
 seek be of celestial quality, and our pleasures 
 such as ennoble and invigorate the soul, and 
 then the true and ultimate purpose of existence 
 is attained. Fulness of joy, and perpetuity of 
 pleasure, were assuredly proposed as the end of 
 that creation of which absolute Beneficence is 
 the author. 
 
 Who can question that the several gradations 
 of the intelligent universe rise in degrees of en- 
 joyment, as they rise in degrees of power and 
 virtue ; that at each ascent there is less of what 
 is subservient, and more of what is primary ; 
 less toil and danger ; and more tranquillity and 
 joy ? And thus must the progression advance, 
 even to the mount of God the Royal abode of 
 eternal and unsullied Blessedness. 
 
 Or an allusion of a different kind may be sup- 
 posed to have been contemplated by the Hebrew 
 monarch. When he said, " In thy presence is 
 fulness of joy," he might be tacitly making 
 comparison between the pure and cheerful 
 worship of Jehovah, perpetually celebrated on 
 Mount Zion ; and the worship horrid and foul, 
 of the surrounding nations. We very imper- 
 fectly imagine the force of such a contrast, as 
 it must have presented itself to an Israelite of 
 
 E E
 
 418 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 the early and brighter eras of Jewish history. 
 In modern times we have so much learned to 
 look upon idolatrous worship with mere con- 
 tempt, or with contempt and loathing, that we 
 do not even deign to institute a comparison 
 between those extremes of truth and error, in 
 matters of religion, that are still actually to be 
 found in the world. The doctrine of the unity 
 of God is the belief now of all civilized nations. 
 Error on this capital point is the badge of degra- 
 dation, of servitude, of imbecility ; and the word 
 polytheist may be taken as convertible with the 
 terms barbarian, or slave. But it was not so 
 with the ancient Israel : and the feelings of that 
 nation of true worshippers must haye been very 
 unlike our own, on this point. The great con- 
 troversy of truth was maintained, single-handed, 
 by the pastoral and agricultural tribes of the 
 southern Syria, against all mankind beside. It 
 was the Hebrew family (never, if a very few 
 years are excepted, evenly matched with the 
 surrounding empires) against Egypt, and Phi- 
 listia, and Sidon, and the nations of " the sea," 
 and the Chaldeans, and the Assyrians. It was 
 a people simple in manners, and not distin- 
 guished, either in art or science, against nations 
 conspicuous in all that could give lustre and 
 strength to empire. Both abstract and mecha- 
 nical philosophy, and the arts of luxury, and 
 great experience in commerce, and much wis- 
 dom in government ; together with the glories of
 
 THE THIRD HEAVENS. 419 
 
 conquest, contributed to recommend and illus- 
 trate the gorgeous and seductive idolatries of the 
 mighty countries by which the clans of Judah 
 and Ephraim and Benjamin were hemmed in. 
 
 Truly it was no easy task assigned to the 
 race of Abraham, to maintain, uncorrupt, the 
 worship of Jehovah, upon the narrow territory 
 chartered to the patriarchs. The precipitous 
 heights and the rugged glens of Judea stood 
 amid the deserts of the world like a high-fenced 
 fortress, held from age to age by a band of 
 men, loyal to their Sovereign ; though be- 
 leagured by innumerable hosts of his foes. 
 And the feeling too, that belonged to men so 
 placed alone at the post of danger, must have 
 been greatly enhanced and kept in agitation 
 by the known existence of treachery within 
 the walls. Never was there a moment when 
 it might be said, that all Israel was true to 
 the trust involved in its theocracy. The splen- 
 did <tnd licentious worship of the neighbouring 
 rations, with the dread influence of their su- 
 perstitions over the natural fears of mankind, 
 proved but too powerful a seduction to the 
 Hebrew tribes, even in the best times ; and 
 there is reason to believe that, during long eras, 
 the adherents of Jehovah were but a minority 
 scorned and oppressed, and in jeopardy of life. 
 This state of things must be gathered as we 
 peruse the Jewish historians and prophets, from 
 the age of Joshua, to that of Ezra. 
 
 E E2
 
 420 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 Nevertheless, though all visible recommen- 
 dations were possessed by those gods " of wood, 
 and of stone, and of gold" the Poet-king of 
 Israel, after looking to the south, the north, 
 the east, could confidently revert to the heights 
 of Zion, and say that the voice of joy and the 
 acclamations of genuine and holy pleasure, 
 were heard in that " Tabernacle of the right- 
 eous ;" and nowhere else. Who that was not 
 utterly depraved in heart, would have forsaken 
 the modest and reverent solemnities of Jeru- 
 salem not uncheered by song and music, for 
 the wailings of the Sidonian worship for the 
 yells of the Tyrian for the cruel service of 
 the god whose ardent brazen arms received 
 unpitied infants from the hands of ferocious or 
 frenzied parents ? or who would choose, instead 
 of the service of Jehovah, the fanatic revel- 
 ries tumultuous and obscene, that so often 
 ruffled the placid bosom of the Nile ; or the 
 monstrous pomps of the religion of Babylon, 
 or of Nineveh, or of Damascus ; where the 
 glories of the sky (in which the eternal power 
 and supremacy of the true God are manifested) 
 were vilified by alliance with the most hideous 
 symbols ; and where the despotism of the priest 
 was, like a venom shed upon the edge of steel, 
 employed only to aggravate the despotism of 
 the sword ? 
 
 Could any one dare affirm that it was JOY 
 that dwelt in the temples of the demon-gods
 
 THE THIRD HEAVENS. 421 
 
 of Philistia, Phoenicia, Syria, Assyria, Egypt ? 
 or who would not have blushed to have said 
 that perpetual PLEASURES filled the courts of 
 Chemosh, of Ashtaroth, of Dagon, of Baal, of 
 Mithra ? What did the grove conceal ? Lust 
 Blood Imposture. What sounds shook the 
 Fane ? alternate screams of anguish, and the 
 laughter of mad votaries. What was the 
 Priest ? the teacher of every vice of which 
 his god was patron and exemplar. What 
 were the worshippers ? the victims of every 
 woe which Superstition and Sensuality can 
 gender, and which Cruelty can cherish. 
 
 It was not then a blind national prejudice, 
 it was not spiritual arrogancy, that made the 
 prophet, poet, and king of Israel exult in the 
 distinction of his people. Rather it was a 
 righteous scorn which made him exclaim, when 
 he thought of the errors of the nations " their 
 drink-offerings of blood will I not offer ; nei- 
 ther take their names into my lips." He turned 
 toward the hill of God the habitation of Jeho- 
 vah, graced then perhaps with the solemn joys 
 of its annual feasts. " Thither the tribes had 
 gone up," from the glens of the vine and olive, 
 from the valleys of corn of milk, and honey 
 they had advanced " from rest to rest," and every 
 one every head of the thousands of Israel, 
 was then " appearing before God in Zion." 
 The harp and the viol were heard there ; 
 and the tabret and the cymbal ; " stringed
 
 422 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 instruments and organs :" the responsive an- 
 them also, which taught as much as it cheered 
 the people. And in sight of all, the smoke of 
 the propitiatory sacrifice ascended direct to 
 heaven innocent sacrifice ! The Priest made 
 intercession for the people " within the veil ;" 
 but that veil concealed no shame no cruelty 
 no fraud : he came forth charged with a bless- 
 ing, in the pregnant terms of which were con- 
 densed more of Sacred Science than all the rest 
 of the world beside possessed. The congrega- 
 tion dispersed, and as they returned to their 
 inheritances, the " Joy of the Lord was their 
 strength. " 
 
 Well then might Askelon, and Gaza, Tyre 
 and Sidon, Nineveh and Babylon, be chal- 
 lenged to do homage to the " city of God" 
 "to walk about Zion to number her towers, 
 to mark her bulwarks, to consider her palaces," 
 and to confess, that " the Lord that made the 
 heaven and the earth was in the midst of her." 
 And such homage might indeed have been at 
 length secured, had the Jewish people pre- 
 served their allegiance to Jehovah, and " kept 
 his statutes," through a course of ages. " The 
 mountain of the house of the Lord should 
 have been established on the top of the moun- 
 tains ; and all nations should have flowed unto 
 it." God would have " blessed his people, and 
 all the earth should have seen his glory." A 
 pure theology, a pure morality, an equable
 
 THE THIRD HEAVENS. 423 
 
 polity, a righteous administration of justice, 
 needed only to be sustained entire for a length- 
 ened period, and the eyes of mankind would 
 have been fixed upon such a centre of wisdom 
 and felicity. Sages would have resorted thi- 
 ther from all lands, and have carried back, in 
 greater or less purity, the elements of piety, 
 virtue, and liberty. " Jerusalem should have 
 been a praise in all the earth." We may be- 
 lieve this, as well on the ground of naturaj 
 probability, as on the faith of Divine promises. 
 If it be true, even on earth, that the spot 
 where God is known and worshipped is the 
 residence of joy, and the home of pleasure, how 
 emphatically true must it be when we come to 
 speak of the upper world ! Are there indeed 
 regions where the Creator is unknown, or where 
 his will is resisted ? amazing terrible truth ! 
 over such regions darkness and horror are spread. 
 But are there worlds or is there a continent of 
 light, where His presence is visibly declared, and 
 His favour always enjoyed, and His will con- 
 stantly obeyed ? there abides " the fulness of 
 joy." The distinct idea we insist on is this 
 That as Religion has its commencement in the 
 knowledge of what are termed the Natural attri- 
 butes of God, which in fact are subservient only 
 to higher perfections ; and as it receives its next 
 considerable enhancement from a knowledge or 
 spiritual perception of his attributes of Holiness 
 and Goodness ; so shall it reach its consum-
 
 424 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 mation in an immediate perception, or open 
 vision of His unchanging and unsullied BLESSED- 
 NESS. This absolute felicity of God is the 
 ultimate point of theology ; and the eras of 
 eternity shall be occupied in learning all that it 
 comprises. 
 
 An important difference attaches to the mode 
 in which these three stages of knowledge are 
 attained. For the first is acquired chiefly by 
 the deductions and inferences of reason. The 
 second, by the testimony of Scripture, along 
 with that inward communication, or " teaching 
 of the Spirit," by which the heart is quickened. 
 The third must wait for the immediate or real 
 and direct knowledge of its object, in the future 
 world. It may be added that the first stage of 
 this divine knowledge peculiarly belongs to the 
 present life. The second, after having had its 
 commencement on earth, reaches its highest 
 degree (as we presume) in the region of separate 
 spirits. The third is reserved for the state of 
 perfection, when the ransomed of the Lord 
 ransomed from the grave, and from Hades, shall 
 " be presented before the throne of his glory, 
 with exceeding joy;" and shall thenceforward 
 and for ever stand in his presence. 
 
 Our meditations may safely advance a step or 
 two on this high path : at least we may pursue 
 to some little distance the conception of what 
 it must be to have immediate, sensible, and per- 
 petual consciousness of the Blessedness of the
 
 THE THIRD HEAVENS. 425 
 
 Infinite Being. And we must first revert to the 
 constitution of our own nature, in which nothing 
 is more remarkable than the conflict that arises 
 from the disposition to entertain ideas that far 
 surpass our faculty of embracing or comprehend- 
 ing them. The finite and the infinite struggle 
 together within us. This conflict, rightly inter- 
 preted, must be deemed a true indication of our 
 destiny to endless life. And although by men 
 much encumbered with the appetites and inte- 
 rests of the passing moment, little or nothing of 
 the sort may be felt, it is otherwise in minds of 
 a superior and more ingenuous order ; and the 
 most vigorous and elevated spirits are those that 
 feel, with the most intensity what it is hard 
 to express the struggles of that desire which 
 would embrace infinite perfections, and yet seems 
 to fail the more it succeeds to be baffled the 
 more it actually advances. 
 
