C-NRLF 
 
 SB 37M IBM 
 
M13RARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Mrs. SARAH P. WALSWORTH. 
 
 Received October, 1894. 
 ^Accessions No. 5~*T0?w>- Class No. 
 

INTRODUCTORY 
 
 LESSONS ON MORALS, 
 
 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 BY 
 
 RICHARD WHATELY, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 
 CAMBRIDGE: 
 JOHN BART LETT. 
 
 1856. 
 
CAMBRIDGE: 
 
 ELECTROTYPED AND PRINTED 1JY METCALP AND COMPANY. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE special merits of the following treatise 
 on Practical Ethics will be found to be simplici 
 ty of method, general clearness of style, a good 
 absence of technical terms and artificial classifi 
 cations, a singular aptness and familiarity of 
 illustration, respect for common sense in the de 
 velopment of principles, the doctrines it exhibits 
 of the essential unity of virtue, of the nature of 
 conscience, and of the determining efficacy of 
 motives, frequent appeals to Scriptural sanc 
 tions, and the uniform practice of referring the 
 quality of actions to the spiritual state in man 
 out of which they proceed. It is mainly for 
 these traits that this work has been selected 
 from among the many presented to the public 
 notice, and is now republished here as a text 
 book for elementary instruction. 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 The only " Morals" that the educating plans 
 of Christian nations can finally concern them 
 selves much about are, in the high and broad 
 acceptation, Christian morals. It is but a lim 
 ited and partial service, though an actual one, 
 that science, in the ordinary sense, can render to 
 the moral life. It is certainly true, that there is 
 such a thing as a science of man s moral nature, 
 legitimate and justified ; as it is also true, that 
 psychology may be treated under ethical aspects. 
 But traditionary notions of categorical processes, 
 and the ambition of system-builders, have often 
 hindered a vital apprehension of the simple and 
 sublime laws of the soul working, under the 
 Spirit, towards the absolute right and good. 
 Divine truth creates its own modes, and imposes 
 its own conditions. It needs only to be wel 
 comed, in the clear shining of its own light, 
 only to be studied in a teachable temper and ac 
 cording to the natural necessities of experience, 
 that it may reveal its reality and beauty. 
 The grand ethical attainment is to come into 
 right, genuine relations with the Creator. Man 
 learns his duties, not by rules and formulas, but 
 through a pure attitude towards the Infinite Fa- 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 ther. The subject is to be unfolded, not as an 
 agglomeration of facts, but as a living power. 
 It accosts the understanding less than the will. 
 It proceeds less by analysis than by sympathet 
 ic communications of purpose and aspiration. 
 There is but one root for all excellences in dis 
 position or deed. The best system of ethics 
 would grow out of the Sermon on the Mount. 
 In the great New Testament maxim, " Love 
 God and man," lies the central and germinal 
 idea of all true policies, economies, common 
 wealths, duties. The life of Christ is the norm 
 of all morality. For ethical science the spiritual 
 order is the only logical order. The proof of 
 this profound principle is in the readiness and 
 facility with which it joins moral ideas to ac 
 tions, informs circumstance with intention, and 
 applies doctrine to all the exigencies and shapes 
 of life ; because what is most true is always 
 most practical. When this is realized, a com 
 prehensive, consistent, and complete philosophy 
 of human character and conduct may be written. 
 The subsequent discussion of Christian Evi 
 dences appears to present what is most impor 
 tant to a primary investigation of the grounds of 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 belief, in a lucid arrangement, unencumbered 
 with extrinsic matter. The author s treatment 
 has also the advantage of actually investing the 
 array of outward proofs with something of the 
 attraction and interest of the internal testimony, 
 not confusing the two departments, yet not 
 raising too sharp a distinction between them. 
 
 In affixing the name of Archbishop Whately 
 to both parts of this work, although they were 
 first published anonymously, we follow the 
 common opinion as to their authorship, an 
 opinion not contradicted on his authority. 
 
 F. D. H. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE, August, 1856. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 LESSON I. 
 
 CONSCIENCE. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. The Law of the Land no Complete Standard ... 1 
 
 2. The Law does not control Motives . ... 2 
 
 3. Ah^MenJiave some Notion of Right and Wrong ... 3 
 
 4. Scripture does not profess to give Precise Rules for Con 
 
 duct in all Cases . . ..... 4 
 
 MPT, ng r 
 
 6. Moral Goodness attributed to God ..... 7 
 
 7. Obedience to the Divine Will is a Duty .... 8 
 
 LESSON II. 
 
 THE DIVINE WILL. 
 
 1. A Divine Command in any Particular Point creates a Duty 10 
 
 2. Moral Precepts and Positive Precepts . . . . 11 
 
 3. Moral Precepts to be observed in the Spirit, and Positive in 
 
 the Letter ......... 13 
 
 4. Compliance with Positive Precepts a Moral Duty . . 15 
 
 5. Shi implies a Moral Faculty .... . 16 
 
 LESSON III. 
 
 ENCOURAGEMENTS TO DUTY IN SCRIPTURE. 
 
 1. What Scripture reveals in Reference to Duty . . .18 
 2. God s Approval of Virtue ...... 19 
 
V1U CONTENTS. 
 
 3. Divine Approbation of Virtue an Encouragement . . 20 
 
 4. Divine Aid in the Performance of Duty .... 22 
 
 5. Scripture Examples 23 
 
 LESSON IV. 
 
 OFFICE OF SCRIPTURE IN REFERENCE TO MORAL, CONDUCT. 
 
 1. The Golden Rule 25 
 
 2. Application of the Golden Rule 26 
 
 3. Design of the Golden Rule 27 
 
 4. Offices of Scripture and of Conscience .... 28 
 
 5. Regulation of Conscience 29 
 
 LESSON V. 
 
 MODE OF MORAL TEACHING OF SCRIPTURE. 
 
 1. Difference of the Gospel-teaching from that of the Law . 31 
 
 2. Men accustomed to Precise Rules . ... 32 
 
 3. Principles substituted for Exact Rules . . . .33 
 
 4. Moral Discretion 34 
 
 5. Principles taught by Instances in Small Matters . . 36 
 
 6. Importance of Right Motives 37 
 
 7. Virtue and Vice depend on the Motives . . . .39 
 
 LESSON VI. 
 
 MORAL DISCIPLINE. 
 
 1. Object of requiring Good Conduct 41 
 
 2. Good Works by Proxy ....... 42 
 
 3. Works required for the Sake of the Works . . . .43 
 
 4. Righteousness of God ....... 45 
 
 5. Good Conduct has no Natural Claim to Reward . . .46 
 G. Reward and Punishment when due . . 47 
 
CONTENTS. bt 
 
 LESSON VII. 
 
 PROPER OFFICE OF CONSCIENCE. 
 
 1. Foundation of our Moral Notions 51 
 
 2. Two Things requisite for Virtuous Conduct ... 52 
 
 3. Man under the Law and under the Gospel . . . .54 
 
 4. Depraving of Conscience 56 
 
 5. Misapplying of Scripture 58 
 
 LESSON VTII. 
 
 REGULATION OF CONSCIENCE. 
 
 1. Conscience never to be opposed 62 
 
 2. A Wrong Principle makes it impossible to act rightly . 63 
 
 3. Careful Study needed for Good Conduct . . . .65 
 
 4. Divine Blessing bestowed on Diligent Care ... 66 
 
 LESSON IX. 
 
 DIFFICULTIES OF MORAL DISCIPLINE. 
 
 1. Moral Improvement a Laborious Task . . . .68 
 
 2. No Direct Pleasure from Conformity to Conscience . 69 
 
 3. Indirect Gratifications from the Discharge of Duty . . 71 
 
 4. Supremacy of Conscience 72 
 
 5. Amiable Feelings to be under Control . . . .73 
 
 LESSON X. 
 
 CULTIVATION OF RIGHT FEELINGS. 
 
 1. Feelings not under the Direct Control of the Will . . 75 
 
 2. Feelings under the Control of the Will indirectly . . 76 
 
 3. How to influence one s Feelings 78 
 
: CONTENTS. 
 
 4. Control of Feelings gradual 79 
 
 5. Right Acts lead to Right Inclinations 81 
 
 6. Right Actions must be what are done on Right Principles 83 
 
 LESSON XL 
 
 FORMATION OF HABITS. 
 
 1. What is practised, that will be learnt . . 85 
 
 2. Opposite Habits acquired among the same Things . . 87 
 
 3. Progress in forming a Virtuous Character . . . .89 
 
 4. Virtue a Struggle of Good against Evil .... 90 
 
 5. Imitation of our Heavenly Father 92 
 
 LESSON XII. 
 
 IMITATION OF JESUS. 
 
 1. Example of our Saviour 95 
 
 2. Jesus had Human Feelings 96 
 
 3. The Nature of the Lord Jesus mysterious .... 97 
 
 4. Jesus a Faultless Model 99 
 
 5. Danger of Erroneous Imitation 101 
 
 LESSON XHI. 
 
 IMITATION OF THE APOSTLES. 
 
 1. How far the Apostles are to be imitated .... 103 
 
 2. How far the Example of our Lord is not to be followed . 104 
 
 3. False Imitation of the Lord Jesus 105 
 
 4. Mistakes as to the Conduct of the Apostles . . . 106 
 
 5. The Apostles never tortured Themselves . . . .107 
 
 6. Goods of Christians not Common 108 
 
CONTENTS. XI 
 
 LESSON XIV. 
 
 SINGLENESS OF VIRTUE. 
 
 1. Various Treatises on Morals . . . . . .111 
 
 2. Virtues not distinct, like the Arts 112 
 
 3. Apparent, but not Real Virtue 113 
 
 4. The Sacred Writers, and the Heathen Philosophers, agree on 
 
 the Oneness of Virtue 114 
 
 5. Consistency 116 
 
 6. Men apt to trust in one Supposed Virtue .... 117 
 
 LESSON XV. 
 
 EASIER AND HARDER DUTIES. 
 
 1. Differences in Men s Dispositions 119 
 
 2. Analogy of Bodily Constitutions 120 
 
 3. Care of Bodily Health and of Moral 121 
 
 4. Enumeration of Virtues not necessary .... 123 
 
 5. Mode of Instruction in the New Testament . . .124 
 
 LESSON XVI. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS CAUTIONS. PART I. 
 
 1. The Matter to -which our Conduct relates should be well un 
 derstood 126 
 
 2. Right Principles not to be reserved for Great Occasions 128 
 
 3. Self-Love and Selfishness 129 
 
 4. Retiring from the World 132 
 
 5. Occasions for doing Good to be looked out for . . . 133 
 
 LESSON XVII. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS CAUTIONS. PART II. 
 
 1. Veracity and Fidelity 134 
 
 2. What constitutes Moral Truth and Falsehood . . 135 
 
Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 3. Implied Promises 137 
 
 4. Cases in which a Promise is not binding . . . 140 
 
 5. Falsehoods of Suppression ....... 142 
 
 6. Connivance at Deceit ....... 143 
 
 7. Pious Frauds 145 
 
 8. Consequences of Deception ...... 148 
 
 LESSON XVHI. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS CAUTIONS. PART III. 
 
 1. Coveting 150 
 
 2. Personal Injuries 153 
 
 3. Christian Humility 155 
 
 4. Confessions of the Depravity of Man .... 156 
 
 5. Just Estimate of One s Self 159 
 
 6. .General Confessions, and Confession Avithout Amendment 161 
 
 7. MoralJudgments of the Vulgar 162 
 
 8. Virtues that are not generally approved .... 163 
 
 LESSON XIX. 
 
 SELF-EXAMINATION. PART I. 
 
 1. Stated Times for Self-Exam ination 166 
 
 2. Candor in Self-Examination ...... 167 
 
 3. Progress in Virtue to be marked 169 
 
 4. Despair leads to Neglect 171 
 
 5. Virtuous Progress to be hoped for 172 
 
 LESSON XX. 
 
 SELF-EXAMINATION. PART II. 
 
 1. Christian Knowledge 174 
 
 2. Scripture to be studied intelligently .... 175 
 
CONTENTS. yiii 
 
 3. Practical Study 176 
 
 4. Outward Acts not the only Virtuous Practice . . 178 
 
 5. Advice of Friends ........ 179 
 
 6. Signs of Progress ISO 
 
 7. Heads of Self-Examination , 183 
 
 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 LESSON PAGE 
 
 I. FIRST EISE OF CHRISTIANITY 187 
 
 n. FAITH AND CREDULITY 194 
 
 III. ANCIENT BOOKS 201 
 
 IV. PROPHECIES 206 
 
 V. MIRACLES. PART 1 211 
 
 VI. MIRACLES. PART II 217 
 
 VII. MIRACLES. PART III 222 
 
 VIII. WONDERS AND SIGNS 229 
 
 IX. SUMMARY OF EVIDENCES 235 
 
 X. INTERNAL EVIDENCES. PART 1 242 
 
 XI. INTERNAL EVIDENCES. PART II. .... 252 
 
 XII. INTERNAL EVIDENCES. PART in 257 
 
 XIII. OBJECTIONS. PART 1 270 
 
 XIV. OBJECTIONS. PART II 278 
 
 XV. MODERN JEWS. PART 1 290 
 
 XVI. MODERN JEWS. PART II 297 
 
LESSONS ON MORALS 
 
LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 LESSON I. 
 
 CONSCIENCE. 
 
 1. TJie Law of the Land no complete Standard. 
 
 THE law of the land ought not to be made our 
 standard of moral right and wrong. It is indeed our 
 duty to obey the laws, unless there should be a law 
 commanding us to do something absolutely wrong ; 
 but this is only a part of our duty, and not the whole. 
 For there are many things to which a good man will 
 think himself morally bound, though they are what 
 no laws make any mention of; such as gratitude to 
 a benefactor, charity to the poor, and many others. 
 Such duties cannot be enjoined by any human laws, be 
 cause they are what cannot be enforced; being in their 
 own nature voluntary. When a man is compelled to 
 make repayment to one who has advanced him money, 
 or to contribute to the support of the poor, there is no 
 gratitude or charity in the case. For these consist in 
 giving of one s own free will ; and no one can be said to 
 give what the law obliges him to pay. If therefore any 
 one should have been well inclined to contribute a cer- 
 1 
 
2 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 tain sum towards the relief of his poor neighbors, still, 
 as soon as the law obliges him to contribute that sum, it 
 is no gift ; because what the law requires him to part 
 with is no longer his own. 
 
 So also there are many things which every good 
 man would consider wrong, but which the law does not 
 prohibit, because it could not prevent them, or because 
 the attempt to prevent them would do more harm than 
 good. What are called " sumptuary laws " have been, 
 for this reason, abolished in most civilized countries. 
 For though it is wrong for a man to spend more than 
 he can properly afford, in fine clothes, furniture, and 
 feasts, beyond his station, the attempt to prevent this, by 
 legal interference with each man s private expenditure, 
 has always been found to be intolerably troublesome, 
 and almost entirely ineffectual. 
 
 2. The Law does not control Motives. 
 
 But it was pointed out, in the second place, that even 
 if it were possible for the laws to enjoin everything that 
 is good, and prohibit everything that is wrong, still a 
 man who should act rightly merely in. obedience to the 
 laws, and for the sake of avoiding legal penalties, would 
 not be at all what any one would account a good man, 
 because he would not be acting from a virtuous motive ; 
 and it is entirely on the motives and disposition of the 
 mind that the moral character of any one s conduct de 
 pends. An action, indeed, which is done "from a bad or 
 from an inferior motive, may be in itself right, as being 
 what a good man would be disposed to do ; as when a 
 man pays his debts for fear of being imprisoned, or hav 
 ing his goods seized ; but this does not make him an 
 honest man. 
 
CONSCIENCE. 3 
 
 You can plainly see, therefore, how great an error it 
 would be for a man to make the law of the land his 
 standard of right and wrong, and to be satisfied with 
 himself as long as he did but comply with the laws. 
 For, in the first place, he might do much that is wrong, 
 and might omit many duties, without transgressing any 
 law ; and secondly, when he did do what is right in it 
 self, yet not because it is right, but merely for fear of 
 legal penalties, though this would be a benefit to the 
 public, it would be no virtue in him. 
 
 3. AH Men have some Notion of Right and Wrong. 
 
 All men, except perhaps some few of the wildest sav 
 ages, have some notion of moral right and wrong, inde 
 pendently of human laws. There is hardly any one 
 who would not account it a good thing to relieve a dis 
 tressed neighbor, and a bad thing to treat a benefactor 
 with ingratitude ; though these are matters which laws 
 do not notice. And every one would allow that who 
 ever has borrowed anything, is bound in duty to repay 
 it, even though there were no law to compel him to do 
 so. 
 
 But there are several points in which different na 
 tions, and different persons, vary considerably as to their 
 notions of what is morally good and bad. The same 
 things which are condemned by some, are approved 
 by others. And this has led some persons to doubt 
 whether there is any such faculty in the human mind 
 as that which is commonly called " Conscience," or 
 " Moral sense," or " Moral faculty." 
 
 But you should remember that every one of our facul 
 ties is capable of cultivation and improvement, and is 
 
LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 also liable to be corrupted and depraved, and is subject 
 to various imperfections. Human Reason is far from 
 being infallible; for many men are deceived by falla 
 cious arguments, and fall into various errors ; and there 
 are great varieties in the opinions formed by different 
 persons. Yet no one would on that ground deny that 
 Man is a rational Being. And again, you may oc 
 casionally see great variations even in the bodily sens 
 es, and in the bodily formation, of different individuals. 
 But we do not consider these variations as doing away 
 with all general rules. Some are born idiots, and some 
 blind ; some have been born with only one arm, and 
 some with neither arms nor legs. Yet we speak of Man 
 as a Being possessing reason, and having eyes, and arms, 
 and legs. And again, to a person in fever, sweet things 
 taste bitter ; and some have a taste so depraved by dis 
 ease or by habit as to prefer bitter or sour things to 
 sweet. Yet no one would deny that wormwood is bitter, 
 and honey sweet ; or would say that aloes has naturally 
 a pleasanter taste than honey. And it would be equally 
 absurd to deny that there is anything naturally odious 
 in ingratitude, or that justice and beneficence are natural 
 and proper objects of approbation. 
 
 4. Scripture does not profess to give Precise Rules 
 for Conduct in all Cases. 
 
 Some, however, nlay be disposed to think that it is of 
 no consequence to Christians what may be the natural 
 faculties of Man in all that relates to moral conduct, or 
 what may have been said or thought on the subject 
 by heathens, since we have in the Holy Scriptures a 
 sufficient guide to teach us all that we are to do or 
 avoid. 
 
CONSCIENCE. 5 
 
 But this would be to mistake altogether the whole 
 character of our Scriptures. You may see, even from 
 Scripture itself, that it was never designed to supply a 
 complete set of precise rules as to every part of our con 
 duct ; and that the sacred writers do not address them 
 selves as to men that had no natural notion of moral 
 right and wrong. They do indeed notice such errors in 
 particular points as their hearers were the most apt to 
 fall into, and they dwell on such particular duties as had 
 been most neglected. But they do not attempt to go 
 through in detail all things that a Christian is required 
 to do or to abstain from. And they are so far from 
 supposing their hearers to require to be taught the first 
 rudiments of morality, the fundamental distinction be 
 tween moral good and evil, that, on the contrary, they 
 appeal to the moral principles of their people, and call 
 upon them to judge and decide according to those prin 
 ciples. And they appeal to them, not only as Christians, 
 but as human creatures ; for they speak of the Gentiles 
 before the Gospel had been revealed to them, as " know 
 ing " (when they lived in gross vice) " that they who do 
 such things are worthy of death," and they speak of 
 some who, " not having the [divine] law, do, by nature, 
 the things of the law ; their conscience also bearing wit 
 ness, and their thoughts accusing or else excusing one 
 another." (Rom. ii. 14.) 
 
 5. Scripture addresses Men as possessing a 
 Conscience. 
 
 Moreover, our Lord says that " the servant who knew 
 not his lord s will, and did commit things worthy of 
 stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes; but that he 
 1* 
 
6 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 who knew his lord s will and did it not, shall be beaten 
 with many stripes." Now, that one who knew his lord s 
 will and did it not, should receive the heavier punish 
 ment, is a rule which one can easily understand ; but 
 that one " who knew not his lord s will " that is, who 
 had not received any express command could " com 
 mit things worthy of stripes" would be utterly incon 
 ceivable, if we supposed all notions of right and wrong 
 to have been originally derived entirely from a knowl 
 edge of the divine will. 
 
 And again, when the Apostles exhort Christians to. 
 think on and practise " whatsoever things are pure, what 
 soever things are honest and lovely, and of good re 
 port"; and, "giving all diligence, to add to their faith 
 virtue, and temperance, and patience," , and the like, it 
 is plain they could not have been speaking to men who 
 had no notion of what is meant by virtue, and temper 
 ance, and purity, &c., and who needed to be taught pre 
 cisely what is to be accounted good and bad conduct on 
 each point ; just as you would inform a blind man that 
 snow has a quality called white, and grass green, and 
 coal black, and the like. 
 
 Indeed, the ancient heathen philosophers, who had no 
 belief in a future state of reward and punishment, or in 
 any revelation made to man, used the words which we 
 translate "virtue," and gave, on; the whole, much the 
 same descriptions of virtue and vice that any one would 
 do now. And this would evidently have been ^ impos 
 sible, if Man had been naturally quite destitute of all 
 moral faculty. 
 
CONSCIENCE. 7 
 
 6. Moral Goodness attributed to God. 
 
 Moreover, the sacred writers always speak of God as 
 just and good, and his command as right and reasonable. 
 "Are not my ways," says He by a prophet, "equal? 
 Are not your ways unequal ?" And again, " Why, even 
 of yourselves judge ye not what is right ? " Now all 
 this would have been quite unmeaning if Man had no 
 idea of w r hat is good or bad in itself, and meant by those 
 words merely what is commanded or forbidden by God. 
 For, then, to say that God s commands are just and 
 good, would be only saying that his commands are his 
 commands. If man had not been originally endowed 
 by his Maker with any power of distinguishing be 
 tween moral good and evil, or with any preference of 
 the one to the other, then it would be mere trifling to 
 speak of the divine goodness ; since it would be merely 
 saying that " God is what He is," which is no more < 
 than might be said of any Being in the universe. 
 
 Whenever, therefore, you hear any one speaking of 
 our having derived all our notions of morality from the 
 will of God, the sense in which you must understand 
 him is, that it was God s will to create Man a Being 
 endowed with conscience, and capable of perceiving the 
 difference of right and wrong, and of understanding that 
 there is such a thing as Duty. And if any one should 
 use expressions which seem not to mean this, but to im 
 ply that there is no such thing as natural Conscience, 
 no idea in the human mind of such a thing as Duty, 
 still you may easily prove that his real meaning must 
 be what we have said. If any persons tell you that 
 our first notion of right and wrong is entirely derived 
 
8 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 I from the Divine Law, and that those words have no 
 meaning except obedience and disobedience to the de 
 clared will of God, you may ask them whether it is a 
 matter of duty to obey God s will, or merely a matter of 
 prudence, inasmuch as He is able to punish those who 
 rebel against Him ? Whether they think that God is 
 justly entitled to obedience, or merely that it would be 
 very rash to disobey one who has power to enforce his 
 commands ? 
 
 They will doubtless answer, that we ought to obey 
 the divine commands as a point of duty, and not merely 
 on the ground of expediency; that God is not only 
 powerful, but good ; and that conformity to his will is 
 a thing right in itself, and should be practised, not 
 through mere fear of punishment, or hope of reward, 
 but because it is right. 
 
 7. Obedience to the Divine Will is a Duty. 
 
 Now this proves that they must be sensible that there 
 is in the human mind some notion of such a thing as 
 Duty, and of things being right or wrong in their own 
 nature. For, when any persons submit to the will of an 
 other merely because it is their interest, or because they 
 dare not resist, we never speak of this submission as a 
 matter of duty, but merely of prudence. If robbers were 
 to seize you and carry you off as a slave, threatening 
 you with death if you offered to resist or to escape, you 
 might think it advisable to submit, if you saw that re 
 sistance would be hopeless ; but you would not think 
 yourself bound in duty to do so. Or again, if you Avere 
 offered good wages for doing some laborious work, you 
 might think it expedient to accept the offer, but you 
 
CONSCIENCE. 9 
 
 would not account it a moral duty. And when a farm 
 er supplies his cattle, or a slave-owner his slaves, with 
 abundance of the best of food, in order that they may 
 be in good condition, and do the more work for himself, 
 or fetch a better price, and not from benevolence to 
 them, every one would regard this as mere prudence, 
 and not virtue. And we judge the same in every case 
 where a man is acting solely with a view to his own ad 
 vantage. 
 
 You can easily prove, therefore, that when people 
 speak of a knowledge of the divine will being the origin 
 of all our moral notions, they cannot mean exactly what 
 the words would seem to signify ; if, at least, they admit 
 at the same time that it is a matter of duty, and not 
 merely of prudence, to obey God s will, and that he has 
 a just claim to our obedience. 
 
LESSON II. 
 
 THE DIVINE WILL. 
 
 1. A Divine Command in any Particular Point 
 creates a Duty. 
 
 SOME persons are apt to fall into indistinctness of lan 
 guage, and confusion of thought, on this subject, from 
 not taking care to distinguish between our moral judg 
 ment on some particular . cases, and . our notion of Duty 
 generally. . On any. particular point, a pious man will 
 be ready, if he is convinced that a divine command has 
 been given, to obey it at once without further inquiry ; 
 taking for granted that it is right, though he may not 
 see the reason of it. But this is not from his having no 
 notion at all, generally, of anything being in itself right 
 or wrong, and knowing no meaning of the word " good," 
 except " what is commanded by a superior power." On 
 the contrary, he acts as he does from his general trust 
 in God s goodness, and just claim to obedience. For, in 
 this or that particular point, a divine command may 
 make that a duty which was not so before. But this 
 can only be when the command is given to a being en 
 dowed with a moral sense, which enables him to per 
 ceive that there is such a thing as Duty, and that God 
 has a rightful claim to be obeyed, even when the reason 
 of his commands is not perceived. 
 
 In like manner, a telescope will enable a man pos- 
 
THE DIVINE WILL. 11 
 
 sessing the sense of sight to see objects invisible to the 
 naked eye. But the revelation of a divine command 
 could no more originate the notion of duty, generally, in 
 a being destitute of Moral Faculty, and to whom, there 
 fore, the word " duty " would have no meaning at all 
 (though he might be afraid to disobey), than a telescope 
 could confer sight on a blind man. 
 
 2. Moral Precepts and Positive Precepts. 
 
 In order to have a clear view of this subject, you 
 must be careful to observe the distinction (which some 
 persons are apt to overlook) between what are called 
 moral precepts [or " natural " precepts] and positive 
 precepts. We are bound to comply with both ; but 
 " moral precepts " are what relate to things right and 
 wrong in themselves, independently of any command ; 
 and " positive precepts " are what relate to things origi 
 nally indifferent, but which are made right or wrong by 
 the command . of a Superior whe has a just claim to 
 obedience. 
 
 Thus, when Children are forbidden to tell lies, or 
 to quarrel, these are things forbidden because they are 
 wrong in themselves. And when they are told to im 
 prove their minds by learning what is useful, and to be 
 kind and helpful to each other, and the like, these things 
 are commanded because they are right in themselves. 
 But when they are forbidden to go beyond the bounds 
 of the play-ground, and are charged to come in at a 
 certain hour, these are what are called "positive" pre 
 cepts. To go beyond a certain spot was originally noth 
 ing wrong in itself; but became wrong, after the rule 
 had been laid down, because it would be an act of dis- 
 
12 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 obedience. And to come in from play at twelve o clock, 
 or at one, is in itself a matter of indifference, but it is 
 made a matter of duty as soon as the master or parent 
 has appointed the time. 
 
 So also it is a moral duty (as has been above said) to 
 obey the laws of the land when not wrong in them 
 selves ; and some of these relate to things originally and 
 naturally right and wrong ; others, to things originally 
 indifferent. For instance, to import tea, or wine, or to 
 manufacture candles or malt, is a thing originally in 
 different. But when a tax has been laid on these 
 things, then to evade this tax is to rob the revenue, 
 that is, to rob the nation. And, accordingly, to sell, or 
 to buy, smuggled goods is a thing morally wrong. 
 
 The like holds good with private contracts. In these, 
 a person may be bound, as to matters originally indiffer 
 ent, not by the command of a superior, but by his own 
 act. For it is clearly a moral duly to fulfil one s en 
 gagements. Thus, a husband and wife are bound, by 
 the marriage contract they have made, to their mutual 
 duties, though they were not bound to each other be 
 fore. Children, on the other hand, are bound by an 
 original and natural obligation to honor their par 
 ents. 
 
 Again, when the Israelites were commanded, in the 
 Mosaic law, to be kind to their neighbors, and liberal to 
 the poor, this was commanded because it was in itself 
 right. But when they were commanded to keep the 
 feast of the Passover, and to perform certain appointed 
 ceremonies, and to set aside certain specified days and 
 years as sanctified, this was right because it was com 
 manded. 
 
THE DIVINE WILL. 13 
 
 So, also, the prohibition of murder and theft were 
 what are called " moral " [or natural] precepts, as re 
 lating to things wrong in themselves; but to eat the 
 flesh of the animals specified as " unclean," which is a 
 matter originally indifferent, was wrong for Israelites, 
 because it was forbidden in their law. 
 
 In such cases, the command of a rightful Superior 
 makes things morally right and wrong which were not 
 so before the express command was given. And when 
 such a command does exist, we are bound in duty to 
 obey it. 
 
 3. Moral Precepts to be observed in the Spirit, and 
 Positive in the Letter. 
 
 The distinction between positive duties and [natural] 
 moral duties, it is most important to perceive clearly, 
 and always to keep in mind. For with respect to the 
 latter class, that of natural duties, we are left to be 
 guided by our own conscience, according to the best 
 judgment we can form ; and we must not expect to have 
 precise rules laid down as to every case that can arise ; 
 nor satisfy ourselves that we are blameless as long as 
 we do nothing that is expressly forbidden, and omit noth 
 ing that is, in so many words, commanded. 
 
 But with respect to the other class, that of positive 
 duties, it is sufficient if we do but conform precisely 
 to the commands distinctly laid down for us. We are 
 safe as long as we transgress no express injunctions 
 given to us. 
 
 And precepts of this class we are bound to comply 
 with according to the letter, without presuming to depart 
 from this, and to plead that we are observing the spirit 
 2 
 
14 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 of the command. With moral precepts it is the reverse. 
 For instance, the injunction of our Lord " to wash one 
 another s feet," is usually regarded (and very rightly) 
 as no positive precept, but only an injunction to be kind 
 and helpful to each other. Any one, therefore, would 
 be complying with his command in spirit, and as was 
 designed, by showing such kindness generally, even 
 though he should never literally wash another s feet. 
 And, on the contrary, one who should literally wash an 
 other s feet, but should generally refuse all kind assist 
 ance and relief, would be in reality disobeying the com 
 mand, by disregarding the spirit of it. 
 
 But, on the other hand, when our Lord said, " Do this 
 in remembrance of me," and commanded his disciples to 
 baptize, He was giving positive precepts ; as we learn 
 from the practice of the Apostles, who evidently under 
 stood Him (as He must have known that they would, 
 and designed that they should) to enjoin the use of lit 
 eral water, and bread and wine. No one should pre 
 sume, therefore, to omit the literal and exact compliance 
 with these commands, and to set up the plea of observ 
 ing them in the spirit. 
 
 So, also, when the Israelites were enjoined to sanc 
 tify certain distinctly specified days as religious festivals, 
 it was not allowable for them to make any alterations, 
 and to plead that they were observing the spirit of the 
 ordinances, by keeping the Passover, for instance, at 
 some different time of the year ; or by sacrificing some 
 other animal than the one enjoined ; or by sanctifying as 
 a sabbath every sixth day, or every eight ; or by fixing 
 on the first, or second, or third day of the week instead 
 of the seventh, on the ground that one day is in itself as 
 
THE DIVINE WILL. 15 
 
 good as another. In all positive precepts, in short, an 
 exact compliance with the very letter of the command 
 is required ; and is made, by the command, a moral duty 
 to those to whom the command is given. 
 
 4. Compliance with Positive Precepts a Moral Duty. 
 
 The obedience, in these matters, of a pious man to 
 the divine commands, even when he does not under 
 stand the reasons of them, and his general trust in the 
 divine wisdom and goodness, all this is of a piece with 
 what we feel and do towards our fellow-men. A duti 
 ful and affectionate child, for instance, will fully trust 
 (with good reason) in the goodness and the superior 
 judgment of a kind parent, and will comply cheerfully 
 with his directions, even when not knowing why they 
 were given ; all the more cheerfully from being con 
 vinced that his parent s directions are right; and not 
 as merely yielding to superior power, and calculating 
 on reward or punishment. 
 
 So, also, some friend, on whose worth and good sense 
 you fully rely, will perhaps take some measures which 
 you presume, from your knowledge of his character, to 
 be right ones, before you have sufficient knowledge of 
 particulars to judge of the case itself. 
 
 And we judge in the same way in other matters also, 
 that have no relation to moral conduct. For instance, 
 if you had read several works of some author, which 
 .you greatly admire, you would be likely, when you 
 heard of some new work of his about to be published, 
 to expect, before reading it, that that also would show 
 great ability. It is not that you have no notion of good 
 or bad writing except what is or is not his ; but you 
 
16 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 would form your expectations of what you have not 
 seen from that which you have seen. 
 
 5. Sin implies a Moral Faculty. 
 
 In addition to what has been said, it is important to 
 remark, that sin, which the sacred writers so often im 
 pute to men, does itself imply the existence of a moral 
 sense. For a being destitute of all power of distinguish 
 ing between moral good and evil, as is the case with 
 brutes, however odious his actions might be, could not 
 commit sin. And accordingly, though a wolf, or a 
 swine, or any other brute, may do acts which would be 
 sinful in a man, no one speaks of a brute as sinful, or 
 imputes to it moral guilt. And, for the same reason, no 
 sin is ever imputed to the acts of a new-born infant, or 
 a complete idiot. And, accordingly, in some parts of 
 this country, the term used by the common people for 
 an idiot is " an innocent." For, though idiots may be 
 very mischievous, it is understood that they can incur no 
 guilt, whatever they do, from not having the sense to 
 perceive right and wrong. They, and infants, every 
 one would say, are not moral agents, any more than the 
 brutes ; and, consequently, the word sin would not ap 
 ply to any of their acts. Yet the higher kinds of brutes, 
 such as horses and dogs, can be taught to obey their 
 masters, and to do or to abstain from certain acts, from 
 fear of punishment or hope of reward. But we con 
 sider sin to consist in doing what one knows, or might 
 have known, to be morally wrong ; in short, in trans 
 gressing the rules of duty which one is capable of un 
 derstanding. So, also, folly we consider as consisting 
 in acting against the dictates of one s reason, and conse- 
 
THE DIVINE WILL. 17 
 
 quently as implying a rational nature. And, accord 
 ingly, no one imputes folly to a brute, any more than 
 sin. 
 
 Of course, when any express command does come 
 from God, or indeed from a parent, or any other right 
 ful superior, this increases the sin of those who disobey 
 it. And this is what the Apostle Paul evidently means 
 when he speaks of " the commandment " making siii 
 "exceeding sinful." 
 
 But in no case can there be any sin at all except in 
 a violation of duty by a Being capable of understanding 
 what duty is. 
 
LESSON III. 
 
 ENCOURAGEMENTS TO DUTY IN SCRIPTURE. 
 
 1. What Scripture reveals in ^Reference to Duty. 
 
 You have seen, then, that Man has been endowed by 
 his Maker with a power of distinguishing, in some de 
 gree, good and bad actions ; which is called by some the 
 " moral sense " [or moral faculty], and by some " con 
 science." And you have seen that the sacred writers 
 always address us as Beings having some notion of what 
 Duty is ; and that the moral precepts they deliver al 
 ways proceed on that supposition. And, moreover, it 
 has been pointed out, that if Man had been a Being 
 quite destitute (like the brutes) of all idea of moral right 
 and wrong, then no revelation of the divine will, nor 
 any expectation of future rewards and punishments, 
 could have imparted to such a Being the notion of Duty. 
 Man might, in that case, have obeyed the divine com 
 mands as a matter of prudence ; just as a slave (and 
 indeed even a brute) may be brought to do what his 
 master bids him. But the notion of being justly bound 
 to obey, as a matter of Duty, is what could never have 
 entered his mind. 
 
 What, then, you may next ask, is the connection be 
 tween a divine revelation and moral conduct ? If, as 
 we have seen, a knowledge of God s will could not of 
 
ENCOURAGEMENTS TO DUTY IN SCRIPTURE. 19. 
 
 itself convey any notion of Duty to a Being naturally 
 destitute of a moral sense, and if the sacred writers do 
 not undertake (as it is plain they do not) to give precise 
 directions as to every point of conduct, what is it that 
 revelation does teach us in reference to morality ? 
 
 2. God s Approval of Virtue. 
 
 In the first place, we learn from our Scriptures that 
 our Maker approves of virtue, and disapproves of vice. 
 Now this was either unknown, or very imperfectly 
 known, to the ancient heathen. Their most eminent 
 philosophers regarded those supposed Beings who were 
 called gods (to none of whom, by the way, they attributed 
 the creation)* as wholly regardless of human concerns. 
 And as for the tales circulated among the vulgar about 
 a state of happiness or suffering after death, they de 
 rided them as "old wives fables." They understood 
 what is meant by " virtue," and wrote many admirable 
 things on the subject ; but always without any reference, 
 or with very slight reference, to the will of their gods. 
 And as for the vulgar among the ancient heathen, though 
 they were not altogether without a notion that their 
 gods favored the virtuous, and sometimes sent heavy 
 judgments on very great crimes, they trusted chiefly to 
 costly sacrifices, and splendid temples, and images, and 
 to superstitious ceremonies, for making their gods pro 
 pitious, and atoning for all violations of moral duty. 
 
 And, indeed, great part of the worship of several of 
 these gods consisted in gross immorality. Thus, we 
 read in the book of Deuteronomy concerning the relig- 
 
 * See " Lessons on Religious Worship," Lesson II. 
 
20 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 ion of the Canaanites : " Every abomination unto the 
 Lord which He hateth, have these nations done unto 
 their gods ; for even their sons and daughters have they 
 burned in the fire unto their gods/ 
 
 Our religion, on the contrary, teaches, that " in every 
 nation he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness, 
 is accepted of Him " ; that our great Master came 
 into the world, and lived and died for us, "that he 
 might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to Him 
 self a peculiar people, zealous of good works." When 
 ever, in our Scriptures, the unspeakable love and good 
 ness of God towards us is set forth, in sending his bless 
 ed Son for our salvation, we are always called on to show 
 our gratitude and love towards Him in return, by a zeal 
 ous and watchful endeavor after personal holiness. " If 
 ye love me," says the Saviour, "keep my command 
 ments." And he warns us that to those who lead a sin 
 ful life, even though they shall have preached in his 
 name, and " in his name done many mighty works," He 
 will say at the last day, " I know you not ; depart from 
 me, all ye workers of iniquity." 
 
 3. Divine Approbation of Virtue an Encouragement. 
 
 Now it is indeed true, as was remarked above, that if 
 Man had been a Being destitute of moral sense [con 
 science], no knowledge of the divine will could have 
 given him the notion of Duty ; and anything we might 
 do, in compliance with God s will, on grounds of mere 
 self-interest, would not be at all of the character of Vir 
 tue, but would be only Prudence. But Man being such 
 as he actually is, capable of understanding the differ 
 ence between moral good and evil, but of a frail and 
 
ENCOURAGEMENTS TO DUTY IN SCRIPTURE. 21 
 
 imperfect character, and exposed to many temptations 
 to sin, such a Being is of course greatly encouraged 
 in virtue, and deterred from sin, by knowing that our 
 Maker requires what is good, and forbids what is evil, and 
 that " He hath appointed a day in which He will judge 
 the world in righteousness," and will " render to every 
 man according to his deeds ; to them who, by patient con 
 tinuance in well-doing, seek for glory and honor and im 
 mortality, eternal life ; but unto them that obey unright 
 eousness, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of 
 man that doeth evil." 
 
 Such an encouragement in the practice of duty as our 
 great Master has thus mercifully provided, is what Man 
 greatly needs. For, besides the temptations of sin which 
 he is exposed to, it is to be remembered that, when he 
 does resist them, and fulfils his duty, this does not of it 
 self produce any positive pleasure ; because it is the very 
 nature of Conscience to show us that good conduct is what 
 we are bound to, and as only the payment of a just debt. 
 If we fail in this, and act against conscience, its re 
 proaches are painful : if we comply with its dictates, it 
 then does not pain us, but neither does it afford positive 
 gratification ; only quiet, and peace, and freedom from 
 remorse. For if a man should pride himself on any 
 thing he had done, as if it were something meritorious 
 in God s sight, as being beyond his bounden duty, this 
 thought would be itself a sin. 
 
 Though, however, the mere performance of duty does 
 not of itself give positive pleasure, to obtain approbation 
 even from our fellow-creatures is gratifying ; sometimes, 
 indeed, even dangerously so. And our natural desire 
 of approbation God has graciously thought fit to direct 
 
22 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 towards Himself; assuring us that He sees, and sees 
 with favor, every struggle against sin, every effort to 
 obey his commands and to improve in virtue. And 
 moreover, He has promised, not only to be a " rewarder 
 of them that diligently seek Him," but to make their re 
 ward consist in a fuller knowledge of Him, and a more 
 perfect enjoyment of his presence and of his appro 
 bation. " We know," says the Apostle John, " that when 
 Christ shall appear, we shall be like Him ; for we shall 
 see him as He is." We have thus, therefore, what 
 Man so much needs, a strong encouragement to strive 
 after the improvement of our moral character. For 
 " every one," the Apostle goes on to say, " that hath this 
 hope on Him, purifieth himself, even as He is pure." 
 
 4. Divine Aid in the Performance of Duty. 
 
 Secondly, Man being by nature weak, and being be 
 set by temptations, our religion holds out the promise 
 of inward divine aid in the practice of Duty, from 
 the Holy Spirit, which " helpeth jour infirmities." " I 
 am the vine," says our Lord, " ye are the branches ; as 
 a branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in 
 the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in Me : with 
 out Me ye can do nothing." And, " It is God that work- 
 eth in us," says the Apostle Paul, " both to will and to 
 do of his good pleasure." 
 
 As for Man s need of such aid, that is, his frailty and 
 proneness to fall into sin, that is but too well known 
 from universal experience. But some persons seem in 
 clined to attribute this entirely to bad governments and 
 laws, faulty education, and bad examples. And they 
 seem to think that improvements in governments and 
 
ENCOURAGEMENTS TO DUTY* IN SCRIPTURE. 23 
 
 systems of education might put an end to all moral evils. 
 No doubt erroneous education, unwise laws, &c., do ex 
 ist, and do greatly contribute to increase the faultiness 
 of the human character ; but they never could have been 
 the original cause of it ; since it is from men they have 
 all proceeded. Our Scripture history, however, tells us 
 that our first parents, without any bad education, corrupt 
 ing examples, bad governments, &c., did transgress the 
 only command given them. And as no one of us can be, 
 by birth, of a firmer and purer moral character than 
 they were originally, we may be sure that we, left to our 
 own unaided strength, should have acted, if placed in 
 their situation, no better than they did. 
 
 5. Scripture Examples. 
 
 Thirdly, we find set before us in our Scriptures the life 
 of our Saviour, who " left us an example that we should 
 follow his steps," and " purify ourselves as He is pure." 
 
 And we have also the examples of his Apostles, which 
 are instructive to us, both in their failings which are re 
 corded, and in their recovery through their divine Mas 
 ter s instruction and support, and in the life of devoted 
 Christian virtue to which they were at length brought. 
 For they were evidently not men of superior natural in 
 telligence ; nor were they originally exempt from world 
 ly ambition, and timidity, and other failings. And we can 
 trace in the Scripture history the gradual improvement 
 and elevation of their characters, under the training to 
 which they were subjected. 
 
 Fourthly and lastly, although, as has been said, there 
 is no such thing attempted by the sacred writers as a 
 complete enumeration of all points of duty, in all possi- 
 
24 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 ble circumstances, still they afford us much important 
 moral instruction in those points wherein it is most need 
 ed. They dwell on such duties as their hearers were the 
 most disposed to neglect ; such as kindness to enemies, 
 patience under provocation, forgiveness of injuries, and 
 the like. They correct, from time to time, various 
 errors in moral conduct to which men are liable. And 
 they instruct us, in various ways, how to rectify and im 
 prove our moral judgment, and bring it into practice in 
 our lives. 
 
 For Man s moral faculty is (as was observed at the 
 beginning) capable, like our other faculties, of cultivation 
 and improvement, and liable also to be depraved and 
 perverted in various ways. And a moral instructor is 
 one who undertakes, not indeed to create a moral faculty 
 in a Being quite destitute of it (any more than an ocu 
 list undertakes to create eyes), but to cultivate and im 
 prove the moral faculty, and remove its imperfections, 
 and preserve it from corruption ; even as an oculist 
 seeks to preserve the eyes, and cure the diseases of 
 them. 
 
LESSON IV. 
 
 OFFICE OF SCRIPTURE IN REFERENCE TO MORAL 
 CONDUCT. 
 
 1. The Golden Rule. 
 
 THAT invaluable rule of our Lord s, " To do to others 
 as we would have them do to us," will serve to explain, 
 when rightly understood, the true character of moral in 
 struction. If you were to understand that precept as 
 designed to convey to us the first notions of right and 
 wrong, and to be your sole guide as to what you ought 
 to do and to avoid in your dealings with your neighbor, 
 you would be greatly perplexed. For you would find 
 that a literal compliance with the precept would be some 
 times absurd, sometimes wrong., and sometimes impossi 
 ble. And probably it is through making this mistake 
 that men in general apply the rule so much seldomer 
 than they ought. For the real occasions for its use 
 occur to all of us every day. 
 
 Supposing any one should regard this golden rule as 
 designed to answer the purpose of a complete system of 
 morality, and to teach us the difference of right and 
 wrong ; then, if he had let his tend to a farmer, he m iht 
 consider that the farmer would be glad to be excused 
 paying any rent for it, since he would himself, if he were 
 the farmer, prefer having the land rent-free ; and that, 
 3 
 
26 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 therefore, the rule of doing as he would be done by re 
 quires him to give up all his property. So also a shop 
 keeper might, on the same principle, think that the 
 rule required him to part with his goods under prime 
 cost, or to give them away, and thus to ruin himself. 
 Now such a procedure would be absurd, 
 
 Again, supposing a jailer who was intrusted with the 
 safe custody of a prisoner should think himself bound to 
 let the man escape, because he himself, if he were a 
 prisoner, would be glad to obtain freedom, he would be 
 guilty of a breach of trust. Such an application of the 
 rule, therefore, would be morally wrong. 
 
 And again, if you had to decide between two parties 
 who were pleading their cause before you, you might 
 consider that each of them wished for a decision in his 
 own favor. And how, then, you might ask, would it be 
 possible to apply the rule ? since in deciding for the one 
 party you could not but decide against the other. A 
 literal compliance with the rule, therefore, would be, in 
 such a case, impossible. 
 
 2. Application of the Golden Ride. 
 
 Now, if you were to put such cases as these before 
 any sensible man, he would at once say that you are to 
 consider, not what you might wish in each case, but 
 what you would regard as/azr, right, just, reasonable, if 
 you were in another person s place. If you were a farm 
 er, although you might feel that you would be very 
 glad to have the land rent-free, that is, to become the 
 owner of it, you would not consider that you had any 
 just claim to it, and that you could fairly expect the 
 landlord to make you a present of his property. But 
 
OFFICE OF SCRIPTURE. 27 
 
 you would think it reasonable that, if you suffered some 
 great and unexpected loss, from an inundation or any 
 such calamity, he should make an abatement of the rent. 
 And this is what a good landlord generally thinks it 
 right to do, in compliance with the golden rule. 
 
 So also, if you had a cause to be tried, though of 
 course you would wish the decision to be in your favor, 
 you would be sensible that all you could reasonably ex 
 pect of the judge would be that he should lay aside all 
 prejudice, and attend impartially and carefully to the 
 evidence, and decide according to the best of his ability. 
 And this which is what each part may fairly claim 
 is what an upright judge will do. And the like holds 
 good in all the other cases. 
 
 3. Design of the Golden Rule. 
 
 You have seen, then, that the golden rule was far 
 from being designed to impart to men the first notions 
 of justice. On the contrary, it presupposes that knowl 
 edge ; and if we had no such notions, we could not prop 
 erly apply the rule. But the real design of it is to put 
 us on our guard against the danger of being blinded by 
 self-interest. A person who has a good general notion 
 of what is just may often be tempted to act unfairly or 
 unkindly towards his neighbors, when his own interest 
 or gratification is concerned, and to overlook the right 
 ful claims of others. When David was guilty of an 
 enormous sin in taking his neighbor s wife, and procur 
 ing the death of the husband, he was thinking only of 
 his own gratification, quite forgetful of duty, till his 
 slumbering conscience was roused by the prophet Na 
 than. On hearing the tale of " the poor man s lamb," 
 
28 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 his general abhorrence of injustice and cruelty caused 
 him to feel vehement indignation against the supposed 
 offender ; but he did not apply his principles to his own 
 case, till the prophet startled him by saying, " Thou art 
 the man ! " 
 
 And we, if we will make a practice of applying the 
 golden rule, may have a kind of prophet always at hand, 
 to remind us how, and when, to act on our principles of 
 right. We have only to consider, " What should I 
 think were I in the other s place, and he were to do so 
 and so to me ? How should I require him to treat me ? 
 What could I in fairness claim from him ? 
 
 4. Offices of Scripture and of Conscience. 
 
 Besides this most important rule for the application 
 of our principles, we find in Scripture (as has been al 
 ready observed) many precepts designed for the correc 
 tion and improvement of our principles ; many cautions 
 against the errors men are likely to fall into, in their 
 moral judgment on various points. For Conscience is 
 far from being an infallible guide, any more than Rea 
 son, generally. 
 
 One may illustrate the distinct uses of Scripture (in 
 all that relates to morals) and of natural Conscience, by 
 the comparison of a sun-dial and a clock. The clock has 
 the advantage of being always at hand, to be consulted 
 at any hour of the day or night ; while the dial is of use 
 only when the sun shines on it. But, then, the clock is 
 liable to go wrong, and vary from the true time ; and it 
 has no power in itself of correcting its own errors ; so 
 that these may go on increasing, to any extent, unless it 
 be from time to time regulated by the dial, which is 
 alone the unerring guide. 
 
OFFICE OF SCRIPTURE. 29 
 
 Even so it is with natural conscience as compared 
 with Scripture, which directs us according to the " wisdom 
 which is from above." In each particular case that may 
 occur, our own heart will furnish a decision as to what 
 is right or wrong ; and that in many cases which are 
 not particularly specified in Scripture, though they fall 
 under the general principles of the Gospel. But then 
 our own hearts are liable to deceive us, even to the 
 greatest extent, and to give wrong judgments, if they 
 are not continually corrected and regulated by a refer 
 ence to the word of God, which alone like his sun in 
 the natural world affords an infallible guide. 
 
 5. Regulation of Conscience. 
 
 While, therefore, you take care, on the one hand, not 
 to do anything that your conscience tells you is wrong, 
 you must beware, on the other hand, of concluding that 
 your conduct is necessarily right because your conscience 
 approves it ; or that you yourself at least are free from 
 sin as long as your own judgment does not condemn 
 you. For men may so far deprave their conscience as 
 to bring themselves to mistake wrong for right ; like 
 one who should bend the ruler which he is drawing 
 lines by. Thus, our Lord declared to his disciples that 
 those who killed them would think (not merely pretend, 
 but think) that " they were doing God service." And 
 Paul bitterly bewails his own sin in " persecuting the 
 Church," when he " verily thought that he ought to do 
 many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Naza 
 reth." And afterwards, when he became an Apostle, he 
 says, " I judge not mine own self; for I know nothing 
 3* 
 
30 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 by myself [against myself] ; yet am I not hereby justi 
 fied ; but He that judgeth me is the Lord." 
 
 We must be careful, therefore, to regulate both our 
 business by the clock, and the clock by the dial ; that is, 
 to regulate our conduct by our Conscience, and our Con 
 science itself by the commands and instructions which 
 God has given us. 
 
LESSON V. 
 
 MODE OF MORAL TEACHING OF SCRIPTURE. 
 
 1. Difference of the Gospel-teaching from that of 
 the Law. 
 
 THERE is no need to transcribe our Lord s " Sermon 
 on the Mount," or his various instructive parables, and 
 the several moral precepts delivered from time to time 
 by Him and his Apostles. For we are not writing for 
 persons unacquainted with the Bible, or neglectful of its 
 teaching. But it is important to point out some things 
 that are peculiar in the general plan of moral instruc 
 tion in the New Testament. 
 
 1. In the first place, you may observe how greatly it 
 differs from the Law of Moses, in not having, like that, 
 a number of precise rules laid down as to several par 
 ticular cases. That Law did indeed lay down the gen 
 eral principles of conduct, in those two great command 
 ments on which, says our Lord, " hang all the law and 
 the prophets " : " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, 
 with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself." But 
 besides these general commandments, there is a great 
 number of precepts as to particular points of conduct. 
 For the Israelites were in a sort of half-civilized con 
 dition, and needed to be treated in many respects like 
 children. Now children must be subjected, we know, to 
 
32 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 many precise regulations and restrictions, on account of 
 their not being fully capable of self-government. And 
 these are gradually relaxed as they grow up, and they 
 are left more and more to guide their conduct by their 
 own judgment. This is not from our thinking that good 
 conduct is less required of a man than of a child ; but, 
 on the contrary, because he is supposed to have reached 
 what is called " years of discretion," and may be consid 
 ered capable of judging for himself what is right or 
 wrong, and of acting accordingly.* 
 
 Hence, the Gospel, which was designed for men in a 
 more advanced state than that of the ancient Israelites, 
 gives much less of precise directions than the Mosaic 
 law. It is not that a less degree of moral excellence is 
 required of the Christian, but that the Gospel lays 
 down pure and elevated moral principles, rather than 
 exact rules ; and requires men to conform their lives to 
 those principles. 
 
 2. Men accustomed to Precise Rules. 
 
 Most men, however, are willing rather to have certain 
 exact rules laid down for them as to particular points, 
 and to be told precisely what they are to do and to 
 avoid, in each case, than to be left to their own discre 
 tion, and required to regulate their own conduct for 
 themselves, according to certain principles, and to be 
 made responsible for doing so. And this was particu 
 larly the case with those Jews whom our Lord was ad 
 dressing, because they had been brought up under the 
 Mosaic law, which contains a great number of precise 
 
 * Sec Lessons on Eeligious Worship, Lesson III. 
 
MODE OP MORAL TEACHING OF SCRIPTURE. 33 
 
 directions. And besides this law, they had among them 
 many pretended traditions (often alluded to in the Gos 
 pel history), which claimed to be of equal authority with 
 the written law. These are to be found in a book now 
 extant, called the " Mishna," which contains a multitude 
 of minute precepts ; some of them additions to the laws 
 of Moses, and some explanations of those laws, and di 
 rections how they are to be observed. 
 
 Now, a people who had been trained under such a 
 system would particularly require to have strongly im 
 pressed on their minds that Jesus did not design to give 
 them any such exact set of rules as they would be likely 
 to expect. 
 
 And here you may observe what a strong internal ] 
 evidence this affords of the divine origin of our religion. 
 If Jesus and his Apostles had been mere uninspired 
 men they would not have failed brought up as they 
 had been under the Jewish system to lay down such ; 
 precise precepts as the people of that Age and Country 
 were the most willing to receive, and the most prepared 
 to expect. Their proceeding in quite a different way 
 from what would have been both the most natural to 
 themselves (as mere men), and the most acceptable to 
 their hearers, is one of the many marks of their having 
 come from God. 
 
 3. Principles substituted for Exact Rules. 
 
 How much men did, at first, expect a system of exact 
 rules you may see from several passages in the Gos 
 pels. For instance, you find Peter asking his Master, 
 on one occasion, " Lord, how oft shall my brother sin 
 against me, and I forgive him ? till seven times ? " And 
 
34 LESSONS ON MOKALS. 
 
 you find one who had been told that he was bound to 
 " love the Lord his God with all his heart," &c., and 
 " his neighbor as himself/ inquiring, " Who is my neigh 
 bor ? " wishing to have a certain exact line drawn be 
 tween those whom he was, and was not, bound to love 
 and to benefit. And Jesus shows him that by one s 
 " neighbor " is meant any one whom it is in our power 
 to serve ; giving an example of an alien, and one of 
 a different religion. 
 
 But our Lord, in the general course of his teaching, 
 took an effectual, method of showing his disciples that 
 He meant them (instead of satisfying themselves with a 
 literal conformity to certain precise rules] to cultivate 
 right dispositions, and act on right principles. This He 
 does by often giving such precepts that a literal compli 
 ance with them would be either (1.) impossible, or (2.) 
 irrational and absurd, or (3.) insignificant, and of too 
 little importance to be worth inculcating for their own 
 sake. For where a literal compliance with some pre 
 cept would be either impossible or absurd or wrong, it 
 is plain that such a compliance could not be intended ; 
 and where it would be trifling and unimportant, it is 
 manifest that it could not be all that was intended. And 
 thus the disciples were driven if they were sincerely 
 desirous to learn, and would intrepret rationally and can 
 didly what they heard to perceive that such precepts 
 were designed to explain and to impress on their minds 
 the dispositions they were to cultivate, and the general 
 principles on which they were to act. 
 
 4. Morcd Discretion. 
 For instance, when our Lord tells his disciples to 
 
MODE OP MORAL TEACHING OF SCRIPTURE. 35 
 
 make their prayers and their alms so secret that " their 
 left hand should not know what their right hand did " ; 
 and again, " to let their light so shine before men, 
 that they might see their good works, and glorify their 
 Heavenly Father," it is plain that an exact literal com 
 pliance with both precepts would be impossible, and 
 therefore could not have been designed. What, then, is 
 it, one may ask, that He did mean ? Evidently, that 
 when the publicity of our alms and our devotions seems 
 likely to benefit men by our good example, then we 
 should let them see our light shining, " that they may 
 glorify our Father in heaven " ; and that, when it is our 
 own glory rather than his that is sought, or that is likely 
 to be the only effect of publicity, then concealment should 
 be preferred. And of this our great Master requires 
 us to judge for ourselves in each case, and to decide ac 
 cording to our discretion. 
 
 Again, when He tells us that, in order to be " his dis 
 ciple," a man must " hate father and mother, and wife 
 and children, and all that he hath," it is plain that this 
 was not meant to be understood and obeyed literally. 
 And, indeed, He himself supplies, in another place, an 
 explanation of it, when He says, " He that loveth fa 
 ther and mother more than me is not worthy of me." 
 