 Now it is not very difficult to distinguish the 
 specific emotions that attend our contemplations, 
 as we ascend the scale of the Divine attributes. 
 For example ; Independent and Eternal exis- 
 tence the Omnipresence the Omniscience 
 the Omnipotence, and the absolute wisdom of 
 God, which are proper objects of the intellectual 
 faculty, are entertained not without a feeling in 
 part painful in part pleasurable : or at least 
 pleasurable just so far as associations have been 
 formed between such ideas and the devout affec- 
 tions. But inasmuch as Reason is a subservient
 
 426 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 power, and must look to some definite result as 
 the reward of its toil, the endeavour to become 
 conversant with infinity must (by the nature of 
 the case) always fall short of satisfaction ; must 
 want the sense of achievement. The impulse 
 to advance is strong ; and so is the discourage- 
 ment in proceeding ; and the balance of emotion 
 is perhaps painful. We might conclude this to 
 be the fact from the circumstance, that the 
 devout mind, in an early stage of its effort to 
 meditate upon the Natural attributes of Deity, 
 turns aside to contemplate the Moral. 
 
 In this region of merely intellectual notions 
 we are at once encountered by the imparity of 
 the object, and the faculty employed upon it. 
 But in ascending to contemplate the rectitude, 
 the purity, and the benevolence of the Divine 
 Nature, a real affinity between the object and 
 the faculty that is to say the moral sense 
 (spiritually informed) bears up the mind, and 
 overcomes the uneasy sensations just before 
 mentioned. In its emotions of love, compla- 
 cency, and affectionate adoration, the soul 
 ceases to dwell upon the idea of infinite and 
 incomprehensible perfections ; and seems to be 
 blending its own nature with the divine, rather 
 than to be contrasting (as in the former case) 
 the one with the other. And here it should 
 distinctly be noted that, as it is the affections 
 more than the reasoning faculty that are in 
 activity, and as the affections are ultimate powers
 
 THE THIRD HEAVENS. 427 
 
 in the human mind, and do not look on to any 
 result beyond themselves, they are not liable, 
 like reason, to a painful revulsion, from the 
 sense of not having reached the utmost limit 
 possible. The soul reposes, and is satisfied, so 
 far as it goes, on the path of love ; but never 
 is so satisfied can never so repose on the path 
 of reason, until the goal be attained. 
 
 Pleasure, chastened by awe, attends this per- 
 ception of the " beauties of Holiness." The 
 mind agreeably alternates between its rational 
 and moral notions ; reverting to the former 
 that it may again, and with new force, admit 
 the latter. The Eternal, the Omnipotent, the 
 " Only Wise," is thought of for a moment in 
 His incomprehensible perfections, in order that 
 an augmentation may be gained to the senti- 
 ments wherewith His benignity and purity are 
 contemplated. 
 
 These emotions, as we have already surmised, 
 reach their acme in the separate state, which is 
 specifically assigned to them, and while all other 
 powers and desires are suspended. In that 
 state (as we conjecture) the Divine Presence 
 still remains veiled, and the Divine favour con- 
 tinues to be dispensed through the medium of 
 the Mediator, whose office endures until the 
 work of redemption is completed. May it then 
 be thought that, when this intervention comes 
 to an end, and admittance is allowed to the 
 open Presence of the King eternal, that which
 
 428 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 is ultimate in the Divine Nature, namely 
 unchangeable and absolute felicity, shall become 
 the prime object of the perceptions of all wor- 
 shippers, and the one source or reason of all 
 enjoyment ? And then, both the natural and 
 the moral perfections of God shall be, to His ab- 
 solute Blessedness, what, at present, the natural 
 are to the moral ; that is to say, they shall 
 serve as the grounds of a higher sense of that 
 Blessedness. In the manifested presence of the 
 Sovereign Happiness it can no more be con- 
 ceived of as possible, that created and dependent 
 spirits should make to themselves, or find room 
 to admit, any happiness which does not emanate 
 from that of the Supreme Being, than it is 
 possible, in the very face of the summer's sun, 
 to kindle a blaze which can repel or surpass 
 that of noon. The very structure of the Mind 
 implies that the greatest and most vivid cause of 
 excitement should prevail over the lesser. 
 
 And though a natural prejudice (easily under- 
 stood) may reject such an idea, those who will 
 attentively follow up the rudiments of our reli- 
 gious knowledge, whether abstract or docu- 
 mentary, and will calmly compare such notions 
 with the necessary conditions of a finite being, 
 must discern a glimmering at least of the great 
 truth That the Supreme Being self-existent, 
 and altogether sufficient in Himself, possesses 
 a felicity that is immensely remote from any 
 relation of mutuality with that of his creatures
 
 THE THIRD HEAVENS. 429 
 
 even the most exalted of them. And thence it 
 will follow, not very indistinctly, that there will 
 be presented to the observation of intelligent 
 beings (more or less openly) certain movements 
 or evolutions (language is utterly at fault) which 
 have their issue only in that sovereign, inde- 
 pendent Felicity, and in which movements the 
 creature has no part, and can be no fellow. It 
 is hard to conceive of the Infinite Excellence 
 at all, otherwise than as comprising interactive 
 causes which must have products possessing 
 absolutely no affinity with any thing exterior to 
 itself, and which can be but imperfectly surmised 
 or discerned by any created intelligence. Nay, 
 it ought to be assumed that the shoreless ocean 
 of the Divine Felicity contains elements, and 
 combinations of those elements, which utterly 
 surpass all finite knowledge. And then the fact 
 of such unsearchable depths being admitted, as 
 a necessary deduction of reason, there will be 
 open to created minds the peculiar emotion 
 naturally springing up when, with the boundless 
 radiance of Infinite Blessedness full in view, it 
 is recollected that a vast unknown remains 
 beyond and within that visible glory ! " Who 
 by searching can find out God : who can find 
 out the Almighty to perfection ?" 
 
 In these principles there is comprehended a 
 provision, never to be exhausted, for supplying 
 new enjoyments to pure and intelligent beings. 
 Jt is evident that, to active natures, endowed
 
 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 with the power and desire of advancement, the 
 eras of protracted duration must impart con- 
 tinually fresh accessions of capacity for discern- 
 ing the perfections of the Infinite God. That 
 which might not at all be known or conceived of 
 in an early stage, may be comprehended in a 
 stage more advanced ; and thus the Boundless 
 Felicity which none shall ever fathom, will be 
 to all and for ever, a spring of perpetual 
 pleasures. 
 
 Themes of this order, which here have been 
 but hastily and rudely touched upon, may pro- 
 perly employ the meditative faculty, without 
 soon being exhausted. And it is much to be 
 observed that, while the mind rests upon them, 
 and rests upon them too until all emotions and 
 faculties have duly fallen into the general move- 
 ment, so as to contribute their aid and espe- 
 cially while the Divine Spirit is cherishing the 
 flame of pious hope, more may be attained or 
 conceived of than language is fitted to convey. 
 On this ground it is not true that a man may 
 express whatever is really present to his mind ; 
 for the medium of communication was framed 
 for no purpose so high ; and it absolutely wants, 
 as well the single terms, as the forms of con- 
 nexion, necessary to effect it. It is a poor 
 thing to advance, in our religious contempla- 
 tions, only as far as to the boundary of that 
 circle over which human language spreads itself. 
 And how poor a thing not even to extend the
 
 THE THIRD HEAVENS. 431 
 
 empire of the mind so far as to that boundary; 
 but to be continually repeating wonted phrases, 
 of which the indolent spirit has never yet taken 
 intelligent possession ! 
 
 It is also to be noted that the just reprehen- 
 sion, or even contempt, which may be bestowed 
 upon an idle endeavour to penetrate by IMAGI- 
 NATION the invisible worlds, and to describe, in 
 oriental style, the things which " eye hath not 
 seen, nor the heart of man conceived," is not at 
 all due to the proper effort of the mind when, by 
 revolving the rudiments of its own nature, and 
 by pursuing the indications of its highest affec- 
 tions, and by collating these with the evidence 
 of Scripture, it labours to anticipate, in idea, its 
 approaching destiny. If any are found blaming 
 a labour of this sort, it will be the inert, the 
 frivolous, or the sensual. 
 
 Truly we are not thinking to depict the scenes 
 and personages of the celestial world : we are 
 not assigning names, fortunes, qualities, adven- 
 tures, to seraphim and cherubim ; are not 
 bringing together the bright colours, and per- 
 fect forms, and the odours, and gaiety, of the 
 heavenly plains ; or speaking of groves, gar- 
 dens, fountains, flowers, fruits, melodies, temples, 
 palaces, triumphs. All this we leave. How 
 unlike to any such pictures may probably be 
 the actual scene, where the nations of heaven 
 immortal ancient wise experienced fraught 
 with energy, courage, sacred ambition, loyalty
 
 432 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 to God, and good - will to all creatures, are 
 performing their parts, or hastening on their 
 endless courses ! 
 
 It is quite another thing, with modesty and 
 with painful efforts, and in devout hope of 
 heavenly guidance, to work problems by the aid 
 of those materials of cogitation which reason 
 and nature and Revelation afford.
 
 XXVI. 
 THE PRECURSOR. 
 
 THOU WILT SHEW ME THE PATH OF LIFE.' 
 
 DIVINELY guided, and yet very dimly, or per- 
 haps not at all discerning the purport of his 
 prophetic ode, the royal poet uttered, as in the 
 person of " him who was to come," the confi- 
 dence and hope of Messiah, in prospect of the 
 arduous course he was to pass through. His 
 God was to " shew him the path of life : " that 
 is to say, was to conduct him, as Leader of 
 Salvation, over all the road, and through all 
 the stages of human existence ; even from the 
 virgin's womb, to the right hand of Power in 
 the heavens. Mortal life with its humiliations, 
 and pains, and fears ; and death, with its an- 
 guish and dismay; and Hades too. But Hades 
 could not detain him who was to " lead its cap- 
 tivity captive ; " and ere " his flesh should see 
 corruption," he was to burst the bars of the 
 prison, and return to the light of day ; and thence 
 ascending, should enter upon the fulness of joy. 
 
 The Mediator is the PRECURSOR of his people, 
 on this " Path of Life," and an experienced 
 
 F F
 
 434 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 Guide also, in its dangers. In all things " he 
 has the precedency ;" and advances in front of 
 the host he is leading to the skies. By the 
 right, both of conquest and experience, He 
 exercises " domination over the dead and the 
 living." There is no hazard of error in thus as- 
 signing its specific sense to the prophetic words 
 of David ; for the chief of the apostles, under 
 the fresh influence of the Divine Spirit, applies 
 and expounds them as fulfilled in none but 
 Jesus the Christ. 
 
 Leaving other implied principles unnoticed, 
 we may, for a moment, meditate upon the re- 
 lation of this Precursive part of the Mediator's 
 work to the immortality and celestial felicity of 
 his followers. 
 
 We have spoken of the "perpetual pleasures" 
 that surround the throne of God. But what 
 has man to do with themes so high, and so little 
 in harmony with his actual condition ? Look at 
 him in the guise he wears ! Does he seem like 
 an aspirant to immortality and glory ? Is such a 
 one as he indeed on his way to the Royal abode 
 of universal dominion ? Is not his eye anxiously 
 fixed upon the low path he is treading ? is 
 not his brow knit with care, and soiled with de- 
 grading labour ? is he not in heart ignoble ? is 
 he not emaciate ? are not his garments worn 
 his feet lacerated his provision corrupted? 
 Yes, and has not his spirit bowed to the 
 humiliations of his lot ; so that he even consents
 
 THE PRECURSOR. 435 
 
 to the scorn that belongs to it? All this is 
 true, and more might be said ; nevertheless man 
 must not surrender his pretension to the hea- 
 vens. He has a special reason for his hope a 
 reason stronger than all contradictions. 
 
 That hope of immortality which the Christian 
 entertains is neither a mere inference of reason ; 
 nor a bare verbal promise, sent from heaven to 
 earth, that might be interpreted in various ex- 
 tents of meaning. But it is a deduction from an 
 actual experiment, all the parts of which have 
 been set out before us ; and in examining them 
 we attain the confidence and the familiarity 
 which distinguish real knowledge from theory 
 or imagination. If a future life simply had 
 been announced, many analogies of the phy- 
 sical world, as well as our own consciousness 
 of infirmity and degradation, might have led us 
 to imagine that our next stage of existence was 
 to raise human nature a degree or two on the 
 scale of power and of well-being ; and was at 
 length to be succeeded by another small acces- 
 sion to its faculties of enjoyment, or to its virtue ; 
 and so on through an extended period. The 
 influence of any such supposition must have 
 been to remove to a faint distance those bright 
 objects, and that divine glory, which the Chris- 
 tian scheme brings into the nearest apposition 
 to our hearts. 
 