 But, even independently of that explanation, it is suf 
 ficiently clear to any one of ordinary good sense and 
 candor that He was looking to those cases (very com 
 mon at that time) in which the opposition of parents, or 
 wife, or children, must be encountered by one resolving 
 to be a devoted servant of Christ ; and that he must be 
 ready in such cases to account as nothing in comparison 
 the regard felt for those who have the strongest hold on 
 
36 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 our hearts, when we could not comply with their wishes 
 without deserting our Master s cause. And this he ex 
 presses i n another place by saying, " If thine eye offend 
 thee, pluck it out ";..." if thy right hand offend thee, 
 cut it off and cast it from thee " ; that is, if what is most 
 dear and precious to thee prove a hinderance in the path 
 of Christian duty, renounce it at once and completely. 
 
 5. Principles taught by Instances in Small Matters. 
 
 Then, again, several of our Lord s precepts relate, as 
 has been just said, to such small matters, that every can 
 did and sensible person must perceive that a mere literal 
 compliance with them could not have been all that was 
 meant, and that the design must have been to give a sam 
 ple of the kind of disposition to be cultivated. When, 
 for instance, Jesus censures those who took possession of 
 the most honorable seats at a feast, and tells his disci 
 ples to take the lowest seats, He does indeed mean that 
 his precepts should be literally complied with ; since 
 unobtrusive modesty is right, and arrogant forwardness 
 wrong, both in great matters and in small; but He 
 meant to give a specimen, in one of the smaller points 
 relating to good manners, of the disposition to be shown 
 in all cases ; and accordingly He concludes by laying 
 down, generally, " Every one that exalteth himself shall 
 be abased, but he that humbleth himself shall be ex 
 alted." 
 
 Again, He gives an example and also a precept, both 
 of humility and kindness, in condescending to wash his 
 disciples feet, and adding, " Ye ought also to wash one 
 another s feet." This was (as is well known), from the 
 peculiar circumstances of the Age and Country, one of 
 
MODE OF MORAL TEACHING OF SCRIPTURE. 37 
 
 the chief refreshments to travellers. This particular 
 service, consequently, was chosen as affording an easy 
 and familiar illustration of the general disposition He 
 designed to encourage, a readiness to perform kind 
 offices for each other. Now, if the particular office of 
 kindness selected by Him had been one of the most im 
 portant services of life, the disciples might possibly have 
 supposed that the precept related to that particular ser 
 vice alone. But this was guarded against by his partic 
 ularizing one of the commonest and smallest services. 
 When He said to them, " Ye ought to wash one another s 
 feet," they must have felt sure that the precept was 
 meant to extend to more than that one small point of 
 hospitality, and to comprehend a general readiness to 
 befriend one another. 
 
 These few instances may suffice as specimens (since 
 you may easily find others for yourself) to show how 
 our great Master guarded his hearers against expecting 
 to receive any complete set of precise rules for their 
 conduct ; and against satisfying their conscience by the 
 performance of certain specified acts, and by taking 
 care to do nothing that is expressly forbidden. 
 
 6. Importance of Right Motives. 
 
 Another point on which our Scriptures supply need 
 ful corrections of men s moral notions, is the importance 
 of right motives. Thus our Lord declares that the alms 
 giving of the Pharisees was utterly worthless in God s 
 sight, because it was practised through ostentation, " for 
 to be seen of men." " Verily, I say unto you," said He, 
 " they have their reward " ; that is, the human praise, 
 which was what they sought, they may obtain ; but that 
 4 
 
38 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 is all: the Divine approbation they must not expect. 
 The Apostle Paul, again, tells the Corinthians : " Though 
 I give all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give 
 my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth 
 me nothing." 
 
 Men have the more. need to be put on their guard 
 as to this point, because it is possible, and indeed com 
 mon, for a person s acts to be of service to his neighbors, 
 or to the Public (as, for instance, the relieving of the 
 distressed poor), though they have nothing at all of the 
 character of virtue, from want of the right motive. 
 
 Every one must perceive, on reflection, that the very 
 same act may be either virtuous, or sinful, or indifferent, 
 according to the motive from which it is done. And so 
 completely does the moral character of any action de 
 pend on the motive and intention of the agent, that, when 
 this is fully known, we account him right or wrong (as 
 the case may be), even when no outward act at all has 
 taken place, or one quite different from what was de 
 signed. For instance, that attendant on King William 
 Rufus, who discharged at a deer an arrow which glanced 
 against a tree and killed the king, was no murderer, be 
 cause he had no such design. And, on the other hand, 
 a man who should He in wait to assassinate another, 
 and pull the trigger of a gun with that intent, would be 
 morally a murderer, not the less though the gun should 
 chance to miss lire. 
 
 So also, when our first parents transgressed the di 
 vine law in Paradise, their sin was committed as soon as 
 they had fully resolved to eat of the forbidden fruit, and 
 before it had actually entered their lips. Whatever ef 
 fects may have been produced in them by the actual eat- 
 
MODE OF MORAL TEACHING OF SCRIPTURE. 39 
 
 ing of the fruit, it could not have been to make their na 
 ture frail, and such as to commit sin; since they had 
 actually committed their sin before. And in whatever 
 sense, therefore, they may have been said, before, to 
 have been " very good," it could not have been in the 
 sense of their being originally exempt from this frailty 
 and proneness to disobedience. /That their character I 
 may have become worse, through some effect producedj 
 by the fruit itself, is quite possible.; But to speak of 
 Man s having become liable to sin, through committing 
 sin, would be as absurd as to speak of his having cre 
 ated himself. 
 
 7. Virtue and Vice depend on the Motives. 
 
 It is plain, then, that though we commonly speak of 
 virtuous and vicious conduct, yet, properly speaking, 
 and in the strictest sense, it is not the actions them 
 selves that are virtuous or vicious, but the disposition 
 of the agent. The outward acts are accounted morally 
 good or evil, merely as being signs of the inward dispo 
 sition. They are generally the best signs we can have 
 of a man s disposition ; but we all know that they are 
 not to be relied on as infallible signs. If, for instance, 
 any one were making bountiful gifts to the poor, he 
 might, perhaps, be considered as kind-hearted and lib 
 eral ; but if it were discovered that he was doing this 
 for the sake of securing his election to a seat in Parlia 
 ment, or for some other object of his own, no one would 
 any longer give him credit for virtue in what he was do 
 ing. And (as was formerly observed, Lesson I.) if any 
 one acts honestly, and does what is right in itself, merely 
 from submission to the laws, and through fear of incur- 
 
40 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 ring legal penalties, this is evidently mere prudence, and 
 not moral virtue. 
 
 You are to remember, however, that when we speak 
 of the intention and design being what makes a man s 
 conduct morally good or bad, we mean, not an intention 
 merely of doing what he thinks right, but what really 
 is right. For, as has been above observed, the unbe 
 lieving Jews thought they were doing God service in 
 killing the Christians. But this neither justified the act } 
 nor made the intention a good one. 
 
 And you are also to remember, that we are not speak 
 ing of intentions and designs to do at some future time 
 what is in one s power to do at once ; but of such a full 
 intention and purpose as will lead to immediate action as 
 soon as the opportunity offers. For, " to-morrow," says 
 the proverb, " comes never " ; and the same tempter who 
 leads you to put off doing what is right to a " more con 
 venient season," will be as ready to suggest an excuse 
 to-morrow as to-day. 
 
LESSON VI. 
 
 MORAL DISCIPLINE. 
 
 1. Object of requiring Good Conduct. 
 
 THE object aimed at by any moral instructor, and of 
 course by the sacred writers, is to make us good men. 
 And good works, [or virtuous actions,] which are the 
 natural fruit of good dispositions, are required principal 
 ly as a proof of those dispositions, and as an exercise 
 and training to produce a virtuous character. 
 
 On the other hand, if a farmer, or any other employer 
 of laborers, endeavors to make his men honest and in 
 dustrious, in order that they may do his work the better, 
 he is not properly a moral instructor ; since his main 
 object is, not the benefit of the workmen themselves, 
 (though he may, in fact, have greatly benefited them,) 
 but the work done, which is for his profit. 
 
 Now it is plain that our Divine Master can have no 
 need of the services of his creatures ; and that, there 
 fore, the good works which He requires of us must be 
 entirely for our own benefit, not for his, in order to our 
 moral improvement. And from this you may see how 
 utterly worthless in his sight must be any good works 
 (that is, good in themselves) not done from a good mo 
 tive. For " Can a man be profitable unto God, as he 
 
 that is wise may be profitable unto himself? Is it any 
 
 4* 
 
42 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous ? or is 
 it gain to Him that thou makest thy ways perfect?" 
 Job xxii. 2, 3. 
 
 2. Good Works by Proxy. 
 
 And you may also see what an absurdity those fall 
 into who imagine that it is possible to do good works by 
 proxy, and in this way to have imputed to us as ours 
 what is done by another on our behalf. Yet, in some 
 Christian churches, men have been so far deluded as to 
 imagine that it can be acceptable to God to pay a priest 
 to perform religious exercises for them, or to pay a per 
 son to go on pilgrimages, and undergo penances, on their 
 behalf and in their stead. Now all this evidently goes 
 on the notion that these supposed good works have a 
 value in themselves in God s sight, and are acceptable to 
 Him on their own account, as if they were some benefit 
 to Himself. 
 
 But if those prayers and pilgrimages, etc., were really 
 the best possible works in themselves, it is plain that the 
 Most High could have no need of them, and that it is 
 not for his profit, but for ours, that he requires us to 
 worship and to obey Him.* 
 
 We do, indeed, find in Scripture several expressions 
 which, taken literally and by themselves, would imply 
 that God is really desirous, for his own sake, of the wor 
 ship and services of his creatures. He even describes 
 Himself as a "jealous God"; meaning that He will not 
 allow the honor due to Him to be paid to others. But 
 this is to be understood in the same way as when anger 
 
 * See Note at the end of this Lesson. 
 
MORAL DISCIPLINE. 48 
 
 and repentance are attributed to Him ; and even eyes, 
 and ears, and hands. All this is meant to impress on 
 us that He knows all things, as we do what we see 
 and hear ; and that we ought to dread disobeying Him, 
 as we should some great earthly king who would be 
 really angry at our rebellion ; and that we should be as 
 careful to honor Him as if He really could be gratified 
 by our honor. 
 
 But it is plain that He cannot really have any need 
 of our services ; and that it is for our own sakes, and 
 that of our brethren, not for his, that we are command 
 ed to " do all for the glory of God." 
 
 3. Works required for the Sake of the Works. 
 
 The distinction we have been speaking of, which it is 
 most important to keep in mind, may be thus illustrated ; 
 if a man offers for sale any article for instance, a 
 map to a publisher, it is no matter to the purchaser 
 whether the man drew it himself or got some friend to 
 draw it for him. Provided the map is honestly the 
 seller s property, and is well executed, that is all that is 
 to the purpose. On the other hand, if a schoolmaster 
 sets a boy to draw a map, by way of practice, in order 
 that he may learn to be a good draughtsman, then, if 
 the boy should get a schoolfellow to do it for him, and 
 should show it up as his own, he would be reproved and 
 punished. For the task was set him, not for the sake 
 of the map, (which the master could have drawn better 
 for himself,) but as an exercisre for the improvement of 
 the learner. 
 
 Now you cannot doubt that this latter case answers 
 to ours in reference to our Divine Master, and that, as 
 
44 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 " no man can be profitable unto God," and He cannot 
 stand in need of our services, it must be a mere ground 
 less fancy to think that another person can perform our 
 duty- in our stead, and that his good works real or 
 supposed can be imputed to us, and considered as 
 done by ourselves. 
 
 A like illustration from the case of a school will serve 
 to explain another point also, on which some persons 
 have fallen into perplexity or mistake, that of the re 
 wards promised in Scripture, and the merit which some 
 suppose good works to possess in God s sight. 
 
 Suppose, for instance, some rich and liberal man 
 should found a school for the children of his poor neigh 
 bors ; and suppose that, besides building a school-house, 
 and providing teachers and school-books, he should also 
 propose prizes for such of the scholars as should behave 
 well, and make good proficiency in their learning. 
 Every one would understand that the children and their 
 parents ought to be very grateful to such a patron for 
 his kind bounty. And the children would easily be 
 made to understand that they ought to show their thank 
 fulness by taking pains to profit by the advantages af 
 forded them. They would readily understand that any 
 of them who should behave ill, or refuse to learn, would 
 be expelled ; and that those who exerted themselves 
 would obtain the prizes. And when it was said that 
 the prizes were to be the reward of good behavior, no 
 one would be so stupid as to think that those who gained 
 them could claim them as something earned by them 
 selves as a matter of right, and for which they owed no 
 thanks to any one. All would understand that the pro 
 posing of the prizes was from the free bounty of the 
 
MORAL DISCIPLINE. 45 
 
 kind patron ; and that the proficiency in learning of the 
 children thus rewarded was no benefit to him, but only 
 to them ; and that it was entirely for their sakes that 
 they were encouraged to take pains in learning. 
 
 But they would fully calculate on receiving the prom 
 ised rewards in case of good conduct, though not as what 
 they had originally any claim to, but because it had 
 been promised. For, though the offer of the prizes 
 came from the patron s free bounty, the fulfilment of a 
 promise once made is a matter of justice. 
 
 4. Righteousness of God. 
 
 And, accordingly, we read that " God is not unright 
 eous [unjust] to forget our work and labor of love " : 
 not that He was originally bound in justice to reward 
 any good works of ours, or that they can be a benefit to 
 Him ; but because He has graciously promised to be a 
 " rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." The 
 offer of a reward to any of his creatures is a free gift of 
 his bounty ; but we may trust to his justice to make 
 good what He has said. 
 
 If you could imagine the patron of a school, such as 
 we have been describing, to have supplied to the chil 
 dren not only a school-room, and teachers and books, but 
 also the eyes with which they read the books, and the 
 ears with which they hear what is said to them, and the 
 brain by which they understand it, then the case would 
 answer more closely to that of ourselves in reference to 
 our Maker, " in whom we live and move and have our be 
 ing." For He has supplied to us all our powers of mind 
 and body, and He requires us, as He certainly has a full 
 right to do, to employ these in leading a Christian life 
 
46 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 and devoting ourselves to his service. And He has held 
 out to us the promise of the "prize of our high calling," 
 the "crown of glory," which the Lord, the righteous 
 Judge, will give, at that day, to all them that love his 
 appearing. To this we could have no natural claim; 
 and though we may fully rely on his justice for the ful 
 filment of his promises, all that we can receive from 
 Him is not the less a free and bountiful gift, since 
 the promises themselves proceed from his bounty alone. 
 
 5. Good Conduct has no natural Claim to Reward. 
 
 Some, however, are apt to speak as if they thought 
 that virtue is, in itself, naturally entitled to reward ; and 
 that, if any Being could lead a life (though none of us 
 does so) of perfect, unsinning virtue, he might then just 
 ly claim [though we cannot] to be rewarded with im 
 mortal happiness. 
 
 But you may easily perceive, from considering what 
 is the nature of duty, that such a notion is quite ground 
 less. For it is evident that a duty must be something 
 that is due, a debt which we are bound to discharge. 
 That is the very meaning of the word. And no one 
 can be justly entitled to reward for merely paying his 
 debts. If a man fail to pay what he was bound to pay, 
 he is liable to punishment. If he does pay his debts, 
 he is exempt from punishment ; and that is all he can 
 claim. 
 
 Reward is what a man is justly entitled to, only for 
 doing something beyond what he was bound to, some 
 thing which he could not have been liable to punish 
 ment for not doing. For instance, if a man devotes his 
 own private property, and time, and labor, to the effect- 
 
MORAL DISCIPLINE. 47 
 
 ing of some great public benefit, when he was not re 
 quired to do so, the nation will think such a man worthy 
 of being rewarded by some public honors bestowed on 
 him. And when any one bountifully relieves, out of 
 his own private purse, his distressed neighbors who had 
 no claim on him, this is a merit as regards them ; and 
 he is justly entitled to their gratitude, and to any ser- 
 yices they may be able to do him in return. 
 
 But the Most High has evidently a just claim to the 
 obedience of his creatures ; and all that they can do in 
 the keeping of his commandments can have no claim 
 of merit in his sight, being only the payment of a debt 
 due to Him. 
 
 And, accordingly, our Lord tells his disciples that 
 when they have "done all things that He has com 
 manded them, they are to say, We are unprofitable ser 
 vants : we have done that which it was our duty to do." 
 And thus also the Apostle Paul speaks of " death being 
 the wages of sin, but eternal life the gift of God through 
 Jesus Christ." 
 
 6. Reward and Punishment when due. 
 
 Some persons, however, are accustomed to speak of 
 the rewarding of virtue and the punishment of vice, as 
 if the two naturally went together. But they may per 
 ceive, on reflection, that this is not at all the true state 
 of the case. For no man is punishable for omitting to 
 do something which he was not hound to do. And for 
 doing anything that he was bound to do such as pay 
 ing a debt he has no natural claim to reward, only to 
 exemption from punishment. If, indeed, a reward has 
 been promised him for doing his duty, he may look for 
 
48 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 that reward on the ground of the promise made, and on 
 that ground alone. But the merit which claims reward, 
 as in itself rightly due, must be for some things beyond 
 what a person was bound to do. 
 
 And, accordingly, those Churches which teach that 
 the supposed merits of saints may be transferred from 
 them to us, always represent these merits as consisting 
 in what are called works of " supererogation " ; that is, 
 something beyond their duty, over and above that which 
 was required of them. But such a notion is utterly 
 groundless, and contrary both to Scripture and Reason. 
 For Scripture teaches that we are "to love the Lord 
 our God with all our heart, and soul, and strength. * 
 And Reason teaches that nothing we can do that is ac 
 ceptable to Him can be more than his just due. There 
 may, indeed, be something which, from peculiar cir 
 cumstances, is a duty to one man and not to another. 
 And thus one man may go beyond what is required 
 of some other men ; but no one can go beyond his own 
 duty. 
 
 It is plain, therefore, that no human virtue can have 
 merit in God s sight, or any natural claim to reward, in 
 dependently of express promise. In reference to your 
 fellow-men, indeed, you may have merit, and may justly 
 deserve from them gratitude and reward, for having 
 done them some service that is in itself valuable to them, 
 and which is also beyond what they had any right to re 
 quire. But it is plain that nothing of this kind can be 
 the case in reference to our Maker. 
 
 And as for Man s attaining heavenly happiness by 
 the performance of good works, even in unsinning per 
 fection, no such thought can enter the mind of any one 
 
MORAL DISCIPLINE. 49 
 
 who has any just notions either of the nature of Virtue, 
 or of his Religion. For Reason teaches us that the 
 idea of a man s raising himself to immortal life, is as 
 absurd as that of a brute s exalting itself into a man ; 
 and that the performance of duty cannot (as has been 
 just said) entitle us, of itself, and independently of ex 
 press promise, even to any reward at all. And the 
 Christian Scriptures teach us that " by grace [i. e. favor] 
 we are saved ; and that not of ourselves : it is the gift 
 of God." 
 
 NOTE. If any one should ask you, " Since the Most High can 
 have no need of any one s services, or, again, of any one s sufferings, 
 how can it be that the sufferings and death of Christ could procure 
 Man s salvation, and that He should have suffered in our stead? " If 
 any one should ask this question, you should answer that you do not 
 know ; since it is a point on which Scripture gives us no explanation ; 
 and that you cannot clear up either that or any other part of the one 
 great mysterious difficulty (of which this is a branch), the existence 
 of evil in the universe. We know, as a fact, from the plain declara 
 tions of Scripture, that " Christ died, the just for the unjust," and 
 that "by his stripes we are healed " ; and we must suppose that if it 
 had been possible for us to understand, and needful for us to know, 
 the reasons why this was necessary, and how the death of Christ avails 
 us, the Scriptures would have told us. But they do not. They 
 merely tell us the fact. And if, again, Scripture had plainly declared 
 that it is possible to be virtuous by proxy, and that another person s 
 good works would be accepted by the Most High as ours, then we 
 should have been bound to believe this, though unable to explain it. 
 But as it is, the Scriptures tell us no such thing. We are left on 
 this point to the light of Eeason ; and nothing can be more contrary 
 to Reason, than that one man s virtue should be accounted another s, 
 that a barren branch of the vine should be reckoned fruitful, on 
 account of the fruitfulness of another branch. 
 
 It is for us to take Scripture as we find it; not presuming to add 
 on doctrines of our own devising, or attempting to explain mysteries 
 5 
 
50 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 i which Revelation has left unexplained. It is for us to seek to know 
 as much, and to be content to know only as much, of heavenly things 
 as Scripture tells us ; and to remain willingly ignorant of what our 
 all- wise Master does not think fit to teach us. According to the wise 
 saying of Scaliger, 
 
 " Nescire velle quoe Magister optimus 
 
 Docere non vult, erudita inscitia est." 
 " Be willing and contented not to know 
 What our Great Teacher thinks not fit to show: 
 This is Man s truest wisdom here below." 
 
LESSON VII. 
 
 PROPER OFFICE OF CONSCIENCE. 
 
 1. Foundation of our Moral Notions. 
 
 You may have seen, then, that (1.) the law of the 
 land is not to be made the standard of moral right and 
 wrong; both because it cannot enforce all duties, or 
 prohibit everything that is wrong ; and also because it 
 is only concerned with outward acts, and cannot control 
 motives; though it is on these that the whole moral 
 character of any action depends. 
 
 (2.) You have seen that Conscience [or the moral 
 faculty] is a part of the human constitution ; since with 
 out such a faculty it would have been totally impossible 
 to form the notion of such a thing as duty, or such a 
 thing as sin ; though we might have submitted to the 
 divine commands as a matter of prudence. 
 
 (3.) You have seen that Conscience being (like the 
 rest of our faculties) liable to corruption, capable of im 
 provement, and requiring sometimes to be corrected and 
 sometimes to be fortified ; hence, God has been pleased 
 to afford us in the Scriptures much important moral in 
 struction, both by precept and examples, and also the 
 promise of divine aid in the performance of duty, and, 
 lastly, the promises and warnings relating to the Day of I 
 Judgment. 
 
52 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 j And (4.) it was pointed out, that, since the Most High 
 can have no need of our services, it is plain that good 
 works are required, not as a benefit to Him, but as an 
 exercise to us, in order to our own moral improvement ; 
 and can have no merit in his sight, nor can claim re 
 ward from Him, except on the ground of his free prom 
 ises. 
 
 In order, then, to form a virtuous character, two things 
 are requisite : (1.) that we should steadily act on prin 
 ciple, conforming all our conduct to the dictates of 
 Conscience, and keeping all our faculties and tendencies 
 tinder its control ; and (2.) that we should regulate our 
 Conscience itself; guarding against the errors to which 
 it is liable, and taking care, while acting on principle, 
 to keep that a right principle. 
 
 In short, we must (according to the illustration in 
 Lesson IV.) proceed as a man of sense does in the dis 
 posal of his time. He continually consults his clock or 
 watch, and regulates all his occupations by that ; taking 
 care, however, to regulate his watch also, when oppor 
 tunity offers, by the sun-dial. 
 
 T 2. Two Things requisite for Virtuous Conduct. 
 
 Both of the two things we have mentioned are equal 
 ly indispensable. For a man who should have the most 
 perfect knowledge of his duty, and the most correct 
 moral judgment on every point, but whose passions 
 should prevail over his reason, and cause him to act 
 against his own judgment, would be only tormented by 
 his conscience, and not guided by it. And he would be 
 in the condition of some nation whose laws were wise 
 and good, and its rulers able and upright men ; but in 
 
PROPER OFFICE OF CONSCIENCE. 53 
 
 which the subjects were in rebellion against their rulers, ) 
 and set the laws at defiance. 
 
 On the other hand, a man acting constantly according 
 to the dictates of conscience, but of a mistaken conscience, 
 and proceeding on wrong principles, would be in the 
 condition of a nation in which the rulers were strictly 
 obeyed, and the laws rigidly enforced, but whose laws 
 were absurd, and the rulers unwise or unjust. And it is 
 plain that neither of these nations would be in a pros 
 perous condition. 
 
 Conscience is, as we have said, a mere tormenter to 
 one who does not act according to it. And the more 
 conscientious any one is, and the clearer and juster his 
 moral judgments, and the better he is acquainted with 
 God s commandments, the more he will suffer the mis 
 ery of self-reproach, if he is leading a life of sin. And, 
 accordingly, the Apostle Paul gives a vivid and touch- / 
 ing description of a man in this condition; of one, 
 that is, who knows the divine will, and in his judg 
 ment approves of what is right, but who is enslaved to 
 [" sold under "] his passions, and acts against his con 
 science. "I delight in the law of God," he repre 
 sents such a man as saying, " after the inward man ; 
 but I see another law in my members, warring against 
 the law of my mind, and bringing me- into captivity to 
 the law of sin, which is in my members. wretched 
 man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of 
 this death ? " Rom. vii. 22 - 24. 
 
 It is plain that the same sort of description would ap 
 ply to any one who is acting contrary to his judgment 
 of what is right ; whether his knowledge be derived 
 from a divine revelation, or from the light of nature. / 
 5* 
 
54 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 And, accordingly, several of the ancient heathen writers 
 give nearly the same picture of a man wanting in self- 
 control, and sinning against his own better judgment. 
 In particular, the most celebrated and the soundest of 
 the ancient moralists, Aristotle,* has a passage agreeing 
 in substance, and almost in words, with what we find in 
 the Apostle Paul, describing the wretched state of the 
 man in whose mind there is, he says, a continual inward 
 " civil war " between his conscience and the passions that 
 | enslave him. 
 
 3. Man wider the Law and under the Gospel. 
 
 Of course, the Apostle, though using the first person, is 
 not describing his own actual condition, or that of those 
 he was writing to, but that of one who has a knowledge 
 of what is right, but wants strength of purpose to act on 
 that knowledge. That he is not speaking of himself in 
 dividually nor indeed of the Roman Christians at that 
 time is plain, from his going on to say immediately 
 after,! " There is therefore now no condemnation to them 
 which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, 
 but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in 
 Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and 
 death." (chap. viii. 1, 2.) 
 
 And, moreover, he had just before been saying to the 
 
 * See Note at the end of this Lesson. 
 
 f You are to remember that the divisions into chapters and verses 
 were not the work of the sacred writers, but were made long after 
 their time, for the sake of reference. 
 
 It happens, unluckily, that the brenk between the 7th and 8th chap 
 ters conies in the midst of an argument, and almost in the middle of 
 a sentence. 
 
PROPER OFFICE OF CONSCIENCE. 55 
 
 Romans (chap, vi.), " God be thanked, that ye were the 
 servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that 
 form of doctrine which was delivered to you. Being 
 then made free from sin, ye became the servants of 
 righteousness." (v. 17, 18.) 
 
 And, in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, he de 
 scribes himself as " keeping under his body, and bring 
 ing it into subjection " ; which is a complete contrast to 
 the state of a man " sold [as a slave] under sin," and 
 " brought into captivity to the law of sin." 
 
 But he is describing (in Rom. vii.), first, the condition 
 of a person situated as the Gentiles had been, who had 
 no revelation of God s laws, and were left to the imper 
 fect guidance of mere natural conscience. " I was alive," 
 says he, (that is, had not incurred or, at least, was 
 not aware of having incurred the penalty of death,) 
 " without the law, once." 
 
 Now Paul himself, we know, was born and educated 
 a Jew, and never had been " without the law " ; but he 
 is speaking (though in the first person, which is a very 
 common mode of expression, not only with Paul, but in 
 our common conversation) of a Gentile, in ignorance of 
 the law. And then he proceeds to point out how the 
 " coming in of the law " that is, the knowledge of it 
 caused " sin to enter in " (Rom. vii. 9) ; that is, 
 caused that to be and to be perceived to be sin, 
 which had not been so before. 
 
 And then he goes on to describe the condition of a 
 person having a knowledge of the divine will, but want 
 ing self-control, and " sold under sin." And, lastly, he 
 describes (cli. viii.) the situation of those on whom the 
 Gospel has bestowed the inestimable gift of divine grace, 
 
56 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 not only to show them what is right, but to strengthen 
 them for the performance of it, and thus to make them 
 "free from the law of sin." 
 
 4. Depraving of Conscience. 
 
 Many persons, however, are apt to seek an escape 
 from the reproaches of conscience by bringing their con 
 science to conform to their conduct. They try to satisfy 
 themselves that they are right in following their own 
 wrong inclinations and prejudices, and that their faults 
 are not faults, or not faults in them ; or, at least, that 
 they are quite trifling and excusable faults. Many a 
 man takes more pains to justify his faults than it would 
 cost him, with God s help, to cure them. 
 
 Those who labor thus to blind their own judgment, 
 and to satisfy their conscience by perverting it, will gen 
 erally succeed, sooner or later, in this self-deceit. And 
 then they rejoice in the thought that they are free from 
 self-reproach, and are acting agreeably to the dictates of 
 conscience, when perhaps the truth is, that they are not 
 doing so, because they think it right ; but, on the con 
 trary, have brought themselves to think it right, because 
 they were inclined to do it. It is not that they omit 
 such and such duties from being originally ignorant that 
 they are duties ; but they have persuaded themselves 
 that they are not duties, because their inclination is 
 against them. 
 
 It is a proverbial remark, and a just one, that " a liar 
 will sometimes repeat the same falsehood so often, that 
 at last he will come to believe it himself." He did not 
 originally say it because he believed it ; but, by saying 
 it, has brought himself to believe it. The like takes 
 
PROPER OFFICE OF CONSCIENCE. 57 
 
 place with many other sins besides lying. And a man 
 will often succeed in thus convincing, not only himself, 
 but others, of his " sincerity." When they are satisfied 
 that he believes what he says, and thinks it right to act 
 as he does, they will often take this as at least some ex 
 cuse or palliation, even when they think him in the 
 wrong. And so it is, if a man speaks and acts as he 
 does, properly in consequence of his judging it -to be 
 right ; but if it be, that, in consequence of his so act 
 ing, he has at length brought himself to judge it right, 
 this kind of " sincerity " is the last stage of moral cor 
 ruption. For this is not taking conscience for one s 
 guide, but making one s self the guide of conscience. 
 
 And, thus, a person who begins by committing the one 
 of those two errors above mentioned will end by com 
 mitting the other. If you begin by neglecting the warn 
 ings of conscience, and acting against your own moral 
 judgment, that judgment will in time become depraved, 
 and you will act on wrong principles. For when any 
 country (according to the illustration above given) has 
 long permitted rebellious subjects to disobey the legiti 
 mate governors, and transgress the laws, it is likely that 
 in time those rebels will themselves become the real 
 governors, and will make such laws as they please. 
 
 Even the teaching of Scripture, which was designed 
 for our guidance and correction, will not serve that pur 
 pose, to any one who reads it with a biassed mind, and 
 searches in it for a confirmation of his own opinions and 
 a justification of his own conduct. His reading will be 
 like a man s looking at objects through a colored glass, 
 which shows them not as they really are, but tinted with 
 the hue of the glass. And such a person is not really 
 
58 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 following Scripture, but making Scripture follow his 
 prejudices. 
 
 5. Misapplying of Scripture. 
 
 The Apostle Paul, for instance, before his conversion, 
 u verily thought that he ought to do many things " against 
 Christianity. Yet he was familiar with the Old Testa 
 ment Scriptures ; those Scriptures from which he him 
 self afterwards " proved that Jesus is the Christ." But 
 he had been in the state of mind which he afterwards de 
 scribes as that of many of his countrymen, who, he says, 
 in reading the books of Moses and the Prophets, have a 
 " veil on their hearts." 
 
 And, again, you may find persons convinced that they 
 are bound to receive all the doctrines and decrees of 
 their Church, even when plainly contrary to the written 
 word of God, because our Lord said in speaking of 
 the case of a dispute betiveen two private individuals 
 that, if any one " refuse to hear the church," he is to be 
 regarded " as a heathen man." 
 
 So, also, (to refer to the passage of Scripture above 
 mentioned,) men, leading a profligate life, and given up 
 to the practice of vices which their moral judgment con 
 demns, may flatter themselves that they are just in the 
 condition of the Apostle Paul, and as safe as he was ; 
 because they will insist on it that he was speaking of 
 himself individually in his actual state, when he said, " I 
 am carnal, sold under sin," etc. 
 
 Again, the words of the Prophet Isaiah (Ixiv. G), 
 " All our righteousness is as filthy rags," may be inter 
 preted, taken by themselves, to signify that our practice 
 of righteousness is not all acceptable to God. For the 
 
PROPER OFFICE OF CONSCIENCE. 59 
 
 sacred writers or indeed any writer may be made 
 to say anything by thus picking out a sentence, or half- 
 sentence, here and there. But if you lodk to the whole 
 of the passage, you will see that the prophet is not speak 
 ing of persons who had been obedient to God s laws, but 
 of those who had been most emphatically ?mrighteous. 
 " Behold," says he, " thou art wroth, for we have sinned. 
 .... We are all as an unclean thing, and all our right 
 eousness is as filthy rags ; and we all do fade as a leaf, 
 and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away, and 
 there is none that calleth on thy name." His expres 
 sion is only another way of saying, " We are quite desti 
 tute of righteousness," even as the same prophet (ch. i.) 
 described a like condition by saying, " Thy silver is be 
 come dross." 
 
 There are many other parts of the Bible that may be 
 thus perversely interpreted, so as to sanction what is ab 
 surd or wrong. And thus may men, as the Apostle 
 Peter warns us, " wrest the Scriptures to their own de 
 struction." Such students of Scripture resemble (to re 
 cur to a former illustration) a man who should pretend 
 to regulate his clocks and watches by the sun-dial, and 
 should go to it in the night with a candle, and thus throw 
 the shadow whichever way he would. 
 
 
 NOTE. Aristotle, in the subjoined extract from his Ethics, agrees, 
 as you will see, in substance, and almost in words, with what Paul 
 says in Rom. vii. Many other passages to the same effect will be 
 found in several of the ancient writers. But there are some persons 
 so ignorant of what the heathen authors have said, and so uncon- / 
 scious of their own ignorance, as to imagine that no one not enlight- 
 
60 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 j ened by tho Gospel could have used such expressions as those of 
 Paul. The passage here given, from Aristotle, will serve as a speci 
 men to show how greatly they are in error. 
 
 And tho error is a dangerous one ; because those who teach that 
 the Apostle is speaking of himself in his present state, nullify all the 
 moral instruction they may give elsewhere. All their descriptions of 
 Christian virtue will be regarded as something very beautiful in 
 theory, but quite impossible to be realized in practice. For no one 
 will ever presume to think of becoming a better man than the Apos 
 tle Paul. And any one who is living a life of gross vice, while ac 
 knowledging and admiring the excellence of a virtuous life, and who 
 is, in practice, " brought into captivity to the law of sin in his mem 
 bers," will consider all attempts at reformation as hopeless, and will 
 think himself in a safe state, as being in the very same state with a 
 most eminent Apostle. There is, moreover, a danger of this misinter 
 pretation leading to infidelity, or at least to a disparagement of Paul s 
 authority. For if you compare "the sixth chapter of this epistle, and 
 also the eighth, with the seventh, you will see, that, supposing him to 
 have been speaking of himself throughout, he is made, according to 
 the plain sense of his words, to fall into the most gross and absurd 
 self-contradiction; such as no inspired writer, nor even any man of 
 good sense, could have been guilty of. 
 
 Extract from Aristotle s Ethics, B. ix. c. 4. 
 
 "Some define a friend one who keeps company with you, and 
 has the same preferences, and sympathizes with your sorrows and 
 joys, etc., etc. 
 
 " Now all these things exist in the virtuous man, in reference to 
 himself. .... Such a one agrees in sentiments with himself, and 
 seeks the same objects in ererypart of his mind. And he wishes for 
 and acts for what is good for himself, and what appears so; namely, 
 for the rational portion of himself, which is what is most properly 
 eacli man s self. .... He likes his own company ; for the recollec 
 tion of his past actions is agreeable, and he has good hopes for the 
 future. And he, above all others, sympathizes with himself in pains 
 and pleasures. For the same things are painful and agreeable to him 
 throughout his whole mind, and not one thing to one portion of him 
 and another to another; for he is, so to speak, exempt from regrets 
 
 and ehanges of mind But nothing of this kind is found in 
 
 j worthless characters. For they are at variance with themselves, and 
 have a craving for ono thing and a deliberate mil for a different one, 
 
PROPER OFFICE OF CONSCIENCE. 61 
 
 as is the case with those destitute of self-command : for they prefer 
 to that which they themselves think good for them, pleasures which 
 are hurtful for them. Some, again, through cowardice or indolence, 
 draw back from such actions as they themselves know to be best for 
 them. And those who have committed many dreadful deeds, and are 
 hated on account of their wickedness, fly from life and make away 
 with themselves. 
 
 " Bad men, again, seek for some persons to keep them company, 
 and fly from themselves. For when left to themselves, they remem 
 ber many things that are odious, and look forward to such conduct in 
 future ; but in company with others, they are enabled to forget them 
 selves. And having in them nothing amiable, they have not towards 
 themselves any of the feelings of a friend. They do not sympathize 
 with their own pleasures and pains ; for their mind is in a state of 
 discord, and one portion of it is, on account of its evil nature, pained 
 at abstaining from certain things, while another portion is gratified 
 by such abstinence ; and one part draws one way and another the op 
 posite, as if pulling the man asunder, .... for bad men abound in 
 regrets. 
 
 " A bad man, then, seems not to have the feelings of a friend, even 
 towards himself, from having nothing in him worthy of friendship. 
 
 " Now if such a state be an excessively miserable one, we ought 
 earnestly to strive to avoid wickedness, and endeavor to become vir 
 tuous. For so will a man become a friend to himself, and obtain the , 
 friendship of others." 
 
LESSON VIII. 
 
 REGULATION OP CONSCIENCE. 
 
 1. Conscience never to be opposed. 
 
 You have seen that, as man s conscience is not in 
 fallible, you must not at once conclude that you are 
 right when you are acting according to the dictates of 
 conscience. And yet you may be sure that you are 
 wrong if you are acting against it. For if you do what 
 you believe to be wrong, even though you may be mis 
 taken in thinking so, and it may be in reality right, still 
 you yourself will be wrong. 
 
 And this is what the Apostle Paul means when he 
 says, " Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that 
 tiling which he alloweth," Rom. xiv. 22 ; and, " What 
 soever is not of faith, is sin " ; that is, whatsoever is not 
 done with a full conviction [faith] that it is allowable, 
 is, to him, sinful ; and he condemns himself in doing it. 
 
 And on this principle he alludes (in 1 Cor. x.) to the 
 case of some of the " weaker brethren " [the less intelli 
 gent] among the early Christian converts, who thought 
 that the flesh of animals which had been offered in sacri 
 fice to idols was unclean, and not to be eaten. lie does 
 not at all himself partake of this scruple ; considering it 
 a matter of no consequence, in a religious or moral point 
 of view, what kind of food a man eats. But he teaches 
 
KEGULATION OF CONSCIENCE. 63 
 
 that those who do feel such a scruple would be wrong 
 in eating that flesh, and " their conscience being weak is 
 defiled ; for to him who thinketh it unclean, to him it is 
 unclean." And he teaches also that it would be wrong 
 for any one to induce others to do what they think sinful, 
 though it be something that is not sinful to one who 
 does not think it so. 
 
 In such a case as this, both parties are acting rightly, 
 if the one eats what he is convinced is allowable, and 
 the other abstains from what he thinks is not allowable ; 
 provided always that neither of them uncharitably cen 
 sures or derides his neighbor. " Let not him that eat 
 eth," says Paul, " despise him that eateth not ; and let 
 not him that eateth not, judge him that eateth." And, 
 " Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." 
 Rom. xiv. 5. 
 
 2. A Wrong Principle makes it impossible to act 
 rightly. 
 
 But there are some cases in which a man who has 
 been brought up in some wrong system, or who in any 
 way has taken up some false principle, may hold himself 
 bound in duty to do what is in itself wrong. And in 
 such a case he cannot but go wrong, whichever course 
 he may take, till his moral judgment has been set right. 
 
 For instance, if a jury have formed a false opinion as 
 to some cause tried before them, either from their hav 
 ing been biassed by their feelings and prejudices, or 
 from not having listened with sufficient attention to the 
 witnesses and the arguments on both sides, it is impossi 
 ble for them, while in this state of mind, to give a right 
 verdict. For a verdict according to the wrong opinion 
 
64 LESSONS OX MORALS. 
 
 they have formed would, of course, be a wrong one ; 
 and yet no one would say that, while they do hold that 
 opinion, they would be right in giving a contrary ver 
 dict. 
 
 So the Apostle Paul himself " verily thought that he 
 ought " to persecute the Christian Church ; and in doing 
 so, he acknowledges that he was guilty of a grievous 
 sin. He had not studied the ancient prophecies with 
 sufficient care, and candor, and humility, to perceive 
 from them, in conjunction with the rest of the evidence, 
 that Jesus was the true Christ, and not, as his enemies 
 maintained, an impious pretender. But it is plain that, 
 w T hile Paul did hold this erroneous belief, it would not 
 have been right for him to become a disciple of Jesus, 
 whom he then regarded as a false prophet. 
 
 Again, the doctrine has been distinctly maintained (in 
 a Protestant book, published a few years ago), that "the 
 magistrate who restrains, coerces, and punishes those 
 who oppose a true religion, and seek to propagate a 
 false one, obeys the will of God, and is not a persecutor" 
 Now suppose any magistrate to have embraced this doc 
 trine, believing as of course he must his own re 
 ligion to be true, and those opposed to it false, he will, 
 of course, hold himself bound in duty to establish a sys 
 tem of what, in the ordinary sense of the word, is called 
 " persecution " ; though he may satisfy himself by not 
 calling it by its real name. And if, through tenderness 
 of feeling, he should spare any whom he accounts here 
 tics, he will consider himself as disobeying God s will. 
 Such a man, therefore, as long as he is in this state of 
 mind, "not knowing what manner of spirit he is of," 
 cannot possibly be right, whichever course he may take. 
 
REGULATION OF CONSCIENCE. 65 
 
 Any one, therefore, whose conscience has been in any 
 way depraved, and who is proceeding on some wrong 
 principle, cannot possibly act rightly, whether he act ac 
 cording to his conscience or against it, till he is cured of 
 that defect in his moral judgment. 
 
 If, however, any one has done his best to form a right 
 judgment, and acts accordingly, but has fallen into error 
 through unavoidable ignorance, or weakness of under 
 standing, we may hope that his all-seeing and merciful 
 Judge will pardon this involuntary error. But as no 
 more is required of us than to do our very utmost to 
 avoid error, so no less is required, if we would stand ac 
 quitted before Him. And what mortal can know, with 
 complete certainty, who has, or has not, done his utmost? 
 You should never therefore allow yourself to pronounce 
 with full confidence, that your neighbor has not done 
 this, or that you yourself have. 
 
 3. Careful Study needed for Good Conduct. 
 
 You can see plainly, therefore, that one who is sin 
 cerely anxious to lead a virtuous life has need of dili 
 gent study and care, to learn what his duty is in each 
 case, as well as of firm resolution in keeping steadily 
 to the course his conscience points out. You must not 
 be satisfied with doing what you think right, that is, 
 with thinking that to be right what you do, unless you 
 have also taken pains to form a right judgment. Nor 
 must you be satisfied with opening the Bible at random, 
 and taking for your direction any passage that happens 
 to meet your eye ; or again, looking out for some pas 
 sage that may be so interpreted as to justify the course 
 you are inclined to take. And you should not listen to 
 
66 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 any one who would persuade you that no careful study 
 is needed in order to learn and practise your duty ; and 
 that any such Lessons as these now before you may be 
 thrown aside as useless ; and that if you have but a right 
 faith, and pray for divine guidance, your religion will at 
 once make you a good man, without any pains or watch 
 fulness as to your moral character being required. 
 
 The Scriptures themselves, if you will listen to them, 
 will teach you quite otherwise. Our Lord bids his dis 
 ciples "watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation." 
 We must pray as if nothing depended on ourselves ; and 
 we must watch as if everything depended on ourselves. 
 And He and his apostles exhort us to " strive," to 
 " run," to " give all diligence " in our Christian course, 
 and to " work out our own salvation with fear and trem 
 bling," that is, with anxious care, on the very ground 
 that it is " God that worketh in us, both to will and to 
 do of his good pleasure." 
 
 4. Divine Blessing bestoived on Diligent Care. 
 
 And it is thus that every man of common sense pro 
 ceeds in all the concerns of ordinary life, when he is 
 thoroughly in earnest. A gardener, for instance, knows 
 very well that the fertility of the earth, and the life of 
 all his plants, are God s gift ; and that, without the rain 
 and sunshine from heaven, his trees would bear no fruit. 
 But he does not satisfy himself with merely praying for 
 favorable seasons, and then leaving his garden to the 
 care of Providence. He digs and manures the ground ; 
 and he not only takes care of the roots of his fruit-trees, 
 but also endeavors to protect the blossoms from blight 
 ing winds and noxious insects. And even so we are 
 
REGULATION OF CONSCIENCE. 67 
 
 bound, not only to take care about a right faith, which is 
 the root of Christian virtue, but also to bestow vigilant 
 care on the moral character itself. 
 
 So also, if any one is endeavoring to learn some art 
 or trade by which to maintain himself, though he will, if 
 he be a pious man, beg the divine blessing on his exer 
 tions, he will not omit those exertions. He knows, in 
 deed, that his hands, and eyes, and ears, and understand 
 ing, are all divine gifts ; but he knows also that he must 
 diligently and carefully exercise all the faculties that 
 have been bestowed upon him, and lose no opportunity 
 of gaining useful instruction in his business. Now, to 
 improve one s moral character is the business of every 
 man. And as no one can think this a matter of less im 
 portance than any of the various arts of life, so we have 
 no reason to expect that, in this great concern, God 
 will bestow that blessing on the negligent which, in 
 everything else, He reserves for the diligent. 
 
LESSON IX. 
 
 
 
 DIFFICULTIES OF MORAL DISCIPLINE. 
 
 1. Moral Improvement a Laborious Task. 
 
 IT is important to observe, that one who earnestly sets 
 himself to the task of moral improvement, must not ex 
 pect to obtain at once the comfort of an easy and quiet 
 conscience. On the contrary, he will sometimes find 
 that, as he proceeds in his task, his conscience will even 
 give him increased uneasiness. But this should not dis 
 courage him, if the case be that the pain felt is not from 
 increased sinfulness, but from increased consciousness of 
 it ; not from his conduct having become worse, but from 
 his moral judgment being more enlightened, and his 
 perception of what is wrong, and his abhorrence of 
 it, stronger than before. 
 
 When a strong light is admitted into a room which 
 had been left in a slovenly state, and partially darkened, 
 the stains on the walls, and the dirt on the floor, which 
 had escaped notice in a dim light, will now strike the 
 eye of every one. This will be likely first to shock and 
 disgust the occupiers of the room, and next to set them 
 upon cleaning it. Even so, a person who has been la 
 boring to purify and to raise his moral character, and to 
 advance in the knowledge and practice of virtue, will 
 often perceive more and more of blemishes which he 
 
DIFFICULTIES OF MORAL DISCIPLINE. 69 
 
 had before overlooked. He will perhaps find in him 
 self faults which he had thought himself free from ; 
 and he will reproach himself for having omitted duties 
 which had not formerly occurred to him as duties. But 
 he must consider the increased pain caused by a more 
 enlightened conscience as a step towards improvement, 
 and as something that ought rather to encourage than 
 to dishearten any one who is really bent on amend 
 ing his life. 
 
 2. No direct Pleasure from Conformity to Con 
 science. 
 
 But after all, (as was remarked above,) the most en 
 lightened conscience, and the most exact compliance 
 with its dictates, will never of itself afford us directly 
 any positive pleasure, though it will save us from a vast 
 amount of pain. For it is the office of conscience to 
 point out what is our duty ; that is, what is dite, what 
 we are bound to do, as a man is, to pay his debts. Now 
 no one can claim reward or praise for paying a debt, 
 only, exemption from punishment. And when any one 
 is considered as deserving from his fellow-men some re 
 ward, this is always for doing something beyond what 
 they had a right to require of him, something which 
 they could not have justly punished him for omitting to 
 do. And from our Maker, therefore, no creature can 
 claim praise or reward, except on the general ground 
 (as was pointed out in Lesson V.) of his free and boun 
 tiful promise. 
 
 In this respect, then, the moral faculty [or " moral 
 sense," or " conscience," or " sense of justice "] differs 
 from our other faculties, sentiments, and propensities. 
 
70 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 For each of these, when strong, not only gives pain if 
 its exercise is impeded, but affords positive pleasure 
 when its action is freely called forth. For instance, a 
 benevolent man not only is pained by the sight of suffer 
 ing which he cannot relieve, but feels delight in doing 
 good, and is positively pleased with the view of an 
 other s gratification. So again, one in whom the senti 
 ment of attachment to friends is strong, not only is dis 
 tressed at the absence or loss of friends, but greatly 
 enjoys their society ; and one in whom the love of ap 
 probation is strong, is not only pained by censure or con 
 tempt, but a)so highly gratified by praise. Any one, 
 again, in whose character there is a great deal of firm 
 ness (the propensity of which the faulty excess is blind 
 obstinacy), is gratified by the very act of holding reso 
 lutely to his purpose, against solicitations, and threats, 
 and difficulties of any kind. A great calculator delights 
 in the work of calculation. One who possesses in a 
 great degree the faculty which phrenologists call " con- 
 structiveness," will take pleasure either in building and 
 in constructing machines, or in framing systems, devis 
 ing plans, composing books, or, in short, in some way 
 putting things together, so as to form a whole. And so 
 it is with the rest of our faculties and propensities. 
 
 But the moral faculty which some call conscien 
 tiousness is an exception. When it is strong, it is 
 capable of giving, if opposed, great pain ; but, as has 
 been above explained, no direct, positive pleasure, if 
 complied with.f It then merely says to us, "You are an 
 unprofitable servant ; you have but done that which it 
 was your duty to do." 
 
 " 
 
DIFFICULTIES OF MORAL DISCIPLINE. 71 
 
 3. Indirect Gratifications from the Discharge of 
 Duty. 
 
 But then God has been graciously pleased so to order 
 things, that indirectly (though not directly) virtuous con 
 duct does afford the very highest gratification. He has 
 declared his own favor and approbation (as was re 
 marked above) of those who seek earnestly to do his 
 will ; and this affords a high gratification of that love of 
 approbation which is a part of the human character. 
 Again, he has also enlisted our self-love in the same 
 cause, by graciously promising to be "a rewarder of 
 them that diligently seek Him." And hope is a portion 
 of the human character which is capable of affording 
 very great pleasure. 
 
 Moreover, though the discharge of duty, simply as 
 duty, affords no positive pleasure, there are some duties 
 which are in themselves agreeable. The sentiment of 
 benevolence, for instance, when strong, affords in its 
 exercise (as has been just said) much gratification : and 
 the more we exercise ourselves in doing good, which 
 is a great part of our duty, the more will the senti 
 ment of benevolence be strengthened. Again, the sen 
 timent or propensity (whichever it may be called) of 
 firmness, which is a portion of man s nature, affords, 
 when it exists strongly, a pleasure and a very allow 
 able pleasure in the very act of standing firm against 
 temptation, and surmounting difficulties in the perform 
 ance of duty. And there are also several other natural 
 feelings which may become sources of much gratifica 
 tion in the practice of duty, and which will thus indi 
 rectly make virtue conduce to the greatest happiness 
 even in this life. 
 
72 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 4. Supremacy of Conscience. 
 
 And it may be added, that, though conscience is not 
 in itself a source of positive gratification, every kind of 
 enjoyment is, in a certain sense, dependent on it ; that 
 is, the approval of conscience is, to a right-minded man, 
 a necessary condition of every kind of gratification. He 
 cannot find real, unmixed pleasure in anything that his 
 sense of duty forbids, since anything which might be in 
 itself agreeable would bring him more pain than pleas 
 ure if attended with self-reproach. For conscience (or 
 the moral faculty) is to be regarded as a kind of abso 
 lute sovereign, to whom everything must be kept in sub 
 jection, and without whose permission nothing is to be 
 done. All our mental powers, and inclinations, and sen 
 timents, and actions, are to be thus under the supreme 
 control of conscience, and to be exercised and indulged, 
 or restrained, according to its dictates. 
 
 The Creator has not, indeed, implanted in the human 
 mind anything that is, originally and in itself, evil. But, 
 on the other hand, there is no part of our nature that 
 does not become bad if not controlled and regulated 
 by an enlightened conscience. Some of Man s disposi 
 tions indeed are of a more amiable character than 
 others ; such as gratitude, compassion, benevolence, at 
 tachment to our friends, and love for our children. But 
 even these are so far from being necessarily virtuous, 
 that they become mischievous and wrong whenever they 
 are not under the control of conscience guided by right 
 reason. For instance, if your attachment to a friend, 
 or your gratitude for services received from him, should 
 lead you to give a wrong decision in his favor, and to do 
 
DIFFICULTIES OF MORAL DISCIPLINE. 73 
 
 injustice to others, (which you may often be strongly 
 tempted to,) this would be a manifest violation of duty ; 
 and so it would be, if your compassion for some one in 
 distress should lead you to give him what is not your 
 own ; that is, what you owe to a tradesman. The trades 
 man may perhaps be less in want of the money than the 
 other, or than you yourself; but he has a right to it, 
 which you have not. 
 
 Or again, pity for a criminal might tempt you to par 
 don and let loose on society a villain who might do un 
 speakable mischief. Or, on the other hand, indignation 
 against injustice and cruelty, which no one would con 
 sider a feeling bad in itself, may be carried to such 
 a faulty excess as to become itself unjust and cruel. 
 The desire of knowledge, again, and of wisdom, no one 
 would call bad in itself; and yet it was this that tempt 
 ed our first parents in Paradise to disobey the divine 
 command. 
 
 5. Amiable Feelings to be under Control 
 
 Again, a man s fondness for his children may tempt 
 him to spoil them by foolish indulgence, or to do unjus 
 tifiable acts for the sake of enriching them. And even 
 piety that is, the disposition to venerate a superior 
 Being is far from being anything good and virtuous, 
 unless it be rightly directed. Indeed, the very first of 
 the ten commandments is directed against the worship 
 of false gods. And (as was before remarked, Lesson 
 III.) great part of the worship paid by the ancient 
 heathen to their gods consisted of acts the most abomina 
 ble. And many of the heathen idolaters of the present 
 day offer human sacrifices. Indeed, one may say pro- 
 7 
 
74 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 fessing Christians have done nearly the same, when they 
 have thought to do God service by burning heretics at 
 what they call (auto da fe) an " act of faith." And 
 such Christians may be considered as, in a certain 
 sense, worshippers of a false god ; since, though they 
 use the name of the true God, they give a totally false 
 representation of his nature. 
 
 Benevolence, again, when not under the control of 
 reason and a sense of duty, causes some people to do 
 much more harm than good, by giving indiscriminate 
 relief to the idle and worthless, and thus drawing men 
 off from honest industry, and encouraging beggary. 
 
 Over all our feelings, therefore, and all our conduct, 
 a conscientious sense of duty, under the guidance of 
 sound judgment, must be allowed to reign supreme. 
 
LESSON X. 
 
 CULTIVATION OF RIGHT FEELINGS. 
 
 1. Feelings not under the direct Control of the Witt. 
 
 WHEN you are told, that not only your actions, but 
 your sentiments, inclinations, and feelings of every kind, 
 ought to be under the control of conscience, it may, per 
 haps, occur to you, that our actions only are directly 
 subject to the Will, and that wishes and feelings of all 
 kinds are involuntary. It may be in your power, for 
 instance, to do another person a service if you will ; but 
 it is out of your power to. make yourself, by an act of 
 the will, to feel affection for him. So, also, a man may 
 be induced, by the offer of wages or otherwise, to un 
 dergo hard labor, and wounds, and cold, and heat, and 
 other hardships ; but it would be absurd to speak of 
 hiring him to feel no fatigue, or cold, or pain. He may 
 resolve to submit to abstain from food ; but to resolve 
 not to be hungry or thirsty would be absurd. And so 
 it is with the rest of our feelings as compared with our 
 actions. 
 
 There is something of the same kind in the different 
 functions of the different parts of the bodily frame. Some 
 of them depend directly on the will, and others net. 
 For instance, a man can open or shut his eyes, or move 
 his limbs as he will ; but the circulation of the blood, 
 
76 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 the process of digestion, and the secretions of the liver 
 and other glands, are not under the control of the will. 
 You may tell a man to walk, or run, or sit down ; but 
 to tell him to alter the pulsations of his heart, or the di 
 gestion of his food, would be as idle as to bid him " add 
 a cubit to his stature." 
 
 But although many of the actions of the bodily frame 
 are not under the control of the will directly, they are 
 so, to a certain degree, indirectly. Though it would be 
 in vain for a man to will that the circulation of his 
 blood should be raised or lowered, he can take some 
 medicine that will have such an effect. It is not in your 
 power to feel hot or cold at pleasure ; but you may be 
 able to warm yourself by exercise, or by coming to a 
 fire. So, also, merely to have a will to sleep would 
 have no effect ; but it may depend on your will to swal 
 low an opiate which will cause sleep ; and so in other 
 cases. 
 
 r 2. Feelings under the Control of the Will indirectly. 
 
 Now something corresponding to this takes place with 
 respect to all our sentiments, inclinations, and feelings of 
 every kind. They are under the control of the will in 
 directly, though not directly. A skilful orator, if he 
 wishes to excite in his hearers some feeling suppose 
 pity does not think to effect this by telling them to 
 feel pity ; because, even if they were desirous to comply 
 with all his directions, it does not depend on their will ; 
 but he puts before them a vivid description of sufferings 
 undergone, and of every touching circumstance of the 
 case, and dwells on these till the feeling of pity arises in 
 their hearts, whether they will or no. 
 
CULTIVATION OF RIGHT FEELINGS. 77 
 
 It is. the same with indignation, admiration, or any 
 other feeling. He acts, in short, the part of a physician, 
 who does not tell his patients to digest their food better, 
 or to quicken their circulation, etc. ; but tells them to use 
 such and such a diet, or medicine, which will aid their 
 digestion or circulation. 
 
 Now a good man on many occasions has to act the 
 part of an orator towards himself. If at any time he is 
 conscious that he does not feel, or does not feel sufficient 
 ly, the love, or veneration, or gratitude, or whatever else 
 it may be, which he is sensible he ought to feel, and which 
 the case calls for, it would be in vain for him to say to 
 himself, I will feel so and so ; but he recalls to his mind, 
 and dwells upon, all the circumstances that are likely to 
 excite and to heighten such a feeling. He thinks over, 
 for instance, all the services and kindnesses of a bene 
 factor, and the great need he had for them, till, by dwell 
 ing on these, the feelings of gratitude and love arise in 
 his fieart. 
 