 If we were to speak in this connexion of the 
 physiology of human existence of what might 
 
 F F 2
 
 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 be called the natural history of the race, then 
 we find it exhibited, or modelled, in the nar- 
 rative of redemption. The Saviour of the 
 world did not rescue man by making a visit, 
 in royal state, to the scene of ruin ; but by 
 himself going through the several stages of 
 their destined course ; and while we contem- 
 plate his progress, we see, and have it osten- 
 sibly proved to us, that things far greater and 
 higher than reason could at all have supposed, 
 are actually brought within the range of hope ; 
 are " standing at the very door. " There is 
 but " a step between man and death." Nay ; 
 there is but a step between him and the very 
 highest promotion. ONE who was " made like 
 unto ourselves in all points," has in our view 
 trodden the ground of earth, and has passed 
 thence immediately, and not through an immea- 
 surable circuit, or by countless progressions 
 " into the heavens." From this our low abode, 
 He, having loosed the bonds of death, and 
 broken the bars of the grave, burst at once 
 into the presence-chamber of the Majesty on 
 high : nor did he fear there to present him- 
 self in the form of humanity. 
 
 The assumption of the human by the Divine 
 Nature, to say nothing now of its primary 
 consequences, supersedes a multitude of ques- 
 tions and speculations that might have been 
 entertained relative to the station which man 
 may natively be fitted to occupy. And it
 
 THE PRECURSOR. 437 
 
 should not escape notice that human salvation 
 is, with great uniformity of terms, spoken of 
 by the inspired writers as, a restoration, a re- 
 covery ; it is the bringing him back to the 
 dignity he had lost. No expressions are em- 
 ployed which might seem to indicate that an 
 alteration, or extension of the original plan of 
 the human system had been admitted ; or as 
 if an arbitrary derangement of the ranks and 
 orders of the intelligent system had been made, 
 in consequence of which the family of Adam 
 are to be promoted over the heads of others 
 to a place higher than their qualities should 
 fairly warrant. 
 
 Philosophical theories of human nature are 
 in fault, on the side both of presumption and 
 of frigid diffidence. Far too much is assumed 
 in behalf of man in all that belongs to his 
 actual condition, and his unassisted powers ; 
 and far too little in what relates to his original 
 destination to the importance of his present be- 
 haviour, and to his future lot. But the Scrip- 
 tures, in their history of man, set out from a 
 point more elevated ; follow him through a 
 course that descends to the lowest depths ; and 
 again present him as emerging, and as setting 
 out on an upward path that leads to an im- 
 measurable height. And the special circum- 
 stance of this history is that the several stages 
 of it are all displayed in the narrative of Re- 
 demption. Is it asked, on any side, " what
 
 438 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 do we mean what do we pretend to, when 
 we speak, at large, of glory, honour, immor- 
 tality, or of a crown of life, or of being con- 
 stituted kings and priests unto God ; or of 
 sitting on thrones to exercise powers of judg- 
 ment, even over superior natures ? " we reply 
 at once, that we pretend to whatever is in- 
 volved in the union of the members with the 
 Head that Head being Divine ; and we 
 expect whatever may fairly be presumed when 
 it is said, of all believers, that they shall be 
 " like Him," and near Him (as his kinsmen) 
 who is the " Brightness of the Father's glory, 
 and the express Image of his person. " 
 
 The Representative of mankind, and their 
 Deliverer, in anticipation of the part assigned 
 him, appeals to the Father, and says "Thou 
 wilt shew me the path of life." And when 
 afterwards he stood in the midst of that path ; 
 or nearly at the point of its lowest depression, 
 he still keeps in view his character of LEADER 
 of his people, and looking to heaven exclaims 
 (is it prayer, or is it omnipotent volition?) 
 " Father, I will that those whom thou hast 
 given me should be with me, to behold my 
 glory ; and that where I am, they should be 
 also." At the same time, as if to assure the 
 courage of his followers in the moment of fear, 
 he says " Whither I go ye know, and the 
 way ye know." And now that he is ascended 
 on high, the invitation he sends forth to all
 
 THE PRECURSOR. 439 
 
 who seek immortality is "Follow me!" Jesus, 
 Head of the Church, is "gone to appear in 
 the presence of God for us ; " not merely as 
 Mediator, or High Priest ; but as PRECURSOR : 
 and because he has actually attained that sum- 
 mit of glory and felicity, his people shall reach 
 it also. 
 
 Thus we have the reason of our hope of future 
 advancement set out in a living form, in the 
 course or track of our Representative, from 
 earth to heaven. And yet there remains an 
 accommodation of the same expression, open 
 to every believer. For after the primary inten- 
 tion of the prophetic words of David has been 
 secured, we may assume them, not improperly, 
 on behalf of the Christian, who, with solicitude 
 or doubt, looks forward to the concealed path 
 he has yet to tread, and addressing the " Shep- 
 herd and Bishop of souls," exclaims " THOU 
 wilt shew me the path of life ! " 
 
 The capital purposes of the present scene of 
 things demand that even the Christian should 
 be left to approach the very verge of another 
 state in ignorance of what it is that awaits 
 him : that is to say, of its circumstances, 
 mode of existence, transactions, society. He 
 is assured of the fact of continued conscious- 
 ness ; and the spiritual rudiments of that after- 
 state are also made known to him : but nothing 
 more. This ignorance, which to the irreligious 
 is the occasion of desperate and stupid insen-
 
 4 40 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 sibility, in treading upon the brink of the invisible 
 world, gives rise, in the heart of the Christian, 
 to a trembling awe, and a dread expectation. 
 His firm and matured belief of immortality quite 
 forbids that he should, as others do, throw him- 
 self reckless from the shore of life. But the same 
 faith, though it saves him from dismay, can never 
 (or only in very rare instances) entirely exclude 
 the trepidation so natural to the human mind 
 on all signal occasions ; and most of all when 
 nothing less than the dissolution of the fabric of 
 life is, each successive moment, expected. 
 
 Now this blank ignorance of the world into 
 which he is so suddenly, and so soon, to enter, 
 is plainly intended to throw the Christian inge- 
 nuously, and without distraction, upon those 
 very emotions which the unseen world is to call 
 into exclusive activity. What can the dying 
 believer do, uninformed as he is of the way he is 
 to tread his foot advanced, though the ground 
 on which it is next to rest is unseen what but 
 recur to the rudiments of his hope ? What but 
 look to the PRECURSOR, who is also the Lord 
 of that unseen world ? How different might be 
 his sentiments if, in approaching the gate of 
 death, or in first entering its shadows, a pros- 
 pect were allowed to the mortal eye of the 
 crowded and magnific scene which lies imme- 
 diately beyond that gate ! The frailty of the 
 mind, shall we say that infantile misdirection of 
 its curiosity, which belongs to its period of
 
 THE PRECURSOR. 441 
 
 nonage, would lead it to prefer the less to the 
 greater the form to the substance. In a 
 word, the principal and the essential emotion 
 so signally proper to the great crisis of sense 
 and faith, would give way to secondary feelings, 
 which shall find other and more fit occasions 
 for their exercise, and space enough in the long 
 leisure of eternity. 
 
 Provision is made in the Scriptures for meeting 
 the peculiar sentiment which the Christian's con- 
 joined faith in the unseen world, and ignorance 
 of its conditions, engenders. And, as matter of 
 fact, the dying expressions of multitudes of the 
 faithful, in every age, have exemplified the 
 fitness of this provision to the occasion. If a 
 solemn renewal of repentance is proper to the 
 hour of death if an explicit and fervent chal- 
 lenge of the Divine mercy is proper to it, these 
 acts are not enough to impart confidence and 
 joy, or even always a settled tranquillity. The 
 palpitating heart must appropriate the personal 
 affection of the Redeemer to his people. THIS 
 APPROPRIATION is the secret of dying. The 
 human mind, when once thoroughly occupied 
 by a benign affection, specially fixed upon its 
 object, can meet any danger, can brave any 
 dismay. History abounds with illustrations of 
 this fact ; it is a capital law of our nature. 
 Men, nay women, thus animated, have forgotten 
 all fear, and carried themselves through fields of 
 death as calmly as if they had none but an
 
 442 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 ethereal frame. If we analyse our emotions on 
 any occasions of this sort, we shall find that if, 
 at any time, a steady courage has borne us with 
 force, and animation, and cheerfulness, through 
 hours of imminent peril, it has been when we 
 have had to act on behalf of those most dear 
 to us; or when the welfare of such has depended 
 altogether upon our conduct. Even the martial 
 courage of the field (if it be more than animal 
 bravery) is constituted on the same principle, 
 and would be nothing if stripped of its affec- 
 tions. 
 
 Those who would blame as enthusiastic or 
 presumptuous the fervours and speciality of 
 devout affection, such as eminent Christians 
 have expressed in their dying moments, know 
 nothing of Christianity beyond the bare story 
 they read in the Gospels ; and nothing of human 
 nature (or of human nature as affected by reli- 
 gion) beyond what belongs to the servile senti- 
 ments of a pelagian faith (better called distrust). 
 If multitudes of those who receive Christian 
 burial, because they have received Christian 
 baptism, die joyless, and disappear from the 
 upper air as if sinking in a stagnant pool ; it 
 is not the fault of Christianity. Christianity 
 meets us where we most of all need its aid ; and 
 meets us too with the very aid we need. It 
 does not tell us of the splendours of the invisible 
 world ; but it does far better when, in three 
 words, it informs us that (dva\vo-ai) to loosen
 
 THE PRECURSOR. 443 
 
 from the shore of mortality, is (a-vv Xpt,<rr<a 
 to be with Christ. 
 
 This is precisely the assurance which the 
 occasion demands ; for it not only quickens the 
 devout affections, but it fixes them on their 
 object. Whoever has truly admitted the emo- 
 tions peculiar to Christian faith, desires nothing 
 more than is conveyed in this pregnant phrase. 
 All security, and all joy, are comprised in the 
 idea of beholding and of approaching the Son 
 of God the Son of Man now exercising uni- 
 versal dominion ; and especially ruling the 
 world of spirits. " If I go, I will come again to 
 receive you to myself." This, and some parallel 
 expressions, though they have a primary refer- 
 ence to a future signal event, may, on no very 
 slender grounds, be interpreted as conveying a 
 promise to individuals ; as if the " Shepherd of 
 the sheep" were wont in person to meet the 
 new-coming spirit at its entrance upon the realm 
 of peace. Be it so or not, it is clear that the 
 faithful are authorized to entertain the well- 
 defined hope the hope of the heart, if the 
 heart be indeed renewed, of coming, at death, 
 into the sensible presence of the Saviour. What 
 is the dread or reluctance of nature, if the 
 Christian, in closing his eyes upon the world, 
 can fix them on the Divine Deliverer, and say 
 " Thou wilt shew me the path of Life ?"
 
 XXVII. 
 ENDLESS LIFE. 
 
 NEITHER CAN THEY DIE ANY MORE. 
 
 CERTAIN objects of meditation, though intrin- 
 sically inferior to others, fully make up their 
 original deficiency by the relation they stand in 
 to our personal welfare. The fate of an empire 
 must not be put in the scale with the life or 
 fortune of an individual : nevertheless when that 
 individual is watching public revolutions which 
 must, in their results, decide his particular des- 
 tiny, he may find it difficult to maintain in his 
 feelings a due proportion between the less and 
 the greater object. All other notions or objects 
 of thought sink into insignificance, or quite dis- 
 appear, by the side of those two paramount 
 ideas the Existence of God, and the proper 
 Immortality of human nature. And although 
 the latter can bear no comparison, abstractedly, 
 with the first, its ineffable importance to our- 
 selves places the two on a sort of equality in 
 our minds.
 