 So, also, if he wishes to allay in himself any emotion, 
 suppose that of resentment, though it is not under 
 the direct control of the will, he deliberately sets himself 
 to reflect on all the softening circumstances of the case, 
 such as the provocation the unoffending party may sup 
 pose himself to have received, his ignorance, or weak 
 ness, or perhaps disordered state of health ; he endeavors 
 to fancy himself in the other s place ; and, above all, he 
 meditates on the parable of the debtor, who, after having 
 been himself forgiven, exacted payment with rigid sever 
 ity from his fellow-servant. 
 
 And in all this he is proceeding just as we do with re 
 spect to those bodily functions before alluded to. We , 
 7* 
 
78 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 cannot, by a direct exertion of will, quicken or retard 
 the pulse ; but we can, by an act of the will, swallow a 
 medicine that shall produce that effect. And this is the 
 only possible way in which you can proceed, either with 
 . yourself or with another, in what relates to the feelings. 
 
 3. How to influence one s Feelings. 
 
 But people often deceive themselves (though it may 
 seem strange that they should), by imagining that they 
 feel what they do not. They mistake for the feeling of 
 compassion, or gratitude, or veneration, etc., the convic 
 tion of their understanding that the case is one which 
 calls for such a feeling. And they say, perhaps, with 
 out the least intention to deceive, that they are " very 
 glad " of this, and " very sorry " for that, without really 
 feeling the gladness or the sorrow, but only a belief that 
 they ought to be glad or to be sorry. 
 
 But those two things the conviction of the under 
 standing, and the actual feeling are as different From 
 each other, as a blind man s full belief that grass is 
 green, and coals black, is from the actual perception of 
 those colors by thfe eye. 
 
 It is plain, therefore, that you must proceed different 
 ly in regulating your actions and your feelings. In bring 
 ing your conduct into subjection to conscience, you must 
 have a resolute will to do what conscience requires ; but 
 in bringing your sentiments and inclinations into this 
 subjection, a mere will to do so is not sufficient ; you 
 must, with prayer for divine assistance, bring before your 
 thoughts, and dwell upon, all the circumstances that may 
 tend to excite or to allay, as the case may be, the feel 
 ings which you ought to cherish or to repress. 
 
CULTIVATION OF RIGHT FEELINGS. 79 
 
 And it is thus that the sacred writers proceed. " Thou 
 shalt love," says Moses, " the Lord thy God, with all thy 
 heart," etc. ; for " consider how great things He hath 
 done for thee." And thus also do the Apostles teach us 
 the duty of love to our Saviour : " For when we were 
 yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the un 
 godly ; for scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet 
 peradventure for a good man some would even dare to 
 die. But God commended his love towards us, in that, 
 while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly." 
 (Romans v. 6, 7, 8.) " We love Him," says John, " be 
 cause He first loved us " : and there are many other 
 passages to the same effect. 
 
 4. Control of Feelings gradual. 
 
 You will perceive, then, that the work of bringing 
 about any change in your sentiments and inclinations is 
 one of some difficulty, and only to be effected gradually. 
 On the other hand, a man who is resolutely bent on act 
 ing differently from what he had done before, may do 
 so immediately. " Let him that stole," says the Apostle, 
 " steal no more " ; but rather " let him labor, working 
 with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have 
 to give to him that needeth." Now any one who was 
 fully determined to obey this admonition, and reform his 
 life, would at once renounce theft, and betake himself to 
 honest industry. But he would find that his former hab 
 its of idleness and dishonesty had left in him evil dispo 
 sitions and wrong wishes, which could not be at once 
 subdued. He would indeed comply at once with the 
 commandment not to steal, but not with that which for 
 bids us to covet. For his former thievish practices 
 
80 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 would cause him to feel for a time strongly tempted to 
 commit acts which a man who had always lived honestly 
 would not so much as think of. And steady industry 
 will at first be much more irksome to such a man than 
 to one who has been always used to it, and who perhaps 
 would even be uneasy without it. 
 
 Again, any one who had been habitually intemperate, 
 though he might firmly resolve and, through divine 
 grace, keep steadily to his resolution to reform his 
 life at once, yet would, for a time, suffer much pain from 
 the craving after his accustomed indulgences ; which 
 craving would never be felt at all by one who had been 
 always of sober habits. And so in other cases. 
 
 But any one who is earnestly striving to reform or 
 to improve his character, may be encouraged by the 
 thought that the chief difficulty is in the first step, and 
 that his path will become smoother and easier the longer 
 he treads in it. He must not be discouraged at find 
 ing bad thoughts and wishes force themselves occasion 
 ally into his mind, provided he does not cherish, and 
 indulge, and retain them there, but strives to get rid of 
 them. His evil propensities will gradually become 
 weaker by being continually checked and restrained, on 
 a right principle. 
 
 For it is on a right principle (as will be explained 
 presently) that he must act, if he would acquire a virtu 
 ous habit ; and he will more and more acquire a liking 
 for many good actions which at first were distasteful to 
 him. 
 
 The process of reforming the corrupt nature of Man, 
 by establishing a Christian moral principle, may be com 
 pared to that of grafting a wilding tree such as a 
 
CULTIVATION OF RIGHT FEELINGS. 81 
 
 crab-tree, or wild plum with scions of a good fruit- 
 tree. The younger the stock the tree to be grafted 
 is, the more easily is this complete change in its 
 nature brought about ; because, when it is once grafted 
 with a single scion, this will become the main stem of 
 the tree, and all the branches it puts forth will be of 
 the right sort. But a wilding tree may be successfully 
 grafted at a considerable age ; only, in this case, you 
 must put on perhaps twenty or thirty scions, grafting 
 each branch ; and, afterwards, you must be continually 
 on the watch to cut off the fresh shoots sent forth by the 
 wild stock. 
 
 Even thus, a person who has been early trained in 
 right principles will be likely, in the whole of his con 
 duct, to put forth, as it were, branches of Christian vir 
 tue ; and, on the other hand, one who has long lived a 
 different kind of life will have to unlearn a number of 
 distinct evil habits, and to ingraft, as it were, each 
 branch with a fresh scion of virtue. 
 
 5. Right Acts lead to Right Inclinations. 
 
 But in carrying on such a work of reform or improve 
 ment as we are speaking of, you must begin by acting 
 in such a way as conscience tells you is right. You 
 must not wait till you are completely in a proper frame 
 of mind ; and defer doing what a virtuous man would 
 do till you have all the dispositions and inclinations of a 
 virtuous man. On the contrary, it is only by so acting 
 that you can acquire those dispositions. Virtuous ac 
 tions are, indeed, the fruits of virtuous habits ; but they 
 are also the means of acquiring those habits. They are 
 the seed produced by the tree which springs from that 
 
82 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 seed. To wait, therefore, till you have become a virtu 
 ous man before you begin to lead a virtuous life, would 
 be like resolving not to go into the water till you were 
 able to swim ; or not to mount a horse till you were a 
 good rider. It is only by practising virtue that you can 
 bring yourself to delight in virtue. 
 
 Suppose, for instance, a man who had been given up 
 to selfish gratification, and indifferent to the welfare of 
 others, should, by God s grace, be brought to a convic 
 tion of the sinfulness of such a life, and the duty of benefi 
 cence, he ought at once to set about the work of doing 
 good to his fellow-creatures. At first, and for some 
 time, he will, perhaps, be exercising a painful self-denial 
 in giving up some personal gratifications he had been 
 accustomed to, or in parting with money that he highly 
 prizes, for the relief or benefit of persons he does not 
 much care about, and in taking trouble to serve them. 
 He will only enjoy the satisfaction of doing his duty. 
 But, by degrees, the sentiments of compassion and be 
 nevolence will be cherished in him by beneficent acts, 
 and will become stronger and stronger. His feelings 
 will in time overtake his reason. He will come to feel 
 an interest, more and more, in the welfare of others, 
 through the exertions he makes for their benefit ; till at 
 length it will be felt as a greater self-denial to withhold 
 his good offices than to perform them. His selfish in 
 clinations will be weakened by being continually re 
 pressed, and will at length become odious to him. He 
 will gradually cease to " give grudgingly, and of neces 
 sity," and will become the " cheerful giver " that God 
 loveth. And the like takes place in the formation of 
 other virtuous habits. 
 
CULTIVATION OF RIGHT FEELINGS. 83 
 
 6. Right Actions must be what are done on Right 
 Principles. 
 
 But then, as we said above, it is necessary that good 
 actions should be done from a good principle. For it 
 is only by virtuous conduct that a virtuous habit can be 
 acquired ; and your conduct is not virtuous in you 
 (though it may be beneficial to others), if you do not 
 act from a good motive. If a man (as was observed in 
 Lesson I.) pays his debts punctually, and is fair in all 
 his dealings, merely through fear of legal penalties, or for 
 the sake of keeping up a good character, that he may 
 prosper the better in his business, there is no virtue in 
 all this ; nor is he even in the way to acquire any vir 
 tue. For, though it is true that, according to the prov 
 erb, " Honesty is the best policy," he who acts alto 
 gether on that motive alone is not an honest man ; nor 
 is he training himself to become such. His conduct, in 
 deed, is in itself honest ; but it is in him only a matter 
 of policy. He will indeed have been forming a habit, 
 but only a habit of prudence, not of justice. And, ac 
 cordingly, he will be very likely to wrong and defraud 
 his neighbor if ever he has an opportunity of doing so 
 with impunity. 
 
 So, also, a man of a violent and revengeful temper 
 will sometimes exercise great self-control from motives 
 of prudence, when he sees that he could not vent his re 
 sentment without danger or loss to himself; such self-re 
 straint as this does not at all tend to subdue or soften his 
 fierce and malignant passions, and to make him a mild 
 and placable character. It only keeps the fire smoulder 
 ing within, instead of bursting out into a flame. He is not 
 
84 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 quelling the desire of revenge, but only repressing it till 
 he shall have an opportunity of indulging it more safely 
 and effectually. And accordingly, he will have to ex 
 ercise the same painful self-restraint again and again on 
 every fresh occasion. 
 
 But to exert an equal self-restraint, on a good princi 
 ple, with a sincere and earnest desire to subdue revenge 
 ful feelings, and to form a mild, and generous, and for 
 giving temper, this will produce quite a different result. 
 A man who acts thus on a right motive, will find his 
 task easier and easier on each occasion ; because he will 
 become less sensitive to provocations, and will have been 
 forming a habit of not merely avoiding any outward ex 
 pression of anger in words or acts, but also of indulging 
 no resentful feelings within. 
 
 And the like takes place in the controlling and regu 
 lating of all our feelings. By doing what is good, at 
 once, on a right motive, you will gradually come to have 
 good sentiments and inclinations. Your conduct will 
 first be, in each particular act, virtuous ; and this will, 
 in time, form in you a virtuous character. 
 
LESSON XI. 
 
 FORMATION OF HABITS. 
 
 1. What is practised, that will be learnt. 
 
 You have seen, then, that it is by the practice of 
 what is good on a right principle, that good habits are 
 formed. Mere reading, and listening, and talking on 
 the subject, will no more make you a virtuous man, if 
 you do not earnestly set yourself to practise, through 
 divine help, the duties you know, than listening to a 
 physician s advice, and looking at his medicine, without 
 taking it, would restore a sick man to health. 
 
 The patient would, in this case, be neither the better 
 nor the worse for the physician s advice. But it is not 
 so with one who has been accustomed to hear moral and 
 religious discourses without acting upon them. He will 
 be much the worse for them ; because he will have be 
 come hardened against receiving any profitable impres 
 sion from discourses that might strongly impress a per 
 son hearing them for the first time. " Familiarity," 
 says the proverb, " breeds contempt." You may observe, 
 in travelling on a railroad, how the young cattle run 
 away in terror from the engine ; while those that have 
 often seen it pass, go on quietly grazing, and do not re 
 gard it. And even so, one who has been accustomed 
 to be a " hearer of the word, and not a doer," will ac- 
 8 
 
86 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 quire more and more of the same kind of " famil 
 iarity." 
 
 It might seem unnecessary to remind any one, that 
 " what you practise, that you will learn." But so it is, 
 that many persons seem to expect to learn one thing by 
 practising another very different thing. What misleads 
 them is, that they speak loosely of being accustomed to 
 such and such a thing, and forget that two persons may 
 have been both of them conversant about the very same 
 objects, and yet may have acquired opposite habits, from 
 being accustomed to act in opposite ways. 
 
 Suppose, for instance, that there is in your neighbor 
 hood a loud bell that is rung very early every morning 
 to call the laborers in some great manufactory. At first, 
 and for some time, your rest will be broken by it ; but 
 if you accustom yourself to lie still, and try to compose 
 yourself, you will become in a few days so used to it, 
 that it will not even wake you. But any one who 
 makes a point of rising immediately at the call, will be 
 come so used to it in the opposite way, that the sound 
 will never fail to rouse him from the deepest sleep. 
 Both will have been accustomed to the same bell, but 
 will have formed opposite habits from their contrary 
 modes of action. 
 
 And w6 may see the same thing even in the training 
 of brute animals. For instance, of sporting dogs, there 
 are some, such as the greyhound, that are trained to pur 
 sue hares ; and others which are trained to stand mo 
 tionless when they come upon a hare, even though they 
 see it running before them. Now both kinds are accus 
 tomed to hares ; and both have originally the same 
 instincts ; for all dogs have an instinctive tendency to 
 
FORMATION OF HABITS. 87 
 
 pursue game. But the one kind of dog has always been 
 encouraged to run after a hare, and the other has always 
 been chastised if it attempts to do so, and has been 
 trained to stand still. 
 
 2. Opposite Habits acquired among the same Things. 
 
 In like manner, of two persons who have been accus 
 tomed to the sight of much human misery, one, who has 
 been used to pass it by without any effort to relieve it, 
 will become careless and hardened to such spectacles ; 
 while another, who has been in the practice of relieving 
 sufferers, will acquire a strong habit of endeavoring to 
 afford relief. These two persons will both have been 
 accustomed to the same objects, but will have acquired 
 opposite habits. So, also, if you are accustomed to talk 
 about virtue, and to listen to discourses on the subject, 
 and to peruse, for instance, such Lessons as these now 
 before you, without acting on what you say, and hear, 
 and read, you will acquire a habit of talking, etc. with 
 out acting. 
 
 "Whoever, therefore, is not the better for such studies, 
 will assuredly be the worse for them. And if you are 
 accustomed to read the Bible, either without careful at 
 tention, or without striving to bring into your daily life 
 what you learn from it, you will become insensible to 
 what it teaches. If, on the contrary, you make a prac 
 tice of applying in your own conduct what you hear and 
 read, you will acquire a practical habit. By talking, or 
 listening, or reading, you will learn to talk, or to listen, 
 or to read ; by attending, you will learn to attend ; and 
 by acting, you will learn to act. 
 
 A person who has acquired a habit of letting all his 
 
00 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 religious and virtuous sentiments evaporate in words, 
 instead of being brought into practice in his life, resem 
 bles the " barren fig-tree," which was blasted by our 
 Lord s command, to furnish an instructive emblem. A 
 tree that is in a torpid and leafless state in the winter 
 frost, may be roused into vigorous life and fvuitfulness 
 by the summer sun and warm showers. But much 
 more hopeless is one which is in a state of active vege 
 tation, yet bears "no fruit, but leaves only." Such 
 a tree is a picture of the man who is not ignorant or 
 thoughtless respecting morality and religion, but who 
 lets all his knowledge and his thoughts on such subjects 
 be wasted in barren talk, " leaves," without fruit. 
 Such persons, however, sometimes attract more notice, 
 and gain more admiration from the inexperienced, than 
 those who talk less, and do more. For you may observe 
 that, in a steam-engine, the steam makes a much louder 
 whizzing when it is let off, and the wheels are standing 
 still, than when it is quietly acting on the machinery. 
 
 Again, the custom of being present at public worship, 
 with an earnest and devout attention to the Service, tends 
 to cherish a habit of devotion ; but the oftener a person 
 is present at a Service which he does not attend to, the 
 more he will acquire of a habit of inattention to that 
 Service. And those who have been made familiar with 
 the words of Scripture, without being accustomed to at 
 tend to the meaning, or to bring its lessons into practice, 
 will acquire a habit of such unprofitable reading. 
 
 Such habits are often acquired in childhood, by those 
 who have been habitually brought to church at a very 
 early age, before it was possible for them to take part in, 
 or to understand, what was said : and who have used the 
 
FORMATION OF HABITS. 89 
 
 Bible as a mere reading-book ; or have been accustomed 
 to read it as if there was some virtue in the mere act of 
 perusal. And these will have, in after life, a trouble 
 some and difficult task in unlearning such a habit. This 
 difficulty is created by the course pursued by well-mean 
 ing friends, whose wish is to accustom them early to pi 
 ous exercises, and who overlook that obvious truth, that 
 " what you practise, that you will learn " ; and that you 
 cannot learn one thing by practising another quite con 
 trary to it. 
 
 In the smaller affairs of daily life, hardly any one 
 ever commits such blunders as are often made in the 
 most important matters. Every one would see, for in 
 stance (to recur to the examples given just above) the 
 absurdity of expecting that by being accustomed to hear 
 a bell, and to lie still at the sound, he would acquire the 
 habit of immediately rising whenever it rung. 
 
 3. Progress in forming a Virtuous Character. 
 
 You will perceive, then, that it must be a work of 
 some labor and difficulty to form good moral habits, 
 especially for those who have to wrclearn evil habits. 
 The chief part, however, of this difficulty will be (as 
 was above pointed out) in the beginning of a right 
 course. Many things which at first cost much and 
 painful self-denial, will afterwards, when the habit has 
 been formed, be practised with ease, and even with 
 pleasure. 
 
 And each particular act will then become less an act 
 
 of virtue, while at the same time the character of virtue 
 
 will have been the more confirmed. For instance, take 
 
 the case of a youth who had been brought up among 
 
 8* 
 
90 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 thieves, and had been accustomed to pilfering, and en 
 couraged in it by his vile associates, but who has been 
 received (as many have been) into one of the ragged 
 schools, and has there received a good moral and relig 
 ious training. He will, for a time, have, of course, a 
 great inward struggle against his former habits. Such 
 a youth was on one occasion intrusted by the master, 
 by the way of a trial, with some gold to get changed ; 
 which he could easily have carried off. When he hon 
 estly brought the change, his schoolfellows were over 
 joyed ; and we have reason to believe that the holy an 
 gels rejoiced with them, at this victory over evil habits. 
 (Luke xv. 10.) It was in him brought up as he had 
 been a great act of virtue to resist the temptation. 
 But to a person who had been always honestly brought 
 up (and probably to that same youth, a few years later) 
 there would not be even any temptation. Such a one 
 would not so much as think of stealing ; and therefore 
 it would not be accounted an act of virtue in him to re 
 frain from it. But this would be, not from his being a 
 less virtuous character, but, on the contrary, from his 
 being fully confirmed in that character. 
 
 4. Virtue a Struggle of Good against Evil. 
 
 And so it is with other habits. Virtue, therefore, ap 
 pears to consist in a struggle, and a successful strug 
 gle, of good against evil. Moral goodness is not called 
 virtue, where there is no temptation to be resisted, 
 no evil tendency or weakness to be overcome. And 
 accordingly, while we attribute to the Deity the high 
 est moral perfection, and speak of his goodness, it would 
 shock any one to speak of Him as a virtuous Being. 
 
FORMATION OF HABITS. 91 
 
 It would sound degrading, as implying some evil ten 
 dency to be resisted, or at least some weakness to be 
 overcome. But Man, in this his state of trial and disci 
 pline, can never so completely extinguish all faulty ten 
 dencies, and throw off all infirmities, as to be exempt 
 from the need of care, and vigilance, and self-control, 
 and firmness against temptation. Man s goodness, in 
 short, must, in this life, consist in virtue. 
 
 Accordingly, our estimate of the virtue displayed in 
 any act, depends much on the difficulty to be sur 
 mounted, the temptations to be withstood, etc. If, for 
 instance, any one decides justly in some cause in which 
 he has no interest, and where both the parties are stran 
 gers to him, we think little of the virtue of justice dis 
 played by him. But if he decides fairly in some case 
 where he has to sacrifice his own interests, or do vio 
 lence to his feelings ; or if he reduces himself to poverty 
 by giving up an estate to one whom he thinks entitled 
 to it, when he might safely and without discredit have 
 kept it, this we commend as a virtuous act. And thus 
 the person commended by the Psalmist is, "He that 
 sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not." (Ps. 
 xv. 4.) 
 
 So also we hardly account veracity as virtuous, when 
 a man tells truth in some case where there is nothing to 
 be gained by falsehood, but only when by telling the 
 truth he exposes himself to loss, or danger, or discredit. 
 And the like in other cases. And hence the great ad 
 vantage of our having placed before us the example of 
 the Apostles and other early disciples, who were, as they 
 tell us, " men of like passions " with us ; that is, subject 
 to the same infirmities and trials. 
 
92 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 5. Imitation of our Heavenly Father. 
 
 We are, indeed, told to imitate our Heavenly Father. 
 But then it is only the divine acts that Man can imitate. 
 We are told to be " merciful even as our Father in 
 heaven is merciful," and to be as He is "kind to 
 the unthankful and the evil." 
 
 The greatest difference in the nature of two Beings 
 is no reason against the acts of the one being held up 
 as an example to the other. Indeed, the acts of some 
 brute animals (such as the ant and the bee) are often 
 referred to for Man s imitation ; though no one supposes 
 those creatures to act from any such rational calculation 
 as guides the conduct of an industrious and prudent 
 man. And indeed, even the very precept, " Thou shalt 
 love thy neighbor as thyself" relates only to acts, not to 
 inward feelings. For no one can have an affection for 
 himself, of the same kind with what we feel for another 
 person whom we love. Self-love is a desire for our own 
 welfare, which no rational Being can be destitute of, 
 whether he- is or is not of an affectionate character. 
 But the meaning of the precept is, that as we seek for 
 our own welfare, as an end, and without any further ob 
 ject, so we should, in like manner, seek for our neigh 
 bors . So also our Lord, in the parable of the " Unjust 
 Steward," sets before us for imitation an example of 
 prudent forethought ; though no one can suppose that it 
 was meant that we should imitate his dishonesty, or act 
 on his motives. 
 
 But in the case of the Apostles, we can imitate, not 
 merely their actions, but their inward dispositions also, 
 throughout. We see them resisting strong temptations, 
 
FORMATION OF HABITS. 93 
 
 and struggling against and subduing their worldly and I 
 ambitious desires, and their timidity, and their feelings 
 of resentment ; we see them giving, when it impover 
 ished themselves, and refusing gifts which they stood in 
 need of, and facing dangers which they naturally dread 
 ed. In short, we see them practising virtue. And 
 though we have not their miraculous powers, there 
 is no reason for thinking that we are less required, 
 or less enabled, than they were, to practise Christian 
 virtue. 
 
 As for their miraculous powers of healing, etc., these 
 were given them for the advantage of others, not for 
 their own. Miracles were necessary as a proof of the di 
 vine origin of the Gospel. But these superhuman gifts 
 neither implied that the possessors were good Christians, 
 nor necessarily made them so. All the Apostles, Judas 
 Iscariot among the rest, wrought miracles during our 
 Lord s abode on earth. And some of the Corinthians 
 abused their miraculous powers for the purposes of vain 
 display, and made them a subject of rivalry and conten 
 tion. But, on the other hand, when Paul tells the Ro 
 mans (who had then had no miraculous gifts, Rom. i. 
 11), that, "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he 
 is none of his," (Rom. viii. 9,) and when he says to 
 them, " As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they 
 are the sons of God," it is plain he is speaking of a far 
 different, and far more valuable kind of spiritual gift, 
 the moral guidance of the conscience, and improvement 
 of the character. And this is what is equally needed 
 by all Christians in all ages, and which all may equally . 
 obtain. 
 
 But some people fall into the mistake (which you 
 
94 LESSONS ON MOUALS. 
 
 should carefully guard against) of imagining that there 
 is something virtuous in the mere barren admiration of 
 some eminently virtuous character, and deep reverence 
 for it, without any effort to imitate it. 
 
 Sometimes, indeed, a man will even flatter himself 
 that there is a laudably modest humility in not aspiring 
 to the same high moral excellence with some eminently 
 virtuous men that are mentioned in history, or actually 
 living among us. And yet perhaps you may hear these 
 spoken of as men of exemplary character ; though it 
 is plain no one can be, to us, exemplary, unless we en 
 deavor to follow his example. The more we admire 
 any virtuous conduct, if we do not strive to copy it, as far 
 as is suitable to our situation, the more we condemn our 
 selves. And it is not humble modesty, but rather pre 
 sumptuous confidence, if we are satisfied without doing 
 our utmost to attain the highest degree of moral excel 
 lence that is within* our reach. 
 
LESSON XII. 
 
 IMITATION OF JESUS. 
 
 1. Example of our Saviour. 
 
 As for the imitation of the Lord Jesus himself, to 
 which we are exhorted in the Scriptures, that is some 
 thing intermediate between the imitation of the divine 
 goodness (spoken of above), and the imitation of mere 
 human Beings. So far forth as He was a divine per 
 son, we can imitate only his acts ; but considered as to 
 his human nature, we are told, " Let the same mind be 
 in you which was also in Christ Jesus " ; and thereupon 
 we have his humility and obedience held up for our imi 
 tation. And again, we are told that we " have not a 
 high-priest who cannot be touched with a feeling of our 
 infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, 
 yet without sin." 
 
 Now, though of course He had no evil propensities, 
 we should remember, that, if He had not those human 
 feelings and inclinations which are not in themselves 
 evil, He could not have been " tempted \i. e. tried] like 
 as we are " ; or indeed tempted at all. 
 
 And it is to be observed, that there are many human 
 feelings which become evil when wrongly indulged, but 
 which are not so when properly controlled. For in 
 stance, it is no sin for one who is fatigued by labor of 
 
96 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 any kind, to long for repose ; only, he would be wrong 
 to indulge this desire when duty calls on him to rouse 
 himself to exertion. 
 
 So also, it is no sin for any one to be glad of the love 
 and approbation of his friends and countrymen ; pro 
 vided he does not sacrifice duty for the sake of their 
 favor, or do anything on purpose to gain applause for 
 its own sake. And the like in many other cases. 
 
 2. Jesus had Human Feelings. 
 
 There is no reason, therefore, to suppose that the 
 Lord Jesus was indifferent to the good opinion of his 
 countrymen ; which He might have obtained by falling 
 in with their wishes and expectations. And they would 
 have welcomed Him with open arms, if He would have 
 allowed them to " make Him a king," to deliver them 
 from the yoke of the Romans, and found a triumphant 
 and splendid temporal empire. Instead of this, He ex 
 posed himself, by disappointing their hopes, to their 
 hatred and scorn, to insults and tortures, and a most 
 ignominious as well as cruel death.* 
 
 We have no reason to think that He did not feel all 
 this, even more than his bodily sufferings. And, accord 
 ingly, we are told that He " endured the cross, despis 
 ing the shame "; and we are exhorted to " consider Him 
 that endured such contradiction of sinners against him 
 self." (Ileb. xii.) 
 
 Again, if any one should feel weariness and disgust in 
 
 laboring long and painfully at the task of instructing ig- 
 
 j norant, narrow-minded, and perverse learners, and slow- 
 
 * See Lectures on Good and Evil Angels. 
 
IMITATION OF JESUS. 97 
 
 ly overcoming their prejudices ; this would be no sin, , 
 provided he did not shrink from the task, if duty im 
 posed it, nor suffer any impatience to break out. And 
 when, therefore, we see our blessed Master condescend 
 ing to labor, day after day, and year after year, in grad 
 ually enlightening the minds of humble fishermen and 
 peasants, and in correcting their errors, we have here 
 an example, in all respects for our imitation, of patient 
 and humble assiduity. 
 
 Again, there is nothing sinful in feeling displeased 
 with persons who manifest stubborn ingratitude, and re 
 pay kindness with bitter insult and cruel persecution. 
 The sin would be in allowing ourselves to indulge re 
 vengeful feelings ; " rendering evil for evil, railing for 
 railing." And accordingly, the Apostle Peter holds up 
 to us the example of our Lord Jesus in this point also, 
 who " did no violence ; who, when He was reviled, re 
 viled not again ; when He suffered, He threatened 
 not " ; and who, as we read in the Evangelists, prayed 
 for his murderers. 
 
 These points are here noticed merely as specimens. 
 There are many others which every attentive reader of 
 the Gospels cannot fail to be struck with, in which the 
 excellences of our Lord s character as a man plainly 
 appear, and are suitable for our imitation. 
 
 3. The Nature of the Lord Jesus mysterious. 
 
 But some persons, though far from indifferent to the 
 subject of religion, do not pay sufficient attention to that 
 important portion of it which is now before us, the 
 example of Jesus as set forth in Scripture for our imi 
 tation. Instead of this, they have occupied themselves t 
 9 
 
98 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 . in discussing questions as to several mysterious points 
 on which Scripture reveals nothing. In what manner 
 the divine nature was united with the human in the per 
 son of our Saviour, and what was the precise charac 
 ter of his inward feelings, all these and other such 
 questions are what the Sacred Writers have left unex 
 plained. And we cannot doubt that, if an explanation of 
 these had been possible, and needful for us, it would 
 have been given. Yet these are questions which some 
 persons presume freely to discuss ; as if the speculations 
 of human reason could enlighten us on matters not re 
 vealed to the Apostles ; or at least not revealed by them. 
 And such rash speculations have often drawn off men s 
 attention from what is plainly set forth in Scripture for 
 our practical benefit. 
 
 How the human body and mind act on each other, we 
 cannot explain or understand ; but we know that they 
 do ; and we can make a practical use of that knowledge. 
 We know not the nature of the sun ; we cannot explain 
 how it is that it continues to throw out light and heat 
 without being, as a candle is, consumed in so doing : but 
 we can see by its light, and enjoy its warmth. 
 
 And even so, we can benefit by the teaching and the 
 example of the Lord Jesus, though we have a very 
 dim and imperfect notion of his real nature. To turn 
 aside from a practical benefit that is placed within our 
 reach, and occupy ourselves instead with speculative in 
 quiries about matters beyond our reach, would be like 
 the folly of our first parents, who, when permitted to 
 " eat of the tree of life," turned to the forbidden " tree of 
 knoivledge." 
 
 Some people, again, allow their veneration for Christ 
 
IMITATION OP JESUS. 99 
 
 and his Apostles to vent itself on tangible objects, such fl 
 as " relics," or on supposed holy places, to which they 
 make pilgrimages. We are told that our divine Master 
 left us an " example that we should follow his steps," 
 instead of which they go to Jerusalem to tread literally 
 on the ground He trod. Instead of " putting on Christ," 
 as the Apostle exhorts us, they venerate a tunic He is 
 supposed to have worn, or bits of wood of the supposed 
 "true cross"; or procure a bottle of water from the 
 river Jordan, for baptizing their children. Instead of 
 being " followers of the Apostles, even as they were of 
 Christ," they bow down before fragments of their bones, 
 or locks of their hair, etc. 
 
 All this is as if some one, when shown a tree bearing 
 delicious and wholesome and nourishing fruit, should 
 neglect the fruit, and try to feed on the leaves or bark ; 
 or as if, when he had received a package of most valu 
 able goods, he should lay them by, and make no use of 
 them, but wear with much pride the canvas wrapper in 
 which they were packed up. 
 
 4. Jesus a Faultless Model. 
 
 The great advantage of our Lord s example, as com 
 pared with any description of an imaginary person 
 an ideal perfect man is its reality. We know that 
 He did actually live on this earth, and that what is re 
 corded of Him is not fiction or supposition, but what was 
 really said and done. 
 
 But again ; his example has the advantage over those 
 of all other actually existing persons, of being absolutely 
 perfect. The greatest, and noblest, and purest of all 
 merely human characters have their imperfections ; and 
 
100 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 these an imitator might be led into, through his admira 
 tion of their excellence. 
 
 And it may be observed, by the way, that this is a 
 mistake some people may be in danger of, in reference to 
 the characters in the Old Testament history. They may 
 suppose that every person mentioned with any degree of 
 commendation, and especially those who were endowed 
 with any prophetical powers, or received any other mark 
 of divine favor, are to be looked on as perfect models, 
 held up for our imitation throughout ; though many of 
 them were undoubtedly guilty of faults deserving much 
 censure, even considering the rude age in which they 
 lived. And all of them did live in such a half-civilized, 
 half-barbarian state of society, as requires great allow 
 ances to be made for those brought up in it. Their 
 comparatively gross and uncultivated intellectual and 
 moral condition is what our Lord alludes to in his ex 
 pression " hardness of heart." (Matt. xix. 8.) 
 
 Even the best, however, of these men, are not to be 
 imitated as if they could be reckoned faultless. But in 
 imitating our divine Master, whatever errors we may 
 fall into by our own injudicious imitation, we cannot be 
 led into any, by imperfections in the model itself. 
 
 And in studying the life of our Lord, in conjunction 
 with that of the earliest disciples, we have the advan 
 tage of seeing not only a perfect model, but also an ex 
 ample of the copying of that model. We not only see 
 the original pattern, but are also shown how it was first 
 imitated. "Be ye followers," says the Apostle Paul, 
 " of me, even as I am of Christ Jesus." We thus have, 
 as it were, before us, not only a perfect human jiyure, 
 but also a statue made from it by a first-rate sculptor. 
 t 
 
IMITATION OF JESUS. 101 
 
 5. Danger of Erroneous Imitation. 
 
 But, as has just been said, it is possible to fall into 
 mistakes by our own injudicious and improper imitation 
 of a faultless example, or indeed of any example. If 
 some one s conduct is perfectly right for him, or under 
 his circumstances, we may be altogether wrong in copy 
 ing it if we are placed in quite different circumstances. 
 
 If a king, for instance, or any one else in high au 
 thority, conducts himself in the best possible manner, it 
 would be absurd, and a criminal usurpation, for a pri 
 vate citizen to pretend to follow his example by assum 
 ing regal state and power. And so it would be, if a 
 pupil were to take upon him the office of a master, and 
 pretend to give instruction in the school where he is 
 placed to receive it. The way in which a subject should 
 follow the example of a good king, is by cpnducting him 
 self as a good subject ; and then each of them alike will 
 be acting in a manner suitable to his own position. 
 
 Accordingly, there are many parts of our Lord s con 
 duct which would have been unsuitable for the Apostles 
 to imitate; and many parts, both of his conduct and 
 theirs, that would be unsuitable for us. 
 
 For instance, we read " that He taught as one having 
 authority, and not as the scribes " ; that is, instead of 
 confining himself to the expounding of the Mosaic 
 law, and reasoning upon that, (which was the practice, 
 and the proper office of the scribes,) He spoke as hav 
 ing a direct commission from Heaven, saying, " / say 
 unto you " so and so ; and appealing not to arguments, 
 but to the miracles He wrought, as a proof of his com 
 ing from God. 
 
 9* 
 
102 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 And again, you should observe that lie does not use 
 the language of the prophets, who had been accustomed 
 to say, " Thus saith the Lord," each of them having 
 been charged with certain specific messages ; but God 
 gave not the Spirit by measure unto Him. He came 
 not only with authority, but with full, unlimited au 
 thority ; and his language was, " I say unto you." 
 
 Now, of course it would be profane as well as absurd 
 for any one of us to teach as " having authority " ; that 
 is, as demanding assent and submission to what we say, 
 because we say it. 
 
LESSON XIII. 
 
 IMITATION OF THE APOSTLES. 
 
 1. How far the Apostles are to be imitated. 
 
 As for the imitation by the Apostles of their divine 
 Master, and again our imitation of them, you must re 
 member that they were in some respects in a different 
 position, both from Him, and again from us. They 
 spoke and acted as his messengers, (which is the mean 
 ing of the title " Apostles,") and commissioned by Him 
 as ambassadors. They accordingly kept closely to the 
 instructions they received from Him, either by word of 
 mouth, or by the inspiration of his Spirit. Thus, we 
 find Paul saying that on one point " he has no com 
 mandment from the Lord" ; and again, in another place, 
 that it is not he that gives the commandment, but " the 
 Lord." And the reality of this their commission from 
 Christ, they prove by the miracles done in his name, 
 which they expressly call the " signs of an Apostle." 
 
 Now, any one among us may indeed be allowed to 
 bring arguments to convince the Reason, that so and so 
 is the meaning of a certain passage of Scripture, or that 
 his views on some point are right. But if, instead of 
 this, he demands assent to what he says, on his bare 
 word, declaring that he is inspired [or "moved"] by 
 the Holy Spirit of God to say it, you may fairly ask 
 
104 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 him to prove this by the display of some sensible 
 miracle. 
 
 This demand was made and justly made of Jesus 
 and his Apostles ; and they did display miraculous pow 
 ers. But any one who thus pretends to inspiration, and 
 yet fails to give this necessary proof of it, is imitating 
 the Apostles only in the same way in which a man 
 might be said to imitate a real ambassador from some 
 king, by pretending to have a commission from him, 
 when he had no credentials to produce. 
 
 2. How far the Example of our Lord is not to 
 be followed. 
 
 Again, our Lord spake to the multitudes in parables, 
 which most of them did not understand, and reserved 
 the explanation of " the mysteries of the kingdom of 
 heaven " for his disciples. And this was, in his case, 
 quite reasonable ; since his disciples were all who 
 chose to be so all who were convinced by his 
 " mighty works " that He was a real prophet, and that 
 therefore they were bound to place themselves under 
 his instruction, even before they understood it " We 
 know," says Nicodemus, " that thou art a teacher sent 
 from God ; for no man can do these miracles which thou 
 doest, except God be with him." 
 
 All that were thus candid and docile became his dis 
 ciples, and received the explanations they needed ; 
 while those who " were without " the circle of his dis 
 ciples, and came to listen out of idle curiosity, or with 
 design to watch for occasions of accusations against him, 
 were left uninstructed. For " he that hath," said Jesus, 
 " to him shall be given ; and lie that hath not, from 
 him shall be taken away even that which he hath." 
 
IMITATION OF THE APOSTLES. 105 
 
 The Apostles, however, by their Master s direction, 
 spoke not in parables, but declared openly and plainly 
 to all, what they were commissioned to teach. " If our 
 gospel be hid," says Paul, " it is hid to them that are 
 lost," [ in the way to be lost," according to the origi 
 nal,] " whom the god of this world hath blinded " ; 
 and again, " I am pure from the blood of all men ; for I 
 have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of 
 God." And this was in conformity with our Lord s in 
 junction, " What I have told you in secret, that preach 
 ye openly ; and what ye have heard in the ear in clos 
 ets, that proclaim ye upon the house-tops." 
 
 3. False Imitation of the Lord Jesus. 
 
 It would be doubly absurd, therefore, for any re 
 ligious or moral teacher among us to think of imitating 
 our Lord s example by delivering obscure precepts to 
 the people, and offering to give explanations of them 
 to those who would enroll themselves as his disciples. 
 " Why should we," they might answer, " become your 
 disciples ? We have no means of judging whether what 
 .you teach is right or wrong, till we understand what it 
 is, unless you give, like Jesus, a miraculous proof of a 
 divine commission." For He said, " If I had not done 
 among them the works which none other man did, they 
 had not had sin." 
 
 But if any one pretends to infallibility without giving 
 such proofs of it, the sin would be, not in denying his 
 claim, but in admitting it. His imitation of our Lord 
 is like the imitation of a true coin by a piece of base 
 metal, which will not stand a trial by the touchstone. 
 
 You see, therefore, that men may fall into grievous 
 
106 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 mistakes by endeavoring, or pretending, to follow some 
 one s example, while they do what is for him quite right, 
 but for them, who are in a different situation, quite 
 
 4. Mistakes as to the Conduct of the Apostles. 
 
 But besides the danger of this kind of error, there is 
 also another to be guarded against. For some people 
 make mistakes as to what the conduct really is, of the 
 model they wish to copy ; and therefore imitate it im 
 properly, even in points wherein it ought to be followed 
 exactly. 
 
 For instance, we find the Apostles and other early 
 disciples submitting to stripes and imprisonments, and 
 encountering hunger and thirst, and dangers and perse 
 cutions of every kind, in their Master s cause, and while 
 engaged in preaching his Gospel (2 Cor. vi. 4-10). 
 And we admire, very justly, the patient fortitude they 
 displayed. And in all cases, the more hardships and 
 privations and sufferings of any kind a man encounters 
 in the discharge of his duty, the more we admire his 
 virtue. Now the admiration of such virtuous fortitude 
 has led many persons, in various ages and countries, to 
 imagine that there is something virtuous in self-inflicted 
 sufferings, that have no further object ; and that to ex 
 pose one s self to various hardships and privations, mere 
 ly as a display of fortitude, is something in itself accept 
 able to the Deity. 
 
 Among the Hindoo idolaters, for instance, there are 
 many devotees who plunge iron hooks into their flesh, 
 and practise a variety of even more extravagant pen 
 ances, which they imagine to be an acceptable service to 
 
IMITATION OF THE APOSTLES. 107 
 
 the gods they worship. If we go to the opposite side of 
 the globe, we find tribes of American Indians practising 
 like cruelties on themselves. And in many Churches 
 professing to be Christian, persons who aspire to be 
 "saints" place great part of their service of God in 
 scourging or half-starving themselves, lying on beds of 
 rugged stones, shutting themselves up in uncomfortable 
 cloisters, wearing filthy garments, and in various other 
 ways inflicting self-torture ; as believing the endurance 
 of suffering for its own sake, and without any further 
 object, to be a Christian virtue, 
 
 Now all this is as great an error as if any one should 
 think to attain the character of a good soldier by wan 
 tonly shooting or stabbing himself. We admire, and 
 with reason, the valor of a soldier who boldly mounts 
 a breach amidst a shower of bullets, or rushes on a line 
 of bayonets, at the command of his leader, in the ser 
 vice of his country. But this is because he encounters 
 the danger in doing his duty, and could not avoid the 
 danger, except by shrinking from duty. But to expose 
 himself to wounds or death for no object^ is far from 
 being a soldier s duty. 
 
 5. TJie Apostles never tortured Themselves. 
 
 And such self-torturers as we have been speaking of 
 are equally far from really imitating the conduct of the 
 Apostles. For they never exposed themselves to perse 
 cution, or suffering of any kind, needlessly and wanton 
 ly ; though there was none that they shrunk from, in 
 the discharge of their duty. They submitted to cruel 
 scourgings, rather than forego the preaching of the 
 Gospel ; but they never scourged themselves. Paul 
 
108 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 himself repeatedly pleaded his privilege as a " Roman 
 citizen," to save himself from illegal scourging. And 
 when shipwrecked on the island of Melita, he took all 
 the careful precautions for safety, that the most tim 
 orous lover of life could have done ; ready as he was 
 " not only to be bound, but also to die, for the name of 
 the Lord Jesus." All this is what the Apostles under 
 stood, and doubtless rightly understood, by their Mas 
 ter s declaration, " If any man will be my disciple, let 
 him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow 
 me " ; his cross, that which is laid upon him by his 
 Christian duty, not one of his own imposing 
 
 And the " mortification " to which Paul exhorts his 
 converts, is not self-torture of any kind, or at all what 
 the word "mortification" means, in its ordinary use 
 among us now ; but the putting to death (that is the ex 
 act sense of the word in the original) of evil habits and 
 desires. " Mortify," says he, " your members which are 
 upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate af 
 fection, and covetousness " ; and " they that are Christ s, 
 have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." 
 
 But as for hair-shirts, and beds of flints, and all kinds 
 of gratuitous suffering purposely undergone for its own 
 sake, there is nothing, either in the teaching or the ex 
 amples of the Apostles, to show that they practised or 
 recommended, or at all approved, of anything of the 
 kind. 
 
 6. Goods of Christians not Common. 
 
 Again, there have been persons who have imagined 
 that Christians ought not to possess any private prop 
 erty, but to " have all things common " ; as a supposed 
 
IMITATION OF THE APOSTLES. 109 
 
 imitation of what is recorded (in Acts) of the earliest 
 " believers." 
 
 But it is quite a mistake to suppose that any such 
 system was established as a general rule for Christians, 
 even at the very first. This is plain from the words of 
 Peter to Ananias ; whose sin the Apostle declares con 
 sisted, not in retaining his property, but in " lying to the 
 Holy Ghost." As for the land, that, he reminds him, 
 and the price of it, has been " his own," and " in his own 
 power " ; which clearly shows that he was not required 
 to give it up on becoming a disciple. 
 
 The case, no doubt, was this : that our Lord s imme 
 diate attendants while He was on earth, and also those 
 who after his departure were engaged in the ministry, 
 were required to throw any property they might possess 
 into a common stock, from which all so engaged were 
 maintained, and the poor relieved out of the surplus. 
 And it need not be wondered at, considering the im 
 mense work then to be begun, of preaching the Gospel 
 to many millions, that all the very earliest of the con 
 verts should have been needed, and all ready, to take 
 part in this ministry. 
 
 Ananias and his wife seem to have designed to par 
 take of this common stock, while they fraudulently re 
 tained a portion of private property ; the resigning of 
 which was a condition, not of their embracing Chris 
 tianity, but of their being entitled to maintenance out 
 of the common stock. 
 
 But it is quite clear that no such system as a general 
 
 community of goods among Christians ever existed. 
 
 This is proved, not only by what was said to Ananias, 
 
 but also by the " charge " given to " them who are rich 
 
 10 
 
110 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 in this world, to be ready to give, and glad to distrib 
 ute " ; and from many other passages of Scripture : 
 among others, one already mentioned, " Let him that 
 stole, steal no more ; but rather let him labor, that he 
 may have to give to him that needeth." 
 
 Those therefore who would forbid men s possessing 
 private property, would not be really following the ex 
 ample of the Apostles. 
 
 These instances may serve as specimens, to show 
 what errors men may commit by inconsiderately and 
 unwisely attempting to imitate the best examples. 
 
LESSON XIV. 
 
 SINGLENESS OF VIRTUE. 
 
 1. Various Treatises on Morals. 
 are severaL-teeatises on Morale, by various 
 
 writers, in several languages ; hv which you will find an 
 enumeration of what are called the different virtues; 
 such as ibrtitude, temperance, justice, .liberality, gentle 
 ness, etc. And there is much that may be studied with 
 profit in some of these treatises. ButJa. studying Ihem 
 you must be very careful to avoid the mistake of srap- 
 ,.posing these virtues to be so many dt-stinct habits, intle- 
 other, like the several different sciences 
 
 and arts. 
 
 TQini. is likp.Iy to tend to this mistake is, 
 like the several sciences and arts, cpnverA 
 
 ferent kinds o.JJu&&* As Arithmetic, for instance, re 
 lates to numbers, and Grammar to language, and Music 
 to certain sounds, etc., which are things of quite different 
 kinds; so, ^ortitiulc is .concerned about dangera- and 
 pains, and Liberality, about money and other property, 
 
 ^andTemperance, aboiU sensual indulgences,. etc. And 
 hence a person might fall., into the mistake of consider- 
 "JogjeiicTi virtue to be a habit as distinct from the rest, 
 
 jind unconneefejfl ^flfr *^ as Music, for instance, 
 from Grammar or Mathematics. 
 
112 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 A man may, we know, be a mathematician without 
 being a classical scholar ; or he may be a painter with 
 out understanding music ; and so of the rest. And those 
 who do possess a knowledge of several different arts or 
 sciences, will usually have learnt them from so many 
 different teachers. But.itJ_s.jQQt-so with ^diat^u^-^alled 
 the different moral . habits. These, 
 
 about different kinds of things, are, -property, oly 
 branches of the one habit of virtue>-whiek- 4s, as has 
 been above explained, the habit of doing whatever is 
 whole conduct and character by 
 
 an enlightened Conscience, and keeping every, part of 
 our nature in subjection to that. 
 
 2. Virtues not distinct, like the Arts. 
 
 When we apply the word "art" to Agriculture, for 
 instance, and to Navigation, and to Architecture, etc., 
 we are only using that term to denote a class which 
 comprehends several things of different kinds, each of 
 which may be properly called " an art," and is inde 
 pendent of the rest. But we.ought 4aot r s& itly--&peak- 
 t .temperance, for instance, k "tg -virtue " ; 
 uth, apart of virtue : it consists in ptrrfbTrning 
 of our duty ; and duty extends to the proper 
 regulation of our actions and inclinations throughout ; -irr 
 -sta t, 4o the whole character. 
 
 As for the various arts and sciences, they not only 
 are conversant about different kinds of things, but-they 
 depend on diffcrcnJL. faculties in the mind ; rmd thvs it it 
 ..that makes them quite distinct kud ^de])emlejiLflLeach 
 (.[her. The [tower, for instance, by which a man cal 
 culates, and that by which he learns a language, and 
 
SINGLENESS OP VIRTUE. 113 
 
 that by which he constructs a machine, are quite dis 
 tinct. You may, if you will, apply the one word " un 
 derstanding " or " intellect " to every one of these facul 
 ties ; but this would be only applying one name to 
 several different kinds of powers. In like manner, the 
 one word " sense " may be applied to hearing, sight, and 
 smell ; but they are quite distinct senses ; and we could 
 not use the eyes for hearing, or the ears for seeing. But 
 3 rot fifiv prn1 ; nn ^ we are bonnd 
 
 el. ? different as these are from each other, under the 
 one_cpntrol, of that one which we have called con 
 science. 
 
 3. Apparent, but not Real Virtues. 
 But what helps to mislead people us to this point i&, 
 
 quite nnfnnnrctH with ftnrh nthfr 
 man who .ia_aQbM> from-^U^g^cot> 
 
 ance would bring sickness, im 
 
 appear to be practising the virtue of remp 
 
 be a cheat, and a liar, etc. He may, per 
 haps, be a member of what is called a " Temperance 
 Society," the rule of which binds a man as to one point 
 only; and he may never think at all of that society 
 called a " Christian Church," the members of which are 
 bound to "fight manfully under the banner of Christ 
 crucified against sin " ; and which, accordingly, is both a 
 " Temperance Society," and also an " Honesty Society," 
 and a "Veracity Society," and a "Benevolence So 
 ciety," etc. 
 
 Or, again, take the instance of courage ; a man of con- 
 10* 
 
114 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 stitutional intrepidity and firmness, with a great desire 
 of glory, and perhaps a strong attachment to his country, 
 will be likely to make a good soldier, though he may be 
 covetous, and cruel, and tainted with many other vices. 
 And accordingly the most formidable armies have been 
 often made up of men whom no one would call virtuous 
 characters. But the courage of such a man is only an 
 apparent, not a real virtue. For virtue consists in doin^ 
 one s duly, because it is duty, and on a right principle, 
 a principle \\Lidi extends to all points of duty alike. 
 A man is rightly called " an artist " who is master of 
 even any one art, though he may be ignorant of the 
 rest. Dui nu unei is-a-good. man who does uol strive 
 ta -dflL-wLat. is -right? -and abstain from what is wrong, 
 throughout. 
 
 4. The Sacred Writers, and the Heathen Philoso 
 phers, agree on the Oneness of Virtue. 
 
 And this is in conformity with what the Apostle 
 .James says: "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, 
 yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. JEor. that 
 Jaw which said,* Do not commit adultery, said also, Do 
 jaot kill. y^vJOhoii- commit jro^adulter-yy-yet if thtm 
 .kill,- thou art become a transgressor .of-the 4aw." (James 
 ii. 10, 11.) Undoes not mean that a gingte sin is as 
 bad asjmany, or jthat alj_ sins jire equal. Nor can it be 
 supposed that, when our Lord bids us " be perfect," sr 
 lather, according to the original, "complete,") "even-as 
 our Ileavenly Father is perfect," He means that nothing 
 short of god-like, sinless goodness would be accepted. 
 
 * This is the marginal reading of our Bibles. 
 
SINGLENESS OF VIRTUE. 115 
 
 But He andjii? Apm-t1" g """^"t nrt ^y, that a mnr> 
 
 on a right principle, according to the best of his own 
 mojill jndgmonti nnrl diirrrtinn j (wkat-James calk. the 
 ".perfect^ law of liberty,") will not pass over altogether, 
 jmd wilfully neglect^ amc- port ion of fluty fjjn^f t.hp. snmp 
 principle extends to _the \v ;holej jaiid^ . consequently,, eYfiry 
 ..transgressor is a " transgressor of the law" altogether. 
 But if. QLL.tbe-eontrary. thei e- were as many distiuct^ia- 
 depciulcnt. and unconnected rules laid down, as there 
 ^re tilings to be done and to be avoided, then, a man 
 who should have violated urn of these rules would have 
 dojie_jiDthing against the rest. As it is, our obedience 
 to the law of conscience, however imperfect t in one 
 .sense, it may be, is not, they teach us, to Impartial and 
 
 ^So, also, f hg A pnstl n T^i 1 tlh " g that a he. that 
 loveth another hath fuliilled the law" (meaning, of 
 course, Q s far ns rggnHn nnr-V-iHgh^rp) ...ff. For. this, 
 Tlipu shalt not kill, Thou shalt not commit adultery, 
 Honor thy father and thy mother ; and if there be any 
 omer .onniia4idient, it is briefly comprehended in this, 
 Thou shalt ~love-4kyHftsighbor as. thyself. Love work- 
 eth no ill tn )^ia neighbor ; therefore love is the fulfilling 
 
 tf thn Iftir." "Rft^i xiii. 8 -10. 
 
 It kugemarkablft i^hat t^pj y^vy ^^^ ifontrinttj in thin _ 
 
 respect, with that of the Apostles, is nia-intaiunl by the . 
 most yTnir^pnt nf ffrp nnoinnt hnnthrn mnrnl pliilu uplni 
 A^mnn p r nrinot, nrrnnling to Ariatotlfv (Eth. Nicom. b. 
 vi.), be said, in the strictest f?o"so 7 to possess n tifi virti 10 ; 
 and to be destitute of the rest; since the principle 
 which he calls right Ileason [phronesis], on which a 
 truly virtuous num acts, must extend tu uxry. poit-ef 
 duty. 
 
116 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 5. Consistency. 
 
 Whatever principle, then, or system of conduct, you 
 lay down as morally right, you should go through with 
 it, and follow it out consistently, without making arbi 
 trary exceptions according to your own taste and conven 
 ience. It might indeed be said, that, strictly speaking, 
 any fault, however small, is an "inconsistency" in a 
 man whose life is on the whole virtuous. But what we 
 mean when we speak of an inconsistent character is, 
 that his course of life is inconsistent. It might be said, 
 in like manner, that every single weed in a cultivated 
 field, or in a whole farm, is an " inconsistency " ; and 
 yet you would hardly find, even among the best kept 
 farms, any one that had not a single weed. But a farm 
 er would then, and then only, be reckoned inconsistent, 
 if he attended carefully to one portion of his crops, and 
 left another to be spoiled through neglect; or if he 
 sowed one half of a field with wheat, and the other half 
 with thistles and rag-weed. 
 
 Act, therefore, throughout, on whatever principle you 
 have adopted as right ; or, if you find that to do so would 
 lead to something wrong or absurd, you should take this 
 as a proof that the principle itself which you had adopt 
 ed must be erroneous, and requires to be changed. But 
 a person who does fairly follow out even an erroneous 
 rule of conduct, which he has mistaken for a right one, 
 is in a fair way to discover in time his own mistake. 
 And moreover he is deserving of less blame than one 
 who (as the phrase is) " plays fast and loose " with his 
 principle ; acting on it in one case, and laying it aside 
 in another just as suits his inclination. 
 
SINGLENESS OF VIRTUE. 117 
 
 If, for instance, you are fully convinced that such pre 
 cepts as " Resist not evil," etc., are to be taken liter 
 ally and strictly, as forbidding all self-defence, then you 
 should make a point of never resorting to the aid of law, 
 or of any magistrate, officer of law, or civil governor of 
 any kind. For it is plain that all human laws and hu 
 man government must rest ultimately on physical force. 
 The ruler " beareth not the sword in vain," but " is or 
 dained for the punishment of evil-doers." A law that 
 should merely exhort men to pay their just debts, but 
 should denounce no penalty for non-payment, nor be 
 supported by any power of arrest or seizure of goods, 
 would be a mere jest. On the above principle, there 
 fore, you would be bound to leave it to the choice of 
 your tenants and other debtors whether they should pay 
 you or not. Nor would it be allowable for you to call 
 in the police to help you against robbers. For it would 
 be absurd to pretend, that, though it is a sin to employ 
 force yourself, it is no sin to employ others to do it for 
 you. 
 
 Again, if you are convinced that the Mosaic law, or 
 that a certain portion of it, is binding on Christians, then 
 you should observe every one of its commandments, or 
 every one of that portion of its commandments, exactly 
 as they were given, without presuming to leave out or 
 to alter any particle. Or if you find that this would 
 not be right, or that it would lead to some absurdity, 
 then you should not profess to take the Mosaic law for 
 your rule. 
 
 6. Men apt to trust in one Supposed Virtue. 
 It is worth remarking here, by the way, that none are 
 
118 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 so likely to fall into the error (formerly noticed) of 
 thinking to deserve and earn reward by the supposed 
 merit of their good works, as those who consider each 
 (so-called) virtue to be a separate habit ; and that they 
 may, and do, practise some one or two virtues, on which 
 they rely and pride themselves. They trust to these 
 as not only compensating for all failures in other 
 points, but as entitling them to reward. For a man is 
 called " an artist " (as was observed just above) who is 
 master of any one art ; and a tailor, for instance, may 
 say, "I know nothing about cultivating the land, or 
 building houses ; those matters are no business of mine : 
 making clothes is my trade, and that is enough ; it is by 
 that I earn my living" And a carpenter or a smith, 
 etc., might say the like. And so also those who alto 
 gether mistake the whole nature of moral virtue, consid 
 er that a man may, in like manner, be considered vir 
 tuous who practises any one virtue. To guard against 
 such a mistake, it is best to avoid the kind of language 
 that leads to it, and, instead of speaking of several 
 distinct virtues, to say that there are so many distinct 
 branches of duty ; and that Virtue consists in earnestly 
 setting one s self to the performance of every duty. 
 
LESSON XV. 
 
 EASIER AND HARDER DUTIES. 
 
 1. Differences in Men s Dispositions. 
 
 You have seen, then, that no one should think of such 
 a thing as possessing one virtue and not others. But it 
 is, nevertheless, true that different parts of duty will be 
 easier or harder to practise, some to one person, and 
 some to another, according to each man s original dispo 
 sition or early education. Suppose, for instance, the 
 case of a person who is naturally of a covetous dispo 
 sition, but of a calm, mild, and gentle temper ; and an 
 other, who is naturally careless of gain, and liberal, but 
 irritable and passionate. The one of these will have to 
 exercise much self-control, in acting always honestly and 
 liberally, which would cost the other little or no effort, 
 though he would scarcely at all feel such provocations 
 as the other would find it very difficult to bear with 
 patience. 
 
 One man, again, may find it cost him a severe strug 
 gle to resist the temptations presented by a desire for 
 applause, and dread of censure, but will encounter pain 
 and danger readily ; while one of an opposite disposi 
 tion will find it much easier to forego applause, and even 
 to undergo scorn, than to face danger. And there are 
 many other such differences. 
 