 ENDLESS LIFE. 445 
 
 If the first of these truths challenges to itself 
 all perfections, and infinity, as the crown of all ; 
 the second, how limited soever may be the ele- 
 ments to which it relates, claims also infinity ; 
 and thus gains an importance that is not to be 
 measured. And in fact it is this second truth 
 the immortality of man, which imparts its fearful 
 moment to the first. If the present life were 
 the whole of our destined period, we might 
 assign the principles of theology to a place 
 among curious questions. But when it is told 
 us that the consciousness we inherit is strictly 
 indestructible that no mutations in the mode 
 of existence no accidents no alterations in the 
 laws of nature ; not even the upturning of the 
 material universe not the extinction of all 
 things visible, can bring about the annihilation 
 of man, then indeed it becomes a question of 
 unutterable consequence "What is God?" 
 for we even we, are to be the companions of 
 his eternal duration ! 
 
 The creatures of a day of a summer of a 
 century, might be imagined, when they stand 
 upon the threshold of their term of existence, 
 to make inquiry concerning the attributes and 
 dispositions of the Creator, and the rules of his 
 government : for these are to give law to their 
 season of life, and to be the measure of their en- 
 joyments. But with what intenseness of anxiety 
 might the SONS OF IMMORTALITY put such ques- 
 tions, as they come severally to set foot upon a
 
 446 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 course that shall have no end, and that must 
 always be gathering to itself importance ! If 
 mankind were awake to futurity, and discerned 
 the present stage of life to be an infancy for 
 eternity a tentative only in existence all 
 would rush, as it were, upon the great field of 
 divine Science, that by every means they might 
 truly know Him, who is Sovereign Disposer of 
 their destiny. Apart from the doctrine of im- 
 mortality, the doctrine of the Divine attributes 
 might be tranquilly dealt with, as we deal with 
 any abstruse matters, or with mathematical prin- 
 ciples : they are of some moment ; but it is 
 bounded by the brief period of our own con- 
 nexion with the material world. How much 
 otherwise is it when every attribute natural 
 and moral, of the Infinite Being, shall for ever 
 concentrate its rays, as in a focus, upon the im- 
 mortal created spirit ; so that this spirit shall 
 draw to itself, in some manner, and without end, 
 a special consequence from the omnipotence, and 
 the omniscience from the rectitude, and the 
 benignity of God ! 
 
 These great truths are too closely allied not 
 to share the same fate in the world. If the one 
 be obscured or deformed, the other is forgotten 
 or vilified. Whoever knows not God, knows 
 not himself; and the reverse. Or if theology 
 be frigidly treated as a sterile, difficult, or vapid 
 matter the future life is also a listless theme ; 
 and we shall see the incredible inconsistency of
 
 ENDLESS LIFE. 447 
 
 a confession that man is actually set out upon 
 an endless pilgrimage ; along with an easy con- 
 tempt of all solicitude concerning the direction 
 it is to take ! But when once the soul awakes, 
 as from a dream, to the rational consciousness 
 of either truth, with what force and majesty does 
 the other present itself to the mind ! The belief 
 of immortality brings God before the soul, as 
 if visibly manifested: the knowledge of God 
 kindles the conception of endless life. 
 
 Or if we would still more distinctly discern 
 the connexion of these prime principles, let us 
 for a moment attempt to sever them. In the 
 first place (if indeed we dare entertain such a 
 conception) we may think of finding ourselves 
 members of an innumerable community of beings 
 of like powers and dispositions ; not more good, 
 or more wise, and yet all immortal; but athe- 
 istic ; God having withdrawn himself far, and for 
 ever, from the circle of creation ; or that there 
 were no Intelligent Supreme no Omnipotence, 
 no Ruler, no law, no order ! but that passions 
 and private interests pride, fear, desire, took 
 their courses, in single lines, rushing one upon 
 the other in confusion, perpetually more con- 
 fused. Who must not court annihilation, rather 
 than launch upon any such shoreless ocean of 
 immortality without God ? 
 
 Or let the converse be thought of, and it be 
 supposed that a rational spirit, after becoming in 
 the highest degree conscious of its own powers
 
 448 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 of enjoyment and of progression, and after gain- 
 ing a sight of the glory of the Most High, and 
 of the felicities of eternal life ; after tasting the 
 fruits of heaven, and drinking of the cup of im- 
 mortality, should find itself fast floating on to 
 the brink of extinction ; and while the eye 
 might yet gaze upon the bright and unbounded 
 field of endless bliss bliss it could so well 
 relish yes, with the attributes of God the 
 source of good, all before it, should look down 
 and see the abyss of death death absolute, 
 whereinto a wave or two more must hurl it ! 
 Better not know at all the Divine Perfections, 
 than see and know them, just as we are about to 
 fall from our place in creation ! So true is it 
 that, if immortal, we must seek for God ; and if 
 God be at hand, we must covet immortality. 
 It is even just conceivable that the most gross, 
 sensual, or malignant minds, which now while 
 the present life bounds their prospect " desire 
 not the knowledge of the Almighty," and say to 
 Him, " depart from us," may, on their entrance 
 upon that state whence they shall look on 
 through an interminable life, ask for Him as 
 Ruler and Arbitrator, although conscious of their 
 rebellion against his government. As if it were 
 less tolerable to exist for ever where God is not, 
 than to exist where he is an adversary. 
 
 It has been affirmed, and perhaps with reason, 
 that the mere power which the human mind 
 possesses of conceiving abstractedly of a FIRST
 
 ENDLESS LIFE. 449 
 
 CAUSE Intelligent and Benignant, is proper 
 proof, and real demonstration, of the fact. An 
 argument of this sort comes not within the de- 
 sign of these pages. But it may be said that, 
 if such an argument be valid, it implies the good- 
 ness of another, frequently urged That the 
 expectation of a future life, and the strong and 
 universal impression of mankind on this subject, 
 is equal to a natural proof of what is so uni- 
 versally looked for. If man be thought of only 
 physiologically, it seems a violent or monstrous 
 supposition, that he should be endued with an 
 instinct that is absolutely nugatory, or destitute 
 of object, intention, utility. This common belief 
 of a future life if indeed there be no such 
 state, is much the same as if the shoulders of the 
 human race sprouted with wings, though men 
 had no power of raising themselves into the air. 
 
 But whatever may be the force of such 
 arguments, our faith in immortality actually 
 takes its stand on divine testimony, rather 
 than on abstruse reasons. In truth we have 
 need of this testimony to put an end to some 
 doubts which reason could never solve. There 
 are lines of argument which, although they 
 might seem fairly to establish the doctrine of 
 a life after the dissolution of the body, would 
 not absolutely include the notion amazing 
 idea ! of ENDLESS EXISTENCE. It is one thing 
 to awake at death to a new life ; and another 
 to inherit absolutely a never-ending life. The 
 
 o G
 
 450 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 many physical analogies which indicate the law 
 of a renewal of functions, in other forms, after 
 long periods of torpor or decay, would not neces- 
 sarily imply more than that man, the noblest 
 of animals, should reappear also on the stage of 
 action, and pass through a century or more 
 of transformations. The same may be said of 
 the common expectation of mankind, and of the 
 argument usually drawn (and very conclusively) 
 from the notion of good government, which 
 requires another state, wherein may be vindi- 
 cated the great axioms of justice and virtue 
 so much obscured as they are by the events 
 of the present state. Less than eternity might 
 suffice for restoring order to the moral system, 
 according to human ideas of what justice de- 
 mands. All these notions or conclusions, though 
 they put contempt upon the gross error of the 
 atheist, will scarcely be deemed demonstrative, 
 though corroborative, of the capital truth before 
 us the assignment of endless duration to cre- 
 ated minds. 
 
 It will indeed be alleged, and perhaps 
 justly, that the same reasons which now de- 
 mand an afterlife, will go forward with undi- 
 minished force to another, and again to another 
 epoch of existence ; so as in fact to esta- 
 blish the claim of man to absolute immor- 
 tality. It may be so ; and yet the vastness of 
 such a belief, if we conceive of what the terms 
 convey, must throw us back upon the clearest
 
 ENDLESS LIFE. 451 
 
 and most irrefragable proof. What is it we 
 are speaking of ? Infinity ! and infinity at- 
 tached to a finite being ! Does it not seem as 
 if for a creature to challenge to itself, in any 
 sense, a boundless attribute, were to trench upon 
 the prerogative of the Divine Nature ? Or if 
 Revelation had not set this matter on another 
 footing (as we shall see) might it not seem a 
 surrender of the first principles of theology to 
 admit, that beings, derived, dependent, limited, 
 might participate with the uncreated and unli- 
 mited nature in the attribute of indestructible 
 existence ? Can it be true that men, or any 
 other creatures, shall go on in company with 
 the Self-existent Being, through such tricts 
 of duration as shall almost bring oblivion upon 
 the point of commencement, and generate a 
 consciousness as if He and they were alike 
 eternal ? We talk lightly of immortality ; but 
 it is because the greatness of the idea prevents 
 our considering what it is we affirm. More 
 thoughtfulness would impel us to look more 
 narrowly to the grounds of our belief. 
 
 But has it not been demonstrated that MIND, 
 because it is a simple and indestructible sub- 
 stance, must live for ever ? Whoever accepts this 
 demonstration is free to do so ; and even those 
 who decline to receive it as absolutely conclu- 
 sive, will gladly listen to an argument on this 
 ground after they have, by another process, 
 convinced themselves that indeed the human 
 GG 2
 
 452 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 mind is destined to perpetuity. Meanwhile 
 both parties will gratefully turn to the inspired 
 writings, to derive thence the best sort of evi- 
 dence the doctrine can admit. And this evi- 
 dence will be found to possess a force, by 
 implication of principles, which far surpasses 
 any imaginable value that ought to be attached 
 to the etymological import of single words. 
 
 No etymon comprises what we are speaking 
 of, or has power to convey so much more than 
 language was formed to express, or than the 
 notions of mankind at large have ever compre- 
 hended. This truth, as it is beyond conception, 
 is far beyond words, and must be drawn from 
 the great and unquestionable principles of re- 
 ligion. Those who would succinctly say, that 
 such, or such syllables, contain the affirmation 
 of infinite existence, have probably never fixed 
 their minds, with any intentness, upon that of 
 which they speak ; have never asked them- 
 selves how much less than to be divine, is it 
 to be immortal ? Let such persons toil awhile 
 upon the conception, which so easily they talk. 
 To facilitate this toil let them exchange 
 the idea of duration for that of extension ; or 
 rather attempt to attach the former, of which 
 we know little, to the latter, of which we know 
 much more. Let it be imagined then, that the 
 task assigned to man were to set out, at his 
 ordinary rate of movement, on a circuit of that 
 space which is filled by the visible creation.
 
 ENDLESS LIFE. 453 
 
 Are we somewhere in the centre of that space ? 
 Then must the traveller first make his way, step 
 after step, from this central starting-point to 
 the utmost bounds of the inhabited heavens; 
 he must go on till he has left behind him the 
 brighter of the stars ; and those too that are 
 immensely more remote than the brighter. 
 But let us cut short the preliminary journey, 
 and fancy him standing (with his task still un- 
 attempted) at the extreme orbit of the material 
 system. He has to measure its circumference : 
 the human foot has to tread the zodiac of the 
 universe ! Has it at length accomplished the 
 round of all worlds has the course of the tra- 
 veller girt the skies ? then send him forth anew 
 to do the same : and when he has repeated his 
 task as often as there have been single steps in 
 his way, he will still be young in immortality. 
 To live for ever, is a far more stupendous mat- 
 ter than to make the circuit of creation a myriad 
 of times. 
 
 It is fearful, if we reflect upon what it im- 
 plies, to bear relation, in any way, even re- 
 motely, to infinitude : for who shall calculate 
 the whole result of such a connexion ? How 
 fearful then to carry infinity in our very bo- 
 soms ! to be wedded inseparably to that which 
 has no bounds ! We may calmly survey all 
 other properties of human nature, and may 
 admire the skill with which its several functions 
 are combined. But shall we dare steadily to
 
 454 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 fix the eye upon that yet undeveloped property 
 which lurks beneath the fine machinery of 
 life ? Shall we gaze upon this faculty of endless 
 existence faculty that is now but just waking 
 itself from the torpor of its birth, and that will 
 go on expanding its vigour, and springing up 
 yet young and hale, after it has outlived the 
 stars? In comparison with this power of eter- 
 nal life, all powers are nothing: or should we 
 not rather say, that every faculty which is 
 linked to this, borrows from it an incalculable 
 importance ? 
 
 The unfixed practice of our English trans- 
 lators in rendering the Scripture terms of 
 duration, has thrown a disadvantage upon cer- 
 tain very momentous questions, and has made 
 many affirmations of the inspired writers seem 
 vague, which probably were to themselves, and 
 their first readers, quite definite ; or at least 
 more so than they are to our ears. The confu- 
 sion hence arising has led certain controvertists 
 to found an argument upon the supposed force 
 of a single term (alwmoi) to which Scripture 
 usage has given a very great latitude of mean- 
 ing ; and which therefore must, in every place, 
 receive its specific value from the subject in 
 hand. Most fully may it be granted that in 
 the apostolic axiom as well as in many other 
 places " The gift of God is eternal life," there 
 is included infinite, or never-ending existence. 
 But our persuasion of this fact must not be
 
 ENDLESS LIFE. 455 
 
 made to hinge on the native or independent 
 force of the adjective there employed ; but upon 
 the evident intention of the writer, as illustrated 
 and confirmed by other means. 
 
 If the direct calculations by which the dis- 
 tances of the heavenly bodies is fixed, were 
 called in question, recourse would be had to some 
 more circuitous process of proof the parallax 
 the times of revolution the ascertained irregu- 
 larity, and disturbance of forces ; and when 
 every line of proof was found to accord with 
 the fact, as at first affirmed, the primary calcu- 
 lation would be deemed incontestable. It is 
 thus that the obvious or apparent sense of the 
 phrase " eternal life," is attested and settled 
 by several concurrent arguments. A brief allu- 
 sion to these is all that can comport with our 
 present purpose. 
 
 In the first place then, generally, the Scrip- 
 tures assign to man an original dignity, much 
 greater than mere philosophy supposes, or than 
 is implied in the grovelling sentiments which the 
 sensuality and the degradation of the human 
 mind itself engender. The inspired writers, 
 while they deal faithfully with man in regard to 
 his actual corruption, magnify, without scruple, 
 his character as related to God, and to futurity. 
 The style of the Bible, in this point, prepares 
 us to receive whatever it may affirm concerning 
 his destiny. And leave is given at once to 
 entertain the greatest conceptions, when, in the
 
 456 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 first page of the sacred Canon, it is said and 
 said with emphasis, that " God created man in 
 His own image ; in the image of God created 
 he man." This first principle of religion forbids 
 or forestalls, in brief, every objection against 
 what may follow. And that this dignity, what- 
 ever it might include, was not forfeited by the 
 transgression of Adam, is made certain when the 
 same principle is anew affirmed, as an abstract 
 or universal truth " Man is the image of God ;" 
 or less universally, that, by the Gospel, all that 
 believe are " made partakers of the Divine 
 Nature." 
 
 But it is the mystery of Redemption that 
 carries our point, and gives even a facility to 
 our conception of a truth so astounding, as that 
 man is to live for ever, by placing it in a sub- 
 ordinate position to the still more amazing 
 truth of the union of the Divine and human 
 natures, in the person of the Mediator. The 
 latter includes the former, as the greater in- 
 cludes the less, and implies it also; so that 
 even if the promise of eternal life had not been 
 conveyed in terms free from ambiguity, they 
 must have received this absolute sense from the 
 superior principle to which they are related. 
 We stand here on ground far more substantial 
 than that of etymology, or verbal criticism. 
 We are conversant with substances, not symbols. 
 Our Lord, in his private conversations with his 
 disciples, avails himself of the stores of tropical 

 
 ENDLESS LIFE. 457 
 
 expression for the purpose of firmly fixing in 
 their minds the belief of an intimate and indis- 
 soluble union between themselves and him. 
 And the copiousness and variety of these esoteric 
 discourses are manifestly intended to meet and 
 obviate doubts, from whatever quarter arising. 
 There is a progression from the figurative to the 
 abstract style a progression natural when the 
 speaker is solicitous to provide against all objec- 
 tions. Christ is " the Shepherd, who so loves 
 his flock as to lay down his life for their sakes." 
 He is " the vine," and the source of life to the 
 branches. But this is not enough ; and in the 
 most solemn forms of which human language 
 is susceptible, and in a direct address to the 
 Father, he carries to the highest point, the idea 
 of the close and inseparable junction of the 
 Divine and human natures, of which junction 
 himself is the medium : " That they all may be 
 one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee ; 
 that they also may be one in us." If any thing 
 of explicitness or of certainty be here wanting, 
 it is only because the powers of language must 
 somewhere find a limit. 
 
 The Author of immortality resplendent in 
 his titles as " Prince of life" " the Living 
 One" He who " has life in himself" who is 
 abstractedly " the Life, and the Light of 
 men," and is " alive for evermore ;" and " the 
 same yesterday, to-day, and for ever;" the 
 Possessor of all duration " whose goings forth
 
 458 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 have been from everlasting ; whose name is, 
 Father of eternity ;" He who thus draws to 
 himself all honours, as Fountain of existence, 
 sums up every other assurance, when he tells 
 his followers that, " BECAUSE HE LIVES, THEY 
 SHALL LIVE ALSO;" as if jormally to pledge his 
 own immortality for theirs ; or as if they might 
 fear extinction, when He the Lord of life, 
 should be no more. 
 
 It ought to be noticed that the apostles, in 
 that incidental manner which belongs to them, 
 take up and employ, on this subject, the several 
 terms of perpetual duration which their habit of 
 using the Greek language in a Jewish sense 
 naturally presented to them.* " So shall we 
 be for ever (m-dvTore, not els TOV alwva) with 
 the Lord." The faithful shall be made pillars 
 in the temple of God, and shall " go no more 
 out" (e|(w ov fir] ege\0r) en) a mode of expres- 
 sion as conclusive and emphatic as language 
 well admits of. 
 
 But if yet there were room for a form of 
 affirmation which might seem to comprise all 
 others to grasp the very idea of endless ex'st- 
 ence, and to exclude ambiguity, we find it in 
 our Lord's declaration concerning those who 
 should be " deemed worthy to obtain part in 
 
 * The full illustration of this point is unsuited to our 
 purpose ; but is in itself, well worthy of particular attention. 
 All distinctness on this subject is merged in our English
 
 ENDLESS LIFE. 459 
 
 the future life (Ot/re jap airodavelv eri 
 " They CANNOT DIE ANY MORE ; being on a par 
 with the angels." The terms carry the idea 
 of an abstract, or of a physical impossibility 
 of undergoing dissolution or extinction : such 
 are to be made heirs of indestructible existence.
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 THE PERPETUITY OF HUMAN 
 NATURE. 
 
 " THIS MORTAL MUST PUT ON IMMORTALITY." 
 
 AND now are we to rest here ? Should we 
 come to the conclusion that the heirship of end- 
 less life, though it be clung to firmly, is a matter 
 too vast and inconceivable to employ our deli- 
 berate meditations ; and must be left as a vague 
 expectation, until it be entered upon ? There 
 is a semblance of modesty, or devout humility 
 in such a conclusion : but indolence, or earthli- 
 ness, or frivolity, may have a part in it ; and we 
 may as properly be jealous of these, as careful 
 not to trench upon those. 
 
 We must recur to a principle already men- 
 tioned, namely That the Christian doctrine of 
 the resurrection of the body, places subjects of 
 this class in a position very different from that 
 which they might otherwise have occupied. 
 If a simple announcement had been made to us 
 of a future, and an endless life, we might well 
 have thought that it would bear so little analogy 
 to the present condition of man as scarcely to 
 come within the range of our conjectures.
 
 THE PERPETUITY OF HUMAN NATURE. 461 
 
 How probable is it, we might then have said, 
 that the most elaborate conceptions will prove 
 to have been utterly erroneous, as well in prin- 
 ciple, as in circumstance ; and that the labour of 
 the mind in anticipating futurity, will be idle 
 even as a dream. 
 
 But the Christian hope of immortality is not 
 altogether of this vague or unsubstantial kind : 
 on the contrary, though much brevity belongs 
 to the announcement, it is not indeterminate. 
 It is HUMAN NATURE, in its essential elements, 
 that is to inherit eternity ; not an ethereal ru- 
 diment, just saved from the wreck of the former 
 fabric, and just serving to connect, as by a film 
 of identity, the earthly with the heavenly state. 
 It is " THIS MORTAL that must put on Immor- 
 tality :" the very nature now subject to dis- 
 solution, is to escape from the power of death, 
 and to clothe itself in imperishable vigour. Do 
 we want at once confirmation and exemplifi- 
 cation of this doctrine ? We have both in the 
 resurrection of the Lord. 
 
 Whatever belongs especially to the economy of 
 the present life is of course understood to drop 
 with the dissolution of the body ; but all other 
 elements are to be perpetuated. And the modes 
 of action, and the sentiments, and the affections, 
 which now are human, and rational, will then be 
 so, even when man shall have set out anew upon 
 the road of life. It is therefore by no means 
 preposterous, or presumptuous, or idle, to look
 
 462 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 inward upon the actual principles or machinery 
 of our nature, and to ask How shall these same 
 powers work, one upon another, when they shall 
 take their play at large upon the fields of bound- 
 less existence ? We may lawfully thus ruminate 
 upon ourselves enkindle the embers of hope 
 within our bosoms, and look, with a steady in- 
 telligence, to that afterstate, which is nothing 
 but the consummation of the present. The 
 proper office of religious meditation is to sever 
 the precious from the vile to throw off from 
 the immortal spirit, the adjuncts and degrada- 
 tions that oppress it ; and to borrow something 
 from the inexhaustible riches of eternity, for 
 ennobling the poverty of time. 
 
 The human mind is liable to two kinds of 
 sudden revolution ; each giving a new character 
 to its emotions, and a new direction to its facul- 
 ties. The first is when every habit and taste, 
 nay, almost the identity of the character, is 
 broken up by some disastrous stroke, which 
 levels to the dust every possession, and every 
 honour, and every cherished hope ; and sends a 
 man forth, as if upon a strange scene of things, 
 with faculties (mature indeed) but not adapted 
 to the usages of that sphere which must now 
 give them exercise. The recollection of his for- 
 mer life is a dream, that only the more alienates 
 him from the realities of the present. The second 
 kind of revolution is of a happier kind, and takes 
 place when a man, by an unlooked for turn of
 
 THE PERPETUITY OF HUMAN NATURE. 463 
 
 fortune, is in an hour raised from obscurity and 
 penury, or from inaction and discredit (which he 
 had believed to be his unalterable lot) to high 
 employments, and dignity, and affluence to a 
 station where at once he finds scope for those 
 powers of mind of which heretofore he had 
 almost feared to think himself the possessor, 
 and which his modesty had taught him to re- 
 press, more than to cherish. In such an hour 
 of elevation, a sound understanding, health- 
 fully excited rather than made giddy, and 
 much less moved by the adjuncts of high for- 
 tune, than by the substantial matters that claim 
 attention, bends all its thoughts to the principles 
 of conduct, and to the temper, which now are 
 called for. Such a one loses little time in idle 
 amazement at his own promotion ; but with dili- 
 gence adjusts his latent and unpractised powers 
 to the functions of his place ; and even if a day 
 be given to exultation, to-morrow finds him 
 the man of his order serene, energetic, and 
 familiarly occupied with the great cares that 
 have fallen into his hand. 
 
 This kind of sudden change is in fact only 
 a natural expansion of existing powers : 
 it is so that the blossom unfurls its ripened 
 gaiety to the sun ; so that life, ordinarily, 
 breaks from its confinements ; and so, as we 
 may well believe, that the sons of immortality 
 shall awake to their lot in the future world. 
 Doubt and sadness, and the pusillanimity that
 
 464 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 infests depression, shall be forgotten : the husk 
 has withered, and is fallen ; and all is vigour, and 
 freshness, and growth. The child of heaven 
 breathes at length his proper element looks, 
 without amazement, over the endless road that 
 lies outstretched at his feet, wonders not to feel 
 himself immortal, and thinks nothing strange 
 but that he should ever have doubted of eternity 
 as his inheritance. 
 