120 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 Any one who is disposed to complain of the labor 
 and pain it costs him to do what some others do with 
 ease, should reflect that, on the other hand, they perhaps 
 find a great difficulty in something that is, to him, much 
 easier. 
 
 2. Analogy of Bodily Constitutions. 
 
 There are much the same kind of differences in what 
 relates to bodily health. One, for instance, can perhaps 
 undergo much bodily labor, and be even the better for 
 it, but has a weak digestion, and is obliged to be very 
 particular about his diet ; while another may find scarce 
 ly any kind of food disagree with him, but is easily over- 
 fatigued. And the like in many other cases. 
 
 But no one would consider himself in good health, if 
 some part of his body were disordered, though the rest 
 might be quite sound and healthy. Nor, in like man 
 ner, can any one be in a healthy moral state, if he 
 allows himself in any kind of sin, or neglects a portion 
 of his duty. For as a good digestion, for instance, is 
 not good health, but only a part of good health, so (as 
 was above remarked) Temperance, or Fortitude, etc., 
 is not virtue, but only a part of virtue. 
 
 And, again, you may observe, that, with respect to 
 bodily health, every prudent man is especially careful 
 to guard against those particular diseases to which he 
 knows his own constitution is the most liable. But in 
 moral conduct there is a temptation to reverse this 
 course ; to bestow the chief attention on those duties 
 which are most agreeable to our own nature, and to 
 feel the least dread of the faults we are the most in 
 clined to. A man, for instance, of an open-handed and 
 
EASIER AND HARDER DUTIES. 121 
 
 benevolent disposition, but inclined to indolence and to 
 sensuality, will be likely to regard these as far less 
 odious faults than avarice. .And one who is naturally 
 disposed to be active, frugal, and temperate, but parsi 
 monious, and fond of gain, will abhor sloth and intem 
 perance much more than love of money. And the like 
 in many other cases. 
 
 And it may sometimes happen that your having 
 some strong tendency in your own character will cause 
 you to perceive it not in yourself, but in your neighbors. 
 If, for instance, you are disposed to covetousness, your 
 over-anxiety to buy cheap, and sell dear, may make 
 you think others covetous ; because they will ask more, 
 and offer less, than, to you, will seem reasonable. 
 
 If, again, you are of a quarrelsome temper, this may 
 cause you to think others quarrelsome; or even to 
 make them so, in their dealings with you ; because you 
 will be apt to say and do such things as are likely to 
 irritate them. 
 
 Or if you are disposed to be obstinate and opinion 
 ated, or proud and overbearing, others will appear to 
 you to be obstinate, etc., because they will not give 
 way to you as you will think they ought.* ^ 
 
 And it is the same with Vanity, and several other 
 kinds of disposition. 
 
 3. Care of Bodily Health and of Moral 
 And, again, a person whose natural tendency is.to- 
 
 * A man of this character is said to have complained of his ill-luck, 
 inasmuch as, whenever he was placed on a jury, he always found him 
 self joined with eleven obstinate men who would not hear reason. 
 11 
 
122 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 wards some extreme, suppose, an excessive desire of 
 applause and dread of censure will perhaps take 
 great- pains in proving (what no one denies) that it is 
 neither right, nor possible, to root out completely this 
 feeling ; and that we ought not to be, nor can be, wholly 
 indifferent to the good opinion of our neighbors. He 
 might be answered, " It is for you to take all possible 
 care to keep down that feeling ; and be assured there is 
 no fear but you will have enough of it left. Treat it as 
 you do the grass or. a lawn, which you mow down as 
 close as you can every week ; not with the hope, or the 
 wish to destroy the grass, but quite secure that it will 
 grow up again fast enough." 
 
 Some again excuse or palliate their faults by saying 
 that such conduct is natural to persons of their age, 
 or station, or bodily constitution, etc. As if nothing 
 could be a sin to be guarded against, except something 
 to which we are not naturally inclined ! 
 
 You should imitate, then, the conduct of a prudent 
 man in the care of his health ; using double watchful 
 ness and exertion in guarding against those faults in 
 particular which your own character is the most prone 
 to, and in fulfilling those duties which you are the most 
 inclined to neglect. And you should imitate the pro 
 cedure of builders in straightening a piece of timber 
 that is warped ; who bend it a little beyond the straight 
 line in the contrary direction. 
 
 Some people, indeed, carry this too far, and, in their 
 excessive dread of one extreme, fly to the opposite ; to 
 penuriousness, for instance, in their dread of prodigality ; 
 or to rashness and hurry, through dread of over-cautious 
 ness and hurtful delay ; or the contrary. This kind of 
 
EASIER AND HARDER DUTIES. 123 
 
 error you should of course avoid ; but still your first and 
 chief care should be to guard against the extreme to 
 which your own disposition most inclines you. 
 
 And as the advice of a good physician may be of use 
 in helping you to understand your own bodily constitu 
 tion, so a judicious friend may perform a like service in 
 the important point of self-knowledge. For many a 
 one deceives himself as to what really are his own 
 natural tendencies. For instance, one who is some 
 what inclined to the love of money, may fancy himself 
 remarkably liberal ; because every act of liberality will 
 have cost him such an effort, that he will think much of 
 it, as a most heroic sacrifice. A man, again, who has 
 much self-esteem, may fancy himself peculiarly modest 
 and humble ; because he will view, as . it were, through 
 a magnifying-glass, any act of condescension ; and will 
 seem to himself to be lowering his own just pretensions 
 when he is taking upon himself less than he thinks he 
 has a fair claim to, though, in reality, more than is right. 
 
 And so in other cases. 
 
 A wise and candid counsellor may help to guard you 
 against this kind of self-deceit. 
 
 4. Enumeration of Virtues not necessary. 
 
 As for such a set of precise rules as should at once 
 apply to every case that can arise, it is what not even 
 the longest Treatise could contain. And an enumera 
 tion of what are called the several " Moral Virtues " 
 that is, the branches of virtue would be unsuitable 
 for introductory Lessons like these ; and, for the reasons 
 above given, cannot be necessary. 
 
 If, indeed, each Virtue were a distinct Habit, hide- 
 
124 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 pendent of the rest, and if Man had no Moral Faculty 
 to guide his conduct in each kind of matter, but de 
 pended wholly on the particular instruction he received 
 on each particular branch (as is the case with the sev 
 eral Sciences and Arts), then, to omit the description of 
 any one Virtue, would be to leave the learner, as far as 
 regarded that one, entirely at a loss. Thus, if in train 
 ing a youth for the Medical Profession, for instance, you 
 were to teach him Chemistry and Botany, etc., but to 
 leave out Anatomy, his course of study would be imper 
 fect. Or if, again, in a treatise on Agriculture, you were 
 to find full instructions for the cultivation of corn, but 
 nothing said about green crops, or about cattle, you 
 would find fault with the work, as imperfect. 
 
 But in what relates to moral conduct, since Man does 
 possess a Faculty which is designed to be applied to the 
 guidance of the whole life, no one can justly complain 
 that he has received imperfect or insufficient moral in 
 struction, on the ground that some particular point of 
 duty, or some particular sin, has not been specified. If 
 you have been supplied (to refer to a former illustra 
 tion) with a Clock or Watch, and also with a Sun-dial 
 by which to regulate it, together with directions (such 
 as are to be found in Almanacs) as to the allowances to 
 be made of differences between them, there is no need 
 that you should be reminded again and again of each of 
 the several engagements you have at such and such 
 hours. 
 
 5. Mode of Instruction in the New Testament. 
 
 And accordingly, the New Testament Writers (as 
 was above observed) do not undertake to enumerate all 
 
EASIER AND HARDER DUTIES. 125 
 
 points of Christian duty, and to enjoin and forbid each 
 kind of right and wrong act ; but exhort men to the cul 
 tivation of good dispositions and the practice of Virtue, 
 generally, and to the imitation of their Divine Master ; 
 giving, however, some particular admonitions on those 
 points on which the particular persons they happened 
 to be addressing were the most likely to fail. 
 
 And they designed, no doubt, that, in after ages also, 
 Christian moral teachers should pursue a like plan ; ex 
 plaining the principles of Morality, and giving also such 
 particular cautions as might seem best suited for their 
 own Age and Country, and for the class of hearers they 
 were instructing. 
 
 And a few cautions of this kind will be all that are 
 necessary in these introductory Lessons. Let the Chris 
 tian dwell on what the Lord Jesus said and did, and act 
 with a full sense that Ms eye is upon us, and that He 
 requires us to love and to imitate Him, and has prom 
 ised to " come unto such followers, and to make his 
 abode with them," and has gone " to prepare a place for 
 them " ; and then the Christian will not seek, or need, 
 any set of exact and full-written rules for each par 
 ticular point of conduct. 
 
 11* 
 
LESSON XVI. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS CAUTIONS. PART I. 
 
 A FEW miscellaneous hints and cautions, as to points 
 on which mistakes are apt to arise, may be more useful 
 (for the reasons above given) than an enumeration and 
 description of what are usually called the several Moral 
 Virtues. 
 
 1. The Matter to which our Conduct relates should 
 be well understood. 
 
 You must remember that you are bound not- merely 
 to do what appears to you to be right in each case, but 
 also to take pains to understand the subject relating to 
 each duty you are called on to perform. It would not 
 be enough, for instance, for a man holding some public 
 situation, merely to have a desire to promote his Coun 
 try s welfare ; he is bound, also, to take all possible care 
 to learn in what that welfare consists, and what are the 
 best measures for promoting it. For if, through want 
 of such care, he does mischief instead of good, it is no 
 sufficient excuse to say that " he meant well." 
 
 Or again,- to take one of the commonest and most 
 obvious cases, that of charity to the poor, you are 
 bound not merely to seek to relieve distress, but to in 
 quire diligently, and consider attentively, in what way 
 
MISCELLANEOUS CAUTIONS. 127 
 
 you can do this the most effectually, so as to do the 
 most good, and the least harm. For there can be no 
 doubt that careless, indiscriminate almsgiving does far 
 more harm than good ; since it encourages idleness and 
 improvidence, and also imposture. If you give freely to 
 ragged and filthy street-beggars, you are in fact hiring 
 people to dress themselves in filthy rags, and go about 
 begging, with fictitious tales of distress. If, on the con 
 trary, you carefully inquire for, and relieve, honest and 
 industrious persons who have fallen into distress through 
 unavoidable misfortune, you are not only doing good to 
 those objects, but also holding out an encouragement, 
 generally, to honest industry. 
 
 You may, however, meet with persons who say, " As 
 long as it is my intention to relieve real distress, my 
 charity is equally virtuous, though the tale told me may 
 be a false one. The impostor alone is to be blamed 
 who told it me ; I acted on what he said ; and if that is 
 untrue, the fault is his, and not mine." 
 
 Now this is a fair plea, if any one is deceived after 
 making careful inquiry; but if he has not taken the 
 trouble to do this, regarding it as no concern of his, you 
 might ask him how he would act and judge in a case 
 where he is thoroughly in earnest, that is, where his 
 own interest is concerned. Suppose he employed a 
 Steward, or other Agent, to buy for him a house, or a 
 horse, or any other article, and this Agent paid an ex 
 orbitant price for what was really worth little or nothing, 
 giving just the same kind of excuse for allowing his em 
 ployer to be thus cheated ; saying, " I made no careful in 
 quiries, but took the seller s word; and his being a liar and 
 a cheat is his fault, and not mine " ; the employer would 
 
128 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 doubtless reply, " The seller indeed is to be condemned 
 for cheating ; but so are you, for your carelessness of 
 my interests. His being greatly in fault does not clear 
 you ; and your merely intending to do what was right, 
 is no excuse for your not taking pains to gain right 
 information." 
 
 ]Sow on such a principle we ought to act in our chari 
 ties : regarding ourselves as Stewards of all that Provi 
 dence has bestowed, and as bound to expend it in the 
 best way possible, and not shelter our own faulty negli 
 gence under the misconduct of another 
 
 And here it may be remarked, by the way, that you 
 should never allow any one least of all, yourself 
 to put forward the very common excuse of " it is such 
 a one s fault " ; as if only one person could be in fault 
 in any one transaction. Thus, when you point out to 
 some ignorant people something erroneous in their re 
 ligious belief or practice, they will often reply, " Well, 
 this is what the Church teaches and orders, as the 
 Priests tell me ; if there is anything wrong in it, they 
 must bear all the blame, and not I. I say and do just 
 what they bid me; and they must answer for me." 
 This is just the sort of excuse that Adam resorted to 
 for his transgression of the Divine command. He laid 
 the blame upon " The Woman " ; and the answer he 
 received was, " Because thou hast hearkened unto the 
 voice of thy wife," etc. 
 
 2, Right Principles not to be reserved for Great 
 Occasions. 
 
 Do not reserve the exercise of virtuous principle for 
 grand occasions, neglecting small matters of daily occur- 
 
MISCELLANEOUS CAUTIONS. 129 
 
 rence ; but remember that there may be great faults in 
 relation to small things, and an important exercise of 
 virtue in matters of little importance in themselves. 
 
 Do not, for instance, satisfy yourself with generously 
 forgiving some great injury, while you allow .yourself 
 to be impatient and irritable under the various petty 
 provocations that are perpetually occurring. And be 
 not content with making some grand sacrifice of your 
 own interest or enjoyment to a sense of duty, yet giv 
 ing way to unjust selfishness, and disregard of the rights 
 and the feelings of others, in every-day matters. For 
 you should remember, that it is for the sake of our own 
 moral discipline and improvement that virtuous conduct 
 is required of us, not for the intrinsic value of any good 
 works of ours; and that it is by frequent practice, 
 rather than by some great and rare efforts, that a habit 
 is acquired. 
 
 3. Self-love and Selfishness. 
 
 The mention of Selfishness leads me to remind you 
 not to confound that with Self-love, which is quite a 
 different thing. Self-love is (as was formerly remarked) 
 a rational, deliberate desire for our own welfare, and for 
 anything we consider likely to promote it.* It exists 
 in various degrees in different persons ; but it is im 
 possible to conceive a rational Being completely desti 
 tute of it. No one can be completely indifferent about 
 
 * Sometimes the word self-love is used to signify self-partiality, 
 a tendency to overrate the excellence or the importance of our 
 own performances. But properly, and according to the usage of 
 those who are the most accurate in their language, it signifies " the 
 desire for our own welfare, as such." 
 
130 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 his own happiness, who is but capable of forming an 
 idea of happiness. 
 
 And Self-love, you should observe, is quite distinct 
 from all our other desires and propensities, though it 
 may often tend in the same direction with some of 
 them. One person, for instance, may drink some water 
 because he is thirsty ; and another may, without thirst, 
 drink suppose from a mineral spring because he 
 believes it will be good for his health. This latter is 
 impelled by self-love ; but not the other. 
 
 So, again, one person may pursue some course of 
 study, in order to qualify himself for some profession 
 by which he may advance in life, and another, from 
 having a taste for that study, and a desire for that 
 branch of knowledge. This latter, though he may per 
 haps be, in fact, promoting his own welfare, is not 
 acting from self-love. For as the object of thirst is 
 not happiness, but drink, so the object of curiosity is 
 not happiness, but knowledge. And so of the rest. 
 
 Self-love may, of course, like any of our other tenden 
 cies, be excessive, or improperly indulged, or ill-directed ; 
 but it is nothing evil in itself. And for one person who 
 goes wrong through excess of self-love, there are ten 
 who do so for the sake of gratifying some appetite or 
 passion. A drunkard, for instance, or a gambler, or a 
 quarrelsome man, etc., do not lead the life they do from 
 calculating that this will conduce to their happiness; 
 but the one from his craving for strong drink, another 
 from covetousness, and another from pride and malice. 
 
 Selfishness, on the other hand, (which is a thing bad 
 in itself,) consists not in the indulging of this or that 
 particular propensity, but in disregarding, for the sake 
 
MISCELLANEOUS CAUTIONS. 131 
 
 of any kind of personal gratification or advantage, the 
 rights or the feelings of other men. It is therefore a 
 negative quality ; that is, it consists in not considering 
 what is due to one s neighbors, through a deficiency of 
 justice or of benevolence. And selfishness accordingly 
 will show itself in as many different shapes as there are 
 different dispositions in men. 
 
 You may see these differences even in very young 
 children. One selfish child, who is greedy, will seek 
 to keep all the cakes and sweetmeats to himself; an 
 other, who is idle, will not care what trouble he causes 
 to others, so he can save his own ; another, who is vain, 
 will seek to obtain the credit which is due to others ; 
 one who is covetous, will seek to gain at another s ex 
 pense, etc. In short, each person, you should remem 
 ber, " has a self of his own." And, consequently, though 
 you may be of a character very unlike that of some self 
 ish person, you may yet be, in your own way, quite 
 as selfish as he. And it is possible to be selfish in the 
 highest degree, without being at all too much actuated 
 by self-love, but unduly neglectful of others, when your 
 own gratification, of whatever kind, is concerned. 
 
 Even the most amiable feelings require to be watched, 
 with a view to this fault. A liberal and benevolent 
 man, for instance, may be tempted to wish to keep 
 entirely to himself some work of beneficence, in which 
 others may desire, and reasonably desire, to have a 
 share. And a brave and public-spirited man may be 
 tempted to wish to be the sole performer of some great 
 exploit, to the unfair exclusion of others. 
 
 The great safeguard against selfishness is to apply 
 the " Golden Kule," and imagine yourself in another s 
 place. 
 
132 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 4. Retiring from the World. 
 
 You must guard against the mistake of imagining 
 that there is anything virtuous in seeking to escape 
 temptation by what some call " renouncing the World " ; 
 that is, withdrawing from active life into a Hermit 
 age, or a Monastery, or some such retreat. Those 
 who thus fly from the World s dangers, generally fly 
 from many of its duties also. And, after all, though 
 they may thus escape some kinds of temptation, they 
 will meet with others of some different kind instead. 
 And we cannot have the same ground of hope for 
 Divine support against temptations that are of our own 
 creating, and which we have gone out of our way to 
 encounter, as against those occurring in the ordinary 
 course of life marked out for us by Providence. 
 
 Again, the prospect of being engaged in some great 
 and important good work, must not be allowed to draw 
 you off from definite duties that are especially appointed 
 for you. A good soldier will not quit without orders 
 the post where he has been stationed, to go and perform 
 some exploit against the enemy elsewhere. 
 
 A man would be to blame, for instance, who should 
 leave his children to the mercy of chance, while he went 
 about attending public Meetings for some good object, or 
 travelled as a Missionary in foreign lands. 
 
 As for our Lord s immediate followers, when some of 
 them left homes and parents to act as his attendants, or 
 his messengers, this was at the command of Him who 
 knew perfectly all the particulars of each case, and 
 who had an undoubted right to their services. But no 
 one is justified in giving up his own definite duties on 
 his own fallible judgment. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS CAUTIONS. 133 
 
 5. Occasions for doing Good to be looked out for. 
 
 On the other hand, be not satisfied with being able to 
 say to yourself, " I am doing no harm" if there is any 
 good left undone which you could do without desert 
 ing your own proper duties. Suppose it is something 
 that is not more your particular business than that of 
 several other persons ; instead of saying, " Why does 
 not one of them undertake this good work ? " you should 
 say, " If it be a thing right to be done, it must be right 
 that somebody should do it ; is there any reason why I 
 should not be that somebody ? " 
 
 A man who is eager for gain is continually on the 
 look-out for some profitable employment of the time 
 or the capital he may have to spare, even though it 
 may not exactly be in his own line of business. He 
 will never willingly let his money or his hands remain 
 idle. And if there be some scheme of profit which 
 several other persons might engage in as well as he, 
 this will only make him the more anxious that none 
 of them should outstrip him in industrious enterprise. 
 Now this conduct of " the children of this World " who 
 are " wise in their generation," should serve as an ex 
 ample to " the children of light." 
 
 12 
 
LESSON XVII. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS CAUTIONS. PART II. 
 
 r 
 
 1. Veracity and Fidelity. 
 
 ALL would agree that it is a duty to tell truth, and 
 to keep promises ; but there are several mistakes afloat 
 respecting this branch of duty. 
 
 Remember, then, that we must look to the sense which 
 the words spoken on any occasion may be expected to 
 convey, and not to any other which they might gram 
 matically bear. Hence, if you say something that is in 
 the literal sense true, but which you know, or believe, 
 will be otherwise understood, you are just as much 
 morally guilty of falsehood as if the expression itself 
 had been altogether false. 
 
 If, for instance, in some Mahometan country, you 
 were to describe yourself as " a true believer" without 
 giving any explanation of your meaning, this would be 
 a deception ; because it is well known that those words 
 are (there) understood to mean a Mahometan. And 
 it would be the same kind of deceit if you were to call 
 yourself " a Catholic," when speaking to those who, you 
 knew, would understand by that (however improperly) 
 , a member of " the Church of Rome." 
 
 So also, when our Lord said, " My kingdom is not 
 
MISCELLANEOUS CAUTIONS. 135 
 
 of this world," the expression might, indeed, be inter- I 
 preted to mean " it is not so now ; but I intend that it 
 shall be such, hereafter." But if this had been his 
 meaning, and He had designed that, as soon as ever his 
 disciples should become powerful enough, they should 
 rise in arms, and put down all idolatrous princes, and 
 enforce the profession of Christianity, or at least secure 
 to themselves a monopoly of all civil power, and civil 
 rights, in that case, He would have been guilty of a 
 deception no less than if his declaration had been lit- , 
 erally false. For He was vindicating himself before 
 Pilate from the charge of " speaking against Caesar " ; 
 and therefore must have known that He could not have 
 been understood in the above sense ; since that would 
 have been to admit the charge. 
 
 And the same may be said of all the declarations of 
 the Apostles, about " submitting to every ordinance of 
 Man," etc. If they were honest men, they must have 
 really meant what they could not but be certain they 
 were understood at the time to mean ; namely, a renun 
 ciation of all design, of themselves and their followers, 
 to subvert by force any political institutions, or to en 
 force the profession of their own religion ; or to monop 
 olize for Christians civil rights. 
 
 2. What constitutes Moral Truth and Falsehood. 
 
 On the other hand, there is no moral falsehood in 
 saying what is literally untrue, when we know that it 
 will not be literally understood. Thus, Fables [or 
 Parables] and, in short, all avowedly fictitious tales, 
 are no violation of veracity. And when any one signs 
 himself " your obedient servant," every one knows that f 
 
136 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 this is merely the customary expression of civil cour 
 tesy.* 
 
 Again, when, in war, a General seeks to mislead the 
 enemy as to the numbers or the position of his troops, 
 or when a ship of war is disguised as a merchantman, 
 to entice a Pirate or a Slaver within reach, or when 
 a Policeman dresses in plain clothes, or some other 
 disguise, in order to detect thieves, in such cases 
 there is no fraud, because the parties are aware that 
 every kind of artifice will be resorted to against them ; 
 and no confidence is violated where none is placed. 
 But when a Flag of Truce is displayed, or Signals of 
 Distress hoisted, any deception is unjustifiable ; because, 
 according to the custom of all nations, these are under 
 stood as demands of confidence, and promises of good 
 faith. 
 
 Every assertion, then, or promise, or declaration of 
 whatever kind, is to be interpreted on the principle that 
 the right meaning of any expression is that which may 
 be fairly presumed to be understood by it. This may 
 chance to be different from what the other party ac- 
 tually did understand ; for you are not bound to be an- 
 
 ^* It is necessary, in each country, to be acquainted with the cus 
 tomary forms of expression of this kind ; else you may be greatly per 
 plexed yourself, and may perplex others. In Spain, for instance, 
 the common form of civility to an acquaintance is to ask him to din- 
 ner, which he is expected civilly to decline ; to accept such an in 
 vitation the first or the second time, would astonish and perplex a 
 Spaniard as much as it would us if any one should understand liter 
 ally the phrase " your obedient, humble servant," and should there 
 upon desire you to black his shoes. If a Spaniard really means to 
 invite you to dinner, he repeats the invitation a third time, and then 
 he is understood to mean it literally. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS CAUTIONS. 137 
 
 swerable for his mistakes. And again, it may be dif- > 
 ferent from what you yourself inwardly meant, if you 
 were designing to mislead the other by an equivocation, 
 or if you expressed yourself carelessly and inaccurately. 
 But in whatever sense it might reasonably be expected 
 that a declaration of any kind will be understood, this 
 is to be regarded as the true sense, and that to which 
 you are bound. 
 
 3. Implied Promises. 
 
 And it is plain that the same rule applies to acts as 
 well as to words. If, for instance, you asked any one 
 the way to some place, and he pointed with his hand in 
 a wrong direction, he would be acting a lie. And if any 
 one should take some child into his family, and bring 
 him up as a son of his own, he would be bound to pro 
 vide for him. If he left him without any provision, he 
 would be guilty of a breach of promise, though he might 
 never have actually said anything on the subject. For 
 the very reason why any promise is binding, is because 
 he who knowingly excites expectations is bound to fulfil 
 them. 
 
 So, also, if you should induce some laborers to come 
 and settle on your land, and work for you, conforming 
 to certain rules, with full permission to them to go to 
 their own church or chapel on Sundays, then if you 
 should afterwards withdraw this permission, and estab 
 lish a new rule on the subject, you would be a deceiver, 
 even though you had never said that the original rule 
 was not to be changed, because you must have known 
 what were the expectations you had raised, and which 
 had induced them to accept your proposal. 
 12* 
 
138 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 Again, if some College, or School, or other such In 
 stitution, were established with a declaration that it was 
 to be open to all, of whatever religious persuasion, and 
 that none were to be excluded or expelled from it on 
 account of their religion, this would of course be under 
 stood to mean that the pupils should not be obliged to 
 learn or to practise anything against their religious con 
 viction, however erroneous that conviction might be. 
 For else some might be virtually excluded who might 
 fairly claim, according to the original declaration, to be 
 admitted. 
 
 Or again, if persons are invited to bestow their money 
 and time and labor in establishing some Hospital or 
 Dispensary, or some School, College, Public Library, 
 etc., and are promised aid from a public fund on condi 
 tion of keeping to a certain system, they have a fair 
 claim to that aid as long as they conform to the system. 
 If certain rules have been laid down as to the medicines 
 to be administered, the books to be employed, or the 
 plan to be followed, and then material alterations in 
 these rules, etc. are afterwards introduced, and quite 
 different ones enforced, this might be justly complained 
 of as a fraud. Though no express promise had been 
 made that the system should not be changed, both par 
 ties must have been fully aware that the invitation 
 which was given, and accepted, would have been no in 
 vitation at all, but for the expectation that the system 
 originally set forth was to remain the same. 
 
 Sometimes it is an understood condition of some 
 promise that the fulfilment shall be possible, and that 
 the promiser is only bound to do his very utmost ; in 
 which case he is not to be blamed for an unavoidable 
 
MISCELLANEOUS CAUTIONS. 139 
 
 failure. But it is best that, whenever this is designed, > 
 the condition of " if possible " should be distinctly ex 
 pressed, so as to make sure that both parties shall be 
 fully aware of it. For whatever you promise uncon 
 ditionally and absolutely, you are absolutely bound to 
 make good ; and you should not have made such an 
 engagement, unless you were not only designing to use 
 your best endeavors, but also absolutely certain of suc 
 cess ; because it was you that induced the other party 
 to rely upon it absolutely.*^ 
 
 ^* Dr. Paley lays it clown as " evident " that a promise is not bind 
 ing where performance is impossible ; except only when the impossi 
 bility was known beforehand to the promisor. As, for instance, if 
 you promise to procure a man a certain situation, knowing privately 
 that it is already disposed of. And it is very common to hear people 
 say, " Such a one is not to be blamed for not having made good what 
 he promised, because he did his best, and it was found to be impossi 
 ble." And yet every one knows that this rule does not hold good. For 
 instance, if a merchant or manufacturer contracts to deliver such and 
 such goods by a certain day, and fails, he is always held bound to 
 make good the damage to the other party ; though the failure may 
 have been caused by the wreck of a ship, or by a strike among his 
 workmen. He is never allowed to plead that it was out of his power 
 to fulfil the contract, unless a condition to that effect was expressly 
 inserted in it. The other party may choose to forego his claim, out of 
 kindness and compassion, if he thinks the case one of peculiar hard 
 ship But that he has the claim to compensation, just the same as if 
 the failure had been wilful, no one doubts. 
 
 For he who makes an engagement unconditionally, is uncondition 
 ally bound to fulfil it. 
 
 If, therefore, a Minister of State, for instance, induces persons to 
 vote for a certain measure, by the assurance that it will lead to such 
 and such good results, he ought not to be allowed afterward to plead, 
 that, on trial, he found it impossible to accomplish that object. Hav 
 ing led them to place full confidence in him, he must bear the whole 
 blame of their disappointment, 
 
140 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 4. Oases in which a Promise is not binding. 
 
 In any kind of assertion, then, or profession or prom 
 ise, we are to look to what is reasonably to be under 
 stood ; which may be something not distinctly stated in 
 words. You are bound to nothing less than this, and to 
 nothing more. For instance, if a man comes to you 
 with a tale of distress, and you promise to relieve him ; 
 if you afterwards discover that he is an impostor, you 
 are not bound by the promise : not merely because, if 
 you had known this before, you would not have made 
 the promise, for this is not enough ; but because he 
 himself must have understood your promise of relief to 
 jwoceed on the supposition of his tale being true. 
 
 According to this rule, therefore, the Israelites, 
 though they thought fit to spare the Gibeonites, were 
 not bound to do so by their promise ; because that was 
 made, as the Gibeonites themselves well knew, on the 
 supposition that they were a People of "a very far 
 Country."* 
 
 * Afterwards, indeed, the Israelites ratified the promise they had 
 been thus tricked into, and thus, in fact, entered into &fresli engage 
 ment with the Gibeonites, with a full knowledge of the circumstan 
 ces. This new engagement, therefore, was binding. And it was for 
 n, violation of this engagement that Saul incurred guilt in slaying the 
 Gibeonites. 
 
 Sometimes the unwary are tricked into a promise of secrecy by an 
 art which they ought to be well on their guard against ; since they may 
 thus be brought into situations of much difficulty. A person gives 
 you an account of some secret transaction or design, and then says, 
 " Of course you will not mention this to any one." If you are in 
 experienced and incautious, you will be likely to answer hastily, " 
 certainly not" ; and then you arc pledged to secrecy ; and thus, per 
 haps, made a party to some dishonorable transaction, or at least in- 
 
MISCELLANEOUS CAUTIONS. 141 
 
 In no case, in short, can any one be reproached with 
 breach of a promise, who has been tricked into mak 
 ing it by a false representation of the matter it relates to. 
 If, for instance, you were to be shown a pretended letter, 
 or will, of your father, and were induced, by a regard 
 for his supposed wishes, to make some promise, you 
 would of course be freed from it as soon as you detected 
 the forgery. So also if you had been induced to promise 
 your assistance in arresting, and delivering over to death, 
 a supposed heretic, or if you had been persuaded to 
 make a vow of celibacy, or of implied obedience to the 
 Superior of some Convent, from having been taught to 
 believe that such is the will of God, then, if you were 
 afterwards fully convinced that this is contrary to the 
 truth, you would not be bound by any such engagement 
 or vow. 
 
 As for such a case as that of King Herod, who had 
 promised the daughter of Herodias to " give her what 
 soever she should ask," a wise and upright counsellor 
 would have advised him to answer her, " You under 
 stood or ought to have understood that the promise 
 was, of anything rightfully mine to give, and did not 
 extend to- the commission of a crime." 
 
 volved in much perplexity. You ought to answer, " I shall act ac 
 cording to my own discretion ; I shall conceal the matter, or divulge 
 it, as I may see fit. If you had meant to secure my silence, you should 
 have asked me for the promise before you made the communication ; 
 and I should probably have declined to pledge myself, in which case 
 you might have told me nothing ; but I will not have a confidence 
 forced upon me without my own consent. As it is, you have thought 
 fit to make this communication at your own risk, without previously 
 exacting any promise. I have made none ; and I decline to make 
 any." 
 
142 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 As for the oath in this, or indeed in any case, that, it 
 is plain, has nothing to do with the question as to the 
 fair interpretation of what is said. It only marks the 
 promise or the assertion as a deliberate and solemn one. 
 And a truly upright and pious man will consider him 
 self to be always on his oath when he is speaking delib 
 erately and solemnly. For such expressions as " calling 
 God to witness," etc., can only mean, reminding yourself 
 that He is a witness, and a judge, of all that you say or 
 do : since it would be absurd to imagine that our acts 
 are not known to Him unless we invite Him to notice 
 them ; or that He needs our permission to punish a 
 wrong-doer.* But in all cases, a promise can be no ex 
 cuse for doing anything that is in itself wrong ; because 
 you were already bound to the contrary. If, therefore, 
 you have been drawn in to promise something unjustifi 
 able, there was one sin in making the promise, and there 
 would be another sin in keeping it. 
 
 5. Falsehoods of Suppression. 
 
 It follows from what has been above said, that there 
 may be lies of omission. For if, when it is understood 
 that you are giving a fair and full statement of any mat 
 ter, you suppress some important circumstance, you are 
 
 * With respect to the " Coronation Oath," and the rest of what we 
 call " oaths of office," it has been explained in the " Lessons on the 
 British Constitution," that they bind no one to anything which he 
 was not already bound to by the very act of accepting the office. 
 Perhaps, therefore, it would be better if this were made more clearly 
 understood, by omitting altogether all promissory oaths and declara 
 tions of this kind, and, instead of these, explaining to each person 
 what are the duties of the office he is undertaking, and solemnly 
 warning him that he is morally bound to fulfil those duties. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS CAUTIONS. 143 
 
 guilty of a deception, though all you do say may be quite 
 true. Accordingly, witnesses in a Court of Justice 
 swear to tell "the truth and the whole truth." For 
 half the truth may amount to a falsehood. 
 
 If, for instance, an ignorant rustic is told that the Sun 
 stands still, but is not informed, or cannot be made to 
 understand, that the Earth turns round, he will be 
 more at a loss than ever to understand the changes of 
 day and night. 
 
 Again, an inscription, we learn, has been discovered 
 at Nineveh, recording King Sennacherib s invasion of 
 Judoea ; stating that, after having taken several cities, he 
 returned home. All which is true ; but no mention is 
 made of his having lost nearly two hundred thousand 
 men before Jerusalem, which compelled him to make a 
 hasty retreat. This, therefore, is a false record, accord 
 ing to the principle above laid down, that everything is 
 to be understood as meaning what is fairly to be under 
 stood from it. For a professed narrative of any trans 
 action is understood to give us all the essential parts of it. 
 
 So also, if one person sets forth all the moral precepts 
 of the Gospel, and keeps back all mention of redemption 
 by the sacrifice of our Saviour, and another preaches to 
 his People justification through faith, and omits all notice 
 of good works, each of these, though saying nothing that 
 is not true, or that is not Scriptural truth, is falsifying 
 the Gospel. t 
 
 6. Connivance at Deceit. 
 
 It is to be observed also, that whoever connives at or 
 takes advantage of a falsehood, makes himself a part 
 ner in the guilt of it. Suppose, for instance, you were a 
 
144 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 candidate, or a supporter of a candidate, for a seat in 
 Parliament, or some other office, and that you found a 
 report had been spread that the rival candidate had 
 been guilty which you knew he was not of some 
 atrocious crime ; if you allowed this report to remain 
 uncontradicted, so that men would vote against him 
 from having been thus misled, you would be a partaker 
 in the guilt of this falsehood, though you had not your 
 self invented it. Indeed, such conduct corresponds 
 closely with the receiving of stolen goods ; which is de 
 scribed by the Psalmist, saying, " When thou sawest a 
 thief, thou consentedst unto him." For the like rule 
 applies to both cases. He who says, " It was not I that 
 invented and circulated this calumny," might equally 
 well say, " It was not I that stole these goods ; but they 
 were offered me for sale, and I bought them." 
 
 One way in which some who are far from being quite 
 indifferent about duty are apt to fail in that most im 
 portant and difficult virtue, strict Justice, is, by mistak 
 ing the question to be decided, and fancying themselves 
 right because they have judged rightly on some point 
 that was not really the one in question. What we mean 
 may be illustrated by the well-known story of Cyrus 
 and the two coats. The famous King Cyrus was, as the 
 tale goes, when a boy, punished by his master for giv 
 ing an unjust decision. One of his schoolfellows, who 
 was tall and stout, had a coat that was too small for 
 him; and proposed to a smaller boy, whose coat was 
 much too big for him, to make an exchange. But the 
 other refused ; whereupon the bigger boy took away 
 the coat by force, and left his own in exchange ; and 
 Cyrus, on being appealed to, decided in favor of the ex- 
 
MISCELLANEOUS CAUTIONS. 145 
 
 change. He had judged rightly which coat best fitted 
 each boy ; but this was not the real question ; which 
 was, whether it was right to take away another s prop 
 erty without his consent. 
 
 So, in the case above alluded to, you may perhaps 
 have judged rightly that the candidate against whom a 
 false charge had been circulated was not the fittest per 
 son to be elected : but this does not justify you in suf 
 fering him to be injured by a false charge. 
 
 So also, if you compel -a man to vote at an election 
 for the candidate you think the best, or to spend his 
 money in what appears to you the wisest manner, or to 
 bring up his children in what you judge to be the truest 
 religion, you are guilty of a wrong, even though your 
 judgment on all these points should be right ; because 
 the real question is, not whether your opinions or his 
 are the better, but whether he should be left to follow 
 his own judgment and conscience, or be forced to follow 
 yours. 
 
 So also, supposing you judged rightly in thinking 
 that some falsehood which you propagate, or connive at, 
 will lead to a good consequence, and that people may 
 in such a case be deceived to their own advantage, still 
 that is not the real question before you, but whether 
 you have any right to deceive them at all. But by 
 mistaking the real point to be decided on, men often 
 justify to themselves the use of fraud (as well as of un 
 just force) for attaining what they consider a good end. 
 
 7. Pious Frauds. 
 
 There is accordingly no case in which men are oft- 
 ener tempted to connive at falsehood, than where Relig- 
 13 
 
146 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 ion and Virtue seem to be concerned. Some there are, 
 indeed, who are directly guilty of what are called " pious 
 frauds " ; such as circulating false stories of miracles, 
 pretensions to inspiration, etc. The supposed goodness 
 of the end blinds them to the sinfulness of the means ; 
 and they " do evil that good may come." But a truly 
 pious as well as honest man will regard a " pious fraud " 
 as the worst of all frauds, because, besides the sin of 
 lying, it has also that of presumptuous profaneness. To 
 suppose that the God of Tritfh can be served by false 
 hood, and can approve of it, is to attribute to Him the 
 character of the Evil One, who is called in Scripture 
 " the father of lies." What is called a pious fraud, 
 therefore, is really an impious fraud. 
 
 Some, however, who would scruple distinctly to assert 
 what they know to be untrue, will think it allowable and 
 right to avoid undeceiving those who are under some 
 (supposed) salutary delusion, for fear of what is called 
 " unsettling their minds." * For instance, there are 
 a good many readers of the Bible who are ignorant that 
 the divisions into Chapters and Verses were not made 
 
 * It is a most important point of prudence, not to give unnecessary 
 offence to any one, by expressing your opinions in a paradoxical and 
 revolting form, or with an air of arrogant disdain; nor to agitate 
 men s minds, for no object, by dragging in discussions of doubtful 
 questions that have no necessary connection with the matter im 
 mediately in hand. Thus, if you were giving religious instruction, 
 to some pei-sons who thought very differently from you on some points 
 of politics, or medicine, or natural philosophy, not essential to the 
 subject you were engaged on, it would be very unwise to go out of 
 your way to alarm or disgust them, or agitate their minds with 
 doubts by introducing, unnecessarily, disquisitions on those points. 
 It is under the disguise of this kind of prudence that the disingenuous 
 procedure we are speaking of has usually crept in. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS CAUTIONS. 147 
 
 by the Writers, but were introduced, long afterwards, 
 for the sake of reference. Now there are some persons 
 (of the character just described) who would indeed 
 scruple to tell people that the Sacred "Writers made 
 those divisions, but wish that the ignorant should be left 
 in that mistake ; and would even take care to sup 
 press any correction of it, for fear of " unsettling their 
 minds." 
 
 This particular mistake, many would regard as of 
 very small importance ; though it is of much more than 
 they suppose ; since it causes many readers to misunder 
 stand, or imperfectly understand, several parts of Scrip 
 ture which would otherwise be quite clear.* But if you 
 
 * It should be remembered that the division into chapters and 
 verses is not the work of the Sacred Writers themselves. They did 
 not divide their writings into chapters and verses at all. Those di 
 visions were made many hundred years afterwards, for the conven 
 ience of reference ; because, as the pages of different Bibles do not 
 correspond, we could not have found any passage we might want 
 by looking to such and such a page, as we do in other books. But 
 the chapters and verses have not always a reference (as some seem 
 to suppose) to the sense of the Sacred Writers: on the contrary, they 
 often interrupt and obscure the sense. In many parts of Scripture, 
 for instance, a chapter will end, and a new one begin, just in the mid 
 dle of a discourse. As, for instance, 
 
 At the end of the 19th and beginning of 20th Matt. 
 " " 24th " " 25th " 
 
 " " 2d " " 3d John. 
 
 18th " 19th Acts. 
 
 " " 7th " " 8th Rom. 
 
 " " 10th " " llth 1 Cor. 
 
 " " 12th " " 13th " 
 
 " " 3d " " 4thColoss. 
 
 Note top. 10, Dublin edition, of a Tract on Self-Examina 
 tion, for the Use of Persons who have been confirmed. 
 And hence a person who reads the two chapters separately, at per- 
 
148 LESSONS :>N MORALS. 
 
 once bring yourself to disregard truth in matters that 
 seem to you of no great importance, you will gradually 
 slide further and further into disingenuousness and 
 double-dealing.* 
 
 8. Consequences of Deception. 
 
 And, moreover, any deception you may have propa 
 gated or connived at will be likely to lead to far greater 
 evil effects than in what regards the particular point 
 that is immediately concerned. For when it is detect 
 ed as deceptions generally are, sooner or later 
 men s confidence is shaken as to everything that comes 
 from the same quarter. " This man," they will say, 
 " has led us, or left us, to believe something that he 
 knew to be false ; how can we trust him when he tells 
 us that our Bible is faithfully translated from the Origi 
 nal ? or indeed that there ever was any Original ? 
 How can we be sure that he is not deceiving us through 
 out ? " And thus it often happens, according to the 
 Proverbs, that " a liar is not believed even when he 
 
 haps several days interval, will be very likely to understand but lit 
 tle of either; or perhaps even to make some dangerous mistake as to 
 the Sacred Writer s meaning. Some of the plainest passages in 
 Scripture have, I believe, been commonly misunderstood, merely 
 through the mistaken attention paid to the division into chapters and 
 
 * Accordingly, we have seen, of late years, persons venerated as 
 " holy men " who have not only practised, but openly advocated, the 
 system of what they call " reserve " or " economy " ; that is, teach 
 ing something different from what they inwardly believe; and who 
 have even acknowledged without shame that the strong censures ut 
 tered by them on some person or Church were what they did not 
 themselves believe at the time to be just! See No. XIII. of Cautions 
 for the Times. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS CAUTIONS. 149 
 
 tells truth," and that " Frost and Fraud both end in 
 foul." 
 
 Accordingly, pious frauds have (as Dr. Paley re 
 marks) done more damage to Christianity than all other 
 causes put together. 
 
 But to perceive the expediency, in the long run, of 
 keeping scrupulously to truth, is a thing not given to 
 those who do not venerate truth in itself, and adhere to 
 it on moral grounds. The maxim that " honesty is the 
 best policy," is one that you will find no one habitually 
 acting on ; for a truly honest man is always before it, 
 and a knave is generally behind it. Those, that is, who 
 merely look out for what is " the best policy," generally 
 fail to find out, till too late, that honesty is really the 
 best policy. And a really honest man, who does what 
 is right, not on grounds of policy, but on moral prin 
 ciple, will usually be rewarded by finding that his 
 course turns out to have been really the most politic. 
 
 13 
 
LESSON XVIII. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS CAUTIONS. PART III. 
 
 1. Coveting. 
 
 THE sin of coveting, in the sense in which it is for 
 bidden in the Tenth Commandment, is one concerning 
 which some people fall into mistakes. 
 
 There is no sin in your wishing for a house, or a 
 horse, or any other article, belonging to your neighbor, 
 if you are willing to pay him a fair price for it ; else 
 indeed all buying and selling would be a sin. As it is, 
 each party obtains an advantage, when there is fair deal 
 ing For he who buys a horse shows that he prefers 
 the horse to the money ; and he who sells it, that he pre 
 fers the money to the horse. 
 
 But the sin of coveting consists in desiring to obtain 
 another s property ivitkout an equivalent , in short, 
 to gain by his loss.* And this is what is done in gam- 
 
 * A man may indeed have such nn excessive and absurd fancy for 
 some article belonging to another, as to be willing to pay even more 
 for it than it is really worth, or more than lie can properly afford. 
 This would be a piece of extravagance and folly; but no breach of 
 the Tenth Commandment, if he did not wish to obtain it without an 
 equivalent. 
 
 Again, a man may be said, in a certain sense, to gain by another s 
 loss, if he sets up a shop in some place where there had before been 
 
MISCELLANEOUS CAUTIONS. 151 
 
 ing ; including under that name all kinds of betting. 
 Of course, any one who robs or (which comes to the 
 same thing) cheats his neighbor, is also guilty of covet 
 ing : but then he is guilty of stealing too. He breaks 
 both the Tenth Commandment and the Eighth. But 
 in the case of gaming, where there is fair play, it is only 
 the Tenth Commandment that is broken. 
 
 You may meet with treatises and tales directed 
 against gaming, in which the writers speak all along 
 not of fair play, but of cheating. And hence there is a 
 danger of their leading the reader to think that where 
 there is no cheating there is nothing wrong. Again, 
 some of these writers draw lively pictures of the ruinous 
 losses men have suffered in gaming ; and this may mis 
 lead people into thinking that, as long as they proceed 
 prudently, and do not stake more than they could afford 
 to lose, they are doing nothing wrong. Sometimes again 
 the waste of time is dwelt on ; and hence the reader 
 may be led to infer that he is merely required to game 
 in moderation. 
 
 But all these admonitions and cautions have nothing 
 to do with Gaming in particular, and as a thing evil in 
 itself. For in buying and selling, and other such trans 
 actions, there may be cheating, or fair dealing. And 
 there may be prudent or, imprudent speculations in 
 Mining, or Farming, and various other concerns. There 
 may also be excess or moderation in every kind of 
 
 but one, and draws off a portion of the custom from him who had 
 been enjoying a kind of monopoly. But there is evidently no sinful 
 coveting in this; since what he desires to gain, and does gain, is the 
 money of his customers in return for the goods they buy of him ; 
 not anything that was the property of the other shopkeeper. 
 
152 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 recreation ; as in Music, or in Field-sports, or the cul 
 tivation of a flower-garden, etc. All those admonitions, 
 therefore, which are usually given, have no peculiar 
 relation to Gaming. But what does especially belong 
 to it is, that it is a breach of the Tenth Commandment, 
 though not of the Eighth ; being an attempt to obtain 
 another s property without an equivalent, to gain by 
 his loss.* 
 
 Gamesters, it is true, do very often fall into the 
 hands of sharpers, or become sharpers themselves; 
 and many squander their time, or their fortunes, at the 
 gaming-table or the race-course. But hardly any one 
 begins with such a design. They begin by designing to 
 play fairly, and to associate with none but fair players, 
 and to game moderately, and prudently. And they have 
 been taught to think that the only evils of gaming 
 consist in a departure from these rules. Afterwards 
 they are led on, step by step, into utter ruin. But they 
 would not have taken the first step, if they had been 
 taught from the first that gaming is bad in itself. 
 There is reason to think, therefore, that those treatises 
 and tales, etc. above alluded to are likely to do at least 
 as much harm as good. 
 
 Those who attempt to defend Gaming say, "I do 
 the other no wrong, for I have his consent : he agrees 
 
 * It is true the Ten Commandments, as indeed the rest of the 
 Mosaic Law, were addressed to the Israelites alone, and that Law 
 has not in itself any binding force on us. (See " Lessons on Religious 
 Worship.") But all moral precepts of which the Tenth Com 
 mandment is manifestly one are (as was observed above) binding 
 on every man from their own nature. Coveting and the same may 
 be said of theft, murder, etc. is not wrong became it was forbid 
 den, but was forbidden because it is wrong. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS CAUTIONS. 153 
 
 to risk his money for the chance of winning mine ; and 
 I do the same." Why, if this were not the case, it 
 would be the same thing as stealing ; and we do not 
 charge you with a breach of the Eighth Commandment, 
 but only of the Tenth. But it is plain that you are, each 
 of you, wishing and seeking to profit by another s loss ; 
 and if this be not the sin of coveting, what is ? 
 
 Of course, if the sum staked on some game or bet 
 be so utterly insignificant to the players that it makes 
 no perceptible difference whether they win or lose it, 
 there is no sinful covetousness in the case. And ac 
 cordingly, that might not be Gaming to one person 
 which is so to another. For a few shillings would be, 
 to a man of fortune, a mere nothing ; though as many 
 pence would be a serious loss or gain to a poor laborer. 
 But if your example leads any one to play for a stake 
 which is to him (though not to you) of some conse 
 quence, you will have been encouraging him in the sin 
 of Gaming.* 
 
 2. Personal Injuries. 
 
 Generous forgiveness of injuries is a point of Chris 
 tian duty respecting which some people fall into con 
 fusion of thought. They confound together personal re 
 sentment and disapprobation of what is morally wrong. 
 A person who has cheated you, or slandered, or other- 
 
 * As for the scruple felt by some persons about games of chance, 
 because they consider a lot as something sacred, that, it is plain, has 
 nothing at all to do with the present subject. For people may, 
 and often do, play at games of chance without any stake at all. 
 And again, at billiards, which is altogether a game of skill, much 
 gambling often takes place- 
 
154 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 wise wronged you, is neither more nor less a cheat or a 
 slanderer, than if he had done the same to a stranger. 
 And in that light he ought to be viewed. Such a person 
 is one on whom you should not indeed wish to inflict 
 any suffering beyond what may be necessary to reform 
 him, and to deter other wrong-doers ; and you should 
 seek to benefit him in the highest degree by bringing 
 him to a sense of his sin. But you ought not to choose 
 such a man as an associate, or to trust him, and in all 
 respects treat him as if he had done nothing wrong. 
 You should therefore take care, on the one hand, that 
 the personal injury you may have suffered does not lead 
 you to think worse of a man than he deserves, or to 
 treat him worse ; and, on the other hand, you should 
 not allow a false generosity to destroy in your mind the 
 distinctions of right and wrong. Nor, again, should 
 the desire of gaining credit for great magnanimity, lead 
 you to pretend to think favorably of wrong conduct, 
 merely because it is you that have suffered from it. 
 None but thoughtless or misjudging people will applaud 
 you for this. The duty of Christian forgiveness does 
 not require you, nor are you allowed, to look on injus 
 tice, or any other fault, with indifference, as if it were 
 nothing wrong at all, merely because it is you that have 
 been wronged. 
 
 And, universally, you should take care not to con 
 found together tenderness and kindness towards the per 
 sons who are in error or in fault, and indifference about 
 the faults themselves. A charitable disposition is chiefly 
 shown in making due allowances for those whom we 
 do think in the wrong ; not in persuading ourselves that 
 they are right, or that it is of little consequence whether 
 
MISCELLANEOUS CAUTIONS. 155 
 
 a man thinks and acts rightly or wrongly. Faults and 
 errors, you should be careful neither to overrate, nor to 
 underrate ; and the persons who may have fallen into 
 them, you should be careful not to judge too harshly, 
 yet without destroying in your own mind the distinc 
 tions of true and false, or of good and evil. 
 
 3. Christian Humility. 
 
 There are also mistakes afloat respecting the duty of 
 Christian Humility. (1.) It is a mistake to suppose that 
 it is a part of Christian Humility to renounce the use 
 of your Reason, and give yourself up to be led by your 
 feelings ; or to follow blindly some human leader. 
 
 Of course, it would be a fault to be over-confident 
 in your own judgment, or to employ your Reason on 
 matters above human reason, or to refuse to listen at 
 tentively to those who are able to give you good advice 
 and instruction. And young people especially ought to 
 follow the guidance of those older and wiser than them 
 selves. But they should endeavor also to learn to 
 understand the instructions they receive ; in order that 
 as they grow up they may become capable of guiding 
 themselves, and not remain children all their lives. " Be 
 not," says the Apostle, " children in understanding : 
 howbeit, in malice be ye children, but in understanding 
 be men." 
 
 But to resolve to give yourself up, to follow, all your 
 life, as a safe guide, some person or party who can show 
 no miraculous proof of infallibility, is to humble your 
 self, not before God, but before Man.* 
 
 * You will observe that the Apostle Paul (1 Cor. chap, iii.) calls 
 
156 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 And there is no Christian humbling of yourself 
 though debasement there is in resigning yourself to 
 your feelings, and following what some call " the dic 
 tates of the Heart," instead of what Reason shows to be 
 true and right ; because your Feelings are as much a 
 part of your self as your Reason is ; so that this is only 
 humbling one portion of yourself before another por 
 tion. 
 
 The disciples, you should remember, were led by 
 the sober decision of a sound understanding to say, 
 " No man can do these miracles except God be with 
 him " ; and thence to trust and believe Jesus implicit 
 ly ; but Peter was led by his " Heart " that is, his 
 inclinations and prejudices to say, " Be it far from 
 Thee, Lord! there shall no such thing happen unto 
 Thee." 
 
 4. Confessions of the Depravity of Man. 
 
 (2.) There is no personal humility in confessing 
 generally the weakness and ignorance and sinfulness 
 of the whole human race. It is indeed quite right 
 that we should be duly sensible of that weakness. And 
 you should not listen to any one who attempts to ex 
 plain the nature of the Most High as He is in Himself, 
 
 the Corinthians " carnal and walking as men," when they formed 
 themselves into parties. And he is far from confining what he says 
 to some few superior persons, leaving ordinary Christians to contimie 
 "carnal": but censures partisanships altogether. And as he con 
 demns those who said, " I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of 
 Cephas," etc. ; so he would, no doubt, if he had lived in later days, 
 have censured those who say, " I am of Whitfield, or I of Wesley, 
 or I am a Calvmist, or I an Arminian," etc. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS CAUTIONS. 157 
 
 and why, and how, the sufferings of Christ were neces 
 sary for Man s salvation, and why evil exists in the 
 universe, and other mysterious points which are be 
 yond human Reason, and which Scripture does not 
 reveal. 
 
 And equally to blame are both those who profess to 
 explain, where God has not given us revelation, the rea 
 sons of his dealings with Man, and those again who in 
 sist on it that in such and such a case He had no reason 
 at all, but acted as He did " to declare his sovereignty," 
 and " for his own glory " ; as if He could literally de 
 sire glory ! When the Most High has merely revealed 
 to us his Will, we have no right to pronounce that He 
 had no reasons for it except his will,* because he has 
 not made them known to us. Even an earthly king, 
 who is not responsible to any of his subjects for the rea 
 sons of his commands, may think fit sometimes to issue 
 commands without explaining his reasons : and it would 
 be very rash for any one to conclude that he had no rea 
 son at all, but acted from mere caprice. 
 
 So also, a dutiful child will often have to say, " I do 
 
 * " Many," says Calvin (Inst. 53, c. 23, 7), " as if wishing to re 
 move odium from God, while they admit election, yet deny reproba 
 tion; but in this they speak ignorantly and childishly; since election 
 itself could not be maintained except as contrasted with reprobation. 
 God is said to set apart those whom He adopts, as children for sal 
 vation. Those therefore whom He passes by, He condemns ; and that 
 for no cause whatever except that He chooses to exclude them from the 
 inheritance which He predestinates for his children." And again, 
 shortly after, he says, " Whence comes it that so many nations, with 
 their infant children, should be sentenced irremediably to eternal 
 
 death, by the fall of Adam, except that such was God s wilt? 
 
 The Decree is, I confess, a horrible one," etc- 
 14 
 
158 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 so and so because my parents have commanded me ; that 
 is reason enough for me." But though this is to the 
 child a very good reason for obeying the command, it 
 would be a very bad reason with the parents for giving 
 that command. And he would show his filial veneration 
 and trust, not by taking for granted that his parents had 
 no reason for their commands, but, on the contrary, by 
 taking for granted that there was a good reason both 
 for acting as they did, and for not giving him any ex 
 planation. 
 
 It is therefore no pious humility, but, on the contrary, 
 great presumption, for Man to pronounce where 
 Scripture does not tell us either what were the rea 
 sons of God s dealings with us, or that He had none at 
 all. One who pretends to be so much wiser, or better 
 informed, than the Apostles and Prophets, as to tell us 
 what they knew not, or at least were not commissioned 
 to make known, must greatly overrate the faculties of 
 Man. 
 
 But though it is most important to think rightly and 
 humbly of the Human Race generally, no one will feel 
 ashamed and personally humbled at the thought that he 
 is no wiser or better than the very wisest and best of 
 mankind ; nor will this, therefore, incite him to seek im 
 provement. A child is not ashamed of not having the 
 full structure and intellect of a man, but only if he fails 
 in something that might fairly be expected of a child. 
 And moreover, it is possible for you to think very lowly 
 of the wisdom or the virtue of the human species, and 
 yet to overrate -yourself as compared with other men. 
 You may thus fancy yourself very eminent in the vir 
 tue of Christian Humility, while, in truth, you are puffed 
 
MISCELLANEOUS CAUTIONS. 159 
 
 up with spiritual pride ; trusting that you are exempt 
 from this, because you do not think highly of Human Na 
 ture generally, and because you acknowledge with grati 
 tude that whatever there is of good in you is a gift of 
 God ; even as the Pharisee in the parable was thankful 
 for not being " as this Publican." 
 
 It may seem strange that there should be any need 
 but a need there certainly is to admonish you that 
 there is no humility in confessing the sins of other peo 
 ple. If, for instance, you believe that some act of our 
 rulers, in which you had no hand, is very wrong, and 
 amounts to a national sin, it is possible you may be right 
 in thinking so, but you cannot be personally humbled by 
 this thought. You are right in believing that our first 
 Parents committed a grievous sin ; but it would be ab 
 surd to imagine that you ought to be or that you can 
 be penitent for the sin of Adam. All real penitence 
 must be for the faults you are conscious of in yourself; 
 and personal humility consists, not in forming a low es 
 timate of some other persons, or of the whole human 
 Race, but in not thinking too highly of yourself indi 
 vidually. 
 