 Shall the first clear prospect of this inheri- 
 tance a possession never to be spent, and never 
 forfeited, generate a feeling like that with which 
 vast wealth is grasped ? In like manner as the 
 love of sensual pleasure and ease is only (as we 
 have said) a perversion of the original instinct 
 of our nature, so is cupidity, and the lust of pro- 
 perty (one of the firmest and most permanent 
 of the passions) a perversion also of the native 
 impulse of the mind to embrace and retain 
 something which it may call, without dispute, its 
 own. The vicious sentiment that has attached 
 itself to this strong native impulse, must not 
 prevent our acknowledging that it takes its rise 
 from the very roots of the human mind ; and if 
 so, shall, in some manner, find at length a just 
 sphere of exercise. Perhaps we might assume 
 it as true, that the independence with which intel- 
 ligent natures are endowed, and which distin- 
 guishes such from all inferior orders, and which 
 is the ground too, or necessary condition of the 
 moral system, demands, or involves, an emotion
 
 THE PERPETUITY OF HUMAN NATURE. 465 
 
 of this sort. The pleasurable SENSE of POSSES- 
 SION is (as we presume) a proper constituent 
 of an intelligent and accountable being. We 
 scarcely find a trace of any such passion among 
 the lower tribes. Man is the only proprietor 
 on earth ; and the only miser. It is by blind 
 instinct that the bee and the ant fill their 
 garners. 
 
 Man's ignorance of what himself is capable of 
 enjoying, throws him upon the capital error of 
 looking to things exterior and alienable, as his 
 wealth ; and in making this ill choice, he heaps 
 to himself a world of care ; for a thousand 
 accidents may come and intervene between 
 his passion and its object. Thus it is that, 
 while other irregular desires bring their re- 
 tributive sorrow after the hour of gratification 
 is gone by, Avarice stands, scourge in hand, 
 over her victim, and inflicts a cruel pang at 
 every instant. No such error or disorder shall 
 have place in the world of perfection. The 
 strong instinct of the soul shall be turned in- 
 ward : and how shall we conceive of the force 
 it shall suddenly acquire when its object is 
 nothing less than a title to endless life ! We 
 say suddenly acquire ; and yet it may be 
 conceived that the impression which, during 
 its terrestrial course, has fixed itself deeply in 
 the mind, of the brevity and near termination of 
 all enjoyments, will be carried forward awhile, 
 even into eternity ; nor at once be obliterated. 
 
 H H
 
 466 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 Perhaps some experience of the solid and per- 
 manent quality of happiness in the future world 
 must be had, before the mind shall be fully 
 awake to the sense of its boundless property 
 in joy. It may have advanced some way on 
 the road of endless life, and may have looked 
 on with exultation to a remote eminence of 
 the great horizon bright in the beams of 
 perpetual day, toward which it is advancing, 
 before the thought distinctly arises that that 
 far distant height, even when attained, shall 
 but afford a new prospect of a still wider ex- 
 panse of the plains of eternity. This it is to 
 be wealthy : this is POSSESSION to have in the 
 bosom the principle or law of immortality, and 
 while conscious of it, to look abroad upon a 
 world of pleasure, whereon there is nothing 
 exclusive. 
 
 This is wealth ! and yet it is held on 
 conditions. What were eternity without the 
 providence and promise of God ? Let it be sup- 
 posed that beings like ourselves w r ere to enter 
 upon unbounded duration, under the fairest cir- 
 cumstances, and in possession of all powers and 
 means of enjoyment : nevertheless it must be 
 felt that the revolution of all possible events 
 which eternity includes, must (if uncontrolled) 
 bring into jeopardy, in turns, every source of 
 happiness, and every principle of virtue. If 
 happiness and virtue might even be secured 
 through one period of duration, or through
 
 THE PERPETUITY OF HUMAN NATURE. 467 
 
 many, the infinite series will, somewhere, place 
 in opposition principles that shall clash, and 
 shatter one the other. The powers of Eternity 
 are then so many powers of terror to the in- 
 heritors of immortality, unless they are known 
 to be all provided for by the SUPREME POWER. 
 If we do but attentively consider what is meant 
 by endless duration, we shall vividly feel that 
 the* prospect of it, as actually outstretched 
 before us, must drive the soul in amazement 
 and dread to throw itself upon the Divine care. 
 What is the foresight of a created mind what 
 are its resolutions what its faculties what 
 its personal sufficiency, when brought into play 
 with the hazards of eternity ? Shall not the 
 dependent spirit eagerly seek a refuge, and a 
 strength, and an explicit promise too, before 
 it can dare even to look down upon that ter- 
 rible infinity (though it seemed crowded with 
 delights) which spreads itself out on all sides ? 
 Must not the finite, the insufficient being, cling 
 to the arm of Omnipotence, when first it sets 
 foot upon the road of eternal life ? Will it not 
 hold back as it gazes upon the vast unknown, 
 and ask to hear those words of consolation " I 
 will never leave thee, no, never forsake thee !" 
 
 Does not this idea bring into view one of 
 those principles, that, as a means, or motive, 
 secures the allegiance of happy and immortal 
 beings ? With our present feelings, when we 
 look up, and conceive of the loyal hierarchy 
 HH 2
 
 468 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 that surrounds the mount of God, we almost 
 tremble lest some unlooked-for caprice of the 
 voluntary power should surprise any, and in a 
 moment hurl them from their place. But 
 besides other principles of conservation- do not 
 all orders, from their high standing, look for- 
 ward through the unnumbered eras of dura- 
 tion, which each for himself has yet to pass 
 through ? and who knows what strange occa- 
 sions those eras may produce who can divine 
 what trials may yet sleep in the womb of 
 eternity ? Certain devout expressions of confi- 
 dence in God, which we ordinarily presume to 
 be applicable only to this present state of pains 
 and fears, may perhaps be heard (who shall say 
 they are not ?) to ring around the throne in the 
 heavens, among those who (better taught than 
 we are in the great lesson of the frailty and 
 dependence of finite beings) tremble in the con- 
 sciousness of their own endless existence, and 
 prostrating themselves before God, exclaim 
 " Thou art our Refuge and Strength : our 
 Rock and High Tower : in Thee will we be 
 confident. What time we are afraid we will 
 trust in Thee. Yea, in the name of our God 
 will we set up our banners. Thy throne, 
 O God, is for ever and ever, and we, while 
 pressing around the foot of it, are secure in 
 bliss ! " 
 
 A blank promise of security is not that which 
 the Scriptures afford to those who receive the
 
 THE PERPETUITY OF HUMAN NATURE. 
 
 Gospel ; for the " promise left us," sanctioned 
 by the " oath of Him who cannot lie," is made 
 the vehicle of conveying to the human race 
 all the knowledge it can at present receive of 
 the ineffable constitution of the Divine Nature. 
 The one God the Father, the Son, and the 
 Spirit, is not made known to us in the method 
 of an independent revelation of that high mys- 
 tery ; but only in its relation to the redemption 
 and ultimate security of man. This observable 
 fact (which gave occasion to the error of the 
 Modalists and Sabellians) involves a pregnant 
 inference for the future world ; and naturally 
 leads to the supposition (or let it be called 
 conjecture) that the same mystery is hereafter 
 to evolve itself, to the apprehension of the 
 redeemed, on the same principle of its bear- 
 ing upon their preservation. As if the per- 
 sonal solicitude of the heirs of eternal life or 
 rather their sense of dependence and frailty, 
 was to be the special motive that should impel 
 them intently to gaze upon the Supreme Nature, 
 and to watch its gradual developements, that 
 they may discern, more and more clearly, the 
 reasons, immutable, of their own safety. 
 
 The Supreme Nature, which includes all per- 
 fections and elements of bliss, need not be con- 
 ceived of as certainly affording to any beings a 
 full manifestation of its own constitution. Nor 
 perhaps would do so at all, if it were not that 
 this constitution has, in a special manner, been
 
 470 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 involved in the destinies of some members of 
 the intelligent creation. May it distantly be 
 conjectured, or vaguely surmised, that the oc- 
 currence of evil, and the DIVINE ACTS conse- 
 quent upon it, have served to bring forth from 
 the Eternal Bosom the long-hidden mystery of 
 the Divine Existence ? Shall it be lawful to 
 think that, in suddenly coming forth to the 
 rescue of a fallen race, God became manifest to 
 the eyes of all intelligent orders, as heretofore 
 He had not been ; and that they then beheld 
 the Infinite Nature, in its essential distinction ? 
 
 With more certainty it may be affirmed that 
 the economy of human salvation has, to the 
 human family, so signalized the distinction of 
 the Triune Nature, that it will not again be lost 
 sight of; but rather will be more and more 
 evolved in the view of the redeemed race. This 
 at least may readily be supposed, that human 
 minds shall find all their sense of safety, and all 
 the calmness of their joy, to spring from their 
 knowledge of the Great Mystery, of which on 
 earth they had received the rudiments, and 
 which heaven shall much more develope. 
 
 The greatest object must command the atten- 
 tion of all who have it in prospect. And where 
 the Supreme Being is sensibly present, He must 
 fix upon himself every eye. But shall it be so 
 for ever ? Shall active and intelligent natures, 
 always advancing (and perhaps rapidly) in know- 
 ledge and in power of comprehension, at length
 
 THE PERPETUITY OF HUMAN NATURE. 471 
 
 attain to such a maturity and completeness of 
 conception, as to leave nothing unfathomed, 
 even in the Infinite Nature ? It seems at first 
 sight almost difficult to believe the contrary ; 
 for the faculties of knowledge are open to what 
 may be termed a law of geometrical progression ; 
 every augment is pregnant, and multiplies itself 
 by combination with others. Our first thoughts 
 might lead us thus to suppose that the accumu- 
 lations, both of knowledge and of the power of 
 comprehension, might at length (or must) reach 
 a climax and a pause. But more deliberate con- 
 sideration brings us to a different conclusion, 
 which, if it must be summarily expressed in 
 abstruse terms, nevertheless may be expanded 
 by whoever will fix his mind upon the subject. 
 Although the Divine Nature be not in any sense 
 mutable or progressive, its perfections do, as we 
 see, come into relation with that which is both 
 mutable and progressive. In other words, there 
 is going on now (and we should believe always will 
 be going on) an interaction between the power, 
 wisdom, and moral attributes of God, on the 
 one hand, and the finite and created system 
 on the other. It is by the fruits or products 
 of this interaction that the Divine Nature be- 
 comes cognizable ; and it might be affirmed, 
 almost as a demonstrable verity, that The In- 
 finite Perfections shall never have exhausted 
 those combinations of which the finite and cre- 
 ated system is susceptible. If the works and
 
 472 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 dispensations of God are the book in which 
 intelligent beings are to read the character of 
 the author, we may certainly aver, that the 
 Commentary shall never reach a close. And not 
 merely is it true that there shall be no end to 
 the series of facts and events of products, 
 persons, revolutions ; and these always various, 
 so that there shall be an incessant stream of no- 
 velties ; but (which is of far more consequence) 
 all such new products actors and destinies, 
 shall be fresh manifestations of the principles 
 whence they proceed further interpretations of 
 the Divine Nature. 
 
 The intelligent and immortal nations, con- 
 tinually accumulating their knowledge, and by 
 means of these accessions gaining more and 
 more power of grasping the principles of celes- 
 tial wisdom, shall find, that the effect of such 
 advancement is only to give them a still more 
 enlarged conception of the immeasurable dis- 
 tance between the creature and the Creator. It 
 is so that the traveller who ascends slowly the 
 steep sides of the Andes, when, stage after stage, 
 he looks beneath and around him, and gazes at 
 each advance upon a wider horizon than before, 
 convinces himself that he is actually attaining a 
 great elevation above the common level of earth, 
 whence he started. And yet, when he looks 
 upward to the starry vault, and sees it now in 
 all its amplitude, and through a more translucent 
 medium, so as that more distinctly than before
 
 THE PERPETUITY OF HUMAN NATURE. 473 
 
 he is conscious of the vastness and distance of 
 the heavenly system, his impression is not that 
 he is getting nearer to the stars ; but rather 
 that, though actually he rises, they are drawing 
 back to a greater remoteness, and are con- 
 temning his feeble efforts to climb on high. 
 
 But how shall we at all conceive of that 
 strange commixture of sentiments, apparently 
 incompatible, the one with the other, which 
 shall result, after the lapse of extended periods, 
 from this vastly-augmented sense of the Infini- 
 tude of God, on the one hand ; and from that 
 sense, on the other, of the lessening of the 
 distance between the created and the uncreated 
 spirit, which (as before we have observed) be- 
 longs to the full play of the devout affections ? 
 This inconceivable conflict or counterpoise, well 
 deserves to be thought of. And we may think 
 of it, though imperfectly ; because it just makes 
 itself felt in the present state. Does there not 
 sometimes arise a sort of pleasurable agony in 
 the heart, when intimate, and affectionate, and 
 even tender emotions of gratitude, and love, and 
 complacency (such as the Scriptures authenti- 
 cate) are vividly combined with ideas of the 
 power, majesty, and incomprehensible attributes 
 of Him with whom thus we are conversing? 
 How do these emotions enhance one the other, 
 until the frailty of the mind compels it to fall 
 back to earth. And shall it be, that both this 
 affectionate approximation, and this augmented
 
 474 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 sense of the remoteness of the Supreme Being, 
 are to go on together through the eras of eter- 
 nity, each more and more intense continually, 
 and each working upon its antagonist with 
 greater force ! The thought of a counterpoise 
 like this, does it not well exclude from our 
 anticipation of endless life, all idea of stagnation 
 or decay ?
 
 XXIX. 
 
 UNISON OF THE HEAVENLY 
 HIERARCHY. 
 
 CHRIST THE HEAD OF ALL PRINCIPALITY AND POWER. 
 
 LET such a state of things be distinctly con- 
 ceived of as would be produced among mankind 
 if shall we say, a thousand of the heroes and 
 sages of antiquity men born for domination, 
 or born to instruct their fellows Cyrus, Numa, 
 Pythagoras, Themistocles, Coriolanus, Solon ; 
 Epaminondas, Hannibal, Scipio, Sylla; Alex- 
 ander, Caesar, Trajan, with others subordinate, 
 and fitted to be the ministers of their power 
 had enjoyed immortality on earth from their own 
 age to ours, and during the lapse of the inter- 
 vening centuries had been in the midst of affairs, 
 and conversant with all revolutions ; in one 
 era at the summit of prosperity ; in another 
 struggling with reverses ; but always accumu- 
 lating theoretic and practical wisdom : that 
 they had long ago thrown off, as a man discards 
 the follies of boyhood, the prejudices or unsound 
 principles of their early course ; had learned to
 
 476 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 concentrate all motives and passions upon the 
 one great purpose of securing to themselves the 
 submission of mankind ; had been, during all 
 that time, so perfecting their knowledge of the 
 laws of human affairs, as to enable them almost 
 infallibly to predict the course of events, and to 
 adapt their conduct to futurity, as if guided by 
 an oracle in every practical decision. 
 
 In what manner would our statesmen and 
 captains the men of thirty, fifty, or seventy 
 years, beseem themselves in the society, and 
 under the orders of the men of twenty cen- 
 turies ? How would those who have had expe- 
 rience of, perhaps, as many affairs as they could 
 give the history of in a day, sit in council with 
 the Fathers of empire, each of whose personal 
 adventures would be more voluminous than the 
 entire bulk of our extant universal history ? If 
 there be indeed any general principles to which 
 the affairs of men and nations are conformed, 
 and if also these general principles are much 
 entangled with indirect or latent causes, then 
 must an incalculable advantage rest on the side 
 of those whose actual knowledge and experience 
 was, to that of other men, as fifty or a hundred 
 to one. It is hard to imagine any sort of 
 communion, or of combined agency, or any 
 mutual good-will and respect, among parties so 
 immensely unequal. With the seniors, the cour- 
 tesies of conversation must have been insincere 
 mere affectations of sociality, a voluntary
 
 UNISON OF THE HEAVENLY HIERARCHY. 477 
 
 humility, more mortifying to the juniors, than 
 open arrogance and contempt. With the juniors, 
 silence and servility would have been the only 
 mode of good sense : manly independence must 
 have seemed the most egregious folly. Wisdom 
 would rather be crushed in the germ, than 
 cherished, in such society. 
 
 And yet what is it that we have to look to in 
 the world of immortality ? Are there no ancients 
 in that world no superiorities ? are we not 
 infallibly told that it contains Thrones, Princi- 
 palities, Powers ? Are there not probably (nay 
 can we believe otherwise) are there not, in that 
 world, a thousand servants of the Most High, 
 who have occupied posts of trust and honour at 
 the right hand of universal dominion, while suns 
 and planets have been running through their 
 destined periods, and have vanished ? On this 
 matter of fact the brief but intelligible notices of 
 Revelation accord entirely with the suppositions 
 of sound Reason. The Sadducean belief that 
 man is the only intelligent order in the crea- 
 tion or the most ancient order, is an opinion 
 very much on a level (as to its abstract pro- 
 bability) with that of those Sages who deem the 
 stars and planets, the sun and the moon, to be 
 nothing more than spangles, or fiery points in 
 our mundane firmament. 
 
 Reason would indeed easily assent to the sup- 
 position that tribes and orders immensely un- 
 equal in power and knowledge, should keep to
 
 478 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 their several abodes, and observe impassable 
 intervals between rank and rank. This would 
 evade the difficulty. But the implied meaning 
 of certain scriptural phrases leads us to a dif- 
 ferent belief namely, that man is to take no 
 subaltern position in the great world; and on 
 the contrary, is to come, on terms of honour, 
 into the highest communities. And the prin- 
 ciple which shall harmonize this system is at 
 once seen, if it be assumed that when the Eter- 
 nal Word was made flesh when He who was 
 " before all things, and in whom all things con- 
 sist," humbled himself to the level of mortality, 
 and, " passing by the nature of angels," took 
 upon him a nature " somewhat lower," there 
 was a purpose involved which goes beyond the 
 immediate results of the propitiatory work of 
 the Redeemer. So that when his vicarious func- 
 tions shall have reached their completion, the 
 union of the Divine and human natures shall con- 
 tinue to bear a relation to the social economy 
 of the great immortal family in the heavens, and 
 shall for ever subsist, as the principle, or the 
 reason of communication and harmony, among 
 all ranks. 
 
 The mystery of redemption has fairly brought 
 all suppositions within our range ; for the most 
 amazing facts must still be inferior to this. We 
 may say then that, when the Eternal Word took 
 upon him the nature of man, he embraced in one 
 bond of love all intermediate orders. Without
 
 UNISON OF THE HEAVENLY HIERARCHY. 479 
 
 annulling real and native inequalities, without 
 degrading the high, for the sake of the low, 
 he brought in a law of relationship, which at 
 once obliges the highest to recognize a dignity 
 in the lower; and enables the lower, without 
 presumption, to take the place assigned them. 
 If analogies or comparisons on such subjects did 
 not spoil our conceptions, as much as aid them, 
 we might find illustrations in the history and 
 affairs of men, in some degree applicable to our 
 theme. But at least we may discover in our 
 bosoms a natural sentiment, that will aid the 
 mind in conceiving of the influence which the 
 assumption of our nature by the Divine Nature, 
 may exert, in familiarizing the human spirit with 
 other .orders let them be lofty as they may. 
 Shall the elder and princely personages of the 
 celestial polity think it irksome to live as bre- 
 thren with the race of Adam ? Shall they draw 
 off to their privileged quarters, and consort only 
 with their peers ? This were to stand aloof from 
 the Throne, or to be distant from Him who is 
 the Visible Manifestation of the Invisible God. 
 
 And this great scheme may also serve to illus- 
 trate signally, in the view of all beings, the 
 important truth That, whoever is capable of 
 knowing God, and whoever actually loves Him, 
 is therefore capable of any function, and eligible 
 to any dignity. What is there that may not 
 be known, comprehended, or achieved, by an 
 intelligent agent who has attained to intimate
 
 480 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 friendship with the Most High ? What task, is 
 there too arduous to be confided to those whom 
 the Son of God calls his brethren and his friends ? 
 If human nature had, in its native construction, 
 lacked any capital element intellectual or moral, 
 that is possessed by higher orders, it could not 
 have admitted of such an alliance as it has. But 
 in the scheme of redemption, the original pur- 
 pose of the Creator, when he said " Let us 
 make man in our image," is at once expounded 
 and authenticated, and it is seen that nothing 
 great or illustrious was to be denied him. 
 
 Once well harmonized by a principle so effi- 
 cient as that here spoken of, diversities of rank, 
 power, office, and attainment, existing within 
 the same circle of intercourse, cannot fail to be 
 the source of pleasures and advancement. It 
 is so even on earth, and would be so in a vastly 
 greater degree, if malign and selfish passions 
 were not in operation. Both arrogance and 
 modesty operate as impediments to the expan- 
 sion of faculties, where self-love is purblind, and 
 petulant. If men were jealous of no rivalry 
 ambitious of no exclusive praise in fear of no 
 misinterpretations fretted by no errors of esti- 
 mation -.encumbered by no diffidence (offspring 
 of pride and infirmity); if, in a word, they 
 were impelled always by the simplest and the 
 most DIRECT motives, the minds of all would 
 start up with a new energy, and move at another 
 rate, than heretofore. On the one hand, the
 
 UNISON OE THE HEAVENLY HIERARCHY. 481 
 
 spectacle of signal instances of power and virtue, 
 if the bosoms of all were purged of envy, would 
 furnish an exhilarating motive, that must at 
 once strengthen and animate all minds : just 
 as the most invigorating warmth is produced 
 on the surface of the earth, not so much by the 
 direct radiance of the sun, as by the reverbera- 
 tion of his rays from the sides of hills rocks 
 edifices. 
 
 Neither is it in a small degree that the morbid 
 sensitiveness of the selfish principle in the mass 
 of mankind, gives embarrassment to those who 
 are conscious of superior power. The native 
 differences between man and man are not great 
 enough to break up the system of ostensible 
 equality. The law of equality is therefore main- 
 tained in society, as a convenient means of 
 avoiding the collisions of self-love, and the con- 
 testations of arrogance and vanity. By a con- 
 ventional rule, all are to beseem themselves 
 as if all were on a par. But this figment, which 
 draws its reason from pride, imposes a real 
 disadvantage upon those who, in complying with 
 it, have, if not to hold their personal advantages 
 in abeyance, at least to assume a posture which 
 in fact makes the native stature of the' mind to 
 cringe. Freed effectively from the feelings that 
 arise from this artificial equalization of mankind, 
 how would all powers spring into action ! 
 
 No such concealment or disadvantage shall 
 belong to the great community of heaven. 
 
 i i
 
 482 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 Even if it were desirable, it could not be effected, 
 in a system which combines inequalities a thou- 
 sand times greater than any that are to be found 
 among men. But the disguise by which on 
 earth it is attempted to make all men seem on 
 a par, will not be needed in heaven ; for the 
 blindness of self-love will be dispelled; the 
 arrogance of ambition will not exist ; nor will 
 envy pine there. And may we again revert 
 to the supposition, that the presence and su- 
 premacy of the INCARNATE WORD shall operate 
 among the diverse and unequal orders as a 
 special principle of harmony in which the highest 
 shall find more than motive enough for mode- 
 ration, and the lowest a motive (most peculiar) 
 that must dispel abject timidity. In Him 
 " all things consist" (things heavenly) who 
 being exalted " far above principalities and 
 powers," brings together, in the mystery of his 
 person, the least and the greatest; the most 
 recent, and the most ancient of the intelligent 
 tribes. 
 
 Of the heavenly edifice, still more emphatically 
 than of the militant church, it may be affirmed, 
 that " Jesus is the key-stone of the pediment, in 
 whom all the structure duly framed, increaseth 
 to a holy temple even in the Lord." Or the 
 figure being changed " HE is the head, related 
 to which all the members are jointed together, 
 and firmly compacted ; so as that by rendering, 
 according to their several functions, mutual aid,
 
 UNISON OF THE HEAVENLY HIERARCHY. 483 
 
 the entire body continually augments itself in 
 power and love." In the doctrine of the human 
 and divine nature of Christ we have an effective 
 principle of sociality among unequal orders ; and 
 the more we meditate on the subject, the more 
 shall we see its fitness to answer this purpose ; 
 and the more be disposed to think, that without 
 it, no such communion would be practicable. 
 