 5. Just Estimate of One s Self. 
 
 (3.) On the other hand, it is a mistake to think that 
 any one who does happen to be superior to the general 
 ity, intellectually or morally, is bound, as a point of 
 modesty, to be ignorant of this, or to pretend to be so, 
 and to think, or profess to think, himself inferior to 
 what he really is. For, on the one hand, it cannot be 
 a part, of Duty to be under any kind of mistake ; and, 
 
ICO LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 on the other hand, there cannot be any virtue in feign 
 ing or affectation of any kind.* 
 
 But if your belief is, that you do possess some supe 
 rior endowments as to any point, take care as far as 
 regards yourself to be thankful to the Giver of all 
 such advantages, and to remember that, for every talent 
 intrusted to you, you are accountable to Him. And, as 
 far as regards others, take care to avoid ostentation and 
 disdainful assumption of superiority. For this is offen 
 sive, even in such matters of fact as admit of no possi 
 ble mistake or doubt. A person, for instance, who 
 should have gained some great prize in a competition, 
 or discovered a new Planet, or invented a new Tele 
 graph, or performed some other notable exploit, must 
 not boast, nor be always reminding people of what he 
 has done. 
 
 And, on the other hand, even if he should be mistaken 
 in his opinion of his own abilities, and think them great 
 er than they are, a mere error of judgment will not be 
 imputed to him as a sin, provided he keep clear of pride ; 
 
 * Properly speaking, self-conceit and modesty have reference to a 
 man s estimate of himself as compared with the reality. A conceited 
 man overrates himself; and a modest man does not. But many peo 
 ple do not at all take this into account. They are apt to reckon a 
 man conceited who has a high opinion (whether rightly or wrongly) 
 of his own powers; and him modest who forms a low one. And yet 
 it may so happen that this latter may be in reality overrating him 
 self in thinking himself not below the average, or only a little below, 
 and the other may possibly be even underrating himself in thinking 
 himself only a little above it. 
 
 If you could imagine a mouse imagining itself just equal to such a 
 small animal as a rabbit, and an elephant believing itself only equal 
 to such a large animal as au ox, they would be making opposite mis 
 takes. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS CAUTIONS. 161 
 
 nor will he be offensive to others, if he is but free from 
 disdainful arrogance, and from ostentation. 
 
 6. General Confessions, and Confession without 
 Amendment. 
 
 (4.) Again, there is no humility in a mere general 
 confession that you are a " miserable sinner," if in 
 each particular case you always stoutly justify yourself, 
 and can never be brought to own a fault. 
 
 (5.) Lastly, there is no humility in confessing any 
 faults which you do not strive to correct. It would 
 indeed be a shocking presumption to think that you 
 need not aim at improvement, but are quite good 
 enough, being without faults ; but it is still greater pre 
 sumption to think that you are good enough with all 
 your faults. " If we say that we have no sin, we de 
 ceive ourselves " ; but if we say that we have sins, 
 and yet do not earnestly seek God s promised help rt to 
 cleanse us from all unrighteousness," this would be even 
 a more fatal self-deception. 
 
 Remember then that the virtue of Christian Humility 
 is not to be considered as some bitter potion, which you 
 can swallow in a large dose, once for all, and so have 
 done with it ; but rather as a kind of alterative medicine, 
 to be taken daily, and drop by drop. 
 
 You must study, daily, to be open to conviction, 
 patient of opposition, ready to listen to reproof, even 
 when you are not convinced that it is deserved, ready, 
 when you are convinced, to confess an error, and glad 
 to receive hints, and suggestions, and corrections, even 
 from your inferiors in ability, and never overbearing 
 14* 
 
162 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 or uncharitable towards those who differ from you, or 
 ostentatious of superiority. 
 
 All this will be a more laborious and difficult task 
 than to make fine speeches about your ignorance, and 
 weakness, and sinfulness ; but it is thus that true Hu 
 mility is shown, and is exercised and cultivated. 
 
 7. Moral Judgments of the Vulgar. 
 
 You must remember, not only that we are not to act 
 for the sake of human approbation, but also that we are 
 not to measure our conduct by the prevailing opinions 
 of men. For though men in general do, on the whole, 
 (as has been formerly remarked,) approve of virtue and 
 condemn vice, the moral judgment of a great part of 
 mankind is, in several points, apt to be incorrect ; and 
 their standard of virtue is rather a low one. It is a 
 true and wise remark of Lord Bacon, that " the lowest 
 of the virtues the vulgar praise ; the middle ones they 
 admire ; of the highest they have no perception." By 
 " the vulgar " he means not merely the lowest in station, 
 and the utterly illiterate, but the common run of man 
 kind. And by " the virtues " he means those parts of 
 virtue or habits that commonly pass for virtues of 
 which we have formerly spoken. The humblest of these, 
 such as Hospitality, Liberality, Gratitude, good-na 
 tured Courtesy, etc., he says are what the vulgar 
 praise. Those which they admire, such as daring 
 Courage, and fidelity to friends, and to the cause or 
 the party one has espoused, are what he puts in the next 
 highest place. But the loftiest virtues of all, such as 
 disinterested Public Spirit, thoroughgoing even-handed 
 Justice, and disregard of general unpopularity when 
 
MISCELLANEOUS CAUTIONS. 163 
 
 Duty requires it, of these, he says, the vulgar usually 
 have no notion. 
 
 And he might have gone further : for it often hap 
 pens that a large portion of mankind not only do not 
 praise or admire, but even censure or despise, the highest 
 qualities. Cases will sometimes occur in which, though 
 you may obtain the high approbation of a very few per 
 sons of the most exalted and refined moral sentiments, 
 you must be prepared to find the majority (even of such 
 as are not altogether bad men) condemning you as "un 
 natural," " unkind," " faithless," and not to be depended 
 on ; or deriding you as " eccentric," " crotchety," " fanci 
 ful," and " absurdly scrupulous." 
 
 8. Virtues that are not generally approved. 
 
 If, for instance, you refuse to defend, or to deny, or to 
 palliate, the faults of those engaged in what you consider 
 a good cause, and if you are ready to bear testimony to 
 whatever there may be that is right, on the opposite 
 side, you will be regarded by many as treacherous" or 
 lukewarm, or inconsistent. If you are an advocate 
 for tolerating an erroneous faith, and protest against 
 forcing, or entrapping, or bribing, any one into the 
 profession of a true one, many will consider you as 
 yourself tainted with error, or indifferent to true re 
 ligion. 
 
 If, again, you consider a seat in Parliament, or any 
 other place you may occupy, or the power of appoint 
 ing another to such a place, as a sacred trust for the 
 public service, and therefore requiring sometimes the 
 sacrifice of private friendship, if you do justice to an 
 opponent against a friend, or to a worse man (when he 
 
164 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 happens to have right on his side) against a better, if 
 you refuse to support your friends, or those you have 
 been accustomed to act with, or those to whom you 
 have a personal obligation, when they are about doing 
 something that is unjustifiable; in these, and other such 
 cases, you will be perhaps more blamed or despised by 
 the .generality, than commended or admired. For party 
 men will usually pardon a zealous advocate of their 
 party for many great faults, more readily than they 
 will pardon the virtue of standing quite aloof from 
 party, and doing strict justice to all. 
 
 And, again, it will often happen that when a man of 
 very great real excellence does acquire great and gen 
 eral esteem, four fifths of this will have been bestowed 
 on the minor virtues of his character ; and four fifths of 
 his admirers will have either quite overlooked the most 
 truly admirable of his qualities, or else regarded them 
 . as pardonable weaknesses. 
 
 You should guard then against the opposite dangers, 
 of either lowering your own moral standard to the level 
 of some of your neighbors, or judging too hardly of them. 
 Your general practical rule should be, to expect more 
 of yourself than of others. We do not, of course, mean, 
 that you should ever call wrong conduct right. But 
 you should consider that that which would be a very 
 great fault in you, may be much less inexcusable in 
 some others who have not had the same advantages. 
 You should be reafly to make allowances for want of 
 clearness of understanding, or for defective education, 
 or for a want of the highest and best examples. Those 
 may be really trying to do their duty according to the 
 best lights they have, whose moral views are, on some 
 
MISCELLANEOUS CAUTIONS. 165 
 
 points, as yet but dim and imperfect, and whose conduct 
 on the whole falls far short of what may fairly be ex 
 pected and will be expected of one whose moral 
 judgment is more enlightened, and his standard of duty 
 more elevated. 
 
LESSON XIX. 
 
 SELF-EXAMINATIOX. PART I. 
 
 1. Stated Times for Self-Examination. 
 
 EVERY prudent man who is engaged in business of 
 any kind, besides paying careful attention to that busi 
 ness from day to day, will also set aside certain stated 
 times for looking over his accounts, and examining the 
 whole state of the concern he is carrying on. He will 
 do this, probably, once a week ; and again, more par 
 ticularly and thoroughly, once a month, or once a quar 
 ter ; and most fully of all, at the end of each year. 
 
 Now this is what you should do in reference to your 
 moral character, if you are as much in earnest about the 
 improvement of that, as every prudent man of business 
 is about his worldly success. Besides examining your 
 own heart, and your conduct, daily, you should also 
 have fixed times for making a more complete review of 
 your whole life and character. And suitable times for 
 such self-examinations you can fix on, for yourself, ac 
 cording to your own convenience. The beginning of a 
 new year, or the beginning of your own new year that 
 is, your Birthday are very proper to be selected for 
 this purpose. So also is the anniversary of your Con 
 firmation (which may be called your religious coming of 
 age), or of any other remarkable event connected with 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 167 
 
 yourself. And so also is any of the great Festivals of 
 the Church, such as Christmas-day, or Easter. 
 
 But whatever day you fix on for such a purpose, you 
 should keep to it strictly, as a sort of private religious 
 festival ; and not allow yourself to be tempted to put 
 off, without some strong necessity, your proposed self- 
 examination, on the ground that one day will do as well 
 as another. So it would, originally ; but habits of reg 
 ularity, and of adherence to a plan once fixed on, are 
 of great importance. For if you learn the custom of 
 lightly putting off till to-morrow what you had fixed on 
 to-day for doing, you will at length find the truth of the 
 proverb, that " To-morrow comes never." 
 
 2. Candor in Self-Examination. 
 
 Our Prayer-Book directs us (in one of the exhorta 
 tions in the Communion Service) to " examine our con 
 sciences, and that not lightly " (negligently) " and after 
 the manner of dissemblers with God." Now it may 
 seem strange that there should be any need even to 
 mention such a thing as " dissembling with God," 
 with Him who sees all hearts. But though it is im 
 possible to deceive Him, it is possible, and easy, for us 
 to deceive ourselves. And that is what you will do, if, 
 in examining yourself, you proceed just as men do who 
 are trying to deceive their fellow-mortals, by seeking to 
 justify or excuse their faults ; by softening down, 
 or passing over, some of the worst points, and seeking 
 to put the best appearance on their own conduct, and 
 to make out the best case they can for themselves. If 
 you proceed thus, when you are examining yourself 
 with respect to your duty, you will completely succeed 
 
168 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 in deceiving not God indeed but yourself. You 
 will succeed, perhaps, in quieting your conscience ; but 
 not in correcting your faults, and purifying your heart, 
 and amending your life. 
 
 But no one proceeds thus, in any matter in which 
 he is thoroughly in earnest, A careful farmer does 
 not try to persuade himself that his crops and his cat 
 tle are thriving, but to judge whether they really are. 
 He does not try to overlook any weeds that may be 
 in his fields, but to find them, in order to root them 
 out. And a diligent shopkeeper does not try to falsify 
 his accounts, so as to persuade himself that his trade 
 is prospering more than it really is ; but to learn ex 
 actly what is the real state of his affairs. And you 
 will proceed in the same manner if you are as much 
 in earnest about " laying up treasure in Heaven " as 
 every prudent man is about the concerns of his worldly 
 business. 
 
 You should observe, too, that no one who finds his 
 business going on badly, takes comfort in the thought 
 that some of his neighbors concerns are in a still worse 
 condition, and that they are farther on the road to ruin 
 than himself. He knows that their imprudences and 
 losses will not save him. Do not therefore satisfy 
 yourself with finding, or fancying, that you are as 
 good as many others, or perhaps better ; but consider 
 whether you are as good as you may be, and ought to 
 be. For our course of duty is not like a race, which 
 is won by him who runs however slowly, if the rest are 
 still slower. Examine therefore yourself rather than 
 your neighbors ; and remember that the greatest faults 
 of theirs are, to you, of less consequence than a much 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 1G9 
 
 smaller one in yourself; both because it is for this you 
 will be accountable, and because it rests with you to 
 correct it. 
 
 3. Progress in Virtue to be marked. 
 
 We have spoken of the importance of examining 
 yourself fairly, and not seeking to conceal from yourself 
 your faults, or to make out excuses for them. But do 
 not suppose that by this we mean that you should look 
 out for faults only. By a fair self-examination, we do 
 not mean an inquiry after sins and defects only, without 
 any notice being taken of improvements; without 
 looking out for, or hoping for, any " growth in grace." 
 On the contrary, as you have been taught to strive 
 and to pray for continual advancement, so you ought 
 also to watch for it. And although, as was formerly ob 
 served, the performance of any particular act of duty 
 does not, of itself, and as such, afford positive pleasure, 
 but merely exemption from the pain of self-reproach, 
 still, to observe an improvement in virtuous character, 
 generally, does afford pleasure. And this is a kind of 
 pleasure which tends to encourage our efforts towards 
 improvement ; and which was doubtless bestowed by 
 our great Master for that very purpose. You ought 
 therefore carefully to observe, with thankfulness to the 
 Giver of all good, any progress you may have made in 
 your Christian course. There is no benefit you ought 
 so much to rejoice in, or to be so thankful for, as an 
 increase in holiness of life and of heart, and in the 
 knowledge and love of God. Every such increase, 
 therefore, should be as carefully inquired for, as any 
 sins you may have committed. And whatever improve- 
 15 
 
170 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 ment you may find in yourself should encourage you 
 to fresh hopes, and fresh efforts after a still further ad 
 vance. 
 
 You may perhaps meet with some well-meaning per 
 sons who will advise you to think of nothing but your 
 sins and your unworthiness ; and in all your self-ex 
 amination to look out for nothing but what is wrong ; 
 without ever allowing yourself to think that you have 
 made any improvement. " Every one is so much in 
 clined," they say, " to think of his goodness and to over 
 look his sins, that we ought to draw men as far as pos 
 sible the contrary way, and advise them to dwell on 
 the thought of their own sinfulness, and on nothing 
 else." 
 
 But you may easily see that this is quite a mistaken 
 plan. For you will never find an instance of any one s 
 continuing very long to labor for any object, when he 
 was convinced that he was laboring in vain. If, for 
 instance, any one sets himself to learn some science or 
 art, and finds, after very attentive study for a considera 
 ble time, that he makes no progress at all, he will give 
 it up. Some will persevere longer than others ; but 
 every one will abandon the pursuit as soon as he is 
 fully convinced that it is hopeless. So also, a man en 
 gaged in some business, if he finds, after a long trial, 
 that, instead of gaining by it, he is losing, and that there 
 is no prospect of doing any better, will give over the 
 business altogether. It is the same with a person 
 taking a course of medicine with a view to the recovery 
 of his health ; or with one who is trying to bring a 
 piece of land into a productive state ; and with other 
 such cases. 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 171 
 
 And so it is with respect to Christian Virtue, as well 
 as everything else. 
 
 4. Despair leads to Neglect. 
 
 Persons may begin striving (as the Apostle Paul 
 bids us) to " draw nigh unto God, that He may draw 
 nigh unto them " (James iv.), and to " resist the Devil, 
 that he may flee from them " ; they may begin an en 
 deavor to " work out their own salvation " (Philip- 
 pians ii.), "casting off the sin that besets them" (Heb. 
 xii.), and "giving all diligence, to add to their faith, 
 virtue, and knowledge, and temperance, patience, god 
 liness, brotherly-kindness, charity" (2 Peter i.). They 
 may set about all this ; but if they are convinced that 
 they are making no progress in it, and must never think 
 of making any, you may be sure that they will, before 
 long, give over their efforts. They will either fall into 
 gloomy despondency, or else (and more likely) sit down 
 in a sort of careless security; fancying that there is 
 much Christian humility in saying and thinking that 
 there is no good in them, nor ever can be any. They 
 will consider what the Apostle Paul says (Rom. vii. ) of 
 being " carnal and sold under sin," and living in habit 
 ual disobedience to God s laws, as meant to describe the 
 Apostle s own condition, and, of course, that of all other 
 the very best Christians. And hence they will con 
 clude that it is vain and hopeless for them to strive 
 against sin ; and that there is nothing to be done but 
 to throw themselves on God s mercy, without seeking to 
 avail themselves of his promised help to " bring forth 
 fruits meet for repentance." 
 
172 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 5. Virtuous Progress to be hoped for. 
 
 Let no one therefore persuade you to distrust God s 
 promise to "give his Holy Spirit to them that ask 
 him." (Luke xi. 13.) Our great Master has said, 
 " Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after right 
 eousness, for they shall be jilted" (Matt. v. G.) If you 
 trust in Him, and really mean to accept his gracious 
 offers, you will not only wish, and pray, but also strive, 
 and hope, for continual Christian improvement. And of 
 course you will also carefully examine yourself from 
 time to time, to observe whether this improvement does 
 take place or not. Try never to overlook either any 
 fault, or any improvement ; and never attempt to de 
 ceive yourself either way, by saying in your private 
 confessions and prayers, either less, or more, than you 
 sincerely believe to be the truth. And especially, you 
 should observe whether each return of such an anni 
 versary as you may have fixed on (such as New-Year s- 
 day, or your Confirmation-day) finds you a better Chris 
 tian than the last ; more full of the thoughts and 
 hopes of Heaven, and more advanced on your way 
 thither. 
 
 You will see, in the Epistles, that this is the way the 
 Apostles proceeded ; expressing joy and gratitude for 
 all the progress their converts had made, and their hope 
 that this would be an encouragement to them to " grow 
 in grace" (2 Peter iii.), and to " abound more and 
 more" (1 Thess. iv.). 
 
 And you should seek for, and watcli for, improvement 
 in your motives, as well as in your outward conduct. 
 For we generally act from a mixture of motives ; and 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 173 
 
 some of these motives, even when not wrong in them 
 selves, may be inferior to others. Some act, for in 
 stance, may be what you are convinced is morally right, 
 and also such as will gain you the esteem of the best 
 men, and also such as is commanded by your Divine 
 Master, and well pleasing in his sight ; and it may be 
 also such as to benefit your country, and thus gratify 
 your feelings of patriotism. There will then be several 
 distinct feelings, all tending the same way. And it is a 
 matter on which you should take great pains and care 
 in self-examination, to observe what are the motives on 
 wjiich you act, and in what degree each of them oper 
 ates, and to strive to act on the best and highest motives. 
 
LESSON XX. 
 
 SELF-EXAMINATION. PART II. 
 
 1. Christian Knowledge. 
 
 THE point in which you can the most easily mark 
 your own improvement is Christian knowledge. This ^s 
 indeed only the means, and not the end, of a Christian 
 life. For the more you know of your duty, if you do 
 not practise it, the greater is your sin. "The true 
 knowledge and understanding of God s Word," if you 
 do not, in your life, " set it forth and show it accord 
 ingly," * will profit you nothing. But still though Chris 
 tian knowledge be the least part of the Christian s busi 
 ness, it must be the Jirst part. For you cannot act on 
 Christian principles without knowing something of what 
 your religion is. And moreover, if you are very igno 
 rant of it, and are content to remain so, this is a sign that 
 your heart is not engaged in God s service. For if any 
 one received a letter from his father, or some other 
 friend whom he professed to love and revere, contain 
 ing directions for his conduct, and yet never read that 
 letter with any attention, you would at once conclude 
 that his professed love and respect were not real. 
 
 If, therefore, you do feel a real love and reverence for 
 
 * Litany. 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 175 
 
 your Maker, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, you will study 
 what he has thought fit to reveal to us. And you will 
 study it, not as a task which you dare not entirely omit, 
 but as a high honor and privilege. You will also not 
 merely "read," but endeavor to "learn and inwardly 
 digest, the Holy Scriptures " ; not as if it were a virtu 
 ous act to go through a certain portion of Scripture ; but 
 with the same attention with which every one reads any 
 book on some subject in which he takes great interest 
 and delight ; not for the sake of saying that he has been 
 reading it, but for the sake of gaining valuable instruc 
 tion and information from it. 
 
 2. Scripture to be studied intelligently. 
 
 If then you read with a view to improvement, you 
 will not be satisfied with reading or even learning by 
 heart detached passages, single verses, or single chap 
 ters, taken one from one part of the Bible, and an 
 other from another. He who studies in that manner 
 does not give himself a fair chance of taking in the true 
 and full sense of what he reads ; even if it be one single 
 work of any one author that he is engaged on. But the 
 volume which we call the Bible, you should remember, 
 is not properly one book, but several ; written at very 
 distant times, and on different occasions. Even the New 
 Testament alone consists of more than twenty distinct 
 works, addressed by the Sacred Writers to different 
 classes of people. And the Old Testament was written 
 for the use, in the first instance, of a people living un 
 der a dispensation different from the Gospel, and prepar 
 atory to it. 
 
 To open the Bible, therefore, at random, and take the 
 
176 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 first passage that happens to meet your eye, or to at 
 tract your notice, as applicable at once to ourselves now, 
 and as a suitable guide for our belief and practice, would 
 be such a procedure as every one would perceive to be 
 absurd in any like case. For instance, suppose a per 
 son had received from a wise and good father a great 
 number of instructive letters, from the time when he 
 was a child, barely able to read, till he was a grown man, 
 and long after ; if he laid by these letters carefully, but 
 in a promiscuous heap, and on any occasion when he 
 needed counsel took up the first of them that came to 
 hand, as containing directions for his conduct, he would 
 be accounted a mere fool. 
 
 In order, then, to read profitably, you should, in your 
 private studies, go through one entire work, continuous 
 ly ; one of the Gospels, for instance, or one of the Epis 
 tles ; going on from time to time from the place where 
 you had left off, till you have finished the book you had 
 begun. And you should not make it your ordinary prac 
 tice to begin and end at the beginning and end of a 
 chapter, but wherever there is a convenient break in the 
 sense. For the chapters and verses, which (as was re 
 marked above) were not the work of the Sacred Writ 
 ers, have no necessary reference to their sense, but often 
 interrupt it; and thus often obscure the meaning, to 
 those who consider these divisions as designed by the 
 original writers. 
 
 3. Practical Study. 
 
 But of all the cautions to be observed in your study of 
 Scripture, the most important is, to keep in view your 
 own practical benefit, in the improvement of your char- 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 177 
 
 * 
 
 acter and life. For, as has been already said, the more 
 knowledge you have of what is right, the worse you 
 will be, if you do not strive to bring that knowledge into 
 practice. It is not merely that the sin is greater of 
 that " servant who knew his Lord s will, and did it not," 
 but also, besides this, there is a danger of your becom 
 ing hardened against all religious impressions, by letting 
 the most awful and awakening thoughts pass through 
 your mind, without these thoughts being accompanied 
 with an effort to form practical habits answering to those 
 religious impressions. An early familiar acquaintance 
 with Scripture, without reference to practice, leads to 
 the danger (as was formerly remarked, Lesson XI.) point 
 ed at by the proverb, that " Familiarity breeds con 
 tempt." The oftener any impression on the mind is re 
 peated, the less forcible it becomes. The more frequent 
 ly any thought comes before us, the less strongly does it 
 excite us. So that the more you are accustomed to 
 think and talk about Religion, and about Moral Duty, if 
 you do not at the same time strive to acquire a practical 
 habit of acting accordingly, the more insensible you 
 will become to all good impressions. And, on the other 
 hand, if you do strive to bring your principles into prac 
 tice, you will find the practice become easier and easier. 
 It is so in all other matters, as well as in Religion and 
 Morality. A mariner, for instance, who has been long 
 at sea, is very little affected by the terrible appearance 
 of a storm, compared with what you would be if you 
 were in a storm at sea for the first time. And for the 
 same reason, that is, from long custom, he goes about 
 his duty in the ship actively and coolly; and in the 
 midst of the tempest exerts his skill and strength in do- 
 
178 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 j 
 
 ing whatever is required, with that readiness which is 
 the fruit of long habit. And in other cases also you 
 may see the same effects produced by practice. In short, 
 you have only to keep in mind the well-known maxim, 
 that " Practice makes perfect." 
 
 But you should also take care to avoid the mistake, 
 formerly noticed, of those who expect to learn one thing 
 by practising another. Remember, therefore, what was 
 there said (Lesson XI.) of the opposite habits that may 
 be acquired by being accustomed to the same things ; as, 
 for instance, by two persons each accustomed to the 
 sound of a certain bell ; one of whom learns to sleep 
 quietly through the ringing, and another to be instantly 
 roused by it. By merely reading and hearing and talk 
 ing about Virtue or Religion, you will acquire a 
 habit of talking, etc., without doing ; and by continued 
 efforts to impress on your heart what you learn, and set 
 it forth in your conduct and character, you will acquire 
 a habit of "being a doer of God s "Word, and not a 
 hearer only, deceiving your own self." (James i.) 
 
 4. Outward Acts not the only Virtuous Practice. 
 
 You are not to suppose, however, that some outward 
 act is always required in order to form a practical hab 
 it ; and that you must wait for an opportunity of per- . 
 forming what are called " good works." Virtuous acts 
 are acts of the mind. An earnest endeavor to fix on 
 your heart the examples of Christ and his Apostles, and 
 to form your character on that pattern, is, itself, virtuous 
 practice. There is real active virtue in forming a 
 hearty good resolution, with earnest prayer for divine 
 help to keep it. Every effort to " set your affection on 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 179 
 
 things above, not on things on the earth" (Col. iii. 2) ; 
 every earnest struggle against ill-temper, pride, or 
 envy, against coveteousness, against sensual de 
 sires, and every kind of evil thoughts ; every inward 
 effort to cultivate a kind and forbearing, a pure, and 
 holy, and truly Christian disposition ; every such effort 
 is virtuous practice. And thus, even when you are not 
 performing any outward acts, (there being, at the mo 
 ment, no opportunity,) you may be gaining practical 
 habits, which will not fail to show themselves in action 
 when opportunities do occur. 
 
 In fact, outward actions (as has been formerly ob 
 served in Lesson V.) are not properly virtuous or vi 
 cious at all, except as they are the signs of the inward 
 dispositions. And accordingly, when the Apostle Paul 
 is enumerating the " fruits of the Spirit," he makes men 
 tion of nothing but the dispositions : " The fruit of the 
 Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, gen 
 tleness, faith, meekness, temperance, patience, and such 
 like." (Gal. v. 22.) He well knew as indeed every 
 one must know what kind of outward conduct such 
 dispositions will lead to. 
 
 5. Advice of Friends. 
 
 What has been said as to the importance of reading 
 and listening with a view to practical improvement will, 
 of course, apply not merely to the Scriptures, but to any 
 other useful books ; and likewise to any good instruc 
 tion you may receive from Christian ministers, or from 
 other friends. 
 
 It was formerly remarked that the counsel of a 
 worthy and judicious friend will often be of great ser- 
 
180 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 vice in guarding you against self-deception, and point 
 ing out to you some things which you may yourself 
 have overlooked. And such a friend may sometimes 
 be able also to give useful advice for the correction of 
 your faults. For this purpose it will sometimes be ne 
 cessary that you should unbosom yourself to him, and 
 confess some things which he could not otherwise know. 
 But such confessions should be with a view to consulta 
 tion. As for the forgiveness of sins against God, it is 
 God alone that can grant that. And, therefore, a full 
 and complete confession of all the sins you are conscious 
 of should be made to Him, and not to any human be 
 ing. The contrary practice does much more harm to 
 the moral character than good. 
 
 Of course, if you are conscious of having wronged any 
 one, you should confess your fault to him, and ask his 
 pardon. And it may now and then happen, that, in 
 giving advice to another, you may find it useful to tell 
 him of some error you had yourself fallen into, in order 
 that he may take warning from your example. But in 
 seeking, through the aid of a friend, the improvement 
 of your own character, you should confine yourself to 
 these two cases: (1.) when you are conscious of some 
 failing, and wish for advice as to the best way of curing 
 it ; and (2.) when you are in doubt whether something 
 you have done be right or wrong, and wish for a judi 
 cious friend s opinion on the question. In all other 
 matters, confessions of sin should be made to God only. 
 
 G. Signs of Progress. 
 
 If you persevere, in such a course of practical study 
 as has been recommended, it may be hoped that, through 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 181 
 
 divine aid, you will find in your self-examinations, from 
 time to time, a continual " growth in grace, and in the 
 knowledge of your Lord and Saviour." And when you 
 do find this, you should, with all thankfulness for it, 
 draw fresh encouragement from it, for renewed efforts 
 after a still further growth. " I count not myself," says 
 the Apostle Paul, " to have apprehended ; but this one 
 thing I do ; forgetting those things which are behind, 
 and reaching forth unto those that are before, I press 
 towards the mark, for the prize of the high calling of 
 God in Christ Jesus." And if, in any of these examina 
 tions, you are struck with the consciousness of some 
 faults or deficiencies which you had not perceived in 
 yourself before, be not disheartened at this, unless you 
 find that they really are faults newly sprung up. If in 
 deed you do find, on a candid survey of your own con 
 duct and character, that you have been led into some 
 sin of which you had not been guilty before, and that 
 you have been falling back instead of advancing, this, 
 certainly, is a just cause of alarm. But if it be only 
 that you are become conscious for the first time of defi 
 ciencies or sins which had existed before, but which you 
 had overlooked, this (as has been above remarked, Les 
 son XL) is a promising sign. It is a sign that your 
 spiritual discernment is improved, your moral stand 
 ard raised, your estimate of the Christian character be 
 come more just. For what you ought to seek for is, not 
 the most quiet conscience, the conscience that is the 
 most easily satisfied ; but a tender conscience, a watch 
 ful conscience, an upright and well-regulated conscience. 
 And you must expect that, as your conscience improves} 
 16 
 
182 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 in all this, it will show you defects that were before 
 overlooked. 
 
 When the sun s rays (as was formerly observed) are 
 admitted into a room that had been half darkened, and 
 kept in a slovenly state, you will see clouds of dust 
 floating in the air which before were unseen ; and va 
 rious stains of dirt will appear which were before un 
 noticed. The light which is let in does not increase the 
 impurities, but only makes them manifest. And this 
 excites and enables a person who has a regard for neat 
 ness to cleanse them away. 
 
 And so it is with spiritual and moral light. It en 
 ables us to see better and better what is impure and 
 faulty in our own hearts, in order that, by the promised 
 help of God s Spirit, we may proceed in the work of 
 purifying them. 
 
 But though you must (as was above said) carefully 
 watch for faults, and frankly confess to God all that 
 you are conscious of, without seeking to soften them 
 down, you should never confess more than you really 
 are conscious of. There is no real humility in using 
 language of very strong self-condemnation beyond what 
 you feel to be just. Even if it really be in itself true, 
 still it is not true for you, unless you feel it to be so. 
 And you should above all things cultivate a habit of 
 perfect sincerity; universally, and not least in your 
 communings with God. A person would be in a less 
 hopeful state who should have accustomed himself to 
 say more than he really feels, (though it may, perhaps, 
 be no more than the truth,) than one who has confessed 
 but the half of his real sins, but has said neither more 
 nor less than what he really thinks and feels. For this 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 183 
 
 latter, if he prays for God s enlightening Spirit, will 
 hereafter come to know himself better ; while the other 
 will have learnt the habit of saying what he does not 
 really believe. 
 
 7. Heads of Self-Examinution. 
 
 Several heads of self-examination you can draw out 
 for yourself from the foregoing Lessons. But if we 
 were to say everything that is to the purpose on the 
 subject, we should have to go through the whole of a 
 Christian s duties, and trials, and temptations ; since on 
 all of these it is needful for him to examine himself. 
 But it has been thought best to offer only a few hints on 
 some of the most important points ; namely, (1.) on the 
 importance of a candid inquiry after faults ; (2.) on 
 looking out for signs of improvement ; (3.) on a right 
 advancement in Christian knowledge ; (4.) on the prac 
 tical application of what you learn ; (5.) an attention 
 to motives and dispositions as well as to outward acts ; 
 (G.) on the use to be made of the advice of friends ; 
 and (7.) on that increased insight into your own 
 defects, which you may expect to acquire as you 
 advance. 
 
CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES 
 
 16* 
 
CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 LESSON I. 
 
 FIRST RISE OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 1. SUPPOSING you were asked the question how you 
 came to be a Christian, perhaps you would answer that it 
 is because you were born and brought up in a Christian 
 country, and that your parents were Christians, and had 
 taught you to believe that the Christian religion is true. 
 And if, again, your parents were asked the same ques 
 tion, perhaps they might give the same answer. They 
 might say, that their parents had brought them up as 
 Christians ; and so on. 
 
 But you know that it cannot always have been so. 
 You know that the Christian religion had a beginning. 
 You know that the disciples of Jesus Christ, and their 
 followers, went about among various nations, making 
 converts to his religion, among people who had been 
 worshippers of the Sun and Moon, and of various false 
 gods. Our forefathers were among those nations. In 
 former days, the people of these Islands were what 
 we call Heathen, or Pagans ; that is, worshippers of a 
 number of supposed gods, whom they believed to govern 
 
188 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 the world, and to whom they offered sacrifices and 
 prayers. We have among us a kind of monument of 
 this, in the names of the days of the week ; each day 
 having been sacred to some one of their gods. Thus, 
 the first day of the week, which we sometimes call the 
 Lord s day, in honor of the resurrection of the Lord 
 Jesus, still keeps also the name of Sunday, from its hav 
 ing been dedicated, in former times, to the worship of 
 the Sun; as Monday was to the Moon; Tuesday to 
 Tuesco, the god of war ; Wednesday to Woden ; Thurs 
 day to Thor ; and so of the rest. 
 
 Now our forefathers, who were worshippers of these 
 gods, would have told any one who might have questioned 
 them on the subject, that this was the religion of their 
 country, and what they had learned from their parents. 
 And at the present day there are many nations still in 
 the same condition with our forefathers ; among others, 
 great numbers of our fellow-subjects in the British do 
 minions, in the East Indies, have been brought up as 
 Pagans, and worship various false gods. And, again, 
 there are many who are followers of Mohammed, whom 
 they hold to be a prophet superior to Jesus Christ. 
 
 2. Now what I want you to consider is this : Have 
 you any better reason for believing in the truth of the 
 Christian religion, than a Mohammedan has for believ 
 ing in his religion, or the Pagans in theirs ? And do 
 you think you can learn, and ought to learn, to give some 
 better reason ? They believe what their parents have 
 told them, merely for that reason, and because it is the re 
 ligion of their country, and the wisest men of the nation 
 have told them it is true. If you are content to do the 
 same, then, though there may be a great difference be- 
 
FIRST RISE OF CHRISTIANITY. 189 
 
 tween your religion and theirs, there is no difference at 
 all in the grounds of your belief and of theirs. If ten 
 persons, for example, all hear different accounts of some 
 transaction, and each believes just what he happens to 
 hear from his next neighbor, then, if nine of those ac 
 counts are false, and one true, he who chances to have 
 heard the true one is right only by accident, and has no 
 better grounds for his belief than the rest. In the same 
 manner, if several different persons hold each the relig 
 ion of their fathers, and have no other reason for doing 
 so than because it is the religion of their fathers, then, 
 though one of them may happen to believe a true relig 
 ion and the rest false ones, it is plain he has no better 
 grounds for his belief than they. What he believes 
 may be in itself right ; but we cannot say that he is 
 more right in so believing it, than the others are in be 
 lieving as they do. 
 
 3. Now do you think it is the duty of each man to 
 keep to the religion of his fathers, without seeking any 
 proofs of its being true, but satisfied with merely taking 
 it on trust, because his teachers have told him so ? If 
 so, our forefathers would have been wrong in renouncing 
 their Pagan religion, and embracing Christianity. They 
 had been brought up in the worship of the Sun, and 
 Moon, and Woden, and their other gods ; and so had 
 the ancient Greeks, and Romans, to whom the Apostles 
 preached. This had been the long-established religion 
 of their country, handed down to them from their fore 
 fathers, many of whom were great statesmen, and wise 
 and learned writers ; and if this had been a sufficient 
 reason for their keeping to it without inquiry, they 
 would have been bound to reject the Gospel, and con 
 tinue Pagans. 
 
190 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 And this we know is what many of them did ; refus 
 ing to listen to the Apostles and others, who offered 
 them proof that the Christians had " not followed cun 
 ningly devised fables in making known to them the 
 coming and power of the Lord Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 
 i. 1 G.) Now we cannot think these men acted more 
 wisely than those Pagans who set themselves to inquire 
 what was true, and who did embrace Christianity. 
 
 4. These last must have had strong reasons for do 
 ing as they did. It could not have been from love of 
 change for its own sake, or mere idle whim ; for we 
 know that many of them had to face ridicule, and blame, 
 and sometimes persecution, from their friends and coun 
 trymen. And, what is more, they had to change their 
 mode of life, and to renounce, on becoming Christians, 
 many evil habits which had been tolerated in the Pa 
 gan religions. For we find the Apostles Paul es 
 pecially speaking often of the abominable vices in 
 which the Pagans had been accustomed to indulge, and 
 which the converts to Christianity were required to ab 
 stain from. 
 
 Now it must be a difficult thing for a man to bring him 
 self to throw off (as the early converts to Christianity 
 must have done) his early habits, and his veneration for 
 the gods of his country, in whose worship he had been 
 brought up, and his reverence for wise, and illustrious, 
 and powerful men among his countrymen, and his re 
 gard for the good opinion of his neighbors, and also his 
 care for his own peace and safety. Yet all this must 
 have been done by many of those of our forefathers, and 
 other Pagans, who first embraced the Christian religion. 
 They must, therefore, have had a strong conviction of 
 
FIRST RISE OF CHRISTIANITY. 191 
 
 the truth of the religion; not from their having been 
 brought up in it, as you were ; for it was quite the con 
 trary with them; but for some other reason. They 
 must have had some convincing evidence of its truth ; 
 or else we may be sure they would not have received it. 
 
 And these men could not have been convinced of the 
 truth of the Gospel by any such experience as many 
 Christians have of that inward consolation and peace of 
 mind, and enlightening of the understanding, produced 
 by their religion : which affords them a satisfactory as 
 surance of its coming from God. For those who had 
 not embraced Christianity could not have had this ex 
 perience. And yet some convincing proofs they must 
 have had, to lead them to embrace it, in spite of so 
 many prejudices, and so many difficulties. 
 
 5. And it appears that they were taught by the 
 Apostles not only to have a reason, bi\t also to be able 
 to give a reason to others, for the faith which they held. 
 Be " ready always," says the Apostle Peter, " to give an 
 answer [or defence] to every one that asketh a reason 
 of the hope that is in you." And it does certainly seem 
 very fair that they should be asked by their neighbors, 
 and should be expected to answer the question, " Why 
 do you renounce the gods of the country, and embrace 
 the religion of this Jesus, and call on us to do the 
 same ? " This, I say, would appear a very fair question 
 to be asked of persons living in the midst of Pagans, 
 and educated as such. 
 
 But perhaps you may think this was not at all intend 
 ed to apply to you who have had the happiness of being 
 brought up in a Christian country. You should remem 
 ber, however, that you may some time or other chance 
 
192 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 to meet with some of these Pagans, or Mohammedans, 
 whom we have been speaking of; to some of whom we 
 have sent missionaries to convert them. And besides 
 this, you may hereafter meet with persons of our own 
 nation, who doubt or disbelieve the truth of Christian 
 ity ; and their doubt or disbelief is likely to be very 
 much strengthened, if they find that you have no better 
 reason for being Christians than the Turks have for 
 being Mohammedans, the ancient Greeks and Romans 
 for worshipping Jupiter, or our own forefathers for 
 serving Thor and Woden; namely, that such is the 
 religion of the country. They will be apt to say: 
 " These religions cannot be all true ; but they may be 
 all equally false ; they are, perhaps, only so many dif 
 ferent forms of superstition in which the people of dif 
 ferent countries have been brought up, and which they 
 all believe in, each because they have been brought up 
 in it, without seeking for any other reason." 
 
 6. The Apostle s direction, therefore, you may 
 be sure, applies to all Christians in every age and 
 country. It "is needful for all of them to be able to 
 give a reason of the hope that is in them. And among 
 others, you may give as one reason, what I have just 
 put before you ; that those who first embraced Chris 
 tianity, renouncing for it, as they did, their early preju 
 dices, and their habits, and often their friends, and their 
 comfort and safety in this world, must have had some 
 strong evidence to convince them that it was true. It is 
 not merely from the Christian writers of the New Testa 
 ment that we learn how much those persons had to bear 
 and to do who embraced the Gospel ; heathen writers 
 record the persecutions under which they suffered. "We 
 
FIRST RISE OF CHRISTIANITY. 193 
 
 may be sure, even from the very nature of the case, 
 how great their difficulties must have been. And there 
 fore we could feel no doubt, that when they did become 
 Christians, it must have been on some strong reasons, 
 even though we had no knowledge what these reasons 
 were. 
 
 It is possible for us, however, to inquire, and to learn 
 what the reasons were which satisfied them of the truth 
 of the religion. And it must, therefore, be a duty, for 
 all who have the opportunity, to learn what proofs it 
 rests on ; that they may be " ready to give an answer 
 to those that ask them a reason of their hope." And 
 you shall observe, also, that the Apostles not only re 
 quired their converts to be ready to give a reason, but 
 must themselves have supplied them with reasons ; since 
 they could not have made them converts, without of 
 fering proofs to satisfy them that the religion was 
 true. 
 
 And this is one point which distinguishes the Chris 
 tian religion from those of the Pagans ; for it does not 
 appear that any of these religions ever made any appeal 
 to proof, or claimed to be received except from their 
 being the ancient established belief of the country. 
 Ttie Christian religion was brought in, in opposition 
 to all these, by means of the reasons given, the evi 
 dence, which convinced the early Christians that the 
 religion did truly come from God. It must there 
 fore be the duty of Christians to learn what that evi 
 dence is. 
 
 17 
 
LESSON II. 
 
 FAITH AND CREDULITY. 
 
 1. OUR forefathers, and the other Pagans who em 
 braced the Gospel, must have had some strong reasons 
 to bring them to shake off their habits of life, their early 
 prejudices, and their veneration for the gods they had 
 been brought up to worship, for the sake of Christ and 
 his religion, which were new to them. But perhaps 
 you may suppose that their ancient religions also must 
 have been embraced by their forefathers in the same 
 manner ; that the worship of the Sun, and Moon, and 
 Jupiter, and the rest of their gods, must have been first 
 brought in by strong proofs, at least by what were 
 thought to be strong proofs. 
 
 But this does not appear to have been the case. 
 "We have no accounts of the first origin of the Pagan 
 religions ; and it is likely that no one of them was ever 
 brought in all at once, but that these various supersti 
 tions crept in little by little, and religion became grad 
 ually corrupted, as men lost more and more that knowl 
 edge of the one true God, which we suppose to have 
 been originally revealed. This, at least, is certain, that 
 it was not even pretended that these religions rested 
 on any evidence worth listening to. A Pagan s reason 
 for holding his religion is, and always was, that it 
 
FAITH AND CREDULITY. 195 
 
 had been handed down from his ancestors. They did, 
 indeed, relate many miracles, said to have been wrought 
 through their gods ; but almost all of these they spoke 
 of as having been wrought among people who were 
 already worshippers of those gods, not as having been 
 the means of originally bringing in the religion. And 
 all the Pagan miracles they believed merely because 
 these were a part of the religion which they had learned 
 from their fathers. They never even pretended to 
 give any proof that these miracles "had ever been per 
 formed. 
 
 2. The pretended prophet Mohammed did indeed 
 found a new religion, which spread very rapidly and 
 widely under him and his followers. But his religion 
 Avas propagated, not by evidence, but by the sword. At 
 the head of a small number of valiant warriors, he 
 gained victories, which enabled him and his successors 
 to collect larger and larger armies, and with these they 
 subdued extensive regions, forcing the conquered people 
 everywhere to acknowledge the Mohammedan faith, on 
 pain of death or bondage. But the Mohammedan 
 religion never made way (as Christianity did) in any 
 country in which its opponents had the chief power, 
 and were disposed to resist. And Mohammed never 
 pretended to perform any miracles as signs of his com 
 ing from God. His pretended visions, and ascent to 
 heaven, and visits from angels, which he relates in the 
 book called the Koran, were not even pretended to 
 have been shown openly, as proofs to convince unbe 
 lievers, but were to be received by the believers in Mo 
 hammed, on his bare word. With the Mohammedans, 
 in short, (as with the Pagans,) the religion did not rest 
 
196 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 on the miracles, but the miracles rested on the religion. 
 Those who believed the religion, believed the miracles 
 as a part of the religion, but not as a proof of it. In 
 fact, no such proof was ever even attempted to be offered 
 of these religions. 
 
 The Christian religion was distinguished from these 
 by its resting on evidence, by its offering a reason, 
 and requiring Christians to be able to give a reason for 
 believing it. 
 
 3. Some persons, however, have a notion that it 
 is presumptuous for a Christian at least for an un 
 learned Christian to seek any proof of the truth of 
 his religion. They suppose that this would show a 
 want of faith. They know that faith is often and highly 
 commended in Scripture as the Christian s first duty; 
 and they fancy that this faith consists in a person s 
 readily and firmly believing what is told him, and trust 
 ing in every promise that is made to him ; and that the 
 less reason he has for believing and for trusting, and 
 the less he doubts, and inquires, and seeks grounds 
 for his belief and his confidence, the more faith he 
 shows. 
 
 *But this is quite a mistake. The faith which the 
 Christian Scriptures speak of and commend, is the very 
 contrary of that blind sort of belief and trust which does 
 not rest on any good reason. This last is more prop 
 erly called credulity than faith. When a man believes 
 without evidence, or against evidence, he is_what we_ 
 rightly call credulous. But he is never commended 4ep 
 this : on the contrary, we often find in Scripture ~mexfc_ 
 tion made of persons who are reproached for their un 
 belief or want of faith, precisely on account of their. 
 
 
FAITH AND CREDULITY. 197 
 
 showing tin s k^ l nf m^^nV^.j thnt is ; not judging fairly 
 according; to the evidence* but resolving to lffilip XTO u y 
 
 what was agreeable to tlieir prejudices, mid to trust any 
 one. jorha flattered those prejudices. 
 
 4. This was the case with those of the ancient 
 Heathen who refused to forsake the worship of the Sun 
 and Moon, and of Jupiter and Diana, and their other 
 gods. Many of the Ephesians (as you read in the 
 Book of Acts) raised a tumult against Paul, in their 
 zeal for their "goddess Diana, and the image which 
 fell down from Jupiter." Now if a man s faith is 
 to be reckoned the greater, the less evidence he has 
 for believing, these men must have had greater 
 faith than any one who received the Gospel; because 
 they believed in their religion without any evidence 
 at all. 
 
 But what our sacred writers mean by faith is quite 
 different from this. When they commend a man s 
 faith, it is because he listens fairly to evidence, and 
 judges according to the reasons laid before him. The 
 difficulty and the virtue of faith consists in a man s be 
 lieving and trusting, not against evidence, but against 
 his expectations and prejudices, against his inclinations, 
 and passions, and interests. We read, accordingly, 
 that Jesus offered sufficient proof of his coming from 
 God ; He said, the works (the miracles) that I do 
 in my Father s name, (by my Father s authority,) 
 they bear witness of me. If you believe not me, be 
 lieve the works ; that is, if you have not the heart 
 to feel the purity and holiness of what I teach, at least 
 you should allow, that " no man can do such miracles, 
 except God be with him." 
 17* 
 
198 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 5. But we are told, that " for all He had done so 
 many miracles among them, yet did they not believe on 
 Him." They acknowledged that he wrought mira 
 cles ; as the unbelieving Jews acknowledge at the 
 present day. But they had expected that the Christ 
 [or Messiah] whom they looked for should come in 
 great worldly power and splendor, as a conquering 
 prince who should deliver them from the dominion of 
 the Romans, and should make Jerusalem the capital of 
 a magnificent empire. They were disappointed and 
 disgusted (" offended " is the word used in our trans 
 lations) at finding Jesus coming from Nazareth, a de 
 spised town in Galilee, and having no worldly pomp or 
 pretensions about Him, and having only poor fishermen 
 and peasants as his attendants. Accordingly they re 
 jected Him, saying, " Shall [the] Christ come out of 
 Nazareth ? " " As for this man, we know not whence 
 he is." " Out of Galilee ariseth no prophet." And 
 they persuaded themselves, (as their descendants do to 
 this day,) that Jesus was a skilful magician, and per 
 formed miracles, not by Divine power, but by the help 
 of some evil spirits or demons, with whom He had allied 
 himself. Though He went about doing good, heal 
 ing the sick and afflicted, and teaching the purest mo 
 rality, they reckoned him a " deceiver," who " cast out 
 demons through Beelzebub, the prince of the de 
 mons." 
 
 But if lie had come among them offering to fulfil 
 their expectations, and undertaking to deliver their 
 country from the Romans, then, even though He had 
 shown no miraculous power, many of them would have 
 received Him readily. And indeed it is recorded of 
 
FAITH AND CREDULITY. 199 
 
 Him, that He declared this himself, and foretold to his 
 disciples, " Many will come in my name," (that is, tak 
 ing on them my character,) " saying, I am [the] Christ, 
 and will deceive many." And again, " I am come in 
 my Father s name," (that is, with my Father s au 
 thority and power,) " and you receive me not ; if an 
 other shall come in his own name," (that is, requiring 
 to be believed on his bare word, without any miraculous 
 signs,) " him ye will receive." 
 
 6. And so it came to pass ; for in the last siege 
 of Jerusalem many impostors came forward, each 
 one claiming to be the Christ, and drawing multi 
 tudes to follow him, and leading them to make the 
 most desperate resistance to the Romans ; till at 
 length the city was taken and the nation utterly 
 overthrown. 
 
 Now the Jews who believed any one of these im 
 postors were led to do so by their prejudices, and ex 
 pectations, and wishes, not by any proof that was of 
 fered. They showed, therefore, more credulity than 
 the Christians did. And these unbelieving Jews, as 
 they are called, are the very persons who were 
 reproached for their want of faith. You may plainly 
 see from this, that the faith which the Christian 
 writers speak of is not blind credulity, but fairness 
 in listening to evidence, and judging accordingly, 
 without being led away by prejudices and inclina 
 tions. 
 
 Moreover, we find in the Book of Acts that the Jews 
 of Bersea were commended as being " more noble " 
 (that is, more candid) than those of Thessalonica, " be 
 cause they searched the Scriptures," (the books of the 
 
200 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 Old Testament,) to see whether those things were so 
 " which the Apostle taught." 
 
 It is plain, therefore, that Jesus and his Apostles did 
 not mean by Christian faith a blind assent without any 
 reason. And if we would be taught by them, we must 
 be " prepared to answer every one that asketh us a 
 reason of the hope that is in us." 
 
LESSON III. 
 
 ANCIENT BOOKS. 
 
 1. WE have said that Christians, even those who 
 have not received what is called a learned education, 
 ought to have some good reason for being Christians ; 
 and not to believe in our religion, as the Pagans do in 
 theirs, merely because their fathers did so before them. 
 But some persons suppose that, however strong the evi 
 dences may be for the truth of Christianity, these must 
 be evidences only to the learned, who are able to exam 
 ine ancient books, and to read them in the original lan 
 guages ; and that an ordinary unlearned Christian must 
 take their word for what they tell him. 
 
 You do, indeed, read in English the accounts of what 
 Jesus and his Apostles said and did, and of what befell 
 them. But the English book which we call the Bible 
 professes to be a translation of what was originally writ 
 ten in Greek and Hebrew, which you do not understand. 
 And some one may perhaps ask you, how you can know, 
 except by taking the word of the learned for it, that 
 there are these Greek and Hebrew originals which have 
 been handed down from ancient times ? or how you can 
 be sure that our translations of them are faithful, except 
 by trusting to the translators ? So that an unlearned 
 Christian must, after all, (some people will tell you,) be 
 
202 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 > at the mercy of the learned, in what relates to the very 
 foundations of his faith. He must take their word (it 
 will be said) for the very existence of the Bible in the 
 original languages, and for the meaning of what is writ 
 ten in it ; and therefore he may as well at once take 
 their word for everything, and believe in his religion on 
 their assurance. 
 
 And this is what many persons do. But others will 
 be apt to say, " How can we tell that the learned have 
 not deceived us ? The Mohammedans take the word of 
 the learned men among them ; and the Pagans do the 
 same ; and if the people have been imposed upon by 
 their teachers in Mohammedan and Pagan countries, 
 how can we tell that it is not the same in Christian 
 countries? What ground have we for trusting with 
 such perfect confidence in our Christian teachers, that 
 they are men who would not deceive us ? " 
 
 2. The truth is, however, that an unlearned Chris 
 tian may have very good grounds for being a believer, 
 without placing this entire confidence in any man. He 
 may have reason to believe that there are ancient Greek 
 manuscripts of the New Testament, though he never 
 saw one, nor could read it if he did. And he may be 
 convinced that an English Bible gives the meaning of 
 the original, though he must not trust completely to any 
 one s word. In fact, he may have the same sort of evi 
 dence in this case, which every one trusts to in many 
 other cases, where none but a madman would have any 
 doubt at all. 
 
 For instance, there is no one tolerably educated, who 
 does not know that there is such a country as France, 
 though he may have never been there himself. Who is 
 
ANCIENT BOOKS. 203 
 
 there that doubts whether there are such cities as Lon 
 don, and Paris, and Rome, though he may never have 
 visited them ? Most people are fully convinced that the 
 world is round, though there are but few who have sailed 
 round it. There are many persons living in the inland 
 parts of these islands who never saw the sea ; and yet 
 none of them, even the most ignorant clowns, have any 
 doubt that there is such a thing as the sea. We believe 
 all these, and many other such things, because we have 
 been told them. 
 
 3. Now suppose any one should say, How do you 
 know that travellers have not imposed upon you in all 
 these matters ; as it is well known travellers are apt to 
 do? Is there any traveller you can so fully trust in, as 
 to be quite sure he would not deceive you ? What would 
 you answer? I suppose you would say, one traveller 
 might perhaps deceive us ; or even two or three might 
 possibly combine to propagate a false story, in some 
 cases where hardly any one would have the opportunity 
 to detect them ; but in these matters there are hundreds 
 and thousands who would be sure to contradict the ac 
 counts if they were not true ; and travellers are often 
 glad of an opportunity of detecting each other s mistakes. 
 Many of them disagree with each other in several par 
 ticulars respecting the cities of Paris and Rome ; and if 
 it had been false that there are any such cities at all, it 
 is impossible but that the falsehood should have been 
 speedily contradicted. And it is the same with the ex 
 istence of the sea, the roundness of the world, and 
 the other things that were mentioned. 
 
 4. It is in the same manner that we believe, on the" ! 
 word of astronomers, that the earth turns round every 
 twenty-four hours, though we are insensible of the mo- 
 
204 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 tion ; and that the sun, which seems as if you could 
 cover it with your hat, is immensely larger than the 
 earth we inhabit ; though there is not one person in ten 
 thousand that has ever gone through the mathematical 
 proof of this. And yet we have very good reason for 
 believing it ; not from any strong confidence in the hon 
 esty of any particular astronomer, but because the same 
 things are attested by many different astronomers, who 
 are so far from combining together in a false account, 
 that many of them rejoice in any opportunity of detecting 
 each other s mistakes. 
 
 Now an unlearned man has just the same sort of 
 reason for believing that there are ancient copies, in 
 Hebrew and Greek, of the Christian sacred books, and 
 of the works of other ancient authors, who mention 
 some things connected with the origin of Christianity. 
 There is no need for him to place full confidence in any 
 particular man s honesty. For if any book were forged 
 by some learned man in these days, and put forth as a 
 translation from an ancient book, there are many other 
 learned men, of this and of various other countries, and 
 of different religions, who would be eager to make an 
 inquiry, and examine the question, and would be sure to 
 detect any forgery, especially on an important subject. 
 
 And it is the same with translators. Many of these 
 are at variance with each other as to the precise sense 
 of some particular passage ; and many of them are very 
 much opposed to each other, as to the doctrines which 
 they believe to be taught in Scripture. But all the dif 
 ferent versions of the Bible agree as to the main outline 
 of the history, and of the discourses recorded : and 
 therefore an unlearned Christian may be as sure of the 
 general sense of the original as if he understood the 
 
ANCIENT BOOKS. 205 
 
 language of it, and could examine it for himself; be 
 cause he is sure that unbelievers, who are opposed to all 
 Christians, or different sects of Christians, who are op 
 posed to each other, would not fail to point out any er 
 rors in the translations made by their opponents. Scholf 
 ars have an opportunity to examine and inquire into the 
 meaning of the original works ; and therefore the very 
 bitterness with which they dispute against each oilier, 
 proves that where they all agree they must be right. 
 
 5. All these ancient books, in short, and all the 
 translations of them, are in the condition of witnesses 
 placed in a witness-box, in a court of justice ; examined 
 and cross-examined by friends and enemies, and brought 
 face to face with each other, so as to make it certain 
 that any falsehood or mistake will be brought to light. 
 
 No one need doubt, therefore, that the books of our 
 English New Testament are really translated from an 
 cient originals in Greek, and are, at least, not forgeries 
 of the present day ; because unbelievers in Christianity 
 would not have failed to expose such a forgery. 
 
 But in the case of the books of the Old Testament, we 
 have a remarkable proof that they could never have 
 been forged by Christians at all ; because they are pre 
 served and highly reverenced by the unbelieving Jews 
 in various parts of the world at this day. These are 
 the Scriptures which the Jews at Bersea were commend 
 ed for searching with diligent care. In these they 
 found the prophecies to which the Apostles were accus 
 tomed to refer, as proving that Jesus was the promised 
 Christ, or Messiah. And the history goes on to relate, 
 that the consequence of their searching those Scrip 
 tures was, that " many of them believed." 
 18 
 
LESSON IV. 
 
 PROPHECIES. 
 
 1. BUT these Old Testament Scriptures are, in 
 some respects, more instructive to us, even than to the 
 persons who lived in the Apostles time ; on account of 
 the more complete fulfilment of some of the prophecies 
 that have since taken place. 
 
 In the times of the Apostles, the religion of Jesus 
 Christ was, indeed, spreading very rapidly, both among 
 Jews and Gentiles ; but still it was but a small and ob 
 scure portion of either that had embraced it compared 
 with those who either knew nothing of it, or rejected it 
 with scorn and hatred. Now, Jesus is, and has been 
 for many ages, acknowledged as Lord, in all the most 
 civilized portions of the world. His disciples overthrew 
 the religions of all the most powerful and enlightened 
 nations, and produced, without conquest, and without 
 the help of w T ealth, or of human power, or learning, the 
 most wonderful change that ever was produced in men s 
 opinions, and on the most important point. The num 
 ber of those who profess Christianity is computed at 
 about two hundred and fifty millions ; comprehending 
 all the most civilized nations of the world. And to es 
 timate properly the greatness of the effect produced, we 
 should take into account that there are about one hun- 
 
PROPHECIES. 207 
 
 dred and twenty millions of persons whose religion is so 
 far founded on Christ s, that it could never have existed 
 such as it is, if Christ had never appeared, I mean 
 the Mohammedans ; for though these have departed 
 widely from the religion which Jesus taught, and re 
 gard Mohammed as a greater prophet than He, yet they 
 acknowledge Jesus as a true prophet, and as the Mes 
 siah, or Christ ; and profess that their religion is found 
 ed on his. 
 