 At least to the human race the headship of the 
 Incarnate Word must form the reason of an in- 
 dissoluble union among all the members. How 
 probable may it seem, on mere grounds of 
 rational calculation, that the protracted eras of 
 eternal life might for ever separate those who, 
 in starting upon such a course, are prepared to 
 move at vastly different rates. So far as such an 
 illustration is applicable to the subject, it may 
 be said that, while the lower and physical powers 
 of human nature are capable of improvement 
 or augmentation only at the rate of arithmetical 
 progression, its higher powers of knowledge, intel- 
 ligence and virtue are susceptible of geometrical 
 progression: that is to say, of increase and ex- 
 pansion by working one upon the other, as well as 
 by simple accessions. The several intellectual 
 and moral faculties are to each other, when fully 
 put in play, as multiplicator and multiplicand; 
 and each new product is a new power of accele- 
 ration. If so, every initial advantage is an 
 incalculable one, when an endless series is in 
 view. And it may seem almost inevitable to
 
 484 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 believe that the difference among the compe- 
 titors, at a remote stage of their course, will 
 be immeasurably greater than it was at its 
 commencement. 
 
 How then shall these unequal velocities be 
 kept in harmony ? A difficult problem, unless 
 we conceive of all as performing their endless 
 circuits around one and the same Centre of 
 Light. On this plan, the wider orbits, always 
 embracing the smaller, shall maintain unity and 
 neighbourhood. Of Him who is the centre of 
 that system it is said, that " the fulness of 
 Deity dwells in him ; " that " all the treasures 
 of wisdom and knowledge are hid in him ; " 
 so that He, standing incomparably above the 
 highest created minds, and yet condescending to 
 maintain familiar intercourse with the feeblest, 
 shall hold all extremes in amity. UNISON is the 
 word which at once characterizes true religion, 
 and describes the upper world. And of this 
 unison Christ is the principle, both in heaven 
 and on earth. Because in heaven " all things 
 are subject to the Son," heaven is happy : and 
 on earth man is not happy, because this is not 
 the fact. And so within the circle of the church 
 there is peace, and joy, and the energy of ex- 
 pansion, when the church is one in Christ : 
 there is dejection, and doubt, and a sickly or 
 inefficient zeal, when the honour which belongs 
 to Him as the centre of Love, is given to the 
 idols of discord.
 
 UNISON OF THE HEAVENLY HIERARCHY. 485 
 
 " From Him every family * in heaven and 
 earth is denominated ;" pregnant words, which 
 at once reveal the mysteries of the upper world,, 
 and are prophetic of the future condition of 
 mankind. It is even now true that " all in 
 heaven" those who have reached their per- 
 fection, are bowing to that name, "which is 
 above every name ; " and true also, that the 
 innumerable souls in waiting around the " spiri- 
 tual tabernacle," though gathered from " many 
 kindreds, and tribes," of earth, rejoice in Him 
 only whose " memorial is with them," whose 
 NAME contains the reason of their hope of the 
 expected redemption of the body. 
 
 But in its reference to earth, this affirmation is 
 anticipative, or prophetic, in two senses. It must 
 receive its completion, first, in the conversion of 
 all tribes of men to the faith of Christ ; and 
 then in the utter and final disappearance from 
 the church of those vilifying designations, which 
 at present signalize the common appellative 
 Christian, only to defame it, by calling up the 
 recollection, either of corruptions, or of strife. 
 
 It is indeed true that men nay multitudes, 
 from all the several stocks or distinctly charac- 
 terized families of mankind, have become, at 
 some time in the course of eighteen centuries, or 
 
 * Udtra Trarpt'a, not " the whole family ;" but " all tribes," 
 or races. The author is not ignorant that the predication 
 (Ephes. iii. 15) is by some attributed to the Father; but he 
 must profess to hold with those who assign it to the Son.
 
 486 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 are now, members of the Christian community ; 
 and have, in their several tongues, invoked the 
 sacred name of Jesus, and have borne it as their 
 glory and opprobrium. Every generic form of 
 human speech ( extant or extinct ) has been 
 consecrated as the medium of prayer and praise, 
 addressed to Him, of whom it is declared that, 
 " all nations shall worship Him." But the first 
 fruits are not the harvest. And if we do not 
 misinterpret the most significant and emphatic 
 phrases, the era shall come when, at one and 
 the same time, men of every colour and every 
 dialect shall be called by the name of Christ. 
 Or may we suppose that, even this the best and 
 most comprehensive of all designations, shall 
 then cease to be thought of, because no longer 
 distinctive, but universal ? By what order of 
 means the mighty renovation shall be effected, 
 it does not belong to us confidently to divine ; 
 our part is to use, with diligence, such as 
 are actually in our power ; and incessantly to 
 pray that these means, or others, may speedily 
 be made efficacious. 
 
 The second sense in which the glory of 
 Christ, as Head over all things, remains to be 
 consummated on earth, is in the final disappear- 
 ance of all designations but the one which his 
 name confers : and who can doubt but what 
 the two are intimately connected ? This con- 
 nexion may be predicated in every form 
 positively and negatively ; and in every form
 
 UNISON OF THE HEAVENLY HIERARCHY. 487 
 
 it is true. While the church was one, Chris- 
 tianity spread ; or should we not say, burst 
 over the world, and gathered myriads of converts 
 from lands within and far beyond the limits of 
 the Roman empire. When Christians became 
 factious when other names than the name of 
 Christ were called upon, then the evangelical 
 circle drew in apace : no more conquests were 
 made ; or they were conquests purely nominal ; 
 and ere long the fierce Avenger of the Lord's 
 quarrel with his church, breaking bounds, sword 
 in hand, from his sultry Arabian sands, drave 
 the distracted flock from field to field, until the 
 Christian name was near to be quite lost from 
 the world. 
 
 Nothing effectively was done to retrieve the 
 honours of the cross, or to carry the name of 
 Christ beyond its restricted circle, during the 
 lapse of fourteen centuries. Not even in that 
 bright hour when truth broke at length from its 
 confinements ; not even then, when the great 
 trumpet of the Gospel was again loudly blown 
 throughout Christendom, was any voice heard 
 in the wilderness, or the solitary places of the 
 world, calling idolatrous men to salvation. It 
 was indeed a time of TRUTH ; but not of LOVE ; 
 and therefore, though a season of renovation, 
 was not one of enlargement. And because the 
 church of that day would not, or did not dis- 
 charge its duty, in zealously attempting to pro- 
 pagate the faith, but rather employed itself in
 
 488 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 vain jangling, it was soon given up to the spirit 
 of discord ; and thence sank through the natural 
 stages of formality, and frivolity, and absur- 
 dity and unbelief. 
 
 The sudden reappearance, in our own times, 
 of the primitive zeal for evangelizing the world, 
 has filled all minds with the brightest expecta- 
 tions. And justly. But the expectation is not 
 infallible nay, may actually prove itself falla- 
 cious. This very same holy and benevolent 
 desire to bring all men into the fold of Christ, 
 has heretofore existed in the highest imagi- 
 nable vigour ; but after gathering an abundant 
 harvest, in a brief season, it died away : 
 the polytheistic world heard no more of the 
 Gospel, century after century. In the course of 
 a thousand years scarcely a single light was 
 carried into the centre of the gross darkness 
 that covered the earth ; or if carried, was soon 
 extinguished. 
 
 Shall we then learn nothing from the contem- 
 plation of such a course of events ? Shall we 
 fear nothing when we have proof before us, that 
 the principles of the Divine government actually 
 admit of the long-continued and almost total 
 withdrawment of efficacious influence from the 
 church ? Shall we take no warning when a 
 lesson like this is drawn out at large in our 
 view, and we see that the Lord adheres to a 
 system of PUBLIC RETRIBUTION, in His conduct 
 toward his people, as a body ; and that when
 
 UNISON OF THE HEAVENLY HIERARCHY. 489 
 
 they refuse to hearken to his voice in capital mat- 
 ters, He retires, as if in grief, to the recesses of 
 the invisible state, and though He preserves the 
 spark of piety on earth from extinction will do 
 no more ? Was it not in fact thus, from the 
 sixth to the sixteenth century ? 
 
 And did there not follow another withdraw- 
 ment of Divine agency from the church at 
 large, soon after the age of the Reformation ? 
 That was a time in which Christians might have 
 returned to the simplicity of charity and fervour ; 
 but they did not : and He whose commands 
 were slighted drew back. 
 
 It is now confidently believed on all hands 
 that no such punitive abandonment of the 
 church is any more to be feared. But on what 
 does this confidence rest ? There are two 
 grounds on which it might rest, with some 
 degree of assurance. Of these the first would 
 be the fact of an open, and unquestionable pre- 
 valence, throughout the protestant communities, 
 of a spirit of contrition, on account, both of the 
 corruptions and the discords that exist, and have 
 so long existed, within them ; together with a cor- 
 dial expression of willingness to make, or admit, 
 all necessary reforms ; and especially a hearty 
 desire to compose all feuds. Is this then the 
 actual state of things ?- And is this the source 
 of the confidence we indulge, that the Lord will 
 not again withdraw Himself from his church ? 
 Alas ! dare we profess it ? 
 
 K K
 
 490 SATURDAY EVENING. 
 
 The second source from which such an expec- 
 tation might be drawn, would be, the indubitable 
 import of the prophetic Scriptures, declaring that, 
 notwithstanding all appearances of an opposite 
 kind, the " bright appearance of the Lord drew 
 nigh." But is our argument settled, and our 
 path ascertained on this ground ? None but 
 the most presumptuous will say so. Even with- 
 out controverting any of the best established 
 conclusions of modern prophetical exposition, 
 there is room for the supposition that Christi- 
 anity may yet have to sustain a signal re- 
 verse ; and once more be driven in upon its 
 very centre. 
 
 Without pretending to deny that a far more 
 agreeable supposition may be entertained, it may 
 be surmised, as not altogether improbable That 
 after the several reformed communities, in the 
 old and new world, have enjoyed their now cur- 
 rent term of reanimation a term fast running 
 out, and have distinctly been called to repent- 
 ance, and have deliberately refused to give heed 
 to that call, and have replied " We need not 
 will not do otherwise than we do ; or than our 
 fathers have done" that then the fatal decree 
 shall go out ; not audible indeed by mortal 
 ears ; but certain enough in its effects. Unbe- 
 lief, and secularity, and strife, shall rush abroad, 
 and make an easy conquest. Perhaps the work 
 of devastation may be consummated by tem- 
 poral judgments, and the enemies of the Gospel
 
 UNISON OF THE HEAVENLY HIERARCHY. 491 
 
 may be looking every moment for its expulsion 
 from the world. 
 
 Meanwhile, in some new quarter, where the 
 soil is yet unbroken, the imperishable seed shall 
 be seen to have fallen into " good ground," and 
 shall rapidly spring up, and the religion of 
 Christ appear in its glory, and put on colours 
 that are not to fade. The Lord himself shall 
 "plant in the wilderness" the beauty of Paradise ; 
 and shall " set in the desert " the verdure of 
 heaven ; " and the nations shall see and know, 
 and consider, and understand together, that the 
 hand of the Lord hath done this ; and the Holy 
 One of Israel hath created it ! " 
 
 THE END. 
 
 LONDON : 
 R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD-STREET-HILL, CHEAPSIDE.
 
 By the same Author. 
 
 THE FIFTH EDITION OF THE 
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF ENTHUSIASM, 
 
 IN TEN SECTIONS. 
 
 8vo. 8*. 
 
 " A very able disquisition.'' Blackwood's Mag. 
 
 " For protection, we refer our readers to the two very able sections on 
 ' Enthusiasm of Prophetical Interpretation," and on ' Enthusiastic Abuses 
 of a particular Providence,' in a recent publication on the Natural History 
 of Enthusiasm." Edinburgh Review, No. C. p. 293. 
 
 NEW MODEL OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS, 
 
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