 2. This should be taken into account ; because what 
 we are now speaking of is the great and wonderful effect 
 produced, the extraordinary change brought about in 
 the world, by Christ and his Apostles. So great is 
 this effect, that every man, whether believer or unbe 
 liever, if not totally ignorant of history, must allow that 
 Jesus Christ was by far THE MOST IMPORTANT AND 
 EXTRAORDINARY PERSON that ever appeared on earth ; 
 and that he effected the most wonderful revolution that 
 ever was effected in the religion of mankind. Yet this 
 wonderful change was made by a person of the Jewish 
 nation, a nation which was never one of the greatest 
 and most powerful, never at all equal in the fame 
 of wisdom, and knowledge, and skill in the arts of life, 
 to the Greeks, and several other of the ancient nations. 
 And all this was done by a person who was despised, 
 and persecuted, and put to a shameful death, by the 
 Jews themselves, his own countrymen. If, therefore, 
 you were to ask any unbeliever in Christianity, " Who 
 was the most wonderful person that ever existed ? and 
 who brought about the most extraordinary effect, in the 
 strangest and most wonderful manner ? " he could 
 hardly help answering that Jesus of Nazareth was the 
 person. 
 
208 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 And then you might ask him to explain how it 
 happened, (supposing our religion to be an invention 
 of man,) that all this had been foretold in the ancient 
 prophecies of the Old Testament ; in books which are 
 carefully preserved, and held in high reverence, by the 
 unbelieving Jews at this day. 
 
 3. You may find such prophecies as I am speaking 
 of, in various parts of the Old Testament. As, for in 
 stance, it was prophesied that a great blessing to all na 
 tions of the earth should spring from the nation that 
 was to descend from Abraham. (Gen. xxii. 18.) 
 
 Now, when the descendants of Abraham did actually 
 5 * become a nation, and did receive, through Moses, a re 
 ligion which they held in the highest veneration, they 
 would naturally expect the above prophecy to refer to 
 the extension of that very religion. And any one 
 of them professing to be a prophet, but speaking re 
 ally as a mere man, would have been sure to con 
 firm that expectation. Yet it was foretold, that the 
 religion which the Israelites had received from Moses 
 was to give place to a new one: as in Jer. xxxi. 
 31 : " Behold the days come [are coming], saith the 
 Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the 
 house of Israel, and with the house of Judah : not 
 according to the covenant that I made with their fa 
 thers," &c. 
 
 See also, for prophecies of the Messiah, Micah iv. 
 1 - 3 ; v. 2 - 4 ; Isaiah ix. G ; xi. 1 ; Ezekiel xxxiv, 
 23 ; Jer. xxiii. 5 ; Zech. vi. 12 ; ix. 9, &c. ; Mai. 
 iii. 1. 
 
 Now many of these prophecies were delivered (as 
 the unbelieving Jews of this day bear witness) six hun- 
 
PROPHECIES. 209 
 
 dred years before the birth of Jesus ; at which time, and 
 also at the time when the Gospel was first preached, 
 the Jews were so far from being a great and power 
 ful people, that they had been conquered and brought 
 into subjection by other nations. So that, according to 
 all human conjecture, nothing could have been more 
 strange than the delivery of the prophecies and their 
 fulfilment. 
 
 4. This fulfilment, by the wide spread of Christ s 
 religion among various nations, though it was expected 
 by the early Christians, had not been seen by them, as 
 it is by us. They saw, however, that what Jesus had 
 done and suffered did agree with the prophecies of the 
 Old Testament ; that He was born at the time when it 
 had been foretold that Christ was to come, and when 
 the whole Jewish nation were in expectation of his com 
 ing ; that He was acknowledged by his enemies to have 
 wrought those miracles which had been prophesied of: 
 " Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and 
 the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped : then shall the 
 lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb 
 sing" (Isaiah xxxv. 5 ; Luke vii. 22 ) ; that, notwith 
 standing this, He had been rejected and put to death, 
 as had been foretold ; and that his disciples bore wit 
 ness to his having risen from the dead, agreeably to 
 other prophecies : " Thou wilt not leave my soul in 
 hell (i. e. the grave) ; neither wilt thou suffer thine 
 Holy One to see corruption." (Psalm xvi. 10 ; Acts 
 ii. 27.) 
 
 All this led them to conclude, when they examined 
 candidly, that the miracles which they saw were not 
 the work of evil spirits, but that the Gospel did come 
 18* 
 
210 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 from God. On the other hand, we, who have not 
 actually seen the miracles which they saw, have an ad 
 vantage over them in seeing such an extraordinary 
 fulfilment of prophecy, in what has happened since their 
 tune. 
 
LESSON V. 
 
 MIRACLES. PART I. 
 
 1. THE people who lived in the times of the Apos 
 tles, though they had not seen -so much as we have of 
 the fulfilment of the ancient prophecies, yet had seen 
 them so far fulfilled in Jesus, as to afford good reasons 
 for receiving Him. 
 
 But you may, perhaps, be inclined to wonder how 
 they should need to search the Old Testament Scrip 
 tures for a confirmation of what the Apostles taught, if 
 those Apostles really performed such miracles as we 
 read of. It may seem strange to you, that men who 
 healed the sick with a touch, and displayed so many 
 other signs, far beyond human power, should not have 
 been at once believed, when they called themselves 
 God s messengers. 
 
 2. I have said that the works performed by Jesus 
 and his disciples were beyond the unassisted powers of 
 man. And this, I think, is the best description of what 
 is meant by a miracle. Superhuman would perhaps be a 
 better word to apply to a miracle than supernatural; 
 for if we believe that " nature" is merely another word 
 to signify that state of things, and course of events, 
 which God has appointed, nothing that occurs can be 
 strictly called " supernatural." Jesus himself according- , 
 
212 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 I ly describes his works, not as violations of the laws of 
 nature, but as " works which none other man did." But 
 what is in general meant by " supernatural," is some 
 thing out of the ordinary course of nature ; something at 
 variance with those laws of nature which we have been 
 accustomed to. 
 
 But then it might be objected, that we cannot decide 
 what does violate the ordinary laws of nature, unless 
 we can be sure that we are acquainted with all those 
 laws. For instance, an inhabitant of the tropical cli 
 mates might think it contrary to the laws of nature that 
 water should never become hard ; since he had never 
 seen ice. And when electricity was first discovered, 
 many of its effects were contrary to the laws of nature 
 which had been hitherto known. But any one who 
 visits colder regions may see with his own eyes that wa 
 ter does become solid. And any one who will procure 
 an electrical machine, or who attends lectures on the 
 subject, may see for himself the effects of electricity. 
 
 Now suppose Jesus had been a person who had dis 
 covered some new natural agent, through which any 
 man might be enabled to cure diseases by a touch, and 
 perform the other wonderful works which He did, and 
 through which any one else might have done the like, 
 this would soon have become known and practised by 
 all ; just like the use of electricity, or of any newly dis 
 covered medicine ; and from his time down to this day 
 every one would have commonly performed just the 
 same works that he did. He might indeed have kept it 
 to himself as a secret, and thus have induced some to 
 believe that He wrought miracles. But so far from act- 
 ing thus, He imparted his power first to the twelve 
 
MIRACLES. 213 
 
 Apostles, and afterwards to seventy others : and after 
 his departure, his Apostles received the power of not 
 only performing mighty works themselves, but also of 
 bestowing these gifts on all the disciples on whom they 
 laid their hands; as you may see from Acts viii. 14- 
 23; Acts xix. G; Rom. i. 11; 1 Cor. xii. 7-11, &c. 
 There must have been, therefore, in the early Church 
 many hundreds, and probably many thousands, perform 
 ing the same sort of works as Jesus and his Apostles. 
 And if, therefore, these had been performed by means 
 of any natural agent, such as any one else might use as 
 well as they, the art would soon have been universally 
 known; and the works performed by the disciples of 
 Jesus would have been commonly performed by all 
 men ever after, down to this day. 
 
 But the Jews were convinced, with good reason, that i 
 the works of Jesus were beyond the powers of unassist 
 ed man. And it may seem strange to us, that they did 
 not all come at once to the same conclusion with Nico- 
 demus, when he said, " No man can do these miracles 
 which thou doest, except God be with him." 
 
 But you must remember how much the people of 
 those days were accustomed to believe in magic. In 
 deed, in much later times, long after Christianity pre 
 vailed, it was a very common notion that there were 
 magicians who were able, through the help of evil de 
 mons, to work various miracles. And in the days of the 
 Apostles this belief in the power of magic was very gen 
 eral, both among the Jews and the Heathen. Those 
 Jews among whom Jesus lived, and who rejected him, 
 maintained that He was a magician who did mighty 
 works through the prince of demons. This is not only 
 
214 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 related by the Christian writers in the New Testament, 
 but is a common tradition among the unbelieving Jews at 
 this very day, who have among them an ancient book 
 giving this account of the origin of Christianity. And 
 there can be no doubt that this must have been (as our 
 sacred writers tell us it was) what the adversaries of 
 Jesus maintained from the first. For if those who lived 
 on the spot in his time had denied or doubted the facts 
 of the miracles, and had declared that the accounts of 
 them were false tales, and that no miracles had ever 
 really been wrought, we may be sure that the same 
 would have been said ever after by their descendants. 
 They would never have thought of rejecting the ac 
 counts given by their own ancestors, and preferring that 
 of the Christian writers. If, therefore, any of the Jews 
 among whom Jesus lived had denied the fact of his mi 
 raculous powers, it is inconceivable that another genera 
 tion of Jews should have betaken themselves to the pre 
 tence of magic to account for miracles which had never 
 been acknowledged at the time, but had been reckoned 
 impostures by the very people among whom they were 
 said to have been performed. 
 
 The Pagan adversaries of Christianity also seem to 
 have had the same persuasion on this subject as the 
 Jews, and to have attributed the Christian miracles to 
 magical art. We learn this from all the remains that 
 have come down to us of the ancient writings against 
 Christianity, and of the answers to them written by 
 . Christians. 
 
 3. Now suppose that in the present day any one 
 should appear professing to be sent from God, and to 
 work miracles as a sign of his being so sent, you would 
 
MIRACLES. 215 
 
 naturally think that the only question would be as to 
 the reality of the miracles ; and that all men would at 
 once believe him as soon as ever they were satisfied 
 that he had performed something clearly beyond human 
 power. But men certainly did not judge so in ancient 
 times. It was not then only one question, but two, that 
 had to be settled : first, whether any sign had really 
 been displayed which showed a power beyond that of 
 man; and secondly, whether this supernatural power 
 came from God, or from an evil demon. 
 
 Now, after the former of these questions was decided, 
 that is, after the fact of the miracles was admitted, the 
 Jews were inclined still to doubt or disbelieve the relig 
 ion which Jesus taught, because it was so different from 
 what they had been used to expect ; and hence it was 
 that the greater part of them attributed his miracles to 
 magic. But others were of a more candid mind, (" more 
 noble," as it is in our translation,) such as the people of 
 Berrca. These, by carefully searching the Scriptures, 
 satisfied themselves that the ancient prophecies respect 
 ing the Christ did really agree with all that Jesus had 
 done and suffered. And this it was that convinced them 
 that his miracles were wrought, not by evil spirits, but 
 by the Divine power ; and thus they were brought to 
 the conclusion that the "kingdom of Heaven was at 
 hand." 
 
 4. If, then, any one should say to you, " How great 
 an advantage the people who lived in those days, and 
 saw miracles performed before their eyes, must have 
 had over us, who only read of them in ancient books ; 
 and how can men in these days be expected to believe 
 as firmly as they did ? " you may answer, that different 
 
216 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 men s trials and advantages are pretty nearly balanced. 
 The people who lived in those times were not (any more 
 than ourselves) forced into belief, whether they would or 
 no, but were left to ^exercise candor in judging fairly 
 from the evidence before them. Those of them who 
 were resolved to yield to their prejudices against Jesus, 
 and to reject him, found a ready excuse (an excuse 
 which would not be listened to now) by attributing his 
 miracles to the magical arts which in those days were 
 commonly believed in. And again, though they saw 
 many miracles which we only read of, they did not see 
 that great miracle (as it may be called) which is before 
 our eyes, in the fulfilment of prophecy since their time. 
 They could see, indeed, many prophecies fulfilled in Je 
 sus ; but we have an advantage over them, in witnessing 
 the more complete fulfilment of the prophecies respect- 
 ing the wonderful spread of his religion. 
 
LESSON VI. 
 
 MIRACLES. PART II. 
 
 1. "BuT can we of these days really find suffi 
 cient proof/ some one may say, " and such proof as is 
 within the reach of ordinary Christians, for believing 
 that miracles really were performed which we never 
 saw, but which are recorded in books as having hap 
 pened nearly eighteen hundred years ago ? " Is it not 
 expecting a great deal of us, to require us to believe 
 that there were persons who used to cure blindness and 
 other diseases by a touch or a word, and raise the dead, 
 and still the raging of the sea, and feed a multitude with 
 a few loaves ? 
 
 Certainly these things are in themselves hard to be 
 believed ; and if we were to find in some ancient book 
 accounts of some great wonders which led to no effects 
 that exist at this day, and had nothing to do with the 
 present state of things among us, we might well be ex 
 cused for doubting or disbelieving such accounts ; or at 
 least none but learned men, who had the ability and the 
 opportunity to make full inquiry into the evidence of 
 such a book, could fairly be expected to trouble them 
 selves about the question. But the case of the Chris 
 tian miracles is not one of this kind. They are closely 
 connected with something w T hich we do see before us 
 19 
 
218 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 at this day ; namely, with the existence of the Christian 
 religion in so great a part of the world. A man cannot, 
 indeed, be fairly required to believe anything very 
 strange and unlikely, except when there is something 
 still more strange and unlikely on the opposite side. 
 Now that is just the case with respect to the Christian 
 miracles ; for, wonderful as the whole Gospel history is, 
 the most wonderful thing of all is, that a Jewish peasant 
 should have succeeded in changing the religion of the 
 world. That he should have succeeded in doing this 
 without displaying any miracles, would have been more 
 wonderful than all the miracles that are recorded; and 
 that he should have accomplished all this by means of 
 pretended miracles when none were really performed, 
 would be the most incredible of all. So that those who 
 are unwilling to believe anything that is strange, cannot 
 escape doing so by disbelieving the Gospel, but will have 
 to believe something still more strange if they reject the 
 
 ^Gospel. 
 
 2. And it is the same in many other cases as 
 
 well as in what relates to religion. We are often 
 obliged tobelieve, at any rate, in something that is very 
 wonderful, in order to avoid believing something else 
 that is still more wonderful. For instance, it is well 
 known that in these islands, and in several other parts 
 of the world, there are great beds of sea-shells found 
 near the tops of hills, sometimes several thousand feet 
 above the sea. Now it is certainly very hard to be 
 lieve that the sea should ever have covered those places 
 which now lie so far above it. And yet we are com 
 pelled to believe this, because we cannot think of any 
 other way that is not far more incredible by which 
 those shells have been deposited there. 
 
MIRACLES. 219 
 
 And so it is with the Gospel history. We are sure 
 that the Christian religion does now exist, and has over 
 spread most of the civilized world ; and we know that it 
 was not first introduced and propagated (like that of 
 Mohammed) by force of arms. To believe that it was 
 received, and made its way, without miracles, would be 
 to believe something more miraculous (if one may so 
 speak) than all the miracles that our books record. 
 
 3. But some people may say that the ancient Jews 
 and Pagans, who so readily believed in magical arts and 
 the power of demons, must have been very weak and 
 credulous men ; and that therefore they may have given 
 credit to tales of miracles without making any careful 
 inquiry. Now there is, indeed, no doubt that they were 
 weak and credulous ; but this weakness and credulity 
 would never have led them to believe what was against 
 their early prejudices, and expectations, and wishes: 
 quite the contrary. The more weak and credulous any") 
 man is, the harder it is to convince him of anything that \/ 
 is opposite to his habits of thought and inclinations. ( 
 He will readily receive without proof anything that falls 
 in with his prejudices, and will be disposed to hold out 
 against any evidence that goes against them. 
 
 Now all the prejudices of the Jews and Pagans were 
 against the religion that Jesus and his Apostles taught ; 
 and, accordingly, we might have expected that the most 
 credulous of them should have done just what our histo 
 ries tell us they did ; that is, resolved to reject the re 
 ligion at any rate, and readily satisfy themselves with 
 some weak and absurd way of accounting for the mira 
 cles. But credulous as they were about magic, the 
 enemies of Jesus would never have resorted to that pre- 
 
220 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 tence, if they could have denied the facts. They would 
 certainly have been more ready to maintain, if possible, 
 that no miracles had taken place, than to explain them 
 as performed by magic ; because this pretence only 
 went to make out that Jesus, notwithstanding his mira 
 cles, might possibly not come from God ; whereas, if 
 they could have shown that He or his Apostles had at 
 tempted to deceive people by pretended miracles, this 
 would at once have held them up to scorn as impostors. 
 
 4. We read in the Gospel of John (chap, ix.), 
 that the Jewish rulers narrowly examined into the re 
 ality of a miracle performed by Jesus, on a man that 
 was born blind. This is exactly what we may be sure 
 must have been clone in the case of other miracles 
 also; and if the enemies of Jesus could have suc 
 ceeded in detecting and exposing any falsehood or 
 trick, they would have been eager to do so ; because 
 they would have been thus sure to overthrow his pre 
 tensions at once. 
 
 It is plain, therefore, that the weakness and credulity 
 of the people of those days would be very far from dis 
 posing them readily to give credit to miracles in favor 
 of a religion that was opposed to their prejudices ; and 
 that, on the contrary, such persons would be likely, some 
 of them obstinately, to reject the religion, and others 
 only gradually and slowly to receive it, after having 
 carefully searched the ancient prophecies, and found that 
 these went to confirm it. Now this is just the account 
 that our histories give. 
 
 It appears certain, then, that the unbelieving Jews 
 and Pagans of those days did find it impossible to throw 
 any doubt on the fact of the miracles having really been 
 
MIRACLES. 221 
 
 performed ; because that would have enabled them 
 easily to expose Jesus to contempt as an impostor. 
 Their acknowledging the miracles, and attributing them 
 to magic, as the unbelieving Jews do to this day, shows 
 that the evidence for them, after the strictest scrutiny by 
 the most bitter enemies, was perfectly undeniable, at the 
 time and place when they were said to be performed. 
 
 19* 
 
LESSON VII. 
 
 MIRACLES. PART III. 
 
 1. THERE are persons, some of whom you may, per 
 haps, meet with, who, though they are believers in Chris 
 tianity, yet will not allow that the miracles recorded in 
 Scripture are any ground for their belief. They are 
 convinced (they will tell you) that Jesus Christ came 
 from God, because " never man spake like this man." 
 They find the religion so pure and admirable in itself, 
 and they feel it so well suited to their wants, and to the 
 wants of all mankind, and so full of heavenly wisdom 
 and goodness, that they need no other proof of its be 
 ing from heaven ; but as for miracles, these (they will 
 tell you) are among the difficulties to be got over : they 
 believe them as a part of the religion, from finding them 
 recorded in the Bible ; but they would have believed 
 the Gospel as easily, or more easily, without them. 
 The miracles (they will say) were indeed a proof to 
 those who lived at the time, and saiv them ; but to us 
 of the present day, who only read of them, they are a 
 part of our faith, and not a part of the evidence of our 
 faith. For it is a greater trial of faith, they say, to be 
 lieve in such wonderful works as Jesus is said to have 
 performed, than to believe that such wise and excellent 
 doctrine as He delivered was truly from heaven. 
 
MIRACLES. 223 
 
 Now there is indeed much truth in a part of what 
 these persons say ; but they do not take a clear view 
 of the whole subject of evidence. It is indeed true, 
 that there is, as they observe, great weight in the in 
 ternal evidence (as it is called) of Christianity ; that is, 
 the reasons for believing it from the character of the 
 religion itself. The more you study it, the more 
 strongly you will perceive that it is such a religion as 
 no man would have been likely to invent ; and of all 
 men, a Jew most unlikely. But there are many differ 
 ent kinds of evidence for the same truth ; and one kind 
 of evidence may the most impress one man s mind, and 
 another another s. And, among the rest, the Christian 
 miracles certainly are a very decisive proof of the truth 
 of Christ s religion to any one who is convinced (as you 
 have seen there is reason to be) that they really were 
 wrought. Of course, there is more difficulty for us in 
 making out this point, than there was for men who lived 
 at the same times and places with Jesus and his Apos 
 tles ; but when this point has been made out, and we do 
 believe, the miracles, they are no less a proof of the re 
 ligion to us than to those early Christians. 
 
 2. It is quite a mistake to suppose that the diffi- 
 culty of proving any fact makes that fact, when it is 
 proved, a less convincing proof of something else. For 
 example, to take an instance formerly given, those 
 who live in the neighborhood of the places where great 
 beds of sea-shells are found near the tops of hills, and 
 have seen them there themselves, are convinced by this 
 that at some time or other those beds must have been 
 under the sea. Now a person who lives at a distance 
 from such places has more difficulty than those on the 
 
224 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 spot, in making out whether there are any such beds of 
 shells. He has to inquire of travellers, or of those who 
 have conversed with them ; and to consult books, and 
 perhaps examine pieces of the rock containing some of 
 the shells ; but when once he is fully satisfied that there 
 are such beds of sea-shells, this is just as good a proof 
 to Jlim as to the others, that the sea must have formerly 
 covered them. 
 
 And so also, in respect of the Christian miracles. 
 
 The difficulty we may have in deciding whether they 
 
 were really wrought, does not make them (when we 
 
 are convinced that they were wrought) a less decisive 
 
 } proof that the Christian religion is from God. 
 
 But as for the difficulty of believing in anything so 
 strange and wonderful as those miracles, you should re 
 member, that every difficulty (as was observed before) 
 should be weighed against that on the opposite side. 
 Now, the difficulty of believing the miracles recorded 
 in our sacred books is much less than the opposite 
 difficulty of believing that the Christian religion was 
 established without miracles. That a Jewish peasant 
 should have overthrown the religion of the civilized 
 world, without the aid of any miracles, is far more mi 
 raculous, at least, more incredible, than anything 
 that our books relate ; and it will appear still more in 
 credible, if you remember that this wonderful change 
 was brought about by means of an appeal to miracles. 
 Jesus and his Apostles did certainly profess to display 
 miraculous powers in proof of their being sent from 
 God ; and this would have been the greatest hin- 
 derance to their propagating a new religion, if they 
 had really possessed no such powers; because this 
 
MIRACLES. 225 
 
 pretence would have laid them open to detection and 
 ridicule. 
 
 3. But there is a distinction between our religion 
 and all others, which is often overlooked. Almost all 
 religions have some miraculous pretensions connected 
 with them ; that is, miracles are recorded to have been 
 wrought in support of some Pagan religion, among peo 
 ple who already believed it. But you will not find that 
 any religion except ours was ever introduced and in 
 troduced among enemies by miraculous pretensions. 
 Ours is the only faith that ever was FOUNDED on an 
 appeal to the evidence of miracles. And we have every 
 reason to believe that no such attempt ever did or 
 could succeed, if the miracles were not really performed. 
 The difficulty, therefore, of believing that the Christian 
 religion was propagated by means of miracles, is noth 
 ing in comparison of the difficulty of believing that it 
 could have been propagated without any. 
 
 Indeed, we have every reason to believe, that many 
 more miracles must have been performed than are par 
 ticularly related. Several particular cases, indeed, of 
 our Lord s miracles were described ; but, besides these, 
 we are told, in various places, of great multitudes of 
 sick people being brought to him, and that " He healed 
 them all." (Matt. xii. 15 ; xix. 2.) So also, besides 
 particular miracles related as done by the Apostles, 
 (Acts ii. 33; iii. 7; ix. 33; xiii. 11; xiv. 8; xxviii. 
 5,) we are told, generally, of their not only performing 
 many miracles, (Acts viii. 6; xix. 11,) but also bestow 
 ing miraculous powers on great numbers of disciples. 
 (Acts vi. 5, 8 ; x. 44 ; xix. 6.) And we find St. Paul, 
 in one of his Epistles, speaking of it as a thing famil- 
 
226 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 iarly known, that miracles were " the sign of an Apostle." 
 (2 Cor. xii. 12.) And in all these books we find mira 
 cles not boastfully dwelt on, or described as something 
 unusual, but alluded to as familiarly known to the per 
 sons to whom the books were familiarly addressed ; that 
 is, to the Christians of those days. 
 
 4. But besides the accounts given in the Christian 
 Scriptures, we might be sure, from the very nature of 
 the case, that the Apostles could never have even gained 
 a hearing, at least among the Gentiles, if they had not 
 displayed some extraordinary and supernatural power. 
 Fancy a few poor Jewish fishermen, tent-makers, and 
 peasants going into one of the great Roman or Grecian 
 cities, whose inhabitants were proud of the splendid 
 temples, and beautiful images of their gods, which had 
 been worshipped time out of mind by their ancestors ; 
 they were proud, too, of their schools of philosophy, 
 where those reputed the wisest men among them dis 
 coursed on the most curious and sublime subjects, to the 
 youth of the noblest families ; and then fancy these Jew 
 ish strangers telling them to cast away their images as 
 an abominable folly, to renounce the religion of their 
 ancestors, to reject with scorn the instructions of their 
 philosophers, and to receive instead, as a messenger 
 from heaven, a Jew, of humble station, who had been 
 put to the most shameful death. How do you think 
 men would have been received who should have made 
 such an attempt as this, with merely such weak human 
 means as preaching ? You cannot doubt that all men 
 would have scorned them, and ridiculed or pitied them 
 as madmen. 
 
 5. As for the wisdom and purity and sublimity of 
 
MIRACLES. 227 
 
 the religion of the Gospel, this might have gained them 
 some attention, not, indeed, among the mass of the 
 people, who were too gross to relish or perceive this 
 purity and wisdom, but among a very few of the bet 
 ter sort, if once they could be brought to listen to the 
 description of the religion. And this, perhaps, they 
 might have done if it had been taught by some Greek 
 or Roman philosophers, famous for knowledge and wis 
 dom. But the Gospel was preached by men of a 
 nation which the Greeks and Romans looked down 
 upon as barbarian ; and whose religion, especially, they 
 scorned and detested for being so different from their 
 own. And not only did the Apostles belong to this de 
 spised nation, but they were the outcasts of that very 
 nation, bein^ rejected and abhorred by the chief part of 
 their Jewish brethren. 
 
 If, therefore, they had come among the Gentiles teach 
 ing the most sublime religious doctrine, and trusting 
 merely to the excellence of what they taught, it is im 
 possible they should have even had a hearing. It is 
 not enough to say that no one would have believed 
 them ; but no one would even have listened to them, if 
 they had not first roused men s serious attention by 
 working (as we are told they did) " remarkable [special] 
 miracles." (Acts xix. 11.) 
 
 6. Afterwards, indeed, when the Gospel had 
 spread, so as to excite general attention, many men 
 would be likely to listen to the preaching of it even by 
 persons who did not pretend to miraculous power, but 
 who merely bore witness to the miracles they had seen ; 
 giving proof, at the same time, that they were not false 
 witnesses by their firmness in facing persecution. And 
 
228 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 this was certainly a good ground for believing their tes 
 timony. For though men may be mistaken as to the 
 opinions which they sincerely hold, they could not be 
 mistaken as to such facts as the Christian miracles, of 
 which they professed themselves eyewitnesses; as the 
 Apostles, for instance, were of their Master s resurrec 
 tion. And it is not to be conceived that men would 
 expose themselves to dangers and tortures and death in 
 attesting false stories, which they must have known to 
 be false. If there had been any well-contrived impos 
 ture in respect of pretended miracles, it is impossible but 
 that some persons at least, out of the many hundreds 
 brought forward as eyewitnesses, would have been in 
 duced by threats, tortures, or bribes to betray the im 
 posture. 
 
 There were many, therefore, who received the Gos 
 pel and with good reason on such testimony as 
 this, as soon as they could be brought to listen to and 
 examine it. But, in the first instance, the Apostles 
 could not have brought any of the Gentiles, at least, to 
 listen to them, if they had not begun by working evident 
 miracles themselves. A handful of Jewish strangers, 
 of humble rank, would never have obtained a hearing 
 among the most powerful and most civilized and proud 
 est nations of the world, if they had not at first roused 
 their attention by the display of some extraordinary 
 powers. 
 
LESSON VIII. 
 
 WONDERS AND SIGNS. 
 
 1. IT is plain, for the reasons which have been put 
 before you, that the Apostles must have roused men s 
 attention, and gained themselves a hearing, by perform 
 ing as our books tell us they did many wonderful 
 works. And these works, as well as those of Jesus, 
 which they related, must have been such as to admit of 
 no mistake either about the facts or about their being 
 really superhuman. Else, surrounded as they were by 
 enemies, and with men s prejudices opposed to them, it 
 seems impossible they could have been believed, or even 
 attended to. If, for instance, there were a report of 
 some sick men having been miraculously cured by them, 
 but such a report as to leave a doubt either as to the 
 fact of the cure having taken place, or as to the manner 
 of the cure, that is, whether the man might not have 
 recovered by natural means, any such doubt would 
 have been enough to have shut men s ears against 
 them. 
 
 And besides this, it was necessary that the miracles 
 should be both so numerous and so various in kind as to 
 exceed the powers generally supposed to belong to magi 
 cians. For most persons seem to have thought that a 
 magician might, through the aid of demons, be enabled 
 20 
 
230 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 to perform some miracles, and not others of a different 
 kind. We find it related, accordingly, that Jesus not 
 only healed the lame and blind and sick, some present 
 and some absent, grown persons and children, but also 
 raised the dead, fed a multitude with a few loaves, stilled 
 the waves and winds at his bidding, blasted a tree at his 
 word, changed water into wine, &c. And this seems to 
 have been no more than a necessary condescension to 
 the weakness of men s minds in those days. They did 
 not at once conclude that he must be a true prophet 
 from his working one miracle ; but said, " When [the] 
 Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these 
 which this man doeth? " (John vii. 31.) So also Nico- 
 demus says, not "No man can do any miracles," but 
 " No man can do these miracles which thou doest, ex 
 cept God be with him." (John iii. 2.) And the disci 
 ples, who had witnessed so many miraculous cures, were 
 astonished, we are told, at finding that Jesus had a 
 command over the storm. " What manner of man is 
 this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?" 
 (Matt. viii. 27.) 
 
 And we find the same variety also in the miraculous 
 gifts possessed by the Apostles, and bestowed by them 
 on other Christians (as you may see in 1 Cor. xii. and 
 elsewhere). 
 
 2. You should observe, too, that it would not have 
 satisfied men s minds merely to see some extraordinary 
 occurrence, unless it were also something plainly done 
 by the Apostles, as a sign, testifying that they were di 
 vine messengers. It would have been impossible for 
 them, in the midst of adversaries, to take advantage of 
 some remarkable event, calling it a miracle, and to ex 
 plain it so as to favor their own pretensions. 
 
WONDERS AND SIGNS. 231 
 
 This has often been done, indeed, in support of some 
 religion, or some doctrine, which men already believe, or 
 are inclined to believe. The Pagans were, many of 
 them, ready enough to attribute anything wonderful to a 
 miraculous interference of Jupiter or some of their other 
 gods. And so, also, Mohammed easily persuaded his 
 followers that some of his victories were miraculous, 
 and that God sent angels to fight for him. He was a 
 great warrior, and his followers, being full of enthusiasm, 
 and eager for conquest, glory, and plunder, often defeat 
 ed a very superior force of their enemies, and gained 
 victories, which may be rightly called wonderful, though 
 not more wonderful than several which have been gained 
 by others. It is not strange, therefore, that Mohammed 
 should easily have persuaded them that their victories 
 were miraculous, and were a proof that God was on 
 their side. 
 
 3. In all times, indeed, men are to be found who 
 call any extraordinary event miraculous, and interpret it 
 so as to favor their own views and prejudices. If a 
 man s life is preserved from shipwreck, or any other dan 
 ger, in a remarkable manner, many people speak of it 
 as a miraculous escape. Or if a man loses his life in 
 a remarkable manner, or a plot is discovered by some 
 curious train of circumstances, or, in short, if any ex 
 traordinary event takes place, there are persons who at 
 once will call it a miraculous interference, and a sign of 
 the Divine favor or displeasure towards some of the par 
 ties concerned. 
 
 4. But it is very rash to pronounce in this manner 
 as to any remarkable event that occurs. A mere won 
 derful occurrence, of itself, proves nothing ; but when a 
 
232 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 man does something that is beyond human power to do, 
 or foretells something beyond human foresight, and makes 
 this a testimony of his coming from God, it is then, and 
 then only, that he is properly said to offer a miraculous 
 proof. And accordingly the works performed by Jesus 
 and his Apostles are called in Scripture, not merely (as 
 they really were) Miracles (that is, wonders), but Signs ; 
 that is, miraculous evidence. (Mark xvi. 20.) 
 
 For instance, that a violent storm should suddenly 
 cease, and be succeeded by a complete calm, is some 
 thing extraordinary ; but of itself proves nothing. But 
 when the disciples heard Jesus give his command, and 
 rebuke the wind and waves, which immediately became 
 still, they justly regarded this as a sign that God was 
 with him. (Matt. viii. 2G.) So also, that a person 
 seemingly dead should suddenly revive and rise up, is in 
 deed a wonderful event ; but, of itself, is merely a won 
 der. But when Jesus told the child of Jairus, (Luke viii. 
 54,) and the widow s son of Nain, (Luke vii. 14,) to rise 
 up, and each of them did so at his word, these became 
 proofs of his divine mission. These were among the 
 " works which," as he said, " bore witness of Him." 
 Again, if any one who is opposing some particular relig 
 ious sect or system, should suddenly lose his eyesight, it 
 would be very presumptuous to pronounce at once that 
 he was struck blind as a divine judgment. But when 
 St. Paul rebuked Klymas, and declared that the hand of 
 the Lord was upon him, and that he should become blind, 
 and immediately a darkness did fall upon him, (Acts 
 xiii. 10, 11,) the Roman governor justly regarded this 
 as a sign ; and believed accordingly in what Paul was 
 teaching. 
 
WONDERS AND SIGNS. 233 
 
 5. Anything wonderful, in short, is then (and then 
 only) a miraculous sign, when some one performs or 
 foretells it, in a manner surpassing human power, so as 
 to make it attest the truth of what he says. And this 
 may fairly be required of any one professing to be a 
 messenger from Heaven. For if a stranger were to 
 come to you professing to bring a message from some 
 friend of yours, you would naturally expect him to show 
 you that friend s handwriting, or some other such token, 
 to prove that he really was so sent. And so also, when 
 a man comes to this country as an ambassador from some 
 other country, he is required first to produce his " cre 
 dentials" as they are called ; that is, papers which prove 
 that he is no impostor, but is really commissioned as an 
 ambassador. And it is equally right, that men profess 
 ing to bring a message immediately from God should be 
 required to show what may be called their "creden 
 tials"; that is, such miraculous powers as God alone 
 could have bestowed, as a sign or token, to prove the 
 reality of their divine commission. 
 
 6. But credulous and superstitious people often 
 overlook this rule ; and are ready to interpret as a mi 
 raculous sign any remarkable occurrence, such as a 
 victory, or a famine, or a thunder-storm, or a sudden re 
 covery from sickness, or the like, when these are so 
 explained as to favor, or at least not oppose, their preju 
 dices, and the religious belief they are already inclined 
 to. The Apostles, however, found no such prejudices in 
 their favor. They would never have been allowed to 
 explain in their own way anything strange that might 
 happen. On the contrary, all the superstitious credulity 
 of the people was opposed to them. And instead of 
 20* 
 
234 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 men s being ready to cry " Miracle ! " when anything 
 extraordinary occurred, and to interpret it in favor of 
 Christianity, the Apostles found the most credulous men 
 disposed rather to attribute the Christian miracles to 
 magic. 
 
 In order to gain converts, therefore, or even to obtain 
 a hearing, they must have shown (as our books tell us 
 they did) many mighty works, evidently performed by 
 them, as " the Signs of an Apostle." 
 
LESSON IX. 
 
 SUMMARY OF EVIDENCES. 
 
 1. How comes it that some persons pretend that an 
 ordinary Christian cannot be taught to understand the 
 evidence for their religion, but must be content to take 
 it for granted, as the Pagans do theirs, because they 
 have been brought up to it ? It is because, when they 
 speak of " the evidences of Christianity," they mean all 
 the evidences. And certainly, to be well acquainted 
 with all of these, would be enough to occupy the whole 
 life of a studious man, even though he should devote 
 himself entirely to that study. Indeed, to go through 
 ah 1 the books that have been written on the subject, and 
 to examine and thoroughly master all the arguments on 
 both sides that have ever been brought forward, would 
 be more than any one man could accomplish, even if he 
 had nothing else to do. But there are things which you 
 may have very good reasons for believing, though you 
 may not know a tenth part of the proofs of them that 
 have been, or might be, produced. For instance, you 
 may have good grounds for believing that there is such 
 a city as Rome, and that it was formerly the capital of a 
 mighty empire, of which Britain was one of the prov 
 inces. But all the evidence that might be brought 
 forward in proof of this would be enough to occupy a i 
 
236 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 learned man for many years, if he were to examine it 
 thoroughly. It is sufficient in any case, if we have 
 enough evidence to warrant our belief; even though 
 there should be much more evidence of the same thing 
 besides, which we have not examined. Although, there 
 fore, the generality of Christians cannot be expected to 
 know the whole, or nearly the whole, of the proofs of 
 their religion, that is no reason against their seeking, 
 and obtaining, proofs enough to convince a reasonable 
 mind. 
 
 Even that small portion of the evidences you have 
 now been learning, is perhaps more than sufficient for 
 this purpose ; though it is but a part even of what any 
 man is able to understand. 
 
 2. It is certain that Christianity now exists; and 
 that Jesus Christ is acknowledged as Lord and Master, 
 (in words, at least,) among all the most civilized people 
 of the world. It is certain, too, that this cannot have 
 been always the case ; but that Christianity must have 
 been introduced, by some means or other, among the 
 Jews and Pagans ; who must have had some reasons 
 that appeared to them very strong, to induce them to 
 change the religions they had been brought up in. 
 
 You know, also, that this great revolution in the 
 religion of the world was begun by a person of humble 
 rank, in one of the least powerful and least esteemed of 
 the ancient nations. It was not a mighty warrior, or a 
 rich and powerful prince, or a learned philosopher, but 
 a Jewish peasant, that brought about this wonderful 
 change. And you are sure, accordingly, that no one, 
 whether friend or enemy, can reasonably doubt that 
 Jesus of Nazareth is at any rate the most extraordinary 
 
SUMMARY OF EVIDENCES. 237 
 
 and most important personage that ever appeared in 
 the world. 
 
 3. Again, you have seen that there is good reason 
 to be certain that Jesus and his Apostles propagated 
 their religion by an appeal to miracles; that is, that 
 they professed to perform works beyond human power, 
 as a sign of their being messengers from God. And 
 no one has ever been able to point out any other way 
 in which they did, or could, introduce the religion. Nor 
 can we conceive how a few Jewish peasants, without 
 power, or wealth, or learning, or popular prejudice on 
 their side, could have been, at first, either believed or 
 listened to, if they had not begun by appealing to the 
 testimony of miraculous signs. Now this would have 
 been no help, but a hinderance to their preaching, if 
 their pretensions to superhuman powers had not been 
 true; because, surrounded as they were by adversa 
 ries, and men prejudiced against them, any attempt at 
 imposture would have been detected, and would have 
 exposed them to general scorn. And, accordingly, it 
 does not appear that any of the Pagan religions in 
 short, any religion except ours ever was first intro 
 duced and established among adversaries by an appeal 
 to the evidence of miracles. 
 
 We have good grounds for believing, therefore, that 
 the people of those times, even the enemies of Chris 
 tianity, found it impossible to deny the fact of the mira 
 cles being wrought (see Acts iv. 16) ; and thence were 
 driven to account for them as the work of evil spirits. 
 And this we find recorded, not only in the writings of 
 Christian authors, but also in those of Jewish and Pagan 
 adversaries. 
 
238 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 - 4. We find accounts, too, in the works of Pagan 
 writers, as well as in the New Testament, of the severe 
 persecutions which great numbers of the early Chris 
 tians had to encounter. And this furnishes a proof of 
 their sincerely believing not only the truth of their 
 religion, but also the miracles which many of them 
 professed to have seen, and in which they could not 
 have been mistaken. For, if these miracles had been 
 impostures, it is incredible that such numbers of men 
 should have exposed themselves to dangers and hard 
 ships to attest the truth of them, without any one being 
 induced by suffering (and this though some of them 
 were driven to renounce Christianity) to betray the 
 imposture. 
 
 ^5. That the works of these writers have really 
 
 jcome down to us, and that the general sense of them 
 is given in our translations, you have good reason to 
 be convinced, even without understanding the original 
 languages, or examining ancient manuscripts. You 
 need not take the word of a scholar for this, or feel 
 such full confidence in the honesty of any two or three 
 learned men, as to trust that they would not deceive 
 you in anything, and to believe on their authority. 
 There is, and has been, so great a number of learned 
 men, in various countries and ages, some opposed to 
 Christianity, and others, Christians of different sects, 
 opposed to each other, that they never could have 
 agreed in forging a book, or putting forth a false trans 
 lation. On the contrary, any supposed mistake or 
 fraud of any one of them, the rest are ready to expose. 
 
 i So that there is no reasonable doubt as to anything in 
 which they all agree. 
 
SUMMARY OF EVIDENCES. 239 
 
 And this, you have seen, is the same sort of evidence 
 on which most men believe that the earth is round, 
 that there is such a city as Rome, and many other 
 things which they have not themselves seen, but which 
 rest on the uncontradicted testimony of many indepen 
 dent witnesses. 
 
 6. You have seen also, that, in respect of the books 
 of the Old Testament, there is this very remarkable 
 circumstance, that they are preserved with the utmost 
 care and reverence by the Jews, who reject Jesus 
 Christ, although these books contain what appear to 
 Christians most remarkable prophecies of Him. 
 
 And it was pointed out to you, that there are many 
 parts of these prophecies of which we see the fulfilment 
 before us, though the early Christians did not ; namely, 
 that a religion should arise among the Jews, which 
 would have a wide spread among the Gentiles, but yet 
 that it should be a new religion, not the same as taught 
 by Moses ; and that this religion should spring, not from 
 the whole nation, but from one individual of that nation, 
 and He a person despised, rejected, and persecuted even 
 to death by his own people. 
 
 All this, which is so unlike what any one would have 
 foretold from mere guess, but which we see has actually 
 come to pass, is prophesied in books which enemies of 
 Christianity (the unbelieving Jews of this day) rever 
 ence as divinely inspired. 
 
 Now if you reflect attentively on all these heads of 
 evidence which you have been learning, and of which 
 this short summary has just been put before you, you 
 will perceive that even a portion of it might be fairly 
 considered as a strong reason to be given of the hope i 
 
240 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 that is in you ; but that, when you take the whole of it 
 together, it is sufficient to satisfy any reasonable mind. 
 For to believe that so many marks of truth should be 
 brought together by chance, or by man s contrivance, in 
 favor of a false story, to believe this, I say, would 
 be much greater credulity than to believe that the Gos 
 pel really was from God. 
 
 7. These marks of truth, you should observe, are 
 (as has been said) a vast deal stronger when taken 
 together, and confirming each other. For each of the 
 separate proofs may be regarded as a distinct witness. 
 And when several independent witnesses give the same 
 evidence, their agreement may prove the matter com 
 pletely, even when no one of those witnesses is, by himself, 
 deserving of confidence. Suppose, for instance, that one 
 out of several men none of them much to be relied 
 on gives a particular account of some transaction 
 which he professes to have seen : you may think it not 
 unlikely that he may have invented the story, or have 
 dreamed it : but then, if his account is confirmed by an 
 other, and another, of these men, who, you are sure, 
 could have had no communication with the first, you 
 then conclude that it must be true ; because they could 
 not have chanced, all of them, to invent the same story, 
 or to have the same dream. And so it is, when you 
 have a number of different marks of truth meeting to 
 gether, as they do, in the Gospel History. Even if 
 each of these, taken separately, had much less force 
 than it actually has, it would be infinitely unlikely that 
 they should all happeen to be found united in a false 
 !. story. 
 
 8. These arguments, however, have been laid be- 
 
SUMMARY OF EVIDENCES. 241 
 
 fore you very briefly; and hereafter, if you will study < 
 them at leisure, and dwell upon them more fully, in 
 your own mind, and in conversation with others, you 
 will see the force of them still more and more. 
 
 But though these arguments are enough to satisfy 
 you that an ordinary Christian, who does not pretend to 
 be a learned man, may yet believe in his religion on 
 better grounds than the Pagans have for believing 
 theirs, there are many other arguments besides ; some 
 of which are quite within the reach of the unlearned. 
 In particular, what is called the internal evidence of 
 Christianity, that is, the proof drawn from the character 
 of the religion itself, and of the Christian Scriptures, 
 is a kind of evidence which you will find more and 
 more satisfactory the more you reflect on and study the 
 subject, if you endeavor at the same time sincerely to 
 act up to the knowledge you acquire, and to be the 
 better for it in your life. 
 
 21 
 
LESSON X . 
 
 INTERNAL EVIDENCES. PART I. 
 
 1. IF the Christian Religion was not from God, it 
 I must have been from Man. It must have been a " cun 
 ningly devised fable" of artful impostors, or else a 
 dream of crazy enthusiasts, or some mixture of these 
 two, if it was not really, what it professed to be, a divine 
 revelation. 
 
 To examine then the internal evidence, is to inquire 
 which of these is the most likely supposition, looking to 
 the character of the Gospel itself ; to consider whether 
 the religion itself, and the Christian Scriptures, seem 
 more likely to have proceeded from the -God of truth, or 
 from mere men, who were either designing impostors, 
 or wild enthusiasts. 
 
 Now, it may be said, that we are very imperfect 
 judges of the question what is likely to have come from 
 God, since we have such a faint and imperfect knowl 
 edge of Him ; so that we cannot decide with any con 
 fidence what we ought to expect in a divine revelation. 
 This is very true. But you should remember that the 
 question is not whether Christianity seems to us likely, 
 in itself, to have come from God, and is just such as we 
 should have expected a divine revelation to be ; but 
 whether it is more likely to have come from God, or 
 
INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 243 
 
 from Man ? For we know that the religion does exist ; I 
 and therefore we have to consider not merely whether 
 it is like what might be looked for in a true revelation 
 from God, but also whether it is unlike what might be 
 looked for in the work of human impostors or enthu 
 siasts ? 
 
 2. Now, this is a question of which we are able to 
 judge ; because we have, or may acquire, such a knowl 
 edge of human nature as to decide, on good grounds, 
 what is likely to have proceeded from man s device. 
 And the more you learn of mankind, and of the works 
 of various writers, and, again, the more you study the 
 Christian religion, the more you will see how different it 
 is from any religion that mere men (and particularly 
 Jews) would have been likely to contrive. 
 
 A great part of this internal evidence is such, as to 
 require some experience and knowledge of the world, 
 and reflection, as well as acquaintance with the Scrip 
 tures, to enable any one to take it in properly. But 
 still there are several internal marks of truth that 
 may be pointed out ; which, though but a small part of 
 what you may hereafter find, are yet of great impor 
 tance. 
 
 3. For example, if the Christian religion had been 
 contrived and propagated by a number of designing 
 men, in such a way as would have seemed to them the 
 best suited for gaining converts, you may be sure that 
 they would naturally have put forth some book purport 
 ing to be written by Jesus himself, laying down the 
 principles and precepts of his religion, and answering to 
 the books of the Law written by Moses. All men who 
 were at all disposed to listen to the preaching of the 
 
244 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 Gospel, and to examine the Christian Scriptures, would 
 have been likely to inquire, in the first place, (as, no 
 doubt, many persons did,) for something written by the 
 very Founder of the new religion. If, therefore, there 
 had been any forgery, the forged books, or at least the 
 principal of them, would certainly have been attributed 
 to Jesus Christ as their author. And all that were not 
 attributed to Him would naturally have been published 
 with the names of the most distinguished and eminent 
 of his Apostles. 
 
 Now, the fact is, as you know, that, of all the Chris 
 tian Scriptures, there is no one book professing to be 
 written by Christ himself; and of the four Gospels, 
 there are only two that are attributed even to any of the 
 Apostles as the writers, St. Matthew s and St. John s ; 
 and, again, of these two, St. John alone is much distin 
 guished among the Apostles, very little being recorded 
 of St. Matthew in particular. The other two Gospels, 
 and also the book of Acts, which records the first prop 
 agation of Christianity, have come down to us as the 
 work of two men, who appear, indeed, to have been 
 companions of some of the most eminent of the Apos 
 tles, but who did not claim to be Apostles them 
 selves. 
 
 All this is just the reverse of what might have 
 been expected from crafty and designing men, seeking 
 to impose on the credulous for the purpose of gaining 
 converts. 
 
 4. You should remember, too, that if the books of 
 the New Testament, which contain accounts of so many 
 wonderful occurrences, were really published near the 
 very time when these occurrences were said to have taken 
 
INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 245 
 
 place, the accounts in these books must be, substantially, 
 true ; because any material falsity would have been im 
 mediately exposed by the adversaries of Christianity. 
 And if, on the other hand, these books had been forged 
 a hundred or two hundred years later, and had been 
 falsely attributed to the authors whose names they bear, 
 we cannot doubt that some at least of those books would 
 have been attributed to the great Founder of the re 
 ligion himself. 
 
 And moreover, on that supposition, that is, suppos 
 ing the books to have been composed at a later period 
 than that of the Apostles, we should undoubtedly 
 have found in them the title of CHRISTIANS applied to 
 the believers in Jesus by themselves. For that title has 
 been so applied, in every age down to this day, by ah 1 
 Christian writers since the times of the Apostles. And 
 therefore there can be no doubt that any writer in the 
 second or third or fourth century, who was composing 
 pretended gospels and epistles, would have continually 
 called Christians by that very name which he and all 
 his neighbors had been accustomed so to employ. 
 
 But in all the books of the New Testament we do not 
 once find the title of Christians applied ly themselves to 
 one another. The word occurs but three times in the 
 New Testament ; in the llth chapter of Acts, in the 
 26th chapter of Acts, and in the 1st Epistle of Peter, 
 chapter 4 ; and in no one of these places is it thus em 
 ployed. It is mentioned as a name first given to the 
 disciples at Antioch in Syria ; doubtless by the Romans, 
 as the word is of Latin formation. King Agrippa, 
 again, uses the word in speaking to Paul ; and the 
 Apostle Peter introduces the word as denoting what 
 21* 
 
246 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 was accounted a crime by the heathen rulers. " If any 
 man," says he, " suffer for being a Christian, let him not 
 be ashamed." 
 
 But addressing the Christians themselves, the Apostles 
 never call them by that name, but " believers " [or 
 "faithful" ], " elect " [or " chosen "], " saints " [or " holy" 
 that is, set apart and dedicated to God s service], " breth 
 ren" &c. 
 
 The reason why the Apostles always used these names 
 in preference to the new name of Christians probably 
 was in order to point out that Christianity was not so 
 much a new religion, as a continuation and fulfilment of 
 the old, and a completion of God s original design ; and 
 that all believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, were admit 
 ted to the same privileges only much enlarged 
 which had belonged to God s people Israel. Now the 
 Israelites are continually called in the Old Testament 
 Brethren," " a Holy People " [or Saints "], God s 
 " Chosen " [or " Elect "] People, &c. And hence it 
 was, no doubt, that the Apostles chose to confine them 
 selves to those titles. 
 
 After their time, when Jerusalem and its temple had 
 been destroyed, and the admission of Gentiles into the 
 number of God s people ceased to appear anything 
 strange, the Church consisting chiefly of Gentiles, 
 then Christians naturally adopted among themselves the 
 title which had long been in common use among the rest 
 of the world. 
 
 But whatever was the cause of the earliest Christians 
 abstaining from the use of that title, ilicfact that they 
 did so abstain is clear. 
 
 Here, therefore, you have a decisive INTERNAL PROOF 
 
INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 247 
 
 of the antiquity of our sacred books. Had they been 
 composed at a later period than that of the Apostles, we 
 should have found in them the disciples continually ad 
 dressed by the name of Christians; which is, in fact, 
 never once so used. 
 
 5. Again, it is certain that, at the time when Jesus 
 appeared, the Jews were earnestly expecting a Christ 
 or Messiah (that is, an anointed Deliverer), who 
 should be a mighty prince, and free them from subjec 
 tion to the Romans, and make them a powerful nation, 
 ruling over all the Gentiles. And this is what is still 
 expected by the Jews at this day. Now, if Jesus and 
 his Apostles had been enthusiasts or impostors, or a 
 mixture of the two, they would most likely have con 
 formed to the prevailing expectations of the people. 
 They would have been likely to give out that the 
 " kingdom of heaven " which was " at hand " was a 
 glorious worldly empire, such as the Jews had fixed 
 their hopes on, instead of a " kingdom not of this world," 
 which was what they did preach. 
 
 And we know that the several pretended Christs who 
 appeared a little before the destruction of Jerusalem, 
 and even after it, did profess, each, to come as a tempo 
 ral deliverer and conqueror, agreeably to the prevailing 
 notions. 
 
 Jesus and his disciples, on the contrary, not only pro 
 claimed no temporal kingdom, but did not even promise 
 any worldly success and prosperity to their followers ; 
 but told them that " in the world they should have trib 
 ulation." (John xvi. 33.) And this is the more re 
 markable, because the Jews had been always brought 
 up in the notion that worldly prosperity was a sign of 
 
248 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 God s favor ; such being the rewards promised in the 
 Mosaic law. The hardships and afflictions in this life, 
 which men were told they must make up their minds to if 
 they became Christians, were not only disheartening, but 
 also likely to raise a prejudice in their minds against 
 Jesus and his disciples, as if they could not be really 
 favored by God ; according to the prophecy of Isaiah, 
 "We did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and 
 afflicted" (liii. 4). 
 
 All this, therefore, is what either impostors or enthu 
 siasts of any nation, but especially of the Jewish nation, 
 would have been very unlikely to teach. 
 
 6. Again, if the Apostles had been designing men, 
 willing to flatter the prejudices of the Jews for the sake 
 of making converts, but yet afraid of proclaiming Christ 
 as a temporal king and deliverer for fear of provoking 
 the Romans, they would at least have taught that the 
 Jews were to have a spiritual superiority ; that is, that 
 they were to be still God s peculiar people in a religious 
 point of view. They would have taught that Jerusalem 
 was still to be the Holy City, and that all men were to 
 come thither to worship and offer sacrifices in the Tem 
 ple, and were to observe all the laws of Moses, in order 
 to obtain God s favor. This would have been the most 
 acceptable doctrine to the Jews ; and what the Apostles, 
 being themselves Jews, would hardly have failed to teach 
 if the Gospel had been a scheme of their devising. And 
 accordingly we learn from the Acts, and from several of 
 St. Paul s Epistles (especially that to the Galatians), 
 that many of the Jewish converts did labor to bring the 
 Gentile Christians to the observance of the Mosaic law. 
 But the Apostles never would admit this doctrine ; but 
 
INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 249 
 
 taught that the Gentile Christians were not to take up 
 on them the yoke of the Jewish law, and were perfectly 
 on a level with their Jewish brethren ; and that under 
 the Gospel, Jerusalem and its temple had no particular 
 sanctity. 
 
 Now all this is just the opposite of what might have 
 been expected of impostors or enthusiasts preaching a 
 religion of their own fancy or contrivance. 
 
 7. It is true, indeed, that to have given this pre-em 
 inence to the Jews, and their city and temple, though it 
 would have been flattering to the Jewish prejudices, and 
 might have been likely to allure converts of that nation, 
 would not have been so acceptable to the Gentiles as a 
 religion which should have put them on an equal footing 
 with the Jews. But if the Gospel had been artfully framed 
 to gratify and allure the Gentiles, it would at least have 
 one ordinance which would have been acceptable to the 
 Jews and Gentiles alike ; namely, the slaying of leasts in 
 sacrifice. In this point, the Jewish and all the different 
 Pagan religions agreed. Sheep and oxen were slain as 
 burnt-offerings, on the altars both of Jehovah and the 
 heathen gods. Indeed, it is a kind of worship so suit 
 able to men s notions, that it was revived, several ages 
 after, by the Mohammedans, who have a sacrifice of a 
 camel on certain festivals, as an ordinance of their re 
 ligion. But at the time when Christianity first arose, 
 neither Jew nor Pagan had ever heard of or conceived 
 such a thing as a religion in which no animals were 
 sacrificed. They had always been so accustomed to 
 these offerings, that they most likely regarded them as 
 essential to every religion, and were astonished and 
 shocked at finding that the Christian religion was with- 
 
250 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 out them. And it is incredible that Christianity should 
 have been without them, if it had been a religion in 
 vented by men. It would never have entered into the 
 minds of its authors to make it an exception to all the 
 religions that existed, or that they had ever heard of; 
 and that, too, in a point which would be likely to shock 
 all men s feelings and prejudices. 
 
 The whole character, indeed, of the Christian religion 
 differs so widely, in many particulars, both from the 
 Jewish and from all the other religions which had ever 
 existed in the world, that one cannot conceive how any 
 men could, of themselves, have thought of any such 
 system, much less thought of it as likely to be well 
 received. 
 
 And the same may be said of the character of Jesus 
 himself, as drawn by the Evangelists. It is quite 
 unlike all that had ever before appeared, or been de 
 scribed or imagined. 
 
 8. Another point to be observed is this : that mere 
 men, seeking to propagate their religion in whatever 
 way they might think best, would naturally have been 
 so eager to make converts that they would not have 
 insisted very much on a strict moral life in those who 
 did not show great zeal in their Master s cause ; but 
 would have allowed active services to their party to 
 make amends for some neglect of other duties. Mo 
 hammed accordingly declared that the highest place in 
 the Divine favor belonged to those who fought bravely 
 in his cause. And in almost all sects and parties you 
 may see the same disposition in men to reckon zeal in 
 their cause as a virtue so great that it will excuse many 
 and considerable faults in private life. 
 
INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 251 
 
 This mode of judging, which is so natural to man, is 
 just the opposite of what we find in Jesus Christ and 
 his Apostles. They not only taught their followers to 
 be pure and upright [righteous], and kind and humble, 
 but taught them also that nothing they could say or do 
 in the cause of the Christian faith could make up for 
 the want of these Christian virtues, or would be at all 
 accepted by their Master. He not only compares a man 
 who should hear his precepts without acting upon them 
 to one who " built a house on the sand," and reproaches 
 those who called him " Lord ! Lord ! " and " did not the 
 things which he said" (Matt. vii. 26, Luke vi. 46) ; but 
 He also declares that those who had " preached in his 
 name," and in his name even " done many wonderful 
 works," should be disowned and rejected by him if they 
 were " workers of iniquity." (Matt. vii. 22, 23.) And 
 the Apostles, in like manner, taught their converts that 
 their professing the Christian faith was a reason for re 
 quiring not the less, but the more, strictness of morals 
 from them (1 Cor. v. 11, 12); and that even the mi 
 raculous powers bestowed on them were worthless if 
 they had not that charity which is humble, gentle, 
 patient, and self-denying. (1 Cor. xiii.) 
 
 All this is what we might have expected from teach 
 ers sent from God. And experience shows how differ 
 ent it is from what might have been expected of mere 
 human teachers, acting according to their own judgment 
 and their natural feelings. 
 
LESSON XI. 
 
 INTERNAL EVIDENCES. FART II. 
 
 1. You may observe, again, that the kind of moral 
 duty which Jesus and his Apostles taught was not 
 what was the most likely to gain them popularity with 
 their hearers. The Jews had a great deal of national 
 pride in being God s holy and peculiar people; they 
 looked on the Gentiles as unclean and outcasts, and 
 had a particular hatred and contempt for the Samaritans. 
 The Romans, again, were no less proud of their military 
 glory and political power ; and the Greeks, of their su 
 perior wisdom and refinement. And all were zealous 
 for the glory, and greatness, and superiority, each, of 
 his own country. It was not acceptable to any of these 
 to be taught to " love their enemies," to return good 
 for evil, to be humble and forgiving, patient under 
 persecution, gentle and kind to all men ; and, lastly, 
 to consider men of every race and every station as on 
 a level in respect to the Gospel promises ; and that, in 
 God s sight, there was to be " neither Greek nor Jew, 
 Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free." (Coloss. iii. 11.) 
 
 Moreover, party spirit ran very high among the 
 Jews, especially between the sects of the Pharisees 
 and Sadducees. Now, an enthusiast would have most 
 likely been a zealous partisan of one of these sects ; 
 
INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 253 
 
 and a scheming impostor, if he did not join one of them, 
 would have been likely to aim at the favor of both, by 
 flattering each in turn, and gratifying each by exposing 
 the faults of their opponents. Jesus, on the contrary, in 
 his discourses to each party, sets before them their own 
 errors (Luke xi. 42, &c. ; xx. 27); and he does the 
 same in respect of the Jews and Samaritans. (Luke x. 
 33 ; John iv. 22.) 
 
 All this is worthy of a "Teacher sent from God," 
 and is quite different from what we might expect of 
 mere human teachers. 
 
 2. Many men, it is true, would be ready to praise 
 and to recommend a life of greater purity and upright 
 ness than their neighbors, or they themselves, are ac 
 customed to practise. Several of the ancient heathen 
 philosophers wrote moral treatises containing some ex 
 cellent precepts, and describing a much higher degree 
 of virtue than was commonly found in the lives of the 
 Heathen generally, or even in the lives of those very 
 philosophers themselves. And if the New Testament 
 writers had been men of the higher and more educated 
 classes, accustomed to converse with the learned, and to 
 study philosophical works, instead of being mostly poor 
 and ignorant Jewish fishermen and artisans, it would 
 not have been wonderful that they should have taught 
 a higher degree of morality than what men in general 
 practised. 
 
 But the Gospel went beyond, not merely what men 
 practised, but what they approved. It was not merely 
 better than men s conduct ; but, in several points, con 
 trary to their principles. For instance, " to love one s 
 enemies," to return "good for evil," to be "meek 
 22 
 
254 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 and lowly in spirit, " not easily provoked," but for 
 bearing, submissive, and long-suffering, all this was 
 not merely not practised by the ancient Heathen and 
 Jews, but it was not even admired; on the contrary, it 
 was regarded with scorn, as base and mean-spirited. 
 
 3. And what is more, even now we may often find 
 professed Christians, while they hold in reverence the 
 very books which teach such lessons, yet not only prac 
 tising, but approving, the very opposite. We may find 
 some who value themselves on a quick resentment of 
 affronts (calling it "indignation"), and in using what 
 they call " strong language" towards opponents ; that is, 
 reviling and insult. And even fierce strife and bitter 
 persecution will often be admired as " manly and spirited 
 conduct," and as a noble Christian zeal. And you will 
 find all this even in men who venerate the very Gospel, 
 which relates how Jesus rebuked his Apostles for offer 
 ing to call down fire from heaven on his enemies, and 
 told them that they " knew not what manner of spirit 
 they were of." 
 
 Since, then, Christianity is opposed, not only to men s 
 natural inclinations, but also, in some points, to their 
 ideas of what is dignified and praiseworthy, you may 
 see how incredible it is that scheming or ambitious men 
 should have contrived a religion which condemns, not 
 only men s conduct, but their principles. 
 
 4. Then, again, if you look to the style of writing 
 in the historical books (the four Gospels and the Acts), 
 you will observe that neither the miracles nor the suffer 
 ings of Christ or his Apostles are boastfully set forth, 
 and eloquently described and remarked upon ; as would 
 have been natural for writers desirous of making a 
 
INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 255 
 
 strong impression on the reader. There is no endeavor 
 to excite wonder, or admiration, or compassion, or in 
 dignation. There is nothing, in short, such as we should 
 have expected in writers who were making up a mar 
 vellous story to produce an effect on men s feelings and 
 imaginations. The miracles performed, and the instan 
 ces of heroic fortitude displayed, are all related, briefly, 
 calmly, and dryly, and almost with an air of indifference, 
 as if they were matters of every-day occurrence, and 
 which the readers were familiar with. And this is, in 
 deed, one strong proof that the readers to whom these 
 books were addressed the early Christians really 
 were (as the books themselves give us to understand 
 they were) familiar with these things ; in short, that 
 the persecutions endured, and the signs displayed, by 
 the Apostles, really were, in those times and countries, 
 common and notorious. 
 
 You should observe, also, the candid and frank sim 
 plicity with which the New Testament writers describe 
 the weakness and faults of the disciples ; not excepting 
 some of the most eminent among the Apostles. Their 
 " slowness of heart " [that is, dulriess of understanding], 
 their want of faith [trust] in their Master, and their 
 worldly ambition and jealousy among themselves, are 
 spoken of without reserve, and as freely as the faults of 
 their adversaries. 
 
 5. This, and some of the other points in the New 
 Testament that have been noticed, would be very re 
 markable if met with in any one book ; but it is still 
 more so, when you consider that the same character 
 runs through all the books of the New Testament; 
 which are no less than twenty-seven distinct composi- 
 
256 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 tions, of several different kinds, written apparently at 
 considerable intervals of time from each other, and 
 which have come down to us as the works of no less 
 than eight different authors. You might safely ask an 
 unbeliever to point out the same number or half the 
 number of writers in behalf of any Sect, Party, or 
 System, all of them, without a single exception, writing 
 with the same modest simplicity, and without any at 
 tempt to excuse, or to extol and set off themselves. 
 
 In this respect, and in many others, both the Chris 
 tian religion itself, and the Christian Scriptures, are to 
 tally unlike what they might have been expected to be, 
 if they had been from Man. TJiey appear too simple, 
 candid, and artless, to have come from impostors ; and 
 too calm, sober, and wise for enthusiasts. And yet, if 
 Christianity were the device of men, these men must 
 have been either the most deliberate, artful, and wicked 
 of impostors, or else by far the wildest and maddest set 
 of enthusiasts that were ever combined together ; since 
 they did not (as many crazy enthusiasts have done) ap 
 peal merely to their own inward feelings and their 
 dreams or visions, but to matters of fact coming under 
 the evidence of the senses ; in which none but a com 
 plete madman could be mistaken, and most of which 
 their adversaries were free to judge of as well as them 
 selves. 
 
LESSON XII. 
 
 INTERNAL EVIDENCES. TART III. 
 
 1. THESE few heads, then, of internal evidence, 
 which have been here briefly sketched out, would 
 even alone furnish good reason for believing that the 
 Gospel did not, and could not, have come from Man ; 
 and that, therefore, it must have come from God. And 
 yet these internal marks of truth, which have been here 
 pointed out by way of specimens, are but a very small 
 part of what you may hereafter make out for yourself ; 
 and are not even selected as being the principal and the 
 most conclusive, but only as those which could the most 
 easily be put before you in a small compass. At some 
 future time, when your power of judging is improved, 
 you will feel the very character of our Saviour, as de 
 scribed in the Gospels, to be (as I have hinted to you) 
 one of the strongest proofs, and the most satisfactory 
 and delightful proof, of the truth of his religion. 
 
 But the moral excellence of his character, as drawn 
 by the Evangelists, is what could not be set forth, so as 
 to do justice to the argument founded on it, within a 
 small space. For it would be necessary to dwell at 
 some length on each of his sayings and acts, so as to 
 point out the kindness and tenderness of heart, the 
 persevering benevolence, the gentleness combined j 
 22* 
 
258 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 5 with dignity and firmness, the active and unwearied, 
 yet calm zeal, with which He labored for the good of 
 mankind, and the other great and amiable qualities 
 which He displayed on so many occasions. And to do 
 this properly, would require a volume nearly as large as 
 the whole of this. 
 
 But you may, in a great measure, supply to yourself 
 such a work, by attentively reading and reflecting on, 
 with a view to the present argument, the Gospels them 
 selves ; and, especially, such passages as those referred 
 to below.* 
 
 2. In conducting for yourself such a study as we 
 have been suggesting, these three points should be at 
 tended to, and steadily kept before the mind. 
 
 First, The picture drawn by the Evangelists is, 
 evidently, an unstudied one. There is nothing in it of 
 the nature ofeulogium and panegyric. They do not seem 
 laboring to set forth and call attention to the excellence 
 of their Master s character. They do not break out in 
 to any exclamations of admiration of it ; and, indeed, 
 make hardly any remarks on it at all ; but simply relate 
 what He said and did. 
 
 Secondly, If they had had the inclination, they do 
 not seem to have had the ability, to draw a fictitious 
 character of great moral beauty, devised by their own 
 i imagination. They write like (what they were) plain, 
 unpractised authors, without learning, or eloquence, or 
 skill in composition. 
 
 Now let any one try the experiment of setting some 
 person, of great ability as a writer, to draw up a ficti- 
 
 * See Note A, at the end of this Lesson. 
 
INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 259 
 
 tious narrative concerning some imaginary personage. 
 Let him enter into particular details as fully as the 
 Evangelists have done ; and let him do his best to paint 
 a character as consistent, and as morally beautiful, as 
 that of Jesus. You would see how imperfectly he would 
 succeed ; and how far he would fall short of the picture 
 drawn (and which must, therefore, be a real picture) by 
 untaught Jewish fishermen and peasants. 
 
 And what we have been saying is confirmed by cer 
 tain works commonly called the " Spurious Gospels " ; 
 of which some considerable portions have come down to 
 us. They seem to have been composed (some of them 
 as early as the fourth century) partly from invention, 
 and partly from some vague traditions that were afloat. 
 But they were never, as far as we can learn, received 
 by any Church as Scripture. These narratives profess 
 to give several particulars of the life of Jesus, es 
 pecially of his childhood, which are not to be found 
 in the genuine Gospels. 
 
 Now it is remarkable, that, though the writers evi 
 dently designed to raise admiration of our Lord, and 
 manifest that design very strongly, yet the picture they 
 draw of Him is, in many points, contemptible or odious ; 
 for instance, they represent Him as exercising, when a 
 child, miraculous powers, not for any purpose connected 
 with his ministry, but merely for his own amusement ; 
 as any ordinary child would be likely to do, if gifted 
 with such powers. 
 
 And He is also represented as so passionate and mis 
 chievous a child, that he miraculously struck dead 
 another boy for accidentally running against him. 
 
 In short, his character as given in these " spurious 
 
2GO CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 Gospels " is quite a contrast to that given by each of 
 our four Evangelists. And the whole tone of the nar 
 ratives themselves : the spurious and the genuine is 
 no less contrasted. 
 
 - 3. Thirdly, You are to keep in mind that the 
 private moral character of Jesus is unimpeached even 
 by the opponents of his Gospel. None of them have 
 ever imputed to Him avarice, or cruelty, or any kind of 
 profligate sensuality. Now there is hardly any other 
 very eminent man of whom this can be said, however 
 groundless may be the charges brought against any of 
 them. Certainly, no man was ever so unimpeached in 
 character who had so many and such bitter enemies ; 
 enemies who would have been glad to get hold of any 
 story, however false, or even any suspicion, that could 
 i raise a prejudice against Him. 
 
 But even the Jews, in that book already mentioned 
 (Lesson V. 2), though they lavish on Him all the 
 most abusive epithets, yet do not charge Him with any 
 one immoral act, in his private life. 
 
 And you should keep in mind, among other things, 
 that this man, whose extraordinary purity of moral 
 character is thus strongly attested, did certainly profess 
 to be a heaven-sent messenger, and to possess miracu 
 lous powers. Now any one who can believe that one 
 whom he considers a good man would falsely put forth 
 such pretensions, deceiving his disciples, or suffering 
 them to deceive themselves, as to his miraculous powers, 
 and thus practising what is called a " pious fraud " (in 
 reality, an impious fraud) for the sake of spreading his 
 doctrines, any one who can believe this of one whom 
 he accounts a virtuous man, must be himself a person 
 of exceedingly low moral notions. 
 
INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 261 
 
 But all that relates to our Lord s moral character is 
 a thing rather to be felt than described : and you will 
 feel it the more, and the better estimate the force of 
 the arguments drawn from it, in proportion to your 
 sincere desire and endeavor to conform your own char 
 acter to the purest and best pattern you can find. 
 
 The more, indeed, you learn of mankind, and of the 
 Gospel, and the more you study (with a sincere desire 
 to know what is true, and to do what is right) both 
 other books, ancient and modern, and also the Christian 
 Scriptures, the more you will perceive (as has been 
 above said) how unlikely the Christian religion is to 
 have been devised by man, and how well suited it is 
 to meet the wants of man, and to improve his nature. 
 
 4. But when you do come to perceive the force of 
 the internal evidence for the truth of Christianity, you 
 will find that, though it may be one of the reasons to 
 have, it will often not be the best to give. A great part 
 of this kind of evidence is better fitted to furnish a con 
 soling satisfaction to the mind of a believer, than to 
 convince an unbeliever. For there is much of the ex 
 cellence of the Christian religion that can only be 
 learned fully from experience. Sincere believers per 
 ceive in it a wisdom and purity and nobleness of charac 
 ter, which are not completely understood, nor thorough 
 ly liked and relished by any one, till he has become, in a 
 great degree, what the Christian religion is designed to 
 make him, till he has something of such a character 
 as the Gospel does not find in man, but forms in him. 
 
 And this seems to be that Christian experience which 
 the Apostles, especially St. John and St. Paul, often 
 appeal to as an evidence (not indeed to unbelievers, i 
 
262 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 t who could not have had this experience, but) in ad 
 dressing their converts. " The Spirit itself " (says St. 
 Paul, Rom. viii. 1C) " beareth witness with our spirit, 
 that we are the children of God," &c. 
 
 It seems, indeed, to have been designed that man s 
 conscience should bear witness, not only against what is 
 wrong, but also in favor of what is right. And hence 
 a Christian who has for some time been laboring to con 
 form himself to the Gospel, and who finds his religious 
 notions becoming clearer, and that he is growing better, 
 and holier, and happier, gains by this an unexperi- 
 mental proof, which confirms the other proofs, of the 
 truth of his religion. His conscience testifies that he 
 is practically influenced and " led by the Spirit of 
 Christ"; and thus he is "filled" (as St. Paul says, 
 Rom. xv. 13) " with all joy and peace in believing." 
 
 And this is a kind of evidence which will become, to 
 such a Christian, stronger and stronger, the more he 
 " grows in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and 
 Saviour." But this proof, from personal experience, is 
 fitted (as has been said), not so much for the first con 
 version of an unbeliever, as for the confirmation of a 
 practical Christian ; because no one else can feel, or 
 
 L fully understand and value it. 
 
 ,- 5. A life of genuine Christian virtue does, indeed, 
 meet with some degree of approbation from most men, 
 even though unbelievers ; and it appears, accordingly, 
 to have been, in the earliest times, a help towards the 
 conversion of some of them. (1 Peter ii. 12.) And it 
 is for you to bring before the minds of those you live 
 with, this kind of testimony to Christianity from its 
 
 moral excellence ; not so much by talking of it, as by 
 
INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 263 
 
 setting it forth in your life, and " letting your light so 
 shine before men, that they may see your good works, 
 and glorify your Father which is in heaven." (Matt. v. 
 16.) But you must not expect that any one will com 
 pletely feel all the force of this kind of internal evidence 
 of Christianity, till he shall have become himself a be 
 liever, and a sincerely practical believer. It is not 
 easy to give a clear description of the inside of a well- 
 built and commodious house, to one who is on the out 
 side, and has never been in such a house, but always 
 lived in a tent, like the wild Arabs, or in a smoky, 
 slovenly hovel. But you may be able to point out to 
 him enough of what is on the outside to induce him 
 to come in ; and when he has done this, he will gradu 
 ally be able to judge for himself; and by the habits 
 of neatness, order, cleanliness, and decency which he 
 will be likely to acquire by living in such a house, will 
 gain more and more the power of perceiving the com- 
 modiousness of it. And so it is with the evidences of 
 Christianity. As soon as a man has seen enough, as he 
 easily may do, of good evidence, to convince him that it 
 is from God, if he will then be induced to come in, and 
 heartily embrace it, and endeavor to understand it, 
 and to apply it to himself, so as to be the better for it 
 in his life, he will then be rewarded by a fuller and 
 clearer view of many other evidences which he could 
 not at first take in. And such a person will thus ob 
 tain the fulfilment of that promise of our Master : " If 
 any man is willing to do [will do] the will of God, he 
 shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God."> 
 (John vii. 17.) 
 
 6. Great care should be taken not to misunderstand 
 
264 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 what has just been said ; because you may hear from 
 some persons what appears, at the first glance, very like 
 .it, though in reality quite different. I mean, that you 
 may meet with persons who profess to despise and dis 
 like all that is commonly called "evidences for the 
 truth of Christianity " ; and who say, " Let a man but 
 feel the want of it, let him feel how suitable Chris 
 tianity is to the needs of such a being as man, how 
 it supplies such motives, and such guidance, and hopes, 
 and consolations, as human. nature requires ; and then 
 he will want no evidence to convince him of its truth " ; 
 with a great deal more to the same purpose. 
 
 Now, all this may seem at the first glance very 
 plausible; but, on reflection, you will perceive that it 
 is setting up Man each man for himself to be the 
 standard of Divine truth. On this principle, each one 
 is to receive as a revelation whatever religion suits his 
 own judgment of what is good, and his own wants, and 
 wishes, and tastes. Now, we know how widely men 
 differ from one another on these points, and what vari 
 ous and erroneous systems they are, accordingly, dis 
 posed to embrace. For instance, the Jews, at the time 
 when Jesus appeared, felt a want of a victorious and 
 mighty earthly deliverer, who should exalt their nation, 
 and reign in great worldly splendor. The kingdom of 
 Jesus, which was a " kingdom not of this world," and 
 which admitted " Gentiles to be fellow-heirs," was pre 
 cisely what they did not want. It did not at all suit 
 their hopes, and wishes, and habits of thought. And, 
 accordingly the greater part of them rejected Jesus, and 
 followed those false Christs who promised to lead 
 i them to victory over the Romans. Jesus, indeed, ap- 
 
INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 265 
 
 pealed to the evidence of his mighty works, while those 
 false Christs produced no evidence at all, except the 
 suitableness of what they taught to the judgment, and to 
 the feelings and wants of the Jews. But most of the 
 Jews, acting on the very principle I have been speaking 
 of, disregarded evidence altogether, and gave themselves 
 up to their own feelings, resolving to believe what suited 
 them best. 
 
 In like manner, when Mohammed proclaimed him 
 self a prophet, though he produced no miraculous evi 
 dence, he was joined by a multitude of followers. His 
 religion suited a sensual, and gross-minded, and warlike, 
 and ambitious people. He promised them victory and 
 plunder in this world, and after death a paradise of 
 sensual enjoyments. And finding that such a religion 
 suited their tastes and wants, they embraced it without 
 seeking for any further evidence of its truth. The 
 Hindoos, again, and other Pagans, adhere to their own 
 religion without any evidence, and find it suitable to 
 their own wants and tastes. 
 
 And the same must be the case with all the most ex 
 travagant corruptions of Christianity that have arisen 
 from time to time ; such as that of the ancient Gnostics, 
 who thought to obtain immortal life without practising 
 moral virtue, and who had a taste for idle speculations 
 concerning the nature of God. No one of these corrupt 
 religions could ever have arisen at all, or have been re 
 ceived, if those who introduced it, and their followers, 
 had not felt a " want " of some such system. 
 
 It is plain, therefore, that the principle I have been 
 speaking of tends to lead men into an endless variety of 
 errors. 
 
 23 
 
266 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 
 
 7. But the course I have been recommending is, 
 in reality, exactly the reverse of all this. Jesus tells us, 
 that if any man is willing and desirous to do the will of 
 his Heavenly Father, he shall know the truth of the 
 doctrine. You must begin, therefore, by a readiness to 
 follow not your own will, but the will of God ; and 
 to receive whatever shall appear to come from Him, 
 however contrary to your expectations or wishes. And 
 if in this temper of mind you proceed to examine those 
 evidences which Jesus and his Apostles appeal to, you 
 will see good reason for believing in the Gospel. And 
 then, if you embrace the Gospel, and labor to conform 
 your heart and your life to it, you will perceive that it 
 does suit the nature and the real wants of man. For 
 you will perceive that it tends to enlighten his judgment, 
 and to improve his moral taste, and to lead him to live 
 according to the best principles of his nature, and to 
 secure him the truest peace and comfort. And in pro 
 portion as you come to perceive all this, you will thus 
 obtain a strong additional confirmation of the truth of 
 Christianity. 
 
 But you will have obtained this, not by rejecting evi 
 dence, and resolving to conform your religious belief to 
 your own tastes and inclinations, but, on the contrary, 
 by striving to conform your own tastes and inclinations 
 to your religious belief. 
 
 8. Observe, then, that this last is a kind of evi 
 dence which all Christians ought to have, and will have, 
 more and more, in proportion as they fairly try the ex 
 periment of conforming themselves to the Gospel. Dif 
 ferent persons may have been led by different kinds of 
 proof to embrace the Gospel ; but when they have em- 
 
INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 267 
 
 braced it, they may all hope for this confirmation of 
 their faith, by this further proof from experience. Sup 
 pose, for instance, some one should offer to several per 
 sons, suffering under a painful and dangerous disease, 
 some medicine, which he declared would relieve their 
 sufferings, and restore them to health ; it would be nat 
 ural and reasonable for them to ask for some testimony, 
 or other proof, to assure them of this, before they made 
 trial of the medicine : then suppose them all to be so 
 far convinced, some by one proof, and some by an 
 other, as to make trial of the medicine ; and that 
 they found themselves daily getting better as they took 
 it ; they would then have all of them an evidence 
 from experience, confirming the former proofs that had 
 originally brought them to make the trial. 
 
 But these persons, if they were wise, would be con 
 vinced of the virtues of the medicine, not from its being 
 immediately pleasant to the taste, or from its suddenly 
 exciting and cheering them up like a strong cordial ; 
 but from its gradually restoring their strength, and re 
 moving the symptoms of the disease, and advancing 
 them daily towards perfect health. So also Christian 
 experience, you should remember, does not consist in 
 violent transports, or any kind of sudden and overpow 
 ering impression on the feelings ; but in a steady, ha 
 bitual, and continued improvement of the heart and the 
 conduct. 
 
 9. "We do not say, you will observe, that you, or 
 other Christians, may not experience such sudden trans 
 porting impressions as those just alluded to. But it is 
 a settled habit, an improved and improving character, 
 that constitutes the Christian experience which we find 
 
2G8 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 described and alluded to in the New Testament Scrip 
 tures ; which thus affords an additional internal evi 
 dence of their having been written by sober-minded 
 men.* For the Apostles, if they had been wild en 
 thusiasts, would have felt, and have taught their converts 
 to expect, the sudden excitement of vehement emotions ; 
 and would have referred to some immediate, single, and 
 momentary impression of that kind, as Christian ex 
 perience. But what they do teach, and perpetually im 
 press on us, is, " He that is Christ s hath crucified the 
 flesh, with the affections and lusts " ; the test they refer 
 to is a " growth in grace and knowledge," a calm, 
 gradual, and steady advancement in " bringing forth 
 fruit with Patience" (Luke viii. 15.) For " PA 
 TIENCE " (says St. Paul, Rom. v. 4) " worketh EXPERI 
 ENCE ; and Experience, Hope ; and Hope maketh not 
 ashamed ; because the love of God is shed abroad in 
 our hearts, by the Holy Ghost which is given unto 
 us." 
 
 NOTE A. 
 
 WITH regard to the passages here referred to, (and to which many 
 more might have been added,) you should observe that the picture 
 they form of our Lord s character cannot but be a correct one ; be 
 cause, if He had really been at all a different kind of man from 
 what He is represented, his enemies would not have failed to notice 
 and to take advantage of this. Now, not only do they never charge 
 Him with anything immoral, but He and his Apostles continually 
 \ appeal to all men s testimony as to the moral excellence of his char 
 acter, as a matter undeniable and notorious. 
 
 * See 2 Pet. i. 5 ; and 1 Thess. iv. 1 ; and Galat. vi. 9, &c. 
 
INTERNAL EVIDENCES. 269 
 
 See John vii. 46 - 61, viii. 46, and x. 32 ; Matt. xxvi. 69, xxvii. 23, j 
 24; Luke xxiii. 13-15; Acts iii. 13, 14; 1 Peter ii. 21-23. 
 
 And it should be observed that this moral teaching is to be regard 
 ed as an appeal of this kind ; since, if He had been guilty of any such 
 moral wrong as He censured and rebuked, or had not been himself 
 a-model of the virtues He taught, his enemies would have been sure 
 to detect, and to reproach, his inconsistency. 
 
 His extensive BENEVOLENCE and Compassionateness are shown in 
 the following (and many other) passages: John iv. ; Luke ix. 55, 
 and x. 30-37; Mark vii. 26, &c., and x. 13-21 and 45-52; Matt. 
 ix. 36, c.; Luke xiii. 16, xiv. 12, &c. ; xxii. 50, 51, xxiv. 34; Matt, 
 xviii. 11, &c. 
 
 In reference to his kind and affectionate character, see John xi., xix. 
 25-27, &c.; Luke xix. 41, xxii. 61; Matt. xiv. 27-31. 
 
 For indications of MEEKNESS and Humility, see Matt. ix. 28, xviii., 
 xxvi. 50; John xiii. 4, &c.; Matt. v. 1 - 12; Luke xxii. 24, &c. 
 
 For indications of MORAL COURAGE, firmness, and resignation, 
 Luke iv. 23, c., xiii. 31, &c., xviii. 29, c.; John xi. 7, &c.; Mark 
 x. 32, &c.; Matt. xxvi. 39-46; John xviii. 4, &c. 
 
 For indications of SINCERITY, and rebukes of the hypocrite and 
 the seeker after popularity, Matt. vi. 1 - 18, x. 16 - 39, xxii. 18, &c. ; 
 Mark xii. 38-40; Luke xi. 44, &c.; John xvi. 1-6. 
 
 For indications of MODERATION, and absence of all enthusiasm 
 and all affected austerity, Matt. xi. 19, xxiii. 23 ; Luke v. 29 - 35 ; 
 John ii. 1, &c. ; Mark xii. 17. 
 
 The passages above referred to contain a few out of many of the 
 indications of a part and only a part of the virtues of our 
 Lord s character. Many others will strike you in your perusal of 
 the Gospels with this view. 
 
 But this study will affect different persons very unequally, accord 
 ing to their oim character. Those of a low tone of moral sentiment 
 will be but little struck with the character of Jesus. Those of a 
 somewhat higher and purer mind will feel it more; especially if 
 they have also a considerable knowledge of mankind in general. 
 And one who is, like Nathanael, " an Israelite indeed, in whom 
 is no guile," will (mentally) exclaim, like him, " Eabbi, thou art the 
 Son of God ! thou art the King of Israel ! " 
 
 23* 
 
LESSON XIII. 
 
 OBJECTIONS. PART I. 
 
 1. As there are persons who reject the Christian 
 religion, you may perhaps suppose that they have un 
 dertaken to refute the proofs of it ; and that they have 
 found answers, such as satisfy themselves, to the evi 
 dences and reasons on which it is believed ; or at least 
 to some of the principal of the reasons, such as have 
 been just put before you. 
 
 But you are not likely to meet with any one who will 
 undertake this. At least, no such attempt has been made 
 in any book that has been hitherto published. Unbe 
 lievers, though they have had nearly eighteen centuries 
 to try, have never yet been able to show, nor have they 
 even attempted to show, how it could be that so many 
 marks of truth should be found in the Gospel history, 
 supposing it false. Of these marks of truth, even that 
 portion (though far short of the whole) which have been 
 just laid before you are such as certainly never met to 
 gether, at least in any known false story ; and how it is 
 that they are found in the Gospel history, if that be not 
 true, has never been explained. No one has ever ex 
 plained in what way the first disciples of Jesus, circum 
 stanced as they were, succeeded, or could have succeed- 
 
OBJECTIONS. 271 
 
 eel, in propagating, as we know they did, such a religion 
 as theirs, supposing it to be, not from God, but from 
 Man. 
 
 2. And yet many persons have written and spoken j 
 against Christianity How, then, have they proceeded ? 
 Instead of accounting for the introduction of Christian 
 ity by natural causes, and on the supposition of its being 
 a mere human device, they are accustomed to put for 
 ward various difficulties, and start objections against sev 
 eral points in the religion. And unlearned Christians 
 often find themselves hard pressed with these objections ; 
 and suppose that they are called upon either to find an 
 swers to everything that can be urged against the Chris 
 tian religion, and give a satisfactory solution of every t 
 difficulty that is pointed out, or else to abandon their 
 faith, or at least confess that they cannot defend it. 
 
 Now you have, indeed, been taught that it is a Chris 
 tian s duty to be " ready to give an answer to every one 
 that asks a reason of the hope that is in you." But 
 this is a very different thing from being prepared to an 
 swer every objection. If a person asks you why you 
 are a Christian, or on what grounds you may call on a 
 Pagan to embrace Christianity, this is quite a different 
 thing from his asking you, " How can you explain this ?" 
 " and how do you reconcile that ? " " and how do you re 
 move such and such difficulties ? " 
 
 3. I am not saying, you will observe, that no such 
 questions as these ought ever to be asked ; or that there 
 is no occasion to seek any answers to them ; but only that 
 they are not at all the same thing as the other question, 
 the inquiry for a reason of our Christian hope. And it 
 should also be observed, that it is not the most natural \ 
 
272 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 and reasonable way of examining any question to begin 
 with looking to the objections against any system, or 
 plan, or history, before we inquire into the reasons in its 
 favor. And yet it is thus that some people are apt to 
 proceed in the case of the Christian religion. Having 
 been brought up in it from childhood, and received it 
 merely as the religion of their fathers, they perhaps 
 meet with some one who starts objections against sever 
 al points ; and then they think themselves obliged to 
 find an answer to each objection, and to explain every 
 difficulty in the Gospel system, without having begun by 
 learning anything of the positive evidence on which it is 
 founded. And the end of this sometimes is, that their 
 4 minds are disturbed, and perhaps their faith overthrown, 
 before they have even begun to inquire into the subject 
 Lin the right way. 
 
 Some persons will advise you, for fear of having your 
 mind thus unsettled, to resolve at once never to listen 
 to any objections against Christianity, or to make any 
 inquiries, or converse at all on the subject with any 
 one who speaks of any doubts or difficulties ; but to 
 make up your mind, once for all, to hold fast the faith 
 you have been brought up in, on the authority of wiser 
 men than yourself, and never to attend to any reasoning 
 on the subject. 
 
 4. You have already seen, that if our forefathers 
 had gone upon this plan, we should at this day have 
 been Pagans like them ; and that if all the world had 
 proceeded thus when the Apostles first appeared, all 
 men would have kept to the religion of their fathers, 
 (as the chief part of the most learned and most power 
 ful among them did, see 1 Cor. i. 23,) and Christianity 
 
OBJECTIONS. 273 
 
 would not have existed at all. And you ought to ob 
 serve, also, that when a learned man says that ordinary 
 Christians had better shut their ears against all doubts 
 and arguments, and be satisfied to take the word of the 
 learned for the truth of the religion, a suspicion is often 
 raised, that he does not really believe it himself, but 
 wishes to support it for the sake of the lower classes ; 
 and considers that the less they think, and reason, and 
 inquire, the less danger there is of their being undeceived. 
 Such appears to have been, generally, the state of 
 mind of the educated classes among the ancient Hea 
 then in respect to their religion. They thought it useful 
 for th vulgar to believe in the fables about their gods ; 
 and being aware that these would not stand the test of- 
 examination, they did not approve of any inquiry on 
 the subject. 
 
 5. But it is likely that many of those who discour 
 age ordinary Christians from using their reason on the 
 subject of Christian evidences, are not themselves unbe 
 lievers, but are merely timorous and distrustful, and see 
 the dangers on one side, while they overlook those on 
 the other. They see that there is a danger of men 
 making an ill use of their reason, which there certainly 
 is, as well as of any other gift. The servant in the par 
 able (Matt. xxv. 25, Luke xix. 20), who was intrust 
 ed with one talent, might have employed it ill, and lost 
 it ; but it was not therefore the safe course to lay it by 
 in a napkin. There is danger of the misuse of money, 
 or of food. We know that many shorten their lives by 
 intemperance. Yet food was bestowed for the support 
 of life, and not for its destruction. And so, also, God 
 has provided evidence to prove the truth of Christianity, 
 
274 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 and has given us the faculty of reason, by which we 
 can understand that evidence ; and what is more, He 
 has expressly directed us (1 Peter iii. 15) to make that 
 use of the faculty. But in the use of all his gifts there 
 is danger; which we cannot escape without diligent 
 caution. And those who would guard men against the 
 danger of doubt and disbelief by discouraging the use 
 of reason, are creating a much greater danger of the 
 same kind, by the distrust which they manifest, by 
 appearing to suspect that their religion will not stand 
 
 ^inquiry. 
 
 G. But is it, then, to be expected, that you should 
 be prepared to answer every objection that may be 
 brought against your religion? By no means. You 
 may have very good reason for believing something 
 against which there are many objections ; and objec 
 tions which you cannot answer, for want of sufficient 
 knowledge of the subject. In many other cases, besides 
 that of religion, there will be difficulties on both sides of 
 the question, which even the wisest man cannot clear 
 up ; though he may, perhaps, plainly see on which side 
 the greater difficulties lie ; and may even see good rea- 
 
 sons for being fully satisfied wliicli ought to be believed. 
 Thus, in the case before mentioned of the bed of sea- 
 shells found far above the present level of the sea, there 
 are strong objections against supposing either that the 
 sea was formerly so much higher than now, or that 
 those beds were so much lower, and were heaved up, 
 many hundred feet, to the height where they now lie. 
 And yet no one who has examined and inquired into 
 the subject has any doubt that those beds of shells do 
 exist, and must, at some former time, have been the 
 
 I bottom of a sea. 
 
OBJECTIONS. 275 
 
 To take another instance : the astronomer Coper 
 nicus first taught, about three hundred years ago, that 
 the earth (which had formerly been supposed to be at 
 rest in the midst of the universe, with all the heavenly 
 bodies moving round it) travels round the sun in the 
 course of a year, and is, at the same time, turning also 
 on its own axis that is, rolling over like a ball 
 every twenty-four hours. This theory of his (which 
 has long since been universally admitted) was at first 
 met by many objections ; several of which, neither he, 
 nor any one else in those days, was able to answer. 
 Many years afterwards, when astronomy was better 
 understood, some objections were answered, and diffi 
 culties explained. But there were others of which no 
 explanation could be found till a very short time ago, 
 in the memory of many persons now living. Yet, long 
 before that time, notwithstanding the objections, there 
 was no one at all acquainted with the subject who had 
 any doubt of the earth s motion. 
 
 7. Again, it is perfectly well established, that aero 
 lites that is, stones from the sky have fallen in 
 various countries, and at different times, to a consider 
 able number. They are composed of iron, or a peculiar 
 kind of iron-stone, and are of all sizes, from a few 
 ounces to several hundred-weight. No explanation has 
 been given of them that is at all satisfactory. There 
 are strong objections against supposing them either to 
 have been thrown out by volcanoes in the moon, or to 
 be fragments torn off from some other planets, or to be 
 formed in the air. In future generations, perhaps, 
 when cheinistry and astronomy are much improved, 
 more may be known about these wonderful stones. 1 
 
276 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 1 But, in the mean time, the fact of their having fallen is 
 so well attested by numerous witnesses, that, in spite of 
 all the difficulties, no one who has inquired into the 
 subject has any doubt the thi-ng has really occurred, 
 
 J however incredible it might have appeared. 
 
 r Then, again, if we look to human transactions, we 
 shall find several portions of history, even those which 
 no one has any doubt of, full of such strange events, 
 that difficulties might be pointed out in the accounts of 
 them, and strong objections raised against the history, 
 even when it rests on such satisfactory evidence as 
 to be believed in spite of those objections. In the 
 history, for instance, of Europe, for the last forty years, 
 there are many events so improbable in themselves, 
 especially all that relate to the wonderful rise, and 
 greatness, and overthrow, of the empire of Napoleon 
 Bonaparte, that it would be easy to find objections 
 sufficient to convince many persons that the history 
 could not be true, were it not that it is so well attested 
 as to be believed notwithstanding all the difficulties. 
 
 Numberless other examples might be brought, to 
 show how many things there are which men believe, 
 
 and believe on very good grounds, in spite of strong 
 and real objections, which they cannot satisfactorily an 
 swer; these being outweighed by more and greater 
 
 ^difficulties on the opposite side. 
 _. 8. As for the particular objections which have 
 been brought against the Christian religion, and the 
 Christian Scriptures, it would of course be impossible 
 to put before you, in a short compass, even the chief 
 part of them, together with the answers that, have been 
 given. But what is of the most importance is, to lay 
 
OBJECTIONS. 277 
 
 down, generally, the right way of viewing objections, 
 either against our religion or against anything else ; 
 namely, first, that you should not begin by considering 
 the objections to any statement or system, before you 
 are acquainted with the evidence in favor of it ; and, 
 secondly, that you should not think yourself bound to 
 renounce your faith, if you cannot answer every objec 
 tion, and clear up every difficulty that may be raised ; 
 but should remember that many things are believed, 
 and must be believed, against which there are strong 
 objections that have never been completely answered, 
 when there are stronger objections against the opposite 
 belief. 
 
 24 
 
LESSON XIV. 
 
 OBJECTIONS. PART II. 
 
 1. OF the objections that have been brought 
 against Christianity, there are some which ordinary 
 Christians may learn enough to be able to refute for 
 themselves. There are others, again, to which learned 
 and able men have found answers, but which the gener 
 ality of Christians cannot be expected to answer, or 
 even to understand ; and, again, there are other ob 
 jections which no man, however learned, and however 
 intelligent, can expect to answer fully, on account of 
 the imperfect knowledge which belongs to man in this 
 present life. For you are to observe, that, when we 
 speak of any one as having much knowledge and in 
 telligence, we mean that he is so comparatively with 
 other men ; since the best-informed man knows but few 
 things, compared with those of which he is ignorant ; 
 and the wisest man cannot expect to understand all the 
 works and all the plans of his Creator. Now this is 
 particularly important to be kept in mind in the present 
 case ; because Christianity, we should remember, is a 
 scheme imperfectly understood. "What is revealed to 
 us must be (supposing the religion to be true) but a 
 part, and perhaps but a small part, of the whole truth. 
 There are many things of which, at present, we can 
 
OBJECTIONS. 279 
 
 know little or nothing, which have, or may have, a close 
 connection with the Christian religion. For instance, 
 we are very little acquainted with more than a very 
 small part of the universe ; of the whole history, past 
 and future, of the world we inhabit ; and of the whole of 
 rnarJs existence. 
 
 This earth is but a speck compared with the rest of 
 the planets which move round the sun, together with the 
 enormous mass of the sun itself; to say nothing of the 
 other heavenly bodies. It is likely that all these are 
 inhabited ; and it may be, that the Gospel which has 
 been declared to us may be but one small portion of 
 some vast scheme which concerns the inhabitants of 
 numerous other worlds. 
 
 Then, again, we have no knowledge how long this 
 our world is to continue. For aught we know, the 
 Christian religion may not have existed a fifth part, or 
 a fiftieth part, of its whole time ; and it may, perhaps, 
 have not produced yet one fiftieth of the effects it is 
 destined to produce. 
 
 And we know that, as it holds out the hope of im 
 mortality beyond the grave, it is connected with man s 
 condition, not merely during his short life on earth, but 
 for eternity. 
 
 2. Seeing, then, that Christianity, if true, must 
 be a scheme so partially and imperfectly revealed to us, 
 and so much connected with things of which man can 
 have little or no knowledge, we might have expected 
 that difficulties should be found in it which the wisest 
 of men are unable to explain. And men truly wise 
 are not surprised or disheartened at meeting with such 
 difficulties, but are prepared to expect them from the 
 nature of the case. 
 
280 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 The view which we have of any portion of a system 
 of which the whole is not before us, has been aptly com 
 pared to a map of an inland country ; in which we see 
 rivers without source or mouth, and roads that seem to 
 lead to nothing. A person who knows anything of ge 
 ography understands at once, on looking at such a map, 
 that the sources and mouths of the rivers, and the towns 
 which the roads lead to, are somewhere beyond the 
 boundaries of the district, though he may not know 
 where they lie. But any one who was very ill-informed 
 might be inclined presumptuously to find fault with the 
 map, which showed him only a part of the course of the 
 rivers and roads. And it is the same with anything 
 else of which we see only a part, unless we recollect 
 that it is but a part, and make allowance accordingly for 
 our imperfect view of it. 
 
 There is much truth, therefore, in the Scotch proverb, 
 that " children and fools should never see half-finished 
 works." They not only cannot guess what the whole 
 will be when complete, but are apt to presume to form 
 a judgment without being aware of their own ignorance. 
 If you were to see for the first time the beginning of the 
 manufacture of some of the commonest articles, such as, 
 for instance, the paper that is before you, you would be 
 at a loss, if you had never heard the process described, 
 to guess what the workman was going to make. You 
 would see a great trough full of a liquid like pap, and 
 would never think of such a thing as a sheet of paper 
 being made from it. And if you were to see the first 
 beginning of the building of a house or a ship, you 
 would be very unfit to judge what sort of a work it 
 would be when completed. 
 
OBJECTIONS. 281 
 
 And the same holds good, only in a greater degree, 
 in respect to the plans of Divine wisdom. So small a 
 portion of them is made known to us, that it would be 
 strange if we did not find many difficulties such as 
 Man cannot expect to explain in that portion which 
 we do see. 
 
 3. Although, however, you must not expect to be 
 able to answer all objections that may be brought, you 
 will be able, in proportion as you improve in knowledge, 
 and in the habit of reflecting and reasoning on the sub 
 ject, to find satisfactory answers to many which at first 
 sight may have appeared very perplexing. And in 
 particular, you will find that some difficulties in the 
 Christian religion which have been brought forward as 
 objections to it, will appear to be, on the contrary, evi 
 dences in support of it. They may, indeed, still con 
 tinue to be difficulties which you cannot fully explain, 
 and yet may be so far from being objections against your 
 faith, that they will even go to confirm it. 
 
 For instance, the bad lives of many Christians, who 
 profess to expect that Jesus Christ will judge them, and 
 yet act in opposition to what He taught and to the ex 
 ample He gave, is an objection which has often been 
 brought forward by unbelievers, and which probably in 
 fluences their minds more than any other. Here is a 
 religion, they say, which professes to have been designed 
 to work a great reformation in Man s character, and yet 
 we find the believers in this religion living as if there 
 were no world but the present, and giving themselves 
 up to all the base and evil passions of human nature, 
 just as the Heathen did. And besides those who are 
 altogether careless and thoughtless about their religion, 
 24* 
 
282 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 we find (they say) many who talk and think much of it, 
 and profess great Christian zeal, and who yet live in ha 
 tred against their fellow-Christians, indulging in envy, 
 slander, strife, and persecution of one another ; and all 
 the time professing to be devoted followers of One who 
 taught them to love even their enemies, to return bless 
 ing for cursing, and to be known as his disciples by their 
 love towards each other.* 
 
 4. Now it is certainly most mortifying and dis 
 heartening to a sincere Christian, to find that his religion 
 has produced hitherto so much less improvement among 
 mankind than he might have been disposed to expect 
 from it. And you should consider deeply what a double 
 guilt Christians will have to answer for, whose life is 
 such as to bring an ill name on their religion ; and who 
 thus not only rebel against their Master, but lead others 
 to reject Him. But when the evil lives of so many 
 Christians are brought as an objection against the Chris 
 tian religion, you may reply by asking whether this 
 does not show how unlikely such a religion is to have 
 been devised by Man. If you saw in any country the 
 fields carefully ploughed and cleared, and sown with 
 wheat, and yet continually sending up a growth of grass 
 and thistles, which choked the wheat wherever they 
 were not weeded out again and again, you would not 
 suppose wheat to be indigenous (that is, to grow wild) 
 in that country ; but would conclude that, if the land 
 had been left to itself, it would have produced grass and 
 thistles, and no wheat at all. So also, when you see 
 men s natural character so opposite to the pure, and 
 
 * John xiii. 34. 
 
OBJECTIONS. 283 
 
 generous, and benevolent, and forgiving character of 
 the Gospel, that, even after they have received the Gos 
 pel, their lives are apt to be quite a contrast to Gospel 
 virtue, you cannot think it likely that such a being as 
 Man should have been the inventor of such a religion 
 as the Christian. 
 
 5. It is, indeed, strange that we should see men 
 seeking to make amends for the want of Christian 
 virtue by outward religious observances, and by active 
 zeal often, bitter and persecuting zeal in the cause 
 of Christianity, when the very Founder of our faith 
 has declared that He abhors such conduct ; so that such 
 Christians, in professing to be followers of him, pro 
 nounce their own condemnation. This is certainly very 
 strange ; but it shows, at least, how strong Man s nat 
 ural tendency is to that error ; and it shows, therefore, 
 how much more incredible it is that men should them 
 selves have devised a religion which thus condemns 
 their principles. All men, in short, and especially 
 Christians, when they are leading an unchristian life 
 (I mean a life on unchristian principles), are so far bear 
 ing witness that Christianity could not have come from 
 men. 
 
 And the same may be said of the absurd extrava 
 gances into which some fanatical enthusiasts have fallen, 
 and which have given occasion to unbelievers to throw 
 ridicule on Christianity. There is nothing of this wild 
 and extravagant character in our sacred books. On 
 the contrary, their sobriety and calmness of tone pre 
 sent a striking contrast to what we see in some enthusi 
 asts. So that their absurdities, instead of being an ob 
 jection against the Gospel, are a proof, on the contrary, 
 
284 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 what a different thing the Gospel would have been if it 
 had been the work of enthusiasts. 
 
 6. To take another instance : it has been brought 
 as an objection against Christianity, that it has not spread 
 over the whole world. It professes to be designed to 
 enlighten and to improve all mankind ; and yet, after 
 nearly eighteen centuries, there still remains a very 
 large portion of mankind who have not embraced it. 
 All the most civilized nations, indeed, profess the Chris 
 tian religion ; but there are many millions unconverted ; 
 and the progress of the religion among these appears to 
 be very slow. This may be thought very strange and 
 unaccountable ; but at least it shows that the religion 
 could not have been originally founded and propagated 
 by mere human means. The nations professing Chris 
 tianity are now far more powerful and intelligent, and 
 skilful in all the arts of life, than the rest of mankind ; 
 and yet, though they send forth many active and zealous 
 missionaries, the religion makes less progress in a cen 
 tury than it did in a few years when it was preached 
 by a handful of Jewish peasants and fishermen, with 
 almost all the wealthy and powerful and learned op 
 posed to them. We cannot come near them in the 
 work of conversion, though we have every advantage 
 over them except in respect of miraculous powers. 
 And therefore we have an additional proof, that, if they 
 had not had such powers^ they could not have accom 
 plished what they did. 
 
 7. Again, there are objections against our sacred 
 books occasioned by the mistake of some injudicious 
 Christians, who have taken a wrong view of the object 
 proposed in the Bible. 
 
OBJECTIONS. 285 
 
 These persons imagine, and teach others to- imagine, 
 that we are bound to take our notions of astronomy, and 
 of all other physical sciences, from the Bible. And 
 accordingly, when astronomers discovered, and proved, 
 that the earth turns round on its axis, and that the 
 sun does not move round the earth, some cried out 
 against this as profane, because Scripture speaks of the 
 sun s rising and setting. And this probably led some 
 astronomers to reject the Bible, because they were 
 taught that, if they received that as a divine revela 
 tion, they must disbelieve truths which they had de 
 monstrated. 
 
 So also, some have thought themselves bound to be 
 lieve, if they receive Scripture at all, that the earth, and 
 all the plants and animals that ever existed on it, must 
 have been created within six days of exactly the same 
 length as our present days. And this, even before the 
 sun, by which we measure our days, is recorded to have 
 been created. Hence, the discoveries made by geolo 
 gists, which seem to prove that the earth and various 
 races of animals must have existed a very long time be 
 fore Man existed, have been represented as completely 
 inconsistent with any belief in Scripture. 
 
 It would be unsuitable to such a work as this to dis 
 cuss the various objections (some of them more or less 
 plausible, and others very weak) that have been brought 
 on grounds of science, or supposed science against 
 the Mosaic accounts of the creation, of the state of the, 
 early world, and of the flood, and to bring forward the 
 several answers that have been given to those objec 
 tions. But it is important to lay down the PRINCIPLE 
 on which either the Bible or any other writing or speech 
 
286 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 ought to be studied and understood ; namely, with a ref 
 erence to the object proposed by the writer or speaker. 
 
 For example : suppose you bid any one proceed in a 
 straight line from one place to another, and to take care 
 to arrive before the sun goes down. He will rightly 
 and fully understand you, in reference to the practical 
 object which alone you had in view. Now you perhaps 
 know very well that there cannot really be a straight 
 line on the surface of the earth, since its surface is 
 curved ; and that the sun does not really go down, only 
 our portion of the earth is turned away from it. But 
 whether the other person knows all this or not, matters 
 nothing at all with reference to your present object; 
 which was, not to teach him mathematics or astronomy, 
 but to make him conform to your directions, which are 
 equally intelligible to the learned and the unlearned. 
 
 Now the object of the Scripture revelation is to teach 
 men, not astrology or geology, or any other physical 
 science, but Religion. Its design was to inform men, 
 not in what manner the world was made, but WHO made 
 it ; and to lead them to worship Him, the Creator of the 
 heavens and the earth, instead of worshipping his crea 
 tures, the heavens and earth themselves, as gods, which 
 is what the ancient Heathen actually did. 
 
 Although, therefore, Scripture gives very scanty and 
 imperfect information respecting the eartli and the heav 
 enly bodies, and speaks of them in the language and ac 
 cording to the notions of the people of a rude age, still 
 it fully effects the object for which it was given, when it 
 teaches that the heavens and the earth are not gods to be 
 worshipped, but that " God created the heavens and the 
 earth" and that it is He who made the various tribes of 
 animals, and also man. 
 
OBJECTIONS. 287 
 
 But as for astronomy and geology and other sciences, 
 men were left when once sufficiently civilized to be 
 capable of improving themselves to make discoveries 
 in them by the exercise of their own faculties. 
 
 8. But it is also sometimes objected, that our 
 sacred books do not give any full and clear revelation of 
 several very interesting particulars, which men would 
 naturally wish and expect to find in them. For exam 
 ple, there is not only a very short and scanty account 
 of the creation of the world, and of its condition before 
 the flood, but there is little said about angels, and, what 
 is more remarkable, there is no full and particular de 
 scription given of a future state, and of the kind of life 
 which the blest are to lead in Heaven. All these, and 
 especially the last, are very curious and interesting mat 
 ters ; and being beyond the reach of Man to discover, it 
 appears very strange to some persons that books pro 
 fessing to contain a divine revelation should give so 
 very brief and scanty an account of them, and leave 
 such a natural curiosity unsatisfied. 
 
 Now this is a difficulty which you may hereafter, on 
 attentive reflection, be able completely to explain. You 
 may find good reasons for deciding that this absence of 
 all that goes to gratify mere curiosity is just what might 
 be expected in a revelation really coming from God. 
 But you may perceive at once that it is not to be ex 
 pected in a pretended revelation devised by Men. An 
 impostor seeking to gain converts by pretending to 
 have received a divine revelation, would have been 
 sure to tempt the curiosity of the credulous by giving 
 them a full description of matters interesting to human 
 minds. He would have sought to excite their feelings, 
 
288 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 and amuse their imaginations, by dwelling with all his 
 eloquence on all the particulars of a future state, and on 
 the nature and history of good and evil angels, and all 
 those other things which are so scantily revealed in our 
 Scriptures. And a wild enthusiast, again, who should 
 have mistaken his dreams and fancies for a revelation 
 from Heaven, would have been sure to have his dreams 
 and fancies filled with things relating to the invisible 
 world, on which a diseased imagination is particularly 
 apt to run wild. 
 
 Even though you should be unable, therefore, to un 
 derstand why the Scriptures should be such as they are 
 in this respect, supposing them to come from God, you 
 may, at least, perceive that they are not such as would 
 have come from Man. In this, as well as in many other 
 points, they are just the reverse of what might have 
 been expected from impostors or enthusiasts. 
 
 9. Lastly, it is worth while to remember, that all 
 the difficulties of Christianity, which have been brought 
 forward as objections against it, are so far evidences in 
 its favor, that the religion was introduced and established 
 in spite of them all. Most of the objections which are 
 brought forward in these days had equal force and 
 some of them much greater force at the time when 
 the religion was first preached. And there were many 
 others besides, which do not exist now ; especially what 
 is called " the reproach of the cross," the scorn felt 
 towards a religion, whose founder suffered a kind of 
 death reckoned in those days the most disgraceful, and 
 whose followers were almost all of them men of ob 
 scure station, of low birth, poor, unlearned, and with 
 out woiidly power. 
 
OBJECTIONS. 289 
 
 Yet, in spite of all this, the religion prevailed. And 
 that it should have made its way as it did, against so 
 many obstacles, and difficulties, and objections, is one of 
 the strongest proofs that it must have had some super 
 natural means of overcoming them, and that therefore 
 it must have come from God. 
 
 25 
 
LESSON XV. 
 
 MODERN JEWS. PART I. 
 
 1. ONE of the. difficulties with which the minds of 
 some Christians are perplexed is, that Jesus Christ 
 should have been rejected by the greater part of hig 
 countrymen, the Jews; and that they who had been, 
 according to our Scriptures, for so many ages, God s 
 favored and peculiar people, should be, now, and for 
 about seventeen centuries, without a country, and scat 
 tered as outcast strangers through the world. 
 
 Their present condition and past history are indeed 
 something very extraordinary, and quite unlike what 
 has befallen any other nation. But though we may not 
 be able to explain all the circumstances relative to this 
 wonderful people, it will be found on reflection, that 
 they furnish one of the strongest evidences for the truth 
 of the very religion which they reject. 
 
 You know that when the Jews received the law 
 through Moses, they were promised success and pros 
 perity as long as they should obey the Lord ; and that 
 heavy judgments were denounced against them in case 
 of disobedience. It was foretold that they should be 
 defeated by their enemies* driven from their country, 
 scattered abroad, and continually harassed and op 
 pressed. These threats are set forth in various parts 
 
MODERN JEWS. 291 
 
 of the books of Moses, and most particularly in the 
 twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy. " Thou shalt 
 become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword 
 among all the nations whither the Lord shall lead thee. 
 .... The .Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, and 
 the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues of long con 
 tinuance And the Lord shall scatter thee among 
 
 all people, from one end of the earth even unto the 
 other." (ver. 37, 59, 64.) 
 
 And the same is to be found in various parts of the 
 writings of several of the prophets who lived some ages 
 after. In particular, there is one in Ezekiel, which 
 agrees most remarkably in one very curious particular 
 with the state of the Jews at this day ; namely, where 
 he declares that they should, in the midst of their suf 
 ferings, remain a distinct people, unmixed with and un 
 like other nations ; although it appears that, in his time, 
 they were very much disposed to unite themselves with 
 the rest of mankind, so as to become one of the Gentile 
 nations, and to lay aside all the distinctions of their 
 own race. " That which cometh into your mind shall 
 not be at all, that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as 
 the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone." 
 (Ezekiel xx. 32.) 
 
 2. Now we find in the Old Testament, that, in 
 several instances, these judgments did fall on the Jews ; 
 and especially when they were carried away captive to 
 Babylon. And some person may suppose that these 
 instance^ were all that Moses and the prophets had in 
 view. But whatever any one s opinion may be, it is a 
 fact of which there can be no doubt, that the Jewish 
 nation are actually suffering, at this day, such things as 
 
292 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 Moses and the prophets predicted. Whether Moses and 
 Ezekiel had in view what is now taking place, or not, 
 may be a matter of opinio n ; but it is a matter of fact, 
 that what is now taking place does agree with their pre 
 dictions. Jerusalem and its Temple were taken and 
 burnt by the Romans, about forty years after the cruci 
 fixion of Jesus Christ. The Jews were driven from their 
 country, and never allowed to settle in it again. Hun 
 dreds of thousands were sold as slaves ; and the whole 
 people were cast forth as wanderers among the Gentiles ; 
 and they have ever since remained a nation of exiles, un 
 settled, harassed, and oppressed, in many instances most 
 cruelly, not only by Pagans and Mohammedans, but 
 also (to our shame be it spoken) by Christian nations; 
 and still remaining a distinct people, though without a 
 home. 
 
 3. One of the most remarkable points relative to 
 these predictions respecting the Jews, and their present 
 condition, is this : that the judgments spoken of by 
 Moses were threatened in case of their departing from 
 the law which he delivered, and especially in case of 
 their worshipping false gods ; and yet, though in former 
 times they were so apt to fall into idolatry, they have 
 always, since the destruction of Jerusalem, steadily 
 kept clear of that sin ; and have professed to be most 
 scrupulous observers of the law of Moses. And what 
 is more, all the indignities and persecutions that any of 
 them are exposed to, appear to be the consequence of 
 their keeping to their religion, and not of their forsak 
 ing it. For a Jew has only to give up his religion, and 
 conform to that of the country he lives in, whether 
 Christian, Mohammedan, or Pagan, and lay aside the 
 
MODERN JEWS. 293 
 
 observances of the law of .Moses, and he immediately 
 ceases to be reproached as a Jew and an alien, and is 
 mingled with the people around him. So that the Jews 
 of the present day seem to be suffering, for their observ 
 ance of the law, just the penalties threatened for their 
 departure from it. 
 
 At first sight, this seems very hard to explain ; but, on 
 reflection, you will find the difficulty cleared up, in such 
 a way as to afford a strong confirmation of your faith. 
 First, you should observe, that the Jews themselves ad 
 mit that a Christ or Messiah was promised them ; and 
 that to reject Him on his coming would be an act of re 
 bellion against the Lord their God. Moses foretold 
 that the Lord should raise up from among them a Proph 
 et like Moses himself; and " whosoever should not hear 
 that Prophet," God "would require it of him"; and 
 " that he should be destroyed from among the people." 
 (Deut. xviii. 15 - 19 ; Acts iii. 22, 23.) This is gener 
 ally understood (as it is applied in the Acts) to relate to 
 the Messiah or Christ ; whom the other prophetical writ 
 ers of the Old Testament (as both Christians and Jews 
 are agreed) more particularly foretold and described. 
 Now we hold that the Jews have been guilty of this 
 very act of disobedience in rejecting the Christ. And 
 though they, of course, do not confess themselves thus 
 guilty, because they deny that Jesus of Nazareth was 
 the true Christ, yet they so far agree with us as to ac 
 knowledge, that the rejecting of the true Christ on his 
 coming would be such a sin as would expose them to the 
 judgments which Moses threatened. 
 
 To us, therefore, who do believe in Jesus, this affords 
 an explanation of their suffering these judgments. 
 25* 
 
294 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 4. But, secondly, besides this, you will perceive, on 
 looking more closely, that the Jews of these days do not 
 really observe the law of Moses, though they profess 
 and intend to do so. They have, indeed, kept to the 
 faith of their forefathers ; but not to their religious ob 
 servances. For the chief part of the Jewish worship 
 consisted in offering sacrifices distinctly appointed by 
 the Lord himself, in the law delivered by Moses. There 
 was a sacrifice appointed to be offered up every day, and 
 two on the Sabbath ; besides several other sacrifices on 
 particular occasions. Now, the modern Jews, though 
 they abstain from certain meats forbidden in their law, 
 and observe strictly the Sabbath and several other or 
 dinances, yet do not offer any sacrifices at all ; though 
 sacrifices were appointed as the chief part of their 
 worship. 
 
 The reason of this is, that they were strictly forbidden 
 to offer sacrifices except in the one place which should 
 be appointed by the Lord for that purpose. And the 
 place last fixed on for these offerings having been the 
 Temple at Jerusalem, which was destroyed about seven 
 teen hundred years ago, and has never been restored, 
 the Jews are now left without any place in which they 
 can lawfully offer the sacrifices which their law enjoins. 
 
 5. The Jews, accordingly, of the present day, 
 plead that it is not from wilful disobedience that they 
 neglect these ordinances, but because they cannot help 
 it. But to say that it is not their own fault that they 
 do not observe the ordinances of their religion, is quite 
 a different thing from saying that they do observe them. 
 They may explain why they cannot keep the law of 
 Moses ; but they cannot say that they do keep it. 
 
MODERN JEWS. 295 
 
 Now Christians hold that the ceremonies of that law 
 were not originally designed to be observed by all na 
 tions, and for ever ; that " the law had only a shadow 
 of good things to come" (Heb. x. 1), that is, of the 
 Gospel ; and that it was designed that the sacrificing of 
 lambs and bullocks should cease at the coming of the 
 Christ. A Jew, on the contrary, will not allow that 
 these were designed ever to cease ; but he cannot deny 
 that they have ceased, and that for above seventeen 
 centuries. Let a Jew explain, if he can, how it is that 
 for so long a time Providence has put it out of the pow 
 er of the Jews to observe the principal part of their re 
 ligion, which they maintain was intended to be observed 
 for ever. 
 
 6. And this also is very remarkable, that the relig 
 ion of the Jews is almost the only one that could have 
 been abolished against the will of the people themselves, 
 and while they resolved firmly to maintain it. Their 
 religion, and theirs only, could be, and has been, thus 
 abolished in spite of their firm attachment to it, on ac 
 count of its being dependent on a particular place, 
 the Temple at Jerusalem. The Christian religion, or, 
 again, any of the Pagan religions, could not be abolished 
 by any force of enemies, if the persons professing the 
 religion were sincere and resolute in keeping to it. To 
 destroy a Christian place of worship, or to turn it into a 
 Mohammedan mosque (as was done in many instances 
 by the Turks), would not prevent the exercise of the 
 Christian religion. And even if Christianity were for 
 bidden by law, and Christians persecuted, (as has in 
 times past been actually done,) still, if they were sin 
 cere and resolute, they might assemble secretly in woods 
 
296 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 or caves, or they might fly to foreign countries, to wor 
 ship God according to their own faith ; and Christianity, 
 though it might be driven out of one country, would 
 still exist in others. 
 
 7. And the same may be said of the Pagan relig 
 ions. If it happened that any temple of Jupiter, or 
 Diana, or Woden, were destroyed, this would not hin 
 der the worshippers of those gods from continuing to 
 worship them as before, and from offering sacrifices to 
 them elsewhere. 
 
 But it was not so with the Jews. Their religion was 
 so framed as to make the observance of its ordinances 
 impossible when their Temple was finally destroyed. 
 It seems to have been designed and contrived by Divine 
 Providence, that, as their law was to be brought to an 
 end by the Gospel (for which it was a preparation), so 
 all men were to perceive that it did come to an end, not 
 withstanding the obstinate rejection of the Gospel by 
 the greater part of the Jews. It was not left to be a 
 question, and a matter of opinion, whether the sacrifices 
 instituted by Moses were to be continued or not ; but 
 things were so ordered as to put it out of Man s power 
 to continue them. 
 
LESSOR XVI. 
 
 MODERN JEWS. TART II. 
 
 1. IT is likely that, when Jerusalem and its Temple 
 were destroyed, several of the Jews who had till then 
 rejected the Gospel may have been at length converted, 
 by the strong additional evidence which was thus afford 
 ed. They saw the heavy judgment that fell on their 
 nation, and that it was such as to make the observance 
 of their law impossible. They saw also, that the event 
 agreed with what Jesus had predicted forty years before. 
 And they saw too that those of his followers who had been 
 living in Jerusalem had been enabled to escape destruc 
 tion by following his directions, and fleeing to the moun 
 tains as soon as they saw Jerusalem encompassed by an 
 army. It is therefore likely that several may have been 
 led by this additional evidence to embrace the Christian 
 faith. But of this we have no records, as the book of 
 Acts takes in only an earlier period. And in that book 
 we have no particulars of the numbers of those Jews 
 who were converted ; though it appears they must have 
 amounted to many thousands, indeed, many myriads, 
 that is, tens of thousands, as is said in the original Greek 
 of Acts xxi. 20. But still these made but a small portion 
 only of that great nation. And as the Jewish Christians 
 would soon become mingled with the Gentile Christians, 
 
298 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 and cease to be a separate people, hence all those who 
 are known as Jews at this day are the descendants of 
 those who rejected the Gospel. 
 
 These are computed to amount, at the present time, 
 notwithstanding the prodigious slaughter of them at the 
 taking of their city, and on several other occasions, to 
 no less a number than 4,800,000, scattered through va 
 rious parts of the world ; everywhere mixing and trad 
 ing with other nations, but everywhere kept distinct 
 from them by their peculiar faith and religious observ 
 ances. And everywhere they preserve and read with 
 the utmost reverence their sacred books, which fore 
 tell the coming of the Messiah or Christ at a time 
 which (by their own computations) is long since past ; 
 namely, about the time when Jesus did appear. Their 
 books foretell also such judgments as their nation is 
 suffering ; and foretell too, what is most remarkable, 
 that notwithstanding all this they shall still remain a 
 separate people, unmixed with the other nations. 
 
 2. You should observe, too, that these prophecies 
 are such as no one would ever have made by guess. 
 Nothing could have been more unlikely than the events 
 which have befallen the Jewish nation. Nothing like 
 them has ever been foretold of any other nation, or 
 has ever happened to any other. There are, indeed, 
 many cases recorded in history of one nation conquer 
 ing another, and either driving them out of the country 
 or keeping them in subjection. But in all these cases 
 the conquered people who have lost their country either 
 settle themselves in some other land, or, if they are 
 wholly dispersed, generally become gradually mixed 
 and blended with other nations; as, for example, the 
 
MODERN JEWS. 299 
 
 Britons and Saxons, and Danes and Normans, have 
 been mixed up into one people in England. 
 
 The only people who at all resemble the Jews, in 
 having been widely dispersed and yet remaining distinct, 
 are those commonly called Gypsies, and whose proper 
 name is Zinganies, or Jinganies. It has been made 
 out that they are an East Indian nation, speaking a 
 Hindoo dialect. And they are widely scattered through 
 the world, keeping up their language, and some customs 
 of their own, in all the countries through which they 
 wander. They are certainly a very remarkable people ; 
 and if there had been any prophecy (which there was 
 not) of their being thus dispersed, we might well have 
 believed that such a prophecy must have come from in 
 spiration. 
 
 But in some remarkable points their condition differs 
 from that of the Jews, and is less unaccountable. 
 
 First, they do not (like the Jews) live in towns among 
 other men, and in houses ; but dwell in tents, by the 
 road-sides, and on commons, leading the life of stroll 
 ing tinkers, pedlers, and fortune-tellers. This roaming 
 life, of course, tends to keep them separate from the 
 people of the countries in which they are found. 
 
 3. But, secondly, the chief difference is, that the 
 Gypsies are always ready, when required, to profess 
 the religion of the country, whether Christian or Mo 
 hammedan, or any other ; seeming to have no religion 
 of their own, and to be quite indifferent on the subject. 
 The Jews, on the contrary, always, when they are al 
 lowed, settle in towns along with other men ; and are 
 kept distinct from them by their religion, and by noth 
 ing else. They are the only people wno are every- 
 
300 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 where separated from the people of the country in which 
 they live, entirely by their peculiar faith and religious 
 observances ; and that too though their religion is such 
 (which is the strongest point of all) that the most im 
 portant part of its ordinances the sacrifices ordained 
 in their law cannot be observed by them. 
 
 The Jews, therefore, in their present condition, are a 
 kind of standing miracle ; being a monument of the 
 wonderful fulfilment of the most extraordinary prophe 
 cies that were ever delivered; which prophecies they 
 themselves preserve and bear witness to, though they 
 shut their eyes to the fulfilment of them. No other ac 
 count than this of the present state and past history of 
 the Jews ever has been or can be given, that is not 
 open to objections greater than all the objections put 
 together that have ever been brought against Chris 
 tianity. 
 
 4. This, then, as well as several other difficulties 
 in our religion, such as have been formerly mentioned, 
 will be found, on examination, to be, even when you 
 cannot fully explain them, not so much objections 
 against the truth of your religion, as confirmations 
 of it. 
 
 And when you do meet with any objection which you 
 are at a loss to answer, you should remember (as has 
 been above said) that there are many things which all 
 men must believe, in spite of real difficulties which they 
 cannot explain, when there are much greater difficulties 
 on the opposite side, and when sufficient proof has been 
 offered. 
 
 And in the present case you have seen that it is not 
 only difficult, but impossible, to account for the rise and 
 
MODERN JEWS. 301 
 
 prevalence of the Christian religion, supposing it not to 
 have come from God. 
 
 1. It certainly was introduced and propagated (which 
 no other religion ever was, for the religion taught by 
 Moses we acknowledge as part of our ow?i) by an ap 
 peal to the evidence of miracles. Nothing but the dis 
 play of superhuman powers could have gained even a 
 hearing for the Apostles ; surrounded as they were by 
 adversaries prejudiced against their religion by their 
 early education and habits of thought and inclinations 
 and hopes. And these superhuman powers were, as 
 you have seen, acknowledged at the time by those ad 
 versaries, who were driven to attribute the Christian 
 miracles to magic arts. 
 
 2. And you have seen, too, that the religion itself, and 
 the character of Jesus Christ as drawn in the Christian 
 Scriptures, and the whole of the narrative of those 
 books, are quite different, and indeed opposite to what 
 might have been expected from impostors or enthusi 
 asts. 
 
 3. And, lastly, you have seen that many of the diffi 
 culties that have been brought as objections against 
 Christianity turn out, on careful inquiry, to be an ad 
 ditional evidence of its truth. 
 
 Among others, this is remarkably the case with the 
 difficulties relating to the history and condition of the 
 Jewish nation. Though you may not be able fully to 
 explain all the circumstances relating to that wonderful 
 people, you may learn from them, what they refuse to 
 learn from themselves, a strong proof of the truth 
 both of their Scriptures and of the Gospel which they 
 obstinately reject. It is so ordered by Providence, 
 26 
 
302 j,. CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 that even that very obstinacy is made to furnish an 
 additional proof of Christianity, by setting them forth 
 before all the world as a monument of fulfilled proph 
 ecy. 
 
 5. There are several other instructions, and warn 
 ings also, which you may learn from attentively reflect 
 ing on the case of the Jews ; and I will conclude by 
 shortly mentioning a few of these. 
 
 First, You should remember that when you see 
 the Jews, both formerly and now, obstinately keeping to 
 the faith of their forefathers, merely because it is what 
 they were brought up in, and refusing to listen to any 
 reasoning on the subject of religion, a Christian has no 
 right to wonder at, or to blame them, if he does the 
 same thing himself; that is, if he is satisfied to take 
 upon trust whatever he may have been told, and is re 
 solved neither to seek nor to listen to any arguments 
 that may enable him " to give a reason of the hope that 
 is in him." And the same may be said of Moham 
 medans and Pagans, as well as of Jews. Though the 
 Christian happens to have a religion that is right, he 
 is not more right than they, if he goes on the same plan 
 that they do. At least, he is right only by chance, if 
 he holds a faith that is true, and holds it not because 
 it is true, but merely because it is that of his fore 
 fathers. 
 
 6. Secondly, You should remember that we are 
 apt to make much less allowance for the unbelieving 
 Jew, than for Christians who lead an unchristian life ; 
 and that we ought to do just the contrary. 
 
 It is difficult for us, of these days, to understand and 
 fully enter into the great difficulty which the Jews had 
 
MODERN JEWS. 303 
 
 (and still have) in overcoming all the prejudices they 
 had been brought up in, and which were so flattering to 
 their own nation as God s favored people. It was a 
 hard task for them to wean themselves from all the 
 hopes and expectations of temporal glory and distinction 
 to that nation; hopes which they and their ancestors 
 had cherished for so many ages. No doubt it was a 
 grievous sin in them to give way to those prejudices, 
 and to reject the Christ as they did. But it is a greater 
 sin to acknowledge Him, as some Christians do, as their 
 Lord and Master, and to " believe that He shall come 
 to be our judge," and at the same time to take no care 
 to obey his precepts, and copy the pattern of his life. 
 This is more truly impiety than that with which an in 
 fidel is chargeable. For, suppose two men each re 
 ceived a letter from his father giving directions for his 
 children s conduct ; and that one of these sons, hastily, 
 and without any good grounds, pronounced the letter a 
 forgery, and refused to take any notice of it ; while the 
 other acknowledged it to be genuine, and laid it up with 
 great reverence, and then acted without the least regard 
 to the advice and commands contained in the letter ; 
 you would say that both of these men indeed were very 
 wrong, but the latter was much the more undutiful son 
 of the two. 
 
 Now this is the case of a disobedient Christian, as 
 compared with infidels. He does not, like them, pro 
 nounce his father s letter a forgery, that is, deny the 
 truth of the Christian revelation ; but he sets at defiance 
 in his life that which he acknowledges to be the Divine 
 command. 
 
 7. Lastly, you should remember that no argument 
 
304 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 
 you can bring against unbelievers will have greater 
 weight with most of them than a Christian life ; and 
 nothing, again, will be more likely to increase and con 
 firm their unbelief, than to see Christians living in 
 opposition to the precepts and spirit of the Gospel, and 
 especially to see them indulging bitter and unkind and 
 hostile and uncharitable feelings towards their fellow- 
 creatures, and even their fellow-Christians. 
 
 The objection thence raised against the Christian re 
 ligion is indeed (as has been above said) not a real and 
 sound one ; but still it will be raised, and therefore you 
 cannot too carefully consider how much you will have 
 to answer for if you contribute to bring an ill name on 
 your Christian faith ; and if you do not, on the contrary, 
 endeavor to the utmost " to adorn the doctrine of God 
 our Saviour in all things." 
 
QUESTIONS FOE EXAMINATION. 
 
 20 
 
QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 
 
 LESSONS ON MORALS. 
 
 LESSON I. 
 
 OUGHT the Law of the Land to be made the standard of moral 
 right and wrong ? 1. 
 
 Give a reason from the nature and extent of moral duty? 1. 
 
 The essential character of moral conduct precludes the law s being 
 made the standard ? 2. 
 
 Twofold insufficiency of this standard, as respects moral require 
 ments? 2. 
 
 Notions of right and wrong not dependent on human laws ? 3. 
 
 What has led some to doubt the existence of any moral sense or 
 faculty? 3. 
 
 How might this objection be answered? 3. 
 
 Illustration of this ? 3. 
 
 What inference has been drawn from a prevailing mistake as to the 
 character of Scripture ? 4. 
 
 This inference disproved by the real character of Scripture ? 6. 
 
 By its omissions ? 4. 
 
 By its appeals ? 4. 
 
 Man s supposed natural destitution of a moral faculty inconsistent 
 with the rule of judgment laid down by our Lord? 5. 
 
 With the exhortations of the Apostles ? 5. 
 
 With the writings of Heathens ? 5. 
 
 So also with the character of God as given in Scripture ? 6. 
 
 In what sense may all notions of morality be said to be derived 
 from the will of God? 6. 
 
 Admitted ground of obedience to the Divine command inconsistent 
 with the contrary sense? 6, 7. 
 
308 QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 
 
 Distinction between the possible grounds of obedience to the will of 
 another? 7. 
 Illustrations of this distinction ? 7. 
 
 LESSON II. 
 
 One circumstance contributes to confusion of thoughts as to the 
 origin of the notion of duty ? 1. 
 
 Conduct of a pious man in such a case ? 1. 
 
 Ground of this implicit obedience to a Divine command on a par 
 ticular point? 1. 
 
 The possibility of such, a creation of a new duty implies a moral 
 sense? 1. 
 
 Illustration? 1. 
 
 Distinction between Moral and Positive Precepts ? 2. 
 
 Illustration of this distinction from commands to children ? 2. 
 
 From legislative enactments ? 2. 
 
 From private contracts ? 2. 
 
 Instances from the Jewish Law of similar distinction ? 2. 
 
 Important distinction with regard to the observance of these two 
 kinds of precepts ? 3. 
 
 This distinction exemplified in some precepts of our Lord? 3. 
 
 And in some injunctions to the Israelites ? 3. 
 
 The implicit obedience to any particular Divine command is in 
 conformity with our feelings and conduct towards our fellow-men ? 
 4. 
 
 The imputation of sin implies a Moral Faculty? 5. 
 
 This evident from the nature of sin ? 5. 
 
 Admission of this in the limited application of the term sin? 5. 
 
 Effect of an express command ? 5. 
 
 This effect, how spoken of by Paul ? 5. 
 
 LESSON III. 
 
 Summary of the last two Lessons? 1. 
 What is our next inquiry ? 1. 
 
 What does Scripture teach in the first place in reference to duty? 
 2. 
 
 Opinions of the ancient philosophers on this point? 2. 
 Of the vulgar among the ancient heathen ? 2. 
 Character of their worship? 2. 
 Contrast presented by our Scriptures ? 2. 
 
QUESTIONS FOB EXAMINATION^ 309 
 
 Effect of the Divine approbation of Virtue ? 3. 
 
 The necessity for this encouragement, whence arising? 3. 
 
 No positive gratification from compliance with the dictates of con 
 science? 3. 
 
 Gracious direction of our natural desire for approbation. 3. 
 
 Scriptural encouragement to Moral Improvement ? 3. 
 
 Second point revealed in Scripture in reference to Moral Duty? 
 4. 
 
 The necessity for this aid? 4. 
 
 To what attributed by some ? 4. 
 
 This proved to be erroneous, both by reason and Scripture ? 4. 
 
 "What does Scripture teach us, in the third place, in reference to 
 Duty? 5. 
 
 What, in the fourth place, is the instruction of Scripture in refer 
 ence to Duty? 5. 
 
 A moral instructor like an oculist ? 5. 
 
 LESSON IV. 
 
 The true character of the moral instruction of Scripture explained 
 by a rule of our Lord s? 1. 
 
 Probable cause of the rare application of this rule ? 1. 
 
 A literal compliance with the rule sometimes absurd ? 1. 
 
 Sometimes wrong? 1. 
 
 Sometimes impossible? 1. 
 
 The right application of the rule? 2. 
 
 First notions of right and wrong not derived from it? 3. 
 
 Its real design ? 3. 
 
 Danger against which it is a safeguard, illustrated in the case of 
 David? 3. 
 
 Illustration of the distinct uses of Scripture and of natural Con 
 science? 4. 
 
 Possible depravation of Conscience illustrated ? 5. 
 
 Its due regulation ? 5. 
 
 LESSON V. 
 
 Peculiarity of the Moral teaching of the Gospel as distinguishing it 
 from the Law ? 1. 
 
 Adaptation of the teaching of the Law to the condition of the Israel 
 ites? 1. 
 
 What does the Gospel substitute for precise rules ? 1. 
 
310 QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 
 
 Tendency of men to prefer precise rules ? 2. 
 
 Internal evidence here afforded of the Divine origin of our religion ? 
 2. 
 
 Instances of this tendency in human nature ? 3. 
 
 How guarded against by our Lord in the form of his precepts ? 
 3. 
 
 Moral discretion rendered necessary by literal compliance -with 
 some precepts involving contradiction ? 4. 
 
 Or by literal compliance involving something wrong ? 4. 
 
 Or by its restricting too much the scope of the precept? 5. 
 
 Teaching of Scripture as to the essential character of moral virtue? 
 6. 
 
 That it does not depend on the outward Act, how shown to be gen 
 erally admitted? 6. 
 
 In what sense do we speak of an outward act as morally good or 
 evil? 7. 
 
 Two requisites in the intention that makes it morally good? 7. 
 
 LESSON VI. 
 
 Distinction between the objects in view in conveying instruction? 
 1. 
 
 The design of our Divine Master s discipline? 1. 
 
 Essential importance of motive hereby made evident? 1. 
 
 Bearing of this design on good works by proxy ? 2. 
 
 And on the supposed merit of good works ? 2. 
 
 Error on this point from misinterpretation of some expressions of 
 Scripture? 2. 
 
 Give an illustration of the distinction between the objects for which 
 services are required ? 3. 
 
 And an illustration serving to correct a mistake as to the merit of 
 good works, and the rewards promised in Scripture ? 3. 
 
 Real state of the case ? 4. * 
 
 Groundlessness of any natural claim to reward evident from the 
 nature of duty ? 5. 
 
 And of reward ? 5. 
 
 Teaching of Scripture on this point ? 6. 
 
 Mistake as to the natural connection between Reward and Punish 
 ment? 6. 
 
 Works of supererogation, how contrary to Scripture and Reason ? 
 $6- 
 
QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 311 
 
 The notion of a self-earned heavenly happiness opposed to Eeason 
 and Scripture? 6. (Note.) 
 
 Supposed objection to the need of Christ s atoning work? (Note.) 
 How may it be answered ? (Note.) 
 Wise saying of Scaliger ? (Note.) 
 
 LESSON VII. 
 
 From what has been said, we find that the law of the land is not to 
 be made the standard of right and wrong, for two reasons ? 1. 
 
 And that conscience, or the Moral Faculty, is a part of the human 
 constitution? 1. 
 
 And that man has need of Eevelation ? 1. 
 
 And that good works can have no merit in the sight of God? 1. 
 
 Two things requisite to form a virtuous character? 1. 
 
 These two things, why alike indispensable ? 2. 
 
 Illustration of the several conditions in which either of these requi 
 sites is wanting ? 2. 
 
 The Apostle Paul s description of one who acts against his con 
 science? 2. 
 
 This sort of description, how shown not to be limited to those 
 whose knowledge is derived from a divine revelation ? 2. 
 
 The notion that Paul, in Romans vii., was giving a literal account 
 of his own state, or that of any one under the Gospel, contradicted by 
 the very next passage ? 3. 
 
 As also by the sixth chapter ? 3. 
 
 As well as by a passage in 1 Corinthians ? 3. 
 
 Paul is describing different and opposite conditions ? 3. 
 
 How do some persons endeavor to escape the reproaches of con 
 science? 4. 
 
 When only can the plea of sincerity be admitted as a palliation of 
 error? 4. 
 
 Effect upon conscience of acting against conscience ? 4. 
 
 Design of the teaching of Scripture nullified by bias of the mind ? 
 4. 
 
 Instances of misapplication of Scripture from this bias ? 5. 
 
 To what may such students of Scripture be compared ? 5. 
 
 Dangerous errors arising from misinterpretation of Romans vii. 
 (Note.) 
 
312 QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 
 
 LESSON VIII. 
 
 Is the fact that conscience is not infallible, a ground for disregard 
 ofit? 1. 
 
 Paul s judgment on this point ? 1. 
 
 Principle laid down by Paul with regard to conscientious scruples ? 
 1. 
 
 Cases in which a wrong principle makes it impossible to act 
 rightly? 2. 
 
 Charity and self-distrust, how called for ? 2. 
 
 Teaching of Scripture as to the necessity of vigilant care of the 
 moral character ? 3. 
 
 The consistency of the dependence on the Divine blessing with 
 diligent care, illustrated from man s procedure in the concerns of 
 ordinary life ? 4. 
 
 LESSON IX. 
 
 Increased disquiet of conscience, when an encouraging sign ? 1. 
 Illustration of the effect of increased enlightenment of conscience ? 
 1. 
 
 In what respect does the Moral Faculty differ from our other facul 
 ties and sentiments ? 2. 
 
 Exemplify this difference ? 2. 
 
 Does virtuous conduct, then, afford no gratification? 3. 
 
 Instances of natural feelings graciously made sources of gratifica 
 tion? 3. 
 
 How are these feelings to be controlled and regulated ? 4. 
 
 This control, why necessary ? 4. 
 
 Instances of its necessity ? 4,5. 
 
 LESSON X. 
 
 Distinction between the control exercised by Conscience over feel 
 ings and over act ions ? 1. 
 
 Illustrated from something similar in the bodily frame? 1. 
 
 This difficulty, how to be surmounted ? 2. 
 
 Self-deceit as to feelings, from confounding two different things ? 
 3. 
 
 Feelings, how to be reached ? 3. 
 
 This procedure, that of the Sacred Writers? 3. 
 
 Another distinction between the control of feelings and of actions ? 
 4. 
 
QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 313 
 
 Encouragement to the steady exercise of that control ? 4. 
 Illustration of the process of moral reformation from grafting? 
 4. 
 
 Influence of actions on the formation of moral habits ? 5. 
 Moral improvement dependent on right principle ? 6. 
 
 LESSON XL 
 
 Moral improvement, how shown to be dependent upon practice ? 
 
 1. 
 
 Danger from familiarity with principles not reduced to practice ? 
 1. 
 
 Formation of opposite habits under similar circumstances ? 1. 
 
 Mistake on this point, whence originating ? 1. 
 
 Give some illustrations ? 1,2. 
 
 Instructive emblem in Scripture of a mere professor of religion ? 
 2. 
 
 Persons who only talk of religion compared to an unemployed 
 steam-engine? 2. 
 
 Practice for learning equally necessary in the study of Scripture, 
 and in all pious exercises ? 2. 
 
 Chief difficulty in forming good moral habits ? 3. 
 
 How may an act of virtue be said to have less of virtue ? 3. 
 
 In what does virtue consist ? 4. 
 
 Why is the term not applicable to the Deity? 4. 
 
 Estimate of virtue in any particular case, how to be formed ? 4. 
 
 Distinction between the imitation of our Heavenly Father, and the 
 following of the example of a Being of our own nature ? 5. 
 
 Example of the Apostles, how far imitable? 5. 
 
 Mistakes to be carefully guarded against ? 5. 
 
 LESSON XII. 
 
 Nature of the example held out? to us in the Lord Jesus? ^ 1. 
 
 Does the possession of human feelings by the Lord Jesus unfit Him 
 for an example ? 2. 
 
 The example of the Lord, why too often disregarded? 3. 
 
 And religious veneration, how misdirected? 3. 
 
 Illustration of both these errors? 3. 
 
 Benefit of our Lord s example not dependent on clear notions of his 
 nature? 3. 
 
 The superiority of our Lord s example over all models, real or 
 imaginary? 4. 
 
314 QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 
 
 Possible mistake in reference to the Old Testament characters? 
 
 4- 
 
 Advantage afforded for the study of Christ s example ? 4. 
 
 How may imitation be a departure from, rather than a following 
 of, His example ? 5. 
 
 LESSON XILT. 
 
 The Apostles in a different position from our Lord? 1. 
 
 And from us ? 1. 
 
 Erroneous imitation of our Lord s teaching avoided by them ? 2. 
 
 Ground on which our Lord exercised the right of giving or with 
 holding Divine truth ? 3. 
 
 Another cause of erroneous imitation ? 4. 
 
 Mistaken imitation of the fortitude of the Apostles? 4. 
 
 Suffering, when admirable ? 4. 
 
 Self-torment, not the practice of the Apostles ? 5. 
 
 Scriptural sense of the word " mortification" ? 5. 
 
 Mistaken notion of the system of the early Christians with regard 
 to property ? 6. 
 
 What was the real state of the case ? 6. 
 
 How is this evident from Scripture ? 6. 
 
 LESSOX XIV. 
 
 Mistakes to be guarded against inr studying treatises on Morals V 
 1. 
 
 What is likely to lead to this mistake ? 1. 
 
 Distinction between the arts and sciences, and the moral habits ? 
 1. 
 
 What is meant by the habit of virtue ? 1. 
 
 Another distinction between the arts and sciences, and the moral 
 habits? 2. 
 
 One cause of mistake as to this point? 3. 
 
 Instances of apparent and unconnected moral virtues ? 3. 
 
 Oneness of virtue evident from the nature of virtue ? 3. 
 
 Testimony to this oneness by our Lord and His Apostles ? 4. 
 
 It is also maintained by Aristotle ? 4. 
 
 Duty with regard to the principle adopted ? 5. 
 
 Sense in which we speak of a character as inconsistent ? 5. 
 
 Illustrated from the conduct of a fanner? 5. 
 
 Consistent following out of a principle will test the principle? 
 * 5. 
 
QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 315 
 
 The tendency to claim merit for good works promoted by the 
 notion of several distinct virtues ? 6. 
 
 LESSOX XV. 
 
 Different parts of duty easier and harder to different persons. 
 Why? . 1. 
 
 Such differences analogous to those in bodily constitution ? 2. 
 
 Man s procedure with regard to bodily health often reversed in 
 moral conduct ? 2. 
 
 Effect of a strong tendency in judging of one s own character? 
 2. 
 
 Prudent care of bodily health to be imitated in morals ? 3. 
 
 And a procedure of builders ? 3. 
 
 How may this be carried too far ? 3. 
 
 What may help us to guard against self-deceit? 3. 
 
 What help may we have analogous to that of a physician ? 3. 
 
 Specification of virtues not necessary ? 4. 
 
 Its absence no ground of complaint ? 4. 
 
 Divine procedure in the New Testament instruction? 5. 
 
 The omission of specific rules, how supplied to the Christian? 5. 
 
 LESSON XVI. 
 
 Importance of a right understanding of the matter each duty re 
 lates to? 1. 
 
 Illustration of that principle on which we should act in our chan 
 ties? 1. 
 
 Fallacy of the common excuse, " It is such a one s fault " ? 1. 
 
 Amount of fault not to be estimated by what it relates to ? 2. 
 
 Importance of small matters evident from the design of moral 
 discipline? 2. 
 
 And from the way in which habits are formed ? 
 
 Distinction between Selfishness and Self-love ? 
 
 The word Self-love how sometimes used ? 3. 
 
 Definition of Self-love ? 3. 
 
 Give an illustration ? 3. 
 
 Self-love a distinct and positive quality? 3. 
 
 In what respect like our other tendencies ? 3. 
 
 Selfishness a negative quality? 3. 
 
 How consequently does it show itself? 3. 
 
 Possible selfishness even in amiable feelings ? 3. 
 
 The safeguard against it ? 3. 
 
316 QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 
 
 Mistake with regard to escaping temptation ? 4. 
 And with regard to self-appointed duties V 4. 
 Ground upon which the Apostles acted ? 4. 
 Opportunity to do good, how to be used? 5. 
 Conduct of " the children of this world " an. example to be fol 
 lowed? 5. 
 
 LESSON XVII. 
 
 Proper sense of words ? 1. 
 
 Falsehood may be involved in literal truth ? 1. 
 
 Give an instance ? 1. 
 
 Our Lord s declaration before Pilate, how proved to have been 
 used in its plain literal meaning? 1. 
 
 As also the precepts of the Apostles about submitting to every 
 ordinance of man ? 1. 
 
 Moral falsehood not necessarily involved in a literal untruth ? 2. 
 
 Give some illustrations of this principle ? 2. 
 
 The rule fixing the true sense of a declaration, not limited to 
 words? 3. 
 
 Illustrations of, and reason for, this ? 3. 
 
 The condition of any promise should be expressed ? 3. 
 
 Cases in which a promise is not binding ? 4. 
 
 How then were the Israelites bound to their promise to the Gibeon- 
 ites? 4. (Note.) 
 
 Caution against unwarily giving a promise of secrecy? 4. 
 (Note.) 
 
 True import of an oath ? 4. 
 
 Official oaths, why superfluous ? 4. (Note.) 
 
 A promise no excuse for doing anything wrong ? 4. 
 
 The guilt of falsehood may be incurred, though everything said 
 may be quite true ? 5. 
 
 This illustrated by partial truth told to a rustic ? 5. 
 
 Instance in an inscription discovered at Nineveh ? 5. 
 
 And in reserve in stating the doctrines of the Gospel? 5. 
 
 Statement of a falsehood not the only way of partaking of the 
 guilt of it? 6. 
 
 The words of the Psalmist, how applicable to such a case? 6. 
 
 Cause of failure in strict justice of those not indifferent about 
 duty? 6. 
 
 Illustration from a story of Cyrus, nnd from some supposed cases? 
 6. 
 
QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 317 
 
 Cases of greatest temptation to connive at falsehood ? 7. 
 
 A double guilt hereby incurred ? 7. 
 
 A more accurate appellation for a pious fraud ? 7. 
 
 Not to undeceive is to deceive ? 7. 
 
 Disingenuous suppression of truth, how disguised? 7. 
 
 Instance of suppressed correction of error ? 7. 
 
 Danger of disregard of truth in unimportant matters ? 7. 
 
 Evil consequences of deception ? 8. 
 
 Paley s remark on this point ? 8. 
 
 The ultimate expediency of truth not perceived by all ? 8. 
 
 LESSON XVIII. 
 
 The sin forbidden by the tenth commandment does not consist in a 
 strong wish for what belongs to your neighbor? 1. 
 
 Illustration? (Note.) 
 
 In what does the sin of coveting consist? 1. 
 
 Popular mistakes as to gaming, how favored? 1. 
 
 Its especial characteristic ? 1. 
 
 All other objections to it applicable to things not evil in themselves ? 
 1. 
 
 Practical use of being early taught thus to regard it ? 1. 
 
 Playing where there is no sinful coveting, why to be avoided ? 1. 
 
 Confusion of thought leading to mistake as to forgiveness of in 
 juries? 2. 
 
 In what light is one who has personally injured us to be viewed ? 
 2. 
 
 What is not required by the duty of Christian forgiveness. 2. 
 
 Two things never to be confounded? 2. 
 
 Mistake of Christian humility as regards reason ? 3. 
 
 As regards blind following of a party ? 3. 
 
 As regards the feelings ? 3. 
 
 A breach of humility as to speculative points? 4. 
 
 Two opposite breaches of humility in reference to the reasons of 
 God s dealings with man ? 4, and note. 
 
 A good reason for obedience may be a bad reason for giving the 
 command? 4. 
 
 Generic Humility not necessarily implying personal hnmility? 
 4. 
 
 What real humility consists in ? 4. 
 
 Just estimate of one s self no breach of duty ? 5. 
 
 To what do the terms Self-conceit and Modesty properly apply ? 
 5. (Note.) 
 
318 QUESTIONS FOIl EXAMINATION. 
 
 Caution to the possessor of superior endowments as regards him 
 self? 5. 
 
 As regards others ? 5. 
 
 General confessions of sin, when no proof of humility? 6. 
 
 Nor confession without amendment ? 6. 
 
 The special, constant exercise of Christian humility, to what com 
 pared? 6. 
 
 Evidences of true humility ? 6. 
 
 Conduct not to be estimated by the opinions of men in general ? 
 
 7. 
 
 Maxim of Bacon ? 7. 
 What does he mean by " vulgar" ? 7. 
 By the " lowest virtues " ? 7. 
 By " the highest " ? 7. 
 
 Instances of virtues not generally approved ? 8. 
 Two opposite dangers to be guarded against? 8. 
 General practical rule ? 8. 
 
 LESSON XIX. 
 
 A duty in reference to our moral character taught? 1. 
 
 Proverb applicable to postponement of this duty ? 1. 
 
 Necessity of candor in self-examination ? 2. 
 
 "What ought not to be our standard ? 2. 
 
 Greater importance of small faults in ourselves than in our neigh 
 bors? 9. 
 
 Candor in self-examination not implying a looking for faults only ? 
 3. 
 
 The opposite opinion a mistaken one ? 3. 
 
 Evil consequences of hopelessness of moral improvement ? 4. 
 
 Special promise of our Lord ? 5. 
 
 Procedure of the Apostles with regard to their converts ? 5. 
 
 Hopeful vigilance not to be confined to outward conduct ? 5. 
 
 LESSON XX. 
 
 Point in which improvement can be most easily marked? 1. 
 What part is this of the Christian s business ? 1. 
 Why indispensable ? 1. 
 
 Diligent study of the Bible necessary from the nature of its con 
 tents? 2. 
 Absurdity of a random perusal illustrated ? 2. 
 
QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 319 
 
 Suggestions for the profitable perusal of it ? 2. 
 
 Which of all cautions on this head is the most important ? 3. 
 
 Outward acts, not the only virtuous practice ? 4. 
 
 Outward acts, how far virtuous or vicious ? 4. 
 
 The Apostle s enumeration of the fruits of the Spirit, in accordance 
 with this principle? 4. 
 
 Benefits from the counsel of a friend ? 5. 
 
 Proper object of confession ? 5. 
 
 Cases in which it may be useful; and to which it should be 
 limited? 5. 
 
 Consciousness of sin, when a promising sign ? 6. 
 
 What kind of Conscience ought to be sought for ? 6. 
 
 The effect of the operation of the Spirit of God in enlightening 
 Conscience, how illustrated? 6. 
 
 Importance of cultivating a habit of perfect sincerity in confession 
 of sin? 6. 
 
 Enumerate some of the most important points hi self-examina 
 tion? 7. 
 
 CHKISTIAN EVIDENCES. 
 LESSON I. 
 
 What is, perhaps, the most common reason of Christians for be 
 lieving Christianity? 
 
 Has this always been the case ? 
 
 Why is it impossible that it should have been ? 
 
 What gods can you name formerly worshipped in the British Isles ? 
 
 How came our forefathers to cease worshipping them ? 
 
 What religions, besides the Christian, are there now in the world? 
 
 What makes anybody believe in them ? 
 
 Have you any better reason for believing in Christianity? 
 
 What is your duty in regard to having a reason for your faith ? 
 
 How did the Apostles lead the Heathen to believe in Christianity? 
 
 What motives had the Heathen for being unwilling to believe ? 
 
 Could the evidence offered to Heathens consist in arguments from 
 Christian experience ? 
 
 Why not ? 
 
 What treatment did the first converts to Christianity receive from 
 their countrymen ? 
 
320 QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 
 
 How do we learn this ? 
 
 What must we infer in regard to the proofs by which they were 
 convinced of the truth of Christianity ? 
 
 What evidence was ever offered of the truth of a Pagan religion ? 
 
 What, then, is there peculiar in the mode in which Christianity was 
 introduced into the world ? 
 
 What is, then, the presumption in regard to its truth ? 
 
 LESSON II. 
 
 What cause had our fathers and other Pagans for forsaking their 
 religion ? 
 
 Had their fathers previously forsaken a previous faith ? 
 
 How were, then, Pagan religions introduced? 
 
 What, then, is a Pagan s reason for believing? 
 
 Are there, then, no accounts of miracles in Pagan religions ? 
 
 What is the difference between Pagan and Christian accounts of 
 miracles ? 
 
 How did Mahomet spread his religion? 
 
 What was the character of his asserted miracles ? 
 
 What, then, is the distinguishing mark in the foundations of Chris 
 tianity ? 
 
 Is the study of evidences inconsistent with faith ? 
 
 What is credulity ? 
 
 What, Scripture faith ? 
 
 What renders faith difficult ? 
 
 What prejudice prevented the Jews from having faith in Christ ? 
 
 What did they say of his miracles ? 
 
 By what sort of impostors were they afterwards deceived ? 
 
 What showed the candid mind of the Bereans ? 
 
 How, then, shall we deserve the Apostolic commendation ? 
 
 LESSON III. 
 
 On whose word do some say we must pin our faith ? 
 
 On what account? 
 
 But can we have no evidence of the existence of the Bible in the 
 original, and of its meaning? 
 
 How do we know that France and Italy exist ? 
 
 How, that travellers do not deceive us ? 
 
 How do we know that the earth rotates, or that it revolves about 
 the sun? 
 
QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 321 
 
 How, that the books of the Bible are ancient ? 
 How, that they are well translated ? 
 What analogy to witnesses at court ? 
 
 What points are thus proved of the English New Testament? 
 What further evidence concerning the Old Testament ? 
 And what evidence does the Old Testament give concerning the 
 New? 
 
 LESSON IV. 
 
 On what account are the prophecies more instructive to us than to 
 the first Christians ? 
 
 What is the magnitude of the change wrought by Christ s coming? 
 
 How many nominal Christians in the world ? 
 
 How many Mahometans ? 
 
 Why count them in estimating the effect of Christianity ? 
 
 What contrast between the outward coining of Christ in Judaea and 
 this effect ? 
 
 What is the usual strain of Jewish prophecy in regard to the Mes 
 siah s times ? 
 
 Has the Jewish nation itself seemed to fulfil this ? 
 
 Does the spread of Christianity ? 
 
 What comparison would you make between the argument from 
 prophecy as felt by the Jews at Jesus s day and by us ? 
 
 What evidence in the New Testament that the argument from 
 prophecy had any force to the minds of men at that day ? 
 
 LESSON V. 
 
 What did those who saw Jesus s miracles do to test his claims? 
 
 Is a miracle supernatural or superhuman ? 
 
 Which name did our Lord himself give them ? 
 
 To whom did Jesus impart power to work miracles ? 
 
 Could they impart this power ? 
 
 What argument shows this power did not consist in the knowledge 
 of a new natural agent ? 
 
 What conviction was forced on the Jews concerning the works of 
 Christ? 
 
 Why did they not, then, believe that God was with him ? 
 
 What proof of this beside the New Testament history ? 
 
 If the Jews of our Saviour s day had denied his miracles, whence 
 could this tradition have arisen ? 
 
 21 
 
322 QUESTIONS FOK EXAMINATION. 
 
 What was the Pagan view of the subject ? 
 What two questions did the men of our Saviour s times ask ? 
 What advantage had they over us ? 
 What have we over them ? 
 
 Beside the advantage mentioned in the book, what is there in the 
 fact of our not believing in magic ? 
 
 LESSON VI. 
 
 With what modern fact are the miracles of the Xew Testament 
 connected ? 
 
 By what natural means can you account for the present preva 
 lence of Christianity ? 
 
 Which is the least difficult to believe of these three propositions : 
 that an effect came without a cause, that it came from an inadequate 
 cause, or that it came from a superhuman cause ? 
 
 Which do you believe concerning the change of the religion of 
 Europe from Paganism to Christianity? 
 
 What comparison will you make of the presence of sea-shells on 
 inland mountains, and the presence of Christianity in lands far from 
 Judaea? 
 
 Why is the credulity of the ancients an insufficient cause to account 
 for their reception of Christianity ? 
 
 Describe the manner in which a credulous man receives evidences. 
 
 How, then, would credulous Jews and Pagans receive the proofs of 
 the authority of Jesus ? 
 
 What is proved as to the facts by then: credulously attributing the 
 miracles to magic ? 
 
 What are the contents of John ix. ? 
 
 How does this accord with what wo might expect ? 
 
 What effect, then, would the credulity of the ancients have on the 
 spread of Christianity ? 
 
 What, then, does its rapid spread prove ? 
 
 This rapid spread in the face of these superstitious prejudices 
 proves something to us concerning the miracles; what is it? 
 
 With what words does the chapter close ? 
 
 LESSON VII. 
 
 What evidences are there of the truth of our religion to be found 
 in its own character ? 
 
 Why would a Jew of the days of Christ have been of all men most 
 unlikely to invent such teaching as that of Jesus ? 
 
QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 323 
 
 Is the evidence of miracle, then, unnecessary ? 
 
 Why not ? 
 
 What is the relative value of this branch of evidence to us, and to 
 those of the Apostles days ? 
 
 What connection has the difficulty of proving a fact, with the 
 value of that fact (if proved), as evidence? 
 
 Illustrate this by the sea-shells on mountains. 
 
 Apply it to the Christian miracles. 
 
 How might we alter the phrase, "No less a proof," when we re 
 member that the men of Jesus s time believed in magic ? 
 
 How will the difficulty of believing in miracles compare with the 
 difficulty of believing in the natural origin of Christianity ? 
 
 How do the outward circumstances of Jesus compare with the out 
 ward triumphs of his religion ? 
 
 What aid would an appeal to pretended miracles have been to the 
 Apostles ? , 
 
 What is the peculiar distinction between Pagan and Christian ac 
 counts of miracles ? 
 
 What is the distinctive peculiarity of the origin of our religion? 
 
 What, then, is probable as to the number of miracles ? 
 
 What confirmation of this in the New Testament ? 
 
 In what manner are they there mentioned ? 
 
 From the nature of the case, why could not the Apostles have 
 gained a hearing without miracle ? 
 
 What effect would the moral character of the Gospel have in ob 
 taining a hearing for it ? 
 
 What, then, was the first mode of gaining a hearing ? 
 
 What testimony was afterwards sufficient ? 
 
 What is the difference in value, as evidence of truth, between 
 suffering for opinion s sake and suffering for testimony given ? 
 
 Explain the reason of this difference ? 
 
 But how should the Apostles first make men listen to this testi 
 mony? 
 
 LESSON VIII. 
 
 Did the prevalent belief in magic make it more or less easy for 
 Jesus to prove his authority by miraculous works ? 
 
 What passages in John and Matthew are in point ? 
 
 What is needed in addition to the reality of a wonderful event to 
 make it confirm the authority of Christ or his Apostles ? 
 
 What sort of miracles does the Koran narrate ? 
 
324 QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 
 
 What did Mahomet s wonderful victories really prove? 
 
 What did he attempt to make them prove ? 
 
 What is the true difference between a wonder and a sign ? 
 
 Illustrate by a sudden calm ; by reviving from a trance ; by sud 
 den loss of sight. 
 
 What may be justly asked of a professed messenger from God ? 
 
 Eepeat the distinction between a wonder and a sign. 
 
 Why is this distinction often overlooked ? 
 
 How did this circumstance operate on the credit given to the 
 Apostles ? 
 
 What inference do you draw concerning their miracles ? 
 
 LESSON IX. 
 
 What amount of evidence is there in behalf of Christianity ? 
 
 What men have ever examined it all ? 
 
 What proportion of the whole amount of proof possible is necessary 
 to convince ? 
 
 What proportion does the evidence which you have studied bear to 
 the whole ? 
 
 What is the first evidence drawn from the mere existence of Chris 
 tianity in countries formerly heathen ? 
 
 What evidence is drawn from the fact of the Apostles appealing to 
 miracles ? 
 
 How is this confirmed by comparison with Pagan religions? 
 
 What did the people of the Apostles day say of the miracles ? 
 
 Why did they not deny their reality ? 
 
 How do we know that they did not deny it? 
 
 What force has this fact of the record being in heathen writings ? 
 
 What testimony have we that the early Christians suffered in be 
 half of their faith ? 
 
 What do you argue from their constancy in suffering ? 
 
 What do you argue from a man s being willing to suffer for his 
 opinion s sake ? 
 
 What is the difference, then, between opinion and knowledge ? 
 
 Why is it unnecessary to understand Greek and Hebrew before 
 attempting to understand the Bible ? 
 
 What reason have you for. believing that our translations are 
 correct? 
 
 What reason for believing that the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures 
 are really ancient books? 
 
 What particular reason for believing in the Old Testament ? 
 
QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 325 
 
 What must be the character of a rnind that is not satisfied with the 
 evidence which we have now reviewed ? 
 
 Can one judge fairly of evidence, when he does not wish the fact to 
 be proved ? 
 
 How does credulity lead one to regard evidence ? 
 
 What effect have independent arguments, when they all bear upon 
 the same point ? 
 
 The arguments of the present Lesson are of force to an unbeliever s 
 mind; why will those of the succeeding Lessons have less force to an 
 unbeliever, though equally convincing to a believer ? 
 
 LESSON X. 
 
 What four suppositions can we make concerning the origin of 
 Christianity? 
 
 How is the truth of these suppositions tested by internal evidence ? 
 
 Why does not this imply that we are to be judges of God ? 
 
 Of whom may we more judiciously judge? 
 
 What is the probability that Christianity came from men? 
 
 What would you expect from scheming men as to the books of a 
 new faith? 
 
 Which of the Gospels is attributed to a distinguished Apostle ? 
 
 What was the rank of the other Evangelists ? 
 
 Why is high antiquity of the books of the New Testament an 
 argument for their truth ? 
 
 How is a high antiquity proved by the authors names ? 
 
 How by the non-use of the word Christian ? 
 
 How often and in what manner is this word used in the New Testa 
 ment? 
 
 What reason does Whately give for the Apostles using other titles ? 
 
 How does the validity of this reasoning affect the argument for the 
 antiquity of the books ? 
 
 What, then, is the reasoning concerning the word Christian ? 
 
 W hat was the expectation of the Jews ? 
 
 How did the pretended Christs fail of fulfilling it? 
 
 How did Jesus fail? 
 
 What does this prove, in regard to his character, and to his Apos 
 tles character? 
 
 What further opposition in Jesus to the prejudices of the Jews ? 
 
 Why is this unlike an impostor? 
 
 Why unlike an enthusiast ? 
 
 How might these arguments be, perhaps, answered? 
 
326 QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 
 
 "What further argument would you bring from the spiritual pride 
 of the Jews ? 
 
 How is this confirmed by passages in the New Testament history ? 
 
 How might an unbeliever attempt to evade this further argument? 
 
 What answer would you make concerning sacrifices ? 
 
 What might you add in general on the character of Christianity ? 
 
 What argument is drawn from the Gospel estimate of zeal, com 
 pared with righteousness ? 
 
 Mention passages of Scripture illustrating this argument. 
 
 LESSON XL 
 
 How does the particular kind of moral duties, inculcated by Jesus, 
 prove him no artful or designing man ? 
 
 Illustrate this by examples. 
 
 How is a similar argument to be drawn from his treatment of 
 parties ? 
 
 What is the peculiar difference between the morality of our Lord, 
 and that of philosophers of that day ? 
 
 What strong evidence of this is to be found in the conduct of Chris 
 tians at the present day ? 
 
 What, then, is the living evidence, to-day, of the Divine origin of 
 Christianity ? 
 
 What argument is drawn from the style of the New Testament in 
 regard to miracles ? 
 
 In regard to sins of the Apostles ? 
 
 What additional force, in much internal evidence, arises from the 
 multiplicity of books in the New Testament? 
 
 What is the summing-up of the argument against the human origin 
 of the Christian Scriptures ? 
 
 Why is it important in this argument to remember that the Apos 
 tles were witnesses of the resurrection and life of a man who had been 
 crucified and buried in public ? 
 
 LESSON XII. 
 
 Why does the author decline entering on the argument from the 
 character of our Kedeemer? 
 
 What does he propose to us instead ? 
 
 What is the first point to be kept in mind? 
 
 What the second ? 
 
 How does the inability of men to draw a spotless character appear 
 in the spurious Gospels ? 
 
QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 327 
 
 When -were these books composed ? 
 
 How have they been received ? 
 
 What contrast between them and the Evangelists ? 
 
 What is the third point to be remembered ? 
 
 Why are reasons drawn from internal evidence better to have than 
 to give ? 
 
 How do John and Paul allude to it ? 
 
 Of what value is this kind of evidence ? 
 
 What kind of evidence is necessary for us to rest our faith upon 
 when our minds are harassed by doubts ? to convict us, if we have 
 lost faith by first losing virtue ? 
 
 If, while in doubt and darkness, we appeal to the internal evi 
 dences, where may it lead us ? 
 
 Illustrate by Jews, by Mahometans, and by Pagans. 
 
 What is the true course for an inquiring spirit ? 
 
 How rapidly will the confirmation arising from experience come V 
 
 What evidence of sound judgment in Apostles from their view of 
 Christian experience ? 
 
 What bearing has this on our estimate of their testimony concern 
 ing Jesus and his miracles ? 
 
 NOTE A. 
 
 What does John represent the officers sent to apprehend Jesus as 
 saying on their return ? 
 
 What appeal does he represent Jesus as making to the Jews ? 
 
 Why is it highly improbable that such an appeal should be made 
 by a bad man ? 
 
 What difference between making protestations of innocence, and 
 inviting the proof of charges of guilt ? 
 
 What does Matthew say of the witnesses on whose testimony Jesus 
 was condemned to death ? 
 
 What of Pilate s words ? 
 
 What does Luke say of Pilate s words ? 
 
 What does Luke represent Peter as telling the Jews concerning 
 Pilate s view of Jesus ? 
 
 What does Peter himself say of Jesus ? 
 
 And why is it most probable that such claims could not have 
 been made at that time for a bad man ? 
 
 Mention circumstances to show Jesus s benevolence ; mention such 
 as show kindness ; such as show meekness or humility ; such as show 
 sincerity; singleness of purpose; moderation, coolness, and warmth 
 
328 QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 
 
 of human affection. Mention any other passages you may have read 
 in the New Testament which show our Lord s character. 
 
 LESSON XIII. 
 
 What refutation of the proof of Christianity do unbelievers make? 
 
 How do they explain that so many proofs are offered to establish 
 what they think a false story ? 
 
 What, then, do writers against Christianity do ? 
 
 What is the difference between giving reasons for believing a tiling, 
 and answering objections against its truth? 
 
 Is it wise to shut our ears entirely against hearing such objections ? 
 
 What inference might be drawn by an unbeliever from such a 
 course ? 
 
 What danger do some seem to apprehend ? 
 
 What reply would you make ? 
 
 Why may you be willing to hear objections which you cannot 
 answer ? 
 
 What is the difference between an unanswerable objection and a 
 fatal objection ? 
 
 Illustrate by fossil shells ; by the Copernican system ; by aerolites ; 
 by the history of Napoleon. 
 
 The right way of viewing objections consists of two points. What 
 is the first? 
 
 What the second? 
 
 LESSON XIV. 
 
 Granting the truth of revelation, what proportion does revealed 
 truth bear to that not revealed ? 
 
 What proportion does the past bear to the future in history ? 
 
 In the soul s life ? 
 
 How, then, may Christianity be compared to an inland map? 
 
 What Scotch proverb is quoted as in point ? 
 
 What reference to paper-making ? 
 
 What, then, should we say to things difficult to be understood in 
 revelation ? 
 
 How will your minds at your present age compare with what they 
 probably will be, if you should live in good health, and be faithful in 
 study, for ten years ? 
 
 Are all difficulties objections? 
 
 Show how the bad lives of Christians should act on our faith. 
 
 But how iocs it really act? on men s faith ? 
 
QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 329 
 
 How did Jesus speak of zeal and morality ? 
 
 What, then, does the bitter zeal of some loosely moral Christians 
 show? 
 
 How bear on the evidences of Christianity ? 
 
 What argument for our religion is drawn from the fanatical en 
 thusiasm of some sects ? 
 
 What argument may be drawn from the present slow growth of 
 Christianity, compared with its rapid spread in early ages ? 
 
 What is the object of the Scriptures ? 
 
 What ansAver, then, shall we make to those who object to the un 
 scientific, popular language of the Bible ? 
 
 How does the paucity of information as to a future state prove the 
 New Testament not to have come from impostors ? 
 
 How, that it does not come from enthusiasts ? 
 
 If from neither, and certainly not from both, whence came it ? 
 
 Are the objections now brought forth new or old ? 
 
 What proof does this furnish ? 
 
 What hinderance to Christianity in its early spread is now done 
 away? 
 
 LESSON XV. 
 
 How does Whately think the condition of the Jews affects the 
 evidences of Christianity ? 
 
 What threatenings and prophecies does their present condition seem 
 to fulfil? 
 
 When was Jerusalem destroyed ? 
 
 What became of the Jews? 
 
 On what account did Moses threaten them ? 
 
 On what account do they appear to suffer ? 
 
 How is this contradiction explained on Christian grounds ? 
 
 How explained even on Jewish grounds ? 
 
 Why do the Jews cease to sacrifice ? 
 
 How does their reason for ceasing affect the question ? 
 
 The fact that they have ceased, how explained by the Christian 
 and by the Jew? 
 
 What peculiarity in Judaism as to the power of strangers over it? 
 
 How does Christianity afford a means of accounting for this pecu 
 liarity? 
 
 LESSON XVI. 
 
 What effect did the destruction of the Temple have on the Jews? 
 How many of the descendants of unconverted Jews are now liv 
 ing? 
 
330 QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 
 
 "What relation do they bear to other people ? 
 
 How are they kept separate ? 
 
 What usually becomes of a conquered people ? 
 
 What, then, do you infer of the prophecies that they shall remain 
 separate ? 
 
 What other people mix, and yet keep separate ? 
 
 What keeps them separate ? 
 
 How do the Gipsies regard religion ? 
 
 What, then, is the peculiarity of the Jews ? 
 
 What objection, then, does their state offer to Christianity? 
 
 Under what three heads may all the evidences given hi this book 
 be classed ? 
 
 Why does not this evidence convince the Jew, Mahometan, and 
 Pagan? 
 
 Why does it not support and strengthen many Christians ? 
 
 How will you compare an unbelieving Jew and an unchristian 
 Christian ? 
 
 Lastly, what is the most powerful argument, practically, which 
 you can offer for Christianity? Repeat Matt. v. 16. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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